[Albion] How to improve NS and Amex atmosphere?

[afcb]

Allright lads

AFCB in peace

Incidentally I flew over your ground on a long haul into Gatwick this morning when the frost was on the ground and early morning fog was laying in a few valleys. It was a lovely sight but I love footie grounds. At the same time if the planners had looked at it from my altitude it would never have happened, all that green belt and all

Seriously though the design of your ground should have been questioned. Even an oppo fan like me from the days of visiting the Goldstone quickly realised your ground design pics , although lovely were all wrong.Two overly large side stands full of prawn sandwich (joke) and kids with a decent away end but no semblance of your old North Stand down behind the other goal. As away fans we never hear it unless the songs catch on amongst the side stands and that rarely happens...unlike your NS back in the day

I know we live in a shed, we may never have what you do but when I look back at all the consultation on here your club did something got lost in translation. The home 'end' should have been much larger (spurs style) even if it meant twisting things 90 degrees in some regard but hey ho I guess that ground has been covered and it probably wasn't possible from what I recall.

Best of luck but unless you stick a load of lads / singers next to the oppo in the East or West Stand and your NS feeds off it you're going to struggle.

Obviously plenty will tell me to do one and fair play...but like many I like a decent atmosphere at any ground. Hope it gets sorted.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Wanker,

 

[afcb]

Wanker,

Happy to help

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Happy to help

If you took my mate Angus's scarf on Boxing Day in the early seventies, well he wants it back. His old girl knitted it and he only got it as a present the day before.

 

[N17]

The majority of Premier League home atmospheres are dire these days. It seems that as a team become more established in the top tier/more successful, the worse the atmosphere gets

In addition, lots of fans just can't 'get up' for less important games. Our support was decent vs Man City and absolutely shocking vs Southampton. There are several other reasons for that but don't want to derail.

From my persepctive as a Spurs away fan, the atmosphere at the Amex from the home fans has been good (been to the last 3 matches between us there). Last season (18-19) i was very impressed but although you hammered us 3-0 this season i didn't think it matched the same level. In my experience, there are MANY teams with worse home atmosphere than BHA.

 

[Bodian]

Unreserved seating when you sell out most weeks, how's that going to work then? I suspect most of those that want to get the atmosphere going will be filling their boots right up to kick off so how are they going to feel turning up to find the rest of the north stand scattered across the seats they want to be in!!

Same for away games, not unreserved seating. Just that most that are there are for a good day out.

People would get into the ground earlier to get where they want to be, thus generating a better pre-match atmosphere which rolls on. That's what used to happen - the grounds weren't mainly empty till a few minutes before kick-off like now.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Bin Ring of Fire, keep SbtS to the same tempo all the way through (no stupid rapid clapping), sing less songs about Palace and join in with other section songs.

Piece of cake.

 

[Bob!]

The answer is taking out the Offices etc. out from behind the North, extend the North upwards.

Hey Presto, loads of space to move the singers together. Trouble then will be identifying the singers that want to move to the back of the extended North.

 

[Mackenzie]

Sing louder and more frequently?

 

[Hampster Gull]

We haven’t got a problem if I am reading Potters blurb in the season ticket renewal correctly

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Perhaps you were unaware but most of the North Stand sing different words to 'Murray Wonderland' than the family stand. The alternative lyrics would certainly be considered offensive by most!

Have to say although I originally found it amusing, I wince when I hear that version now.
Not because of the C word, as I use that myself frequently throughout the game. I just think Glenn deserves a more respectful chant.

 

[drew]

People would get into the ground earlier to get where they want to be, thus generating a better pre-match atmosphere which rolls on. That's what used to happen - the grounds weren't mainly empty till a few minutes before kick-off like now.

But you're talking about old fashioned terracing. Safe standing gives you an allocated spot. As I understand it, you can't just wander around to where you would rather be.

With seating, unless it is clearly never going to sell out, you will always get an allocated seat. You still get muppets at away games claiming it's sit where you like even when the whole area is sold out!!

 

[Sheebo]

The majority of Premier League home atmospheres are dire these days. It seems that as a team become more established in the top tier/more successful, the worse the atmosphere gets

In addition, lots of fans just can't 'get up' for less important games. Our support was decent vs Man City and absolutely shocking vs Southampton. There are several other reasons for that but don't want to derail.

From my persepctive as a Spurs away fan, the atmosphere at the Amex from the home fans has been good (been to the last 3 matches between us there). Last season (18-19) i was very impressed but although you hammered us 3-0 this season i didn't think it matched the same level. In my experience, there are MANY teams with worse home atmosphere than BHA.

Spot on. A neutral view which emphasises our atmo is alright, good even, especially compared to other grounds. London stadium was hardly noisy when they went 2 up or 3-1 up. Bigger the stadium, harder it is too. Amex not been as good this season but has the odd surprising game where it’s great.

 

[Titanic]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51413557

Safe standing: Seating areas with barriers have 'positive impact'

It comes after the government stated it "will work with fans and clubs towards introducing safe standing".

Sports Minister Nigel Adams said he "welcomed" the SGSA's findings.

"Over a million people watch live football at a ground every week, and having spoken to fans across the country, I know that safe standing is an issue many feel passionately about," he said.

"As we made clear in our election manifesto, we will work with fans and clubs towards introducing safe standing at football grounds.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

The answer is taking out the Offices etc. out from behind the North, extend the North upwards.

Hey Presto, loads of space to move the singers together. Trouble then will be identifying the singers that want to move to the back of the extended North.

With regards to extending the NS up into the office areas, is that an actual possibility? I’ve seen it mentioned many times.

 

[oneillco]

I used to sing a lot at matches but I don't any more. I feel a bit silly singing to be honest. That doesn't mean it is silly, just that as a middle-aged man I'd feel a bit daft singing songs. I also think we can all be a bit nostalgic about atmosphere at football. I've been going to the Albion since 1988. There's been games with lots of noise and games without much noise. It's generally less to do with who sits where and how much of a "real" fan one is and more to do with what's going on during the match. Yes, some grounds (Dortmund springs to mind) look and sound great but I don't know that it's every week and, if it is, that's in no small part due to the phenomenal football they get to watch. I single out Dortmund because I suspect that is the exception that proves the rule, the overwhelming majority of fans at all clubs have quiet times and noisy times and often the clubs with so-called great or intimidating atmospheres aren't all that when you go to them for a bog standard league game.

Well you are the problem not the solution...

 

[elwheelio]

Well you are the problem not the solution...

Good to know, thanks.

 

[Billy the Fish]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51413557

Safe standing: Seating areas with barriers have 'positive impact'

It comes after the government stated it "will work with fans and clubs towards introducing safe standing".

Sports Minister Nigel Adams said he "welcomed" the SGSA's findings.

"Over a million people watch live football at a ground every week, and having spoken to fans across the country, I know that safe standing is an issue many feel passionately about," he said.

"As we made clear in our election manifesto, we will work with fans and clubs towards introducing safe standing at football grounds.

This is the answer.

Make the whole North Stand safe standing and it should get rid of anyone who is only there for cheap tickets. Obviously anyone who wants to move needs somewhere else to go for the same price, one of the corners should do it.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

The majority of Premier League home atmospheres are dire these days. It seems that as a team become more established in the top tier/more successful, the worse the atmosphere gets

In addition, lots of fans just can't 'get up' for less important games. Our support was decent vs Man City and absolutely shocking vs Southampton. There are several other reasons for that but don't want to derail.

From my persepctive as a Spurs away fan, the atmosphere at the Amex from the home fans has been good (been to the last 3 matches between us there). Last season (18-19) i was very impressed but although you hammered us 3-0 this season i didn't think it matched the same level. In my experience, there are MANY teams with worse home atmosphere than BHA.

Good contribution. There is obviously a real challenge to have a decent atmosphere in a home crowd once established in the Premier League. MANY teams are a lot further down the road than us (e.g. Everton, Arsenal, Man City, etc etc) and are worse than us but we know we are on a downward slope at the moment.

What I think we are realising properly for the first time about The Amex this season is that we do not have a big enough group of singers gathered together in the NS (or anywhere else) that gets behind the team regardless of how well the match is going and is loud enough to get the rest of the stand, and then the rest of the ground, joining in. The Amex is good when the game is good and people are up for it but when the team are more up against it then the ground now goes very quiet (with audible negativity often punctuating the quiet).

It might be that we just have to accept this and be like the other clubs with a shit home atmosphere and most weeks sit and be serenaded by the away fans with "Is this a library?". But it might be that we could, like a few PL teams, be different and have a good group that do consistently keep the atmosphere going for others to join in with.

The obvious factor working against us at the moment is in the NS and the spreading out across the back rows rather than having enough singers close enough to each other in one area so that they have a chance to work together and get things going.

I have now exchanged lengthy e-mails with Paul Barber. He seems genuinely happy to do this e-mailing and communicates in a style not very different to an NSC contributor. Lots of whataboutery and straw men arguments to do with clackers, cheerleaders and forced seat moves - mixed in with pure nonsense (e.g. about how Liverpool and Dortmund manage to sing despite much bigger stands than us!). Then, when challenged on that, citing Everton as somewhere with a good atmosphere despite lack of success... His main point is that there isn't any problem and that the decision to spread our singers across the back rows rather than allow them to stand in a more gathered group doesn't make any difference to the NS and ground atmosphere.

So it feels the "campaign" is not going anywhere. FWIW, the only option seems to be to diarise 09.00 on Tuesday 17th March and hope there are some seats available to move into further over to the west in the NS. Obviously this is not likely to be any good for people who need to be in pairs or small groups of adjacent seats - and people who just value their better viewpoint will also stay put - but it might work for a few people who are keen to get involved in actively doing something to make a better atmosphere.

 

[father_and_son]

With regards to extending the NS up into the office areas, is that an actual possibility? I’ve seen it mentioned many times.

Somewhere between none and f**k all I believe, based on previous club statements. The limit on capacity at the moment is transport, toilets, exits and all those annoying H&S things, not the physical number of seats. While a few additional seats here and there can be squeezed out, any significant increase with impact all the safety certificates, transport contracts, etc.
So a significant uplift will require a disproportionate investment that would probably never be recouped.

Gaining, say, 1000 seats from moving office space (to where? Lancing?) won't be cost effective unless it's part of a major redesign/rebuild (like adding another tier to the North) with changes to approach roads and paths/parking/Southern & Bus contracts/etc.

Plus there is also the knock on impact to the Away allocation and the moveable barriers on the South concourse... Not sure we can easily add 15% of whatever the new capacity would be to the away end without changes to the configuration there.

Some people have a very simplified view of things, but fortunately PB is on top of this and has made it clear why we can add lots of seats without TB putting his hand quite deeply into his pockets (again).

Likewise, I believe PB said pretty much the same thing about safe standing. Although it could be done at the Amex (at a cost) it wouldn't be a way to increase capacity, so the capacity ratio will be 1:1 between now and any future configuration.