[Albion] Stadium Observations

[Herr Tubthumper]

Buy Stoke and relocate it.

To the middle of the Atlantic?

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Surprising that more people don't walk back to the city really. From some of the nightmares I read on here it can't be that much longer than waiting for a train and definitely beats standing in the cold.

Why would I want to do that? I live 20 miles away. Not that many live in "the city"

 

[mile oak]

I think we changed brand from Rollover (yellow bags) to Mom's (card sleeve) a while ago?

Ok that explains it then and i cant recall but probably not had one for a while. Shame previous one were better.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Surprising that more people don't walk

Why would I want to do that? I live 20 miles away.

Lazy

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I agree with you on the noise front. It doesn’t travel at all. That’s not to say we make a hell of a noise, because we rarely do. I’ve sat in the south stand before and not heard a peep from the North, when I’m sure they’re trying. I think the problem is that our North Stand is just too small. It’s not like some of the larger kops you see at other grounds, and sticking another tier on it might not make much difference. All these assumptions aside, I agree the sound doesn’t travel much. It’s still a lovely home to have though.

On transport, I still don’t understand why another platform hasn’t been put in at Falmer to allow for a shuttle service. Or why not build a city tram service that can serve the Lewes Road and Falmer. The latter would benefit all the office development up the Lewes Road as well.

Yep. It is a massive fail.

But we are a rum lot down here. A mix of the demographic and the history, maybe? That and circumstances. We are doing well, and the seats are comfy. After sitting in the rain in an uncovered stand watching tier 4 and 3 football for years.....it is pipe and slippers time for me sometimes now. Last night, deffo.

May not be a fair comparison, but Boro were magnificent at the bridge tonight. But there again, so were Barnet at Withdean (second noisiest to Cardiff).

Time and motion wait for no man.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Funnily enough the only Wolves chant I heard on the telly was Doo, doo, doo, Football in a library.

Where I sit, in the East, I hear the away fans quite clearly. The Wolves fans sang fairly steadily but not raucously. They chanted a lot about how much they hated "the Albion" which was startling — before i realised they were referring to West Brom. Away fans are usually louder than home fans in my experience, partly because they’re more dedicated but mainly because they’re more drunk.

 

[Hamilton]

Yep. It is a massive fail.

But we are a rum lot down here. A mix of the demographic and the history, maybe? That and circumstances. We are doing well, and the seats are comfy. After sitting in the rain in an uncovered stand watching tier 4 and 3 football for years.....it is pipe and slippers time for me sometimes now. Last night, deffo.

May not be a fair comparison, but Boro were magnificent at the bridge tonight. But there again, so were Barnet at Withdean (second noisiest to Cardiff).

Time and motion wait for no man.

Pipe & Slipper stand. It could catch on.

 

[oneillco]

So true. It's the equivalent of being stuck in a traffic jam rather than driving a longer route and arriving at a similar time. People psychologically hate queuing because they feel helpless and like they aren't getting anywhere.

The queues up the ramp and across the bridge to the eastbound platform were as bad last night as I've ever seen them, as no-one had any inclination (or money) to stay for a beer. Southern did a good job, though, the trains ran to time and everyone queued patiently. Believe me, the trains are so much better than a limited capacity tram or monorail service which would be swamped post-match.

PG (Behavioural Transport Economist)

Southern did a good job? Heading south from Falmer Station that was the longest I have stood-still in the queue without shuffling forward... 30 mins. It was 50 mins before I finally boarded which can only be due to scheduled trains not arriving or if they did they were short formation. And despite the announcements that the train was direct to Brighton it stopped at Moulsecomb and London Road.

 

[trueblue]

Yep. Not sure there are that many PL grounds that you can get home, say, 5-10 miles away that much quicker. Always seems worse at ours as you're straight into a queue and standing moaning about it for 20 or 30 minutes (or more) rather than having to walk to a station in that time perhaps

I think there's a lot of truth in this. I've always thought the post-match P&R set up is weird though. Surely it would be better to take Southampton's approach - load up several buses at once as they're all siting there, ready and waiting. Then let them leave together. People may have to wait just as long but if you're on board, warm and dry, that's less of an issue.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I think there's a lot of truth in this. I've always thought the post-match P&R set up is weird though. Surely it would be better to take Southampton's approach - load up several buses at once, then let them leave together. People may have to wait just as long but if you're on board, warm and dry, that's less of an issue.

I think they do don’t they. When I have left on time or just as the whistle goes and legged it up to the queue, I normally see three or four busses pulling out to Mill Hill.
to be honest I have given up with P&R and now drive to the UNI car park when I can get a parking ticket.

ok you have to wait in a queue to get out the uni car park and there is always a few people who can’t/ won’t follow the instructions of stewards and block the overhead gangway thinking that a queue is for the train, when it is perfectly clear it’s not but hang around after the whistle and mosey along to the car park.

shame only 1901 get a season ticket for the car parks as I would buy one rather than trying to get one every game.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Buy Stoke's stadium and relocate it.

No problem with atmosphere there even when it's half empty.

Strange timing for that comment, given just two weeks ago, we were there, with it half empty, with little or no atmosphere!

 

[trueblue]

I think they do don’t they. When I have left on time or just as the whistle goes and legged it up to the queue, I normally see three or four busses pulling out to Mill Hill.
to be honest I have given up with P&R and now drive to the UNI car park when I can get a parking ticket.

ok you have to wait in a queue to get out the uni car park and there is always a few people who can’t/ won’t follow the instructions of stewards and block the overhead gangway thinking that a queue is for the train, when it is perfectly clear it’s not but hang around after the whistle and mosey along to the car park.

shame only 1901 get a season ticket for the car parks as I would buy one rather than trying to get one every game.

Every time I've used it for EDF they've loaded one bus at a time with 2 or 3 just sitting empty. On Monday, they were loading 2 together at one point but again, much of the time, there were others sitting empty with the doors closed. It'd surely be quicker too. I remember at Southampton they had at least half a dozen and told people just to jump on any bus, then filled the gaps.

 

[BNthree]

A lot of other grounds people happily park a 30 minute, or more, walk away however there's not a lot of options for doing that with the Amex. Pretty much whole of Brighton has parking zones and the rest of the surrounding area is countryside. Thought an enterprising farmer might have opened a nearby field up for parking on match days but seems the subsidies they get means they don't need to.

 

[Wozza]

I've heard away fans sing "Do-do-do, Football in a library" at most matches this season.

Edit: home and away.

 

[BN41Albion]

With the new smell wearing off, there are a few of these (especially from away fans). Looking at Molineux Mix for example, I read some quite familiar ones:

Noise:
Firstly, their fans think we are quiet and say that it was never like that in the Goldstone days. I'd say there was little argument last night, everyone on here is saying the atmosphere was very flat. But it's interesting because we all know the atmosphere isn't always like that, and yet we get the same comments even when it's not actually true. My conclusion is that the sound doesn't travel well. For the Marseille game I was sat near the Marseille fans and you couldn't hear the north much, yet I went down the other end for the last 5 mins and it clearly was noisy even before we scored.
In short, noise at the Amex doesn't travel well but this is common across many modern stadiums. I do wonder what fans of other clubs think of the noise they generate at home. I mean I've been to Wolves a few times and can honestly say they are about as noisy as West Ham.

Transport/Location:
The transport situation at the Amex is getting increasingly shit. Obviously we are now getting 30k+ every game whereas it was only up to 22k in the first season, so maybe that is to be expected. The reliance on the trains is a real problem though. Southern are absolutely shit regardless of the logistics of improving the quantity of trains. So too is the stewarding on and around the platforms where carriages are allowed to leave half empty. I'm not sure more car parking within walking distance is a complete solution either, as it seems there is always a huge bottleneck and queuing on the A27 slip road. I'd be surprised if the club hasn't looked at making improvements and would love to know what solutions are possible.

Other stuff:
Largely positive from pretty much every visitor. Drinks, pies, concourses, stadium look and feel, fan zones etc. All good.

Funny that on the tellybox on Monday might the atmosphere sounded decent first half (could tell it was both fans too as obviously recognise our songs) - second half gradually got quieter as we huffed and puffed creating little

 

[BN41Albion]

I've heard away fans sing "Do-do-do, Football in a library" at most matches this season.

I've heard that at pretty much every game that I've watched on telly this season - nothing unique to the Amex!

 

[BN41Albion]

Buy Stoke's stadium and relocate it.

No problem with atmosphere there even when it's half empty.

Such a myth - just like the Famous Anfield Atmosphere (a couple of times a season) and the famous selhurst atmosphere (because they've got a drum and a wooaa wooaa chant sung by about 100 black-clad knobs)

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I'm in the North and I can tell you it doesn't sound the same as the North at The Goldstone, they were very different times. There are a couple of issues, IMHO. First of all, there are singing factions within the North which seem to compete with each other, this causes either confusion or apathy. We also have more people who choose not to sing so those that do are spread out, maybe we need to buy some black work overalls and put them altogether wherever they want to go in the North?

Second issue, I think, is social change, a lot of songs have swearing in and / or historic references and the younger element either don't get it or aren't interested in singing it, parents are only really going to encourage kids to sing the "right songs".

Don't shoot the messenger, just my opinion, this is modern football.

 

[Weststander]

Such a myth - just like the Famous Anfield Atmosphere (a couple of times a season) and the famous selhurst atmosphere (because they've got a drum and a wooaa wooaa chant sung by about 100 black-clad knobs)

I’ve been to Anfield and Ibrox countless times over the last 35 years. My experiences were:
Anfield - quiet for 3pm KO’s, the exception when I saw the title winning game in 1990. Evenings special.
Ibrox - always incredible.

Others praised by the media:
Newcastle - quiet. They’ve only got noisy since the Murderers injected vast monies.
Upton Park - quiet.

 

[Monkey Man]

Let’s accept that we can’t expand the north stand. It’s then a case of maximising the noise from the small amount of fans in it. I’ve always assumed the major issue is the roof, which is far too high. Could we put in a lower false roof in? It would ruin the cosmetics but improve the acoustics.

Yes, I've come to that conclusion. A low roof can really amplify the acoustics, as you often see in smaller stadia. I know Bournemouth were quiet in the game against Liverpool (at least the bits I saw) but I have heard the fans sounding quite loud at Dean Court even thought there aren't many of them. The roofs of the stand turn quite a small space into more of a sound box, and at the Amex the design is totally different. (Better in almost every other way of course.)