Half might be a bit of an exaggeration there. How many clubs brought 1.5k or less last season? Can only think of Preston, Hull, Blackburn and Rotherham off the top of my head. And two of those were midweek.
Well we’ve flipped it this year, for the first time ever at SMS & it definitely gives the away side an advantage playing towards their fans in the 2nd half. And I don’t believe it’s provided us an advantage playing towards Chapel 1st half. At the very least, let’s swap it around.
Yep but now our ‘Northam Wall Advantage’ is diminished by the fact they have moved the away fans and the away team play that way second half. Think Ipswich, Leicester and Liverpool games. Deffo had an advantage.
The moving of the away fans has been a disaster in my opinion. Could have had a really good thing with the away fans next to it but now it feels awkward seeing them over there.
Not sure I understand? Previously we had away teams kicking towards away fans in second half and us kicking towards a quiet stand. Now we have away teams kicking towards their fans still but we also kick towards our home end. Nothing has changed for the away sides has it?
This. Liverpool always like to kick towards the Kop in the 2nd half which means the away team kick towards their fans then as well. It's not the same but the concept is the same.
Yeah I get it, but wish the fans were the other side as I really think it gives them an extra boost kicking towards them. Same as last year.
At the end of the day the acoustics in St.Marys are just ****. People that sit in the Chapel say they can hear the away sing throughout the game and can't hear the Northam wall at all. The Northam wall say they sing the entire game and can't hear the away at all. I sit roughly midway between the Northam and the away and can hear the Northam far more than I can hear the away, whereas before it got moved I could hear the away just as much, so I do think it has dampened the away noise. IMO the Northam wall has improved as the season has gone on as it has become more united in singing the same song at the same time. This change has also come at a time when we've been absolutely **** on the pitch, like as bad as it gets ****, and we've had **** all to cheer about. Considering that, I think the crowd has actually been pretty decent. Whatever the club did or didn't do it wouldn't please everyone.
I get the arguments but I’m assuming then Saints changed the way we play ie Northam first for 20 odd seasons, to this year swapping around, just so the away team aren’t kicking towards their fans in the first half? Makes no sense to me?
I prefer the new layout. And what they've done with the fan zones has, for me, made going to the games more enjoyable and more of a day out, even with the results on the pitch being ****e. I agree with the poster above who said the atmosphere has improved as the season's gone on, and I think it will get better still. We've not even had 10 league games in this new setup, and next to nothing to cheer. Next season you'd imagine it will be much better, especially if (when?) relegated and going for promotion. Not too worried about when the away team shoots towards their fans. They have the advantage by stepping onto the pitch and playing Saints.
The changes to the ground etc are the only positive from SR’s takeover so far. I like the new match experience and the safe standing. They have done a lot wrong but at least they’re trying to improve the experience. However the biggest improvement would be.. actually winning a game and signing players that aren’t terrible
Yep. In the Chapel, I barely hear anything from the Northam now. Whereas Spurs' away fans the other week were some of the loudest I've ever heard at SMS. They really don't like Levy.
And yet I sit in the Kingsland and honestly barely heard them. I left the game shocked about how quiet they were, especially for a team that had just won 0-5. From where I was sat, the Northam were pretty good, especially in the second half. The acoustics are crazy! Completely different experience of the atmosphere from the same game.
it's very hard to draw conclusions when we lose every match - that would test the noise levels of any fanbase. In my opinion its better. I've had to watch a couple of home games on TV and the Saints fans sound louder whilst the away fans are much less vocal, until they go 5-0 up when it's pretty obvious what is going to happen.
By far, by a million miles, the best atmosphere in St Mary's was last year v West Brom, play off semi. Still get goose bumps remembering that. When Smallbone scored, the roof literally nearly came off.
I’m not sure that can ever be topped tbh. It was incredible, levels above anything else, you could feel it in the air, we the fans were just never letting West Brom beat us that day. Obviously we had Wembley after which was an unbelievable day too. But it was a very different atmosphere to that day at St.Marys. It was tribal! No matter how **** this season has been, that will always be special.
