Spurs in the FA Cup, January 2003 will live long in the memory. And the ground was barely 3/4 full, since we'd played - and beaten - them in the league a week before.
The two things lots of people said were the reasons for doing this were: - Give us more of an advantage on the pitch with away fans not behind the goal. - Better atmosphere in the stands Safe to say neither has happened! I definitely preferred how it was previously, I noticed at forest last week they had songs starting from different parts of the ground and that's what we used to have. On another note Bournemouth are the next visitors which will bring the first test of a high profile game and how the police escorts will work/what route they'll take. They always bring more than a few dickheads looking to kick off so it'll be interesting to see if the police can control it as well as they did previously.
I always though that was utter bollocks from the club to be honest, we had some incredible atmospheres under the old layout. In my opinion, it was all just a cover story for the club to enhance the corporate side of the club, with their wine bars, improved hospitality lounges and pubs which wouldn't have been possible otherwise. It also gave them the opportunity to sort out the Itchen North "yobbos" who the club had been trying to clamp down on for years beforehand as the corporates behind didn't like it.
Yep I think sorting the itchen north problem was probably one of the primary motivations along with freeing up the boxes behind. I'm not someone who loves being next to the away fans but I do think having them to bounce off can help the atmosphere, especially when there's **** all to get excited about on the pitch. Will be weird against the skates next season when they'll be taking the piss with fans either side just sat down in silence.
Coincidently this was posted today: I've only been to one home game this season (in northam) and the atmosphere was as good if not better than previous seasons. Considering this has been the worst season in our history, it is pretty hard to judge the atmosphere. Yet most I've spoken to have said it has been a positive move.
Fair enough! I do think it is a tough season to fairly judge. Next season compared to last should give us a better idea.
It is to a degree of course. But it's been poor for most games even when we've competed well. I go back to the Liverpool game where we took the lead and when we conceded equaliser offered nothing to try and see the team over the line. Fact is at least half the Northam aren't interested in the slightest. As I said last Summer we simply don't have that many singers. As I said I liked having the songs start from different areas and having away fans to bounce off can help during quieter periods. It'll be really weird for the Pompey game next season not having any fans near them giving **** (in a general way I mean not a fake hold me back tragic way).
As someone right in the middle of Northam it sounds great if you’re in the thick of it but I can imagine if you’re halfway down the other end it’s quiet. Atmosphere has been a massive issue for a fair few seasons and it’s the classic issue of ****e football and expensive tickets. I would also like to throw another big issue and that’s that our songs are ****ing dreadful. So combine all that together and you’ll be looking at no change anytime soon. As pessimistic as that is though I do think it’ll be brilliant when we next hit form and actually have good football to cheer for.
Here’s another issue for us The Chapel, notoriously not loud, there’s a lot of Seniors and Familes there, does a bit when times are better, responds to Northam at times, but a long way away And we now have standing away fans next to us, during a season when we’re almost always losing. It’s a real imbalance, they should be nearer the Northam, which would stimulate our noisiest area I suspect Health and Safety don’t want the two standing area together It also messes with our entry and exit by forcing us in/out of the Marine Parade route and makes the pedestrian bridge difficult to access The Chapel ‘experience’ has been made much worse by the move
Agree. Bringing the away fans through the city is madness. I remember after the Ipswich game there were a few Ipswich fans goading Saints fans and it ended up in a fight (albeit small) but imagine what it might be like when we play Pompey!! As someone else mentioned, when in the Northam it seems really loud but from the chapel end the overall atmosphere is not what it was.
I said right from this first being mooted I was curious about what route they'll use to escort away fans for high profile matches. They advise away fans to go through all the parks but that seems like it'd be a nightmare for a proper police escort of high numbers? Find out in a couple of weeks I suppose.
I am in the Itchen (as you prob remember Libby) and my exit has always been out of the Itchen and towards the Chapel end towards the car. Every week now (lol when I go anyway) there are more away fans on my route than home fans for the first bit. An accident waiting to happen IMO.
You mention Pompey - the Fratton End doesn’t have a problem generating atmosphere with the away fans down the other end of the pitch. Neither does the Kop, Stretford End, and countless other grounds. In my opinion, where the away fans sit has little to no bearing on the atmosphere. I’d probably say the atmosphere this season is similar to last, but when you consider that last season we won most weeks and this season we’ve won once at home, the new layout has great potential for future times when we aren’t losing 95% of home games. Hopefully that starts next season.
I don't think it's a huge impact but it can definitely help during the quieter periods and when there's nothing to cheer on the pitch. Especially for a club like us with such a limited song book. I barely ever hear the away fans unless the Northam is completely silent. You really can't compare Fratton with SMS too in terms of noise travelling. Also all of those 3 grounds mentioned also have smaller groups of singers at the opposite end of the ground to their main singing section which the club have deliberately tried to avoid here. Last bit was one of the big mistakes imo. As I've said before they should have put some safe standing in the chapel too. I think the atmosphere was definitely better last year (early season especially) but not really comparable given the difference in performances. I preferred having the different pockets of noise though.
So I'm sorry to bring the mood down somewhat but I genuinely feel this has been an absolute disaster and one of the worst decisions the club has made. One of my first objections to this in the original fred before it was confirmed was that I didn't believe we had 7k fans who regularly wanted to sing and contribute to atmosphere. That very much felt the case last season when I was in it but being at the opposite end yesterday made it even more obvious that there's a few individual pockets and it's not really a proper end at all. I reckon before the equaliser there was a maximum of about 3/4 occasions where the entire end was singing in unison. Too many atmosphere tourists in there which is one of the reasons I ****ed it off. It just feels to me that we're trying to be something we're not by creating a 'wall' and we're simply not that sort of club/fanbase. We don't have that united group when it comes to singing but instead have different types of people who would congregate in different areas and that generally worked well for us. I still can't believe some people genuinely believed that tucking the away fans in a corner would make them quieter/less dominant. Somebody should have told the Wrexham fans If anything it's actually made it worse imo as previously even noisy away supports could be drowned out by either side when our fans were on it. An obvious example is that I've never been impressed with Pompey's support at St Mary's as whenever they tried to get going they'd immediately get drowned out by fans either side and end up giving up. Now you have families one side and the second most expensive seats in the ground on the other. I honestly fear that this upcoming derby will be the worst ever at St Mary's for us atmosphere wise. I still think the routes to and from the away end are a disaster waiting to happen too for those high risk games. I fail to see how a police escort through the parks can be effective compared to one long wide road. We didn't have any of those last season but likely to have some this and I think we'll see a fair few issues. Imagine the skates visiting in the league cup and having to be escorted through that route in an evening match. Would be chaos. Rant over.
100% all of the above. I find the away fans noisier now and there is no comeback. However, if we improve on the pitch it may get better. On the away fans end, to me it was safer before, now anyone from the Chapel, Kingsland or Itchen can inadvertently find themselves walking back with away fans. I cannot see how they can be safely segregated. Not sure how the Police signed off on it.
