After seeing your fortnightly rants I kept an eye & ear out, against Burnley, to try to identify the problem. I'm normally so wrapped up in the game I haven't much idea of what happened until MOTD I was in the south west end of the West Stand in the 1st half and the two corners of the North Stand in the 2nd. What I noticed is that there were plenty of people singing but in pockets all over the place, you were probably one of them. The trouble is that there are loads of 'the wrong people' in between. They're the type who turn round & look if you 'Haway' too loudly or scream at the officials. They're old people, women, parents with gaggle of kids or casual visitors who don't seem to have a clue and don't sing. That puts off those who do normally make some noise tbh. In 'the good old days' people knew that if you were in either of the two ends you'd be liable to be knocked about or carried down the terrace if we scored. Above all you'd have to tolerate bad language, racism/sexism/homophobia but mainly mass singing & roaring all around you. If you didn't like it you could go down the wings or even into the paddocks. The working class, uninhabited, lads who made all the noise have been replaced by those who applaud after the event, as if they were in the theatre, and don't seem to appreciate the effect of urging the players on ...... .... away games have more adults, less women & kids and none of the occasional 'supporters'. To answer your question, there's no answer. p.s. I'm really pissed off today, I've had to cancel my trip to the Fulham match after rearranging loads of stuff to be able to get down
Sorry to hear about the Fulham trip mate, I have a feeling it is going to be a canny game... As for your explanation, this is something that has crossed my mind...The South Stand was meant to be the designated singing area when they shifted the away fans, but it appears that it has largely been inhabited by people who probably want to be where the atmosphere is but are not willing to participate to contribute..
Sick as **** mate, it'll no doubt end up as a game that's talked about for decades I never planned to go then had the chance to get down, now I'm sat at home seething & trying to ignore Captain Morgan!
Yeah but sadly that will never happen for any club... The die hard away fans are the ones that can go week in week out without any recourse. Most of them (not all) are untied, few family issues and no "Saturday night job". I used to be one of them and used to go crazy. Never missed an away game from my 19th birthday through until the first time I got married (1998). Money was no issue and no night time singing job that stopped me shouting **** out of anything for the hjome games and away games. Sadly I have no way of shouting like hell at the home games now as I sing on a night... That is the only reason I don't do it - pure self control has become a requirement after a number of missed gigs with bands and solo stuff I used to do.If all of the away fans that went to every away game sat together at every home game then the atmosphere would be different - but they likely all sit in different sections. I also think that moving the away fans up to the top of the North stand affected the atmosphere as the south stand used to be noisy as **** but it isn;t any longer. It's so difficuly to create an atmosphere at Sudnerland even for the team playing well... Sad reality of the game
Designated singing area ! What a fecking stupid idea . . . . nearly as stupid as stifling the atmosphere by 'moving' the 'away' fans as they have
Incredible this, never fails to amaze me the calibre of our away support. One area for which we can be truly proud as a club and supporters. I have a dream, 15,000 of us in Amsterdam/Prague/Milan on a Thursday night in the Europa.... It will happen, surely?
I think I'll cry on the day mate, haha. People give it the 'affect the season blah blah' ****e, trust me, I would sacrifice a testicle for a trip to Europe to watch the lads. I tell you what, Europe would sharp know who Sunderland was then, we'd take thousands anywhere, and the knock on effect in terms of visibility and the players we could draw from the continent, mind boggling. We must treat tonight right cos at the very least there is a golden chance for us in the cup, even potentially as a losing semi or finalist.
Avoid Liverpool and Arsenal until the Final and we can beat anyone left in on our day…….could be our year Lads ! Best start saving, two trips to pay for.
Can you even imagine it man, even a Portuguese club, or a dream for me Malaga! Monaco, Rome, anywhere in Deutschland. It would just be immense. Christ, I'll go to Kiev if I have to!
True. Win the Europa and get the CL as well, unrealistic, yeah, but not as unrealistic as finishing top 4!
Could be done mind, certainly our most viable chance of getting CL football, ffp makes it near impossible for us to get CL, even if we were bought by an Arab
Yes, they are very loyal and god knows what it costs to go to London midweek. Bradford away will be a cracker as well if we get through, I fancy going myself, but I am not on the loyalty points set up. And is the match on to watch anywhere ?.
