A couple of non-football things about last night. The minute's silence was really poorly organised. A muttered English announcement followed by one in German, then nothing to signify the start of it. Resulted in a shambles of shushing before turning into applause. We really could do with examining the Dortmund methods of crowd participation. Being next to drums, surrounded by flags and constantly singing isn't for everyone, so the single tier stand should be devoted to it. Wembley's anathema to atmosphere, but I'd hate to carry any of that into the new ground when we eventually get there.
Early start this morning so I thought I would tune into talksh*te to hear what their "expert" view was on last nights result, they spoke as if Jan had never played left back in his life and they could only speak about the "big" clubs coming in for Poch and Sonny. Still it makes a change from selling Kane, Dele and Eriksen. Learned my lesson and returned the radio .....COYS
This was probably the best season for us to play Dortmund. Hopefully our fans will really see what the bar is just before we move.
Huh! You both gave up a bit early! I played club cricket for over 50 years. Gave up in my late 60s. Just the one knee replacement so far! Helps me to get up Wembley Way unaided! (Still have the urge to get out there and bowl a few overs, but commonsense stops me making a fool of myself.)
Agreed, it was poorly organised, although the applause seemed to originate from the Dortmund fans. As callous as this may sound, the reality is that there are too many of these minutes silence/applause at football matches. Yesterday’s was of course justified, but there are many which aren’t. What is also poor is that on CL nights, Paul Coyte cannot start his half time interview until the whole routine of CL regulation adverts have been completed. And then once he gets started, the crap Wembley acoustics mean him and Berbatov were pretty much talking to themselves.
What are your thoughts on the Dortmund style wall of fans and noise ? For visual impact it is very impressive but after some time does it just become white noise which has no impact on the game. Watching the game on TV last night the Dortmumd sound seemed to fade into the background as opposed to the Tottenham fans the sound rose and fell with the flow of the game . That said the new south stand will look and sound awesome with 17'000 home fans in full voice
I ****ing hate it. Most English football clubs have a history of songs and chants going back decades. There's also a tradition of humour (also racism unfortunately) but chanting to a drum loses all of that. I'd ban the ****ing drums along with Leicester's clappers and the playing of The Great Escape at England matches. Grrrrrr!
If any of us enter Wembley Stadium with a bottle of water, they insist on taking away the cap on the bottle, which is health and safety gone nuts. Yet somehow a Dortmund fan can take a bloody great drum in and drive everyone round the bend. That said, at least it contributed to a great atmosphere last night so fair play to them for that. The Wembley “experience” has been so sterile, that anything which generates an atmosphere is good, but the same monotonous drum beat every game ? Not so sure.
I love drums, I love the European culture when it comes to supporting their teams. It's unwavering support, primarily because the working class in other countries aren't being priced out like they are here so the true, die hard fans are still able to go. For instance, a Dortmund season ticket costs just around £150, my one at Spurs (which is one of the cheaper ones) is £995. I went to the Westfalenstadion last season, I can only say I'd love for our South Stand to be even half as good as what I witnessed of the Yellow Wall, it's truly a sight to behold.
I've heard that this will be part of the Tottenham experience, fans clip on with a harness and walk out to take the view
Sadly true. You could find a reason just about every week to wear a black armband, so who decides what constitutes an armband/silence match and what does not? Sadly it is often dictated by what the papers are going with, which is not necessarily the way to go. Sometimes it seems they are doing it to be seen to be doing the right thing, rather than doing the right thing - cynically I might say to avoid the criticism that would follow not doing the remembrance.
We have adopted public grieving from flowers at the roadside to public demonstrations at Diana's funeral. to minutes silence at sporting events. The minutes silence is possibly the least offensive, but offensive it is, for many of us. The loss of a family member or friend is obviously a deeply felt event and, in my view, should be respected by other people in a quiet and unobtrusive way. That these deeply personal times should be made public is a reflection on the very facile society we now live in. I also don't care if people I don't know get married have babies or even die especially when in the case of so called 'Royals' it's part of keeping them in their ridiculous medieval positions of power funded by you and me. It's only my natural politeness that keeps me quiet and it's that same politeness that is abused by these faux outpourings of grief.
I prefer loud applause + chanting a sportsmans' name (or any song that supporters long used for them) as a mark of remembrance at sporting events. As they were celebrated in life in their pomp, so it should be IMHO when they leave us. As for Lady Di, I woke up on the day, and was told : Lady Di is dead. My reply : that's that then.
Not speaking German, would be nice to have : 1. a list of the full repertoire of the songs Dortmund supporters usually sing 2. info on how old those songs are 3. any examples of "off the cuff" songs they devise when particular opposition teams/players are on the pitch
