I know there is a set of "fans" that have been derided for the past 15 or 20 years. They are generally called the "prawn sandwich brigade". But I have noticed on forums, chats with mates at pubs watching games and at live matches that the has been a more recent divide. I have seen and heard fans slagging people off for not wanting to stand, for taking photos, and accusing them of not being "real" fans. Some fans have been very anti and wary of "new fans" accusing them of being plastics. The most obvious current example of this is at West Ham but it has happened at other clubs that have got bigger grounds and gates such as City, United, Chelsea etc. This ain't a dig at any club cos I watched spurs fans at Wembley slagging off fans around them this way. So I was wondering what people on here thought. My view is that even if someone is new going to the ground it does not make them plastics. The fans who tend to do it are often season ticket holders which imo doesn't mean you are more of a fan than someone is not. I have been a spurs fan since 1974 and going on and off (stopping for money, personal and family reasons) and I think that I am just as "good" a fan when I can't go to matches as when I can and think this is true of others. I do think that clubs could help by having and publicising areas of the ground as "noisy areas" so that fans who don't mind standing (or who can stand for a whole match) and want to chant can all congregate. Spurs seem to be doing this with at one stand in our new ground. The more clubs that get bigger grounds, the more this issue will grow so what do people think?
West Ham are having problems due to movin so everyone is all over the place. I prefer to stand so when I go to St Marys I get my ticket in one of 2 areas which means I can stand all game without problem. I'm pretty sure Upton park would have had this as infact almost every ground in the country. Didn't United start a 'singing section' in the past couple of years recently for this sort of thing? There is a very simple solution to this issue nationwide though - safe standing.
When Arsenal moved to the Emirates, they actively encouraged more of the corporate and day tripper type fans as they knew they would spend more money. One of the other things that happened was that all of the people who used to stand (then sit) together were suddenly split up, and you were just as likely to find yourself sitting next to a family with children, or a group Japanese tourists, rather than the die hard that was next to you for every home game. The game has changed since the mega bucks came into it, every club is chasing the corporate money now and as a result, naturally the demographic of the fans has changed with it. I've been asked to sit down, stop shouting / swearing at games before and to me that is a completely alien concept at a football match, but there you go. The solution for me is small sections of safe standing, where those who want to sing, stand and chant etc can all choose to go together.
I'm shocked a Man Utd fan is trying to deny it like... You did set a trend though, other clubs have tried it since!
Except it has never happened. Strange thing to claim it has though. Making things up to achieve what exactly? Weird.
all clubs should have seperate standing areas, singing areas, swearing areas, family areas, and sitting areas. If you want to sit and sing or stand and swear you are ****ed as you can't do a combination
To be fair, this particular true Liverpool fan has never seen the inside of Anfield and has openly admitted that he doesn't watch his club when they're going through bad patches playing bad football as he demands to be entertained. He reads a lot of fanzines though.
United did hire a sound engineer and architect to work on remodelling parts of OT to make sure the crowd noise sounded louder, am sure of that much. Remember reading about it a couple of years ago.
Just had a quick Google and can't see anything so you may well be right. Remember it being discussed on TalkSport, not exactly the most reliable source There are bits about Man Utd (and Chelsea) looking into it but seems to be rumours on forums mainly.
