Atmosphere at St James

I have to say that from the age of 11-26 I used to love the Corner in the Gallowgate!! Awesome atmosphere, loved the crowd surges where you be crushed to ****, and also loved the chants from the paddocks,, "Sing in the Corner"!! Happy Days!!! These young kids dont know what they have missed!!! I think I sound like an old fart!! LOL. BUT IT WAS ****IN AWESOME THOUGH!!!!

 

There was nothing quite like the whole Gallowgate (or latterly the Milburn Paddocks when the transformation began) jumping. On a cold day you were warm! You could feel the whole ground move. Someone went down? A circle would open up around them and you'd be yanked to your feet by fellow supporters. Then as you say the surging crushes. I know people would say "that's exactly why it went all seater" but I can't actually ever remember being hurt!

 

I'm intrigued by the "safe standing" campaign - I think it could massively improve atmosphere without going back to worrying about being crushed... seems to work in Germany anyway.

 

Certainly there's something about the mindset of an all-seater stadium which isn't conducive to singing. Seats are for grey haired people waiting for buses, and as much as I love grey haired people waiting for buses, they're measured tutting isn't effective in filling a stadium with noise.

My mate sits in the Sir John Hall Stand. He has people in front of him with pic-nics at half-time and he's told to sit down and shut up if he starts chanting