Having moved away and come back closer I notice Sunderland is quite an angry town. There are good reasons of course after years of poor investment. That spills out into the football. I think it’s starting to change and feel more hopeful with a few more positive physical developments and more new places to go and entertainment.
A few recent quotes here ... "Going to home game is a completely miserable experience at the moment. **** football, barely ever win, **** atmosphere and it takes absolutely ages to get home. If I didn’t have a season ticket I’d not be bothering." "You try and start a song these days, home or away and people look at you weird. We've completely lost our good atmosphere and it's shame." "The atmosphere is ****e when we are winning too. It runs a lot deeper than what's on the pitch. We've grown in numbers but it's ruined our atmosphere. The South Stand should be our vocal end but instead it's full of tourists and families. Cardiff took the piss as did every other club this season and our own fans stand back and don't reply." All from the Coventry forum a few months back.
No we don't in answer to the question, personally I think all seater stadiums are a problem especially in ones that are full of empty seats, as of late, at the SoL for example It was never thus at Roker Park, with standing at both ends even in the bad times , all it took was a shout usually from the Roker end to light the touchpaper Also lots of large groups of regulars, mostly male workmates also helped the atmosphere, if I am allowed to say that these days.
Could easily be said about here recently. As Clocky says, all seater stadium have probably sapped a lot of the atmosphere out of the fans.
That's my point tbh. Part of the problem is that more and more people only see 'a reward' as something to get excited about. It reminds me of chimps, in scientific studies, when they work out a puzzle and get a grape.
We have, but, despite going for 44 years in August this year, I still have a positive outlook on SAFC. Guess I’m one of the lucky ones
Boro failed to make the playoffs despite starting the season with high hopes and they're now on the outside looking in. … We’re two games from Wembley and three from the Premier League. At the start of the season we were 46 games from that … … this is massive progress
I think there’s an underlying apathy amongst some of our support as some have come to expect that regardless of how well we are doing as a club, it’s bound to go wrong, it’s the Sunderland way. This is magnified by the social media age of any numpty being able to promote themselves and their views, suspicions and anything else as being fact. Well I’ve been supporting Sunderland for nearly 50 years. I’ve seen some great times and I’ve seen some ****e times. I’ll hold on to both as without the ****e, you can’t learn to appreciate the great. I’m looking forward to two all important games and I’m hoping for a third before this season is out. If I watch my team get back to the Premier league by winning at Wembley it’ll be the greatest day I’ve ever had supporting this club. Doing it at Wembley makes it an occasion that winning the league doesn’t afford you. If this season doesn’t end the way I hope, I’ll be there to go again next year and I expect most other supporters would do the same. HAWAY ME BONNY LADS!!!!!
An emotional fanbase with high expectations, not saying that it's good or bad, just an observation, most northern/scottish places with a history of heavy industry have a similar dynamic.
Spot on marra, us oldies, been following the lads for 51 years, prefer places like here.. rather than trying to be social influencers on other platforms. Yes we have our differences, but as we age we recognise the highs and the lows are all part of following the lads. Cannot wait for Friday... Hhhaaa'wwwwaaaaayyyyyy the lads
Good point mate, that makes sense of a lot of what I see on forums, etc. People aren't content to stop going to games, not renew SCs or dislike a player/manager/owner ... ... they have to start a campaign, claim 'their mates' are all doing the same and try to get other people to think/do the same. If someone wants to stop supporting the club, or going to the games, the answer is really quite simple ... ... just do it and leave other people to support the club through good times and bad.
