RIP St James Atmosphere

[McFaul 35]

If you've got people sitting behind you, it's fucking moronic to think that you can just stand all game.

To be fair, I did the right thing and apologised to the old mackem behind me, he must be about 50 odd, and I was on one against Arsenal, he accepted it as well, I wouldn't have given what I said to him, but it's Ashley's fault this all of it, it's one of the top 3 worst things he's done and that's a big statement.

In terms of your own selfish ranking system. In terms of the well being of NUFC it hardly ranks at all.

You talk pish.

[Guest alex]

See the crowd was quite low again yesterday. I know people are skint etc. but that's not the only reason and we could hardly have had a better start (under the circumstances). Doubt 10k under capacity makes much difference to Ashley like.

[Happy Face 29]

I know for a fact I'm going to get a letter through this week. The stewards were writing down my seat number and others behind me stood up.

 

If they cancel my season ticket it's no big deal; I'll just buy a ticket on the gate for every match in the back row and continue to stand. Again, 'best fans in the world'. Biggest joke in World Football that statement.

And what will that prove?

 

Personally I miss the terraces, if not the lack of a roof and medieval sanitation. Unfortunately, standing is a thing of the past. The lads and lasses up in the LC were given a temporary reprieve from the reality of today’s football. What they’ve lost is what many of the supporters they slag off lost years ago. Yet, they seem to be so self obsessed they can't see they aren’t the first supporters to stand up or the first supporters to have had that option taken away.

 

The poor atmosphere has fuck all to do with the existence or otherwise of the LC. It’s a consequence of a changing clientele, family friendly regulations and an owner that is kicking the spirit out of the club.

 

Nothing is going to change until the money stops rolling in. So if you really want to bring back the noise the starting point is not buying tickets.

 

Your cause and effect is all screwy. The money hasn't caused the game to be sanitised, the sanitistion has brought money in. Hillsbrough gave the excuse to push what had been wanted (all seaters) politically and by owners for ages....and all with subsidies for building work. Me or anyone else walking away won't affect sky subscriptions one iota.

 

Of course the LC is not the be all and end all. The stadium had great atmospheres before it and will have again, despite the crackdown. The stadium has always had a 'hardcore' section though, where those that want to sing know where they'll be together. Whether it was the Gallowgate corner, the k section. The scoreboard. The Leazes or the corner. Now there isn't. That's a shame and its not something we need explaining, but its something that hurts people who've been going and getting moved about for decades.

 

In fact, standing was much worse once we were moved to the corner than it had been since the gallowgate closed. So there is a happy medium to be had.

[Tom 13840]

We were playing Fulham, I can never expect a good atmosphere against them.

[StevenL 0]

Cabaye came across to the Strawberry Corner to take a corner. Few cheers then I hit him with 'He's French, He's Class, You'd let him shag ya lass, Yohan Cabaye, Yohan Cabaaaaye'.

'

Appears it was the funniest thing people had heard in BoreBerry Corner.

 

In all honesty, the atmosphere at SJP is one of the worst in premier league football. It can be amazing, occassionally. Mostly however it's a quiet pit of despair and desperation.

 

Who the fuck wants to go to the match to sit on their arse quietly with a bag of revels and a bovril.

 

42 thousand fans there is a disgrace aswell. Best fans in the world' .... Pfffft.

 

I saw that. Thought you were a drunk arsehole.

[Matt 0]

I've been on the back row of the SE corner for 6 years now and yesterday was my worst matchday experience. In the past standing on the back row was fine and generally people in front were sat down for most of the game- no-one was bothered by it but now it seems loads of people have been moved in and they want to stand up for long periods in the rows further down. Then you have an army of stewards writing down where people are standing but not actually doing anything about it- retards haven't even figured out that people moved rows to stand and just crammed themselves into spaces which weren't there.

 

It's got nothing to do with NUFC, they are required by law to enforce that people sit, so if you want to change it then call your MP. I think there should be standing allowed at games in specially designed areas- but that's not the case now so people have to live with it. There was an old bloke who could see fuck all on Sunday and told the steward who did nothing but sit there watching the game.

[Gemmill 34427]

I've been on the back row of the SE corner for 6 years now and yesterday was my worst matchday experience. In the past standing on the back row was fine and generally people in front were sat down for most of the game- no-one was bothered by it but now it seems loads of people have been moved in and they want to stand up for long periods in the rows further down. Then you have an army of stewards writing down where people are standing but not actually doing anything about it- retards haven't even figured out that people moved rows to stand and just crammed themselves into spaces which weren't there.

 

It's got nothing to do with NUFC, they are required by law to enforce that people sit, so if you want to change it then call your MP. I think there should be standing allowed at games in specially designed areas- but that's not the case now so people have to live with it. There was an old bloke who could see fuck all on Sunday and told the steward who did nothing but sit there watching the game.

Aye this is it. I understand that people used to stand, and now they've been moved they want to continue standing, but to just stand up and ruin other people's enjoyment of the match cos "I'm fuckin from the singin area me leyyyyk" is absolute bollocks.

 

The club are fucking arseholes for moving people, but don't retaliate by being an even bigger arsehole.

[Howmanheyman 26793]

I'm pleased I didn't move elsewhere. I would never stand all game if someone behind me was sitting down but I know for a fact I wouldn't last long elsewhere if I had a few pints in me and I was surrounded by people who are merely spectators and don't seem to get involved at all. When I say 'involved' I don't just mean singing but the occasional, "HA'WAY LADS! GET FUCKING STUCK INTO THE BASTARDS!" or just a "GO ON!" when we start to go on the attack. It's hardly a so called fucking Uber fan it's just backing your side. There's quite a few thousand people should give it a go.

[Happy Face 29]

I saw another couple of notable characters from Level7 in my/their new area of St James’ today. It’s a bit odd seeing someone who you think you know, or at least have a vague familiarity with, somewhere you’re not expecting to. Outside of their usual context these people are not the people you remember at all, they seem ill at ease and unfamiliar. As we move through the season I’m sure I’ll see more - though not with the people I usually, or used to, see them with.

 

The politics of why/how the removal of the singing section has occurred has been done to death but only two games in and already I’d like to tell people how it actually feels.

 

I entered the ground today behind a lad who used to sit a couple of rows in front of me in Level7. We’ve never spoken to each other, but I’m sure we’re aware of each other’s existence purely through season-on-season proximity. He, like me I presume, is still getting used to our new section, but even in the 3/4 seconds I spent near him I could tell he was different. He was probably one of the noisiest, sweariest, shoutiest fans I encountered up in L7, there were countless other contenders though. For some reason I felt he didn’t have his usual Stone Island swagger.

 

L7 knew what it was about. It was making a racket, standing, shouting, swearing, abusing, bouncing, clashing, cheering, booing.. It wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but you knew where it was if you wanted it. It didn’t matter if you fell over a row while celebrating onto someone else, or whacked the guy next to you as you screamed at some diving kernt, or they hit you, or you were hit in the back of the head by someone’s paper aeroplane, none of this mattered - there was never any control, little stewarding and no occurrences of anyone being injured to my knowledge.

 

Now it’s all different, all my points of reference are gone, save my brother who I still sit next to, though I know he feels similar to me. I don’t know any of the people around me and they don’t know me. When we scored today I wasn’t at all lost in the moment, I was hugely aware of the old guy next to me, and how bad it would be if in my half-arsed jumping I knocked him, or stood on his leg, or his coat, or his wife. Up in L7 I wouldn’t have give a toss; let’s go fucking mental. Noone cared about their coat when we scored then. Even though there were plenty up there worth hundreds.

 

This is not why I come to football - to sit still and watch. I can do that at home.

 

I’m veering dangerously into criticising my fellow supporters now, but that’s really not my intention, if that’s how they want to watch, that’s their prerogative, it’s just not mine.

 

I can’t even do ‘stand up if you love the toon’ properly now - I’m wracked with self-consciousness about standing up, given it took 40seconds of the new season to be asked not to do so. Peppered around I can see other L7 lads up, defiant, looking at everyone else like they expect the same. There will be hundreds like me in there looking back at these lads, apologetic; we used to be mental, now we’re fucking sectioned.

 

You can’t even clap properly sitting down anyway.

 

One lad near me sung himself hoarse today. I heard him try to speak at the end and he couldn’t. That was hundreds of us most of the time ‘up there’, but how many joined him in his songs today? Not many. At the end of the game he met his mate who must sit within eyeshot of him in the ground, luckily in a ‘pocket’ of L7 lads - not lone wolves like me and my brother, the hoarse lad, the countless others of ‘single’ lads who found identity and collective voice up in the gods. If you were ‘on your own’ season ticket wise and applied for a move, that’s exactly what you got: on your own. Up in Level 7 even though you were too, you were actually never alone, as you were part of something much bigger. His mate actually congratulated him on being “a one man army” or words to that effect. I wanted to tell him everything I’m writing; apologise, explain.

 

My message to him is that I’m sorry, and probably a lot of us are. I feel like I’m not myself at the games currently, I’ve retreated into my shell, and it’s now going to be very difficult indeed to come back out this season. Me and my brother are already discussing the next, and that’s not where you want to be two games into the current one.

 

Now, I know nothing about psychology, but I know that if the club wanted a strategy to ‘kill’ Level 7, and it’s anti-Ashley chants, they definitely spoke to someone who did. We’re not only just separated geographically, making it harder to get songs going, our collective consciousness has been displaced, rearranged and excised.

 

All of this isn’t about testosterone fueled, self-indulgent, machismo posturing over the a man’s right to ruck and shout or ‘let out the working-man’s aggression’ or whatever some pseudo-sociologist or over-romanticising intellectual would have you believe, but simply a desire to enjoy a game, played by our team, in the way we want. Which is fucking loudly. And we can’t, it’s impossible.

 

It was canny to see the younguns up in our olds seats though; pogoing, chanting and singing. A little bit of the ethos up there still lives on. I don’t agree with the “The Leazes” chants that some have been doing in my area, it’s hardly going to help matters in our new home, but I understand their frustration. A few times the Ryan Taylor chant got going, but it’s just not the same.

 

About five minutes from time someone near tried to start, “…one Level 7, there’s only one Level 7..” - needless to say after about twenty seconds, and five additional voices it died on it’s arse.

 

There’s no Level 7.

 

http://tt9m.tumblr.com/

[Guest Your Name Here]

I'm pleased I didn't move elsewhere. I would never stand all game if someone behind me was sitting down but I know for a fact I wouldn't last long elsewhere if I had a few pints in me and I was surrounded by people who are merely spectators and don't seem to get involved at all. When I say 'involved' I don't just mean singing but the occasional, "HA'WAY LADS! GET FUCKING STUCK INTO THE BASTARDS!" or just a "GO ON!" when we start to go on the attack. It's hardly a so called fucking Uber fan it's just backing your side. There's quite a few thousand people should give it a go.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve never noticed you slagging off the other parts of the ground. As far as I can tell you moved to the LC and just enjoyed it for what it was without the childish point scoring. And I’m sure there were many others like you in the LC.

 

Where were you before you moved to the LC?

[Guest Your Name Here]

I saw another couple of notable characters from Level7 in my/their new area of St James’ today. It’s a bit odd seeing someone who you think you know, or at least have a vague familiarity with, somewhere you’re not expecting to. Outside of their usual context these people are not the people you remember at all, they seem ill at ease and unfamiliar. As we move through the season I’m sure I’ll see more - though not with the people I usually, or used to, see them with.

 

The politics of why/how the removal of the singing section has occurred has been done to death but only two games in and already I’d like to tell people how it actually feels.

 

I entered the ground today behind a lad who used to sit a couple of rows in front of me in Level7. We’ve never spoken to each other, but I’m sure we’re aware of each other’s existence purely through season-on-season proximity. He, like me I presume, is still getting used to our new section, but even in the 3/4 seconds I spent near him I could tell he was different. He was probably one of the noisiest, sweariest, shoutiest fans I encountered up in L7, there were countless other contenders though. For some reason I felt he didn’t have his usual Stone Island swagger.

 

L7 knew what it was about. It was making a racket, standing, shouting, swearing, abusing, bouncing, clashing, cheering, booing.. It wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but you knew where it was if you wanted it. It didn’t matter if you fell over a row while celebrating onto someone else, or whacked the guy next to you as you screamed at some diving kernt, or they hit you, or you were hit in the back of the head by someone’s paper aeroplane, none of this mattered - there was never any control, little stewarding and no occurrences of anyone being injured to my knowledge.

 

Now it’s all different, all my points of reference are gone, save my brother who I still sit next to, though I know he feels similar to me. I don’t know any of the people around me and they don’t know me. When we scored today I wasn’t at all lost in the moment, I was hugely aware of the old guy next to me, and how bad it would be if in my half-arsed jumping I knocked him, or stood on his leg, or his coat, or his wife. Up in L7 I wouldn’t have give a toss; let’s go fucking mental. Noone cared about their coat when we scored then. Even though there were plenty up there worth hundreds.

 

This is not why I come to football - to sit still and watch. I can do that at home.

 

I’m veering dangerously into criticising my fellow supporters now, but that’s really not my intention, if that’s how they want to watch, that’s their prerogative, it’s just not mine.

 

I can’t even do ‘stand up if you love the toon’ properly now - I’m wracked with self-consciousness about standing up, given it took 40seconds of the new season to be asked not to do so. Peppered around I can see other L7 lads up, defiant, looking at everyone else like they expect the same. There will be hundreds like me in there looking back at these lads, apologetic; we used to be mental, now we’re fucking sectioned.

 

You can’t even clap properly sitting down anyway.

 

One lad near me sung himself hoarse today. I heard him try to speak at the end and he couldn’t. That was hundreds of us most of the time ‘up there’, but how many joined him in his songs today? Not many. At the end of the game he met his mate who must sit within eyeshot of him in the ground, luckily in a ‘pocket’ of L7 lads - not lone wolves like me and my brother, the hoarse lad, the countless others of ‘single’ lads who found identity and collective voice up in the gods. If you were ‘on your own’ season ticket wise and applied for a move, that’s exactly what you got: on your own. Up in Level 7 even though you were too, you were actually never alone, as you were part of something much bigger. His mate actually congratulated him on being “a one man army” or words to that effect. I wanted to tell him everything I’m writing; apologise, explain.

 

My message to him is that I’m sorry, and probably a lot of us are. I feel like I’m not myself at the games currently, I’ve retreated into my shell, and it’s now going to be very difficult indeed to come back out this season. Me and my brother are already discussing the next, and that’s not where you want to be two games into the current one.

 

Now, I know nothing about psychology, but I know that if the club wanted a strategy to ‘kill’ Level 7, and it’s anti-Ashley chants, they definitely spoke to someone who did. We’re not only just separated geographically, making it harder to get songs going, our collective consciousness has been displaced, rearranged and excised.

 

All of this isn’t about testosterone fueled, self-indulgent, machismo posturing over the a man’s right to ruck and shout or ‘let out the working-man’s aggression’ or whatever some pseudo-sociologist or over-romanticising intellectual would have you believe, but simply a desire to enjoy a game, played by our team, in the way we want. Which is fucking loudly. And we can’t, it’s impossible.

 

It was canny to see the younguns up in our olds seats though; pogoing, chanting and singing. A little bit of the ethos up there still lives on. I don’t agree with the “The Leazes” chants that some have been doing in my area, it’s hardly going to help matters in our new home, but I understand their frustration. A few times the Ryan Taylor chant got going, but it’s just not the same.

 

About five minutes from time someone near tried to start, “…one Level 7, there’s only one Level 7..” - needless to say after about twenty seconds, and five additional voices it died on it’s arse.

 

There’s no Level 7.

 

http://tt9m.tumblr.com/

Yet another example of somebody from the LC thinking they are a different breed of supporter; that they are the only supporters who feel limited by the realty of modern football. The fact of the matter is a sizable proportion of supporters who didn’t move to the LC are just as passionate and just as vocal. They’ve had the life squeezed out of them for the very reasons this lad is unhappy with his new home but sure as hell don’t need to be told how to support their club by anyone.

[Happy Face 29]

I saw another couple of notable characters from Level7 in my/their new area of St James’ today. It’s a bit odd seeing someone who you think you know, or at least have a vague familiarity with, somewhere you’re not expecting to. Outside of their usual context these people are not the people you remember at all, they seem ill at ease and unfamiliar. As we move through the season I’m sure I’ll see more - though not with the people I usually, or used to, see them with.

 

The politics of why/how the removal of the singing section has occurred has been done to death but only two games in and already I’d like to tell people how it actually feels.

 

I entered the ground today behind a lad who used to sit a couple of rows in front of me in Level7. We’ve never spoken to each other, but I’m sure we’re aware of each other’s existence purely through season-on-season proximity. He, like me I presume, is still getting used to our new section, but even in the 3/4 seconds I spent near him I could tell he was different. He was probably one of the noisiest, sweariest, shoutiest fans I encountered up in L7, there were countless other contenders though. For some reason I felt he didn’t have his usual Stone Island swagger.

 

L7 knew what it was about. It was making a racket, standing, shouting, swearing, abusing, bouncing, clashing, cheering, booing.. It wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but you knew where it was if you wanted it. It didn’t matter if you fell over a row while celebrating onto someone else, or whacked the guy next to you as you screamed at some diving kernt, or they hit you, or you were hit in the back of the head by someone’s paper aeroplane, none of this mattered - there was never any control, little stewarding and no occurrences of anyone being injured to my knowledge.

 

Now it’s all different, all my points of reference are gone, save my brother who I still sit next to, though I know he feels similar to me. I don’t know any of the people around me and they don’t know me. When we scored today I wasn’t at all lost in the moment, I was hugely aware of the old guy next to me, and how bad it would be if in my half-arsed jumping I knocked him, or stood on his leg, or his coat, or his wife. Up in L7 I wouldn’t have give a toss; let’s go fucking mental. Noone cared about their coat when we scored then. Even though there were plenty up there worth hundreds.

 

This is not why I come to football - to sit still and watch. I can do that at home.

 

I’m veering dangerously into criticising my fellow supporters now, but that’s really not my intention, if that’s how they want to watch, that’s their prerogative, it’s just not mine.

 

I can’t even do ‘stand up if you love the toon’ properly now - I’m wracked with self-consciousness about standing up, given it took 40seconds of the new season to be asked not to do so. Peppered around I can see other L7 lads up, defiant, looking at everyone else like they expect the same. There will be hundreds like me in there looking back at these lads, apologetic; we used to be mental, now we’re fucking sectioned.

 

You can’t even clap properly sitting down anyway.

 

One lad near me sung himself hoarse today. I heard him try to speak at the end and he couldn’t. That was hundreds of us most of the time ‘up there’, but how many joined him in his songs today? Not many. At the end of the game he met his mate who must sit within eyeshot of him in the ground, luckily in a ‘pocket’ of L7 lads - not lone wolves like me and my brother, the hoarse lad, the countless others of ‘single’ lads who found identity and collective voice up in the gods. If you were ‘on your own’ season ticket wise and applied for a move, that’s exactly what you got: on your own. Up in Level 7 even though you were too, you were actually never alone, as you were part of something much bigger. His mate actually congratulated him on being “a one man army” or words to that effect. I wanted to tell him everything I’m writing; apologise, explain.

 

My message to him is that I’m sorry, and probably a lot of us are. I feel like I’m not myself at the games currently, I’ve retreated into my shell, and it’s now going to be very difficult indeed to come back out this season. Me and my brother are already discussing the next, and that’s not where you want to be two games into the current one.

 

Now, I know nothing about psychology, but I know that if the club wanted a strategy to ‘kill’ Level 7, and it’s anti-Ashley chants, they definitely spoke to someone who did. We’re not only just separated geographically, making it harder to get songs going, our collective consciousness has been displaced, rearranged and excised.

 

All of this isn’t about testosterone fueled, self-indulgent, machismo posturing over the a man’s right to ruck and shout or ‘let out the working-man’s aggression’ or whatever some pseudo-sociologist or over-romanticising intellectual would have you believe, but simply a desire to enjoy a game, played by our team, in the way we want. Which is fucking loudly. And we can’t, it’s impossible.

 

It was canny to see the younguns up in our olds seats though; pogoing, chanting and singing. A little bit of the ethos up there still lives on. I don’t agree with the “The Leazes” chants that some have been doing in my area, it’s hardly going to help matters in our new home, but I understand their frustration. A few times the Ryan Taylor chant got going, but it’s just not the same.

 

About five minutes from time someone near tried to start, “…one Level 7, there’s only one Level 7..” - needless to say after about twenty seconds, and five additional voices it died on it’s arse.

 

There’s no Level 7.

 

http://tt9m.tumblr.com/

Yet another example of somebody from the LC thinking they are a different breed of supporter; that they are the only supporters who feel limited by the realty of modern football. The fact of the matter is a sizable proportion of supporters who didn’t move to the LC are just as passionate and just as vocal. They’ve had the life squeezed out of them for the very reasons this lad is unhappy with his new home but sure as hell don’t need to be told how to support their club by anyone.

 

He explains perfectly why he's pissed off without suggesting he's better than anyone. He doesn't spoil the game for anyone. You've got a real chip on your shoulder about what a LC supporter is like.

 

Anyone that felt the life was squeezed out of them before could have moved to the corner if they wanted...now they can't.

[Coggeh 0]

I'm from Ireland and though our league is dreadful, there is an unwritten but respected rule among fans and clubs. That there is always a stand or section that is full of the singing, standing supporters and the rest is for those who would like to just sit and watch the match, why can't there just be a singing section behind one of the goals like so many clubs have ? People will start to get the picture that if your gonna get your ticket for that section don't bother complaining about people standing up. I don't see what the problem is, and why the hell is there never any flags or drums in the EPL ? are they banned? (O_o). Club should organise with the supporters club for a big colorful loud section, would raise the atmosphere and the attendance too.

[Guest Your Name Here]

“L7 knew what it was about” and the rest of us don’t?

 

As I’ve said I have no problem with the supporters who were in L7 per se, but I can’t abide the delusional and self indulgent bullshit some of them have been spouting over the last few years.

[Happy Face 29]

“L7 knew what it was about” and the rest of us don’t?

 

As I’ve said I have no problem with the supporters who were in L7 per se, but I can’t abide the delusional and self indulgent bullshit some of them have been spouting over the last few years.

 

Well you preferred to sit elsewhere when a singing section was available, so its not about the same thing for you as the people up there, no matter what you say about having the life force drained by choosing to sit wherever you are. Horses for courses.

Edited August 29, 2011 by Happy Face

[Guest Your Name Here]

“L7 knew what it was about” and the rest of us don’t?

 

As I’ve said I have no problem with the supporters who were in L7 per se, but I can’t abide the delusional and self indulgent bullshit some of them have been spouting over the last few years.

 

Well you preferred to sit elsewhere when a singing section was available, so its not about the same thing for you as the people up there, no matter what you say about having the life force drained by choosing to sit wherever you are. Horses for courses.

I’ve already covered this.

 

The location of the signing section was a ploy to shift seats that were hard to sell. It had fuck all to do with improving the atmosphere in the ground; if anything it had the opposite effect. The location sent out a signal that supporters who liked to sing were viewed as second class supporters. You signed up to that principle. I didn’t because I believe singing should be an integral part of all sections of the ground, not shoved away into some remote corner of the stadium. It was like a form of apartheid, social engineering that further diminished the sense of spontaneity and togetherness that lies at the heart of football’s magic. One step away from cheerleaders and playing music when a goal is scored. It wasn’t a solution to the declining atmosphere; it was an extension of the problem.

 

A few years down the line and you're moaning about being treated like crap, but that’s what you signed up to.

Edited August 29, 2011 by Your Name Here

[snakehips 0]

As I've said before, you don't HAVE to stand to shout and sing and clap.

 

I appreciate that you want to stand, I really do, but that is now not an option. Stop trying to piss against the wind.

 

"You can't clap properly when seated" ? Jeezus fucking christ

[Guest alex]

“L7 knew what it was about” and the rest of us don’t?

 

As I’ve said I have no problem with the supporters who were in L7 per se, but I can’t abide the delusional and self indulgent bullshit some of them have been spouting over the last few years.

 

Well you preferred to sit elsewhere when a singing section was available, so its not about the same thing for you as the people up there, no matter what you say about having the life force drained by choosing to sit wherever you are. Horses for courses.

I’ve already covered this.

 

The location of the signing section was a ploy to shift seats that were hard to sell. It had fuck all to do with improving the atmosphere in the ground; if anything it had the opposite effect. The location sent out a signal that supporters who liked to sing were viewed as second class supporters. You signed up to that principle. I didn’t because I believe singing should be an integral part of all sections of the ground, not shoved away into some remote corner of the stadium. It was like a form of apartheid, social engineering that further diminished the sense of spontaneity and togetherness that lies at the heart of football’s magic. One step away from cheerleaders and playing music when a goal is scored. It wasn’t a solution to the declining atmosphere; it was an extension of the problem.

 

A few years down the line and you're moaning about being treated like crap, but that’s what you signed up to.

 

Decent post that like. Perhaps a bit ott but on the whole I think you've hit the nail on the head.

[Happy Face 29]

“L7 knew what it was about” and the rest of us don’t?

 

As I’ve said I have no problem with the supporters who were in L7 per se, but I can’t abide the delusional and self indulgent bullshit some of them have been spouting over the last few years.

 

Well you preferred to sit elsewhere when a singing section was available, so its not about the same thing for you as the people up there, no matter what you say about having the life force drained by choosing to sit wherever you are. Horses for courses.

I’ve already covered this.

 

The location of the signing section was a ploy to shift seats that were hard to sell. It had fuck all to do with improving the atmosphere in the ground; if anything it had the opposite effect. The location sent out a signal that supporters who liked to sing were viewed as second class supporters. You signed up to that principle. I didn’t because I believe singing should be an integral part of all sections of the ground, not shoved away into some remote corner of the stadium. It was like a form of apartheid, social engineering that further diminished the sense of spontaneity and togetherness that lies at the heart of football’s magic. One step away from cheerleaders and playing music when a goal is scored. It wasn’t a solution to the declining atmosphere; it was an extension of the problem.

 

A few years down the line and you're moaning about being treated like crap, but that’s what you signed up to.

 

Whatever the intention, Of the LC what it was is the most vocal part of the stadium. As I said, there's always been unofficial singing areas in the stadium, pockets where the radgies gather, if you think the East Stand was as much a contributer to the racket as the scoreboard was going back 20 years, you're off your head, the notion that the entire stadium can or has ever been the spark for those spine tingling moments when the whole crowd does find full voice is cloud cuckoo land. Those moments need the full stadium, but they also need a spark.

[StoneColdStephenIreland 74]

I thought it was just the supporters who were standing in the SE corner that were getting the letters about not being able to stand but me mate says he got a letter, and he's got a season ticket where the LC used to be.

 

So it seems theyre not tolerating any standing in any part of the stadium

[Kid Dynamite 5904]

I was sat behind a fan in a wheelchair once who responded to 'Stand up, if you love the toon' with his own rendition of 'Sit doon, if you love the toon'

[peasepud 59]

I thought it was just the supporters who were standing in the SE corner that were getting the letters about not being able to stand but me mate says he got a letter, and he's got a season ticket where the LC used to be.

 

So it seems theyre not tolerating any standing in any part of the stadium

tbf there never was a tolerance of Standing, the problem beforehand was they couldnt distinguish in L7 as almost everyone stood and all but those at the very front could argue that they had no option but to stand because the entire row in front did.

 

Now everyone has been scattered then they can spot those that stand a lot easier and sort them out.

 

Its the law and (quite rightly) theres nothing anyone can do apart from campaign for a change in the law.

[bobbyshinton 59]

As I've said before, you don't HAVE to stand to shout and sing and clap.

 

I appreciate that you want to stand, I really do, but that is now not an option. Stop trying to piss against the wind.

 

"You can't clap properly when seated" ? Jeezus fucking christ

 

 

spot on. Mind if some one stood in front of me and blocked my view I would not say a word. I sit at the top of a stair well and t would be one big fucker