Wandy

Show me all of these online reviews of the SJP atmosphere from away fans who went and raved about it then, and I will concede the point.

Where's this popular opinion you speak of? I've literally just pointed out a set of fans who said SJP's atmosphere was worse.

It is a myth. It’s a myth that City’s atmosphere is garbage and SJP’s is amazing. The truth is somewhere in between, and I’ve already pointed out that Bournemouth fans rated the Etihad atmosphere better. The Wor Flags experience at SJP is increasingly being confused with genuine atmosphere IMO.

It’s ugly architecture, that’s why. In the same way the city has great Georgian architecture to be proud of, then the remnants of the 1970s is equally something to shudder at.

That’s a total myth about the Etihad. For instance, Bournemouth fans do an away trip special YouTube video for each PL ground and they rated the atmosphere at the Etihad better than SJP. However they rated the overall match day experience up here as the best in the league, and that was mainly down to the stadium location and the warmth of the support to them as visitors. To be fair though, they did actually like the fact that all of the stands at SJP are of different design. The sheer physical size of SJP is what blows people way usually.

It’s a stadium of three parts really, which is where I suppose the “character’ comes into play. The L7 expansion looks magnificent from the outside but the match day experience within it is crap. The Gallowgate now looks dated due to its cowshed roof but the accoustics are superb and it feels like a “proper” football stand. And then you have the East Stand, which actually has great views but is truly hideous on the outside. And yeah, that is the embarrassing part of the stadium.

Depends what your priorities are really. SJP wins hands down for location, but the Etihad has better all round views and accoustics than SJP. There are areas in our stadium that I simply will not sit because the match day experience is so poor, so I’d rather just watch it on the TV. The same can’t be said for the Etihad.

Whatever changes happen to the club under this ownership, the only thing that is sacrosanct is the city centre location. Pretty much everything else though there can be a conversation about. If someone with a crystal ball offers me a state of the art stadium outside of the city centre and Man City’s last 15 years of success, or a moderate upgrade of SJP on it’s current footprint with zero trophies won in the same 15 years, then I take the latter every time.

Have to disagree. A club’s stadium is all part of the bragging process for fans, and the East Stand is proper cringeworthy from the outside.

The main problem with it is that the L7 extension killed the accoustics and offered pretty dreadful views, unless you are in the lower rows. I still miss 1990s SJP immensely.

There would be hell on. That is never happening. Or anything even remotely like it.

it will never happen. They know they struck gold with the location. Finding the sweet spot around that location is the head scratcher. But if regeneration or relocation within a few hundred yards isn’t possible then they will make do with what they have got. Thing is though, they will definitely find a way to add at least another 8k seats. But I still think a grand plan to remodel the entire Leazes plot of land is what will happen.

No hyperbole, just 100% fact. It’s a relic from a time when architecture was at it’s very worst. It’s mad how dewy-eyed people get about SJP. The location is stunning but the stadium itself is seriously flawed.

NUFC’s stadium will never leave the city centre. Whatever happens over the next 10 years, it will remain pretty much where it is, give or take maybe a few hundred yards.

The London Stadium isn’t even a football stadium. Wembley’s problem is its size. The Emirates is definitely looking a bit dated already though. Definitely don’t agree about the Etihad though. On the outside it’s pretty mundane but inside it’s a great looking stadium and continues to get better. It’s pretty well designed to create an atmosphere too. Everton’s new stadium is a perfect example of how new stadiums can be built to have character. They have also specifically designed it with atmosphere in mind.

Which stadium are you thinking of when you say soulless?

Anfield is slowly turning into one of the best stadiums in the country. If they extend the Kop to match the new Anfield Road then the stadium will look seriously impressive.

It’s pretty antiquated compared to the standards of the best stadiums now. The East Stand is an embarrassing shithole and the Milburn is pretty basic for a stand that is supposed to be the ‘luxury’ part of the stadium, as its suites are garbage. There is going to need to be a LOT of leeway given by various authorities to get SJP anywhere near the required standards.

I mean, it's about as simple as you can get. The club provide two links. The first to access the ballot, and then the second link to access the queue.

The craic is that the atmosphere will be pitiful. That is unacceptable. The answer is simple. You enter the ballot to get a chance to access the ticketing queue, which will only have the 15k who won the ballot. Its basically a way of whittling down the queue to only 15k people. And then you select your seat in the way that you always have done.

The ballot system isn't really the problem here. It's not perfect but under the present circumstances, with a "small" stadium & legions of fans from the last 30 years trying to get back in, it's probably the least worst option. The fuck up is how they have come up with the seating arrangements and this is what needs to be reversed. Is it really going to take losing matches at home, and a mute atmosphere playing a part in that, to make them see the error of their ways? Even under the ballot system I think people will find a way to attend matches. But there's little they can do about the club deciding where they sit.

Well it's basically a decision that keeps me out of SJP indefinitely. I bet I won't be the only one too, as people quickly get pissed off with being shoved into a seat that they hate.

So they aren't ever going to let people select their own seats? Wow.

So not only is this new ticketing system a fiasco but the map that showed the categories was also out of date, meaning that Level 7 wasnt entirely the family section and some poor sods will now end up there when they at least thought they would be in the Leazes or Gallowgate. Lovely stuff. If they have anything about them, then the club will be making sure that fans get to choose their own seat for the Liverpool match & onwards.

The trouble with that is I'm not convinced it's the current ST holders who make the noise at SJP.