Match Atmosphere

[NUFC91]

8 hours ago, TheGuv said:

Howay then. There’s enough of us on here that want to make a difference. Wor Flags have made a difference with just 20 lads. What could we achieve by following suit and trying to bring back the atmosphere properly?

 

I really like @NUFC91’s idea of trying to get things going each week at a pub. I know the WF lot has done things previously from the North Terrace. Perhaps a good starting point to get like minded individuals and get a pub bouncing and work our way down to the ground. Fuck Wonderbar and stuff like that - it plays its role I suppose…I dunno. 

 

You see other clubs do it now, it helps get younger crowd through as well and get them more educated 

 

Thats annoying thing about the survey it didnt reach out tp everyone. All them 16 year olds in family closure etc get them together etc.

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Disagree. Most TicTok'ers, YouTuber's put stuff in their content for "likes", in other words what people want to hear and praising the likes of Newcastle and Leeds is always a guaranteed "win" for them.

 

This point makes no sense.

 

If it was their intention to tell people what they want to hear, do it for the likes, and play to the masses, then they wouldn't be ranking Newcastle, Leeds, and Palace at the top, it would be Man United and Liverpool, or even Arsenal, all who have several thousand times the online presence we do and who would bring in more likes, shares, subscriptions. But they don't.

 

Again, they have no reason to lie. Nor do the people with the most upvoted comments saying exactly the same thing.

[Wallsendmag]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

 

This point makes no sense.

 

If it was their intention to tell people what they want to hear, do it for the likes, and play to the masses, then they wouldn't be ranking Newcastle, Leeds, and Palace at the top, it would be Man United and Liverpool, or even Arsenal, all who have several thousand times the online presence we do and who would bring in more likes, shares, subscriptions. But they don't.

 

Again, they have no reason to lie. Nor do the people with the most upvoted comments saying exactly the same thing.

 

They'd be pulled apart of that because the consensus around the country is that Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal have a shit atmosphere. In reality none of them are any worse than ours. Even Arsenal have started to get their act together.

[NUFC91]

9 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Disagree. Most TicTok'ers, YouTuber's put stuff in their content for "likes", in other words what people want to hear and praising the likes of Newcastle and Leeds is always a guaranteed "win" for them.

 

Speaking as someone who has visited every PL ground (other than Bournemouth and Brentford) I'd say our atmosphere ranks somewhere in the middle these days. In times gone by we were right up at the top. We are nowhere near Leeds who have both ends behind the goals stood and singing more or less non stop. Even Man Utd who get a lot of stick for atmosphere have fans to the right of the away end who are very vocal plus a sort of unofficial singing area of around 6k in the Upper tier of the Streford End who stand/sing. They also have around 20k people who stand every match currently. As a comparison I'd say we have maybe 500 max. We don't have a "home end" like a lot of clubs do where likeminded fans can congregate together. Everyone is just mixed in.

 

I was at the Liverpool match the other week and ended up in L7 right next to the away fans as they were the only seats we could get and our support is completely inaudible from up there.

 

Unfortunately a lot of our fans were unable to access SJP throughout most of the 1990s and we are paying for that now. Most of the people who watch NUFC these days are either 50+ or are kids. There isn't a great deal in between and it's that age group who traditionally make the noise. It's another reason why I think safe standing will be less well supported here than anywhere else.

 

Unless we get a new 70k stadium amd ultimately a blank canvas to work with or at least get another 8/10k seats at SJP which will give them some room to play about with things I don't really see things getting much better. Certainly a small token gesture of 2k or so standing places makes no difference.

 

I'm pleased that the 2 lads off here who went along to the meeting represented us very well and that they are on the same page as me when it comes to this, but they said themselves that the room was largely filled with older people and the facts are that it's those older people who represent the majority of the crowd at SJP these days. Not meaning to generalise here, and of course there are exceptions, but, in the main, older people prefer to sit down than stand and are less inclined to sing and get all radged up! That's just how it is and that is where our problem lies amd unfortunately you can't just fix the demographic of the crowd. That's just the way it is. It's more elderly than others, and more grumpy as well!

 

Same as you mate been to every ground in prem. Probably best atmosphere over last couple of years was actually Wolves. They have safe standing one end and lads stood other end so bounce off each other and it's small ground so works.

 

We would need 4k in Leazes corner and 4k in Gallowgate, it is possible only if club are willing to have balls and move grounds

[Kid Icarus]

Just now, Wallsendmag said:

 

They'd be pulled apart of that because the consensus around the country is that Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal have a shit atmosphere. In reality none of them are any worse than ours. Even Arsenal have started to get their act together.

 

Getting pulled apart, ie driving 'interaction' in the way that TalkSport do is also in their best interests. But they don't. 

[Wallsendmag]

5 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

Getting pulled apart, ie driving 'interaction' in the way that TalkSport do is also in their best interests. But they don't. 

 

It's just how it is.

 

Man Utd = tourists

Liverpool = sing YNWA then sit in silence 

Arsenal = library 

 

Argue differently and people will try to pull you apart.

 

Leeds is very loud. We look good pre match with the flags, and Palace the only team to have an ultras group attached to them. It's an easy narrative to go along with.

[Wallsendmag]

8 minutes ago, NUFC91 said:

 

Same as you mate been to every ground in prem. Probably best atmosphere over last couple of years was actually Wolves. They have safe standing one end and lads stood other end so bounce off each other and it's small ground so works.

 

We would need 4k in Leazes corner and 4k in Gallowgate, it is possible only if club are willing to have balls and move grounds

 

Wolves very underrated mate and totally agree with you. They turned that entire stand to the left of the away end into standing and it's very noisy there now. Definitely one of the most hostile grounds in the league but a terrible experience as an away fan, both the away end itself and not being allowed in any pubs!

[Kid Icarus]

2 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

It's just how it is.

 

Man Utd = tourists

Liverpool = sing YNWA then sit in silence 

Arsenal = library 

 

Argue differently and people will try to pull you apart.

 

Leeds is very loud. We look good pre match with the flags, and Palace the only team to have an ultras group attached to them. It's an easy narrative to go along with.

 

As I say, if that's the narrative, going against that would be in these channels best interests. Comments and downvotes are just as beneficial to them because it drives interaction and advertiser revenue, but they don't do that either.

 

There's no reason for them to lie. You don't have to agree with them, but they're pretty obviously being sincere.

[Wallsendmag]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

As I say, if that's the narrative, going against that would be in these channels best interests. Comments and downvotes are just as beneficial to them because it drives interaction and advertiser revenue, but they don't do that either.

 

There's no reason for them to lie. You don't have to agree with them, but they're pretty obviously being sincere.

 

As I say it's a lazy narrative but it probably goes with the majority consensus on Social media (it's not trendy to say Man Utd or Arsenal have a good atmosphere) but speaking as someone who has visited 18/20 PL stadiums (most on numerous occasions) it's just plain wrong. Leeds is noisy fair enough, we aren't, and Palace is about 400 blokes calling themselves Ultras stuck out the way in a corner whilst the rest of the ground rarely contributes.

[Superior Acuña]

Im skeptical of Anfield and Old Trafford being good - if they are that’s very new, I’ve never seen it. No doubt they are on special nights. ManU friend was in the home end for our game at SJP against them last season and thought it was amazing. 
 

Someone off here said Chelsea was good this week. I believe them, but that was a midweek CL win. Stamford Bridge was shit just last April when we played there (with a large amount of safe standing).

 

I agree ours needs big improvement but jm

skeptical that we’re getting left behind by those kinds of teams. It’s shit a lot of the time and capable of being great in certain games. 

[Bellis80]

We’ve lost one home game in about 18 months but we’re a soft touch and should be more like Wolves where it’s so bouncing they get fucked every other week.

[Wallsendmag]

Just now, Superior Acuña said:

Im skeptical of Anfield and Old Trafford being good - if they are that’s very new, I’ve never seen it. No doubt they are on special nights. ManU friend was in the home end for our game at SJP against them last season and thought it was amazing. 
 

Someone off here said Chelsea was good this week. I believe them, but that was a midweek CL win. Stamford Bridge was shit just last April when we played there (with a large amount of safe standing).

 

I agree ours needs big improvement but jm

skeptical that we’re getting left behind by those kinds of teams. It’s shit a lot of the time and capable of being great in certain games. 

 

It was me who was at Stamford Bridge this week and the atmosphere did really surprise me. It was absolutely jumping! Yes it was a big game although I'd argue that Southampton in the League Cup Semi Final was an even bigger game for us and let's be honest it was flat as a fart apart from the last 5 mins. If you can't get up for a game like that (and most of the crowd couldn't) I suggest there's a problem there and the lack of any noise at Wembley really hit home. I hated being outsung by those bastards!

 

I've been to Anfield when it's been very loud and also pretty quiet. The extremes probably less so at Old Trafford. The atmosphere has been poor at SJP for a very long time now except for October onwards of last season but If people can't get up for it when we are challenging for a Champions League place and getting to a Cup Final I reckon we have real a problem there.

[Rich]

2 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

We’ve lost one home game in about 18 months but we’re a soft touch and should be more like Wolves where it’s so bouncing they get fucked every other week.

[JonBez comesock]

6 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

We’ve lost one home game in about 18 months but we’re a soft touch and should be more like Wolves where it’s so bouncing they get fucked every other week.

Which makes it even more strange why our (in game) atmosphere is so poor.

 

Weve asked for a team that tries and yet 95% of the crowd want to sit on their hands or take selfies to post on social media when they get home to show everyone they went to the match.

 

I refuse to sit anywhere wise other than the gallowgate now as the rest of the ground is silent as fucx.

[Kid Icarus]

49 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

As I say it's a lazy narrative but it probably goes with the majority consensus on Social media (it's not trendy to say Man Utd or Arsenal have a good atmosphere) but speaking as someone who has visited 18/20 PL stadiums (most on numerous occasions) it's just plain wrong. Leeds is noisy fair enough, we aren't, and Palace is about 400 blokes calling themselves Ultras stuck out the way in a corner whilst the rest of the ground rarely contributes.

Nah, they have every reason to not put us near the top, they don't. It might not be easy to accept but it's probably just that they're telling the truth.

[Wallsendmag]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Nah, they have every reason to not put us near the top, they don't. It might not be easy to accept but it's probably just that they're telling the truth.

 

That's your opinion. My experience is something different. Not sure if you are at the match on Sunday but if you are just take a minute to look around you when you are in your seat (unless you are in the corner) and you will see why our atmosphere is shite as you'll be mainly surrounded by miserable middle/age folk who have no interest whatsoever in creating an atmosphere.

[Wallsendmag]

10 minutes ago, JonBez comesock said:

Which makes it even more strange why our (in game) atmosphere is so poor.

 

Weve asked for a team that tries and yet 95% of the crowd want to sit on their hands or take selfies to post on social media when they get home to show everyone they went to the match.

 

I refuse to sit anywhere wise other than the gallowgate now as the rest of the ground is silent as fucx.

 

It's such a shame because the Leazes used to be really good. I moved my season ticket to there when it was built in 1993 and for the first few years was better than anything the Gallowgate offered. The West Side of it used to feed of the Milburn (The Milburn used to chant "Sing in the cheap seats!" and the East corner was brilliant as well. Was a really vibrant end.

 

Then the lads from the Milburn Stand were shifted to make way for the Platinum Club which killed it a bit and to compound matters the noisy fans in the East corner were shifted to make way for the away fans once the Gallowgate was built up and the decline started.

 

I stuck it out until 2006 when I applied for a move to the Gallowgate whuch was better but never hit the heights of the Leazes back when it was first built and never really has tbh.

 

 

[Wandy]

8 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

No reason at all to not improve, but I don't buy this idea that we look rubbish compared to other clubs home support stuff at all. Every single time a list of best home atmospheres comes up on TikTok, YouTube etc from away day support channels you can guarantee that Newcastle or Leeds will be voted 1 or 2 (with the occasional Crystal Palace) and there'll be comments liked in the thousands backing it up from people around the country. The fans making these lists, most have done every stadium in the Premier League, they have no reason to lie.

 

We know how good it can be, so there's the danger of thinking that a bad day compared to our best is bad overall, when it's comparatively very good.

 

Like I say, there's no reason to not improve, we all want the best atmosphere possible, but there's no need to be despondent about it, we're trying to improve from the position of having one of - if not THE - most highly regarded atmospheres in the country.

 

 

In my experience away fans aren't talking about the SJP atmosphere when they are rating the away-day experience up here, but rather the experience as a whole. Everyone knows that Newcastle is a great place to visit and many fans stay for the weekend and make the match just one small part of the experience.

 

Bournemouth fans this season have bestowed on us the title of best overall away day bar none....we are the only one that they have rated as top notch. But they still only rated the SJP atmosphere as 4/10 and said it was poor. They rated Leeds as the best they have experienced this season.

 

 

[STM]

I see the "we have a shite atmosphere, it was better in my day" craic is back in full swing. Mint. Let's keep bashing our own fans, despite putting on better displays/atmosphere than at least 80% of the league frequently.

We also have probably the best away fans in the country but one quiet day and its "used to be better".

 

Yes we want to improve the atmosphere at SJP because it can be better but it's still one of the best. Unless you want no women or children at the game or expect the full stadium to be standing for the entire match, I suspect expectations are too high.

 

Let's say we have loads of standing fans behind the goals, all singing and roaring the team on...... and then we concede a goal. 

of course there is going to be a lull, it's perfectly natural.

 

I suspect some want to knock our stadium and atmosphere as some sort of cock waving towards "the good old days".

 

[LFEE]

Interesting bit of info on a fan podcast that as it stands structurally the Gallowgate could only incorporate safe standing 1:1 ratio and not the higher 3:2 ratio.

[Bellis80]

6 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

That's your opinion. My experience is something different. Not sure if you are at the match on Sunday but if you are just take a minute to look around you when you are in your seat (unless you are in the corner) and you will see why our atmosphere is shite as you'll be mainly surrounded by miserable middle/age folk who have no interest whatsoever in creating an atmosphere.

I suppose my point is it makes no difference how good you, or I, think it is. Players, managers, home and away, say how good it is and we’ve all seen how it can affect opponents, not all the time but often in big games.

 

When you’re somewhere regularly you notice the shitter bits more but demanding change might affect what we already have.

[Wandy]

1 hour ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Wolves very underrated mate and totally agree with you. They turned that entire stand to the left of the away end into standing and it's very noisy there now. Definitely one of the most hostile grounds in the league but a terrible experience as an away fan, both the away end itself and not being allowed in any pubs!

 

Wolves has always been a wild stadium and I have had some brilliant trips down there. The old Molineux of the late 80s/early 90s was an absolute shithole but it had a brilliant "Kop" end behind one of the goals which was actually shared with the away fans. Under that roof there was some hella noise created and there was loads of back and forth between the two sets of supporters who were more or less side by side. I remember winning 1-0 down there around 89/90 in the old 2nd division, and there must have been about 6k NUFC fans down there that day.

[Kid Icarus]

11 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

That's your opinion. My experience is something different. Not sure if you are at the match on Sunday but if you are just take a minute to look around you when you are in your seat (unless you are in the corner) and you will see why our atmosphere is shite as you'll be mainly surrounded by miserable middle/age folk who have no interest whatsoever in creating an atmosphere.

Your experience is just as relevant as the countless opposition fans who big us up and these experiences are all opinions.

 

I don't disagree with you about our atmosphere, my only point is that things aren't as bleak as they could be, we're starting from a point where we have a reputation for having one of the best atmospheres in the country.

[STM]

We are also aware that our fans can barely hear each other at either end of the stadium too right?

 

Away fans can't hear the gallowgate, half of the east stand can't hear the gallowgate and the gallowgate can't even see the leazes let alone hear it. 

 

It's virtually impossible to get the entire stadium singing in unison. This is why expectations are too high. 

 

Of course Bournemouth can sound like a cauldron, when you get all 3 of their fans signing at once. 

 

Clubs like Leeds and Palace have a good blend of hostile fans and grounds that are the optimum size for atmosphere. It's not rocket science to work out why bigger stadiums = worse atmosphere.

[Wallsendmag]

15 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Your experience is just as relevant as the countless opposition fans who big us up and these experiences are all opinions.

 

I don't disagree with you about our atmosphere, my only point is that things aren't as bleak as they could be, we're starting from a point where we have a reputation for having one of the best atmospheres in the country.

 

That's all it is though. Reputation. As anyone knows a reputation, whether good or bad, is difficult to shake off. Anyone thinking our current atmosphere is good like these YouTuber's and Tiktok'ers do (although I doubt they're at SJP every other week like we are) is basing it on reputation. Any regular matchgoer knows that isn't the reality.