Match Atmosphere

[Geogaddi]

It shouldn't need to be the case but after last night I think Saturday will be electric , everyone in that ground will feel wronged and that's usually the recipe for a good atmosphere , especially as the players will still be dead on their feet .

[NUFC91]

https://www.nufctrust.co.uk/news/fab-reaction-safe-standing-atmosphere/

 

Worth filling out i suppose

[pedro111]

Was proud as punch hearing our lot coming through on the telly toward the end last night. Well done. 👏

[Whitley mag]

Completed ticked more safe standing in level 7, Gallowgate and Milburn/Leazes corner.

[Bellis80]

The standing last night was the smallest section and the last to sell out. Don’t think people are that arsed about it.

[NUFC91]

34 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

The standing last night was the smallest section and the last to sell out. Don’t think people are that arsed about it.

 

Tbf it was lower tier and at away games makes no difference. When i bought my ticket i didnt drop down menu so did'nt even notice them.

[Yorkie]

2 hours ago, ponsaelius said:

I was in the home end and it was a weird mix tbh. I thought their ultras were very good from the off and kept at it most of the game. Where I was sitting was in a much less intense area of the ground, but the support was still decent. Fans were stood up for a large part of the game (this would never happen at SJP), and reacted well after our goal to try and get behind the team (as if needing to respond).

 

On the flip side of this there was also a very clear mix of hardcore support and a touristy element in together from ticket reselling - of which we were obviously contributing to. I could imagine pre-Qatar that there would have been a much more authentic feel to visiting the Parc de Princes - although the team would have been a lot shitter.

 

The weirdest thing was definitely the bloke on the PA trying to jee up the crowd in the second half. I don't think I've ever seen that at a match. I don't even think it was that necessary either as their support was decentish throughout in the circumstances.

 

Would also say I was right next to the away fans and our lot were good. Probably slightly less merriment beforehand compared to Dortmund and Milan saving some energy for the match.

 

What was the experience like of us scoring but you being with home fans? 

[Wallsendmag]

56 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Completed ticked more safe standing in level 7, Gallowgate and Milburn/Leazes corner.

 

Exactly what I put!

[Wallsendmag]

41 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

The standing last night was the smallest section and the last to sell out. Don’t think people are that arsed about it.

 

A few of my mates who went over all prefer to stand but chose to go in the seated section. Two reasons for this; firstly they knew they'd be stood for the entire match anyway, and secondly they were saying the standing area at Dortmund was absolute chaos with people who had seated tickets being allowed to sneak into there which made it uncomfortably full and didn't fancy that happening again.

[Sima]

1 hour ago, Whitley mag said:

Completed ticked more safe standing in level 7, Gallowgate and Milburn/Leazes corner.

 

Same as me apart from I also ticket Leazes/East Corner.

[Greg]

On 27/11/2023 at 10:33, NUFC91 said:

 

Can you post the link in here Greg so we can all submit

 

Survey here.

[Danh1]

Thought the away end was good last night but then everyone got very nervous. Celebrations after the goal were crazy, where I was stood there was maybe 1 foot of space and then a 3 foot drop with nothing separating the two, mental  

[Rafalove]

Atmosphere for Milan needs to be special.

[Shadow Puppets]

A long story about last night…

 

We arrived an hour before kick off to find a couple of older blokes (60+) in our seats, with his wife and mate in the seats directly in front.

 

We explained that they were our seats and was met with “you can sit anywhere you want at European games mate”. 
 

I knew that was bollocks, having been to all the away games this time, and a couple in the Pardew European run. Never come across that before. However, we went with it and sat in the seats next to him.

 

As you’d guess, then people came and told us to get out of their seats. He then told them to sit somewhere else as well etc. This went on another couple of times.

 

Eventually we got forcefully told (rightly) to sit in our correct seats, so we had to tell these blokes to move.

 

We were met with the following:

 

- he questioned how many loyalty points we had, and other people on our row, had.

- he bragged that he had 550 so he can “sit where he fucking wants”.

- when the lad next to us mentioned that he got his via hospitality, as we did, (which is a perfectly legitimate way to get tickets), he kicked off. “Of course. Fucking hospitality wankers… plastic prawn sandwich wankers”

- then his wife (absolute bellend) started verbally abusing us, telling us to fuck off… calling us plastic fans (despite me having a season ticket for 25 years, building around 200 loyalty points, before managing a company who own a box, therefore forgoing my loyalty points and ability to earn loyalty points).

We proceeded to tell them that we were sitting (standing) in OUR SEATS. He then moved along a couple of seats, only to find two women come and tell him to move again (because they were theirs).

 

Then he started mouthing off asking the older of the two women what the fuck she knows about football, to which her daughter defended her (having been going to games for nearly 50 years). The bellend wife then proceeded to get physical with the daughter, calling her a cunt and dragging her by the arm, almost pulling her over the seat in front, until we interjected and put her in her place.

 

It kicked off verbally for a while (everyone in the area on our side) until he, the wife, and his mates ended up standing on the stairs the entire game.

 

Irony of it all is they all stood in near silence all game. Absolute whoppers.

 

I guess what I’m trying to say is, we have some right entitled bellends in our crowd. Not the majority, thankfully, but some think that just because they’ve been going for a long time, they can do whatever the fuck they want and treat other fans however they want.

 

There’s also a basic lack of understanding on how the away ticket allocation works, and fans belittling or looking down on other fans.

 

Just to reiterate the situation that we are in… I know with 100% certainty that a maximum of 5% of the allocation for CL games goes to hospitality clients, maximum of 7% for PL games. That is no different to previous years. And there is some kind of misconception that “hospitality clients” means “entitled rich blokes”. Which is utter horseshit. Pretty much every box in St James is family or small business owned. Normal, passionate, fans, who happen to run successful businesses. People who are just as passionate, just as deserving of a ticket, as anyone else in most away ends, and most of which have previously built up massive loyalty with the club over decades.

 

The narrative that is being peddled on social media about the club giving bigger allocations to corporate, free tickets to YouTubers etc, is just toxic, and complete bullshit. It could all be solved by a simple news article on the website spelling out factually how allocations are broken down.

 

Despite all of the above, we had a mint night. Incredibly proud of the lads.

[SteV]

3 minutes ago, Shadow Puppets said:

A long story about last night…

 

We arrived an hour before kick off to find a couple of older blokes (60+) in our seats, with his wife and mate in the seats directly in front.

 

We explained that they were our seats and was met with “you can sit anywhere you want at European games mate”. 
 

I knew that was bollocks, having been to all the away games this time, and a couple in the Pardew European run. Never come across that before. However, we went with it and sat in the seats next to him.

 

As you’d guess, then people came and told us to get out of their seats. He then told them to sit somewhere else as well etc. This went on another couple of times.

 

Eventually we got forcefully told (rightly) to sit in our correct seats, so we had to tell these blokes to move.

 

We were met with the following:

 

- he questioned how many loyalty points we had, and other people on our row, had.

- he bragged that he had 550 so he can “sit where he fucking wants”.

- when the lad next to us mentioned that he got his via hospitality, as we did, (which is a perfectly legitimate way to get tickets), he kicked off. “Of course. Fucking hospitality wankers… plastic prawn sandwich wankers”

- then his wife (absolute bellend) started verbally abusing us, telling us to fuck off… calling us plastic fans (despite me having a season ticket for 25 years, building around 200 loyalty points, before managing a company who own a box, therefore forgoing my loyalty points and ability to earn loyalty points).

We proceeded to tell them that we were sitting (standing) in OUR SEATS. He then moved along a couple of seats, only to find two women come and tell him to move again (because they were theirs).

 

Then he started mouthing off asking the older of the two women what the fuck she knows about football, to which her daughter defended her (having been going to games for nearly 50 years). The bellend wife then proceeded to get physical with the daughter, calling her a cunt and dragging her by the arm, almost pulling her over the seat in front, until we interjected and put her in her place.

 

It kicked off verbally for a while (everyone in the area on our side) until he, the wife, and his mates ended up standing on the stairs the entire game.

 

Irony of it all is they all stood in near silence all game. Absolute whoppers.

 

I guess what I’m trying to say is, we have some right entitled bellends in our crowd. Not the majority, thankfully, but some think that just because they’ve been going for a long time, they can do whatever the fuck they want and treat other fans however they want.

 

There’s also a basic lack of understanding on how the away ticket allocation works, and fans belittling or looking down on other fans.

 

Just to reiterate the situation that we are in… I know with 100% certainty that a maximum of 5% of the allocation for CL games goes to hospitality clients, maximum of 7% for PL games. That is no different to previous years. And there is some kind of misconception that “hospitality clients” means “entitled rich blokes”. Which is utter horseshit. Pretty much every box in St James is family or small business owned. Normal, passionate, fans, who happen to run successful businesses. People who are just as passionate, just as deserving of a ticket, as anyone else in most away ends, and most of which have previously built up massive loyalty with the club over decades.

 

The narrative that is being peddled on social media about the club giving bigger allocations to corporate, free tickets to YouTubers etc, is just toxic, and complete bullshit. It could all be solved by a simple news article on the website spelling out factually how allocations are broken down.

 

Despite all of the above, we had a mint night. Incredibly proud of the lads.

Whilst the specifics of your story might differ, the general theme of people getting uppity about how other people are getting tickets is something that’s becoming more and more prevalent. As you say, fuelled by social media (isn’t everything?).

 

Completely agree that more transparency around ticketing would alleviate a lot of this. They don’t even have to go into massive detail. Just something like:

 

Total allocation - X

Sponsors - X

Players and Staff - X

Corporate - X 

Fans (loyalty points) - X

 

Aye, people would probably still moan like fuck, but at least it would be grounded in realism, rather than made up bollocks someone seen on Twitter.

 

When I was at the away fan forum before the start of the season, I made this exact point on transparency. Doesn’t really seem to have been picked up though.

 

Good to hear you enjoyed regardless though.

[Whitley mag]

There’s always been a corporate allocation and if it’s fixed at the same level as previously fair enough, but there’s a lot adamant that for instance a far larger chunk than 7% haven’t gone on sale for Luton ?

 

The main source of anger stems from these ID checks though and what seems to be generally accepted as a decline in the away atmosphere this season.

 

There’s also been empty seats at away games which has annoyed many, however is this due to corporate tickets not being taken up and then re-sold by club due to timescales, or season ticket holders bagging loyalty points but not fancying the trek to Brighton for instance.

 

My thought is that if it’s the latter the club simply freeze all season ticket loyalty points where they are now and it might eradicate that problem until a better solution is found.

 

If season ticket holders can’t make the away game due to a genuine reason, they should be allowed a maximum of 3 games a season when they can pass ticket on to save seat going empty.

 

Agree with the above though that club need to be transparent, as ticketing is the only area new ownership haven’t covered themselves in glory.

[Shadow Puppets]

16 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

There’s always been a corporate allocation and if it’s fixed at the same level as previously fair enough, but there’s a lot adamant that for instance a far larger chunk than 7% haven’t gone on sale for Luton ?

 

The main source of anger stems from these ID checks though and what seems to be generally accepted as a decline in the away atmosphere this season.

 

There’s also been empty seats at away games which has annoyed many, however is this due to corporate tickets not being taken up and then re-sold by club due to timescales, or season ticket holders bagging loyalty points but not fancying the trek to Brighton for instance.

 

My thought is that if it’s the latter the club simply freeze all season ticket loyalty points where they are now and it might eradicate that problem until a better solution is found.

 

If season ticket holders can’t make the away game due to a genuine reason, they should be allowed a maximum of 3 games a season when they can pass ticket on to save seat going empty.

 

Agree with the above though that club need to be transparent, as ticketing is the only area new ownership haven’t covered themselves in glory.

 

The people claiming stuff about Luton are, again, making it up. Plucking it out of their arse to suit whatever it is they’re angry about.
 

I was speaking with our hospitality rep today about that exact thing (literally 5 hours ago at Paris airport) and they reiterated, 100%, that a maximum of 7% goes to hospitality for ALL PL games. He specifically cited the Luton game as an example of how angry he gets seeing people make stuff up about it.

 

And no, the empty seats are unlikely to be because of corporate people. They sell out their small allocation each time, and there’s no benefit to a corporate client to buy the ticket and not show up (they don’t earn loyalty points on them so why buy and not show?). It’s much more likely, in my opinion, that due to the new rules about who you can and can’t pass your tickets onto, that season ticket holders might be buying tickets to continue building loyalty, but perhaps not actually always using them.

 

It really does just need need someone to post a proper breakdown of how it works so people can stop banging on about it.

[Ronaldo]

Loyalty points is the new Brexit. 

[TheDimpleboy]

7 hours ago, Shadow Puppets said:

 

The people claiming stuff about Luton are, again, making it up. Plucking it out of their arse to suit whatever it is they’re angry about.
 

I was speaking with our hospitality rep today about that exact thing (literally 5 hours ago at Paris airport) and they reiterated, 100%, that a maximum of 7% goes to hospitality for ALL PL games. He specifically cited the Luton game as an example of how angry he gets seeing people make stuff up about it.

 

And no, the empty seats are unlikely to be because of corporate people. They sell out their small allocation each time, and there’s no benefit to a corporate client to buy the ticket and not show up (they don’t earn loyalty points on them so why buy and not show?). It’s much more likely, in my opinion, that due to the new rules about who you can and can’t pass your tickets onto, that season ticket holders might be buying tickets to continue building loyalty, but perhaps not actually always using them.

 

It really does just need need someone to post a proper breakdown of how it works so people can stop banging on about it.

 

We got 1100 allocation for Luton and only 650 went on sale on the site. So where are the other 450?

[Wallsendmag]

In response the @Shadow Puppetsstory there I've got to say I went to probably 15 or so away European games in the 00s and the rule then was just stand where you want when you get in the ground. Never been to any of the 3 this season but back then nobody even looked for their allocated seat so that rule must have changed.

[SteV]

48 minutes ago, TheDimpleboy said:

 

We got 1100 allocation for Luton and only 650 went on sale on the site. So where are the other 450?

A good question, and absolutely emphasises the need for transparency. 
 

If I was the corporate/hospitality lead and I was getting all the heat for taking all the away tickets, but I was only getting the %’s @Shadow Puppets talks about, I’d be knocking on someone’s door telling them to start making public where the tickets were actually going.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by SteV

[TheDimpleboy]

10 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

In response the @Shadow Puppetsstory there I've got to say I went to probably 15 or so away European games in the 00s and the rule then was just stand where you want when you get in the ground. Never been to any of the 3 this season but back then nobody even looked for their allocated seat so that rule must have changed.

 

Aye while the people in question sound like bellends, I'd be pissed off getting whinged at to go to my allocated seat at an away game like

[Shadow Puppets]

54 minutes ago, TheDimpleboy said:

 

We got 1100 allocation for Luton and only 650 went on sale on the site. So where are the other 450?

I have no idea, other than that 75 tickets went to hospitality clients. I can verify that, with 1000% certainty…. Partly because of my conversations with the hospitality team who I know well… and partly because I entered the hospitality ballot and didn’t get one (I get them almost every time I enter that ballot, but didn’t for Luton specifically because their allocation was so small.).

 

No idea where the others went 🤷‍♂️

 

14 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

In response the @Shadow Puppetsstory there I've got to say I went to probably 15 or so away European games in the 00s and the rule then was just stand where you want when you get in the ground. Never been to any of the 3 this season but back then nobody even looked for their allocated seat so that rule must have changed.

 

Well I can only go on my own experience, and EVERYONE (20-30 people in the immediate vicinity) was telling this family to sit in their own seats… everyone was kicking off at them, so as far as I can tell we were well within our right. I mean it’s just common sense isn’t it, as well… if you just sit where you feel like sitting, people who travelled together / paid to sit together, will end up getting split up.

 

17 minutes ago, SteV said:

A good question, and absolutely emphasises the need for transparency. 
 

If I was the corporate/hospitality lead and I was getting all the heat for taking all the away tickets, but I was only getting the %’s @Shadow Puppets talks about, I’d be knocking on someone’s door telling them to start making public where the tickets were actually going.

 

 

 

They are pushing for transparency on it 👍

 

 

[Wallsendmag]

5 minutes ago, TheDimpleboy said:

 

Aye while the people in question sound like bellends, I'd be pissed off getting whinged at to go to my allocated seat at an away game like

 

Domestic away games we would generally head to our allocated seat. No problem if there was someone there theyd justbhace to bunch up a bit, but not once have I ever even took notice of my seat number on my ticket for a Euro away!

[bobbydazzla]

If there's nothing to hide and the Twitter twats are causing aggro for no reason then it could be rectified today by the club releasing some numbers that relate to both home and away ticketing.

 

Home: Number of non-ST seats available (assuming full allocation for the away side), number of members

Away: % of tickets available to ST holders

 

It's not commercially sensitive to share that info publicly

 

With their silence on the matter all they're doing is fanning the flames of discontent and suspicion

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by bobbydazzla