Improvements needed in match day atmosphere?

[skiblade]

Improvements needed in match day atmosphere?

Before I start, I must state that there are many aspects of the manufactured match day atmosphere that I, and many fellow fans, find totally cringing. I am not advocating ‘happy clappers’ like at Leicester, half time cheerleaders, massive pyrotechnic fire disasters, or the club and the fans spending thousands of pounds in the pursuit of the American razzamatazz. But there must be ways in which Bramall Lane, especially for lunchtime kick offs, can be made to feel less humdrum and for us to capture some continental ‘joie de vive’ during our matchday experience.
Below is something to debate and discuss. I do hope the club will at least read the below and for a relatively little outlay can implement some of the ideas.

There was a questionnaire circulated by the club asking the views of the fans with regard to safe standing, what has happened to this? If it were to be implemented how? As seems likely the development of the Kop area is likely to be delayed or shelved so any developments are some way off but this could be implemented relativity quickly, but where and how?
In my view the most obvious place would be the John Street corner, currently linked to the family stand but could be adapted?? Even if it was not converted to safe standing, it could still be allocated and see the creation of a section to anyone who wanted to ‘sing’ – much the same as Celtic have done with the ‘Green Brigade’. A ’Shoreham Boys’ section if you will
This also allows a great deal of space for flags banners etc as at the moment the whole area is bland, drab, lifeless and dull.
Enough of the truly ambitious stuff. More mundane, what happened to the flags that were a part of the match day experience? Passed overhead etc they just disappeared?
Even more mundane, and apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, what has happened to the Flags that were part of the kop? The fan paid for ‘Billy Sharp’ flag – what has happened to that?
Look I am not saying this is all the fault of the club as the fan group at Forest ‘Forza Garibaldi’ have worked wonders at the City Ground and if a group of likeminded Blades could be as proactive then things might happen, but could not have done what they have without the support of the club? I doubt it.
Recent games against Barnsley, and QPR have shown that even with 26,000 Blades in the ground it can often feel very flat. We need the club to be a catalyst for the creation of a much better match day atmosphere at the ground. Is it time for the excellent social media team to expand its activities and engage in the creation of a better match day experience?

 

[Houston_Blade]

Singing section in the BLUT, sorted.

 

[Cheesebored]

Improvements needed in match day atmosphere?

Before I start, I must state that there are many aspects of the manufactured match day atmosphere that I, and many fellow fans, find totally cringing. I am not advocating ‘happy clappers’ like at Leicester, half time cheerleaders, massive pyrotechnic fire disasters, or the club and the fans spending thousands of pounds in the pursuit of the American razzamatazz. But there must be ways in which Bramall Lane, especially for lunchtime kick offs, can be made to feel less humdrum and for us to capture some continental ‘joie de vive’ during our matchday experience.
Below is something to debate and discuss. I do hope the club will at least read the below and for a relatively little outlay can implement some of the ideas.

There was a questionnaire circulated by the club asking the views of the fans with regard to safe standing, what has happened to this? If it were to be implemented how? As seems likely the development of the Kop area is likely to be delayed or shelved so any developments are some way off but this could be implemented relativity quickly, but where and how?
In my view the most obvious place would be the John Street corner, currently linked to the family stand but could be adapted?? Even if it was not converted to safe standing, it could still be allocated and see the creation of a section to anyone who wanted to ‘sing’ – much the same as Celtic have done with the ‘Green Brigade’. A ’Shoreham Boys’ section if you will
This also allows a great deal of space for flags banners etc as at the moment the whole area is bland, drab, lifeless and dull.
Enough of the truly ambitious stuff. More mundane, what happened to the flags that were a part of the match day experience? Passed overhead etc they just disappeared?
Even more mundane, and apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, what has happened to the Flags that were part of the kop? The fan paid for ‘Billy Sharp’ flag – what has happened to that?
Look I am not saying this is all the fault of the club as the fan group at Forest ‘Forza Garibaldi’ have worked wonders at the City Ground and if a group of likeminded Blades could be as proactive then things might happen, but could not have done what they have without the support of the club? I doubt it.
Recent games against Barnsley, and QPR have shown that even with 26,000 Blades in the ground it can often feel very flat. We need the club to be a catalyst for the creation of a much better match day atmosphere at the ground. Is it time for the excellent social media team to expand its activities and engage in the creation of a better match day experience?
View attachment 133768View attachment 133769

Pound a pint should sort it

 

[mattbianco1]

Singing section in the BLUT, sorted.

Ricky, is that you?

 

[bongleblade]

one big improvement for the matchday experience is the catering on the Kop. How can we expect to sing the GCB at full pelt when half of fans are either not in the stand, or pissed off at having to rush their over-priced, terrible drink/food and the inept customer service to go alongside

 

[Houston_Blade]

Ricky, is that you?

I'm not even fit to be his megaphone holder. I'm far too woke, gammon, snowflakey, virtue signalling etc.........

 

[Rodley]

A large safe standing section on the Kop is the answer.

Until then the atmosphere will remain predominately crap with bursts of being very noisy.

 

[bongleblade]

Standing on the kop also needs to be normalised, and i mean from kick off to minutes added. Some chants about standing up should do it. Or some ironic chanting about singing/not singing

Banners and flags are also an easy way to give BDTBL a personal touch, and it would be cheap as fuck or free for the club. Literally put an advert out on the club's channels asking for fans to submit ideas for flags to be installed on each stand, then the club contacts the winning submissions and installs them

 

[mattbianco1]

Regarding the atmosphere at BL, i do feel it's because the away end is nowhere near the Kop. All these "modern" grounds position their singing section next to the away fans - Derby, Boro etc.

Our ground isn't designed for this. Ideally the corner between South Stand and Kop could be filled in and the away fans could go there. That would create a better atmosphere for sure.
As it stands currently, we could shove them in the John Street corner (only ~1K though) and section off the last gangway of John Street for when people bring over 1K... A major problem with this is that the John Street is the family stand so having away fans segregated from families isn't great.

Basically, the design of the stadium isn't great to generate that "banter style" atmosphere between home and away fans.

 

[alcoblade]

Improvements needed in match day atmosphere?

Before I start, I must state that there are many aspects of the manufactured match day atmosphere that I, and many fellow fans, find totally cringing. I am not advocating ‘happy clappers’ like at Leicester, half time cheerleaders, massive pyrotechnic fire disasters, or the club and the fans spending thousands of pounds in the pursuit of the American razzamatazz. But there must be ways in which Bramall Lane, especially for lunchtime kick offs, can be made to feel less humdrum and for us to capture some continental ‘joie de vive’ during our matchday experience.
Below is something to debate and discuss. I do hope the club will at least read the below and for a relatively little outlay can implement some of the ideas.

There was a questionnaire circulated by the club asking the views of the fans with regard to safe standing, what has happened to this? If it were to be implemented how? As seems likely the development of the Kop area is likely to be delayed or shelved so any developments are some way off but this could be implemented relativity quickly, but where and how?
In my view the most obvious place would be the John Street corner, currently linked to the family stand but could be adapted?? Even if it was not converted to safe standing, it could still be allocated and see the creation of a section to anyone who wanted to ‘sing’ – much the same as Celtic have done with the ‘Green Brigade’. A ’Shoreham Boys’ section if you will
This also allows a great deal of space for flags banners etc as at the moment the whole area is bland, drab, lifeless and dull.
Enough of the truly ambitious stuff. More mundane, what happened to the flags that were a part of the match day experience? Passed overhead etc they just disappeared?
Even more mundane, and apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, what has happened to the Flags that were part of the kop? The fan paid for ‘Billy Sharp’ flag – what has happened to that?
Look I am not saying this is all the fault of the club as the fan group at Forest ‘Forza Garibaldi’ have worked wonders at the City Ground and if a group of likeminded Blades could be as proactive then things might happen, but could not have done what they have without the support of the club? I doubt it.
Recent games against Barnsley, and QPR have shown that even with 26,000 Blades in the ground it can often feel very flat. We need the club to be a catalyst for the creation of a much better match day atmosphere at the ground. Is it time for the excellent social media team to expand its activities and engage in the creation of a better match day experience?
View attachment 133768View attachment 133769

It needs rail seating, to allow the two distinct groups of "singers" at the back of the kop to unite more centrally. It would transform the atmosphere overnight.

You should expect a million sarcy comments from posters who don't give a shite about atmosphere though, be warned.

 

[Torrix1889]

Each ground is different. The away matches at Derby and Coventry had a great atmosphere generated by the home support, OK Derby have a unique set of circumstances that have dragged a lot of fans out but Coventry FFS, they didn't shut up.

That said the atmospheres at Reading, Fulham, Birmingham, Stoke were all as shite as it can be at BDTBL.....

 

[bongleblade]

Regarding the atmosphere at BL, i do feel it's because the away end is nowhere near the Kop. All these "modern" grounds position their singing section next to the away fans - Derby, Boro etc.

Our ground isn't designed for this. Ideally the corner between South Stand and Kop could be filled in and the away fans could go there. That would create a better atmosphere for sure.
As it stands currently, we could shove them in the John Street corner (only ~1K though) and section off the last gangway of John Street for when people bring over 1K... A major problem with this is that the John Street is the family stand so having away fans segregated from families isn't great.

Basically, the design of the stadium isn't great to generate that "banter style" atmosphere between home and away fans.

what about the Bramall Lane Corner? 2000 capacity... a segregated section and then BL stand's bottom/top tiers are home fans? Would never get approved by SYP or the club, but it'd create a cracking atmosphere and expand the stadium's home capacity

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

Sometimes the Kop will sing quite a lot if it's an important match and United are not losing.

That's all we've ever had and all we're ever getting. Close thread.

 

[Piffle and Tosh]

free beer handed out before and during the game would help !

 

[Greg.]

 

[Oohaah! Bob Bookah!]

we could always get thouse crappy paper clappers that Huddersfield use.

 

[Rodley]

It needs rail seating, to allow the two distinct groups of "singers" at the back of the kop to unite more centrally. It would transform the atmosphere overnight.

You should expect a million sarcy comments from posters who don't give a shite about atmosphere though, be warned.

Usually by people who wouldn’t want to stand and would therefore have to cope with the choice of 23,000 other seats to sit in.

A decent atmosphere has a demonstrable impact on performances on the pitch. I think it’s within most clubs interests to maximise their home advantage, a noisy atmosphere is one way of doing that.

I do think it (rail seating) will happen and people will be left scratching their heads why it was such a contentious issue in the first place.

 

[Houston_Blade]

What we need is for the opposition to cheat or dive in the first 5 mins and the ref to be an absolute prick. At present that is the only way anything gets done.

I also think the away atmosphere with a big following is 10x worse than if only the core 1,500-2,000 go.

 

[RecordBreakers]

Union Berlin have got it more or less nailed on.. No shit music played when team comes out/scores no music at half time just simple announcements of goal scorers/subs. It's a football match not a concert.

 

[alcoblade]

I also think the away atmosphere with a big following is 10x worse than if only the core 1,500-2,000 go.

Very true - the next few thousand just dilute those who actually want to create a decent atmosphere.

 

[Cheesebored]

Regarding the atmosphere at BL, i do feel it's because the away end is nowhere near the Kop. All these "modern" grounds position their singing section next to the away fans - Derby, Boro etc.

Our ground isn't designed for this. Ideally the corner between South Stand and Kop could be filled in and the away fans could go there. That would create a better atmosphere for sure.
As it stands currently, we could shove them in the John Street corner (only ~1K though) and section off the last gangway of John Street for when people bring over 1K... A major problem with this is that the John Street is the family stand so having away fans segregated from families isn't great.

Basically, the design of the stadium isn't great to generate that "banter style" atmosphere between home and away fans.

There's been some brilliant atmospheres over the years at BDTBL and the away end has always been situated there. It's more the general malaise that seems to affect our fans that's the problem, not the positioning of the away fans.

 

[SUFCinks]

Without the match day atmosphere you may as well watch the game at home IMO. It’s the experience of the atmosphere that makes people want to go and spend the money. It’s so important that this is adressed for the fans benefit and team performance benefit.

Safe standing and putting all the vocal ones together would help. I think it was mentioned on here before that because all the vocal members are spread thin across the ground it makes it really hard to generate any sustained noise (like palace) and instead you get an occasional little squirt of noise then quiet. Makes it quite awkward for people to start chants.

 

[nicksufc]

I think safe standing is the only real cure. It would gather the 'singers' together in one small area rather than having them scattered around as they are now. Half of the time the Kop are singing 2 or 3 different songs.

The atmosphere at BL has been shite for a number of years now, only interrupted by the odd derby or important match. The rest of the time it is so poor. The QPR match was atrocious. It was a dull game played out in a lifeless atmosphere. Not exactly a fun match day experience. It was really fucking boring, actually.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

It's always been the Kop and G&H (and JS West terrace in days of yore) that generates the atmosphere, so leave BLUT alone please, that's where I go for a bit of peace and quiet

Atmosphere isn't usually a problem at the Lane, it usually takes care of it self with what happens on the pitch. If it's a fiery match or the team is playing well, with a bit of passion and passionate play, then that sorts itself out.

If the OP is asking for the fans to generate it irregardless of what's happening on the park for the last few games, then they would have to give free or very cheap beer away on the Kop and G&H. Let some of the away fans into the kop and g&h that would stoke it up too.

 

[Stand United]

There was a questionnaire circulated by the club asking the views of the fans with regard to safe standing, what has happened to this? If it were to be implemented how? As seems likely the development of the Kop area is likely to be delayed or shelved so any developments are some way off but this could be implemented relativity quickly, but where and how?
In my view the most obvious place would be the John Street corner, currently linked to the family stand but could be adapted?? Even if it was not converted to safe standing, it could still be allocated and see the creation of a section to anyone who wanted to ‘sing’ – much the same as Celtic have done with the ‘Green Brigade’. A ’Shoreham Boys’ section if you will

I think that’s our absolutely-not-club-affiliated survey that we published the results of in January. Though do shout if there’s something we’ve missed.

We’re continuing to raise the issue with the club, and outside of that engage other fan groups on the issue (which has to date all been positive). However, unless something drastically changes this does not appear likely to materialise in time for next season. Championship clubs that have recently announced they are bringing in rail seating for next season have realistically already lined this up with suppliers – QPR & Peterborough the latest, the former after a fairly comprehensive fan consultation. Cardiff’s is part of the ongoing safe standing pilots. Bristol City have a section they introduced for this season. Luton are consulting fans currently on this. Birmingham and Forest have said they’re looking into feasibility of it.

It’s likely a case of when not if for us, it will happen eventually, and for a lot of clubs the expected expansion of safe standing for next season will in all likelihood accelerate this.

 

[Stu_Blade]

Regarding the atmosphere at BL, i do feel it's because the away end is nowhere near the Kop. All these "modern" grounds position their singing section next to the away fans - Derby, Boro etc.

Our ground isn't designed for this. Ideally the corner between South Stand and Kop could be filled in and the away fans could go there. That would create a better atmosphere for sure.
As it stands currently, we could shove them in the John Street corner (only ~1K though) and section off the last gangway of John Street for when people bring over 1K... A major problem with this is that the John Street is the family stand so having away fans segregated from families isn't great.

Basically, the design of the stadium isn't great to generate that "banter style" atmosphere between home and away fans.

If we were going to use the model of keeping away fans tucked in with home then I agree the John Street corner with up to a quarter of the main stand could be used for away fans. The family stand could then be extended into BL Lower or Upper

 

[Nelson1889]

It's quite a simple equation that happens at every ground in the country.

Important match/exciting match/something at stake/ grudge match = great atmosphere

Mid table nothing team/end of season meaningless match/small away following/team playing shit = poor atmosphere

 

[Wards]

I think the only place this has been anything like a success is Palace, but it looks/feels a bit cringey at times like they're trying too hard to copy a Budesliga style following. Atmosphere wise it's decent though.

 

[mattbianco1]

Important match/exciting match/something at stake/ grudge match = great atmosphere

Can i point you back at this tomorrow when it's as flat as a pancake?

 

[S64 Blade]

Was previously against the continental style ultras section, but my views on this has changed in recent years as grounds and BL in particular have become more sedate.

I think it’ll take organisation and a defined area for it to properly improve. It’s happened at many other clubs, so why not here?

Unfashionable Oldham have done it fairly recently and it seems to have taken off a lot this season for them.