Where has our fans passion gone?

[metalblade]

Looking at games in the Premier league before and as the teams come onto the field we see flags and scarfs being waved about or in some cases the whole stands holding up cards to make the club crest, plenty of noise and chanting going on yet at Bramall lane we have nothing apart from a cue to sing the greasy chip butty song from Gary Sinclair. I know we are having a terrible season but this has been the case for a number of years now. In the past the lane was rocking pre kick off huge flags being passed around the kop hundreds of red and white balloons constant chants up until kick off the place was a cauldron which must have scared the shit out of opposition teams. If we were playing the pigs or Leeds/ Forest the lane would be a bear pit that would make the hairs on your arms and neck stand up. Where has it all gone never mind someone waving a flag you hardly see a scarf held up to add a bit of colour to the home stands. Songs we might get a desultory "United" chant in response to the first song from the away end and that's it. The pre match atmosphere is absolutely flat away teams no longer have to quieten the home fans it has already been done for them the only time our fans make a noise is when the ref gives a dodgy free kick to the away team. Results aside I'm no longer getting much enjoyment going to the lane it is so flat and sterile at least last season Ndiaye was worth the admission fee alone, nothing to see at the lane any more so dull and boring even before a ball is kicked.

 

[jt64]

That's foreign shit, we don't do that here

 

[borg elite]

I can't get to the Lane too often these days but when I do I've noticed on each occasion that the atmosphere has deteriorated even further.

I don't know what the answer is but not enough people seem to want to do anything about it.

The club and fans really need to come together to try and find a solution. Not easy though when you've got cardboard cutouts who have been sat in the same seats for decades and won't be willing to move.

It was rocking in the noughties when we had unreserved seating on the end of the South Stand. Authorities soon put a stop to that.

 

[Nelson1889]

It's really not a hard equation to work out

Team is playing shit/doesn't put any effort in to look even half respectable = atmosphere is shit

Team plays well/looks like they'd die for the badge = atmosphere is great.

Twirling a few scarfs about like a bunch of twats isn't going to make fuck all difference until the team give us something to shout about.

 

[Bladesman]

Looking at games in the Premier league before and as the teams come onto the field we see flags and scarfs being waved about or in some cases the whole stands holding up cards to make the club crest, plenty of noise and chanting going on yet at Bramall lane we have nothing apart from a cue to sing the greasy chip butty song from Gary Sinclair. I know we are having a terrible season but this has been the case for a number of years now. In the past the lane was rocking pre kick off huge flags being passed around the kop hundreds of red and white balloons constant chants up until kick off the place was a cauldron which must have scared the shit out of opposition teams. If we were playing the pigs or Leeds/ Forest the lane would be a bear pit that would make the hairs on your arms and neck stand up. Where has it all gone never mind someone waving a flag you hardly see a scarf held up to add a bit of colour to the home stands. Songs we might get a desultory "United" chant in response to the first song from the away end and that's it. The pre match atmosphere is absolutely flat away teams no longer have to quieten the home fans it has already been done for them the only time our fans make a noise is when the ref gives a dodgy free kick to the away team. Results aside I'm no longer getting much enjoyment going to the lane it is so flat and sterile at least last season Ndiaye was worth the admission fee alone, nothing to see at the lane any more so dull and boring even before a ball is kicked.

I think I said it a while ago I'd say the atmosphere at the lane died post COVID. The last few seasons it's felt a bit flat at the lane despite the attendances being good and a promotion. Not sure that's the same away from home though as our fans sounded brilliant at Luton last week.

I think it's flat because of what the Premier League has become now. You are not chasing promotion for the love of football, you are chasing promotion to get a few quid and stay in touch with "bigger" clubs.

 

[Grey Blade]

The atmosphere has become increasingly flat in recent years and more so this season. I can understand fans being less than enthusiastic, but there are times when a little more vocal support wouldn't go amiss. I don't want orchestrated flags and banners - I notice they had two enormous banners at Goodison tonight pre-match, and I'm not keen on the enormous flags that are waved at the likes of Arsenal after they've scored.

Not sure what the answer is but if the atmosphere generated at away games could be replicated at home, that would go some way to improving things. As borg elite says, a section of unreserved seating could help like minded fans to congregate together but I don't know what incentive would be needed to encourage other fans to vacate their habitual position. The funny thing is I sit alongside a couple of mates, but we all get increasingly fed up of the nonsense spouted roundabout us, and I find it quite refreshing to go to away games where you rarely stand with the same people.

 

[Jon Bon II]

Scarves being held aloft have been replaced by the inside of a Rice Crispies box with '(Insert Name Here) ... Please can I have your shirt?' untidily scrawled on in marker pen. Some of them don't even say please. The kids ones are even worse.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Herbert took the atmosphere with him when he left.

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

Since the 9th placed finish we’ve basically been waiting for a half decent owner with a respectable and purposeful project to come and take the club forward rather than the zombie shitshow it currently ambles along as

 

[shorehamview]

It’s hard to muster up any kind of enthusiasm when you know there’s a very likelihood of getting the footballing equivalent of a massive dry bumming. I can’t imagine anyone being happy about that.

 

[SouthStandGBlock]

Perhaps it's time to give Pompey a megaphone and a pair of step ladders at the front of the kop, that would rev everyone up.

Fallowfield could do the same thing on John Street.

There could be "Guest revver upper" for the South stand, with perhaps some of the alleged ITKers having a go on a match by match rotation? I'm open to suggestions on that one.

I'm a happy clapper, so I'll clap along and rock from side to side (love a Mexican wave me ), at whoever is bellowing at me.

 

[Champagneblade]

It’s hard to muster up any kind of enthusiasm when you know there’s a very likelihood of getting the footballing equivalent of a massive dry bumming. I can’t imagine anyone being happy about that.

And it’s been no lube central this season

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

I would go further back to installing seats. No need to sit at football unless your old, disabled, having a shit or a combo of the three.

 

[HOT CURRIE 10]

It’s called apathy. We have got it in spades this season. I haven’t disliked a season so much in years and years. It started with the departures then absolute clueless ownership and management from then on .

 

[mattbianco1]

It's really not a hard equation to work out

Team is playing shit/doesn't put any effort in to look even half respectable = atmosphere is shit

Team plays well/looks like they'd die for the badge = atmosphere is great.

Twirling a few scarfs about like a bunch of twats isn't going to make fuck all difference until the team give us something to shout about.

We walked to promotion last season and the atmosphere was terrible

 

[71Blade]

Im Waiting for the post match presser where its mentioned our 12th man didn't turn up i.e the crowd. Play well put effort on give a shit crowd reacts. Just remember many pay alot of money time and effort to have a weekend fully ruined by this current team. Please end this season right now.

 

[Rodley]

It’s really for the youngsters to start generating the atmosphere. The problem is in English football, there’s not really much of an offer for them. Throw in the cost and it’s no surprise the average age of fans over here is going up and up.

It’s nigh on impossible for a group of younger lads or lasses to get seats all together, let alone try and generate an atmosphere. Until we get a substantial safe standing section, the atmosphere will remain up and down.

 

[nopigfansintown]

I don't class most of the choreographed modern shit around the game as passion. It's inorganic and thus inauthentic . Football seems to have moved towards that as a reaction to the increasingly palpable lack of atmosphere in stadiums. This sterile environment doesn't sell.

Reasons for the decline in atmosphere are wide ranging and very arguable. I'd suggest seating started it. Then you have the cost of attending football and the resulting demographic changes. Sheffield is harder to gentrify so we've held it off longer than most. SUFC have failed to react to these things with singing sections etc. You see that at other grounds (a necessary evil?). They even took our few flags down

When I started going the back 5-10 rows of the Kop were all unofficial singing sections and the atmosphere spiralled from there. That seems to have fragmented badly. Things like VAR and losing every week don't help, but in truth it's been a problem for a while. The only Prem atmosphere I rated this season was Forest's tbh.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

we were kicked in the bollocks before the season began. We were doomed from day one. 2019 we had a "we are back and will enjoy regardless" attitude this year only the deranged thought we stood a chance

 

[Loco Blade]

Apathy. That’s it . Warnock got everyone wound up . Wilder did first go ( eventually)
When I was at Burnley away even though they are as shit as us at least they engaged their fans . Our marketing and fan engagement is as shit as our football right now . Apathy starts with the owner . Anyone else would have kicked off big style at being the laughing stock of football right now . Not us we take it up the arse every weak without any murmur.
Sad really sad

 

[LS16Blade]

Since the 9th placed finish we’ve basically been waiting for a half decent owner with a respectable and purposeful project to come and take the club forward rather than the zombie shitshow it currently ambles along as

At the risk of inviting the ‘accusation’ of ‘Bladey Bladeness’ or a similar banal trope, the revival of the club from 2016, felt all the more special with Unitedites as Chairman, Manager and Team captain. It felt, as Wilder said, that the club was ‘together’.

For me, irrespective of opinions about the individual merits of McCabe as a Chairman, Wilder’s departure or Billy’s value to the team with advancing years, as each of those elements has been stripped away, there has been a palpable disconnect or come down - a feeling that the club identity is somehow diminished or, at least, not what it was.

 

[borg elite]

The decline in atmosphere began long before the current season and Covid. It began with the sanitising of G and H blocks on the South Stand well over fifteen years ago. Getting to only a few games a season over the past fifteen years I've noticed the drop off in noise. A bit like when you see someone every now and then and realise they've aged, but when you see someone everyday you don't notice!

 

[Carlton Blade]

Leeds and Portsmouth have good home atmosphere. Unless they are winning a big game, pretty much every other ground is dead

When United win big games the atmosphere is fantastic

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

It’s really for the youngsters to start generating the atmosphere. The problem is in English football, there’s not really much of an offer for them. Throw in the cost and it’s no surprise the average age of fans over here is going up and up.

It’s nigh on impossible for a group of younger lads or lasses to get seats all together, let alone try and generate an atmosphere. Until we get a substantial safe standing section, the atmosphere will remain up and down.

I think this and the point above about unreserved seating area very good.
The overcrowding at the back of the kop had to be addressed, but it was, groups of people wanting to stand near each other. The atmosphere was improved because of it.
Replicate that properly, like with safe standing, or blocks of unreserved seats and it will heal itself.
The same people sat in the same seats, steadily aging will see atmosphere decline.

 

[Gin&Juice]

Leeds and Portsmouth have good home atmosphere. Unless they are winning a big game, pretty much every other ground is dead

When United win big games the atmosphere is fantastic

See every club in the country.

 

[SUFC Guy]

This year's atmosphere is flat as a fart, but it's only down to us getting pasted most weeks. Last years' promotion season was very different atmosphere wise.

The lane will be rocking again next year if we are off to a flyer and in the top 3 or 4 every week.

UTB

 

[AnstonBlade1]

Nothing to get excited about when your getting battered 5-0 every home game

 

[Pintor75]

Tannoy blasting out loud, fans having to scream at their mates to have a conversation 1/2hr before kick off, voice has gone when teams come out!. Not much to shout about this season, worst I've seen it for years, Hecky lost the players, then they appointed Wilder, enough said, and get Sinclair to stop that red and white wizards crap, wizards?!

 

[Gin&Juice]

It’s really for the youngsters to start generating the atmosphere. The problem is in English football, there’s not really much of an offer for them. Throw in the cost and it’s no surprise the average age of fans over here is going up and up.

It’s nigh on impossible for a group of younger lads or lasses to get seats all together, let alone try and generate an atmosphere. Until we get a substantial safe standing section, the atmosphere will remain up and down.

I think many of the kids would probably pay some membership to be in a safe standing zone. It’s what they do over in Germany. Arsenal, Palace, Celtic etc do it as well. Probably be easier for security as well. It won’t happen for years for us though!

 

[Hanauer]

Amazing that the best, most loyal and usually noisy fans have been brought down to such apathy. Everyone in football knows what the Blades fans can be but I think the defeats this season and the hopeless football at home has got to the fans. No team and fans in football could withstand the horrendous results and displays we have had to put up with this season.