Phileas Fogg

Exactly - apart from playoff games or big cup matches, all the best atmospheres at AG come when there’s a bit of needle.

Yeah, 07/08 sticks out because it was our first season post promotion and I remember some great home atmospheres. The other seasons sort of merge into each-other in my mind until GJ left.

A good example of this is the 07/08 season. Atmosphere was consistently good. All the considerations I’ve mentioned were in place at the time. Would've been exactly the same in 14/15 were it not for the rebuild and that proves my point.

Not true. Correct placement combined with on pitch success and proximity to away fans will lead to better atmosphere.

And what's so frustrating is that it could easily be so different. There's nothing different demographically between fans of our club or other English teams that mean AG is incapable of a good atmosphere. People on here talk about Bristol being "laid back" and "passive", but this isn't the 1800s, people move around the country so a culture unique to a City or football club isn't particularly realistic. It's not the same as comparing an English club to Boca Juniors or Galatasaray where the supporter culture is so different. It takes a club to be receptive to initiatives that help build an atmosphere. Placing away fans en-masse behind a goal, with an area marketed towards our own vocal supporters as far away as possible is terrible for atmosphere. I agree re: acoustics, although I don't think the sheer size of the Lansdown stand helps.

Well you wouldn’t, because you have had an agenda against Pearson since he joined.

Agreed - the whole ‘lights on during evening games’ thing is a dreadful policy. Really detracts from the spectacle. Feels like you’re watching from a supermarket rather than a football stadium.

Key thing with both of those examples is they have a dedicated ‘end’ behind the goal. Our vocal support is shoved in a fairly underwhelming corner. Ideally I’d have liked us to have put home fans in the Atyeo as a ‘home end’ with away support in an adjacent corner of Lansdown/Atyeo next to them.

I don’t think that’ll be the case. I’m convinced, like many clubs, interaction between home and away support is the main catalyst for atmosphere at AG, shortly followed by how the team is doing. S82 being where it currently is, physically as far from the away support as possible, makes this impossible. Safe standing and a relaxed attitude to more boisterous support for that area is great - but the placement is wrong. Ideally you’d want a few sections of vocal support - so it could work a bit like the beacons of Gondor and atmosphere spreads around the ground.

Save yourself the aggro Mr. P, just assume when people write ‘the club’ they mean the whole organisation who influence things like this - inclusive of SAG. It’s just shorthand. It’s not worth mansplaining the same point over and over.

That’s why I think your old avatar of the grumpy dog suited you better. Can you change it back?

I think the club see the likes of Reading as a good example to follow as one to emulate. They’d like us to be a fairly passive middle class supporter base who spend a great deal on merchandise and in the facilities. Fortunately, we aren’t that sort of club and there is still desire to make AG noisy within the supporter base despite the club’s attempts to quash it. There is room for all ‘types’ of supporter at AG and a good atmosphere helps the team.

That’s exactly what the club want. It’s clear from the marketing. I’m not criticising these initiatives or groups, but notice how much emphasis the club puts on AG being ‘family friendly’ and things like #HerGameToo. It’s clear the desired clientele isn’t noisy 14-35 year old lads who want to create an atmosphere.

It’s clearly being orchestrated by younger fans. The enthusiasm is great but as you say, naive wording like this is just going to put people’s noses out of joint and also make it easier for the club to put a stop to it.

It’s always been an uphill battle with the club re: atmosphere. It’s clearly a bit of an inconvenience for the board rather than something they encourage. Comments from the Lansdowns, Gould and in previous years the likes of Sextone show this. Cotterill, Johnson and Pearson have all made comments around the atmosphere. I remember one or both of Cotterill/Johnson lamenting how we give away supporters a whole end behind the goal. It’s difficult to prove, but I’m sure we surrender a few points a season because of the atmosphere situation. Under GJ in 07/08, (when I remember the atmosphere being consistently good), AG was a difficult place to come. It’s not been anything like that since the rebuild. It’s refreshing that fans want to do something about it and are being proactive. I hope the club don’t make it tricky.

This is a great idea but I can see the club doing all they can to quietly kill it. They don’t want the sort of atmosphere that comes from home and away fans interacting.

And that would be a point worth discussing if I was putting forward an argument (considering all variables) about what the club can do - rather than just talking about an ideal world situation ?

I genuinely did just skip to the TL:DR ? And ok, I didn’t say it would - I’m saying what the club should do.

Agreed. I’d love it if the club actually valued noisy support and worked with the fans. The S82 area is relatively progressive by their standards, but it clearly doesn’t work as a catalyst for atmosphere. It should be - home fans in Atyeo (as a ‘home end’ with a view to redevelop it into a better stand built for atmosphere) and away fans in the nearest adjacent corner of Dolman/Lansdown. Ideally with the Atyeo being reveloped into something a bit like the old south bank at Wolves.

Having vocal support next to the away fans helped generate a better atmosphere - colour me surprised. I’ve been like a broken record on this, but the placing of S82 is the worst possible place for atmosphere. The atmosphere at AG is embarrassing and as others have said, makes us look weak. I appreciate the effort those in S82 make, but without a bit of stimulus it doesn’t generate a noise atmosphere around the ground. I completely agree that the club have tried their best to dilute atmosphere - it was always a mad decision to give away support an entire end behind the goal. Makes a mockery of the ‘marginal gains’ stuff that’s so important in modern support.

Agreed. Think Scott could interest most of the Prem besides the ones at the bottom and the really big clubs. Could see him at somewhere like Leicester or Brighton.

This is a ChatGPT answer

I think it's just normal - young players are often inconsistent. Semenyo has had an unusual few months and almost definitely was (whether intentional or subconscious) trying to ensure he didn't get injured for the world cup.

On the contrary I'd say he is. He is, understandably, quite keen to preserve his reputation. Unusually he has a website (which is effectively a CV), a LinkedIn and is reasonably active on Twitter for an older manager. I absolutely believe he'd be happy to go along with something like this.