Atmosphere Tonight

[Red Exile]

[Phileas Fogg]

Complete crap about being near the away fans,

Aren't Stoke the loudest fans in the country with most of the noise coming from behind the goal at the opposite side of the ground?

Some want to be next to the away fans because it gives them an excuse to act like nobs without having to face a slap

[WolfOfWestStreet]

It's sounds terrible but the atmosphere was better when we were bottom of the league we had that siege mentality. The football on the pitch is good but in the stands I wouldn't call it fun at all,

[WTMS]

Another good result for us tonight. How bad was the atmosphere again though?

Real shame this wasn't thought about a bit more before this development started, the place should be buzzing every game....You wouldnt believe we were top of the league (well...that's not true actually, it's the only song we sing)

Is there any plans for the supporters trust to meet with the club to discuss this for next season maybe?

The ground should be buzzing. Many have opined long that it is all about winning. This season has proved there are more variables involved, we are not all fans of results and nothing else - The unreserved "singing" section is considered a failure.

Mr Billingham of Bristol Sport will be meeting the Fans Advisory Network this week, and other supporters including members of the Supporters Trust Saturday.

Hopefully the Fans Advisory Network will share their thoughts.

A write up from Saturdays meeting will be appearing. Topics included in this thread will be part of the discussion.

[HoldenBall]

It's sounds terrible but the atmosphere was better when we were bottom of the league we had that siege mentality. The football on the pitch is good but in the stands I wouldn't call it fun at all,

Not as I remember it!!

[Port Said Red]

The atmosphere seemed ok on the radio, no better or worse than normal. I do think the current rebuilding is partly to blame for the quiet spells as the acoustics are very weird at times. As far as the attendance is concerned, I did suggest when these fixtures started stacking up that some sort of group ticket for February might help, but clearly the club felt otherwise. 

I am sure the gate will be buzzing on Saturday though, Sheff Utd have a great following and can be loud when they get going. perhaps we need some competition to get going ourselves.

[cidered abroad]

I heard an intellectual refer to Matt Smith as a "kart horse".

Someone also shouted "useless".

Plenty of belt houses in attendance.

A cart horse with a university degree in Business Studies.

[Drew Peacock]

It's sounds terrible but the atmosphere was better when we were bottom of the league we had that siege mentality. 

 

You have to be joking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lew-T]

I think the reason is that the expectations for this season has always been to win the league, from the media, bookies and to the fans. I think it's just what people expected with the players we've brought in and the whole optimism around the place before the season started.

I just think the fans feel this is where be should be anyway sort of attitude.

[Manon]

It's mainly psychological.

I think most people went just going to see us bag the three points with minimum fuss, then toddle off back home again.

After the high of mk dons (intensity & atmos wise), there was likely gonna be a lull.

Add to that mentality the redevelopment, few away fans, and the clear expectation we seem to have to able to win these days, and you can see why. Luckily it doesn't seem to affect the team, but it would be nice to have big crowds and big noise again soon.

[cidered abroad]

I thought the atmosphere was "middling" last night.

Strangest thing for me was later in the match at 3-0, we had several corners. Some noise when corner given but as we prepared to take the kick, a deathly silence descended all around the ground.

It was like we were all getting a good intake of air so that we could celebrate the goal that was expected to follow.

[WTFiGO!?!]

[Red Exile]

[WTFiGO!?!]

[Hartcliffe red]

There are about 200 of us in williams who give it a good go most of the game,but only after we score or are putting pressure on,do more join in.ive still got a bloody sore throat today

[Phileas Fogg]

There are about 200 of us in williams who give it a good go most of the game,but only after we score or are putting pressure on,do more join in.ive still got a bloody sore throat today

Yeah, the lads in the Williams do a good job. Rest of the ground need to assist!

[RedM]

Ive written this on another thread, maybe it's just as relevant here. Please ignore if you have already read it.

I thought it was a strange atmosphere last night, but couldn't put my finger on why. We seemed half asleep but like the team we prepared to be patient and just let things happen without really putting the effort in to make it happen.

Night games are usually pretty good under the floodlights but for large periods you could clearly hear the players shouting at each other much more that I normally do. There were a few mumbles when the Ref was over fussy and even a token Gashead to jeer late on but even that didn't raise the crowd much.

Yes all the goals were appreciated as they should have been, i think Bryan stunned everyone including himself, and the Williams singers sang but were much flatter than usual.

It just didn't click last night which seems odd when you consider the final score. I think we, players and fans alike were playing off the back of a hard game against the MkDons and have an eye on a sterner test on Saturday. Port Vale will admit they aren't one of the glamour clubs or are particularly threatening to us, have no real history of past bad feeling, not local etc, and were just sandwiched in the middle of two 'bigger' games.

We, players and fans again, were just going through the motions last night. Not an ugly win but not a pretty one either, but then again you don't get bonus points for entertainment and artistic flair do you. So take the points and move on.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Also I think many fans want the middle ground regarding the two 'sides' involved in our club at the moment. They appreciate the business and ultimately the money that the corporate people bring, they also appreciate the proper football experience created by the more vocal singers but might not necessarily want to sing and stand themselves. How the club chooses to embrace both sections and satisfy the 'middle ground' people and cater for all ages within all the groups will be crucial for the future. One size does not fit all.

[Port Said Red]

Ive written this on another thread, maybe it's just as relevant here. Please ignore if you have already read it.

I thought it was a strange atmosphere last night, but couldn't put my finger on why. We seemed half asleep but like the team we prepared to be patient and just let things happen without really putting the effort in to make it happen.

Night games are usually pretty good under the floodlights but for large periods you could clearly hear the players shouting at each other much more that I normally do. There were a few mumbles when the Ref was over fussy and even a token Gashead to jeer late on but even that didn't raise the crowd much.

Yes all the goals were appreciated as they should have been, i think Bryan stunned everyone including himself, and the Williams singers sang but were much flatter than usual.

It just didn't click last night which seems odd when you consider the final score. I think we, players and fans alike were playing off the back of a hard game against the MkDons and have an eye on a sterner test on Saturday. Port Vale will admit they aren't one of the glamour clubs or are particularly threatening to us, have no real history of past bad feeling, not local etc, and were just sandwiched in the middle of two 'bigger' games.

We, players and fans again, were just going through the motions last night. Not an ugly win but not a pretty one either, but then again you don't get bonus points for entertainment and artistic flair do you. So take the points and move on.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Also I think many fans want the middle ground regarding the two 'sides' involved in our club at the moment. They appreciate the business and ultimately the money that the corporate people bring, they also appreciate the proper football experience created by the more vocal singers but might not necessarily want to sing and stand themselves. How the club chooses to embrace both sections and satisfy the 'middle ground' people and cater for all ages within all the groups will be crucial for the future. One size does not fit all.

The need for compromise is not helped by those who appear to have no room for it.

[Sixtyseconds]

There are about 200 of us in williams who give it a good go most of the game,but only after we score or are putting pressure on,do more join in.ive still got a bloody sore throat today

200 or 50. And its parts of the game. Parts are silent in the might sing when we are winnin section . All for biggin support up when the gig is up to something but support should be starting to peak now for the big push. good goes for most of the game now seem a lifetime ago.

[BCFCfiend]

it was terrible! Once we get promoted watch all the shallow fans join us again! Sometimes it makes me ashamed to support city.. I just hope I can one day see us in the prem

[Nogbad the Bad]

Thus highlighting how different folk are satisfied differently.

I first was drawn to watching City regularly because of the interactive nature of the supporters in the stands, not through placidly watching a good team (we were shit anyway!).

The evidence thus far suggests BS are building a cooperate brand that will cater for a very one-dimensional (albeit large) consumer base.

 

Young fans can watch a higher standard football on the TV almost any night of the week so there really has to be something different and exciting to attract them to Ashton Gate.

 

At my first match I was stunned by my first sight of the City crowd in the East End -  it was the noise, the colour,  the chanting and swearing, the uninhibited behaviour and the tribal dedication to City that excited me and made me want to come back, much more than the football on the pitch.

 

In those days it was common to see large groups of 12 -16 year olds approaching the EE juvenile turnstiles together, already in a high state of loud pre match excitement, eager to pay at the gate and really let themselves go once in the ground. No parents, no chaperones, just the young lads on a day/night out to support the City.

 

These days I never see similar large groups of young fans making their way to the game.With so many seats taken by STH's they can't sit or stand together so they don't all arrange to go to the match together at school during the day and just pay on the gate like we did. There's no focal point for them to gather, no East End to be part of, and behavioural standards have become so strict that the special feeling of Ashton Gate being a different world where they could really let themselves go - and misbehave a bit within limits- with their mates and away from the no doubt disapproving gaze of their parents has completely gone.

 

Rights of passage, like pushing your way into the middle of the EE for the first time, throwing a bog roll at the net, starting your first chant - even the anticipation of defending the EE for some - are all a thing of the past which one by one have been removed, and the unique excitement of actively supporting your local club for the younger supporter has gone with them.

 

Without these exciting elements and the licence to be boisterous in a big group there is very little to draw young fans away from the superior football available to watch on the TV.

 

As we get older many of us are content with a more sedate match experience, but we still want and need the younger fans coming up to help create the atmosphere, and if the modern day experience for them is so stolid and uninspiring that they never get into a lifetime habit of supporting City in their teens there may be very few sedate 50+ year olds, as well as uninhibited youngsters, at AG in the future.

 

We desperately need that 'singing area', (awful name) somewhere younger fans can congregate in high spirits, meet up with their mates - and make new ones - and start off their City supporting journey in an exciting atmosphere.

 

The club should never lose sight that it was this atmosphere that in many cases bonded us to City and AG in the first place, and keeps us returning with blind loyalty week after week, even in the many dour seasons that would soon kill off the interest of someone only there for the football.

[Gert Mare]

Was Sir Colin there. Did he receive a big hearty cheer?

[Phileas Fogg]

The need for compromise is not helped by those who appear to have no room for it.

Who? Bristol sport suits?

[WolfOfWestStreet]

You have to be joking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not at all, much better laugh in the EE last season at the bottom than top of the league in the Williams.

People just don't seen up for a laugh any more I don't know what it is. I enjoy watching the good football don't get me wrong but theres just no bounce, no one cares about stuff like that anymore.

[Sixtyseconds]

Young fans can watch a higher standard football on the TV almost any night of the week so there really has to be something different and exciting to attract them to Ashton Gate.

At my first match I was stunned by my first sight of the City crowd in the East End -  it was the noise, the colour,  the chanting and swearing, the uninhibited behaviour and the tribal dedication to City that excited me and made me want to come back, much more than the football on the pitch.

In those days it was common to see large groups of 12 -16 year olds approaching the EE juvenile turnstiles together, already in a high state of loud pre match excitement, eager to pay at the gate and really let themselves go once in the ground. No parents, no chaperones, just the young lads on a day/night out to support the City.

These days I never see similar large groups of young fans making their way to the game.With so many seats taken by STH's they can't sit or stand together so they don't all arrange to go to the match together at school during the day and just pay on the gate like we did. There's no focal point for them to gather, no East End to be part of, and behavioural standards have become so strict that the special feeling of Ashton Gate being a different world where they could really let themselves go - and misbehave a bit within limits- with their mates and away from the no doubt disapproving gaze of their parents has completely gone.

Rights of passage, like pushing your way into the middle of the EE for the first time, throwing a bog roll at the net, starting your first chant - even the anticipation of defending the EE for some - are all a thing of the past which one by one have been removed, and the unique excitement of actively supporting your local club for the younger supporter has gone with them.

Without these exciting elements and the licence to be boisterous in a big group there is very little to draw young fans away from the superior football available to watch on the TV.

As we get older many of us are content with a more sedate match experience, but we still want and need the younger fans coming up to help create the atmosphere, and if the modern day experience for them is so stolid and uninspiring that they never get into a lifetime habit of supporting City in their teens there may be very few sedate 50+ year olds, as well as uninhibited youngsters, at AG in the future.

We desperately need that 'singing area', (awful name) somewhere younger fans can congregate in high spirits, meet up with their mates - and make new ones - and start off their City supporting journey in an exciting atmosphere.

The club should never lose sight that it was this atmosphere that in many cases bonded us to City and AG in the first place, and keeps us returning with blind loyalty week after week, even in the many dour seasons that would soon kill off the interest of someone only there for the football.

And there is a bright one.

Bristol City shouldnt be one nation under the stuffy BS flag.

There are chaps on this thread who have forgotten what it was all about.

Yadaing about more compromise when there is bugger all left to compromise with as what was that seed is is now confined to a foul loft with the Williams pigeons.

Wasn't so long ago fans at other clubs thought City were good at this type of sketch.

[WTFiGO!?!]

Young fans can watch a higher standard football on the TV almost any night of the week so there really has to be something different and exciting to attract them to Ashton Gate.

 

At my first match I was stunned by my first sight of the City crowd in the East End -  it was the noise, the colour,  the chanting and swearing, the uninhibited behaviour and the tribal dedication to City that excited me and made me want to come back, much more than the football on the pitch.

 

In those days it was common to see large groups of 12 -16 year olds approaching the EE juvenile turnstiles together, already in a high state of loud pre match excitement, eager to pay at the gate and really let themselves go once in the ground. No parents, no chaperones, just the young lads on a day/night out to support the City.

 

These days I never see similar large groups of young fans making their way to the game.With so many seats taken by STH's they can't sit or stand together so they don't all arrange to go to the match together at school during the day and just pay on the gate like we did. There's no focal point for them to gather, no East End to be part of, and behavioural standards have become so strict that the special feeling of Ashton Gate being a different world where they could really let themselves go - and misbehave a bit within limits- with their mates and away from the no doubt disapproving gaze of their parents has completely gone.

 

Rights of passage, like pushing your way into the middle of the EE for the first time, throwing a bog roll at the net, starting your first chant - even the anticipation of defending the EE for some - are all a thing of the past which one by one have been removed, and the unique excitement of actively supporting your local club for the younger supporter has gone with them.

 

Without these exciting elements and the licence to be boisterous in a big group there is very little to draw young fans away from the superior football available to watch on the TV.

 

As we get older many of us are content with a more sedate match experience, but we still want and need the younger fans coming up to help create the atmosphere, and if the modern day experience for them is so stolid and uninspiring that they never get into a lifetime habit of supporting City in their teens there may be very few sedate 50+ year olds, as well as uninhibited youngsters, at AG in the future.

 

We desperately need that 'singing area', (awful name) somewhere younger fans can congregate in high spirits, meet up with their mates - and make new ones - and start off their City supporting journey in an exciting atmosphere.

 

The club should never lose sight that it was this atmosphere that in many cases bonded us to City and AG in the first place, and keeps us returning with blind loyalty week after week, even in the many dour seasons that would soon kill off the interest of someone only there for the football.

Starting a chant was always a biggie for me . Remember being ruffled on the head by a gorilla of a man in the Dolman B mid 90's.

I was always jealous to have missed out on the East End but really pity generations after me who only know the consumer experience. Not going so ape shit in a hoarded mass to the extent you thought you might die.

Cooperate greed has swallowed human souls violin music please I am serious, though.

[Red Exile]

[exAtyeoMax]

There are about 200 of us in williams who give it a good go most of the game,but only after we score or are putting pressure on,do more join in.ive still got a bloody sore throat today

There is constant shouting in the Atyeo, it's just that you wouldn't be able to hear it from the Williams. We don't all shout at the same time.

[Red-Robbo]

Sorry lads it was all my fault. I was dog tired last night after a tough day at work and lots of travel in the last 7 days.

I did Red Flag twice, EIEIEIO twice, Top Of The League once and a 10-second burst of Red Army, but I really wasn't on top vocal form.

Soz about that.

[WTMS]

 

I'm not saying that the "singing section" advocates don't have their own perfectly valid way of following the team, I fully respect that, but there's a risk that the loudest voices on here become those of people who have just one view of what supporting a team is. It is, believe me, perfectly possible to be a passionate City fan and not be dancing about making a noise all the time.

 

Edit: sorry - just missed your post WTFiGO - I'm not sure we are disagreeing that much tbh

 

At this point the culture involved in these pictures is in danger of not fitting in with the vision that Bristol Sport have for the FC.

 

The advocates of the singing section were BCFC. The current singing section exists solely due to the FC. It was not formed by OTIB, or collective effort from a fans group.

 

It is Bristol Sport that have moved the goal posts not fans.

 

Saturday the same view will be once again be presented to BS, as it was repeatedly from 2007 onwards to the FC that Bristol City should be the broad church you indicate it should be. That view was central to the move into the Eastend in 2007 -  Inlcusion and choice should be part of a modern football club.