Away Fans-Atyeo-Why?

[CTRed]

Following on from watching the NP press conference on YouTube I made the usual mistake of clicking ‘recommended for you’ videos. City v Swindon in “that” game back in the season when Swindon won promotion in November or whenever it was.

Anyway, the Atyeo was 3/4 full of City fans and it got me thinking about (again) about why we give such an advantage to away teams by giving up the whole stand when we really don’t need to. It was amazing to see the difference in atmosphere with City fans in the Atyeo and Swindon confined to a corner of it.

The club really should look at this, we need our own fans back in the Atyeo, you can easily have a divide between supporters, nearly every other team in the football league with a stadium our size has such.

@JerrySLOplease investigate and report back 

[Tinmans Love Child]

14 minutes ago, CTRed said:

Following on from watching the NP press conference on YouTube I made the usual mistake of clicking ‘recommended for you’ videos. City v Swindon in “that” game back in the season when Swindon won promotion in November or whenever it was.

Anyway, the Atyeo was 3/4 full of City fans and it got me thinking about (again) about why we give such an advantage to away teams by giving up the whole stand when we really don’t need to. It was amazing to see the difference in atmosphere with City fans in the Atyeo and Swindon confined to a corner of it.

The club really should look at this, we need our own fans back in the Atyeo, you can easily have a divide between supporters, nearly every other team in the football league with a stadium our size has such.

@JerrySLOplease investigate and report back 

Especially as we don’t give the away team the whole front of the stand anyway, even if they could sell it out, meaning always a few thousand seats empty.  Better to give the away team just under the left half, one block is blocked off for segregation, then the other half for home fans.  You could always shift the segregation block along (either way) depending on expected demand or if FA cup where you need to give more away seats.

[CTRed]

53 minutes ago, CTRed said:

Following on from watching the NP press conference on YouTube I made the usual mistake of clicking ‘recommended for you’ videos. City v Swindon in “that” game back in the season when Swindon won promotion in November or whenever it was.

Anyway, the Atyeo was 3/4 full of City fans and it got me thinking about (again) about why we give such an advantage to away teams by giving up the whole stand when we really don’t need to. It was amazing to see the difference in atmosphere with City fans in the Atyeo and Swindon confined to a corner of it.

The club really should look at this, we need our own fans back in the Atyeo, you can easily have a divide between supporters, nearly every other team in the football league with a stadium our size has such.

@JerrySLOplease investigate and report back 

Not to mention we have subs warm up toward away end not south stand.

It’s all about marginal gains to be successful and we are giving them away.

[Robbored]

The reason away fans are located in the Atyeo is largely down to A&S police advice. From that end of AG it’s easy access to Ashton Rd post match and with certain away supporters, Cardiff, Swansea and Milwall with a heavy police presence it’s simple enough to keep them corralled inside the Atyeo for 15/20mins after the game, enough time for the home fans to exit AG

Its a shame tho because just a small number of away fans can much more noise as the acoustics in the Atyeo direct the sound out towards the pitch whereas any chants/songs our fans create from the corner of the SS dissipate upwards and that’s why we often hear the away fans chanting “is this a libtary?”

[Tinmans Love Child]

4 minutes ago, Robbored said:

The reason away fans are located in the Atyeo is largely down to A&S police advice. From that end of AG it’s easy access to Ashton Rd post match and with certain away supporters, Cardiff, Swansea and Milwall with a heavy police presence it’s simple enough to keep them corralled inside the Atyeo for 15/20mins after the game, enough time for the home fans to exit AG

Its a shame tho because just a small number of away fans can much more noise as the acoustics in the Atyeo direct the sound out towards the pitch whereas any chants/songs our fans create from the corner of the SS dissipate upwards and that’s why we often hear the away fans chanting “is this a libtary?”

Is it advice I.e. the club could ignore it if they wanted, or do the police have the right to tell the club where they can put away fans and there is nothing we can do about it?

[Robbored]

20 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

Is it advice I.e. the club could ignore it if they wanted, or do the police have the right to tell the club where they can put away fans and there is nothing we can do about it?

The club cannot ignore the advice. The police have power to dictate where the away fans are located. Their reasoning is that it’s about public safety- it’s easy to see that, disappointing  tho it is.

[Monkeh]

4 hours ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

Especially as we don’t give the away team the whole front of the stand anyway, even if they could sell it out, meaning always a few thousand seats empty.  Better to give the away team just under the left half, one block is blocked off for segregation, then the other half for home fans.  You could always shift the segregation block along (either way) depending on expected demand or if FA cup where you need to give more away seats.

We have to give a minimum of 10% of capacity to away fans (Cup excluded)

Those 3 blocks doesn't account for 2700 fans 

[Monkeh]

46 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

Is it advice I.e. the club could ignore it if they wanted, or do the police have the right to tell the club where they can put away fans and there is nothing we can do about it?

Then the safety boffins could reduce or shut down the ground for ignoring police advice

[Simon79]

54 minutes ago, Robbored said:

The reason away fans are located in the Atyeo is largely down to A&S police advice. From that end of AG it’s easy access to Ashton Rd post match and with certain away supporters, Cardiff, Swansea and Milwall with a heavy police presence it’s simple enough to keep them corralled inside the Atyeo for 15/20mins after the game, enough time for the home fans to exit AG

Its a shame tho because just a small number of away fans can much more noise as the acoustics in the Atyeo direct the sound out towards the pitch whereas any chants/songs our fans create from the corner of the SS dissipate upwards and that’s why we often hear the away fans chanting “is this a libtary?”

I can’t remember the last time they did that, they seem to let away fans out at exactly the same time as home fans. COYR 

[Monkeh]

3 minutes ago, Simon79 said:

I can’t remember the last time they did that, they seem to let away fans out at exactly the same time as home fans. COYR 

The just shut the gate between the Dolman and the atyeo and bring away coach's into the carpark

[Phileas Fogg]

I’ve always said this - when the ground was redesigned the club had ample opportunity to place the away fans strategically and put city fans behind both goals.

Unsurprisingly; they chose the laziest option which also simultaneously gives away fans an advantage whilst also negatively impacting the overall atmosphere at home games.

Sadly it’s complicated to change it now, but what they should have done for optimal atmosphere is place the away fans in the corner of the Lansdown or Dolman nearest the Atyeo and make the Atyeo the home end. Long term they’d be looking into redeveloping it into a proper single tiered home end.

[Sir Geoff]

4 hours ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

Especially as we don’t give the away team the whole front of the stand anyway, even if they could sell it out, meaning always a few thousand seats empty.  Better to give the away team just under the left half, one block is blocked off for segregation, then the other half for home fans.  You could always shift the segregation block along (either way) depending on expected demand or if FA cup where you need to give more away seats.

So many negatives against that idea imo.

1. Why invite trouble ? The majority of that home area would be used by current members of Dolman black A and B or S.82

2. Doing the above would dilute our own vocal support, which is building nicely around the ground at the moment from S.82.

3. Our crowds (despite official numbers ) seems to be circa 15000. Put 2000 of those in the corner of the Atyeo and the rest of the ground will loook pretty empty.

4. What evidence do you have that the away team gains an advantage by having the whole of the Atyeo.

5. Our most vocal home support has traditionally been the 'East End' I think it should stay there.

[HitchinRed]

This may be controversial, but I like a vociferous away end. It adds to the atmosphere, and helps (or should help) to get the home support going. If it doesn’t, this is more reflective of our support and moving away fans to a quiet corner won’t make any difference.

There is also the quid pro quo to think about. I really enjoy our away games, and if all clubs hid our away fans away (I know some already do), this might put some fans supporting our club away from home as well.

[Redandproud]

5 hours ago, CTRed said:

Following on from watching the NP press conference on YouTube I made the usual mistake of clicking ‘recommended for you’ videos. City v Swindon in “that” game back in the season when Swindon won promotion in November or whenever it was.

Anyway, the Atyeo was 3/4 full of City fans and it got me thinking about (again) about why we give such an advantage to away teams by giving up the whole stand when we really don’t need to. It was amazing to see the difference in atmosphere with City fans in the Atyeo and Swindon confined to a corner of it.

The club really should look at this, we need our own fans back in the Atyeo, you can easily have a divide between supporters, nearly every other team in the football league with a stadium our size has such.

@JerrySLOplease investigate and report back 

Yes, most clubs in the championship share a stand half home, half away,it creates more of a atmosphere, can't understand why City don't do it, , 

[MarcusX]

5 hours ago, CTRed said:

Not to mention we have subs warm up toward away end not south stand.

It’s all about marginal gains to be successful and we are giving them away.

Pretty sure we have to, there's rules on where the players have to warm up eg not the same side as the linesmen if I remember correctly. Was always the case when I played anyway

[TBW]

Logistics.

[East End Old Boy]

22 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

Pretty sure we have to, there's rules on where the players have to warm up eg not the same side as the linesmen if I remember correctly. Was always the case when I played anyway

Every day’s a school day!

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, Simon79 said:

I can’t remember the last time they did that, they seem to let away fans out at exactly the same time as home fans. COYR 

It happens when either of the Welsh clubs or Milwall, the Baggies and Brum are at AG. 

It would also happen if Swindon or the gas were at AG but City don’t play either of them………..

[Robbored]

54 minutes ago, Red-Al said:

Yes, most clubs in the championship share a stand half home, half away,it creates more of a atmosphere, can't understand why City don't do it, , 

I explained why earlier in this thread……….

Edited September 9, 2022 by Robbored

[Tinmans Love Child]

5 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I explained why earlier in this thread……….

I guess the question then in why do the police forces in other areas think it’s ok for other clubs but A&S don’t for us?  Do we have a completely unique set of circumstances which are non comparable or are A&S overzealous?

Edited September 9, 2022 by Tinmans Love Child

[Selred]

We don't sell out our current stands, why do we need half of a 4th? Will need more stewards, catering, police etc?

[phantom]

7 hours ago, CTRed said:

Following on from watching the NP press conference on YouTube I made the usual mistake of clicking ‘recommended for you’ videos. City v Swindon in “that” game back in the season when Swindon won promotion in November or whenever it was.

Anyway, the Atyeo was 3/4 full of City fans and it got me thinking about (again) about why we give such an advantage to away teams by giving up the whole stand when we really don’t need to. It was amazing to see the difference in atmosphere with City fans in the Atyeo and Swindon confined to a corner of it.

The club really should look at this, we need our own fans back in the Atyeo, you can easily have a divide between supporters, nearly every other team in the football league with a stadium our size has such.

@JerrySLOplease investigate and report back 

Blimey, I am amazed how often someone starts this thread about the Atyeo / away fans

I have no idea what you think a Supporters Liaison Officer will be able to do about it.

The ONLY way we will see this is if we get a game with a poor away following, and we have a massive clamour for home tickets

On the basis we couldn't sell out at £10 a ticket against Sunderland there is absolutely no reason to even think about it

[Selred]

18 minutes ago, phantom said:

On the basis we couldn't sell out at £10 a ticket against Sunderland there is absolutely no reason to even think about it

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/its-a-sell-out-largest-opening-home-crowd-for-44-years/

 

We did sell out.

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

I guess the question then in why do the police forces in other areas think it’s ok for other clubs but A&S don’t for us?  Do we have a completely unique set of circumstances which are non comparable or are A&S overzealous?

The WMP are, or certainly were overzealous in their approach to football fans and fortunately A&S have never reached that level of ignorance and heavy handedness. They manage potentially troublesome fixtures really well imo and personally I have never had any issues with them at all in all the years I’ve attending AG.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Robbored

[phantom]

28 minutes ago, Selred said:

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/its-a-sell-out-largest-opening-home-crowd-for-44-years/

 

We did sell out.

I assume that you were at the game, clearly we didn't

[Selred]

14 minutes ago, phantom said:

I assume that you were at the game, clearly we didn't

All the tickets sold, it's August I imagine a lot were on holiday.

Sell out is different to full stadium. 

[Robbored]

27 minutes ago, Selred said:

All the tickets sold, it's August I imagine a lot were on holiday.

Sell out is different to full stadium. 

I had a crucial County bowls match that day so wasn’t there but my paid for seat was. 

My club won promotion on shot difference to Prem2 but not until last Saturday….

Edited September 9, 2022 by Robbored

[Steve Watts]

2 hours ago, Robbored said:

It happens when either of the Welsh clubs or Milwall, the Baggies and Brum are at AG. 

It would also happen if Swindon or the gas were at AG but City don’t play either of them………..

It doesn't.  Was it last season that there was quite a bit of trouble when Swansea came over?  They weren't held in that day, in spite of the aggro.

[Robbored]

6 minutes ago, Steve Watts said:

It doesn't.  Was it last season that there was quite a bit of trouble when Swansea came over?  They weren't held in that day, in spite of the aggro.

Iirc some the Swansea fans had tickets for the lower Lansdown that day and it was them that started the trouble. The bulk of the Jacks fans were in the Atyeo.

[phantom]

1 hour ago, Selred said:

All the tickets sold, it's August I imagine a lot were on holiday.

Sell out is different to full stadium. 

I know what you mean but there were hundreds of seats spare

Not only in blocks (remember the centre of the Lansdown lower was empty in two blocks), but also many scattered around the ground

I think it's a bit of a myth about families being on holiday, surely families would be sat in the family stand not spread around the stadium like we saw?