Best Away Fans

Southampton fan Harry Tizard name drops the Mariners in the BBC's little prem end-of-season love in (link below).  Brighton did us dirty and went for Everton though...

Southampton
Harry Tizard, The Saints Score

Season rating: 2/10.Happy with your manager? Russell Martin would be a great appointment for the Championship. Experienced in the division, his heavy-possession style is what Sport Republic desires. The squad may not be suited to his philosophy as it was built by Ralph Hasenhuttl for pressing football, but the number of possible outgoings means he can structure the team in his image.Player you'd most like to sign: Southampton must do what they can to sign striker Joel Piroe from Swansea City. He has one year left on his contract and has scored 41 goals in 88 Championship appearances.Best away fans: Grimsby Town were the best away fans by some distance. More than 4,000 fans travelled down to watch their team progress in the FA Cup, with the Town fans playing a massive part.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65710078

Not a lot of “handicapping” factored into that Brighton rating. Everton scored 5; a lot easier to be jubilant than when you’ve conceded 5, for Christ’s sake.

We averaged about 910 away fans in the league, including the cup it was about 1,200. I doubt that’s ever been bettered in our history save 1979/80 - third division championship season when we had Anfield, Molyneux, the Baseball second replay and then some massive followings to local games near the end of the season. I’ve certainly never been in a 4.3k Town following midweek and 240 miles away.

The main difference from when I went all over with Town in the early 80s is that once you got over about 100 miles away 500 plus would be exceptional, and about 300 the norm. Now 500 plus is the norm almost anywhere on Saturday.

Quoted from OddShapedBalls

Southampton fan Harry Tizard name drops the Mariners in the BBC's little prem end-of-season love in (link below).  Brighton did us dirty and went for Everton though...

Southampton
Harry Tizard, The Saints Score

Season rating: 2/10.Happy with your manager? Russell Martin would be a great appointment for the Championship. Experienced in the division, his heavy-possession style is what Sport Republic desires. The squad may not be suited to his philosophy as it was built by Ralph Hasenhuttl for pressing football, but the number of possible outgoings means he can structure the team in his image.Player you'd most like to sign: Southampton must do what they can to sign striker Joel Piroe from Swansea City. He has one year left on his contract and has scored 41 goals in 88 Championship appearances.Best away fans: Grimsby Town were the best away fans by some distance. More than 4,000 fans travelled down to watch their team progress in the FA Cup, with the Town fans playing a massive part.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65710078

Weve always had incredible away support but it's like a morgue at home we need a new sound system to try get everyone revved up before a game the atmosphere has somewhat gone

Quoted from Mendonca1995

Weve always had incredible away support but it's like a morgue at home we need a new sound system to try get everyone revved up before a game the atmosphere has somewhat gone

Or a striker....or a rapid attacker......but take your point that hearing its Harry Cobbles 74th birthday loud and clear is also very important to building atmosphere. 😉

Quoted from moosey_club

Or a striker....or a rapid attacker......but take your point that hearing its Harry Cobbles 74th birthday loud and clear is also very important to building atmosphere. 😉

Doesn’t look a day over 60

Quoted from moosey_club

Or a striker....or a rapid attacker......but take your point that hearing its Harry Cobbles 74th birthday loud and clear is also very important to building atmosphere. 😉

This says it all about the PA at BP - that announcement was about Harry Clifton's 7 Series blocking the forecourt.

7 series???  I drive them off the docks, they have a telly that comes down in the back.

It is strange how we have unbelievable away support yet our home support (vocally) is awful

Crowd efforts aside, does having 3 open corners make Blundell park inherently less noisy than a lot of other stadiums?

I think home support is good when performances/results are enjoyable and successful. Last season, that was something of an infrequent, or at least, unpredictable feature. Upscale performances and results at BP on a more regular basis and  that solves itself IMO.

Quoted from OddShapedBalls

Crowd efforts aside, does having 3 open corners make Blundell park inherently less noisy than a lot of other stadiums?

Yes.  

No question at all about that.  I sit just to the Osmond end of the Main Stand, the noise difference between what comes from the Osmond and the Pontoon is considerable.  It doesn't matter if it's filled with home or away fans, that noise carries far better thanks to a closed corner.  

Noise from the Pontoon will always just get eaten up by the open corners either side of it.  Noise from either the Upper or Lower will always get eaten up by the open corners either side and then in the case of the Upper straight into the sea.

The Main Stand isn't going to generate the atmosphere that carries round the ground, but even when it does get a bit of atmosphere going it never gets heard anywhere else in the home ends - again it just gets lost in an open corner.

I think generally it's more difficult to generate an atmosphere at home or, largely, in bigger stadiums because of a variety of issues but mainly because you don't have all the noise together.  But at home I think it's well within our gift to get that noise in one area, if you like that's the epicentre of the noise.  The next part is making sure that those waves of noise spread around the rest of the ground to maximise the bringing others into it.  If the part of the ground next to you is singing, you're more likely to get involved...and so on.  I think reducing the scope for the noise to escape in the corners would make a huge difference.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Yes.  

No question at all about that.  I sit just to the Osmond end of the Main Stand, the noise difference between what comes from the Osmond and the Pontoon is considerable.  It doesn't matter if it's filled with home or away fans, that noise carries far better thanks to a closed corner.  

Noise from the Pontoon will always just get eaten up by the open corners either side of it.  Noise from either the Upper or Lower will always get eaten up by the open corners either side and then in the case of the Upper straight into the sea.

The Main Stand isn't going to generate the atmosphere that carries round the ground, but even when it does get a bit of atmosphere going it never gets heard anywhere else in the home ends - again it just gets lost in an open corner.

I think generally it's more difficult to generate an atmosphere at home or, largely, in bigger stadiums because of a variety of issues but mainly because you don't have all the noise together.  But at home I think it's well within our gift to get that noise in one area, if you like that's the epicentre of the noise.  The next part is making sure that those waves of noise spread around the rest of the ground to maximise the bringing others into it.  If the part of the ground next to you is singing, you're more likely to get involved...and so on.  I think reducing the scope for the noise to escape in the corners would make a huge difference.

Said it many times before, but get panels up either end of the pontoon, get extra sponsorship revenue from them (perfect camera angle from the findus) and hopefully it would create a better noise.

Or get loads of panels and some roofing, fill it all the way round in the gaps and perhaps when we're at the builders merchants they chuck in some seating too.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Or get loads of panels and some roofing, fill it all the way round in the gaps and perhaps when we're at the builders merchants they chuck in some seating too.

Forget the seats, let people stand

I know, crazy idea. Probably wouldn’t take off

Quoted from diehardmariner

Yes.  

No question at all about that.  I sit just to the Osmond end of the Main Stand, the noise difference between what comes from the Osmond and the Pontoon is considerable.  It doesn't matter if it's filled with home or away fans, that noise carries far better thanks to a closed corner.  

Noise from the Pontoon will always just get eaten up by the open corners either side of it.  Noise from either the Upper or Lower will always get eaten up by the open corners either side and then in the case of the Upper straight into the sea.

The Main Stand isn't going to generate the atmosphere that carries round the ground, but even when it does get a bit of atmosphere going it never gets heard anywhere else in the home ends - again it just gets lost in an open corner.

I think generally it's more difficult to generate an atmosphere at home or, largely, in bigger stadiums because of a variety of issues but mainly because you don't have all the noise together.  But at home I think it's well within our gift to get that noise in one area, if you like that's the epicentre of the noise.  The next part is making sure that those waves of noise spread around the rest of the ground to maximise the bringing others into it.  If the part of the ground next to you is singing, you're more likely to get involved...and so on.  I think reducing the scope for the noise to escape in the corners would make a huge difference.

I think you're 100% right about the Osmond/Main corner because it's closed in but the 3 other corners were never closed in and were seldom full (or even particularly well populated) except for big games. So I'm not sure what difference they would have made to the noise. Many moons ago I had a season ticket in the Constitutional Corner and it was only ever busy for big games.

Even if empty, noise will travel better round an enclosed stadium than one with open corners.  

I understand any caution around not filling in the corners if we ended up putting seating/standing in them, but I'm a firm believer that you have to try something before it can fail or succeed.  

The game and appetite for football has massively changed since 1995 when those corners were last filled in, even then they were open and exposed to the elements.  Noise generation aside, there's an opportunity in my eyes to increase our capacity with those unused (or should I say under utilised) corners.  At the minute they serve very little purpose other than as an overflow carpark and storage of some skips.  

I've absolutely no idea in terms of the the technicalities of it all, but Barnet's new ground had a very, very basic temporary stand in place behind the goal for a few years that was pretty decent in comparison to a lot I've seen.  You can still have space behind for facilities etc.

Unpopular opinion and I got shot down for it about 10 years ago.... stick the away fans in the pontoon 👀
More home seats. Better chance of creating noise.

Quoted from lukeo

Unpopular opinion and I got shot down for it about 10 years ago.... stick the away fans in the pontoon 👀
More home seats. Better chance of creating noise.

You rightly got shot down because it had already been tried and was universally hated. The Pontoon is traditionally the stand for the home supporters. Have you ever watched a game from the back of the Osmond?

Quoted from lukeo

Unpopular opinion and I got shot down for it about 10 years ago.... stick the away fans in the pontoon 👀
More home seats. Better chance of creating noise.

Probably too long ago for you luke, but the away fans used to be housed in the Harrington st corner next to the pontoon when it was standing except when there was a big following and they would be in the osmond.

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Probably too long ago for you luke, but the away fans used to be housed in the Harrington st corner next to the pontoon when it was standing except when there was a big following and they would be in the osmond.

Yes - I remember that from the 89/90 promotion season. Worked well, let the feckers get wet and cold…

I was 1 years old so I guess it was just before I started to watch  
I know it's not realistic but it's a shame the pontoon doesn't have the same shaped roof or filled corners. Me and a few friends even tried moving to the main stand for a couple of games to create an atmosphere, it went OK but wasn't enough people who came on those couple of games to make it effective.

IMO the atmosphere at BP seems to be set around the first 15 to 20 minutes of play ( except for possibly big cup games or large away followings). If town start well and are on the front foot or score then the fans respond and the atmosphere lifts. If we start defensively or have several poor passages of play then the crowd falls flat and so does the atmosphere.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Even if empty, noise will travel better round an enclosed stadium than one with open corners.  

I understand any caution around not filling in the corners if we ended up putting seating/standing in them, but I'm a firm believer that you have to try something before it can fail or succeed.  

The game and appetite for football has massively changed since 1995 when those corners were last filled in, even then they were open and exposed to the elements.  Noise generation aside, there's an opportunity in my eyes to increase our capacity with those unused (or should I say under utilised) corners.  At the minute they serve very little purpose other than as an overflow carpark and storage of some skips.  

I've absolutely no idea in terms of the the technicalities of it all, but Barnet's new ground had a very, very basic temporary stand in place behind the goal for a few years that was pretty decent in comparison to a lot I've seen.  You can still have space behind for facilities etc.

Having had some time to think about it, I've been in crowds of as little as 7,000 sometimes at Parc y Scarlets and it's still a cauldron of noise even with low attendances but it is fully enclosed and has standing areas...and a massive tv screen to show camera angles of the decisions the ref is looking at so everyone can complain loudly, and a good pa system to pump music out on.  It's a bit gimmicky but they also have the pyrotechnics out pre-game as the players are coming out with plumes of fire and you can feel the heat if you're in the south stand.  Finances and regulations will obviously limit Town from doing all that but there's certainly something in having a wound up noisy crowd for the first 20 mins that buoys the players, then hopefully the players can keep the crowd going after that

Yeah good points OSB.

I wouldn't want to to reach the gimmick levels of Selhurst Park with the announcing of the scorer where the crowd repeat the surname back in the second part of the announcement. (tried to find a video, but to no joy).  But a decent sound system wouldn't half go amiss.  The costs that I've seen banded about of £100,000 seem absolutely ridiculous.  

Under Fenty we had those massive speakers didn't we, that were taken away because a few people said they were too loud?   I can't imagine we spent that much under the old guard for a sound upgrade.

I think there's so much we can do as a club to generate a better atmosphere without giving a false feeling to it.  The absolute obvious one is the relationship between the pitch and the stands.  If it's high tempo and exciting on the pitch, the crowd respond and vice-versa.  I think a lot of the other things are probably, in theory anyway, a bit easier to 'fix'.

I know Luke's idea about switching home and away ends will always be met with hostility, but if you take away the traditional element it makes perfect sense.  The Pontoon is the most isolated of all the stands, yet it's the one we're naturally expecting the noise and atmosphere to come from.

It dips into the ground capacity and redevelopment argument but I think there's something in moving away from the notion that away fans have their own 'end' too.  A lot of clubs put away fans in side stands and corners because it's better for them, both logistically and in terms of having their own fans behind each goal.