[quote]I don't stay on the concourse because there is no point. I go to my seat about 20 mins before kick off and cant stand the tannoy system content or for that matter the shout back and definately not Elvis Presley.[/quote]
And I look at it from a different perspective, JLAS, in that people say that they don't come in because there is no 'atmosphere' and they hate the music so they would rather stand and watch the televisions and have a beverage or two.
Go to enough away games and people will see that it's not really much different any place else and sometimes even worse. At least we don't play music and have these flag bearers running up and down the pitch when we score!
I have totally and utterly given up with the food and drink service inside the ground. A programme is the only money they get on match day from me.
I just think maybe it would have made more sense to send a letter to all members asking them what they wanted to be played pre match, with a slip to return.
Wouldn't have taken much effort and would have got the fairest result.
LOL!!! Or how about pyrotechnics *and* those children 'cheerleaders' gyrating to the music. The flag bearers... or we could have cheerleaders doing back flips and cartwheels as the team comes on the pitch. Or we could have music playing that people sing the song that they sing for their club... but wait, we can't have one because people don't like what the club chose and you'll never get everyone to agree to a selection.
I like the pyrotechnics though, Shivers...maybe you could put the suggestion in the suggestion box!
[quote]Jlas I'm in block 10, maybe you could spot the grumpy old sod standing alone waiting for something interesting to happen. Where are you?[/quote]
theres grumpy old sods in every block im not a STH so im usually in different blocks, was in 31 for Fulham, in 19 for City, 16 for Sparta etc
[quote]I know that the people in our block that stand up and berate others for not singing and launch into SUIYHT every few minutes are the very same guys that come in late and leave early for the beer crush.[/quote]
Interestingly i didn't hear SUIYHT once at the Fulham game. I hear the Fulham fans start up about CHelsea and then a few of our lot joined in, but no SUIYHT.
Hobart, I heard one really weak start... and some of the older guys in our block drowned them out with an Arsenal chant. But, the season is young!
Let people sing... good in theory, but it doesn't happen. It used to be while the players were warming up (and there isn't a lot of tannoy stuff going on then) that people would sing to the players, yelling out a chant for each of them. That's gone by the bye for the most part now -- except at away games and then we're competing over their announcements, music and such and it doesn't seem to be a deterrent.
No songs or music going on during the game, so what's the excuse then? People will 'sing' (i.e., chant) if they want. If they don't all the silence in the world to let those who do want to sing be more easily heard isn't going to make a lot of difference. Simply my view and I'll wait quietly to be told how very wrong I am.
[quote]Interestingly i didn't hear SUIYHT once at the Fulham game. I hear the Fulham fans start up about CHelsea and then a few of our lot joined in, but no SUIYHT.[/quote]
Thats a good point actually, neither did I and I was right above the red section where it usually begins.
[quote]No songs or music going on during the game, so what's the excuse then? People will 'sing' (i.e., chant) if they want. If they don't all the silence in the world to let those who do want to sing be more easily heard isn't going to make a lot of difference. Simply my view and I'll wait quietly to be told how very wrong I am[/quote]
People who want to sing are too dispersed. If you go in the Rocket before a game for example pretty much everyone is singing. But in the ground its difficult to join in a song when everyone around you isn't up for it. People say "carry on regardless" but it doesn't really work like that IMO.
TW, that comment has validity, but then how are the people going to be any less dispersed for the five or ten minutes before the match starts? I would hope that people are making their way to THEIR seats at that time and not wanting to congregate in someone else's seat to form chanting groups.
The dispersal remains the same regardless of whether it is five minutes before or during the game.
[quote]In all seriousness Hobart, I don't see how that is going to change a thing. The people who moan the most about the tannoy are the very people that tend to be out in the concourse until the very last minute (or even after the kick-off) finishing off the beers that they moan about too. I know that the people in our block that stand up and berate others for not singing and launch into SUIYHT every few minutes are the very same guys that come in late and leave early for the beer crush.[/quote]
I'm not entirely in agreement here Sierra. There were and probably always will be people that like to have plenty of beer in and around match time. However it has never affected the atmosphere before (ie when we had one). IMO there are still a significant number of people who will be in there seats in the 10 minutes before a game starts, that also want to create an atmosphere and start singing. Just because those people who are drinkers tend to be loud and conspicuous does not mean that there aren't plenty of non-drinkers who are willing to sing.
When people first go to games they like to be part of the group. Therefore they will blend in with the others that are there. If the majority of people are standing around listening to notices on the tannoy, Elvis and "Are you ready", then that is what all the new people will do. If however some people could get some chants going then they would quickly learn the words and join in. That's what i did back in the day.
At the Fulham game i was heartened that a group of people around me were starting to sing and chant in the 5-10 minutes before the game, a fair few of us joined in. Unfortunately it was about 30 seconds before Elvis started and that drowned it out.
[quote]Maybe a better solution is to stop serving ten minutes before kick-off and to not serve until the whistle again -- but then that really screws up the profit-producers and won't work.[/quote]
Might not be a bad idea but as you said i don't think the club would go for it. Too much cash at risk.
[quote]In all honesty, I think that Edelman actually does have this one right -- the song will be played over and over until people gradually accept it and sing it. It won't be any different than everyone who said that the shout-it-back would never work and guess what? It does and the stadium does rock with it.[/quote]
I think it might take a generation of fans coming and going to accept it. There are already large numbers of people who stay silent when we have the dreadful "are you ready" coming off the tannoy. As to the volume of the fans when replying it has never reached anything like the volume generated of the North Bank during the warm ups prior to games.
[quote]Some will hate the song, but hey, the Club isn't going to please everyone. And, played enough, done enough, repeated enough and some things become easier.[/quote]
Give me 20 years or so and i might start to come around to it!
im not a STH so im usually in different blocks, was in 31 for Fulham, in 19 for City, 16 for Sparta etc
