Yesterday was my 3rd or 4th game of the season and the first time since the Premier days that I sat in the Upper West (had a ST in the North Upper until two seasons ago). Can any Lifers who normally sit in the Upper West tell me if the atmosphere there yesterday was 'normal', because I was a bit embarrassed to be honest, and I'm pretty sure that'll be the last time I sit up there - it was just dead. I was slightly closer to the South stand but I could hear the Plymouth fans a lot more than I could the North Stand.
i sat in the west upper on saturday and i heard some bloke say to a steward...is it noisey up here and the steward said not really so he replied good can't stand noisey fans.
I was in the NW corner yesterday and was expecting a lot more singing and noise from the north, the third song less than 10 mins in was the incest song and that says it all really.
Come on guys the North upper needs to be the 12th man and at the moment it aint happening.
The above aside considering the poor football on offer it was a huge step forward in terms of the lack of booing and nagativity, and just under 17,000 in this league is good and I think it will increase if we put a run together.
I heard the Abbott booing yesterday, was coming from the NW upper. I thought the atmosphere was standard to poor. I felt the vibe around the ground was really positive though and the football was an improvement. Wondering why we only sing songs twice? Why don't we just keep singing over and over?
First half was much quieter than I hoped. Thought Chris would be wondering what he'd come back to. Early in second half it got going a bit, though - just a few mins before Waggy scored, so perhaps it helped to put Seip under a bit of pressure?
I did hear booing when Abbott came on - disgraceful. Agree with all Mascot's rants!
Must agree the atmosphere was not as good as i expected it to be.
Again to much CAFC & Red Army as Carter says we have plenty of songs.
Some were started but never took off and i dont understand why as everyone knows them??
As for CP red & White Army come on pathetic what did it last 30 seconds???
Most teams when they do that go on for minutes we just die out dont get that.
Did not hear any booing from were i was so hopfully that was a few numptys only.
What i do find is that if the people in J around teh drummer start singing everyone joins in if smaller groups start there success rate of getting everyone joinging in is less than 50% maybe its a J Block Clique thing.
What really annoys me is that despite the lack of singers we still get 2 sets singing different songs SORT IT OUT.
The solution - knock down the 'north stand' and bring back the 'covered end' and reunite the D, E and F blocks, the J block and whatever else is up there arn't up to the job!
I think I'd realised at Sheffield that getting the crowd back was going to take time. CP has given a lot of people a huge lift, myself included, but I also think that quite a lot of supporters hadn't fully grasped just how close we had come to administration so relief at our apparent financial security hasn't really had an impact. Also, whether some agree or not, there are still quite a lot of supporters who think Parky was treated harshly and also worry that CP has not got experience, so they are not fully on board yet. People also want to see good football and hopefully that is still to come. The atmosphere was different and there was a sense of optimism. I've still got pangs about Parky, I think that's allowed, but I know that we've got to move on and I'm thrilled that it's CP who is at the helm. It will all take time, but we will get there, and crush the very small number of boo boys on our way.
What I don't understand is, if you have a voice, fit enough to open your arms and you ain't deaf then how could a fan possible not feel the urge to join in with the chants/songs/cheering etc ....Saturday was such a great occasion.
On another note, yes VFR is way too fast (that really annoys me actually)
And I wonder if anybody can tell me, but I heard a song coming from H block on Saturday that I haven't heard before but not enough was singing it so couldn't work out the words... it was very very slow and the kind of song that could be really great if everybody was involved.
I might be wrong but it may have been the ''We are Charlton, super Charlton.....'' ???
[cite]Posted By: jazzyjazzyjazzy[/cite]And I wonder if anybody can tell me, but I heard a song coming from H block on Saturday that I haven't heard before but not enough was singing it so couldn't work out the words... it was very very slow and the kind of song that could be really great if everybody was involved.
I might be wrong but it may have been the ''We are Charlton, super Charlton.....'' ???
Yep, that was our motley crew. People can't keep it slow though, there were even some herberts down the front, singing fast on purpose giggling to themselves.
There are far too many kids in the bJ & H blocks now who have no idea whats going on. They go there just to be there, all season the two main blocks for noise have been filled towards the back anyways , with teens who just stand there, they dont even celebrate a goal ffs.
Our "support" on saturday was an absolute joke, why do so few bother to sing when the majority are there for the sake of just being there.
But the kids aside, we still have real CAFC fans there, and despite us winning, despite us welcoming home CP as our manager, despite all the fuss, the majoirty of fans made no effort, Plymouth fans on the way out were saying how on earth a legend can return to a club an recieve such a poor atmosphere in return is beyond them. Said it all to be honest.
Don't get me wrong the support was a great deal better then we have seen this season so far but I think we agree that it still isn't great. Maybe this will improve as weeks go by? I really hope it does anyway.
[cite]Posted By: Jarman[/cite]
But the kids aside, we still have real CAFC fans there, and despite us winning, despite us welcoming home CP as our manager, despite all the fuss, the majoirty of fans made no effort, Plymouth fans on the way out were saying how on earth a legend can return to a club an recieve such a poor atmosphere in return is beyond them.
Said it all to be honest.
yep, the Argyle fans I spoke to on the train back to LB said they were shocked at the complete lack of atmosphere as well. I think the word they used to sum it up was 'dull'.
I know this is not nice to say, but you think to yourself...If that were was another club i.e. Westham that was welcoming back Di Canio, would they have been that dull?
I don’t think anyone can complain about the reception that Chris Powell received when he walked onto the pitch. The rather flat atmosphere that followed was simply due to the poor quality, laboured and ponderously slow football that was played by both teams for most of the match. Hardly a chance was created and there was very little incident in either penalty area. I caught bits of the Villa v Man City game and some Spanish football later in the evening and seeing the tempo of those games and the way the players and the ball seemed to zip across the surface I began to wonder if there is something wrong with the playing surface at the Valley.
Sitting in the west stand I don’t really feel that the singing or lack of singing from the North Stand makes much difference to the atmosphere in the rest of the ground. For me, a good atmosphere is when every two or three minutes there are oohs and aahs, cheers, applause, people getting to their feet to see better or hurl abuse at the referee or an opposing player, cries of exasperation at a near miss or a refereeing decision, laughter at an incident or witty comment or chant from the crowd, collective burying of heads in hands as one of our strikers miss an open goal. On Saturday there were too many long periods of play which were so dull that it was perfectly understandable that the crowd and atmosphere was so muted.
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]I caught bits of the Villa v Man City game and some Spanish football later in the evening and seeing the tempo of those games and the way the players and the ball seemed to zip across the surface I began to wonder if there is something wrong with the playing surface at the Valley.
Not sure, but just a hunch, maybe its the two leagues difference and the fact that all of the players are of a world class standard rather than a 3rd division one?
[cite]Posted By: jazzyjazzyjazzy[/cite]It does make you think that if an occasion like that can't get every fan singing then what can?
Jazzy, you have to quantify it mate because you will never get every fan singing. I read numerous threads and messages on here about "the west stand this" and "the east stand that" but the plain truth of it is apart from the "covered end" the other sides of the ground have never joined in.
I have supported Charlton for 44 years, I started going with my dad when I was 9, after a couple of years I was itching to get into "The Covered End" without my dad so I could join in with the singing and be "one of the boys", this eventually happened and I spent week after week home and away with my arms in the air singing my heart out for the lads.
However I then became a father myself and when my two kids were old enough I started taking them but felt the Covered End was not the place, in terms of safety as much as anything else so I started sitting in other parts of the ground which of course lacked the singing.
I have spent most of my "mature" years as a dad to my own kids and now a grandad standing on the east terrace or sitting in the East stand and the people around me all care and show their support in all types of ways, you do not need to standing with your arms above your head screaming at the away end that the guys dad is in fact his brother, and to be honest those that do once they get past 40 look sad.
All grounds have a "home" end that sings and raise the roof, "The Kop", "The Holt End" and obviosly in our case "The Covered End" it is no good pointing the finger at fans that sit on the side of the grond for being boring, dead, flask drinkers etc, until the "Home End" get their selves sorted nothing will change.
[cite]Posted By: jazzyjazzyjazzy[/cite]It does make you think that if an occasion like that can't get every fan singing then what can?
Jazzy, you have to quantify it mate because you will never geteveryfan singing. I read numerous threads and messages on here about "the west stand this" and "the east stand that" but the plain truth of it is apart from the "covered end" the other sides of the ground have never joined in.
I have supported Charlton for 44 years, I started going with my dad when I was 9, after a couple of years I was itching to get into "The Covered End" without my dad so I could join in with the singing and be "one of the boys", this eventually happened and I spent week after week home and away with my arms in the air singing my heart out for the lads.
However I then became a father myself and when my two kids were old enough I started taking them but felt the Covered End was not the place, in terms of safety as much as anything else so I started sitting in other parts of the ground which of course lacked the singing.
I have spent most of my "mature" years as a dad to my own kids and now a grandad standing on the east terrace or sitting in the East stand and the people around me all care and show their support in all types of ways, you do not need to standing with your arms above your head screaming at the away end that the guys dad is in fact his brother, and to be honest those that do once they get past 40 look sad.
All grounds have a "home" end that sings and raise the roof, "The Kop", "The Holt End" and obviosly in our case "The Covered End" it is no good pointing the finger at fans that sit on the side of the grond for being boring, dead, flask drinkers etc, until the "Home End" get their selves sorted nothing will change.
Yes I didn't mean every fan of corse lol. But I just don't get if your able to get up and sing why don't these fans?
I respect that many of the older boys have done there part years back and just havn't got that energy as they once did, but if a 40-50yr old bloke starts singing I would never look at him and think ''How sad are you''
I think maybe that is the problem sometimes? (People are shy, worried about looking silly or just don't know the words?)
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]I caught bits of the Villa v Man City game and some Spanish football later in the evening and seeing the tempo of those games and the way the players and the ball seemed to zip across the surface I began to wonder if there is something wrong with the playing surface at the Valley.
Not sure, but just a hunch, maybe its the two leagues difference and the fact that all of the players are of a world class standard rather than a 3rd division one?
I was talking about the pace and tempo of the game. Obviously there is a quality difference accounted for by the different leagues. I have seen plenty of lower league matches with good tempo and pace, which, as a result, were much more entertaining than the turgid display on Saturday. If the pace and tempo of Saturday's match was due to the fact that there were no world class players involved then you might as well scrap all the professional leagues outside of the Premiership because, if that was the norm for matches outside the top leagues the crowds would quickly disappear anyway.
I didnt think the atmosphere was that bad other than the first 10 or so min in the 2nd half when half the stadium was still gettin a beer - may have more to do with me being so hungover could barely hear anything other than a white noise kind of sound.
I wasnt disappointed with he attendance either, people arnt going to come back just because we've got a new manager, I also think even if we go up we wont get many more other than there being more away fans (on average), perversally if we stay down I dont think we'll lose that many more fans, we've bottomed out, basically if youve had your season ticket the last 4 yrs then youre gonna have it what ever league we're in.
Also didnt hear any booing for Abbot from H block - a few gasps but no booing
Comments
Things will pick up.
Fasten seat belts and we need to keep the faith on bad days, bad refs etc but by mid March the Valley could be rockin again
Fasten seat belts and we need to keep the faith on bad days, bad refs etc but by mid March the Valley could be rockin again
Come on guys the North upper needs to be the 12th man and at the moment it aint happening.
The above aside considering the poor football on offer it was a huge step forward in terms of the lack of booing and nagativity, and just under 17,000 in this league is good and I think it will increase if we put a run together.
I did hear booing when Abbott came on - disgraceful. Agree with all Mascot's rants!
Again to much CAFC & Red Army as Carter says we have plenty of songs.
Some were started but never took off and i dont understand why as everyone knows them??
As for CP red & White Army come on pathetic what did it last 30 seconds???
Most teams when they do that go on for minutes we just die out dont get that.
Did not hear any booing from were i was so hopfully that was a few numptys only.
What i do find is that if the people in J around teh drummer start singing everyone joins in if smaller groups start there success rate of getting everyone joinging in is less than 50% maybe its a J Block Clique thing.
What really annoys me is that despite the lack of singers we still get 2 sets singing different songs SORT IT OUT.
Don't know about anyone else but having not taken any amphetamine before the game I couldn't keep up with how fast it was being sung.
Slow it down FFS as the actress said to the bishop.
likewise with VFR, much too fast.
On another note, yes VFR is way too fast (that really annoys me actually)
And I wonder if anybody can tell me, but I heard a song coming from H block on Saturday that I haven't heard before but not enough was singing it so couldn't work out the words... it was very very slow and the kind of song that could be really great if everybody was involved.
I might be wrong but it may have been the ''We are Charlton, super Charlton.....'' ???
Strange lot.
They go there just to be there, all season the two main blocks for noise have been filled towards the back anyways , with teens who just stand there, they dont even celebrate a goal ffs.
Our "support" on saturday was an absolute joke, why do so few bother to sing when the majority are there for the sake of just being there.
But the kids aside, we still have real CAFC fans there, and despite us winning, despite us welcoming home CP as our manager, despite all the fuss, the majoirty of fans made no effort, Plymouth fans on the way out were saying how on earth a legend can return to a club an recieve such a poor atmosphere in return is beyond them.
Said it all to be honest.
yep, the Argyle fans I spoke to on the train back to LB said they were shocked at the complete lack of atmosphere as well. I think the word they used to sum it up was 'dull'.
Sitting in the west stand I don’t really feel that the singing or lack of singing from the North Stand makes much difference to the atmosphere in the rest of the ground. For me, a good atmosphere is when every two or three minutes there are oohs and aahs, cheers, applause, people getting to their feet to see better or hurl abuse at the referee or an opposing player, cries of exasperation at a near miss or a refereeing decision, laughter at an incident or witty comment or chant from the crowd, collective burying of heads in hands as one of our strikers miss an open goal. On Saturday there were too many long periods of play which were so dull that it was perfectly understandable that the crowd and atmosphere was so muted.
Jazzy, you have to quantify it mate because you will never get every fan singing. I read numerous threads and messages on here about "the west stand this" and "the east stand that" but the plain truth of it is apart from the "covered end" the other sides of the ground have never joined in.
I have supported Charlton for 44 years, I started going with my dad when I was 9, after a couple of years I was itching to get into "The Covered End" without my dad so I could join in with the singing and be "one of the boys", this eventually happened and I spent week after week home and away with my arms in the air singing my heart out for the lads.
However I then became a father myself and when my two kids were old enough I started taking them but felt the Covered End was not the place, in terms of safety as much as anything else so I started sitting in other parts of the ground which of course lacked the singing.
I have spent most of my "mature" years as a dad to my own kids and now a grandad standing on the east terrace or sitting in the East stand and the people around me all care and show their support in all types of ways, you do not need to standing with your arms above your head screaming at the away end that the guys dad is in fact his brother, and to be honest those that do once they get past 40 look sad.
All grounds have a "home" end that sings and raise the roof, "The Kop", "The Holt End" and obviosly in our case "The Covered End" it is no good pointing the finger at fans that sit on the side of the grond for being boring, dead, flask drinkers etc, until the "Home End" get their selves sorted nothing will change.
Yes I didn't mean every fan of corse lol. But I just don't get if your able to get up and sing why don't these fans?
I respect that many of the older boys have done there part years back and just havn't got that energy as they once did, but if a 40-50yr old bloke starts singing I would never look at him and think ''How sad are you''
I think maybe that is the problem sometimes? (People are shy, worried about looking silly or just don't know the words?)
I was talking about the pace and tempo of the game. Obviously there is a quality difference accounted for by the different leagues. I have seen plenty of lower league matches with good tempo and pace, which, as a result, were much more entertaining than the turgid display on Saturday. If the pace and tempo of Saturday's match was due to the fact that there were no world class players involved then you might as well scrap all the professional leagues outside of the Premiership because, if that was the norm for matches outside the top leagues the crowds would quickly disappear anyway.
I wasnt disappointed with he attendance either, people arnt going to come back just because we've got a new manager, I also think even if we go up we wont get many more other than there being more away fans (on average), perversally if we stay down I dont think we'll lose that many more fans, we've bottomed out, basically if youve had your season ticket the last 4 yrs then youre gonna have it what ever league we're in.
Also didnt hear any booing for Abbot from H block - a few gasps but no booing