CB Fry Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 Once we have a Saints fan in Downing Street all of this will be sorted out no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Le God Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 1 minute ago, CB Fry said: Once we have a Saints fan in Downing Street all of this will be sorted out no problem. We do have a Saints fan in Downing Street already... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsLoyal Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said: I think it was the Itchen corner that has been suggested. I dont think thats really viable close to hospitality and due to high numbers would need access from infront of the itchen stand, which would create an unwanted safety concern. Improve what happens on the pitch and that should improve the general atmosphere. I can remember the dell and archers full of away fans and never an issue when winning games. I really hate the grounds that have removed away fans from behind the goal and put them miles away. Newcastle probably the worst and Villa park where until the away ticket cap, you had to pay more due to it being a main stand. Cup games with 5K isnt really a barometer to check and a good forty minutes of Saints losing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 Just now, SaintsLoyal said: Cup games with 5K isnt really a barometer to check and a good forty minutes of Saints losing. It’s been an issue for decades now. Away teams in the second half attack a goal which has there own supporters behind it. That’s a big boost for them and is one of the reasons that we surrender leads. Which other grounds can we think of where the away fans are immediately behind one of the goals? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyNumber7 Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 37 minutes ago, SaintsLoyal said: I dont think thats really viable close to hospitality and due to high numbers would need access from infront of the itchen stand, which would create an unwanted safety concern. Improve what happens on the pitch and that should improve the general atmosphere. I can remember the dell and archers full of away fans and never an issue when winning games. I really hate the grounds that have removed away fans from behind the goal and put them miles away. Newcastle probably the worst and Villa park where until the away ticket cap, you had to pay more due to it being a main stand. Cup games with 5K isnt really a barometer to check and a good forty minutes of Saints losing. But that's kind of the point, lots of clubs are now shoving away fans as far out of the way as possible and making it as hard as can be to make themselves heard. Newcastle as you say and Wolves also where away fans are stretched along the shallow lower tier in the side stand are probably the worst. We are just too nice and accommodating as a club. I'm getting fed up of watching hoardes of away fans sucking the ball in and celebrating behind the Northam goal, we must be one of the best days out for away fans and I'm sure it gives the opposition a bit of an advantage. Obviously the cup games highlight it even more but even for league games when the away side bring their full allocation we have less than half of the Northam. Would be so much better if we could find a way of moving them to the sides or at least a corner, and then make the whole of the Northam our main singing end. If other clubs can manage it I'm sure we can find a way. All that said, we need more songs too. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nta786 Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 Ultimately it is in the police's interests for away fans to win, go home happy and reduce any disruption. By giving these fans 1/2 the whole end gives away fans a good chance of doing that. Having said that we have only lost once at home so far so obviously it boils down to more than just away fans. I do remember when every PL club was given £200k to spend on their away fans, which most clubs used to subsidise travel or tickets, and Saints used that money to improve the concourse for away fans or something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 2 hours ago, Chocolate Box said: You obviously haven't seen how many home fans leave the ground via that route, virtually the entire Chapel and Kingsland.Can't see this as an option unfortunately. Well that's up to them isn't it? As it stands home fans in the northam/Kingsland would have to go all the way round the stadium to get to the North side of Brittania road if they were sealing off the away fans section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djharvey Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 Even if we did manage to move the away fans it would cause problems with existing season ticket holders wanting to move near to them again and others wanting to move away from their new location, a bit of a logistical pickle! I'm just not sure we could sustain the Northam as a true home end without the club making some big incentives for it to stay that way! Its expensive but the easier option may be to expand the Northam, we would get to water down the away support somewhat, police stay happy, fans in other areas of stadium aren't told to move. Expensive but maybe the best solution. 3k expansion would mean potentially 3k more saints fans in the Northam for home league games, different in cup but still more saints fans in the Northam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 In addition to the question of where to seat the away support the club should also look into the sales and distribution of tickets within home sections. There was a large group of Coventry supporters in the Itchen yesterday clearly visible when they scored. I know you’ll always find a few local Utd or Liverpool day trippers finding tickets but this was Coventry !! Hope the same doesn’t happen with West Ham (who probably won’t conduct themselves in the same manner that most Cov fans would). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsLoyal Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said: It’s been an issue for decades now. Away teams in the second half attack a goal which has there own supporters behind it. That’s a big boost for them and is one of the reasons that we surrender leads. Which other grounds can we think of where the away fans are immediately behind one of the goals? I dont get that its a football match and thats where you should find away fans. I dont see it being an issue at all when whats happening on the pitch isnt losing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpsaint Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 5 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said: I dont understand why people want to move away fans, yesterday was different because it was a Cup game with more than usual. I can remember the Cup game against Pompey and the 2003 FA Cup games with the same numbers and there wasnt any problem with atmosphere and noise then. So it would appear the problem now is fans these days are not making enough noise ? Lets not forget the very cheap tickets yesterday meant allsorts of people turned up. Originally Saints fans went into the northam blocks to be near away fans then some went to the northam corner. There would be little difference if away fans were in the kingsland corner and like yesterday would go right across the northam stand. West Ham will have 5000 fans so people better get organized and hopefully the prices wont be silly cheap and nearer the £20+ mark The ability to isolate away fans to a degree is a good reason to keep them in the corner, britannia road can be closed the fencing can go up in the car park etc None of that would be possible if the away fans at 3K went into the kingsland corner and even more STs would need to move. Saints are lucky to have such a good arrangement and im sure the health and safety licence shows that. That because we never game away fans the whole of the Northam back then. The FA Cup rules state 15% of capacity or slightly less for segregation. We would give away sides just under 4800 and they would have half of block 41 and the rest of the Northam. Just that small section of us in the Northam was enough to make a hell of a racket and most of the fans displaced from block 41 and 42 would move into 40, 39 and 38 and it worked perfectly. Then for some bizarre reason there was the year we had Chelsea in the FA cup and because we didn’t expect a sell out the club used our half of block 41 as segregation and gave Chelsea more tickets much to saints fans anger. Ipswich at home was the first time away fans had the whole of the northam as the club didn’t expect us to sell that well, and I guess they thought the same with Coventry. To be fair looking at some previous cup attendances you can see their logic but it’s so f**king frustrating that they’d rather make an extra couple of quid and hand any kind of extra advantage over to the away team. I can’t see any other club being so bloody accommodating. I really hope we stick to the lowest possible allocation for West Ham, they travel well and we could do without displacing our entire end that creates most of our atmosphere. Hopefully they sell to people with a purchase history too to stop away fans getting tickets in the home sections. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 6 February, 2022 Share Posted 6 February, 2022 3 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said: I dont get that its a football match and thats where you should find away fans. I dont see it being an issue at all when whats happening on the pitch isnt losing. Why give the away team any advantages? Do other clubs do it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 The way people are going on on here you'd think we're the only bloody club in the country that puts away fans behind one of the goals. It's pretty common you know. Jesus wept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthouse Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 2 minutes ago, CB Fry said: The way people are going on on here you'd think we're the only bloody club in the country that puts away fans behind one of the goals. It's pretty common you know. Jesus wept. Is there a rule against herding them into some sort of razor wire lined compound on the gasworks site? Do they legally have to be able to see the pitch? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 5 minutes ago, CB Fry said: The way people are going on on here you'd think we're the only bloody club in the country that puts away fans behind one of the goals. It's pretty common you know. Jesus wept. How common is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said: Is there a rule against herding them into some sort of razor wire lined compound on the gasworks site? Do they legally have to be able to see the pitch? Many years ago I sold and installed some giant electronic scoreboards at Strasbourg’s Stade de La Meinau stadium. They don’t get many away fans there but the brave souls who make the journey are caged high in one corner behind twenty foot fencing. They also have a concrete dry moat to stop undesirables from getting on the pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 (edited) 6 hours ago, Lighthouse said: Is there a rule against herding them into some sort of razor wire lined compound on the gasworks site? Do they legally have to be able to see the pitch? We're such a soft touch. Edited 7 February, 2022 by CB Fry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 Why do you have to be behind a goal to make loads of noise? Why don't those who want such a thing just take over the Chapel? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wurzel Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 On 03/02/2022 at 23:17, Mowgli said: This whole argument seems to come up every season. When the stadium was built the club identified the Chapel end as the home 'kop' end. I bought my first season ticket there on that basis (moved to Northam in second season)! Bearing in mind away fans at any ground tend to be a bit more of a challenge for police, they actually constructed the stadium around away fans being at the Northam and installed police CCTV room and cells adjacent to away fans. Quickest route to the station, quickest route for coached to access motorways - made it an easy choice. What went wrong was home fans decided they could not 'bait' the away fans in the Chapel so decided to move closer - first in block 42 and later block 1. It does create a good atmosphere so not much point complaining when the facilities for policing are already in place. You will always get the home fans split because they want to get as close to the away fans as they can - if they can't get seats close on one side then they will buy seats on the other side. It cannot be solved by moving the away fans. I've watched from various parts of the ground over the years and if you're in Blocks13-18 of The Chapel the away fans are really loud, because whatever their numbers they are facing straight at you. So ironically if fans want to "bait" the opposition with songs (as opposed to childish gestures) the Block42 etc should move en masse to the Itchen side of The Chapel, where they can sing straight at the away fans. I love being in Block 2, but except for the very rare occasion that that section and The Northam are singing in synch most opposition can drown out the split sections support. Also noticable from other parts of the ground is that except for the first couple of of seats nearest Block 42 away fans en masse aim abuse /piss takes at The Itchen because they can see them. Despite The Northam's "baiting" and because of the way the acoustics work most of the away fans seem unaware they are even there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsLoyal Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 13 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said: Why give the away team any advantages? Do other clubs do it? I dont see any advantage from away fans being behind a goal, its whats happening on the pitch that will dictate the situation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsLoyal Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 19 hours ago, LuckyNumber7 said: But that's kind of the point, lots of clubs are now shoving away fans as far out of the way as possible and making it as hard as can be to make themselves heard. Newcastle as you say and Wolves also where away fans are stretched along the shallow lower tier in the side stand are probably the worst. We are just too nice and accommodating as a club. I'm getting fed up of watching hoardes of away fans sucking the ball in and celebrating behind the Northam goal, we must be one of the best days out for away fans and I'm sure it gives the opposition a bit of an advantage. Obviously the cup games highlight it even more but even for league games when the away side bring their full allocation we have less than half of the Northam. Would be so much better if we could find a way of moving them to the sides or at least a corner, and then make the whole of the Northam our main singing end. If other clubs can manage it I'm sure we can find a way. All that said, we need more songs too. It should be allowed to move away fans its how football grounds should and always used to work, away fans more or less behind a goal. Its whats happening on the pitch thats the main issue, nobody was complaining with all the home wins under koeman, great atmosphere etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toussaint Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 All we need to do is make clackers compulsory for all home fans, In addition to getting everyone to shine their mobile phone torches in unison. The place will become an impregnable fortress of intimidation. Throw in some bigger screens is probably the difference between our usual mediocrity and champions league. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 All of the "just take over the Chapel" talk completely ignores that season ticket holders have been getting first dibs on cup tickets. So even if the displaced Northam fans do want to descend en masse upon a certain area of the stadium, it's somewhat dependent on how many ST holders take up their own seats. I also think some are conflating the topics of cup allocations displacing fans and the lack of a so-called 'Kop', when they're two separate things. The latter isn't easily solved with a 'move, then' attitude either. Unless you can arrange block-for-block swaps between Chapel and Northam, I can't see either group being particularly happy with a blend of the two ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 1 hour ago, SaintsLoyal said: lots of clubs are now shoving away fans as far out of the way as possible and making it as hard as can be to make themselves heard. Newcastle as you say and Wolves also where away fans are stretched along the shallow lower tier in the side stand are probably the worst. I'm sure plenty have going longer than me but I first went to St James Park twenty plus years ago and we were eight miles up and 27 flights of stairs back then. Wolves maybe ten years ago but was down the sides too. So not sure why people are making out this is some new thing happening now at other clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 39 minutes ago, ant said: All of the "just take over the Chapel" talk completely ignores that season ticket holders have been getting first dibs on cup tickets. So even if the displaced Northam fans do want to descend en masse upon a certain area of the stadium, it's somewhat dependent on how many ST holders take up their own seats. I also think some are conflating the topics of cup allocations displacing fans and the lack of a so-called 'Kop', when they're two separate things. The latter isn't easily solved with a 'move, then' attitude either. Unless you can arrange block-for-block swaps between Chapel and Northam, I can't see either group being particularly happy with a blend of the two ends. But just moving the away end is a piece of piss with no issues at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 1 hour ago, CB Fry said: But just moving the away end is a piece of piss with no issues at all. Having read my post back a couple of times I can't see where I claimed it was? Nor did I suggest it as an option; much less a piece of piss. I'll boil my point down: unless a sizeable portion of those currently in the Chapel fancy permanently relocating, it's not the hard-and-fast answer it's being presented as. Simplest solution would probably be for the club to just enforce a switch. Run a survey to gauge how many people it'll hack off, and if it's proportionately less than the number moaning about where the away fans are you've got a relatively easy win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manuel Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 At Leicester, a similar ground to ours, away fans are in the corner, what would be the Northam/Itchen North corner. That leaves the majority of what would be the Northam for home support. I think it would be better for atmos to push the majority of them up in the corner like this and leaves more space for those who want to sing at home. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwsaint Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 26 minutes ago, Manuel said: At Leicester, a similar ground to ours, away fans are in the corner, what would be the Northam/Itchen North corner. That leaves the majority of what would be the Northam for home support. I think it would be better for atmos to push the majority of them up in the corner like this and leaves more space for those who want to sing at home. Not quite, having been there. At the King Power the away fans are in what is the family centre at SMS, the Kingsland/Chapel corner. Not really sure that moving them there would work very well. TBH, I would be happy for the away supporters to stay where they are if the Kingsland was expanded in a similar way to what is proposed for the King Power. Their plans look amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 9 minutes ago, kwsaint said: Not quite, having been there. At the King Power the away fans are in what is the family centre at SMS, the Kingsland/Chapel corner. Not really sure that moving them there would work very well. TBH, I would be happy for the away supporters to stay where they are if the Kingsland was expanded in a similar way to what is proposed for the King Power. Their plans look amazing. I didn’t know about Leicester’s plans but I’ve just looked them up and they look rather nice but the big question is… … will the seats be padded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 7 February, 2022 Share Posted 7 February, 2022 1 hour ago, ant said: Having read my post back a couple of times I can't see where I claimed it was? Nor did I suggest it as an option; much less a piece of piss. I'll boil my point down: unless a sizeable portion of those currently in the Chapel fancy permanently relocating, it's not the hard-and-fast answer it's being presented as. Simplest solution would probably be for the club to just enforce a switch. Run a survey to gauge how many people it'll hack off, and if it's proportionately less than the number moaning about where the away fans are you've got a relatively easy win. That's not the "simplest solution" and it's not an "easy win" as has been covered by the club multiple times over many, many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nta786 Posted 13 February, 2022 Share Posted 13 February, 2022 https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2022-02-12/southampton-fc-update-on-progress-of-the-new-big-screens-at-st-marys "Southampton Football Club would like to make fans aware of the progress being made to install new big screens at St Mary’s, as part of the club’s investment in improving the matchday experience for fans. The new state-of-the-art screens will be double the size of the current displays and will be integrated with the wider stadium infrastructure, including the concourse screens, pitch-side boards, floodlights, kiosks and even our official club app. As a result of the thorough structural investigation and calculation work that has had to be undertaken to ensure that the installation of the screens is completed to the correct standards, the club regrets to inform supporters that there has been an unforeseen delay in the installation. The club has been working hard to find a solution and can reassure fans that the installation of the new screens will be going ahead as part of an ongoing programme of work to update the stadium and improve the experience our fans have at St Mary’s. The club would like to apologise to fans for the unavoidable delay to the installation of new screens and we’d like to thank them for their patience as we look to provide the best possible matchday experience for our supporters." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 13 February, 2022 Share Posted 13 February, 2022 41 minutes ago, nta786 said: https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2022-02-12/southampton-fc-update-on-progress-of-the-new-big-screens-at-st-marys "Southampton Football Club would like to make fans aware of the progress being made to install new big screens at St Mary’s, as part of the club’s investment in improving the matchday experience for fans. The new state-of-the-art screens will be double the size of the current displays and will be integrated with the wider stadium infrastructure, including the concourse screens, pitch-side boards, floodlights, kiosks and even our official club app. As a result of the thorough structural investigation and calculation work that has had to be undertaken to ensure that the installation of the screens is completed to the correct standards, the club regrets to inform supporters that there has been an unforeseen delay in the installation. The club has been working hard to find a solution and can reassure fans that the installation of the new screens will be going ahead as part of an ongoing programme of work to update the stadium and improve the experience our fans have at St Mary’s. The club would like to apologise to fans for the unavoidable delay to the installation of new screens and we’d like to thank them for their patience as we look to provide the best possible matchday experience for our supporters." Thanks for the update but I cannot imagine that my matchday experience will be affected in the slightest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu Posted 13 February, 2022 Share Posted 13 February, 2022 If they could keep the clock running during added time, that would add to my matchday experience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 13 February, 2022 Share Posted 13 February, 2022 I quite liked Man Utd's old school strip of lights just showing the score and the time. We don't need some massive screen which is basically only there to push more shitty adverts in our face. If we are to have it, play the pre match video and then leave the team line ups on screen while the game goes on. Only other need for it is to show goal replays. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 13 February, 2022 Share Posted 13 February, 2022 2 hours ago, nta786 said: https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2022-02-12/southampton-fc-update-on-progress-of-the-new-big-screens-at-st-marys "Southampton Football Club would like to make fans aware of the progress being made to install new big screens at St Mary’s, as part of the club’s investment in improving the matchday experience for fans. The new state-of-the-art screens will be double the size of the current displays and will be integrated with the wider stadium infrastructure, including the concourse screens, pitch-side boards, floodlights, kiosks and even our official club app. As a result of the thorough structural investigation and calculation work that has had to be undertaken to ensure that the installation of the screens is completed to the correct standards, the club regrets to inform supporters that there has been an unforeseen delay in the installation. The club has been working hard to find a solution and can reassure fans that the installation of the new screens will be going ahead as part of an ongoing programme of work to update the stadium and improve the experience our fans have at St Mary’s. The club would like to apologise to fans for the unavoidable delay to the installation of new screens and we’d like to thank them for their patience as we look to provide the best possible matchday experience for our supporters." Is that a long-winded way of saying: "the geezer that ordered the new screens didn't check first to see if the structure of the stadium was strong enough to support them"...? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East Kent Saint Posted 14 February, 2022 Share Posted 14 February, 2022 On 06/02/2022 at 17:16, Matthew Le God said: We do have a Saints fan in Downing Street already... Time to find another team to support …. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East Kent Saint Posted 14 February, 2022 Share Posted 14 February, 2022 16 hours ago, Disco Stu said: If they could keep the clock running during added time, that would add to my matchday experience. There must be some rule as most screens do this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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