Atmosphere at PL stadiums

Cascarino

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Might be highlighted more by my own introversion and worry but I suspect it's pretty common. Have noticed it a lot at different grounds when I've not been singing that people tend to tell others to shut up or make comments about them whilst remaining seated and silent otherwise.

We're a judgy country.
I get that mate, I'm not the most naturally confident, but I go to games either pissed or on drugs (not so much these days), and usually with a decent sized group. So I bypass that bit and never feel ill at ease. It helps having simple songs everybody knows, even people who wouldn't usually join in know land of my fathers, so there's never any awkwardness.

Getting standing allowed would be great.
 

The magic hat

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PL football is made for tourists to watch, I know about the disasters PL had with standing sections but today you can easily have safe standings… The no flags, no tifo bullshit is also mind boggling for me as a Swede..

Our league is quite crap but the atmosphere beat about anything in the PL with mad Tifos & insane & loud fans in games between rivals.
 

Josep Dowling

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Unpopular and controversial opinion maybe but:
There are too many old middle class people drinking tea at the Premier League games these days. You need huge sections of young, tipsy people to get an atmosphere going.
Been priced out the game unfortunately. Imagine a 18-30 year trying to earn enough to live in London, let alone buy luxuries like football tickets.
 

Utd heap

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PL football is made for tourists to watch, I know about the disasters PL had with standing sections but today you can easily have safe standings… The no flags, no tifo bullshit is also mind boggling for me as a Swede..

Our league is quite crap but the atmosphere beat about anything in the PL with mad Tifos & insane & loud fans in games between rivals.
You don't go, you don't know.
 

The magic hat

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You don't go, you don't know.
I’Ve been to my fair share of games through europe & England & the atmosphere @ OT isn’t What i expected from a 76k Crowd tbf…. Or is there some 50+ games limit to be enquired to have an opinion about the atmosphere?

have you been to any games in Sweden & Germany for instance before you know what im comparing to?
 

R'hllor

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PL home crowds are joke tbh, 50k plus being out voiced by 2k or so away fans. Best part when they starting to make excuses in stewards, like they preventing them to their thing, which is funny because seems nobody can stop them to stand up and boo left right center.

Also, that saying, giving fans something to cheer about or what ever it is, is one most dumbest shit i ever heard when it comes to football supporters on the stadium.
 

Utd heap

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Voice all your stereotypes about English football supporters thread. Even better chuck in that you've been a few times.
 

TMDaines

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The only football stadium (in England) I’ve been to more than once is Old Trafford and I haven’t been there since Mourinho was in charge. So my only impressions of the atmosphere at games recently is through telly.

The impression I get is that is that the atmosphere is getting worse and worse. From the complete silence throughout most of the Arsenal game (admittedly not an entirely new phenomenon!) to Brighton fans booing their team off after drawing with Leeds.


Is that anyone else’s impression? Fans now make less of an effort to support their team and are quicker to moan? The atmosphere at PL grounds is dying a death.

Yes, folks, another old man shouting at clouds thread. Plenty more where this came from!
Old Trafford has improved massively in recent years. When I got a season ticket again in 2016-17 (Mourinho’s first season) the atmosphere was comfortably poorer than it was 10 years prior. It was regularly dead in the Stretford End and it felt as if little was done to conduce a positive atmosphere.

The club have listened to what influential supporter groups have asked for and it has paid dividends:
  • Music is turned down/off prior to kickoff to allow a natural buzz to build and make it easy to get songs started prior to the players walking out.
  • The club stopped playing cheesy covers of fan chants, such as United Road.
  • The family section has been moved away from the corner of the Stretford End.
  • The newly established singing section was moved from next to the East Stand to be in the corner next to the Stretford End.
 

TMDaines

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PL football is made for tourists to watch, I know about the disasters PL had with standing sections but today you can easily have safe standings… The no flags, no tifo bullshit is also mind boggling for me as a Swede..

Our league is quite crap but the atmosphere beat about anything in the PL with mad Tifos & insane & loud fans in games between rivals.
Tifos and flags (and ultras) have never been a big part of British football culture, a few clubs aside. It tends to be a lot more raw, disorganised and transient than that.
 

Cascarino

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Tifos and flags (and ultras) have never been a big part of British football culture, a few clubs aside. It tends to be a lot more raw, disorganised and transient than that.
Few of the teams that have come to play Wales have had a guy at the front of their crowd, not watching the football, but facing the crowd and conducting them. Made me irrationally angry
 

Sweet Square

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I manage it? £30 at Chelsea today?
PL clubs charge on average £485 for the cheapest season tickets. Thats a lot of money to spend(Without in taking into all the extras) on watching football.

Voice all your stereotypes about English football supporters thread. Even better chuck in that you've been a few times.
The data backs up the claims that PL football is for older middle class people.
 

golden_blunder

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I s'pose the shorter patience is part of the general relationship with consumerism at football games now and probably coincides with a rise in costs for attending, including travel.

Plus it's miserable weather and I don't think fans enjoy sitting in the freezing cold watching a 0-0 draw. I've been to a few games like that and it's hard to enjoy the game.
I blame Lindelof. He’s made it ok for tight Jean wearers to flick their hair live on Insta rather than watch the match.
 

Utd heap

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The data backs up the claims that PL football is for older middle class people.
To a degree you are right. Sit in the North stand or south stand at OT and their equivalents in the country, that will probably play out.

There's a different world out there though. You don't see it in your bubble. Football ain't changed as much as people think it has other than you can't lamp someone anymore.
 

big rons sovereign

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Just random anecdotes. You could have made this thread anytime post about 2002. I've seen no noticeable change in my matchgoing time.

Old Trafford itself is far better now than in years. Some fans will say similar, some the opposite.
Worst I saw it was under LVG. Awful.
 

VeevaVee

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It's not a patch on watching football in Germany. But then you can stand and drink and have a laugh. They have a blokes stood on podiums with a loudspeaker whose entire job is to orchestrate the crowd and get everyone going.

The football in England is the only thing that can get the crowd going, so if that's a bit flat, and it's a PL game with not much at stake, then there's not much to get excited about.

I've never been to OT and it be so shit as when I saw United in the EL though. Hordes of school kids who'd been given tickets to fill the stadium out, dead football, dead crowd. Made me stop going to OT for years until this season as it felt like a complete waste of money and time.
 

Sweet Square

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To a degree you are right. Sit in the North stand or south stand at OT and their equivalents in the country, that will probably play out.

There's a different world out there though. You don't see it in your bubble. Football ain't changed as much as people think it has other than you can't lamp someone anymore.
Seems to be the issue. It's pretty the same people but they've just got old.

Which isn't fans faults as it's just result of the economy etc.
 

Maagge

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I've never really been impressed with the atmosphere in the PL. I've been to Old Trafford, Goodison, Anfield, Loftus Road and Emirates. The best atmosphere was probably at Loftus Road between QPR and Sunderland. Not that it set the bar particularly high.
Anfield was alright for You'll Never Walk Alone but otherwise just as the other stadiums.

You need standing sections where the fans who want to sing can get together (this is also why away fans are generally good). Maybe you also need to allow drinking in the stands but that's probably not gonna happen any time soon.
 

Dancfc

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Fans are just a reflection of societal norms.

We now live in a world of entitlement, impatience and instant gratification.

Same reason why football forums have become progressively more toxic and hateful over recent years.
Fans pay good hard earned money to watch their team, if they don't like what they see they're more than entitled to show it.

The idea that you have to accept mediocrity to be a proper supporter is ridiciolous, which actually plays into the hands of the type of owners the average fan claim to want to be rid off.
 

Cascarino

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I've never really been impressed with the atmosphere in the PL. I've been to Old Trafford, Goodison, Anfield, Loftus Road and Emirates. The best atmosphere was probably at Loftus Road between QPR and Sunderland. Not that it set the bar particularly high.
Anfield was alright for You'll Never Walk Alone but otherwise just as the other stadiums.

You need standing sections where the fans who want to sing can get together (this is also why away fans are generally good). Maybe you also need to allow drinking in the stands but that's probably not gonna happen any time soon.
There's some great atmospheres tbh, especially some of the smaller sides. That's no disrespect to the teams you've named, as there away supporters are great.
 

Maagge

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There's some great atmospheres tbh, especially some of the smaller sides. That's no disrespect to the teams you've named, as there away supporters are great.
Yeah away supporters are generally good because they're the most "hardcore" supporters. But home fans are a bit shit most of the time. Probably because the vocal ones are too spread out.

In Denmark you generally have sections of the home stands where you know people will be singing throughout the game which helps massively. It's probably the same in Sweden and Germany.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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Unless Celtic or Rangers are playing the games aren’t even full. The Livingston Rangers game today was at Livingston yet it was a Rangers home game with them completely filling the stadium. Scotland is absolutely not better.
That was definitely true when I lived in Aberdeen and went to the occasional game at Pittodrie, though even games vs Celtic weren't particularly rowdy. It was only when Rangers came to town that the atmosphere really picked up.
 

Ludens the Red

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It’s a weird one because yes generally our fans here are getting quieter and more stroppy as the years go by but when I look at other countries I still think we have it 2nd best hands down. It’s not just about a good atmosphere, it’s also about how a crowd behaves, away fans and if people actually turn up to games. We still have full houses, we don’t have 99% of grounds booing the knee (like in Europe) and our fans generally behave well.

Bundesliga - the only league imo whos crowd trump the PL. Atmosphere, packed stadiums, away fans and well behaved.

Ligue 1 - the atmosphere at Marseille, St Etienne etc can be insane but you’ve got fans behaving like fecking animals every week. Half the teams in ligue 1 seem to be playing behind closed doors because their fans like to run onto the pitch and punch players in the face. Their fans are an absolute disgrace over there. Barely any away fans at the bigger games too because the authorities can’t trust that nobody will be killed.

Serie a - half empty grounds (most of which that resemble toilets), even at the Milan and Rome clubs. Racism, bigotry, neo nazis. Again, a hugely scummy element of fans still allowed at games.

La Liga - again, half empty grounds, terrible atmosphere at a lot of places. Merciless booing of the knee, never any away fans. I think the Seville teams and Atletico are the only ones who’s grounds I’ve seen rocking.

Scottish - only put this because I saw it mentioned. It’s a comedy league and obviously has no business even being in this list for comparison but unless Rangers and Celtic are playing nobody gives a feck or even turns up. They’ve even half ruined that fixture by only giving away fans about five tickets.
 

tomaldinho1

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With ticket prices rising you inevitably start to attract a different type of clientele. Whilst generally fans are entitled and biased across the world, clubs are actively trying to move football away from its working class roots in stadiums & make it much more exclusive, much more high end and, inevitably, much more expensive.
 

Hoof the ball

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Are we seeing the consequence of pricing younger people out of attending PL games?

Kids see games with dad, go by themselves as teens and form friendships with others like them around match-day attendance, and they carry that youthful exhuberance in groups which produces the next generation of vocal fans. But what happens when the parents with kids, and teens are priced out of attendance?
 

Moby

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Eh? Without fans it wouldn't exist as a sport. How is that false?
"Football is nothing without its fans" was such cringe, false bollocks"

Written by a football fan on a football forum.

Trust the caf to have the dumbest stuff written on the internet.
 

rotherham_red

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The only football stadium (in England) I’ve been to more than once is Old Trafford and I haven’t been there since Mourinho was in charge. So my only impressions of the atmosphere at games recently is through telly.

The impression I get is that is that the atmosphere is getting worse and worse. From the complete silence throughout most of the Arsenal game (admittedly not an entirely new phenomenon!) to Brighton fans booing their team off after drawing with Leeds.


Is that anyone else’s impression? Fans now make less of an effort to support their team and are quicker to moan? The atmosphere at PL grounds is dying a death.

Yes, folks, another old man shouting at clouds thread. Plenty more where this came from!
I suggest you venture over to OT more often then. Up until the kicker of the last few results and performances, the atmosphere has been so much better than at any time in the last few years. Certainly bettered anything that we had during Jose's time here at any rate, and the away crowd has been fantastic in my experiences so far this season (bar the Watford one which was really flat, even when we we were 0-0), and I've been to every away game in the PL bar Leicester.

I can't speak for any other club but OT's atmosphere has been reinvigorated on the whole post-COVID. Initiatives like the TRA and the recently installed standing seats has allowed for chants to regularly reverberate across the stands, including even the South Stand, something which I don't think ever happened during Jose's time.
 

stevoc

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"Football is nothing without its fans" was such cringe, false bollocks"

Written by a football fan on a football forum.

Trust the caf to have the dumbest stuff written on the internet.
Yeah this place really is special sometimes.
 

Pink Moon

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It’s a weird one because yes generally our fans here are getting quieter and more stroppy as the years go by but when I look at other countries I still think we have it 2nd best hands down. It’s not just about a good atmosphere, it’s also about how a crowd behaves, away fans and if people actually turn up to games. We still have full houses, we don’t have 99% of grounds booing the knee (like in Europe) and our fans generally behave well.

Bundesliga - the only league imo whos crowd trump the PL. Atmosphere, packed stadiums, away fans and well behaved.

Ligue 1 - the atmosphere at Marseille, St Etienne etc can be insane but you’ve got fans behaving like fecking animals every week. Half the teams in ligue 1 seem to be playing behind closed doors because their fans like to run onto the pitch and punch players in the face. Their fans are an absolute disgrace over there. Barely any away fans at the bigger games too because the authorities can’t trust that nobody will be killed.

Serie a - half empty grounds (most of which that resemble toilets), even at the Milan and Rome clubs. Racism, bigotry, neo nazis. Again, a hugely scummy element of fans still allowed at games.

La Liga - again, half empty grounds, terrible atmosphere at a lot of places. Merciless booing of the knee, never any away fans. I think the Seville teams and Atletico are the only ones who’s grounds I’ve seen rocking.

Scottish - only put this because I saw it mentioned. It’s a comedy league and obviously has no business even being in this list for comparison but unless Rangers and Celtic are playing nobody gives a feck or even turns up. They’ve even half ruined that fixture by only giving away fans about five tickets.
English football fans are so ignorant it's not even funny any more.
 

Real Name

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English football fans are so ignorant it's not even funny any more.
Its not just about Scotland, the whole post yells ignorant. Love the half empty grounds staff, I bet he just said it without checking data. 99 percent booing the knee in Europe..
Fans behaving well? Sure, but problems outside grounds still happen. At the grounds too but its not reported so much.
 

MattJ166

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They need to introduce schemes whereby it is cheaper for 18-25 (Maybe even push that up to 29) year olds. They're the ones who make the most noise and are the most boisterous.

The prices for some teams games are absolutely ridiculous (Just look at what Chelsea have done recently) it's an absolute cleansing of the working class and it's the working class who make the atmosphere's.

Other than Old Trafford I have gone to Stoke City's ground the most, especially when I was younger just via proximity of where I grew up and their ticket prices were very cheap, I remember getting in for maybe a tenner? The fans themselves were fecking intolerable but they knew how to create an atmosphere, especially before they got to the premier league.
 

Ludens the Red

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English football fans are so ignorant it's not even funny any more.
Here’s the posts I was alluding to…

A wee part of my soul died when I saw the scorer of the 4th goal Bonaventure wheel away to the fans in the corner only to be greeted by a sea of mobile phones. How passive a way to celebrate the club's best result in years.

The game might be poorer up here but I'm glad there is still raw and unfiltered passion up in Scotland.
It’s terrible in all honesty, Scottish football not on the same planet in terms of quality but it’s in a different universe in terms of price, entertainment and atmosphere.

EPL top commercial / too touristy
Ignorance to match ignorance wouldn’t you say? I mean the idea that in Scotland the atmosphere, passion and entertainment is superior to England is actually quite laughable. Probably even more outrageous then the comments I made.

Its not just about Scotland, the whole post yells ignorant. Love the half empty grounds staff, I bet he just said it without checking data. 99 percent booing the knee in Europe..
Fans behaving well? Sure, but problems outside grounds still happen. At the grounds too but its not reported so much.
I was obviously being slightly hyperbolic but since you want to check data…

Olimpico capacity - 70,000 +
Lazio average attendances 2018-2019 - 36,864.

Roma average attendances 2018-2019 -38,621.

in fact go here and have a look https://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/ita-serie-a-2018-2019/1/

You only have to listen to when England and United players are playing abroad and take a knee to see that the majority of the ground boo.

Problems at the ground? Unless it’s Punching players in the face, Invading the pitch, Nazi salutes or throwing bottles at players then I’m afraid the pl doesn’t match some of its European counterparts.
 

Real Name

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in fact go here and have a look https://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/ita-serie-a-2018-2019/1/

You only have to listen to when England and United players are playing abroad and take a knee to see that the majority of the ground boo.

Problems at the ground? Unless it’s Punching players in the face, Invading the pitch, Nazi salutes or throwing bottles at players then I’m afraid the pl doesn’t match some of its European counterparts.
So based on England and United games you concluded 99 percent of the grounds boo the knee in Europe?

As for second part, are you saying there's no problem with for instance racism at English grounds?

Also crowd trouble happened as recently as West Ham Rapid game for instance.