Away support at St Mary's

[JackanorySFC]

God this season has been poor hasn't it? The £20 cap on tickets (£30 Prem' - £10 Virgin Media) hasn't helped numbers or atmosphere.

 

Sunderland, Burnley and even Stoke all sat down. Swansea nowhere near as good as previous season. Obviously the lack of Saturday 3pm KO's doesn't help. Is football just simple getting more sterile? The big clubs always put up a show, Chelsea will be noisy, as will the Scousers and as always the loudest my miles will be United. But the middle/ lower Prem clubs are getting a lot quieter IMO.

 

I must add I think our home support is up there with anything else in the league. Not saying it's amazing, more the lack of atmosphere elsewhere. But considering no visiting fans have offered anything in the way of proper noise we do a decent job of making it ourselves. At least our away support actually stands up as well.

[Colinjb]

Think you hit the nail on the head with the lack of 3pm Saturday kick-offs.

 

To come down from Burnley for a 4pm Sunday kick off with work the next day. Fair play to the ones who made it at all.

[SKD]

Our away support is sh*t as well to be fair. We take decent numbers but atmosphere is poor.

 

Isn't helped by the fact that 90% of our fan base are only willing to sing 1 or 2 songs, it gets boring.

[benjii]

The Sunday thing is a killer for away fans.

 

I would have done Leicester and Man City away if they were on Saturday but I won't do them on a Sunday.

[JackanorySFC]

It's due to non Saturday 3pm kick offs plus the fact our songs are dire.

 

"We're the itchen" and singing "we can see you sneaking out" when more of our fans were leaving than theirs is utter mong. One guy in front of me actually filmed the whole first half on his phone.

 

Glad you mentioned that cringe fest "We are the Itchen..." when we are just about 1 nil up. I think it's a **** song anyway, but can tolerate it if we were 4-0 up or something. As for the "is there a fire drill" I'm impressed people can get that head above the "s'cuse me mush" and "sorry fella" 's as our fans desperately try and get to their cars 3 minutes before everyone else rather than applaud our players off. FFS just have a pint and let the traffic die down!

 

The lack of Saturday 3pm KO's definitely a big factor.

[Nordic Saint]

Glad you mentioned that cringe fest "We are the Itchen..." when we are just about 1 nil up. I think it's a **** song anyway, but can tolerate it if we were 4-0 up or something. As for the "is there a fire drill" I'm impressed people can get that head above the "s'cuse me mush" and "sorry fella" 's as our fans desperately try and get to their cars 3 minutes before everyone else rather than applaud our players off. FFS just have a pint and let the traffic die down!

 

The lack of Saturday 3pm KO's definitely a big factor.

 

Itchen blocks 1 & 2 should be for away fans anyway and the home fans who sing there should be moved into Northm blocks 43 & 44 directly behind the goal, where they could join up with the other home fans in the Northam. That would help improve the atmosphere.

[Golden Balls]

Itchen blocks 1 & 2 should be for away fans anyway and the home fans who sing there should be moved into Northm blocks 43 & 44 directly behind the goal, where they could join up with the other home fans in the Northam. That would help improve the atmosphere.

 

Yep. Moving the away fans so we can have the whole/majority of the Northam will improve the atmosphere massively.

[doddisalegend]

Itchen blocks 1 & 2 should be for away fans anyway and the home fans who sing there should be moved into Northm blocks 43 & 44 directly behind the goal, where they could join up with the other home fans in the Northam. That would help improve the atmosphere.

 

 

I like sitting in block 1 maybe I don't want to move?

 

I'll sing and the Itchen north can make good noise when they want to but our songs have got a bit limited. It probably doesn't help that players keep leaving even VVD's song doesn't work very well know Koeman has buggered off.

[LuckyNumber7]

The atmosphere was depressingly crap yesterday. I used to think we had one of the best home support in the country but it has really gone downhill, and now I find myself envying the likes of Palace and Leicester who make a good racket at home. I do think it would help if we had the whole of the Northam, but we also desperately need some new, decent songs.

 

Agree the away support has also been poor, probably because the visiting sides so far just haven't brought enough to make much noise.

[Nordic Saint]

I like sitting in block 1 maybe I don't want to move?

 

I'll sing and the Itchen north can make good noise when they want to but our songs have got a bit limited. It probably doesn't help that players keep leaving even VVD's song doesn't work very well know Koeman has buggered off.

 

I don't know if you realized it but when you were singing in Itchen block 1, the Northam were singing a completely different song, presumably because they couldn't hear you. You'd only really get a very loud song if your two separte mobs joined together. The other problem is the corner is about the worst spot in the stadium for acoustics, which is why most clubs stick the away fans there.

[doddisalegend]

I don't know if you realized it but when you were singing in Itchen block 1, the Northam were singing a completely different song, presumably because they couldn't hear you. You'd only really get a very loud song if your two separte mobs joined together. The other problem is the corner is about the worst spot in the stadium for acoustics, which is why most clubs stick the away fans there.

 

 

Never hear the Northam sitting in the Itchen htbh...

 

Don't have a problem if all the Northam want to move to the Itchen to sing together but I like my seats so don't see why I should move...

[The Cat]

Leicester weren't all that at home a couple of weeks ago and they still rely on those irritating clackers. Last season they were loud but then they were a few games from the title.

 

Our away support is average for noise, decent for numbers although maybe a domestic drop off this season with the Europa games and yes, it's good that we all stand up..

 

Our songs have become stale. Nothing for Redmond, nothing for Claise, and after the run we're on still nothing for Puel. Christ it's not hard to get Claude Puel's red & white army on the go at the very least.

[Nordic Saint]

Never hear the Northam sitting in the Itchen htbh...

 

Don't have a problem if all the Northam want to move to the Itchen to sing together but I like my seats so don't see why I should move...

 

It just about sums up how bad our divided excuse for a kop is: one half can't even hear the other half singing at the same end of the ground. The numbers and the will are there but the right location and the unity are not.

[Orange]

It just about sums up how bad our divided excuse for a kop is: one half can't even hear the other half singing at the same end of the ground. The numbers and the will are there but the right location and the unity are not.

 

Take the Prague game at home though. I usually go Itchen North but got my bundle in the Northam for it. Had more or less the whole stand, first European night under the lights, i thought it would actually be a really good atmosphere. As much as I tried, fact is most of the people around me were more interested at gorping into their smartphones then bothering to create any sort of atmosphere. The handful of times it did get going it sounded brilliant though.

 

Likewise with our away support now, seem to find myself more and more surrounded by cardboard cutouts who'll pip up if you're lucky for the 11th rendition of OWTS but that's about it. Shame it's gone so downhill since the lower leagues.

[jasonb]

Simply stuff like Red Army on repeat for 30 minutes non stop used to get everyone going back in the day.

 

Is that kind of thing considered naff now?

[Charlie Wayman]

This thread was meant to be discussing the level of away support at SMS not how many songs we should sing. One big factor must be cost and another people losing interest in the Premier League. It may have passed by the notice of many but Sky's Football subscriptions are down 19% this season compare with last and that is astonishing and of hue concern to Sky and BT who have just committed to about £5bn over the next three seasons. If fans really have stopped buying into the PL hype, then maybe the long anticipated bursting of the bubble is actually coming about. So, is the drop in Sky subscriptions and the dwindling numbers of away fans at matches signs that the game is up for the PL or just coincidence. I was surprised at the lack of support for the Clarets as they fought hard to get back to the PL first time, some of their players must be thinking was it worth it - apart from the dosh in their pocket of course.

 

I don't think our away support can be criticised in any way at all, taking 7,500 to Milan on a Thursday night is simply staggering, many Championship clubs play to smaller house than that in their regular home league games. If the average cost is around £500 per head that's a turnover of £3.75m, if we'd all clubbed together like that we could buy the club a half decent player!

[saint-matt]

and after the run we're on still nothing for Puel. Christ it's not hard to get Claude Puel's red & white army on the go at the very least.

 

This! Was waiting for it to come at the Burnley match once we had taken the lead. About time we vocally get behind our French leader.

[angelman]

Itchen blocks 1 & 2 should be for away fans anyway and the home fans who sing there should be moved into Northm blocks 43 & 44 directly behind the goal, where they could join up with the other home fans in the Northam. That would help improve the atmosphere.

 

Absolutely spot on. Leicester who have the same/similar ground do that. I remember the Palace cup game last season and how ridiculous it was to give them the seating they had = atmosphere for their team.

[benjii]

This thread was meant to be discussing the level of away support at SMS not how many songs we should sing. One big factor must be cost and another people losing interest in the Premier League. It may have passed by the notice of many but Sky's Football subscriptions are down 19% this season compare with last and that is astonishing and of hue concern to Sky and BT who have just committed to about £5bn over the next three seasons. If fans really have stopped buying into the PL hype, then maybe the long anticipated bursting of the bubble is actually coming about. So, is the drop in Sky subscriptions and the dwindling numbers of away fans at matches signs that the game is up for the PL or just coincidence. I was surprised at the lack of support for the Clarets as they fought hard to get back to the PL first time, some of their players must be thinking was it worth it - apart from the dosh in their pocket of course.

 

I don't think our away support can be criticised in any way at all, taking 7,500 to Milan on a Thursday night is simply staggering, many Championship clubs play to smaller house than that in their regular home league games. If the average cost is around £500 per head that's a turnover of £3.75m, if we'd all clubbed together like that we could buy the club a half decent player!

 

I'm not sure that is down to a loss of interest. Probably more to do with people finding cheaper "unconventional" ways of watching matches online.

 

Going back to the atmosphere point, it's partly an increase in interest by people who want a Premier League experience but don't want to sing that contributes to a flat atmosphere.

 

I also agree with Nordic Saint - the SMS acoustics are not great. It's loud when everyone joins in but the Northam can't hear the Itchen very well (or the away support, for that matter) and vice-versa. One big signing section behind the goal with the away fans to the side would definitely be preferable.