Thetownend.com

Following on from a brief discussion in the Harrogate thread, I thought this topic deserved a thread of its own.

I think everybody can agree that there's been a slow and steady decline of atmosphere over the years, particularly in the Town End.

Reasons are understandable. Bad view, expensive pricing, a poor product on the pitch over several years and off field issues keeping vocal fans away.

We still have people that want to create noise, but they are too spread-out throughout the stadium. More needs to be done to get like minded individuals into the same block / stand and create a good atmosphere.

Whilst many criticised the GWR group, I think their efforts were mainly successful. Especially when you consider they rarely got the chance to ride any waves of positivity.

It's a real shame the club makes absolutely no effort to improve this part of the matchday experience. Getting behind the team could be the difference come the end of the season.

They could work openly with original founders of the GWR, the trust, the supporters club. They could launch a survey related to atmosphere. They could slash Town End ticket pricing. Yet they chose to do nothing.

The purpose of this thread is to explore ways in which we as a community can try to improve things and what steps need to be taken going forward to achieve this.

Example; the guys at the top of the DR who gets chants going. Why are you not in the Town End? price? view? age demographic?

Are there people out there that would like to be involved in trying to find a solution? I would be.

Anyone who has made any kind of fan "ultra" (for want of a better word) group, or even tried to, has been routinely shouted down, mocked and even insulted and abused.

I usually sit towards the top of the DRS. Once it starts all kinds of people join in. I doubt many would swap the great view from there with the shite view in the TE.

There’s only one thing that would entice a few more in there - cheaper tickets. £10 would do it, I reckon.

Had a jobsworth steward Saturday clambering right to the top of the DRS to tell a couple of lads in the very top row to sit down.

I think that the guy who starts a lot of the chants in the DRS either left in a huff during the first half or may have been asked to leave after a visit from the steward.

I'd be all for an "ultras" type group dedicated to improving the atmosphere, although maybe not everyone's cup of tea.

It is such a shame as the Town End even back in the 90s but more so in the 70s and 80s it was so noisy, teams used to hate coming to the County Ground for its intimidating atmosphere.

But that has dulled into almost nothing at times since the turn of the century.

The view has always been shit but it didnt stop any atmosphere back then, but admittedly if we had a better home end which was about double the size capacity wise and on the same rake but also had a view without pillars then many more people would use it.

But that costs money so wont happen any time soon.

Perosnally I would happily welcome any initiative to get fans more engaged vocally and no please no drums or trumpets.

Would also be a lot better if the town end was steeper.

Are there any current league two teams that have a notoriously hostile atmosphere? I very rarely travelled away when I lived in the UK so I can’t answer that question myself, but for those that travel away a lot, would it not help to identify what those clubs do to get the atmosphere going and try to emulate it?

Town End was shit for most of the 90s. We even gave it to away fans at some points.

2001ish it has a massive revival with the town end for a tenner thing.

Just don't bring a drum.

in 2025? no.

I am sorry to say but I did visit Reading when they played Wigan and were essentially relegated from the championship and their ultras/hardcore section were roaring 15 minutes before kickoff and that didn’t stop for while after the game had started, they may have drawn 1-1 late on but their fans backed them to the hilt, even with the odds against them and the poor ownership. They tried creating a sea of blue and white in that section and for the most part it worked, majority of them looked like they were wearing club shirts and all sorts

I sit up by the top of the DRS nearest TE side and a good noise cant be made up there, with plenty lof us willing to sing, all be it if you stand up for too long you get a steward come to tell you to sit down...

Town End has been poor for a long time and a lot of people have moved to other parts of the grounds over the years. As others have said it should be max £10/15 to stand in there. There's no facilities, a poor view and no chance of getting a HT beer. It's a shame becasue a packed TE is fantastic, it can generate some real noise.

Consistency in results should see the attendances pick up, hopefully with a few decent offers/email campaigns to get people back through the gates. Football has been impressive and looks like a sustained promotion push.

Hoping the TE will be open for the West Ham game. The stander-uppers in the Arkell's for the Reading game caused a real issue for regulars/elderly who could not stand up. Perhaps a one off for that game, who knows.

I personally think the club should investigate Safe Standing for the Town End.

I have done some research on this previously (for something to do) and it has been implimented in a few Scottish grounds and 29 English league grounds.

As of 10 June 2025, there are 29 grounds which have licensed, safe standing sections:

    Aston Villa FC,
    Barnsley FC
    Birmingham City FC,
    Bournemouth AFC,
    Brentford FC,
    Burnley FC,
    Cardiff City FC,
    Chelsea FC,
    Coventry Building Society Arena,
    Derby County FC,
    Ipswich Town FC,
    Leeds United FC,
    Liverpool FC,
    Luton Town FC,
    Manchester City FC,
    Manchester United FC,
    Newcastle United FC,
    Norwich City FC,
    Nottingham Forest FC,
    Portsmouth FC,
    Queens Park Rangers FC,
    Rotherham United FC,
    Southampton FC,
    Stoke City FC,
    Sunderland AFC
    Swansea City AFC,
    Tottenham Hotspur FC,
    Wembley Stadium and
    Wolverhampton Wanderers FC.

I looked at the costs of such a process and as far as I can see the cost seems to average around £100k per 500 seats to upgrade, so for a Town End capacity of around 1,900 it will be about £400k for the total job.

Obviously its a one off case for each ground but for individual rail seats it seems to be around £80 per seat to install plus installation costs and any other individual costs such as location and ease of install etc.

Possibly the club could install half of the Town End as Safe standing on the side closest to the DRS to see if it could be feasibly done for the rest of the stand, instantly halving the install cost.

Maybe have been better giving the fans that idea to vote on rather than the DRS upgrade?

Even if its done by crowdfunding or bucket collections/sponsorship as its not a huge amount of money.

Ipswich is in a stand probably older than the Arkells too. Fucking ancient looking stand with standing in and its in an upper tier.

I'm not convinced we will see a huge upturn in attendance regular, I think the prices are what stop's people coming that are not necessarily stfc fans but are happy to go and watch their local team winning games, £27 for L2 football is a lot in the current climate (doesn't it go up on the day by £2 ?), it is sad that being on a good run doesn't help, I think also with the sh1t show off the pitch it does not help with those that have had enough and decided enough is enough.

It would be nice to see sections full of kids - they are the future - but they don't seem to do initiatives with local schools like they did years ago, give them a section of the DR or Arkells for free with the FITC organising it, at least its noise - give them discounted tickets for future games with an adult, if they enjoy it they may convince the parent to take them to more games.

A lot of the chants used to be started in the TE, its a shame how the atmosphere has dulled over the last few years,  we need a 'noisy' section to get the rest of the ground joining in regular

Too expensive plus you need a decent away following to create an atmosphere which we will get when Bristol Rovers are in Town.

That's another thing. It's always been rubbish how far away the Town End is compared to the away fans. Imagine a scenario where they were right next to each other. You could get the place rocking.

I went to a Coventry game a couple of years back. I was so extremely jealous. Their atmosphere was amazing.

The old shrivenham road stand when lads used to stand on the half way line close to the away fans was always atmospheric.

Agree with this, and also the suggestion of a standing area. A section of standing area in The Town End, and subsequent cheaper tickets, would, I'm sure, increase the attendance and noise. They could, maybe, also convert sections at the bottom parts of each of the main stands to standing too.

Not league 2 but Lincoln do it well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0CCbU11CSE&pp=ygUXbGluY29sbiBjaXR5IGF0bW9zcGhlcmU%3D

https://www.safestandingroadshow.co.uk/home

Some interesting reading!