Atmosphere Today

[red flag]

No problem with people turning up to support their town, even if they haven't been to a game in a while. It's all about pride in your town and I'm glad we took 32,000 people.  

The reasons for the lack of atmosphere? A shocking first half and the strange acoustics. Millwall fans were up for it because their team were battering us.  It's also evident that, as a couple of people on here have suggested, you just can't hear the support around you if you're more than a block away. No point blaming non-season ticket holders for that.

[Arriba]

I was in the same block.  I think you called me (and the ten year old kid next to me) a plastic cunt.  Well done.

having checked back through your posts i see you had tickets in row 44.
i was in front of you somewhere, and didn't turn around to people behind me and abuse them.
so well done for getting your facts wrong.

i didn't see or hear anyone calling people cunts as it goes.a few of us dotted around the block who were trying to get songs started. and when it didn't happen got fucked off with it.

[JanTheMan]

Just posted the below on a different thread, hadn't seen this one.



Fucking awful atmosphere.  The most dissappointed i've ever been with a town crowd. 

Someone posted 10 days ago that they couldn't be arsed to go to wemley with 25,000 plastics.  At the time I thought that was a knobbish thing to say, after yesterday i have to agree. Shit on the pitch, made even worse by our pathetic performance off it. All the more dissapointing following the season we've had - some of the best atmospheres i've ever experienced, certainly in the last 10 years.  Was it really this shit in 90/93?

[jonbd]

I was in block 140 and it was the worst atmosphere i've ever been a part of. A few of us tried to get something going but most people just sat there. It didn't help that there was a bloke trying to lead some of the chants when he was clearly too drunk to get them right in the first place! Was gutted to be honest, like we as fans didn't do our bit, but there you go!

[sonicyouth]

i was sat along from some youngish lads who kept trying to start songs (block 141, row 37) but they just fell flat on their arse most of the time. i tried to join in and my voice is completely hoarse today. i didn't want to stand up as i was aware of people behind me not being able to see the game through my ample frame.

the total lack of atmosphere just compounded the fact we were awful on the pitch. i think the fact we didn't turn up at kick-off contributed to the lack of atmosphere.

fair play to those who tried to start songs, i'm always too scared to try. i don't really have a problem with people turning up if they've not been to many games this season and i think it's great if people who do go regularly bring along family or friends; if we'd performed yesterday, regardless of the result, some of those would undoubtedly return.

my main issue is with the people who just don't get football. it sounds horribly elitist but judging from what i saw and by what others have said on here, a lot of people turned up yesterday not understanding how important the result was, totally unaware of how fans support their team and expected to sit in silence like it was wimbledon or something.

the majority of the 32,000 there yesterday were "proper" fans. we just got diluted amongst daytrippers who didn't understand it at all.

[ghanimah]

Was it really this shit in 90/93?

No, one of things about 90/93 is that after the games I couldn't hear anything for about 20 mins because I had gone temporarily deaf due to the noise made during the game. No such problem yesterday.

[pauld]

Didn't come on last night as I was too furious. We were utterly humiliated yesterday both on and off the pitch. If that's the "family atmosphere" the football authorities keep saying they want, they can stick it up their arse. Yesterday was never going to reach the heights of the second leg at Chalrton, that and Leeds/Southampton away were always going to be the high point of our season. That really was a "fans' game", whereas yesterday was always going to be more of "the town's game" so it was never going to have the same intensity. I was ready for that, for it being a bit limp, for any songs there were being restricted to the most simple, but Jesus Wept!

Even trying to get a simple "Come on you Reds" going, there was people looking at us like we'd tried to shit in their kagoul hoods. Credit to the lads further back who did keep trying despite all the Jeremys and Jemimas - one of the few amusing bits was when they started singing "there's only five of us singing" which as the isolated pockets joined in crept up to "there's only 8 of us singing". And to be honest, that probably was it for our block.

Had the kids with me yesterday so had to keep most of this in after the match because even though I was fuming, I wanted them to feel they'd had a good day. It was my five year old's first game and he was quite nervous because he doesn't like loud noises (hah! no worries on that score, most of them thought they were at the fucking opera) so his day wouldn't have been enhanced by the sight of Dad raging and fuming at what complete dogshit we were. So after the game, kind of restricted myself to a few adonyne "Didn't turn up/outmuscled/completely stopped us playing" type comments and left it at that. But last night I was furious. And it hasn't diminished this morning. Disappointed, embarrassed, humiliated.

Oh and to those saying "I'd rather have the 7/8000 passionate fans getting behind the team than the 32,000 sitting there quietly", get real. Look back over how many matchday threads and see the number of times people are complaining about the silence in the Arkells/DRS. We've got 3-4000 tops who will sing/back the team come what may, even backs against the wall, like at Charlton. If we'd made more of a go of it on the pitch yesterday, even the day-trippers would have joined in a bit more, but there was nothing. Totally flat.

[sirob_leroi]

The reasons for the lack of atmosphere? A shocking first half and the strange acoustics. Millwall fans were up for it because their team were battering us.  It's also evident that, as a couple of people on here have suggested, you just can't hear the support around you if you're more than a block away. No point blaming non-season ticket holders for that.

I noticed this as well. The pockets of people singing were few and far between but we were slightly to the right of the goal at the front of the top tier and there was a few (maybe 15) of us trying to sing every now and then but you really couldn't hear clearly what the fans on the lower tier/ more than a block away were singing making it impossible to co-ordinate anything. That said it does sound like we got quite lucky as we had no one complaining when we stood up occasionally for corners or sang/ occasionally swore.

[Rich Pullen]

Plastics wouldn't be a problem if they could somehow find a way of putting regulars together or dare I say it 'singing sections' within the seating plan.

[sirob_leroi]

As me and my old man were saying this morn, all seating most probs killed that a bit as before you would have been able to move towards where other people were singing but that said I remember 93 being deafening.

[sonicyouth]

i feel really deflated today as i really got the buzz yesterday for the first time in ages. a saturday morning at home, nervously passing the time and then catching a train into london, trying to spot town fans at the station(s)... getting off at paddington, bumping into my dad and family and seeing red everywhere was amazing.

walking to the ground from wembley central, following a sea of red - as we walked up the slight incline towards wembley stadium there was such a positive feeling around, despite the rain, wind and cold. getting into the ground and finding our seats, seeing the lads warming up and the seats filling up.

it all started to go horribly wrong when we came out wearing white.

[Rustle]

Plastics wouldn't be a problem if they could somehow find a way of putting regulars together or dare I say it 'singing sections' within the seating plan.

100% agree with this and yesterday was the first time in years i stood up sang my heart with about 30 others around me and when we actually got going it was good,we even got the so say plastics going but to be honest they only responed to the and it's swindon town song.

Most of the season it's been dire at home although the oxon reds was above me and i tried to join in when they got going the others around me just did't bother and just want to sit quiet and watch the game.I would love to think if the town end gets built up all the vociferous ones will go there and the ones who dont want to sing will stay away from that stand.

I've moved for this coming season down the other end of the DR stand but i have feeling i've made a big mistake.

Spot on about a singing section that something we really need.

[Sade]

Think I was sat infront of you! Did your voice go?!

was fucking dismal support.i was the cunt in block 140 who tired to get it going.shouldn't have kept trying.never abused anyone but voiced my disgust at the plastics

[Arriba]

Think I was sat infront of you! Did your voice go?!

yeah that was probably me,as my voice went eventually.can you confirm i wasn't calling people cunts and abusing folk

[pauld]

Spot on about a singing section that something we really need.

If you mean at the County Ground, absolutely NO, that's the last thing we need. It would completely kill the atmosphere around the whole of the rest of the ground and even create a kind of "proper fans' ghetto". I want to hear the whole ground singing, not just a small section of it. That's precisely the problem we've got now.