[Albion] Atmosphere vs forest

[Bryanw42]

Admittedly I was in the worst location (E1G) with my two boys and all the other parents and kids but I thought the Forest fans were incredibly loud and we were incredibly quiet last night. Exceptionally so.
I've been to a fair few games that fell into the subdued, frustrated category including the ones with Potter booing and all the games before he taught them to score goals - but last night was bad from where I was.
Yes this is a topic that comes and goes and this is not about clackers, drums, flags etc I just wanted to see what others in the ground thought last night?

I am of the strong opinion that there are three things that would help.
1. The North stand singing as one, not split into two sections. Seriously - how could that be fixed? Or is it really impossible to unite the key figures in the sections that create the noise
2. Moving the away fans - not giving them an entire unified section
3. Safe standing in the North Stand. Far easier to sing standing. Last time I was in the North v spurs, the East side (of the NS) were mainly sitting and the west side were mainly standing. This also emphasised further the split into two groups.

Other personal views.
Bin fan zone - a festival of cringe.
Bin Hey Jude - it's a gift to the away fans.
GOSBTS lyrics confusion. Having the full, traditional words on screen has the effect of tripping up a lot of those wanting to join in, until in the last verse when the music cuts to crowd only and the words are easier for all. If having the words on screen, they could be simplified. I'm not sure that a lot of the crowd want to sing about bugles and hearts being gay (in the traditional sense).
To pre-empt the "why do the north stand need to be the cheerleaders", "why don't the east and west contribute" replies. I think it does need to be led for the rest to join in. Even last night there were a couple of brief moments when we could slightly be heard above the forest din and it spread a bit out to the East and...we joined in. Then it died off quickly.

 

[Justice]

Admittedly I was in the worst location (E1G) with my two boys and all the other parents and kids but I thought the Forest fans were incredibly loud and we were incredibly quiet last night. Exceptionally so.
I've been to a fair few games that fell into the subdued, frustrated category including the ones with Potter booing and all the games before he taught them to score goals - but last night was bad from where I was.
Yes this is a topic that comes and goes and this is not about clackers, drums, flags etc I just wanted to see what others in the ground thought last night?

I am of the strong opinion that there are three things that would help.
1. The North stand singing as one, not split into two sections. Seriously - how could that be fixed? Or is it really impossible to unite the key figures in the sections that create the noise
2. Moving the away fans - not giving them an entire unified section
3. Safe standing in the North Stand. Far easier to sing standing. Last time I was in the North v spurs, the East side (of the NS) were mainly sitting and the west side were mainly standing. This also emphasised further the split into two groups.

Other personal views.
Bin fan zone - a festival of cringe.
Bin Hey Jude - it's a gift to the away fans.
GOSBTS lyrics confusion. Having the full, traditional words on screen has the effect of tripping up a lot of those wanting to join in, until in the last verse when the music cuts to crowd only and the words are easier for all. If having the words on screen, they could be simplified. I'm not sure that a lot of the crowd want to sing about bugles and hearts being gay (in the traditional sense).
To pre-empt the "why do the north stand need to be the cheerleaders", "why don't the east and west contribute" replies. I think it does need to be led for the rest to join in. Even last night there were a couple of brief moments when we could slightly be heard above the forest din and it spread a bit out to the East and...we joined in. Then it died off quickly.

Watching on the box we had a corner and it was just silent even in the old days a corner used to bring the seagulls chant.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Oh this is original.

 

[Icy Gull]

Forest fans expectations are so low that they cheered a player who ran back and tackled on the wing to get a throw in like they'd scored a goal!

Some amusing piss taking from the Albion fans for the next two minutes as we hung onto the ball and cheered raucously for every pass

 

[LamieRobertson]

Atmosphere was better than it was against Spurs in my opinion….good turn out for a Tuesday evening by Forest fans….loud at times then quiet as mice too…amused me that they got so excited by Henderson throwing the ball out and then Johnson closing down Sanchez..i guess when u r down the bottom it means a lot

 

[Bryanw42]

Oh this is original.

Exactly.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Forest fans expectations are so low that they cheered a player who ran back and tackled on the wing to get a throw in like they'd scored a goal!

Some amusing piss taking from the Albion fans for the next two minutes as we hung onto the ball and cheered raucously for every pass

 

[erkan]

Is a marker of how far we've come that we have a shit home atmosphere from 30K fans while outplaying inferior teams in the Premier League.

Perfect storm in the new era is inferior opposition and failing to score. Hence this thread today.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

I have to admit to being well impressed by the Forest following last night, and the way they got behind their team. They are probably aware that this could be their one and only season in the Premier League,, and are determined to make the most of the big time whilst they can. All respect to them.

 

[Monkey Man]

From my position in the extreme East, near the North, I'd say the atmosphere was OK. But frustration and exasperation were setting in. The players seemed to be running out of ideas and that's often the point when supporters run out of songs. It's just the way it is.

Forest fans were good, like most supporters of biggish clubs after promotion to the Premier League. Fair to say (without wishing to appear condescending) that it was a bigger game for them than it was for us. Or to put it another way, we were supposed to be the favourites, and a point was always going to be a good result for them. I doubt that supporters of, say, Leeds, Villa or Everton would have been quite so enthusiastic about that performance.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Forest fans expectations are so low that they cheered a player who ran back and tackled on the wing to get a throw in like they'd scored a goal!

Some amusing piss taking from the Albion fans for the next two minutes as we hung onto the ball and cheered raucously for every pass

They didn't even win the throw. They cheered us only winning a throw.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

I thought the home atmosphere was a disgrace last night and against Spurs. Away end very impressive.

We did muster one rendition of "Seagulls" from a corner though, slow progress...

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Is a marker of how far we've come that we have a shit home atmosphere from 30K fans while outplaying inferior teams in the Premier League.

Perfect storm in the new era is inferior opposition and failing to score. Hence this thread today.

Harsh, unfortunately much of the atmosphere is driven by the performance of our players on the pitch, and in last night's case, it was totally dire.

Contrast that with the atmosphere for our last home win, against another very poor side, Leicester City, the performance was fantastic, and the atmosphere with it.

In short, play well, score goals, win matches, and the atmosphere will improve accordingly.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I thought our support was pretty weak last night (myself included).
First half was ok, when we were attacking well.
But as it became apparent we were watching Potterball circa Feb 2022, the atmosphere dipped significantly.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Fantastic turnout for a Tuesday night by Forest fans

 

[jackalbion]

No one bothers to do anything to improve the atmosphere though, it’s dire at home games, too many leaving early again (I know not to moan about this but it’s true) so what’s the point of the players putting the effort in to chase a winner when the fans can’t. Our support has become incredibly passive while expecting the best, it’s become very sanitised at home, away from home it’s a different story.

 

[Diablo]

Nothing to cheer or sing about last night. The forest fans were brilliant......Amused by their "Brighton Brighton give us a song" aimed at our silent stands.
They however were probably happy with their away point.
We just need players to drive forward with or without the ball, go on runs forward and shoot, pass forwards. We are probably the team who pass sideways or backwards the most in the league. From their box back to our Goalie.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

The load of laughs as yet again a Forest player miss hit the ball out of play was annoying. Fans believing this was funny needed to be reminded this crap team we were playing, which they were, just happened to stop anything we tried to do. It indeed reflected how inept we were. Not a laughing matter.

 

[Seagull27]

No one bothers to do anything to improve the atmosphere though, it’s dire at home games, too many leaving early again (I know not to moan about this but it’s true) so what’s the point of the players putting the effort in to chase a winner when the fans can’t. Our support has become incredibly passive while expecting the best, it’s become very sanitised at home, away from home it’s a different story.

And we have a pretty poor home record since being in the Premier League, the atmosphere could well be a contributory factor.

All you could hear on the TV last night (yes, I should've been there etc) was Forest fans

 

[Bryanw42]

No one bothers to do anything to improve the atmosphere though, it’s dire at home games, too many leaving early again (I know not to moan about this but it’s true) so what’s the point of the players putting the effort in to chase a winner when the fans can’t. Our support has become incredibly passive while expecting the best, it’s become very sanitised at home, away from home it’s a different story.

I've seen the three suggestions to improve (that I repeat at the start of this thread), many times over. Certainly not original - but trying to understand what it would take to implement one or more of them. No idea if the fans forum discusses this sort of thing? Or just giant flags. No idea what if any plans are in place / where this sits in terms of priority.
I emailed Paul Barber on the three points, acknowledging that 2 and 3 were understandably more complex but number 1- is surely about getting the right people together. Obviously, this is not up to him/ the club to try and engineer atmosphere (I think that's certainly the wrong approach as with Fan Zone). The two separate singing groups - is this a Brighton thing? Who are the leaders / who knows them?