"....and our biggest crowd of the season!"

[Diego Napier]

Sorry, this wasn't a "why do we announce (and some clap) the away support?" discussion. That one's been done to death. People sit on different sides of that debate and are never going to shift.

This is more specifically last night's extra step that was clearly going to play up to Villa fans given they'd already sung "Only here to see the Villa, You're only here to see the Villa".

Perhaps you should've mentioned "Villa" in your opening gambit rather than "<Insert Team Name Here>"

 

[Beach Hut]

30,000 tickets sold but no way 30,000 people in the stadium so I wonder if the club try and find out why they did not attend or is the answer very obviously the transport issue ?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

30,000 tickets sold but no way 30,000 people in the stadium so I wonder if the club try and find out why they did not attend or is the answer very obviously the transport issue ?

Will we be required to send in sick notes to explain to the club, that we weren't in a fit state to attend, in future?

 

[el punal]

Seriously, when the opposition crowd have already sung "You're only here to see the <Insert Team Name Here>", can we please not play to their egos and pump them up by shouting about how it's our biggest crowd of the season.

Here's a handy checklist for Richie Reynolds:

Announce the attendance? Fine.
Announce the travelling support? Fine.
Thank everyone for their support? Fine.

Pump up the away fans? Not fine.

When they announced the attendance I misheard it (old age and all that!) as 40,108! Pretendance at its finest and a bit of pisstaking as well, my next thought was that the additional 10,000 were ticket exchange jobbies. Soon brought down to earth though.

 

[Eeyore]

I agree , why give the away fans any extra encouragement ?

Hasn't done visiting teams much good in the last year or so.

 

[Eeyore]

No one was complaining when loads of non BHA fans turned up to support us against Hartlepool in 1997, and in subsequent campaigns over the next 14 years. I don't see why a ten second clap and being a bit more welcoming than the average ground is really a problem.

True. It's not as if our playing record at home has been troubled by it.

 

[Mr Bridger]

Fine announce the attendance - but wait at least to 90th minute

No, do it about an hour before kick off so it doesn't pump up the away fans

 

[el punal]

The Amex is a nice fluffy venue for away fans to come to and take liberties!

And spend lots of money, and stay in hotels, and drink lots of beer, and eat lots of food, and increase the revenue for the club and local businesses. I suppose that's the price you pay for having your liberties taken.

 

[tigertim68]

Hasn't done visiting teams much good in the last year or so.

Well it did last night , they became very noisy for the rest of the match

 

[Eeyore]

Well it did last night , they became very noisy for the rest of the match

They were the better team anyway last night. But I get your point.

Perhaps announce it just before the start of the second half.

 

[Mike Small]

If it has to be done, announce it after the game. People at the club should use their brains.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

I said the same last night. Richie Reynolds is an absolute bell-end.

 

[Don Tmatter]

When we consider ourselves 'Premier League ready', we do make ourselves look very tinpot at times

 

[Official Old Man]

Why do we, no rephrase that, the club go out of their way not to upset the away fans? I expect the team that put together the pre match build up have never been to an away game where the main aim is to get the home crowd singing and chanting louder than the away fans. Yet again on Friday there was no fan zone. The whole build up was low key. GOSBTS was played at half volume, meaning everyone had to whisper to hear when the chorus started. Let's get back to business and crank up the volume, play all the fan zone music, and get back to a cracking atmosphere.

 

[nwgull]

Why do we, no rephrase that, the club go out of their way not to upset the away fans? I expect the team that put together the pre match build up have never been to an away game where the main aim is to get the home crowd singing and chanting louder than the away fans. Yet again on Friday there was no fan zone. The whole build up was low key. GOSBTS was played at half volume, meaning everyone had to whisper to hear when the chorus started. Let's get back to business and crank up the volume, play all the fan zone music, and get back to a cracking atmosphere.

The club do their best to accommodate away fans as they pay £30 a ticket and drink lots of beer. Most away grounds you go to these days seem to have friendly helpful stewards.

I expect last night's different pre match was down to the remembrance ceremony.

 

[trueblue]

I expect last night's different pre match was down to the remembrance ceremony.

This. And I do like the fact that we're nice to away fans and they enjoy the experience. Even so, never been happy with the fact they can dominate the whole of one end in our biggest matches. Hard to see a way around it given the unique shape of the Amex but it definitely helps them.

 

[chaileyjem]

Talking of RR . Interesting that after the new announcer mysteriously vanished after the first few games of the season the club decided to combine Richie Reynolds role as both hosting the matchside announcements AND the tannoy announcements.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

I said the same last night. Richie Reynolds is an absolute bell-end.

Reynolds is good at most bits of his job in a Timmy Mallett sort of way. Bellendery Central but mostly justified in the interests of lifting the mood and entertaining.

His announcements about the crowd, however, are very annoying. Much rather something like "Today's attendance is 30,178 - another great crowd at The Amex. Thank you for your support - COME ON THE ALBION...!!!" . This would encourage the home support and have no effect on the away fans.

 

[Bozza]

Talking of RR . Interesting that after the new announcer mysteriously vanished after the first few games of the season the club decided to combine Richie Reynolds role as both hosting the matchside announcements AND the tannoy announcements.

I don't think there's much mystery attached to this one!

 

[Hastings gull]

Why do we, no rephrase that, the club go out of their way not to upset the away fans? I expect the team that put together the pre match build up have never been to an away game where the main aim is to get the home crowd singing and chanting louder than the away fans. Yet again on Friday there was no fan zone. The whole build up was low key. GOSBTS was played at half volume, meaning everyone had to whisper to hear when the chorus started. Let's get back to business and crank up the volume, play all the fan zone music, and get back to a cracking atmosphere.

OK, lets move on and accept that the minute's silence, whilst very appropriate, may well have affected the atmosphere, though there were other factors at play, not the least the problems that many fans seem to have encountered getting there on time. But come on club -lets get back to fanzone, as the overwhelming priority, surely, is to whip up home support! Next Saturday is an equally big match.