Naylor slags off Amex support

[Chinman3000]

I feel he has a point. Yes in the north there is usually always a song on the go and the participation levels very throughout the game, but I havent heard a peep from the East or West Stand for a long time now.

 

[The Albion Roar]

Which 'other clubs' does he have in mind, do you think?

Dortmund? Boca Juniors? Galatasaray?

Because it sure as hell does NOT compare at all poorly, to other clubs in the Championship.

The Albion of two or three years ago?

The Amex is quieter, I'd say. There is an element of some fans sitting back and waiting to be entertained (and at £20-£30 a ticket, some may have that expectation). There's nothing that gets the crowd going - more than a decent performance, I'd suggest - than a total CJTC of a ref. We love a good moan, sadly.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Considering the amount of home support we have and it's a new purpose built satdium I'n always surprised how little noise we make. I have watched from all stands in various seats and it's only the early Amex seasons that stick out, i.e. Donny, of course, the cup games and Burnley .... the last two seasons it's been very low key. This is one area where our friends t'up North, in Croydon do without doubt have the edge on us. Ooops, I appear to have opened a can of worms!

 

[Peter Grummit]

But surely this isn't a problem confined to the Amex. Atmospheres have been declining as prices and prawn sandwiches have been increasing. At least the Amex has soul, local beers, local pies, proper loyal supporters that fought thick and thin to get the Amex.
I agree we need to up the noise, but to have a go at our support now, after the weekend and the renewals. I just don't understand it. Why?

International break, little to write about now for a fortnight. Naylor usually takes a break himself (fair enough) so this is his parting shot.

Interesting that he said on twitter that his parents are STHs so he is indirectly affected by pricing, date changes etc.

PG

 

[Captain Sensible]

To get a reaction? To make people sing again? To stop people prioritising the first train home over a possible 90th minute winner?

I hope that's his motive, but I don't think that many of the 25k will be thinking about proving Naylor wrong at 12.30 Saturday week.

 

[sparkie]

I feel he has a point. Yes in the north there is usually always a song on the go and the participation levels very throughout the game, but I havent heard a peep from the East or West Stand for a long time now.

That's a little unfair. Just as you may not hear the WSU from the North Stand, you need to realise that not much is heard from the North Stand when in WSU !

 

[AmexRuislip]

Andy Naylor could not a job as chief reporter of the Beano, interviewing the Bash Street Kids on street crime

 

[WoodyOwl]

Its a problem that's growing across many English grounds, Reading is up there as the most pathetic home support ive seen this year, to be fair it doesn't seem to be affecting your home form to badly, allocated standing like the German model is a must in my opinion.

 

[The Albion Roar]

https://twitter.com/andynaylorargus/status/711888566935228416
I get that the attendance levels and noise has dropped since our first 2 seasons under Poyet. But I still think that atmos at a lot of other clubs is worse or non existent. Yes we have the early leavers problem but in general, the noise isn't too bad. At least from where I sit in the ESU. I don't understand the timing of his piece. After taking 7k to MK Dons, and having a near 100% season ticket renewal and pushing for promotion, he decides to write this . I think it's a wider issue, one of price and over zealous stewarding that has contributed to a reduction of noise, of course on top of a Dull, and then Awful 2 seasons. Attendances were bound to fall and match by match prices are too high to attract casual support.
I just don't get why, why slag us now?

I think you've just answered your own question.

We took 7,000 to MK Dons, made a racket, supported the team, and generally did ourselves proud. In comparison, the Amex is a library. There isn't a reason why we can't re-create that noise at the Amex - yet we don't.

As for thinking you've been 'slagged off', what part of his article makes you feel that?

 

[BeHereNow]

Considering the amount of home support we have and it's a new purpose built satdium I'n always surprised how little noise we make. I have watched from all stands in various seats and it's only the early Amex seasons that stick out, i.e. Donny, of course, the cup games and Burnley .... the last two seasons it's been very low key. This is one area where our friends t'up North, in Croydon do without doubt have the edge on us. Ooops, I appear to have opened a can of worms!

No they don't. They have 30 hooded chavs in a corner, with a drum and mic right infront of them. The rest of the ground never sing like I've seen at The Albion.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Speaking as someone who has sat near the real Andy Naylor in the press box, I have to agree that the atmosphere at the Reading game was poor and the Sun journo sat behind me (who is their main Football League guy, so covers a lot of Championship games) actually commented on how negative the crowd were. I thought the North Stand was noticeably quieter than against Sheffield Wednesday.

But it may be a question of location and stadium acoustics. My season ticket is in the ESU, and from there the atmosphere is usually pretty good.

Of course, as I've said before, it would help if the North Stand was bigger, which is a basic design flaw and almost certainly too late to fix. It must be the smallest home end in the top two divisions. Even Bournemouth's is larger.

 

[Acker79]

To get a reaction? To make people sing again? To stop people prioritising the first train home over a possible 90th minute winner?

I seriously doubt people will start singing or staying until the end just because of Naylor's article. I suspect it is more to sell papers, get online clicks than anything else.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I think you've just answered your own question.

We took 7,000 to MK Dons, made a racket, supported the team, and generally did ourselves proud. In comparison, the Amex is a library. There isn't a reason why we can't re-create that noise at the Amex - yet we don't.

As for thinking you've been 'slagged off', what part of his article makes you feel that?

The pricing has meant far too many people are in the North because it is the cheapest place to be, not because they want to get behind the goal and make some racket. If we took those that sing from the WSU, and switched them with those only in the North because it's cheap, we'd have a rocking stadium (like at MK). Trouble is, those singers in the WSU like their view, and those in the NS like their cheap seats. It's all very Sussex if you ask me.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Which 'other clubs' does he have in mind, do you think?

Dortmund? Boca Juniors? Galatasaray?

Because it sure as hell does NOT compare at all poorly, to other clubs in the Championship.

This. This. And This.

The absolute key is context. Yes, we would love our fans and The Amex to be louder and more full of passion but RELATIVELY it is ABSOLUTELY FINE (and with a glass half full perspective actually VERY GOOD).

We just took more than 7,000 to an AWAY MATCH.

The same people throng to The Amex with thousands more and give us consistently some of the highest crowds in the Football League.

I can guarantee you that there is not a secondary home area of another stadium in the Football League that enjoys as positive and vocal support as West Stand Upper.

Naylor is a local journalist doing his job of selling newspapers. Nothing to see here.

 

[rool]

Read his Twitter feed, it gives you a good idea. He 'strongly disagrees' that the Amex support is near that of other clubs.

I agree with the OP in that it is partially the fault of the club/Hebbard/Barber/stewards/the besmircher author. During a different regime the same happened at Withdean when the crowds were at capacity and the club started treating the fans with contempt with over zealous stewarding and basically treating them as a resource. It happened again for the first few years at the Amex when they tried to instigate a fully sanitised atmosphere a million miles away from what a normal football experience would be. In effect they created a them vs the fans situation when everyone should have been pulling in the same direction, even going so far as being extremely lenient to the away support whilst serving banning orders on their own customers. The saying 'don't s4it on the way up' applies here. Obviously we are not on the way down but the club are doing something wrong if they can't fill the stadium during this period of success as a good chunk of fans are just preferring to stay at home and not bother with all the hassle. The club then try to be all pally and win fans back when they have already done the damage and will do again should attendances creep up towards capacity.

On top of that the delivery of the catering is so bad many leave their seats before half time and, especially with all of the evening games this season, the transport is so slow that many leave 10 mins before full time to avoid an extended mid week journey home. Apart from the 90 minutes of football the rest of an evening Amex experience seems to be all about queueing, delays and hassle.

In the ground the whole police box crew rubbish that creates some kind of one upmanship between different parts of the north stand doesn't help either.

Andy Naylor is just a s4it stirring tosser though and has never had any liking for the Brighton fans.

 

[Bozza]

I think you've just answered your own question.

We took 7,000 to MK Dons, made a racket, supported the team, and generally did ourselves proud. In comparison, the Amex is a library. There isn't a reason why we can't re-create that noise at the Amex - yet we don't.

It's far broader than about 'us' as I said on the thread discussing this yesterday. Away fans out-sing home fans at nearly every ground in nearly every game. It's just the way it is. Away crowds tend to be a bit more 'hard core', they're on a big day out, they'll likely have had a fair few beers and be up for giving it their all to offset being massively outnumbered (usually).

It's not about whether 'we' can recreate away days. If it were simply about that, every ground would be a cauldron of noise as every group of fans did likewise.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

No they don't. They have 30 hooded chavs in a corner, with a drum and mic right infront of them. The rest of the ground never sing like I've seen at The Albion.

I beg to differ, one the last couple of televised Palace games the whole atmosphere has seemed noticeably louder with wide participation. Could be TV, but seems that way. We, on the other hand, are always limited at home and the away end always seem to be louder and constant.

 

[El Presidente]

I think there are two separate issues, attendances and atmosphere.

Average attendances this season are 25,061. This is the fourth highest in the club's history, but lower than the last three seasons. The contributory reasons for this include (IMO)
1: ST sales about 15% down from last season, which is the best part of 3,000 a match. Quite a few of these will be still coming, but cherry picking matches.
2: Lower away attendances, away fans have now 'done' the Amex and ticked it off their list.
3: Results have been fantastic, but performances have been workmanlike.
4: People know that there are always tickets available, so can make decisions later, some opt not to come.
5: Disruption to Saturday 3pm kick offs.

As for atmosphere, I would grade the North Stand 7/10, West 6/10, East 4/10. Having been to most away games this season there's few places that have had good atmospheres. We silenced Derby, QPR, Hull, Burnley et al. I've heard noisier Subbuteo stands than MK Dins last Saturday. Only one that impressed me was Rotherham, and that's because they were winning and it's a small ground.

Contributory factors for lack of noise include
1: North Stand is too small and shallow. It should be our 'Kop', and it isn't.
2: Gentrification of football.
3: Chicken and egg situation of the football being decent but not necessarily enough to get the lungs bursting and wanting to sing/shout.

The match against Burnley is critical. We need to make some noise from the start, and maintain it, even when playing possession football. There are few excuses (mainly medical) for not doing so.

 

[BeHereNow]

Speaking as someone who has sat near the real Andy Naylor in the press box, I have to agree that the atmosphere at the Reading game was poor and the Sun journo sat behind me (who is their main Football League guy, so covers a lot of Championship games) actually commented on how negative the crowd were. I thought the North Stand was noticeably quieter than against Sheffield Wednesday.

But it may be a question of location and stadium acoustics. My season ticket is in the ESU, and from there the atmosphere is usually pretty good.

Of course, as I've said before, it would help if the North Stand was bigger, which is a basic design flaw and almost certainly too late to fix. It must be the smallest home end in the top two divisions. Even Bournemouth's is larger.

Yes, the North Stand does need to be bigger, but the only way to do that would be by taking the roof off and building into the offices!

It's not actually that small though compared to teams like Bournemouth, just looks small compared to the rest of the ground, and also the gradient doesn't help either.

 

[Megazone]

Speaking as someone who has sat near the real Andy Naylor in the press box, I have to agree that the atmosphere at the Reading game was poor and the Sun journo sat behind me (who is their main Football League guy, so covers a lot of Championship games) actually commented on how negative the crowd were. I thought the North Stand was noticeably quieter than against Sheffield Wednesday.

If Andy Naylor wanted to get any clue as to how bad/good an atmosphere really is at the Amex. Why not try and actually sit with the fans instead of a Press box before he reports on them?