Naylor slags off Amex support

[trueblue]

the design of the North is not a mistake...it's deliberate (imo, of course). Why? See below...



....because Tony doesn't want a "kop"; he prefers the gentrification of football. .

Totally agree that the design of the North Stand was deliberate (hard to imagine how it could be accidental!). But I'm pretty sure it was a lot more to do with a design that could achieve planning permission than some desire to prevent too many people from sitting behind the goal. The stadium was built to fit into the natural slope of the land.

 

[8ace]

Care to add some content to your rebuttal?



My point was that he "preferred" the gentrification of football to the alternative at his own stadium, that he owns. A gentrified fan base is less likely to rip seats up, piss down the stairs and generally cause trouble and more likely to spend more money (because they have it). It's a similar argument to why house prices in "nicer" neighbourhoods are higher... the neighbours are "nicer".

Do I take it then that you think the design of the North was simply a mistake? If not, do you have a view as to why it was designed the way it was?



Spending Tony's money and reporting directly to Tony....

It was designed that shape to have less visual impact on the Downs.

 

[8ace]

Totally agree that the design of the North Stand was deliberate (hard to imagine how it could be accidental!). But I'm pretty sure it was a lot more to do with a design that could achieve planning permission than some desire to prevent too many people from sitting behind the goal. The stadium was built to fit into the natural slope of the land.

You are correct, it was nothing to do with some shite about Tony Bloom being a snob.

 

[Justice]

He's right its proper shite, the club see families as the way forward and they have marketed for it with bands,fan zone and other fabricated bollocks.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Totally agree that the design of the North Stand was deliberate (hard to imagine how it could be accidental!). But I'm pretty sure it was a lot more to do with a design that could achieve planning permission than some desire to prevent too many people from sitting behind the goal. The stadium was built to fit into the natural slope of the land.

Conceded, up to a point. If the offices etc had gone into the South rather than the North, more people could have been accommodated within the North without changing the envelope of the building. Even more so had the stand been more raked...

 

[Goldstone1976]

You are correct, it was nothing to do with some shite about Tony Bloom being a snob.

*Sigh* Feel free to misquote me.

 

[sydney]

let's face it.....the atmosphere at the amex has been proper gash at times , i would have thought with us pushing for promotion that things would liven up game by game.......perhaps the old biddies might even leave their knitting and magazines at home.....

 

[The Birdman]

Ccccf

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?

Get a drum in

 

[seagulls4ever]

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.

Or to make a fair point, which he is.

For a team challenging for promotion the atmosphere at our home games is pretty rubbish.

It would be nice to get the atmosphere back at the AMEX that we previously had.

 

[Pavilionaire]

What creates atmosphere is songs, so it doesn't help the atmosphere when you get rid of ALL of your "song" players - off the top of my head Buckley, Vicente, Bridcutt, Orlandi, Noone, Ulloa, El Abd, Barnes, CMS.

By the time we were landed with Sami they'd pretty much all gone.

The North Stand have been pretty piss poor at coming up with alternative songs - the nadir being a lack of a Bobby Zamora chant to remotely compare with the "That's Zamora" of 2000. Where's the Knockaert song? Kayal's song? Bong's song? I think we have the players, we just don't have the songs.

 

[Randsta]

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?

To get a reaction .....agreed it's a problem that is up and down the country, People being priced out of going

 

[8ace]

Even more so had the stand been more raked...

If you change the rake angle you have to change it for all the lower tier the whole way round, which you don't want to do.
Either that or you have a wall like the home end at Charlton or at Stamford Bridge.

 

[El Presidente]

It is very negative.

He is trying to make the assertion stick that somehow Albion fans are not "good" fans who get behind their team by attending matches in big numbers.

I think you are being very harsh, here is the start of the article. He set the whole thing up with a Tweet that was pure click-bait, many of us have done similar here on NSC with thread titles (such as this one) to get a reaction.

Albion have the best away support in the Championship.

Fans travel in numbers and make a lot of noise.

More than 7,000 made the relatively short journey to Milton Keynes on Saturday to witness another crucial three points in the push for automatic promotion.

It was a one-off in terms of scale, but symptomatic of the away backing all season for Chris Hughton's team in a division dominated by long trips north.

Now it is time for the Amex crowd to do their bit, to turn out in force and crank up the volume.

 

[dazzer6666]

I sit in WSL (North) and it's generally pretty quiet (changing as the season is progressing though, just a bit). I'm probably a typical JCL, slightly self-conscious English type...will only shout if those around me are, hence I'm singing a lot more away than I do at home. My block is probably only 50% STH at most which doesn't help either, as the day trippers don't sing much either

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I'll second that. It has also been noticeable, whenever we are on TV or on a stream ,how many seats are empty. Is it because of all the altered kick off times?

KO times and too many mid week games, some people, like my family, buy a season ticket expecting my Sons to miss a few matches due to it being on a school night. Given the demands of Sky way too many matches have been moved from Sat 3 p.m. to Mid week. I think if you add in the issues surrounding travel to and from The Amex, work finish times and the fact that it may just be easier for people to watch in their home or local pub it impacts on seats occupied.

 

[Hiney]

There are plenty enough people in the ground to create a really loud and hostile atmosphere.

The trouble is, some of them are in the North, some in the Upper West, some in the Lower West, some in the SW corner etc. etc. Add to that a pretty large portion of people in the North are there because that's where they used to be in the 70s. 35 years on. They still like being behind the goal, but aren't as inclined to get up and sign their hearts out.

We have plenty of singers, they just aren't all together. In addition, the lost generation, alienated by the Gillingham/Withdean (spectating) nightmare are just not there.

It will take years to get this sorted.

 

[BBassic]

I don't think we're any less quiet than most other home crowds in this league. How many times have we heard "your support is ****ing ****" coming from the South stand? How many times have we sung it away?

The atmosphere is what it is and frankly criticism of the support coming from a man who, as another poster has mentioned, is paid to attend the games is really quite galling.

Personally, I think we lost a generation during the Gillingham / Withdean years; kids (teens / young adults now) who would've otherwise grown up following the club and becoming impassioned by it would be the ones leading the singing today. I honestly believe these families with kids that the club is "pandering to" today will be those singers in the coming years. That's not to say I agree with the probable pricing out of some of our fans, or indeed the wider problem of football going to the money men.

 

[Miami Seagull]

I've just read the article online and as usual it is a disappointing article from Naylor. Full of one line crass statements with no depth to anything he writes. There is a story to tell here, but he is just incapable of doing so. For example, Paul Barber's poor attempt to convince fans that more people don't show up for a Saturday game than for a midweek game and the way that statement could have been easily dismantled.

His assertation that we are the best away fans in the Championship is also crap. We know that. We are good and better than most, no doubt, but nowhere near as good as 4 or 5 other clubs.

And finally, his mentioning of Palace is just a joke. As has been mentioned on here a million times a small corner of the ground with a bunch of hoodies, a drummer boy, goal music and a microphone...nice, if that's what he thinks we need he can f*** off. And I have a few Palace supporting mates that I have met out here and in Bermuda where I work. Same age group as me, late 40's early 50's. To a man they detest it. Like for like, when Palace were in the Championship, there was no comparison between us.

 

[Goldstone1976]

If you change the rake angle you have to change it for all the lower tier the whole way round, which you don't want to do.
Either that or you have a wall like the home end at Charlton or at Stamford Bridge.

I'm not sure that I agree that all 4 stands have to have the same rake, although it is definitely more aesthetically pleasing if they do. You seem to be suggesting that nothing could have been realistically done to increase the capacity of the North; is that correct? If so, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.

 

[Nixonator]

There's the issue of luxury too. I'm a ST holder with my dad in the west. Both have been quite capable of making a racket at the 9 away days we've had this season, but for the 23 games we have at home, my dad particularly (he's 70+), prefer the luxury of sitting in the west. When we travel away we expect to be uncomfortable and to stand, that definitely helps with wanting to be vocal. Whereas on a nice comfy amex seat watching the game with a better view than on TV it's easy to just sit back and wait to be entertained.

I doubt we're the only ones, I've seen plenty of faces from WSL over the years since it was built on away days signing away, who sit in silence at home. There's plenty of people who are capable and willing to sing in the WSL, but it's a gargantuan stand and the fields of mutes in between, often on their phones, scupper any chance for songs to travel.