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Post by geordiehatter on Mar 8, 2024 9:31:18 GMT
For this weekend's extra 'Home' edition of the AwayDay Show, The Poll turns to what feels like its been a recurrent theme this campaign- as crowds have increased, has the famed EP atmosphere kept pace? Discussion declared open!
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Post by suedehead on Mar 8, 2024 10:03:04 GMT
It's dire.
Can't remember the last time it was bouncing. And I don't expect a Bolton experience every home game, but it's like a library most weeks.
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Post by timberwolf on Mar 8, 2024 10:20:42 GMT
Not sure its just us though. Those who travel regularly away will tell us if its the same at other grounds unless there side scores. Football could be going through some change like it always has as far as crowd involvement is concerned.
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Post by scfc73 on Mar 8, 2024 11:06:47 GMT
Not sure its just us though. Those who travel regularly away will tell us if its the same at other grounds unless there side scores. Football could be going through some change like it always has as far as crowd involvement is concerned. The demographic of the modern football crowd has changed greatly. More families, women & children, a football crowd is no longer dominated by large groups of men huddled together on a section of terrace letting off steam for 90 mins after a weeks work, away games are slightly different & probably attract a slightly larger percentage of groups of blokes making a day of it out on the beer so the atmosphere tends to be a bit more raucous. Add in the seated factor where in the past the people who would be inclined to create a vocal atmosphere would gravitate towards each other on a terrace, now we have a small section of younger fans who are seated together & try & generate some atmosphere but lots of older 'singers' dotted about all over the place & probably seated amongst people who aren't inclined to make much noise, not unique to us at all as I see lots of similar complaints on other clubs boards. As for our increase in attendances obviously it's good for the club but there does seem to be a large percentage of these 'newbies' who aren't as emotionally invested as what we'd term the hardcore. Hopefully the more that they attend then the greater the affinity they'll have with the club & in time they'll become more vocal but on occasion I've walked up to the ground on matchdays behind groups of people who would look more at home going to the theatre than a football match & I've been next to these types in the ground & dared to make a noise & received looks of sheer disdain!
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Post by Waldorf on Mar 8, 2024 11:09:13 GMT
It's dire. Can't remember the last time it was bouncing. And I don't expect a Bolton experience every home game, but it's like a library most weeks. It's because it's full of divvy new fans who moan and groan at every misplaced pass. Like the soul destroying united supporting lot behind me. I dread going to home games now because of them. They're the reason I've been to more away games this season than I have in years.
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Post by gibbo on Mar 8, 2024 11:17:26 GMT
It's because it's full of divvy new fans who moan and groan at every misplaced pass. Plenty of divvy old fans around me that have been going for years that do the same.
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Post by gibbo on Mar 8, 2024 11:18:01 GMT
It's dire. Can't remember the last time it was bouncing. And I don't expect a Bolton experience every home game, but it's like a library most weeks. Do you think that would change if we went up?
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Post by suedehead on Mar 8, 2024 11:39:50 GMT
It's dire. Can't remember the last time it was bouncing. And I don't expect a Bolton experience every home game, but it's like a library most weeks. Do you think that would change if we went up? Not for most games. The occasional big game against Derby/Bolton/Wednesday/whoever comes down would be decent but there's still a lot of dull games at that level like Cheltenham, Burton, Oxford, Bristol Rovers, Northampton, Stevenage etc.
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Post by timberwolf on Mar 8, 2024 11:59:11 GMT
Do you think that would change if we went up? Not for most games. The occasional big game against Derby/Bolton/Wednesday/whoever comes down would be decent but there's still a lot of dull games at that level like Cheltenham, Burton, Oxford, Bristol Rovers, Northampton, Stevenage etc. and for the good reasons scfs 73 gives. For me though a home game against anybody is just the same though no matter how many fans they bring. Could never understand even back in the day when away fan numbers were well down on todays,fans missed a game because its only a certain club we were facing but could not wait for another to turn up as if its a guarentee of a good game and victory when they do. There is no big games in the league unless its a must win end of a season one and its really all just in our minds.
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Post by timberwolf on Mar 8, 2024 12:04:57 GMT
It's because it's full of divvy new fans who moan and groan at every misplaced pass. Plenty of divvy old fans around me that have been going for years that do the same. Possibly they are worse as it seems its their only reason to attend. Many also have a down on a certain player and cannot wait for em to cock it up and give the impression of a defeat would be pure joy if that player cost us. Really doubt any new fan sees game that way. Anyway were we not all a new fan sometime in our life so lets give em a break.
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Post by geordiehatter on Mar 8, 2024 12:56:06 GMT
Not sure its just us though. Those who travel regularly away will tell us if its the same at other grounds unless there side scores. Football could be going through some change like it always has as far as crowd involvement is concerned. The demographic of the modern football crowd has changed greatly. More families, women & children, a football crowd is no longer dominated by large groups of men huddled together on a section of terrace letting off steam for 90 mins after a weeks work, away games are slightly different & probably attract a slightly larger percentage of groups of blokes making a day of it out on the beer so the atmosphere tends to be a bit more raucous. Add in the seated factor where in the past the people who would be inclined to create a vocal atmosphere would gravitate towards each other on a terrace, now we have a small section of younger fans who are seated together & try & generate some atmosphere but lots of older 'singers' dotted about all over the place & probably seated amongst people who aren't inclined to make much noise, not unique to us at all as I see lots of similar complaints on other clubs boards. As for our increase in attendances obviously it's good for the club but there does seem to be a large percentage of these 'newbies' who aren't as emotionally invested as what we'd term the hardcore. Hopefully the more that they attend then the greater the affinity they'll have with the club & in time they'll become more vocal but on occasion I've walked up to the ground on matchdays behind groups of people who would look more at home going to the theatre than a football match & I've been next to these types in the ground & dared to make a noise & received looks of sheer disdain! A lot in all of that, I think. So much harder to generate an old-style atmosphere within the seated environment. The looks of disdain though, bloody hell. Those people should perhaps have their own section where they can all look at each other disdainfully to their hearts' content.
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Post by geordiehatter on Mar 8, 2024 12:59:08 GMT
Plenty of divvy old fans around me that have been going for years that do the same. Possibly they are worse as it seems its their only reason to attend. Many also have a down on a certain player and cannot wait for em to cock it up and give the impression of a defeat would be pure joy if that player cost us. Really doubt any new fan sees game that way. Anyway were we not all a new fan sometime in our life so lets give em a break. There's definitely some round me who are v quick to slate certain players, and some of them for sure been going for years. Moaning and groaning not limited to newer fans.. if only in some cases for lack of familiarity/involvedness with the team/the club.
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Post by m14hatter on Mar 8, 2024 13:12:23 GMT
I think there’s a sense of entitlement and expectation that has creeped in this season. You look back at the NLN and NL title seasons and the atmosphere was largely decent once we’d got going and then really ramped up for the big games.
It feels like a lot of people are just turning up and expecting us to dispatch teams 4/5nil and are disappointed when it doesn’t happen. I think getting on players backs if mistakes are made has got noticeably worse over the last couple of years as well.
I know Challinor has mentioned that it’s up to the team to keep fans involved in the game but I’m not sure that’s true. For me it should be on us to create the atmosphere, no matter what, and make it a horrible place for the opposition to come.
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Post by The Real Exile on Mar 8, 2024 13:42:32 GMT
I think there’s a sense of entitlement and expectation that has creeped in this season. You look back at the NLN and NL title seasons and the atmosphere was largely decent once we’d got going and then really ramped up for the big games. It feels like a lot of people are just turning up and expecting us to dispatch teams 4/5nil and are disappointed when it doesn’t happen. I think getting on players backs if mistakes are made has got noticeably worse over the last couple of years as well. I know Challinor has mentioned that it’s up to the team to keep fans involved in the game but I’m not sure that’s true. For me it should be on us to create the atmosphere, no matter what, and make it a horrible place for the opposition to come. Hard to even get IO County going in UT1 these days when there is a corner.
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Post by albybeliever on Mar 8, 2024 13:51:31 GMT
Not sure its just us though. Those who travel regularly away will tell us if its the same at other grounds unless there side scores. Football could be going through some change like it always has as far as crowd involvement is concerned. The demographic of the modern football crowd has changed greatly. More families, women & children, a football crowd is no longer dominated by large groups of men huddled together on a section of terrace letting off steam for 90 mins after a weeks work, away games are slightly different & probably attract a slightly larger percentage of groups of blokes making a day of it out on the beer so the atmosphere tends to be a bit more raucous. Add in the seated factor where in the past the people who would be inclined to create a vocal atmosphere would gravitate towards each other on a terrace, now we have a small section of younger fans who are seated together & try & generate some atmosphere but lots of older 'singers' dotted about all over the place & probably seated amongst people who aren't inclined to make much noise, not unique to us at all as I see lots of similar complaints on other clubs boards. As for our increase in attendances obviously it's good for the club but there does seem to be a large percentage of these 'newbies' who aren't as emotionally invested as what we'd term the hardcore. Hopefully the more that they attend then the greater the affinity they'll have with the club & in time they'll become more vocal but on occasion I've walked up to the ground on matchdays behind groups of people who would look more at home going to the theatre than a football match & I've been next to these types in the ground & dared to make a noise & received looks of sheer disdain! There’s plenty of truth in that, but we’d already begun to attract much bigger crowds during the final season in National League, albeit to a slightly lesser extent. And the change to football being a more family-friendly sport happened many years ago, in my view (and is 99% a positive thing). Yet the atmosphere this season has been far more flat than last, which is turn was much worse than the previous one. Not sure if it’s just people were so desperate for us to get out of non-league in a way that felt more vital than us going up this season, great though it’d be. But it’s annoying, especially in games where the lads clearly need a boost and Yellow Block is trying to generate some atmosphere, but the famous Cheadle End is silent, apart from those lads right at the back. Challinor saying the players need to help generate that atmosphere is a politically sensible line to take, but not one I agree with - like someone above said, we should be making it a cauldron every week. And don’t get me started on the looks of disdain - two blokes behind me at Wembley kept telling me to sit down and stop singing! And then one of them kept mixing up Wright and Tanto. Good times.
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