Atmosphere and fans' role in Premier League games becoming a concern

[oldironside]

A creeping apathy spreading across Premier League grounds, long diagnosed and discussed by fans, seems to have reached the dugout and the boardroom. In recent weeks, a trio of London-based managers questioned their own supporters

(snip)

The diagnosis is by no means universal. For big games and on heady European nights, the atmosphere at most grounds can still make the spine tingle. At others, such as Stoke City's Britannia Stadium, it crackles no matter the opposition. But elsewhere there is a definite feeling that something is being gradually lost from the matchday experience.

That could, ultimately, have a knock on effect on the soaring overseas television revenue that contributed to a £5.5bn windfall for clubs for the three seasons starting with 2012-13. One of the key factors that helps make the Premier League the most saleable commodity in world football is its noise, pageantry and atmosphere.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/16/premier-league-fans-atmosphere-concern

Well, quelle surprise. You price the genuine supporters out of the stadium in favour of prawn sandwich eating corporate parties, armchair fans who save up for one visit a lifetime and tourists who want to witness a strange, ancient ritual, and the atmosphere changes. I was nearly as surprised when I found out that Ken Bates votes Tory.

[Ron Obvious]

1. So bring back the terraces?

It works in Germany. Frankly everything in Germany is done right and should serve as a model.

Yeah, yeah, Heysel, we all know. But it doesn't have to be that way.

[oldironside]

2. As you say...

... it works perfectly well in Germany and you can buy a beer in the ground.

Won't happen though. Unfortunately, faceless corporate suits are taking our game away from us in the UK. The Premier League is no longer the English top flight, but rather a global brand that makes a mint for people who don't give a shit about the game itself.

Bring back terraces, ban foreign ownership of clubs, and a maximum of three foreign players on the pitch for any team at any one time. England still wouldn't win anything, but it would be a lot more fun than City, Chelsea et al buying the title with a team of mercenaries.

Rant over.

[Ron Obvious]

3. I'm intrigued by your ideas...

... and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Sadly, most of us real fans agree with all that you said, but we're not going to get it. That's just wrong.

I also never use the name of the sponsor in new stadium names. Arsenal's grounds are "The Arsenal Stadium" to me. They haven't bought my brainspace.

Oh, and it's the ENGLISH Premier League. Not the $BANK Premier League. Hell, for that matter, it's the English First Division! Football wasn't invented by Sky Sports and records don't start in 1992! Peter Shilton is the most capped English keeper, you bastards, not David James. Peter Shilton, Peter Shilton, Peter Shilton!

/rant off.

[oldironside]

4. While we're at it...

...full backs should wear 2 or 3 and wingers 7 or 11. A little bit of me died when I saw Lee Sharpe on the left wing for Man U with a 5 on his back.

In the real world (not this twisted timeline) Chelsea still have a team of hod carriers and City are still a rather pathetic joke. And everyone still hates United.

I could go on for hours...

[Rambis]

5. Heysel, Hillsborough "It doesn't have to be like that"

But it was like that and people died. I'm not going to get into a debate about "safe standing" but lets not gloss over the deaths of people who went to a football match and didn't come home with....

Yeah, yeah, Heysel, we all know.

[Ron Obvious]

6. No offence to Liverpool fans intended

I hope I didn't come across as callous to the Liverpool fans who died that day. That wasn't my intent.

[Rambis]

8. Understood thank you (nm)

[Ron Obvious]

10. And by "that" day...

I was referring more to Hillsborough than Heysel, of course. It's the Juve fans that were the victims at Heysel. I think everyone understood what I meant but I just want to make sure I spell it out. Neither tragedy should have happened.

I was living in the US during both tragedies, and watched both being covered by ESPN in a "look at those animals. Well, what do you expect?" fashion that just infuriated me.

Some of us remember the cameraderie, the accessibility, the joy and togetherness of the terraces in the good old days. Football in the top flight these days is truly an anodyne experience by comparison.

I attended a Seattle Sounders game a few months ago. It was genuinely weird, I thought. Perfectly family friendly and all that, and with none of the sort of masculine abuse of opposition players European fans would expect, but it seemed most fans weren't even paying attention to the game itself. Eerie in a way.

I'll have to write an OP about that experience some day.

[oldironside]

7. I really didn't get the impression he was trying to trivialise it.

Any football fan of my generation was shocked by it and then angered by the revelations about the way the police behaved afterwards. And we're still waiting for the bastards to be prosecuted.

[Rambis]

9. They way they treated the miners in 80's

Last edited Tue Nov 19, 2013, 12:05 PM - Edit history (1)

I mean they admitted it in 1991, South Yorkshire Police were forced to pay out half a million pounds to 39 .... fighting escalated to the point where miners were being beaten with batons.
The only thing that has shocked me is the sheer magnitude of the cover up. I know people don't realize how massive an effort this cover up was still.