W block

[Supa Shrimpa]

Exactly ! Most grounds will seat the away fans in the corners etc, because they don't want them behind the goal intimidating the goalie / defenders etc and making the most noise in the ground. Why give the travelling support a massive advantage ? The only problem I can foresee is large away followings like Daggers ? Would Y & Z have enough room (with segregation) ?

 

[Smiffy]

Exactly ! Most grounds will seat the away fans in the corners etc, because they don't want them behind the goal intimidating the goalie / defenders etc and making the most noise in the ground. Why give the travelling support a massive advantage ? The only problem I can foresee is large away followings like Daggers ? Would Y & Z have enough room (with segregation) ?

If I remember rightly, Blocks Y & Z (& X if required) has around 1,000-1,500 seats. Plenty at NL & L2 level.

 

[OldBlueLady]

The sound just doesn't travel well out of W block to the rest of the ground. If you are in W block however, it's pretty damn loud. The double barrelled roof is the killer. Whereas the North Bank has just the one barrell roof, so less gets lost within the stand itself and projects better around the ground.

Hence why 300 in the North Bank will always sound louder than the 300 in W Block. It's not because they aren't trying. I do agree though that games like yesterday, the younger element focus far too much on the away section, than the team. We have all done it though, lets be honest. We were all kids once.

This only gets solved by moving the away fans into Blocks Y & Z (Possibly X for larger turnouts) and opening up the entire North Bank to home fans. Away fans enter via Fairfax Drive as normal, with their own turnstiles at the west end of the North Bank and home fans via the East car park, using the current away turnstiles. As long as catering/toilet facilities are sorted and anything structual, then it's very achievable and I do believe this is the plan, certainly by next season.

Hopefully then the "singers" will back the move and fill the North Bank as much as possible. If we can get at least 500-750 in there behind the goal, that should be a real catalyst in getting the rest of the ground going. For too many years we have given the away side the vocal advantage at our home. No more. Watch the results improve as well...

Yes, as @Cricko has already outlined, this is the plan.

 

[Smiffy]

Yes, as @Cricko has already outlined, this is the plan.

Yep. I do think COSU should consider pricing the North Bank slightly cheaper than other areas as well.

One, because the view isn't great.

Two, because we need as many packing this area out as possible. Ideally unallocated seating, or the seats replaced with "safe-standing" even better.

Three, there needs to be a cheaper option at Roots Hall. Football is getting far too expensive. Twenty is plenty etc...

 

[Jasrod]

Weve got Husin, Super Noor Husin. I just dont think you understand. Hes from Afghanistan, he hates the Taliban. Weve got Super Noor Husin

There's a Starman, playing on the Right, His Name is Gus Scott Morris and he's ****ing Dynamite

Suggested 2nd line

We know you’ll try to stop him and we’d love to see you try??

 

[Alex]

What happens if COSU decide to knock down the north bank and re build it. It will have a different roof and likely generate different noise levels

 

[Alex]

What happens if COSU decide to knock down the north bank and re build it. It will have a different roof and likely generate different noise levels

same goes for the West stand if a new roof is put on

 

[Shrimper]

What happens if COSU decide to knock down the north bank and re build it. It will have a different roof and likely generate different noise levels

Doubt there is room with the houses behind it. Suspect they could build a new roof though but ££££

 

[HertfordshireBlue]

If we were to home ourselves back into the North Bank I just hope it’s done properly I.E. not all seated and TBV being next to the away fans in the corner by the West Stand - the drum and singing section in my opinion need to be central in the stand as tucking them away in the corner defeats the whole purpose of the North and encouraging other stands to join in..

 

[Liam AAS]

What happens if COSU decide to knock down the north bank and re build it. It will have a different roof and likely generate different noise levels

100% but acoustics can be factored in at the design stage, not to mention rake & safe standing.

There are loads of design choices that can be made to facilitate atmosphere.

 

[Blues ‘n’ twos]

Touch harsh really on the only area that creates any sort of atmosphere week in week out. Not their finest day agreed, but not worthy of the criticism from some.

 

[leathers20]

Something I’ve thought and I’m sure others won’t agree but I think pulling all the singers together has drained the rest of the ground of vocal support - I remember sitting in the east years ago and there being a group always at the back getting the stand going.
It only takes one or two to get singing to get a stand/section going, but all of those vocal supporters are now all in W.

I’ll admit im not the kind of guy to stand up and start a chant but I’ll sing along loudly once it’s going, I sing loudly at away games but sit in the south upper at home so sit in silence.

Has there been any thought to planting “singers” around the ground rather than congregating in W?

Ps Im not attacking W in any way, I appreciate their efforts

 

[Supershrimper]

Something I’ve thought and I’m sure others won’t agree but I think pulling all the singers together has drained the rest of the ground of vocal support - I remember sitting in the east years ago and there being a group always at the back getting the stand going.
It only takes one or two to get singing to get a stand/section going, but all of those vocal supporters are now all in W.

I’ll admit im not the kind of guy to stand up and start a chant but I’ll sing along loudly once it’s going, I sing loudly at away games but sit in the south upper at home so sit in silence.

Has there been any thought to planting “singers” around the ground rather than congregating in W?

Ps Im not attacking W in any way, I appreciate their efforts

Like a flash mob to start a football chant

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Thanks for that. You never know I might even start singing.

But you can only be in W block to do that

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

Something I’ve thought and I’m sure others won’t agree but I think pulling all the singers together has drained the rest of the ground of vocal support - I remember sitting in the east years ago and there being a group always at the back getting the stand going.
It only takes one or two to get singing to get a stand/section going, but all of those vocal supporters are now all in W.

I’ll admit im not the kind of guy to stand up and start a chant but I’ll sing along loudly once it’s going, I sing loudly at away games but sit in the south upper at home so sit in silence.

Has there been any thought to planting “singers” around the ground rather than congregating in W?

Ps Im not attacking W in any way, I appreciate their efforts

Imagine the drummer turning up in the back of the East stand. What you say is very real, i had a season ticket at the back of East stand reds during Tilly's reign and would often latch onto the Blue Voice chants and we'd get people singing in the East. Up in the back row, the legroom is awful and you are almost forced to stand.
As soon as my little boy was a teenager, we had moved out of the East stand as he wanted the atmosphere and i could not blame him for that, after experiencing away games.
Now surely it's time to revisit the North bank, sooner the better. A higher stand would give a better view.
But definetly during those successful Tilson years there were more people dotted around the stands who sang or started songs.
My good footy friend still seats in the East, never chants, then i bump into him up and down the country at grounds, bursting his lungs supporting the team.
Funny old game.

 

[IloveShrimp]

I normally agree with you mate, but honestly I was in my season ticket seat in block U and there were long periods of silence in that stand today.

Sorry but I didn't hear anyone singing in U block.

 

[Strykr]

Imagine the drummer turning up in the back of the East stand. What you say is very real, i had a season ticket at the back of East stand reds during Tilly's reign and would often latch onto the Blue Voice chants and we'd get people singing in the East. Up in the back row, the legroom is awful and you are almost forced to stand.
As soon as my little boy was a teenager, we had moved out of the East stand as he wanted the atmosphere and i could not blame him for that, after experiencing away games.
Now surely it's time to revisit the North bank, sooner the better. A higher stand would give a better view.
But definetly during those successful Tilson years there were more people dotted around the stands who sang or started songs.
My good footy friend still seats in the East, never chants, then i bump into him up and down the country at grounds, bursting his lungs supporting the team.
Funny old game.

The east only sings when we are 2 up and playing samba football. Always been that way.

Perhaps splitting the singing section half the other side of the west might work, or the middle perhaps.

Might also encourage them to sing songs more about us then the oppo fans.

 

[Cockle43]

I do think it’s a lot to do with Ron Martin departing. Fans used to turn up to games with a lot of emotions - anger, worry, pride in the team (for those performances against all odds). We were almost like a band of brothers ‘us against Ron Martin’. People would talk about what the latest protests might be on the concourse. All of that added together meant lots of noise, singing etc - the emotions being released.

It is also being ticketed more strictly this season. In previous seasons people just used to pile into that block, which meant that sometimes you’d be 3 people deep and could barely see the game….but maybe that improved the noise from the block?

That being said, I was in the W block yesterday and felt it wasn’t half as quiet as being made out. There was still a decent amount of chants. I’m sure it will get back to levels of the past, but I think they are a couple of reasons why it’s dialed down a bit currently.

It is being ticketed more strictly because, unfortunately, although the triple depth added to the atmosphere and possibly the noise, on several occasions last season it got positively dangerous when a goal was scored. A couple of times last season there was very nearly a 'domino cascade'. That happens and W Block as we know it would be no more.
A bad crowd accident is really not something we need in an area where standing is unofficial but tolerated so something had to be done.
Safe standing has to be the longer term solution along with the possible opening up of X Block to relieve the area in the shorter term.

 

[TBV_Dan]

What size diameter is your drum, 18, 20, 22 inch, as I might have a few old drum heads lying around, or failing that get a new 2 ply drum head, they will take a whole lot more abuse than a single ply head.

Appreciate the offer for the drum skins; I had already got a couple of spares ordered when I replaced the skin last, so a bit of work replacing that tomorrow should get it back up and running for Saturday again. Usually the ones I get last for a decently long time, but the skin I was using got dented from a broken drum stick near the end of last season, and the wear of the first few games has likely caused it to tear quicker this time round.

The problem being only W block makes noise and the rest of the stadium only joins in via clapping - trying to get a stadium going from 300 odd people doesn’t put odds in our favour

It's frustrating that it only really started getting louder again in the last 10-15 minutes... but it serves as a huge reminder that, when the support in the stands doesn't give up, it can be a huge difference maker for results on the pitch, as evident yesterday.

Having the backing of those in the stands, helps to spur the players on to find a second wind... and considering a couple of the players hadn't played a full 90 minutes this season until yesterday, whilst others are going into game 2 within 48 ish hours, they really could have done with that "12th man" fully behind them.

It doesn't help that we're kind of isolated over in the corner of the West Stand, and with the acoustics of the stand being the poorest in the stadium, the noise just doesn't project well enough to get the rest of the stand singing at times, and it becomes a massive disadvantage. Important to remember that TBV started back in 2007 as a small group of supporters at the back of W block, who wanted to make an atmosphere at games. As time has progressed, our support has evolved and grown massively, to the point where the "singing block" and it's surrounding areas are practically packed every single game.

As someone said in a post yesterday, the sooner the North Bank can be returned to the home fans for use, and the "singing block" can be naturally progressed to being the "singing stand", is the day I think we will all notice a massive difference with the atmosphere at home games, in comparison to now.

It is also being ticketed more strictly this season. In previous seasons people just used to pile into that block, which meant that sometimes you’d be 3 people deep and could barely see the game….but maybe that improved the noise from the block?

That being said, I was in the W block yesterday and felt it wasn’t half as quiet as being made out. There was still a decent amount of chants. I’m sure it will get back to levels of the past, but I think they are a couple of reasons why it’s dialed down a bit currently.

It is being ticketed very strictly this season, and that is the exact reason why. Fans would buy tickets/season tickets maybe 2-3 blocks down from W (because they couldn't get tickets in W), then walk over to stand in W block on the day of the game... eventually, we ended up being so compacted in all of the rows in that block, that even Stevie Wonder could see that it was becoming a massive safety problem for the club.

If for whatever reason we can't get the NB we need to knock the wall down between W and X block and have two block open for standing & singing.

I have a feeling that the club currently cannot sell tickets for X block... which is a shame, of course. If the North Bank for home fans is the priority, I would imagine that X block would be used as "away segregation", so getting it to the stage where it could be opened, MAY not be a priority at the moment... but don't quote me on that!

What happens if COSU decide to knock down the north bank and re build it. It will have a different roof and likely generate different noise levels

I would imagine that a LOT of work will need to go into the North Bank to make it habitable for home fans, which would probably include extending it back & making seating slightly higher, a concourse potentially at the back to house fans, and some work done on the roof. Whatever the club do, I am certain that they will have already factored in how the stand would sound once completed.

If we were to home ourselves back into the North Bank I just hope it’s done properly I.E. not all seated and TBV being next to the away fans in the corner by the West Stand - the drum and singing section in my opinion need to be central in the stand as tucking them away in the corner defeats the whole purpose of the North and encouraging other stands to join in..

This would be my aim. Centralise the "core" of the support in the North, and focus on filling the blocks around us and getting behind the team in a massive way. As others have suggested, I would hope the club would consider selling slightly cheaper tickets here, even if it was JUST for a few seasons to help get the stand populated & support going, etc.

Imagine the drummer turning up in the back of the East stand. What you say is very real, i had a season ticket at the back of East stand reds during Tilly's reign and would often latch onto the Blue Voice chants and we'd get people singing in the East. Up in the back row, the legroom is awful and you are almost forced to stand.

I've considered bringing the drum into the east stand a few times for those very rare home games in the cup where the West is not opened, to maybe try and get some form of atmosphere going... but I have a sneaky suspicion that, if I was ever to actually try and do that, I may end up being told precisely where to stick my drum sticks by the end of the game



(Ps. Apologies for the mega long quoted reply, but this was the easiest way of working my way through this thread!)

 

[Supershrimper]

I've considered bringing the drum into the east stand a few times for those very rare home games in the cup where the West is not opened, to maybe try and get some form of atmosphere going... but I have a sneaky suspicion that, if I was ever to actually try and do that, I may end up being told precisely where to stick my drum sticks by the end of the game

Do it Dan. Those in the East are mainly either those that have their tvs turned up to volume level 80+ or have eyesight so bad anything past the centre circle is blur.

They would neither see nor hear you

PS I'm generalising here having sat in the East for the last 17 seasons.

Out if interest does the drum have its own seat. I can imagine it's cramped in the West and much like other areas legroom is sometimes a premium. I've got visions of you drumming whilst balancing it on your knees.