Stadium atmosphere

[ElusiveEd]

I agree with all of the above. It's getting worse. I thought Norwich was bad but last night was probably the worst for me.

 

The goal celebration had a great impact coming so near after KO but soon died a death and it was all downhill after that.

 

Like others have said it's too far gone now to ever return to our days of rocking the KP or away grounds for that matter.

 

Having said that, I would hate to be stifled by the club as much as that LFC fan in the green and white quartered shirt was. What a complete over zealous reaction by the stewards.

 

He was getting the "You fat b@stard" chants from a section of our lot, reacted with a bit of humour, banter and 4 or 5 hand gestures back and was subsequently pounced on and spoken to by the stewards who seemed to be telling him to just ignore us and by reacting back was just encouraging us. They then escorted him out of the ground.  

 

Gotta admit, I felt sorry for the bloke and am astonished at the complete sanitising of football support and the overkill they made of what was just some very mild fun and bantz we see and hear everyday at grounds. They were laughing, we were laughing but it appears we are not allowed to enjoy ourselves at football any longer. 

 

If ever this kind of dictatorship appeared at the KP to kill off even more of the atmosphere we already don't have then my days as a supporter will be done.

 

 

Edited 28 September 2023 by ElusiveEd

[SemperEadem]

8 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

I do think we should have rail seating/standing all the way behind the goal but the club just don't seem bothered about it. I would happily stand every home game then, just like at away games. People then have the choice to stand or sit as well.

You're not wrong there.

[Stuntman_Mike]

1 minute ago, ElusiveEd said:

I agree with all of the above. It's getting worse. I thought Norwich was bad but last night was probably the worst for me.

 

The goal celebration had a great impact coming so near after KO but soon died a death and it was all downhill after that.

 

Like others have said it's too far gone now to ever return to our days of rocking the KP or away ground for that matter.

 

Having said all that, I would hate to be stifled by the club as much as that LFC lad in the green and white quartered shirt was. What a complete over zealous reaction by the stewards.

 

He was getting the "You fat b@stard" chants from a section of our lot, reacted with a bit of humour, banter and 4 or 5 hand gestures back and was subsequently pounced on and spoken to by the stewards who seemed to be telling him to just ignore us and by reacting back was just encouraging us. They then escorted him out of the ground.  

 

Gotta admit, I felt sorry for the bloke and am astonished at the complete sanitising of football support and the overkill they made of what was just some very mild fun and bantz we see and hear everyday at grounds. They were laughing, we were laughing but it appears we are not allowed to enjoy ourselves at football any longer. 

 

If ever this kind of dictatorship appeared at the KP to kill off even more of the atmosphere we already don't have then my days as a supporter will be done.

 

 

That situation with the Liverpool fan was ridiculous!

 

The amount of stewards everywhere,  including Leicester ones was just overkill. The concourse felt flat too and just the whole experience didn't feel like a proper football game.

[Fox92]

13 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

You're not wrong there.

I would be interested into why they aren't going through with it? I just see positives for it personally but I can't recall them ever asking the fanbase if it's something we should have.

[RonnieTodger]

23 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

No it's not finished. We have an active and engaged fan group that have set up a section specifically designed to create an atmosphere. It requires time, patience, investment and consistent plugging away. And to wash out all of the 'clubs a shambles mate shambles omg shambles clubs gone mate shambles' types that will inevitably drag everything down. 

I’m in that section and whilst I agree that it needs time, there’s a complete disassociation from the rest of the “Kop”.
 

I don’t know whether it’s demographics or the fact that we’ve won the PL and everything else feels secondary. Probably a mixture of the two, but people are turning up out of habit and I’d go as far to say don’t care enough. 

 

People will give it the “that doesn’t make you a better fan”, but for me it actually makes following Leicester a lot less enjoyable when our support is so shit. 

[SemperEadem]

3 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

I would be interested into why they aren't going through with it? I just see positives for it personally but I can't recall them ever asking the fanbase if it's something we should have.

2019 they sent out a survey. Only this month did the club finally tell UFS some findings from it. This is despite multiple times asking to see the results.

[C-man]

21 minutes ago, ElusiveEd said:

 

 

Having said that, I would hate to be stifled by the club as much as that LFC fan in the green and white quartered shirt was. What a complete over zealous reaction by the stewards.

 

He was getting the "You fat b@stard" chants from a section of our lot, reacted with a bit of humour, banter and 4 or 5 hand gestures back and was subsequently pounced on and spoken to by the stewards who seemed to be telling him to just ignore us and by reacting back was just encouraging us. They then escorted him out of the ground.  

 

Gotta admit, I felt sorry for the bloke and am astonished at the complete sanitising of football support and the overkill they made of what was just some very mild fun and bantz we see and hear everyday at grounds. They were laughing, we were laughing but it appears we are not allowed to enjoy ourselves at football any longer. 

 

If ever this kind of dictatorship appeared at the KP to kill off even more of the atmosphere we already don't have then my days as a supporter will be done.

 

 

To be fair, I think they just moved him to a different area as surely there would have been more uproar from his mates etc if he’d been ejected. Still a bit ridiculous for stewards to even engage with him, mind.

[ElusiveEd]

11 minutes ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

That situation with the Liverpool fan was ridiculous!

 

The amount of stewards everywhere,  including Leicester ones was just overkill. The concourse felt flat too and just the whole experience didn't feel like a proper football game.

On the way out I noticed the female LCFC steward near the exits, I chat to her quite a bit at the KP so went over and said hi saying I didn't realised she did away games too. I asked her, and the other guy she was next to, what they actually do there, being as it was an away game. Neither could answer other than a "Well, it's a friendly face for away supporters" 

 

I really want to type more but I'm just gonna leave it there. I just can't be arsed as even the heavy sigh I gave last night is still with me!

[ElusiveEd]

9 hours ago, C-man said:

To be fair, I think they just moved him to a different area as surely there would have been more uproar from his mates etc if he’d been ejected. Still a bit ridiculous for stewards to even engage with him, mind.

I kinda hope that's what happened but I did feel sorry for him. He seemed to be with 1 mate who whilst laughing flexed his biceps a couple of times (Which I admit were pretty impressive).

 

 What I did notice were 2 young muslim girls in the row in front of them with their headscarves on. I did wonder if they had been offended by any language or the direction of the banter? But, like you say, ridiculous in the extreme. 

Edited 28 September 2023 by ElusiveEd

[KrefelderFox666]

13 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

I would be interested into why they aren't going through with it? I just see positives for it personally but I can't recall them ever asking the fanbase if it's something we should have.

Every meeting UFS have with the club we ask about safe standing updates. It's frustrating to not see much movement on it. The key thing is that the club linked it with the expansion and are reluctant to talk about doing it outside of that.

 

Some of the reasons they keep mentioning are:

 

1. Cost. Apparently around £500K to do around 3,000, which would include some in the away end as at least 10% of all safe standing places have to be in the away end. We have mentioned that clappers cost x amount a season and they don't think twice about them. No clappers for one season almost pays for safe standing.

2. Location. One because they have the expansion in mind, they are worried about paying for it now then doing it again/moving it with the expansion. However, they know what the expansion looks like so I am sure they could plan it strategically. Another reason is that they know multiple people in different areas want it (e.g. section/Kop, L1 etc.). Again, they need to scope an area. If people want it, they will be there. Do some marketing, send out some surveys, gather findings.

 

They are just dragging their heels on it. Constantly talking about it being linked with the expansion and it costing a lot one off. As a group we keep pushing as it is a main objective of the group and has been pushed for probably over 10 years (before it was even legalised in UK stadia). So to see other clubs implement while we stand still is annoying.

 

As SemperEadem mentions above, we were shown survey results from 2019 around safe standing (yes it took the club that long to share them!). They showed an overwhelming demand and support for safe standing and accounted for a fairly large representation who took part in the survey from all stands/areas (nearly 8,000 people took part) . Unfortunately, we were told not to share these figures/results publicly so I am trying to keep with that.

[Trekerz]

Problem is in games like yesterdays where we don't sell the allocation, the club do nothing to get any new faces in as they don't release it to general sale or booking history. Hence, we get the same old faces at the games as usual. 

[grobyfox1990]

2 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

I’m in that section and whilst I agree that it needs time, there’s a complete disassociation from the rest of the “Kop”.
 

I don’t know whether it’s demographics or the fact that we’ve won the PL and everything else feels secondary. Probably a mixture of the two, but people are turning up out of habit and I’d go as far to say don’t care enough. 

 

People will give it the “that doesn’t make you a better fan”, but for me it actually makes following Leicester a lot less enjoyable when our support is so shit. 

Fair enough! Good on you and I wish you every success for putting yourself out there and trying to make a difference. You know better than me so I won't argue with your explanation, and agree it is more fun when everyone is having a laugh, making noise etc.

But I think the 'turning up out of habit' crew isn't just coach 1, they get so much stick but there are presumably 1000s of negative melts below the age of 60 who are just waiting to bash the club for everything. Many of them were on here last season saying they won't renew, but unfortunately probably did renew. The sooner this lot get washed out the sooner things will brighten up, I think

[purpleronnie]

3 hours ago, Spudulike said:

When I was a kid my Dad told me this would happen. He said that football will become a game for the wealthy where everyone sits down quietly. He was right. It was around the time when the club installed that corporate middle section in the Pop Side and ran Adverts showing waiters complete with folded towels over their arms delivering drinks to the posh. 

 

It's really not just us though. Have a trawl around other clubs forums and you'll read the same conversations. I think that we are possibly further down this route due to what is seen as completing football. The chip on our shoulders is gone, the fire whilst not completely out is only just smouldering. 

 

The world is changing and can't be turned back. We're stuck with it until football becomes uncool again and the broadcasters take away their filthy money. The only way the club will listen to fans is when attendances drop and they need us to stick with them. At that point, those that have lost the passion will start to drift away and we might get some sort of reset. 

Its true, but this was the issue in scotland too, but they are slowly transforming the atmosphere there.  It just seems that south of the border we like to moan and do nothing.  Of course the fan groups in scotland have a lot of backing from the club which is a huge help.

[billyn88]

3 hours ago, ElusiveEd said:

I agree with all of the above. It's getting worse. I thought Norwich was bad but last night was probably the worst for me.

 

The goal celebration had a great impact coming so near after KO but soon died a death and it was all downhill after that.

 

Like others have said it's too far gone now to ever return to our days of rocking the KP or away grounds for that matter.

 

Having said that, I would hate to be stifled by the club as much as that LFC fan in the green and white quartered shirt was. What a complete over zealous reaction by the stewards.

 

He was getting the "You fat b@stard" chants from a section of our lot, reacted with a bit of humour, banter and 4 or 5 hand gestures back and was subsequently pounced on and spoken to by the stewards who seemed to be telling him to just ignore us and by reacting back was just encouraging us. They then escorted him out of the ground.  

 

Gotta admit, I felt sorry for the bloke and am astonished at the complete sanitising of football support and the overkill they made of what was just some very mild fun and bantz we see and hear everyday at grounds. They were laughing, we were laughing but it appears we are not allowed to enjoy ourselves at football any longer. 

 

If ever this kind of dictatorship appeared at the KP to kill off even more of the atmosphere we already don't have then my days as a supporter will be done.

 

 

I thought ejecting that fan was bizarre and unnecessary, he was hardly inciting us to riot and he was getting pretty standard needle back.

 

I don't even think it was remotely nasty, if anything it's opposing fans having fun with each other.  It was also very low key compared to a cup game I remember at Huddersfield when a larger lady was giving it the big un constantly from them taking the lead and after our equaliser getting a 4000 strong rendition of "fatty what's the score".  I don't remember a steward moving an inch then!

[AjcW]

2 minutes ago, billyn88 said:

I thought ejecting that fan was bizarre and unnecessary, he was hardly inciting us to riot and he was getting pretty standard needle back.

Was all a bit odd wasn't it.

 

- Super friendly coppers

- Super friendly and welcoming stewards

- Catering staff wearing Leicester tops with 'when you're smiling' on.

- Their young fan getting kicked out for giving the W*nker sign in response to being called a fat bastard  

[CosbehFox]

42 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

Its true, but this was the issue in scotland too, but they are slowly transforming the atmosphere there.  It just seems that south of the border we like to moan and do nothing.  Of course the fan groups in scotland have a lot of backing from the club which is a huge help.

Outside the ugly two though, they have the fortune of stadiums partly full. As a result more space to house groups and the clubs need the dollar so will accommodate. 

[C-man]

1 hour ago, Trekerz said:

Problem is in games like yesterdays where we don't sell the allocation, the club do nothing to get any new faces in as they don't release it to general sale or booking history. Hence, we get the same old faces at the games as usual. 

This is absolutely true and ridiculous. The club are shooting themselves in the foot long term by a) not addressing a nonsensical priority points system and b) not releasing tickets for general sale. 
 

Add the nonsense ‘collect your ticket with ID’ shite and you’ve got a whole heap of reasons the away ends are getting worse before you even start blaming those actually in attendance.

[SemperEadem]

11 minutes ago, C-man said:

This is absolutely true and ridiculous. The club are shooting themselves in the foot long term by a) not addressing a nonsensical priority points system and b) not releasing tickets for general sale. 
 

Add the nonsense ‘collect your ticket with ID’ shite and you’ve got a whole heap of reasons the away ends are getting worse before you even start blaming those actually in attendance.

When the guy heading these plans worked previously as head of hospitality for Tottenham, PSG and at Club Wembley its hardly a surprise its so corporate focused and shite.

[Spudulike]

22 hours ago, AjcW said:

Was all a bit odd wasn't it.

 

- Super friendly coppers

- Super friendly and welcoming stewards

- Catering staff wearing Leicester tops with 'when you're smiling' on.

- Their young fan getting kicked out for giving the W*nker sign in response to being called a fat bastard  

I want one of those tops. 

[Dan LCFC]

On 28/09/2023 at 09:21, goose2010 said:

i totally agree with this but is there younger fans wanting tickets? the top flights demographic has changed so much over the past 20 years especially at LCFC. 

 

Only going back 20 years or so you could get a group of mates, all get the train over, few pints and pick up tickets for £12-15 quid and watch a game. For some positivise reasons and some negative you just cant do this now. 

 

The younger fans that want to go are probably priced out of it. 

 

The top flight (i know we aren't in it but still have a top flight fan base as hardly any new fans got season tickets this year) want it to be like it is now. They don't want fans singing, creating atmosphere etc. it is set up for the TV fans in the UK and around the world, you know that is a fact as soon as anything that may cause some one offence is chanting they either apologise or turn the microphones off by the crowds. It is a corporate machine that is about money generation, the clubs want families as they spend the money in the shop and the FA want the best viewing possible to keep creaming in the cash.

 

The club unfortunately just play lip service to us all. Look at all the promo stuff they do on socials, all young families waving their flags having a cuddle with Filbert, basically they are just trying to gain that trust of the mums and dads that think football is just about hooligans, swearing and fighting. Its basically come down get a ticket, you'll love it and whilst your there spend £100 in the shop. 

 

And you know the worst thing about it. There is absolutely nothing none of us can do about it. The pocket of fans will get smaller, the corporate areas will get bigger and the merchandise will get more expensive. 

I agree with this but I find it quite baffling as well - I don't get how a bad atmosphere is a selling point at all. They should surely be pushing for the exact opposite. I find some games almost unwatchable when the atmosphere is absolutely dead - which you can't accuse every PL game of being, but a lot of them are.

 

It's just such an odd stance in this country.

[Dan LCFC]

On 28/09/2023 at 09:55, Spudulike said:

When I was a kid my Dad told me this would happen. He said that football will become a game for the wealthy where everyone sits down quietly. He was right. It was around the time when the club installed that corporate middle section in the Pop Side and ran Adverts showing waiters complete with folded towels over their arms delivering drinks to the posh. 

 

It's really not just us though. Have a trawl around other clubs forums and you'll read the same conversations. I think that we are possibly further down this route due to what is seen as completing football. The chip on our shoulders is gone, the fire whilst not completely out is only just smouldering. 

 

The world is changing and can't be turned back. We're stuck with it until football becomes uncool again and the broadcasters take away their filthy money. The only way the club will listen to fans is when attendances drop and they need us to stick with them. At that point, those that have lost the passion will start to drift away and we might get some sort of reset. 

Can't help but think this is particularly true with us. I'm not saying we were great before but it has gone downhill for sure in the last 10 years.

[AjcW]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

I want one of those tops. 

Yeah they were nice! 

[goose2010]

30 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

I agree with this but I find it quite baffling as well - I don't get how a bad atmosphere is a selling point at all. They should surely be pushing for the exact opposite. I find some games almost unwatchable when the atmosphere is absolutely dead - which you can't accuse every PL game of being, but a lot of them are.

 

It's just such an odd stance in this country.

Totally agree, but guess if you were sat there with a 5-10 year old then you'll probably feel differently. The atmosphere is probably last thing on your mind. 

[los dedos]

1 hour ago, goose2010 said:

Totally agree, but guess if you were sat there with a 5-10 year old then you'll probably feel differently. The atmosphere is probably last thing on your mind. 

What ? Most 5-10 year old love a good atmosphere it's probably what they enjoy the most . 

I remember my daughters 1st game V West Ham, she was getting really annoyed that the Leicester fans weren't singing as much as the Hammers fans .😅

[ChrisFilter]

On 28/09/2023 at 10:50, ElusiveEd said:

What I did notice were 2 young muslim girls in the row in front of them with their headscarves on. I did wonder if they had been offended by any language or the direction of the banter? But, like you say, ridiculous in the extreme. 

I reckon your average Hijab-wearing Muslim girl can handle a bit of swearing. They probably deal with far worse day to day. Would be very surprised if they’d complained.