All,

The new season is nearly upon us and as per last season, we're looking for your experiences of stewarding, policing, how standing was dealt with, the atmosphere, really anything that effects you as a fan right down to whether your pie was delicious or something you wouldn't even feed to your dog!!

Obviously, we're interested in how standing is dealt with, whereas the FSF will be keeping an eye on the other information posted.

While no doubt some comments will instigate debate, if they are that important then please can be discussed in the main forum? A lot of really useful information has been posted but in some cases it has taken a while to find it due people posting opinion rather than their experiences.

Friendly at Doncaster last night (3rd of August).

The stadium isn't actually that bad but reminds me to much of the riverside, complete with the same god awful entrance music.

The PA system was extremely tinny and load a bad combination.

Are end all stood and had a decent sing song but I was disappointed with Donny's support. Very quiet and bar a few lads standing next to our section and directly opposite.

The stewards didn't have a clue how to deal with our support and just left them to it (leaving to young girls in stewards bids to look after us which is daft really). Apparently though the stewards in the rovers home ends were very keen on getting people to sit.

In summary it appears to me (it was only a friendly though tbf) that the move from Belle Vue has sucked the life out of the Rovers crowd for the time being.

a friendly today against alkmaar.

to be honest not bad at the back of the north stand where i was.
good few standing maybe 100,which is more than a regular.
mind you these were your rough tough holgate enders who gave the season tickets up years ago,when you were no longer allowed to have fun

Our 2000 at Stoke on Wednesday stood, they only had 5000 fans in the ground and i couldn't see any standing.

36,000 attendance today against Inter. There was the usual standing in the Upper Holte, about the back 10 rows. They had about 20 fans who all sat

Town vs. Panathinaikos

Attendance: Just over 8,000 (less than 1/3 capacity)

Although a very low attendance, the atmosphere today in the Lower North was not bad. About 30 standing at the back with non-stop singing throughout, so was not bad. Got the whole Lower North going from time to time. Brilliant day, 2-0 winners.

Everyone got asked to sit a few times by one steward, and did, but then sung 'stand up if yu hate the scum' making everyone stand again. Other stewards not bothered, just watched the football.

Bring on the new season!

Newcastle 1 Sampdoria 0


around 200/300 newcastle standing with the full backing from the club stewards! never asked us to sit once, they even helped us take the banners down after the game. all 100 away fans seemed to be standing

Away supporters at the game ahd a banner saying something along the lines of 'Football isn't for Corporates.' Needless to say it was confiscated by the Nazi's.

Id say 500 or so of the 1500 leeds fans at burnley stood all game. It was more families that went so those who wanted to stand went to the back and no-one complained

Then at home against Wigan the upper kop stood all game (2000 or so) with the usual stewards coming up every 5 minutes trying to get us to sit down. If they are like that in a friendly with only 7000 people what will they be like come the actual games

West Ham v Man City

Got to the ground to find our season ticket cards had not been enabled. One steward could not have been more helpful if he'd of tried and took us to the front of the queue but out of the three people who dealt with us, he was the only one that actually bothered to speak to us. The other two people didn't offer any apology or explanation. For £1,700 you'd expect a little more, even an apology!

We were thanked for our politeness. It wasn't the stewards fault, what did he think we were going to do? Chin him?

We got in the ground at about 2.40, with music being played quitely. As soon as City started to make some noise, it was turned up so loud you couldn't even try to speak to the person next to you.

Man City brought their whole allocation who stood throughout bar around 20 people. It looked as if one steward attempted to get fans to sit but his efforts were to no avail.

Our fans alongside them in the Centenury Lower stood for the duration, again with no visible efforts to get them to sit.

In the Bobby Moore Lower around 1/4 stood for the duration, with the second half seeing most of the stand standing persisently.

Back at the station I counted around 50 police officers, most of whom were standing doing nothing. There were also 5 on horseback. One I could understand as there is a bottle neck that needs managing, but 5? Sat on their horses doing nothing - or sending a text message in one case.

I wonder what would happen in the event of a major problem elsewhere? "Sorry but we can't send any officers as they're all standing watching a load of peaceful football fans" in a queue.

Ipswich vs Sheff Wed

3000 Ipswich fans in North Stand and about 2500 Wednesday fans standing persistantly throughout. No deaths. Great atmosphere helped by / helping a 4-1 win with 3 goals in first 25 minutes and return of two crowd favourites.

Pre-game was rather daunting in a oh god i'm in a communist country sort of way. Loud PA announcements outside the ground proclaiming our non smoking stadium status and the roth that would occur to anyone who broke the rules. Huge banners behind the goal informing us to be aware of flying footballs during the warm up!

One interesting fact is that the smoking ban meant that there were around 200 or so away fans out on the street in front of the pub next to the station jeering people as they went past which could lead problems with certain visiting clubs.

Well firstly all Newcastle stood today, was 5,000 of us their I think. Stewards were canny tbh I had a ticket for the home end but one of the stewards let us through into the away end and said we could just stand on the stairs even though they were packed. So great day and no hassle from the stewards but I think it would of been hard to get all 5,000 of us to sit.

Hibernian v Gretna

Usual standing in the converted terrace for this type of game, some standing on seats etc with a couple of the away support standing. (And I mean a couple, their support was 100 at the most).

Atmosphere was good considering the very small away support and considering we were actually getting beat 2-0 for 60 odd mins of the game. Game finished 4-2 to us and with all the excitement (and relieve) of coming behind to win, there was no casacades. Can you believe that?

Missed kick off due to the very larger ques outside, que'd for 20 minutes. Obvisouly 5 turnstiles for 3000 fans isn't sufficient, also doesn't help when the police find it neccessary to search people on entry.....? We don't get searched anywere, not even at Rangers or Hearts these days. :blink:

As per usual no attempts to get people to sit, the club obvisouly aren't bothered as TBH this is the only vocal part of the stadium and its the 1st place the players turn to celebrate when scored or applaud the fans after the game etc. The club also allowed entry to a 100ft by 50ft banner which is a cracker I may add. Fair play to them for that.

There was the usual standing in the Upper Holte today, about the back 10 rows stood all game. All of the Holte stood for a lot of the 2nd half as always happens when we attack towards us 2nd half. There was also a small block of our fans stood all game in the lower North stand right next to the Liverpool fans.

The Liverpool fans in the lower Witton all stood, couldn't see their fans in the upper though

Darlington Away

Made our way to the stadium from Richmond at 2:15 and got there about quarter to. We were made to que up and buy a ticket when told the previous day it was pay on the gate. So got in 3:05. Missed an extra 10 minutes putting my flags up.

During game play the top 3 rows stood constantly despite getsapo stewards and continous stadium announcements warning us. Its a nice way of working that the ones who want to sit go in the bottom rows while the standers go at the top. No problems then.

After the match spent another 10 mins collecting all the flags together and the stewards were suprisingly helpful.

Darlo had the usual patheticly quiet support. We (wxm fans) started off well but when we went 2 down it went a bit flat.

Port Vale tuesday, £19 a ticket. Their touting prices for us lot :lol:

Well last year it was on a Wednesday night I think, also your ticket prices are shocking tbh. We sold out Arsenal 3,000 I think, Fulham again sold out 5,000, West Ham we took 3,600 (which is a sell out I think) and am not sure what we took to Spurs last year.

LEICESTER CITY V's BLACKPOOL

This will probably be one of only a few games I will see at Leicester this season due to various reasons.

Before kick off we had announcements pitchside asking us to create a good atmosphere as soon as the fans started singing we were drown out by the P.A????

There seems to be fans situated near the away fans (BLOCK L1) who are now allowed to stand this has been the case for a long time now, I would say it numbered 300 or so. I sat (lol) at the kop end not too much standing mostly a group of say 30 fans towards the back it could have been more. We seem to have a drum at the kop end which did help starting songs it wasn't used too much so it wasnt annoying, it sounded like they had one at BLOCK L1 also which I believe is the singing section.

As for Blackpool they numbered about 2,000 and only a couple hundred stood despite our stewards letting away fans stand.

High expectations after 11 signings.....we didn't look very good and the first half was terrible.

Second half was better and despite going 1-0 down the atmosphere wasn't too bad.

Fair play to leicester, they seem to have relaxed the rules a bit and I know the club have tried to get a good atmosphere, the fact they allow a certain section of the ground to stand and all away fans definately helps the atmosphere.

Back to America on sunday night.

Well 7 prem games today, i clearly saw Spurs, Pompey, City and newcastle all stood and Blackcountry says Liverpool did aswell, not sure about blackburn or wigan.

Good start.

Was a bit of persistant standing today from our fans. we was loud as well. Anyways got kicked out at half time. Got interviewed, with a video recoder recording me. Had name, address etc taken. I was persistant standin according to them, fukin tenche.

A few rows of City at the front were sat. Spurs sat down aswell after about the first 15 minutes, it seemed as though the steward were making them sit because i heard 'stand up if you hate Arsenal' a few times then next time it showed them they were sitting

I've just been through this thread and deleted various posts that were talking about allocation and not about what happened at the game you attended, how standing was dealt with, etc, etc...

Please can I remind you that this thread is not for discussion, just your feedback.

If anything happened that is likely to provoke more debate (such as I was kicked out today, police held people up, stewards were out of order, stewards were brilliant etc) please start a new thread so people can discuss it.

Thanks.

Villa Park yesterday.

I was in the lower and our whole end stood for the 90 minutes. Not a single person sitting.

In the upper tier, there was 2 or 3 rows of people sitting towards the far side of our support, nearest to the centre of the pitch, but other than that, 99% of the upper stood for the 90 minutes as well.

I seen stewards approach the lads at the front of the upper at the start of the game, but they just ignored him I think and no more bother all game, everyone just stood. No stewards requesting sitting at any time in the lower. They knew it would be a wasted excerise.

Atmosphere was superb throughout, makes a change from our last visit to Villa Park. Good day all round, relaxed stewarding and 99% standing. Perfect.


Edit - One thought, just remembered that in the lower tier, all the lads were stood in the aisles, all the walkways blocked with people standing, and the stewards didn't bother to try and keep them clear. That is one thing they usually do at most grounds if the support are standing.

Sorry Amanda, think my post went topic a bit.
Boro v Rovers.
About 100 Boro fans stood all the time in the stand opposite. Didnt see no efforts to get them to sit, just let them stand.
I'd say about 150-200 rovers fans stood 'persistantley' I reckon. Stewards were very strict and kept getting everyone to sit.
Bit concerned tbh for what them salmons are going to do with my personal details.

Great standing and atmosphere from Palace fans the best i have seen for a long time. We always have about 10 rows of standing at the back but yesterday there were large pockets of persistant standers at St Marys. I would say about 1000 Palace fans stood throughout and everytime we attacked our whole allocation stood up not only for the attack but some time after.

Southampton fans also had large amount of fans standing up. To my right i think they had lots of fans standing and then to our left they had about 400 fans standing but that changed when we went 4-1 which was a shame but this was only because loads of there fans left.

There was a down side though that one fan wanted to sit and was getting quite aggravated by the fact he had to stand. This to me proves that there should be seprate areas for fans who want to stand and for fans who want to sit choice being the key word for me. I know that one of the main aims of SUSD is to give fans a choice.

Good day out and a good start to the new season (standing wise).

Also i would definatly say that the atmosphere and my match day experience was inproved because of standing for large parts of the game.

Keep going guys and together we can win this battle.

All of newcastles 3,200 fans stood at legoland! cracking atmosphere in both upper and lower teirs, bolton needed a full band of drums to even start a song! they and around 100 standing in the corner

All leeds 2100 fans stood at tranmere with about 40 at the top of their kop and then another 50 to our right in their boys pen towards the end when they felt abit angry :lol:

Stewards let about 50-100 leeds fans into our end from the home section which was good enough for me after they started singing with us and then people had tickets for seats which didnt even exsist meaning the stairs were crammed. We never got even asked to sit down though hopefully thats the approach to come this year

It might be a bit of struggle to stand at Gillingham, seeing as our Stewards have the reputations for being very strict on fans trying to stand.

Tranmere 1-2 Leeds

Got to stand all game. Stewards wern't bothered that many fans were stood on the stairs and just left us to it for once. So well done on their part, makes up for their clubs massive ticket fiasco that could of ruint the day for many fans!

One of many reasons I'm proud to support my club


Barnet Fans at Morecambe

Bristol City v QPR (sat 11th Aug)

East End was open as STs were on sale for it, I paid in advance £13.70 (70p booking fee for booking it online) took my girlfriend with me (first time she has been in the EE- turned out she really enjoyed it and sang throughout). We had 1000 City fans in the EE of which the majority stood throughout including me. Everyone was standing until 15mins when the HSN' started from the bottom telling fans that the people at the back couldn't see (a blatant lie). Some sat infront of me but many stayed standing.

OK atmosphere generated from us (no where near as good as last season). QPR fans were quite good although only about 20% stood throughout the whole game with all of them standing on occassions.

Some trouble before the game when some QPR "lads" arrived and fans almost got to each other as there was only 2 stewards either side of the black netting we all know and love. Bottles were chucked and at HT 3 City fans were arrested after the OB got into their appropriate and necessary RIOT gear as ofcourse it had been a serious incident of crowd disorder.

I am lead to believe that the 3 City fans were arrested for swearing after reading the City forum. Another note, my GF has been converted after seeing how much better standing was thus she has joined up to the forum.

(Yes, I was being sarcastic in the last but one paragraph)

Was there any beer on sale to you now away fans have been moved? and how did they seperate you from our fans on the concourses?

I know this isn't really about standing but i'm just interested to know :P

Preston v Norwich - A nice long haul to start the season off with. Got up there in plenty of time and was able to spend about 40 minutes looking around the National Football Museum which is situated at Deepdale and is, refreshingly in this day and age, free to get into. I've been round once before on a previous visit and it's certainly worth a tour if you're at Deepdale this season.
About 2000 Norwich fans made the journey, with about 300 stood at the back. Across the devide, around 200 Preston fans stood in the other half of our end to our right. The stewards stayed at the front and although a few had concerned looks on their faces, no action was taken to stop standing. A lively atmosphere in the first 15/20 minutes as you'd expect from the first game of the season, Preston fans during this period made plenty of noise. It died down after that and although lively at times in the second half and plenty of good natured banter between the rival fans there was nothing spectacular to comment on.

United today, K stand as usual standing but being forced to sit down by lots of stewards from my position opposite it appeared stewards were trying at one point take somebody out.

Strety tier 2 majority appeared standing when I turned my head round. Strety lower stood for long periods first half and same in the second, completely stood for the last 10 minutes.

Rubbish game but I'm rather happy with my new perch :D

Oh and Reading all sat

Saints V Palace.

I managed to end up in the front row for this one in a sold out away end
We stood from kick off with few problems from the stewards or Police until........ some jobsworth steward made my blood boil by trying to confiscate a flag that was laid down on the concrete before the front row.

After asking the steward and his entourage of police why they wanted to move the flag I was told it was for 'health and safety reasons'. Jesus wept! 30 minutes into the new season and it seemed the same old nonsense had reared its head. I then made the mistake of remonstrastring continuously with the steward and was removed from the stands ( my own fault as I lost my temper and swore at him)

The good news however, was the reasonable attitude that the senior steward displayed, when I was convinced that I was going to be ejected.
After listening to my frustrations, he explained that I was in trouble for abusing another steward. After I apologised and grovelled a little he shook my hand and let me back into the ground and wished me a fun day !( missed two bloody goals though)

Great day out though and I really enjoyed standing right at the front, where you can really saviour the atmosphere more, as the noise seems at its loudest here .

Kidderminster Harriers vs Aldershot Town

Had no problems. 413 travelled and I reckon about only 10-20 of our supporters sat (they're of an older age, so fair enough) and the rest of us stood on the terrace.

There ground is entirely NO SMOKING but many of the smokers went to a corner of the ground where there is pretty much nothing and "The message from the chief jobsworth steward was "there are too many of them - to avoid confrontation we will turn a blind eye".

Had a good day even if I have got tonscillitus :o(.

EDIT**: I just wanted to put this to some attention. Kidderminster Harrier's matches are NOT policed. Aldershot have got a "reputation" for the idiots that come to our games and Cambridgeshire police keep moving our games vs Cambridge U to a Friday night. There was no hint of any trouble and there was no police in sight!


Next up: Aldershot Town vs Torquay United

Did Reading sit? Looked like it on t.v. and it looked as though they didn't sell out

Yep on both counts, they piped up towards the end due to there amazing result, complete with rendition of "Easy"

Bless :D

Look like Birminghams support stood at chelsea.

1st half their fans in the lower seemed to stand but when it showed them 2nd half they looked to be sitting

sorry mate but you were'nt loud from the north stand(opposite).
our support as usual was shiite. apart from standing at corners,there is no real atmosphere and passion.

i could see that you were doing a fair bit of standing and singing though.
if there was more of you it would have been a really good turnout from you.
we always take a large ammount down to yours don't we,one of them i always look forward to :D

that was block 15/17 that was standing redrose,i'm in block 19 which will stand on big games like man u and the likes of.
but block 15/17 do non stop singing if you watch them or hear them,i always feel a twat singing on my own when they sing,but i still do it!

were you up the top mate?