69 replies to this topic

[synavm]

Gate 12/13, Matthew Harding Lower seem to be the best blocks for atmosphere in the stadium by a country mile.

[Sleeping Dave]

synavm, on 30 November 2011 - 11:49 AM, said:

Gate 12/13, Matthew Harding Lower seem to be the best blocks for atmosphere in the stadium by a country mile.

I second that. I'm in Gate 13 but would actually say that Gate 12 is probably just a little bit more atmospheric than Gate 13.

[ShedBoy91]

Anyone who thinks the MHL is a better atmosphere than the Shed is kidding themselves. Might be louder when you do actually sing because there's more of you, but the Shed constantly sings and stands unlike MHL which has got worse again this season.

[j.cole]

Disagree East upper gate 3 is where its at, always rocking up there.

[Sleeping Dave]

ShedBoy91, on 01 December 2011 - 03:54 PM, said:

Anyone who thinks the MHL is a better atmosphere than the Shed is kidding themselves. Might be louder when you do actually sing because there's more of you, but the Shed constantly sings and stands unlike MHL which has got worse again this season.

Really? I think the Shed has been very quiet this season. Not going to get drawn into a discussion whether the Shed or the MHL is better because I think that's almost impossible to argue either case (mainly because you can't be in both ends at the same time). But my impression is that the MHL is louder, stands up far more than the Shed (I very rarely sit down at all in Gate 13 whereas Shed upper always seem to sit down).

However, what should be done if/when the club is sorting out a new ground is to pair all shed end and MHL STs in the same end.

[BlueFlag999]

j.Cole, on 01 December 2011 - 11:25 PM, said:

Disagree East upper gate 3 is where its at, always rocking up there.

Lol yeah. They really need to sort those dodgy chairs out and fix them down more firmly....

[stokerino]

My section in the Shed Upper (west side) has dropped in singing quality this season. It's kind of depressing.

[Kneel for 1]

stokerino, on 02 December 2011 - 01:51 PM, said:

My section in the Shed Upper (west side) has dropped in singing quality this season. It's kind of depressing.

Have to agree shed upper west has gotten quieter, over reliant on zigga v2.

Hopefully all the new st holders will bed in and join in soon.

Will no one sing my Ramires song?

[The Bouncy]

People complain about our home atmosphere but what about Newcastle! I thought going there when they're over-achieving and the place would have been rocking against a big team like ours. They only seemed to chant Speed's name one or two times throughout the whole game and can only remember one other time they actually sung something.

Our atmosphere is brilliant compared to some PL grounds. I think we all have high standards for Chelsea's home atmopshere as our away support is one of the best in the country - and always has been. Our home support is far better than United's, Arsenal's, City's, Newcastle's and we give Liverpool a run for their money.

It's only really Sp*rs and Stoke who constantly better Stamford Bridge imo.

At least we also have two singing stands, not many clubs have even more than 1 gate that regulaly sings these days.

[mastiffchild]

The Bouncy, on 03 December 2011 - 09:56 PM, said:

People complain about our home atmosphere but what about Newcastle! I thought going there when they're over-achieving and the place would have been rocking against a big team like ours. They only seemed to chant Speed's name one or two times throughout the whole game and can only remember one other time they actually sung something.

Our atmosphere is brilliant compared to some PL grounds. I think we all have high standards for Chelsea's home atmopshere as our away support is one of the best in the country - and always has been. Our home support is far better than United's, Arsenal's, City's, Newcastle's and we give Liverpool a run for their money.

It's only really Sp*rs and Stoke who constantly better Stamford Bridge imo.

At least we also have two singing stands, not many clubs have even more than 1 gate that regulaly sings these days.

Well, Spurs is pretty loud because the fans who sing haven't been moved about as much as they have at most grounds and Stoke are just singing because the "football" is so poor(ion quality not necessarily results) that they HAVE to sing plus it's cold and you must stay warm.

Our away support were, again, magnificent today. I couldn't get tickets this week and had to make do with my local(and living in Cumbria means a pub full of Chelsea hating, Londoner detesting armchair Liverpool and Manure fans plus a smattering of Citeh who seem to be appearing by the day from their success comas)and felt, knowing how high up and out of the way the allocation is at Newcastle, that our boys were outstanding this afternoon but games like this are never the issue.

What gets me down a bit, as a supporter based in the Norf', is when we go to places like Wigan or Bolton(especially Blackburn) and we don't nearly sell out our end. At those grounds, most seasons, you can still get tickets on the day of the match at their ground FFS! Even in the old Second division we'd have happily filled their ends and taken some of the home too! I remember going to Maine Road in the promotion season of 1990 and there must have been 13,000(at least) of us turning up and can remember sitting down on the terrace at Oakwell in the pouring rain during the same season(4-0 loss in the cup I think) waiting for the rest of our 8,000 to arrive which they duly did. These days we'd not get half that at those grounds(well, City will now be a sell out but weve often failed to fill our allocation at Eastlands too.

Point is I think supporting Chelsea has gotten too dear for a lot of people who used to go to every away and every home to continue and while most of those at away games are still those wanting to sing(and we ARe great away to a man)a lot of us now pick and choose which games to go to both home AND especially away and the result is a split in our support with those of the old school lucky enough to be able to go to the big games often missing out on the smaller games where many of us who can no longer afford to go(or take the family/kids)every week DO turn up to support our boys. It's much the same at home in terms of WHO is there in regards to singing and old timers but the number of JCLs pick up the slack in numbers at home but aren't arsed to go to Blackburn on a Monday and never will be while those who'd love to can't manage it if they want to afford seeing us play Manure at home the following month.

I know it's the same for many clubs but few have had such an influx of newer fans(and don';t get me wrong I know we need them and am often the one found saying to others not to abuse them because we don't KNOW if they'd sod off if we stopped being any good-we don't know which would and which wouldn't)assisting the board with it's price hikes and daft schemes and not caring about not being able to stand and sing at home games. the impact on Chelsea, I'd argue, since all seaters came in has been greater than on ANY other football club in England. I know a few members of the Away season schemes over the past few seasons and they often share my view on how and why we ended up a successful club who often suffer the indignity of failing to fill our end and I think it's fair to place some blame at the door of the all seater revolution when it comes to both home atmosphere going downhill AND away numbers falling for the non glamour tiers away from the capital.

Because I'm stuck up in The lakes(yes, it's pretty but the people HATE us and care too much about livestock and 300 miles for a home game sucks-600 both ways, natch)me and my boys see a lot of the Northern aways and, trust me, the fans who get to the games are always, largely, great and do our legacy proud in terms of noise but the numbers seem, to the naked eye, to be falling unless there's a particular reason a game is in demand-like Bolton in 2005-and when even games like Everton away and City away(before the cash came to Eastlands)see us fail to sell our tickets now and then I think the problem is a bit embarrassing. Hearing Bolton taunt you with "is that all you take away?" when they haven't even sold out their bits of their ground ranks as the most shown up I've been at a game because our boys in the top tier(which WAS full) didn't realise the bottom tier was half empty(our bit AND theirs)and mocked them back with "hey're here they're there , they're every Effin where...empty seats!" and we, stuck on the bottom, winced.

Whatever, I blasme the cost of seats at home and travel as well as the success and Europe making going to every game a rich mans hobby and not allowing away tickets on open sale(and only real fans would even WANT these tickets sop why ever not seeing as there's no violence these days), or never early enough, is helping us look a bit daft and as someone who cares a bit about the legacy of our travelling support(you can't ban a Chelsea fan FFS)I'd love to see us consign unfilled away ends to a brief period where we could blame ticketing policy! I'm probably just moaning but when we would used to take 5000 EVERYWHERE why on Earth can't we take 3,000 to Blackburn in the EPL? We're still the best away fans in the universe for my money(seriously, we are the balls)and it warms me when Utd fans recall our support in cup games at OT as the greatest atmosphere they ever heard from an away side there so the empty seats cut a little deep when it happens.

[thevelourfog]

The Bouncy, on 03 December 2011 - 09:56 PM, said:

People complain about our home atmosphere but what about Newcastle! I thought going there when they're over-achieving and the place would have been rocking against a big team like ours. They only seemed to chant Speed's name one or two times throughout the whole game and can only remember one other time they actually sung something.

Our atmosphere is brilliant compared to some PL grounds. I think we all have high standards for Chelsea's home atmopshere as our away support is one of the best in the country - and always has been. Our home support is far better than United's, Arsenal's, City's, Newcastle's and we give Liverpool a run for their money.

It's only really Sp*rs and Stoke who constantly better Stamford Bridge imo.

At least we also have two singing stands, not many clubs have even more than 1 gate that regulaly sings these days.

Mostly agreed. Newcastle's home support is average, but people love this romanticised idea of northern fans. United and City's home support is no more impressive than ours, either.

Our away support is magnificent and any club would struggle to generate a home support that matched them.

[Erland Johnson]

I sit in the shed lower and would say that the atmosphere has been the most consitent - we haven't sat down for any game in the last 3 years now which may have something to do with it. I think this season has been the best so far and the worse we do the louder it gets.. I was sat in the MHL for the Liverpool game and the only people that were starting the zigga zagga's etc were us from the shed lower. There is no doubting that when the MHL is up for it then there isn't a better stand to be in but, those days seem to be far and few between.

The banter is good down in the shed - the unfortunate thing is that there isn't many of us in that section...

[middleoftheshed]

Likewise I am in the shed lower (gate 5) and we stand for 90 mins every match, there is plenty of singing and I really enjoy it there but I can imagine we are not easily heard by the MH end.

[stokerino]

It's difficult to make out a lot of your singing from the Shed Upper, to be fair. :-p

[The Bouncy]

Lots of good things being said about the Shed End from Shed Enders. I sit in Gate 12 of MHL and I personally think it's a decent atmosphere. Could be better, of course.

I don't know how it compares with the shed as I haven't sat there for over a year or two.

Think the only way to solve this is to get a member to rotate between MH and Shed End and then at the end of the season for them to tell us what is actually better.