05 May 2017 17:45:59
Ed do you think the future of the kop maybe rail seating like at celtic. Make it general admission so that kids can stand with their mates and the atmosphere will come back.
{Ed001's Note - no idea mate. However the atmosphere will not come back because of standing. It is not going to come back while 90% of the crowd are too busy playing games, taking photos or recording vids on their phones. Every club is struggling to get a proper atmosphere.}
05 May 2017 18:06:14
Ed am I right in saying its law in the England that all top flight games have to be all seating, and it would have to change before any standing could be introduced?
{Ed001's Note - I don't know off the top of my head. Sorry.}
05 May 2017 18:47:13
Genuine question why does anybody feel the need to stand for 90 minutes to watch football.
Much more comfortable to be sitting not being knocked in to etc.
If the fa or whoever is in charge of allowing this did allow standing to happen I think it would be a disaster.
It would be like being in a mosh pit more bad behaviour and sorry to say it end up in sceens similar to West ham utd early in the season.
05 May 2017 19:06:36
Amazing that Liverpool fans of all fans would even consider it!
No thank you. My local side had a standing section when I was younger (Rushden and Diamonds), but it was almost always empty by the time they got rid of it. It was just unsafe, uncomfortable and full of knuckle draggers.
05 May 2017 19:08:04
Agree with Walter.
I don't know why anyone with any knowledge of Hillsbrough would even "go there" with this subject.
Some of the best atmospheres I've experienced have been in all-seaters. You don't need to stand to create an atmosphere.
I think it would require a change in the law and I think that is very reassuring.
05 May 2017 19:24:39
Thanks Ron you put over my point much better than I did. What you said is so true good on you sir.
05 May 2017 19:45:42
I think the modern football fan is different as well, more reserved and less likely to shout or sing in public, all the last generation who did shout and sing are usually half asleep these days due to old age 😉.
05 May 2017 21:02:43
Obviously a different sport but my local rugby team has a standing section. It's always dead whereas the seated part it packed. I don't see how it would add anything to be honest, it's uncomfortable to stand that long and not terribly convenient. Wouldn't necessarily increase the capacity either.
05 May 2017 23:50:34
All the loudest away fans stand at the match.
I would compare it to an ale house, whereas you sit with yer bird for a quiet one, and you stand up at the bar with the boys for a rowdy one.
Seating should be for lazy gets, arl ones, day trippers, people with packed lunch boxes and the corporate weak clapping lot.
06 May 2017 10:04:03
I'm sorry but i completely agree with the original post and believe it is the very first thing we need to sort out.
The reason so many so called 'modern football fans' are rife at the games is because they are forced to sit down. It makes you drowsy, depressed when its not going well and kills the atmosphere completely.
If you had at least half of the seats being standing, the camera toting boo boys would definately think twice about whether they wanted to go. To hell with comfort and leaving before half time to get a pizza, it isn't theatre, a tourist attraction, its a football club. People seem to have totally forgotten what that means. You should be going to a football match and having a great time win, lose or draw, and it is an OBLIGATION to make noise for 90 minutes and support your team, not a choice.
I came to this realisation about standing up when i was at a gig some time ago. 75% of the people there were standing up, making lots of noise, having a great time, in a safe, controlled environment. The other 25% were in the upper tier, sat down, looking fairly glum and passive but still appreciating the music. I remember looking at this and thinking if we just applied that idea to anfield how much better the games would be, bringing in the younger fans who want to create an atmosphere and have a good time, while not completely alienating those who are not capable of or do not want to stand for 90 minutes.
I also think its a total embarrassment that everton, despite having far less income than us, provide more affordable tickets and actual deals and incentives to get young fans into the ground, and we cannot. I really do believe all of this is the very first thing we need to sort out if we are truly change the fortunes and attitude of our club for the better. You want people to stop moaning and being pessimistic? Maybe if they were allowed to have a great time at matches no matter the result, that would be achievable.
06 May 2017 10:06:18
Yes MK Scouser, it truly is amazing that a fair few Liverpool fans would actually prefer to be objective about this and recognise that safe standing in 2017 is indeed safe! It grinds my gears when 'super fans' like you try to shame other LFC fans out of even talking about the idea just because of one tragically mismanaged day in a completely different time almost 30 years ago. It's like refusing to ride in a 2017 BMW car because in 1989 your friends were killed when their old Ford Pinto's brakes failed.
I bet you're one of those LFC fans who shouts down any talk about safe standing while drooling about how good BvB's Yellow Wall is.
06 May 2017 10:08:50
Of course safe standing would improve atmosphere.
- Groups of mates can stand together instead being allocated into seats in various parts of the ground. Everyone knows it's easier to create an atmosphere when you've got the camaraderie of mates sitting together.
- Nobody sings when they're sitting down.
Atmospheres are only good in big games because *everyone* in the Kop naturally stands up for them. The problem is against small teams when everyone is sitting down and you have to be that brave bastard to stand up amongst a sea of silent people sitting down and, sadly these days, risk being told to shut up by a local, which is what my mate saw when he went to the Stoke and City matches.
Yes, smartphones have been a nuisance, but they're not going to go away, so we need ideas that mitigate their negative effects on the atmosphere because we can't just ban phones. If people are all standing up and getting bouncy, then don't you think they're more likely to forget about playing games on their phone?
There will be an argument that all-seating used to work at Anfield, but only until phone technology got better and clusters of mates sitting together reduced. Seriously, it's not hard to figure out why away fans produce much better atmosphere: they're all standing up, and there is more camaraderie. That's it.
People who want to censor discussion about safe standing because of Hillsborough can go screw themselves.
06 May 2017 10:09:26
I'd be more inclined to just put large signal blockers around the stadiums so phones just don't work, well at least get signal or connect to the net.
Or just flat out ban phones in stadiums or make a Douchy area beside the smoking area for phone users!
06 May 2017 12:06:28
I'm 20 years old and a student, and I've got a load of Liverpool fan mates despite being from about 70 miles away from Liverpool. Me and my mates would love to go to a game together and I guarantee we would be chanting for the full 90, the problem is it's practically impossible to get tickets, and even if we did get tickets they wouldn't be together.
{Ed001's Note - it is really not that difficult to get tickets, nor to get them together. Have you tried joining your local supporters club and speaking to them? Most official supporters clubs get an allocation of tickets, they can often have a batch that get returned unsold, which are the ones you usually find being sold on the day on the website.}
06 May 2017 17:09:15
T-Diggity, you hear scousers bleat on about tourists supposedly ruining the atmosphere when in actual fact, many tourists actually want to sing. But how the hell is a tourist expected to start songs when not even the locals will do it? Locals that, by a considerable quantity, take their weekly visits to Anfield way too much for granted.
My mate was sitting in the main stand against Stoke, and a tourist nearby tried to get a chant going. A scouser sitting near him yelled at him to shut up. Tourists like you aren't the problem, you're the excited ones who want their rare experience to be actually as awesome as possible.
06 May 2017 18:20:35
Thanks Ed, I hadnt thought of that so I'll have a look in to it, the times I've tried on the website I've just never been successful unfortunately. And I think you're right Robin, you should never be told to shut up for supporting your team. I wouldn't say I'm a tourist as such though, I used to go fairly regularly when I lived in Merseyside and my step dad had a season ticket but I wish I could go more. One thing I've noticed at football games in general is that the season ticket holders will chant for a bit of the game but then spend the majority of the time bitching about the team, what use is that?
{Ed001's Note - a friend of mine used to get his tickets through knowing the head of one of the supporter's clubs. He would only get offered the unsold ones before they were returned, but he used to manage to get to 10+ games a season that way.}
06 May 2017 19:17:05
I'm definitely going to have to check that out then, thanks Ed.
{Ed001's Note - hope it helps.}
07 May 2017 10:10:35
Yeah I know you're not a tourist per se, but you know what I mean. a Liverpool fan on a visit to Anfield rather than a weekly routine. That's part of the problem, some locals take it for granted and treat it like some any old routine.