Who should create the Atmosphere?

[robleflaneur]

There’s too many grumpy middle/old aged men for there to be an atmosphere of yore.

Not enough youth in the ground these days for a raucous atmosphere.

Hang on.When your eyesight starts to fail,you have to move away from the Holte.
I rattle my false teeth and shake my hip replacement and if that fails to frighten the opposition,I turn my hearing aid up to a loud whine.
Being grumpy and old,I must complain about the length of games,they severely test the bladder and why are there so many youngsters queueing for the toilet stalls ?

[Mister E]

The 1897 section didn't appear to be making any noise, and didn't seem to be joining in with the rest of the stadium in singing...

[chrisw1]

This is another Bournemouth fan saying how load it was.

Are you sure you lot had turned your hearing aids on?

https://x.com/avfcbreaking/status/1782128914799759867

[WassallVillain]

The 1897 section didn't appear to be making any noise, and didn't seem to be joining in with the rest of the stadium in singing...

I sit lower Witton next to the Holte. It was quite loud at times with others around me in upper and lower joining in. I didn’t once hear the Bournemouth following or the 1897 section. The flag display looked impressive. Are they to be an ultras style (non violent obvs) section?

[Monty]

This is another Bournemouth fan saying how load it was.

Are you sure you lot had turned your hearing aids on?

https://x.com/avfcbreaking/status/1782128914799759867

They seem alright Bournemouth.

[chrisw1]

The 1897 section didn't appear to be making any noise, and didn't seem to be joining in with the rest of the stadium in singing...

I sit lower Witton next to the Holte. It was quite loud at times with others around me in upper and lower joining in. I didn’t once hear the Bournemouth following or the 1897 section. The flag display looked impressive. Are they to be an ultras style (non violent obvs) section?

Sometimes you can't tell exactly where the noise is coming from, but your wouldn't get Bournemouth supporters saying that if the fans around them weren't making some noise.  I couldn't really hear 1897 from the Holte, but I'm sure they made a difference.

They're not ultras, just a bunch of fans who want to do displays and make a bit of noise.  Fair play to them.

[boozey182]

I sit in the Upper Holte and I thought it was one of the best atmospheres of the season yesterday. Not 'best' as in loudest, maybe, but 'best' as in most positive and encouraging, even when things weren't going well. More robust.

I've been critical of the atmosphere a lot this calendar year - I've often felt that the positivity collapsed as soon as we stopped winning every match, which I guess is understandable, but I felt that the players had earned a bit more from us. Against Brentford, I genuinely think the reaction of the crowd when they scored the first contributed to the following 10 minutes. Around me people started talking about Stoke, and the bloke next to me (my dad) just stared at the floor muttering "we're fucked, we're fucked"! If the opposition could pick our reaction to a goal, they'd want that. (I guess it works both ways though, as we benefited from the Arsenal crowd's nervousness last week. When they went a bit nervy, that's when our team grew in confidence).

That wasn't the case yesterday though, there were plenty of pockets of us that were trying to get chants going, and when we went one down, we kept going. I may be deluded, but I'm sure it makes some kind of difference. There are some days when you turn up and the Holte is in full voice and you just think "there's no way we're losing this".

Just three more games to keep that up...

[Brend'Watkins]

The atmosphere was decent but I have a major gripe. That song that is taking off really gets on my nerves, it’s inane drivel, I am of course referring to The “Small Heat get battered” one. Good for getting the crowd up but why make them lot in any way relevant to what we’re doing?

[chrisw1]

The atmosphere was decent but I have a major gripe. That song that is taking off really gets on my nerves, it’s inane drivel, I am of course referring to The “Small Heat get battered” one. Good for getting the crowd up but why make them lot in any way relevant to what we’re doing?

Yes, the tune works really well, just a shame it's about Blues.

[Clampy]

The atmosphere was decent but I have a major gripe. That song that is taking off really gets on my nerves, it’s inane drivel, I am of course referring to The “Small Heat get battered” one. Good for getting the crowd up but why make them lot in any way relevant to what we’re doing?

Yeah I agree. We could at least wait and belt it out if they go down.

[dave.woodhall]

The better we get, the bigger the gap, the more we seem to be bothered by them.

[Pat McMahon]

I was in A3, upper Trinity just to the right of the halfway line and thought the atmosphere was ok but not wild.  I could hear the 1897 group more than the Holte in the first half and could see them bouncing around. Fair play to them for making en effort and adding noise to what is usually a dead stand (in my experience).

The second half I didn’t notice them so much but more because the Holte was much louder and we were more on the front foot so I was focused on the play in the attacking half.

The comments about acoustics are correct at Villa Park as the open corners mean sound escapes easily. A few times I’ve been in the Holte and thought the atmosphere was good only to be told by my nephew that he couldn’t hear a thing in the North Stand. An obvious point is that the upper Holte is much further from the pitch than the upper tie r of the Shed at Chelsea for example - chosen for comparison because they have very similar capacity to us.

[chrisw1]

The atmosphere was decent but I have a major gripe. That song that is taking off really gets on my nerves, it’s inane drivel, I am of course referring to The “Small Heat get battered” one. Good for getting the crowd up but why make them lot in any way relevant to what we’re doing?

Yeah I agree. We could at least wait and belt it out if they go down.

The thing is there was a moment against Wolves (I think) when it really took off during an injury break, even the Trinity got involved and Douggie was clapping along too.  It's organic moments like that that really take a song to the next level.  I wish it wasn't about Blues, but it just works really well.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

The atmosphere was decent but I have a major gripe. That song that is taking off really gets on my nerves, it’s inane drivel, I am of course referring to The “Small Heat get battered” one. Good for getting the crowd up but why make them lot in any way relevant to what we’re doing?

I dislike it intensely. It's the way it tails off into a minor chord and this makes it sound dreary and without any enthusiasm. Maybe if it was bigging up the Villa I'd have more time for it but we're top 4, cruising in Europe and still singing about the Blues down the road .

[Drummond]

'Villa keep winning everywhere we go, 1,2,3,4, '