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Seriously. We hear a lot a talk about being the 12th man. Villa have it writ large across the Holt End. But how many extra points, if any, per season do we think we get from having good support? How many times have we lifted the players to change a loss to a draw, or a draw to a win? Or kept momentum up so that we maintain a winning position that we would have given away. Interested to hear what we think we're worth.
My observation would be that the Away support is excellent, the atmosphere under lights is often very good, but that most Saturday afternoons the team generally has to inspire the supporters rather than the other way round. When the crowd is roused then it can be great on a Saturday, too, but that isn't the default, by a long way.
The North and South Stand construction seems to have resulted in a stadium that doesn't throw the sound that is generated onto the pitch very well. Whether that is the main cause is difficult to answer, because it could be that having 20,000 in a 30,000 stadium is also a factor- lots of dead space.
When Crazee comes and plays his drum in the SAR then people join in, quite loudly, but he only does it for a couple of goes and then is off. 5 minutes would make a real difference. Alternatively, we could do with our own version of the Sheffield Wednesday band. Or Blue Action need to move to the SAR so that they can compete with the Away fans.
All of that said, does it make a difference to the team? It's one of sport's great intangibles...
...but anyone who was at Portman Road on 25th April 2015 will say that it did:
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