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Nodge away
at 16:51 18 Mar 2024

"In my opinion, and the opinion of others I have talked to, that lost us the win and 3 precious points"

Is this a joke..? Am I about to get whooshed..?
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Fanzines
at 11:20 15 Mar 2024

Let me suggest Blue Action's effort Out In Amsterdam! We'll be sending issue 9 to print at some point this weekend and still have issues 3 thru 8 in stock (although barely any of issue 3 left). We'll stay retro and always do physical copies, but are finally succumbing to the 21st century and will make all our issues available digitally (watch this space). Follow the link to our online shop on all our socials...
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North stand and block A
at 12:06 8 Mar 2024

I will just say it was all started by the 'superfans' you describe. Who knows the psychology behind it: perhaps jealous that attention is being taken away from them? Or the presence of this loud and boisterous singing section rubs their noses in how sterile the North Stand has become? We were always good at holding our tongues, but a couple of new lads came in and just couldn't help themselves, leading to some unedifying back-and-forths...

Trust me, we'd rather be in the North Stand, specifically in the middle of section 5. And if you remember the results from that survey we sent out, the overwhelming majority of fans wanted the same. The club wanted it as well! But were Graham, Linda and Reg, who'd been in the various iterations of the North Stand for 50 years, going to make way? Of course not, and it was a battle the club weren't willing to have. So the North Stand had a chance of a rebirth of sorts but, sadly, didn't take it up...

In terms of not accomplishing our goals, our goal was always to establish a section of the ground where it was explicitly stated that the expectation would be for fans to sing. This SHOULD have been expected in the NL, but for various reasons - chief among them the transition to all-seater this expectation had disappeared. 'Uniting' the rest of the ground was always aspirational. The fact is, if folk don't want to sing, there's nothing you can do to make them. So all you can do is create a space where, if you start up a song it won't just die on your lips, or peter out after 6 seconds and in view of that, Block A's been a resounding success. There're about 100 STs in there, so my advice to anyone who's frustrated with the NL to come over and join the party...
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North stand and block A
at 11:07 8 Mar 2024

The geezer at the back is probably me. You have to persevere with songs otherwise you just whip through your entire repertoire - several times over - within half an hour. Then people get bored and that's when Whaddya Think Of Norwich?! starts up - and no-one wants that. I agree that there should be a cut off, but it's about getting the timing right. It will ALWAYS be better for a chant to go on too long than not long enough, so will always err on the side of that. One thing we're pushing for is a megaphone, which would make it easier to instigate a chant and change things up, but the club have concocted some pathetic health & safety b0ll0cks to knock it back. It won't stick though...

You may also be referring to the time around the half hour mark when we were gamely trying to push through a new chant - Whenever We Win. A rousing, uplifting chant that you hear a lot on the continent and I think also at Rangers. With any new chant, the oldest method is the best - just go with it persistently, people join in a bit more each time until it catches. We actually had the lyrics on the flyers we laid out at the Birmingham game, but they usually get turned into paper aeroplanes and hussed about the place...

I'm glad you've acknowledged that we join in with anything that comes out of the NL. There's this myth that the North is filled with boisterous singers constantly trying to get it going but are thwarted at every attempt by those anti-social oiks in Block A who just sing over them all the time. It's just not true. 90% of the atmosphere is generated by us. To bring this back to the OP it does then mean things are out of sync, but what can you do..? Sound is never going to carry evenly through a stadium, particularly if the main source of that sound is in one specific area. The obvious solution was to create a singing section at the back of section 5, but that was never going to fly and besides, would just lead to people complaining in the Cobbold/Magnus that everything was out of sync. All you can do is create an area where people who WANT to sing can congregate, which Block A does very well indeed, and i'm assuming you agree otherwise you wouldn't be in it. If the rest of the ground wants to join in, even better...
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North stand and block A
at 10:28 8 Mar 2024

This just isn't true. On the vanishingly rare occasions you hear anything come out of the NL we join in - When The Saints Go Marching In, for example. Super Samy Morsy emanated from there as well I think and we all joined in with that...
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How good do these look at Villa Park?
at 21:27 15 Feb 2024

I managed to get another contact at the FSA who confirmed that the SGSA is technology neutral and would therefore consider railseating simply one design among many permitted. He seemed surprised at that quote you found (went on to say that it wasn't uncommon for ministers to get things wrong on this matter) and is going to cross reference the Green Guide (massive safety handbook builders and architects refer to when building things) to see if the said quote was based on actual fact and then get back to me. I'd check myself, but would have to buy the guide for a cool 95 quid...

I think it's like what you said earlier - railseating has just become the industry standard. It's the one design familiar to clubs and therefore the simplest option. My hunch also is that the government - backed by the police - is aggressively pushing the railseating model and implying it's the only game in town. Football fans are violent, coked up louts remember. They don't want a mass of them moving freely around a terrace. They're more concerned with power and control than safety...

So yeah, it"s a question of how much Ashton gives a t0ss really. The problem is that he wants the ground to 'earn' 24/7, so it's probably better to have rail seats that can be popped back down if, say, they wanted to put on a concert. But there's no reason why the redevelopment couldn't include a block of terracing as well...
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How good do these look at Villa Park?
at 22:23 8 Feb 2024

God, that's so disheartening reading that. How are these people anywhere near the decision making process with regard to football..? Do they even like the game..??

It's nothing to do with safety - it rarely is - and more to do with power and control. It's interesting, because when I was chatting to the FSA they said the SGSA were no longer the enemy. I think we can deduce from this who they meant. The government want football fans in neat, tidy little rows, closely monitored and not getting too bolshy. The clamour around bringing standing back got too great so they had to do something, and I guess have just given away the most meagre concession they could get away with...

The FSA said it was going to take time to erode the junk legislation around standing areas and it would take a maverick club to push the government on it. Is Ipswich that club? Is any club that club?? Maybe in 5 or 6 years, I dunno, Crystal Palace will successfully convince the government to let them put in a proper terrace, but by then we'll be lumbered with a load of awful railseating and zero desire to spunk a million quid or what have you replacing it...
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How good do these look at Villa Park?
at 16:22 8 Feb 2024

I mean, if it's one standing spot per person, then you just go in and stand on a particular spot..? I can't imagine overfilling would be as much of a problem as there's no danger of anybody spilling over the rows with a waste high barrier in front of them. Whenever I see railseated areas on telly it looks relatively loose, i.e not everyone's packed in like sardines, so there would be a bit of fluidity I think. What i'd envisage happening is lads who want to sing would kind of squeeze in next to each other and everyone would even out over the row. To be honest, this would probably still happen even if it was reserved...

But yeah, you're right. No need for all this faff if they just do it properly with normal terracing - perhaps with some modifications like extra crush barriers...
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How good do these look at Villa Park?
at 11:14 8 Feb 2024

Really torn on this. We need standing areas back at football, but these..?! It's cited as being a safer option, but this narrative that 'normal' terracing is inherently dangerous needs to end...

These rail seats would only add to the matchday experience if they were subsequently made unreserved. Otherwise you're just stuck with the same problem you have now: singers mixed in with non-singers, with no way of either to be able to congregate, thus neutralising the atmosphere. The club have a once in a lifetime opportunity to get this right - just hope they don't go for the easy option...
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How good do these look at Villa Park?
at 11:04 8 Feb 2024

I just wonder how many lovely old grounds could've been saved if this ridiculous law on standing at games had been junked sooner. So many clubs have outgrown their grounds, but reinstalling 'proper' terraces would immediately tack on an extra 3-4 thousand capacity...
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How good do these look at Villa Park?
at 10:56 8 Feb 2024

However, UEFA are beginning to thaw on this. It's likely that, in 2-3 years, clubs will no longer have to have all-seaters to compete in UEFA competitions...
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How good do these look at Villa Park?
at 10:53 8 Feb 2024

They'll have to do something though, as the SGSA are really clamping down on standing in seated areas, arguing - fairly - that, as standing areas are legal now, clubs have no excuse not to install them...
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Blue Action, indeed EVERYONE… start preparing for WBA
at 09:32 5 Feb 2024

We're not pseudo-ultras - we ARE ultras. Main thing that fundamentally differentiates us from European ultras is the undercurrent of violence. We could go an attack some away fans if you'd prefer us to be more authentic..?

The scenes that day were incredible and will live long in the memory. The Guardian actually used an image as the front cover for their Sports Photograph of the Year feature. A couple of comments from the social media of that feature that are quite revealing: 'if this was Germany or Poland it would be brilliant, but it's England so it's cringeworthy and embarrassing apparently' and 'I support Colchester and f**king hate Ipswich but anyone who doesn't think this is cool is just jealous'.

Fun fact: the decision to greet the coach was quite last minute. We had intended to do a European style 'corteo' march to the ground, but the clamour to greet the coach a la Exeter - from the wider fanbase and WITHIN THE CLUB (when we met with Mark Ashton at the beginning of the season he asked if we'd do it every home game) - was so great we thought f**k it, let's give the people what they want...

To anyone sneering and tutting about the way we do things, my message is simple: put down your phones, get off your ar$es and go do it better...
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Blue Action, indeed EVERYONE… start preparing for WBA
at 08:43 5 Feb 2024

Breaks my heart that this is the most liked post on this thread...
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UK home atmospheres
at 11:15 23 Jan 2024

You've absolutely nailed it and this is precisely what A Block is attempting to solve. The fact is in, all-seater stadia, the club HAS to be proactive in engineering atmosphere. It won't just sort itself out. Now that standing areas are steadily being reintroduced, there's a once in a generation chance to rectify this permanently at Portman Road. Just have to hope that, when the club get round to it, they don't take the easy option and stick in those rubbish rail seats, but proper terracing (modified obviously to make it safer) so fans can congregate...

There has been some regrettable back and forths between some of our lads and others based in the North Stand. There are probably a couple of hundred good singers in there, but - as you allude to - they're scattered about and surrounded by fans who are just too inhibited - or simply can't be bothered - to sing. So our message is get up to A Block. It's been a revelation...
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Safe Standing
at 13:12 19 Jan 2024

Not necessarily. The main requisite is allowing fans who are temperamentally inclined to sing to be able to congregate. This is precisely the problem with the North Stand - there are probably a good couple of hundred singers in there, but they're completely neutralised because they're all scattered about and have no means of getting near each other (apart form on the concourse - hence why it's often more of a buzz in there than in the stand!). This is exactly what A Block is trying to address - one place where the atmosphere generators can merge into one to maximise impact. But this could be done better if a proper terrace was installed...
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Safe Standing
at 12:10 19 Jan 2024

I was having a lengthy discussion with Peter Daykin who was the safe-standing czar at the FSA about this very matter. Basically, the SGSA are keen to 'let loose' with standing, but because the legislation around it is such a mess it just takes a long time to unpick it. Interestingly, he said "the SGSA are no longer the enemy", implying that it's the government who are being a hindrance (and it wouldn't surprise me if the police are throwing obstacle in the way as well). So something like 'one standing spot per seating spot' rail-seating is just a necessary 'baby-step'. It's also more prevalent as that was - at the time - the only design allowed when trials of standing were first conducted...

But the fact is if a club comes to the SGSA with a 'normal' terrace design with rock solid safety mitigations - such as what you see with Exeter's 4,000 capacity Big Bank terrace - the legal case to block it can't really be upheld. It's just a question of if/when a club has the desire to do that...

Which brings us to Ipswich. We've been in the club's ear about including a 'proper' standing area (and by proper we mean a normal terrace, like what you see at Exeter, Morecambe, Burton etc etc) in the Cobbold redevelopment plans. In our fevered wet dreams we see the club shop being demolished and relocated and that corner being filled in with a 2,000 man European style 'Curva'. You could then install rail seating in the North Stand for those who want to stand, but don't want to be buffeted about too much on a terrace. The rail seating bit means that the section could still be used all year round for concerts etc. We have to just pray that the club don't just take the easy route out and slap rail seating in and be done with it...
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LOWER NORTH - WTF are you doing?! Seriously
at 08:34 14 Jan 2024

Yeah, sorry mate, you said in another message. We get people from the Alf Ramsey message 'oi sit in the Alf Raamsey roight next to the away faans an they're all oi can heeyuh - sing up Blue Aaaction!'

We're doing alright. A Block knows, B Block knows, section 6 knows and most of section 5 knows, even if they're not ready to admit it to themselves yet. We can't do it all, and sometimes we forget that. We need to do just do our thing and welcome anyone else in who wants to join the party. I just hope the club continue to back it - put something in the ST renewal packs or something. My concern is they go 'right BA, we've given you your singing section, now leave us alone' and then over time the same process happens like with the NL - fans just linger on in there forgetting what they're there for. As I keep saying, in all-seater stadia the club MUST be proactive - encourage singers to come in, encourage non-singers to relocate. The Cobbold redevelopment could solve SO many problems, but the club has to get it right...

Yeah, they stuck the Germans down under the Sunderland fans. There're about 100 spots still in A Block, surprised they didn't stick them in with us...
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LOWER NORTH - WTF are you doing?! Seriously
at 07:01 14 Jan 2024

I thought no-one can hear us..?!
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LOWER NORTH - WTF are you doing?! Seriously
at 06:46 14 Jan 2024

Where do you sit mate..?
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