Atmosphere at Vicarage Road

It sounded ok on the telly and I know who went yesterday said that it was a good atmosphere, must have been down to the additional guidance from Little Mix.

 

If everyone in the 1881 were equipped with loud hailers it would solve the problem

 

This. I thought there was a definite increase in overall noise yesterday compared to the average game last season and this expectation of a constant cauldron of unspontaneous, manufactured atmosphere is a juvenile fantasy.

 

Deep down everyone knows It's quiet at VR & I really don't understand the people who try to justify or gloss over it like it's normal, it's become normal which is worrying....suggestions to help make the atmosphere better, what's wrong with that?

We should not dilute the current 1881, far from it, get more people involved & get them into the other stands. The younger generation are normally the ones that want to sing & most likely they are the ones that can't afford the prices, so perhaps the club can trial giving discounts on tickets in the singing section of each stand & see if that makes a difference. It might not work but at least try.

 

My main bugbear with the Watford crowd is they support vocally when entertained rather than when the team really need them. The most passionate crowds do both. I always find the crowd at the Vic transmit nervous silence to the pitch at just the wrong times. Hence why I imagine Holebas was visibly trying to gee the crowd up 10 minutes from halftime yesterday. I've often thought it's a contributor to the late goals we sometimes concede.

 

Someone who gets it.

 

It always sounds louder on telly because the microphones above the stand amplify noise

 

Atmosphere is generated by excitement in the pitch. Over the last 5 years the atmosphere has gotten better but tailed off at the end of Quique's tenure as performances dropped. Last season the football was dire and the atmosphere followed.
We'd sold our best song to China, Adbi had gone, who also had a song and we weren't left with much.

The 1881 needs to just keep plugging away. The season is new and if we have some good performances, the song will come and the atmosphere will follow. The rookery will join in and eventually part s of the rest of the ground will.

 

But if there was no singing, it would only amplify the groaning and coughing!

 

So are you effectively saying its the players responsibility to make the crowd sing?

 

Agree especially when there is a deep audible inhale of breath from all 3 1/2 sides at the same time when we are in no danger.

As for the atmosphere, I've been going since early 90s and I'd say it is better now on the whole but obviously a mid table season is unlikely to produce the atmosphere of a potential promotion season (which is likely to be more exciting and create a feel good vibe)

 

Nope, the players responsibility is to play well, win and entertain. If these conditions are met, it is likely that the crowd will show their appreciation and praise the players in the form of chanting. If the football served up is poor then fans will not sing. All fans go quiet when their team is not playing well or has conceded a goal.

 

But that is contradictory to what you're saying. Team plays well crowd sings, if they don't they're quiet. Don't disagree with what you say about going quiet after conceding but that is when the crowd is needed the most, so the players heads don't go down, knowing the fans are still behind them. Surely?

 

Nope, the players responsibility is to play well, win and entertain. If these conditions are met, it is likely that the crowd will show their appreciation and praise the players in the form of chanting. If the football served up is poor then fans will not sing. All fans go quiet when their team is not playing well or has conceded a goal.
My point was that after several months of shiit football at the end of Quique's' and Mazzari's seasons the Vic was quiet because you could see that the team was playing the same way, a good performance was unlikely and a loss was inevitable.

Are you suggesting that the last 18 months of dire football was down to the lack of noise made by the Watford fans?

 

The Quique Sanchez Flores song tune was being sung at the Man U v West Ham game today. Not sure which side was singing nor the player being sung about. It would be good if we could recycle it for someone. 'We've got Marco Silva' etc or similar?

 

Rarely does a home crowd sing after conceding a goal especially if they have no belief of their team getting a goal themselves.

If we play better football this season and scoring becomes more likely then I'm sure that the atmosphere will get better.

Songs are created for players who are consistently scoring/playing well. They are not created just because they play for Watford. Who do WFC have at this moment?

 

It seemed unusually loud to me yesterday but I did have a bit of a hangover. Seriously it did though apart from the 3-2-down lull, probably depends a lot on where you're sitting. We don't have a culture as a club of being loud & shouty historically but I think the 1881 have done a great job changing that.

We're probably never gonna be loud like Palarse fans because they're mental & we ain't.

 

The England Womens team were doing alright until the semi-final when the official England band turned up, coincidence? I think not!

 

He also waved his arms to gee up the Vic Road stand when we won a corner - but he didn't make eye contact, he had his back to the fans!

 

She's a huge improvement on that arrogant tosser Shorty

 

Nonsense, I whimper all the time

 

The section of the SEJ stand nearest the rookery is where the Wags sit, maybe that is part of the reason that the songs don't transmit further along

I sit near the away fans, sometimes I join in..... I need a 'winky' smiley.

 

The last couple of months of last season I could barley hear the 1881 from the SEJ stand. Evidently the rest of the Rookery wasn't joining in. Conversely, I could clearly hear the opposition shhhhhhhhing!

That is not a dig at the 1881, the start of 15/16 season the noise was great. The volume reduced as the on field performances lulled, that is understandable.

The rest of the ground does need a nudge to wake up but the rookery needs to lead.

 

The 1881 do a great job and it's loud in RS5. The songs we have don't particularly help and losing the Iggy and QSF chant has effected the gerneral noise levels.

I've not been down the bunker yet pre match but does that encourage an environment of testing out / discussing new chants?

 

Same here, we were Rookery side of Lower GT and atmosphere seemed pretty decent.

 

To get all the crowd going you need to get all the stands used to making some noise. Those home crowds who do that all have an anthem song. If someone can find one that is the holy grail to get a better atmosphere. Lots of the chants like the Deeney one are not going to get people around the ground joining in.

 

Any noise is good but people have to realise that Deeeeeeneeey/Moooonnneeeyyeeee/Loooootheeer does not make a song.

I once went to a reserves match, when they were at the Vic, free and when Ray Lewington was manager. I was younger, I was drunker and I used to chant more. This game was against Charlton, there weren't many people watching and I was sitting behind what I presume were Charlton Wags. A few home fans shouted U ORNS as the players arrived on pitch. The Wags said what was that? Yawns? What does that mean? And that was our best chant. It was replicated on match days and is used to this day. We need something more. Old boys in the GT stand or fathers with their kids in the SEJ aren't going to shout YAWNS!

 

Agreed. I thought it was pretty good yesterday. I haven't been impressed by the Palarse on the last two trips down there. Their 'singing section' is stuck down in a corner of the Holmesdale End in a worse location than the 1881 are on the Rookery. The Palarse have however been rather good on the last two trips to Wembley. Better than us anyway.

As well as singing there's also colour. There were far more flags in the GT, SEJ and Family Stand as well as the Rookery yesterday I thought. Those initiatives are entirely down to the 1881. It would help if those taking a flag from a bin for k.o. also took it back to a bin at the end of the match. Rather than leaving all the collection down to the 1881 and a few Roadies. That would make the whole experience more inclusive too.

 

People don't do things like that thought. That's like asking for help to take down the goal nets after a Sunday league game in the middle of winter.

 

Well people could start doing something like that then!

 

This is the type of statement that reflects why the majority of our fans are sh1te imo. As fans we have a duty to get behind the team especially when we're not doing so well on the pitch otherwise we're just a bunch of sing when we're winning t0ssers.

There's been loads of away games when we have got behind the team irrespective of excitement on the pitch and I believe we can genuinely act as a catalyst for the team.

Generally the atmosphere is usually good at away games with only a few thousand committed fans. Whenever we are at home or big away games (Wembley etc) the (silent) majority effect kicks in. The crystal palace semi final stills irks me as the so called singing section was full of people that couldn't be bothered to get behind the team cos we weren't performing on the pitch.

Maybe it's the flipside to the positives of being a family club.

 

Absolute rubbish. We are under no duty to do any such thing at football. If you want to chant, fine but don't place that obligation on others and don't be forced into submission by the 'silent majority'. I suspect that the atmosphere at Wembley had more to do with the fans excitement and expectation evaporating due to the players surrender on the pitch.

 

Seemed quite loud to me on the other side of the Rookery, and from the highlights you could certainly hear the crowd, guess the sound just doesn't travel that well.

Liverpool were quiet, which I found surprising.

 

That seemed to me like a positive gesture, like "come On, we've got a corner"

Players geeing up the fans is often a positive part of the relationship between the two, not necessarily Holebas suggesting that the crowd aren't doing their job.

 

'U horns' predates Lewington era.