Are we Fanatics or just Spectators? The Future for Football fans!
January 4th, 2008 | 
Author: 
FFC columnist Nick Rostron-Pike
Football fans are not fanatics anymore. They are an audience, they buy their ticket, order their half time drinks and settle 15 minutes before the curtain raises. They sit and wait to be entertained with dazzling moves and great crescendos of the plot.
A red card becomes the villain, a last minute goal the moment of embrace between two lovers, the nil-nil draw an inexplicably bad performance of Romeo and Juliet (we’ve all been there). Â
Theatres fill as do football grounds, yet all you can hear in both is the sound of silence. I stand, probably not for much longer, in the Stretford End. It is noisy and there are songs going on, but equally this is just one tier of one stand where the acoustics are so bad all noise made gets lost amongst the padded seats that fill certain areas of the ground. Â
It is true of Old Trafford, as Fergie so ‘politely’ put this week, but it is also true of Anfield, The Emirates, Stamford Bridge and even, shock horror, the home of the self-proclaimed ‘best fans in the world’ St James Park. Â
Clubs are businesses now. They act like businesses, building huge complexes that appeal to all range of fans. You have the Private Boxes (Corporate boxes), Dress Circle (Half way line, £44), Upper Circle (2nd Tier, £39), Balcony (West Stand Upper, £33) and then the pit (Stretford End, £33). A seat for every type of spectator; but not for every type of fan.Â
Fans are often not welcome in this theatre. Stand and scream and shout and support your team and immediate ejection is a real possibility. Â
Spectators pay so much for their ticket that they expect a certain level of facility. All of seats at The Emirates are padded. Do they feel so relaxed that they don’t need to cheer on Arsenal? The old Highbury was small and dingy but also one of the best grounds I have ever been to. Compact, homely and sometimes noisy (for big matches), it often spurred Arsenal on to unlikely victories. Â
The Away End at any football ground is always the loudest and most vibrant part of the stadium, but how long is it before ‘Corporate members’ get preference over Season-ticket holders? A scary day for football no doubt.Â
This could quite easily have been a rant about how insensitive and uninformed Sir Alex Ferguson is but that would be too easy and playing into his hands. Â
I just hope this is him appeasing American investors and not his personal views. If so, many fans will view his undoubted achievements as somewhat tainted.Â
By FFC columnist Nick Rostron-Pike
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