The South Stand, and the NSL, is all a journey. We hope the journey to be a long and even more successful one, but we understand that there will be ups and downs as well as obstacles to overcome amid all the pleasures. The journey so far has been a remarkable one, and we thoroughly appreciate the fact that so many people get behind what we do in the South Stand, and it makes all the effort worth while.
With that being said, we have now set ourselves a standard. Those early games in the season like Brentford, Wolves and Barnsley showed exactly what the South Stand is capable of: an electric atmosphere that drives the players and makes the John Smith’s a fortress. Things had slipped a bit heading into the game at home to Ipswich. Admittedly, games against teams like Blackburn and Port Vale do not necessarily whet the appetite the same way upcoming games against Brighton, Leeds and Reading do; but this is when the players need the fans most.
What we saw on Saturday was one of the better atmospheres in the stand this season, and hopefully this carried around the ground too. It always helps when the team are putting on a dominant display and the tempo of football being played tends to result in the volume levels being ramped up a bit, but we can’t stress enough how important 90-minute support is. Take the recent Forest home game for example; the team trailed at half time and fans were wondering again if it was going to be important points dropped in a winnable game. However, pushed on by the support around the ground (and Forest’s defence..), the team managed to turn it around.
The introduction of new chants such as “Izzy Izzy Brown” and, perhaps most notably, the Chris Schindler song, were all great bonuses to what was a good day on and off the field. Much like Town, we need to stay consistent in the South Stand, and show the players and the club why it is so important that we have home fans in there. Of course the game was comfortable, with goals from Brown and Schindler propelling Town up to third in the table. The most important thing remains that all people, young and old, go home from matches having had an enjoyable experience, and hopefully what we do in the stand affects that.
We’ve had some incredible moments already, and we all know that under Wagner et al. we have the potential to make more, so let’s continue the journey loudly and proudly.
There are fairly substantial costs involved in producing displays like we did vs Ipswich. We are looking to go bigger and better for the upcoming home game against Newcastle. We look to generate funds through merchandise and donations – so if you would like to help us out then please follow the link HERE. Thanks!