The Holmesdale Fanatics are back

It'll probably work out better in the long run but it was a bit embarrassing the way they turned their backs on Selhurst over a relatively trivial matter and refused to take up their season tickets. The club could have called their bluff. I know they're a youngish group but they can tend to act like kids.

It does show though the issues all seater stadiums cause in that respect. I'd prefer unreserved seating behind the goal so if you want a certain seat/area you get there earlier, you can sit/stand with your mates, the atmosphere is better and you can move away from people you don't like and general tossers as you can/could on a terrace. However, it's always going to cause ructions and be a bit harsh if someone has had a seat for 20+ years and are forced out of it.

 

The thing is mate, and i'm not actually disagreeing with your point, but fan/terrace changes over time and it always has done.

You grew up in the 80's and that was prime lads culture on the terraces, as it was in a lot of the 90's and the 70's to a certain degree though the fashion was completely different! Obviously football has changed dramatically since then, the whole environment in fact, so it's no surprise the atmosphere has moved in a different direction.

But then again the 80's and 90's was a world of difference from how fans supported their teams in the 50's and 60's. Sure it was still a working mans game but you could check out old videos and it'll show how different it was. The Kop at Anfield used to get rave reviews from reporters but there are videos of literally the whole stand singing Beatles songs during games, and as good as they were at this point in the 60's the Beatles were known as a boy/pop band. I'd guarantee you there would have been old boys (i'm thinking your age! ) standing on the Kop thinking 'what the actual fook is going on here with these songs'!

And the way fans supported their clubs in the 50's and 60's was again a whole world away from how they did in the 20's and 30's. I've heard Palace songs from decades ago that go on and on, there's about 10 verses of the f*cking songs!!

So no doubt in 20/30 years time there will be another huge shift in football culture and a new mob of older blokes will be wondering what on earth the youth are up to.

But in regards to our fanatics (), God knows why they dress in black or wave a load of dippy flags around, but it seems like it's part of the new terrace culture, and not only is it spreading, it also looks like it's here to stay.

 

The standing Kop was always a young man's stand and as you'd grow towards middle age you'd move to the side (nowadays the average age of a fan in the Kop is probably well in the 40s like the rest of the ground). There wasn't much of a singing culture at football at all pre-60s, so yeah you can imagine what the middle aged and older fellas in the Main Stand thought of these young teds singing She Loves You and Carousel songs.

I think the HF act very childish at times, and have grown very self-important, but I think vocally they're generally very good. They come up with semi-original chants, they don't just rip off every other club in England and chant bottom-of-the-barrel banter, they make their home end look authentic with flags and banners and don't wear replica shirts and club-shop tat. I'd rather that than the general array of zombies that populate English grounds these days, or the Home Counties daytrip crowd that fill the big London grounds.

Some groups of 'ultras' really are embarrassing, and English away supports at Anfield are beyond tedious, but when Palace first came up they had a really good, vibrant away support at Anfield in a game I went to and a quite authentic atmosphere rather than just chanting absolute rubbish all game. A novel idea but they actually got behind their own team rather than just being needlessly obnoxious and insulting us for 90 minutes like everyone else when there's no rivalry. That's a positive IMO.

 

Contrived bullshit that's fits in well on the continent but painfully out of place and embarrassing Here. t's like the Germans who just beat a drum for.90 minutes, British atmosphere is all about being spontaneous and imaginative.

And they seem to have moved long term st holders, poor behaviour. Just go to the match, don't all dress the same, stop pretending to be moody, have a few beers and a laugh/ sing with your mates. They seem to be up for it so just do it without all the hysteria.

 

Yeah mate, absolutely no doubt they are very well aware of their own self importance and bang the drum (sorry!) about it often enough.

There's no doubt they've thrown a massive wobbler over this situation but I would stick up for them a bit. From what I heard, and to be fair i'm not sure how true it is, but apparently Steve Browetts son has come out said that it was the clubs idea originally to move the HF over a few blocks towards the centre but after it all started kicking off they kept quiet about it and left the HF in the firing line.

It's been handled poorly all round to be honest but overall the move has got wide spread support. They're a genuine bunch, a lot of people take the piss about them but as long as they keep supporting the club they way they do then the huge majority of Palace fans will be with them.

 

Football changes. Dinosaurs go extinct.

 

Yeah it's part and parcel of it Doc.

I think those of us with a few years behind us probably witnessed the biggest changes ever with football in this country. First you had the tragedy at Hillsborough and the Taylor report, then the introduction of the Premier League and then came Euro '96.

So in a very short period of time football and fan culture in England was changed dramatically, especially at the top level.

 

Only just saw this thread. Was in Block E myself a few weeks back for the Newcastle game. Several of the HF are already in there and several actually moved there even though there wasn't a seat. Had a couple next to me moving in to be closer to their mates and I had no problem letting them in. The whole block was standing for the 90 minutes and I joined in with all of the chanting etc. and the atmosphere in those few rows was very good. The rest of the area was dead however (where the HF used to be still made a racket mind half of them are probably still there just in normal clothes) and people seemed reluctant to get involved with the chants. That could be more down to the shit show that was happening on the pitch, but I think it'll take a time for it to be like it was down in the corner. For whatever reason people were moaning as opposed to getting behind the team (one woman was screaming 'sloth' you're shit for at least 25 minutes ). It was refreshing though that everybody was standing the full game, I didn't want to sit and managed to bag a seat in one of the only blocks where everyone was standing.

What I will say though is the people claiming they're season ticket holders for years in block E came across to me as some sort of myth. I do not know whether the Newcastle game was a one off, but there was several empty seats in the block (at least 15) and I was able to pick from at least six seats when I was booking my ticket. I pick and chose what games I can get to, so I look up tickets as soon as they're available to club members. There was seats free in the block for the Wolves game too. I hope there is for when we play Burnley too as that's the next game I hope to go to. So I do think that the moving people out of the block is blown out of proportion however I do think that it is a bit shitty that they are being moved.

All in all I think it is a step in the right direction, I'd much rather be standing at games as opposed to sitting. Are there any other blocks that stand all game? Don't think I can handle sitting at a game unless there's a goal.

 

Yeah a reset would have been the best option, at least then everybody can group up next to who they want again. Why is it that only the back of the block people are being moved though? The seat I got for Burnley is on the same row only three seats away from where I sat for the Newcastle game. Even then there was around 15 empty seats. So there aren't all season ticket holders there. Why not move them into the part with the least season ticket holders? Yes some people are still getting shafted, but at least it's less than at the moment. I doubt next season many people want to be infront of the HF anyway, they'd rather behind them further up the stand.

All in all it's a complete shambles and I do think that the on field problems are a result of the off field unrest. I haven't seen our support this split in years. It makes us look like West Ham. Which is a shame because it was so easy to get right (I mean we might even have the whole tier redone for safe standing next season or the season after anyway). Yet the club have gotten it so so wrong. Hopefully time is a healer but once again we sabotage our own season.