The St. James' Park atmosphere: How it could be revived after recent decline - Part 1

With the reports regarding a new stadium intensifying, the atmosphere St. James' Park has become a regular topic of conversation across social media.

Opposition fans mocking us, singing, ‘Where’s your famous atmosphere?’ and ‘Football in a Library,’ have almost become a bi-weekly routine while Twitter has become scattered with complaints about our lack of noise, mainly from disgruntled supporters, like me.

Unless solutions are proposed, these criticisms are futile; I believe that if even just one of these ideas was implemented, the results would be transformational. 

1. Safe standing   

This is a matter which I have droned on about for a while online. St James’ Park’s safe standing in the home end accommodates just 1,800 supporters- 1,200 fewer than the away end’s 3,000 safe standing tickets. This is a staggering contrast.

Although standing does not necessarily increase singing, it certainly helps promote it. For those who’ve disputed this observation in the past, if this was not the case, why would away fans stand in our away end before the standing rails were introduced? It is because, simply, standing creates a more rowdy, loud environment. Our chants are usually first heard in the Gallowgate corner, where there is safe standing- reinforcing my point. It then occasionally spreads across the stadium- but it is rare for songs to catch on around the stands. This discourages those in the corner from singing, resulting in a silent stadium. 

I often hear the away fans overpowering ours, drowning out our chants despite being outnumbered by 3,000 to 49,000. The number of fans in our home end is meaningless in terms of noise unless they participate. Very few aside from the corner join in, and it is not unreasonable to assume that there are more away fans singing than home. Apart from about 8 or 9 times per game, chants are rarely sung loudly across the entire stadium. While there is no direct solution to this and you cannot force people to sing, the best way to combat this would be to add more standing areas, and I would introduce this in multiple ways. 

 The first extension of safe standing would be across the entire Gallowgate. The majority of the 92 have one significantly large standing area, often an entire stand. Although I am not naive enough to believe all 9,000 seats of the Gallowgate will become a designated standing section immediately, I do believe it can be done over the summer and it would be extremely worthwhile if we choose to remain at the Cathedral and extend it, rather than move away.  

This would likely increase the number of people singing throughout the game, with fans more confident trying to begin a song themselves, as well as more fans likely to join in. However, this would not solve the problem of only one section responsible for the majority of the singing. This brings me to my next proposal regarding safe standing. 

Introduce safe standing to a small section of the lower west Leazes corner and in Level 7. This is a fairly simple point. We do not need multiple huge standing sections, but a few across the ground would be great. The best home atmosphere I’ve experienced in England away from SJP was without a doubt the City Ground, where I noticed about four different areas where supporters stood. I went twice, neither on a big occasion, yet the atmosphere was lively throughout, with chants coming from home fans all around the stadium. Having multiple areas where people sing is crucial; safe standing in the lower corner of the Leazes and Level 7 would boost our atmosphere majorly. This would solve the issue of a lack of chants throughout the game, as we would no longer rely on one small section for noise, with chants being started in all areas of the ground. 

2. Reintroduce the Level 7 Singing Section 

The Level 7 Singing Section has been greatly missed in recent years. Cheap tickets located alongside the away fans created a raucous atmosphere. Banter with the opposition fans was at an all-time high, while prices were affordable for all.

Vocal supporters were not priced out. In an area specifically designated for chanting, it was occupied by like-minded fans who had no intention of staying silent.

Another advantage of being placed next to the away support was that we could also drown them out even when the rest of the stadium wouldn’t take part. With the Gallowgate becoming completely safe standing as well as the corner of the Leazes, there would already be roughly 11,000standing tickets aside from Level 7. Even a thousand more standing tickets seems wishful thinking, and with the owners seemingly rating profit over atmosphere, I struggle to see this being implemented.

Not only would this not be in the interest of the owners, but many match-goers too, who aren’t bothered to support the team. Without stereotyping, this attitude is mainly common in older fans. 

3. Addressing our ageing audience  

As mentioned earlier, there is no way to ‘force’ people to sing. However, typically, more youthful fans will make more noise. From the 23/24 season to the current campaign alone, season ticket prices have increased by 5%. Working class fans are being restricted from attending, particularly younger supporters. This can be seen from the steady increase in the average age of a supporter at SJP from 35 in 2002 to 45 in 2012. This has been a prominent factor in St James’ Park’s long-term decline in atmosphere.

On the 3rd of December, Brentford introduced a scheme, capping under-18 tickets at just £10. A noble act from the club- prioritising the fans over their pockets. We should follow a similar strategy to rejuvenate the stands. Particularly in the Gallowgate, Leazes corner and Level 7, we should be encouraging younger fans, especially where they will make the most noise.  

The introduction of safe standing would also help drop the fans’ average age at St James Park. For those more seniors, standing all game would appear unappealing, and they would likely seek to move out. There would be a similar system as when safe standing was originally introduced in 2023, when season ticket holders who sat in the Strawberry Corner and were not interested in standing throughout the match could swap with others in the stadium who wanted to relocate to safe standing (however it was not that simple, I will address the system’s failures later on).

As it would be on a much larger scale, it would be a struggle to find as many season ticket holders who want to move into safe standing than move out (as established, not that many from our ageing audience would choose to stand at each home game). That would be a challenge, but tough decisions may be needed if we're to improve our atmosphere through safe standing.

4. Fixing the mistake made in Strawberry Corner

Allow regulars to sit together and make safe standing predominantly season ticket holders 

Although on the whole, I think the safe standing here has been positive, it can vary significantly from game to game. A high proportion of tickets weren’t replaced by season tickets, rather were left for members. This means the atmosphere varies depending on who secures the tickets each week.

To decrease this risk of quiet ‘day-trippers’ dominating the corner, more season ticket holders should be allowed to move to the corner. Just as on away trips, fans are able to stand by their friends- albeit, through ignoring the seating plan- this should be made possible at home too. Those standing with friends and other regulars are more likely to chant and generally have a better experience. 

Part 2 coming soon.