Should there be a future for the singing section on Filbert Way?
With the club seeking feedback about the singing section trial, we examine how it’s gone so far and what the future should look like for efforts to improve the atmosphere on Filbert Way.
It would surely be good for the club if it grows. I'm the sort of guy who prefers to sit there rolling his eyes as another five yard pass sails out of play, but having some part of the ground generating a proper atmosphere is clearly a plus. It's a shame that the trial has coincided with some abysmal football, as it would be nice to see how the atmosphere spread out if we picked up a bit of momentum.
Judging by the chat on the BSLB pod the other day, there seems to be some anxiety that the club might kibosh the whole thing in the summer. I don't know all the ins and outs of that drama, but I do know banning a singing section would be one of those classic football club moves that ends up as part of a 3,000 word Athletic piece about how it all went wrong when we're languishing mid-table in the Championship.
Ultimately, the club must realise this is a time for making friends, not enemies. Who knows where there's been some behind the scenes changes over the the last year, but these days it feels like they're trying to actively winding up their own fan base. While I'd have some respect for that position, I'm not sure it's the best way to go about getting everyone on the same page for a relegation battle.
James Knight
I'm certainly in favour and have said so in response to the club survey. I support this singing section and I’d support a move to safe standing in part of the stadium too.
I sit in SK1 but a little nearer the goal and therefore just outside the section. Being this close I do feel part of it and the fans in there have made a great contribution to the atmosphere and should be commended for it. The reality is that great atmospheres tend to go hand in hand with great teams. Therefore, the fact they have almost singlehandedly prevented the stadium being deathly silent is surely a good thing and something we can get behind.
Why I feel it works is that, like the standing terraces of yesteryear, it allows like-minded, noisy fans to congregate together and support the team alongside people doing the same thing. The L1 section at the other end was such an integral part of the promotion, great escape and title-winning seasons but that seems to have reduced in size and definitely reduced in volume, which has made the SK1 singing section all the more important.
However, I strongly feel there is no right and wrong way to support our club and having sections like this allows other fans, who are more reserved, to enjoy their day and support the team in their own way. There are always going to be passionate fans making noise and there will also be those who want to watch in a quieter way.
Where I feel this section can help enhance the atmosphere is when they draw in more ‘inbetweener’ fans. This can in turn create those hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck moments where the union of a shared emotion makes being there such a magnificent experience.
Iain Wright
It simply has to be backed, by the club and fans. Some people have made up their minds about Union FS and seem happy to allow the atmosphere at home to suffer because they don't like that group for whatever reason.
I'm not part of Union FS but can appreciate what they're doing and all the good work they put in. Not to mention the monumental effort for the tifos - that many people who complain about the group will have as their cover photos on social media - and the great work with the foodbanks and so on.
I've rarely heard the L1 area for many years but my first choice of response wouldn't be to slate them and I'm not sure why people choose that approach for a group actively working to do what they can to improve the atmosphere. They're not miracle workers - it still needs people to get involved to continue to progress.
I'd hope it can continue and potentially expand to allow a bigger impact.
I moved from SK4 to G1 in the summer and, although the football has been terrible this season, I've enjoyed match days from an experience side far more thanks to the singing section doing what they can.
For me, the singing section and Union FS can be viewed separately. Hopefully people can support the steps to progress a good singing section, irrespective of their opinion on UFS.
Becky Taylor
It frustrates me that we even need a singing section. That’s clearly a modern football or Premier League problem rather than a specifically Leicester City one though. There are only two or three top flight grounds with a consistently good atmosphere.
I do miss the period in the middle of the last decade when we had the best atmosphere in the league. That was largely due to our success on the pitch, of course, but I like to think we don’t need to be quite that good to achieve something similar again off the pitch. Crystal Palace are a good example of that.
Our current situation and the drop off over the past few years means a lot of the time, fans are waiting for the players to give them something to get excited about. The atmosphere needs all the help it can get and in the absence of that impetus from the pitch, the singing section has been helpful.
These things don’t just magically happen. A hell of a lot of hard work has gone into fans being this proactive to make something happen. Realistically, I’d imagine the club and Union FS have done well to work together to get it this far given they seem to have diametrically opposite aims a lot of the time.
The club always seem to err on the side of caution with anything like this. They talk a good game about improving the atmosphere but a lot of their actions appear to be more intent on rooting out the kind of fans you can rely on to provide it. Some of the measures implemented recently in particular have felt a bit sledgehammer-meet-nut.
So I expect it’s taken a lot of hard work, patience and compromise on both sides. I only hope there’s more of that in the future because I dread to think what the atmosphere would have been like this season without it.
David Bevan
