Football is a huge part of white van man in Britain and beyond. The passion that accompanies supporting your club is widely reputed in Britain. But is that slowly changing? Maybe not in parts of the world like Scotland, but in England - and particularly the Premiership - that passionate support is in decline.
The most recent example of this was the FA Cup's homecoming to the new Wembley. The atmosphere in that game was muted to say the least. Yes, i'll recognise the fact that the happenings on the pitch were awful, and i'm being kind with that, but surely the excitement of being part of such a historic day and such a fantastic occasion should be enough to get any true fan going?
Looking at the top tier of English football, empty seats are visible in many midtable stadia. And the stadia that are full, are sometimes hardly noticable that they are indeed full, as the fans act as if they are in a library.
The most notorious "library" in the Premier League was Highbury. Well, now Arsenal seem to have built themselves an even bigger library. They dont show it off for it's atmosphere, but for it's number of restaurants and toilets - hardly intimidating to say the least.
However it's not all bleak. There are still places that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up due to the magnificent atmosphere. European nights at Anfield a prime example. When the Liverpool fans bellow the famous "You'll never walk alone" song, it's enough to make you want to steal the nearest thing to you, get into a dodgy tracksuit and declare yourself a scouser telling the individual you stole from to "calm down"!
Another mind blowing stadium is White Hart Lane. It's atmosphere is always great, more consistent than the Anfield one dare i say. The Spurs fans are fantastic when on the up, if a little fickle sometimes, but their loyalty to their club more than makes up for that.
So if Arsenal fans and other fans in the country that seem subdued or bored by singing started emulating the Spurs and Liverpool fans of the land, maybe the game wouldn't be heading down the commercial era so rapidly. Maybe a bit more passion in the terraces would up the tempo and could make the difference between 1st and 2nd, 17th and 18th. . . .
So let's all raise our voices for the new season, stare the commercialism in football in the face, sing passionately and intimidate the hell out of them, in the name of football
