Manchester United play in the febrile atmosphere of Fenerbahce’s Sukru Saracoglu stadium on Thursday night, when 50,000 home fans will make the ears of their English visitors burn for a Europa League match.
United have been frequent travellers to Istanbul since a first, infamous trip to Turkey’s biggest city in 1993 to take on Galatasaray. On every occasion, the players have spoken about the noise level. It is an atmosphere that Napoli fans — no strangers to making a racket themselves — were mightily impressed by when they played across the Bosphorus, drawing with Besiktas in the Uefa Champions League on Tuesday.
Even when Fenerbahce’s new home is two-thirds full for league games, the noise is still deafening. If Turkish football has issues, the hubbub inside the stadiums is not one of them.
But while Turkish fans may envy richer and more successful western European clubs, they do have something which some of the giants of world football covet — a fantastic atmosphere at matches.
From Barcelona to Manchester United, Real Madrid to Paris Saint-Germain, the lack of atmosphere has become an issue. Each of those giants have huge numbers of vocal match-going fans, but these are often split up, their efforts seriously diluted.
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Camp Nou may have witnessed the best football in the world in the past decade, but visitors — and no club attracts more football tourists — are not only part of the problem, they are often underwhelmed by the flatness of the crowd inside the stadium.
Joan Laporta, a previous Barca club president, withdrew ticket and travel privileges from the notorious Boixos Nois ultras, who reacted by boycotting matches and leaving their 2,000 seat section empty from 2004. Though the police and many normal fans were glad they had gone, the atmosphere suffered without the Boixos, a big deal in 1990s and noughties Barcelona culture.
After three years of talks with fans and police, Barca sanctioned a Grada d’Animacio (animated stand) in August 2016. Occupying the same seats used by the Boixos, 300 fans who had become frustrated by the lack of passion sat together.
Except none of them sit. Instead, they stand, dance and do not stop singing for most of the match.
Camp Nou is much better for it and the players greatly appreciate it. The 300 quickly became 600 and it will soon be 1,200. It’s surprising how 600 people singing in unison can spark the atmosphere and there have been no problems so far.
“It is working. It’s nice to have it and I’m really happy,” socio Jordi Camps said. “I don’t feel embarrassed anymore by Camp Nou. The fans behind the goal make the others sing as the noise spreads.
“Of course there are some ‘tribuneros’ (conservative fans who sit mostly silent in the main stand) complaining about the racket, but that means we’re working. Maybe they should watch the game at home in peace rather than at the stadium.”
Both Madrid giants have had issues and a love-hate relationship with their own ultra groups, but they rely on them to generate the atmosphere. At the Bernabeu, a vocal section of ultras high up behind the south goal is impressive.
In Paris, the 48,300 capacity Parc de Prince provided one of the best spectacles in football long before PSG became a successful side with the help of Qatari backing in 2011.
Two huge ultra groups — Virage Auteuil and Boulogne Boys — were dominant at each end of the stadium. But violence between the two and the death of Boulogne boy Yann Lorence saw both groups banned from games for six months. A 2,500-name blacklist, which the club claimed they did not know existed, was compiled of fans who were barred from attending matches.
Groups of more than six were prevented from buying tickets together. As fan groups complained of violations to the French Constitution by preventing the right to organise, politicians turned a blind eye. What mattered to them was that the violence decreased, a problem club leaders had long been reluctant to address.
The ultras stayed away and fans thought the club was being cleaned up to be sold. It is true that PSG’s Qatari owners experienced no major problems with fans, though the atmosphere diminished, and disenfranchised supporters complained that the club was not the PSG they fell in love with.
Players and club president Nasser Al Khelaifi also complained about the lack of noise.
A new ultra group Collectif Ultras Paris was formed and after dialogue with PSG came back for a game against Bordeaux on October 1.
“Never previously imagined myself doing the Poznan at a football match, but PSG have let the ultras back in and place has gone wild,” tweeted the writer Simon Kuper, a Paris resident and regular visitor to PSG matches. There are still issues between PSG ultras and the club, and perhaps there always will be, but the dialogue is positive.
At Manchester United, a singing section was successfully trialled for a game against Real Sociedad in 2013, then opened in a different part of the stadium where fans, who had little inclination to stand up and sing, understandably objected to being moved from seats they had occupied for years.
A singing section does exist and fans make efforts to make original flags and raise the temperature, but it could be so much better.
United officials recently visited Celtic Park in Glasgow, where a safe standing section for 2,975 was introduced for this season. The atmosphere at British grounds has suffered since the introduction of all-seater stadiums.
Scottish clubs are not bound by the all-seater legislation of English clubs and fans can stand behind rails, similar to those used at many top German grounds, which can be converted to seats for games in Uefa tournaments where standing is not allowed.
It has been a huge success and several English clubs would like to follow suit, but legislation recommended by the Taylor Report after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster does not allow for it.
Following the results of the Hillsborough inquest, Liverpool supporters’ union Spirit of Shankly set out to consult fans and the Hillsborough families over the possible introduction of standing in top-flight English football grounds. It is a growing debate and one encouraged by the paymasters at television companies who want the spectacle of full, atmospheric stadiums.
However, even as an all-seater Anfield can produce a magnificent sound, especially before kick-off when You’ll Never Walk Alone is sung by 50,000 fans in the recently expanded stadium. Old Trafford, too, can come alive, especially for a big game.
“People talk about the atmospheres around Europe, but Old Trafford on a Champions League night is something special and really helps the players,” former player Darren Fletcher said.
On Thursday night, 1,200 travelling United fans will be all but swamped by the non-stop, threatening, all-mighty racket produced by Fenerbahce’s fans, despite their stadium being all seater.
When United took on Besiktas away in 2010, one fan wrote of his experience.
“The United warm-up was greeted with the noise you would expect. The tiny pen to our right housing the small number of travelling reds did their best to make some noise,” the fan wrote. “They needn’t have bothered. No one was going to drown this lot out.
“It was pretty deafening and at times it was pretty frightening stuff. As intimidation goes this was one of the best crowds I’ve ever witnessed.”
Some fans thrive off that and some players, too. But while it is not for the faint-hearted, it will do much to enhance the pleasure for those at the games and the millions watching around the world.
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