The 1884 Group

[cosmic]

Agree that the white flags look like we're "surrendering", but didn't want to say anything as it seemed like the money had already been spent. But it sounds like the next iteration "moving forward" will be black and white patterned and have more to them, which is good to hear.

Great work to all involved.

[birmingram]

Thanks for the feedback. The problem we have is that out of the two colours, black just blends in to the crowd, it's the white which is really noticeable. Having said that, its our main colour, we play in white with black trim.

Moving forward we will be getting half and half or chequered flags pre made, rather than handmaking plain ones, so that should stop the "white flag" issue.

 

I understand the issue with the colours blending into the background but as a fan we are “a black and white army” and indeed for too many years “a blue and white army” showing my age now, but we did win something back then.

 So many fans follow other club hook; line and sinking wearing the same shirt as the players, a true teams shirt should be earned not brought in a club shop (old man rant again) maybe Derby fans should be different and get their own identity rather than just be fans sitting there in replica shirts. Get the club selling official fans shirts, still promoting the kit manufactures and sponsors but for the fans. (Possibly some FA rule against that)

 Again we are BLACK and white as fans, if nothing else a solid block of fans all clad mostly in black at one end is going to look menacing, I guess menacing isn’t what the 1884 group is about but it would look good with just a few but significant white and black flags / banners, sometimes less is more .

 

Good luck with what you doing, Saturday was a great effort by you.

As with the team just a little bit of tinkering and we’ll be unstoppable. 

 

[JoetheRam]

This thread got me thinking back to where we were as a support when I first started going with just my mates regularly and when I had a season ticket - roughly 2004 until 2011.

If I think back to 95% of those games and trying to get mates a ticket anywhere near stair 46 to be with the 300 or so singers we had, to be drowned out by 250 fans from Colchester with the occasional scarf twirl the only modicum of partizanship on display, it makes me pretty damn proud of the efforts folks have made to improve the atmosphere. The improvement is massive. We used to be forever saying, "wouldn't it be great if we had our own End" - a place where everyone could be rowdy together and there would be banners, flanges and scraves held aloft. Well now we have it and it's the duty of everyone in the South Stand to make sure it continues to progress.

I don't like some of what happens still, "Barmy Army... Barmy Army...", Dale Cavese will annoy me forever, and I'm a bit disappointed we pretty much never sing "We are Derby" or "Tired and Weary" or even that slow version of "Oh when the Rams" we used to do anymore. A few better individual player songs wouldn't go amiss either. But it has to be said the visual impact was brilliant on Saturday, and has been previously against Brighton in the Play-offs. I always thought my ideal of what an English home support could be like was impossible in these days of mass organisation, but Saturday looked like it could have been straight out of Spain 82 or Serie A in the mid 90's (minus the flares) and that is probably as close as I can ever hope for. The only challenge remaining for now is to replicate and better that visual impact on a semi-consistent basis and get the stand vociferously behind the team when we are a goal behind.

Well done to everyone involved - Nick, 1884 Group, Derby County, the fans who signed the petitions to claim the south stand as our own, anyone who made a flag, who took a scarf... onwards and upwards. Give it a bit of time and a decent season on the pitch and the South Stand can become one of the best End's in the country.

[Tombo]

 

I know the team play mostly in white with some black but I don’t like the white flags looks like Derby are surrendering or waving about a lot of bog roll / kitchen towels.

Make the flags more black but with some white. Also the club should sell replica shirts the exact opposite of the team again more black then white. That way the fans have a true identity of their own rather than just being some blokes in a shirt they never deserve to wear.

Yes, I have and do wear replica shirts but never the same as the team on the pitch that should be earned. The team should be White and Black the fans should be Black and White, the players of the club have an official shirt but also the fans of the club should have an official shirt, same logos, same sponsors but each with its own identity.    

After all as fans, are we not a "black and white army" never heard the fans chant "white and black army".      

 

Problem is that black doesn't show up at all.

[Carnero]

I agree that the plain white flags aren't the way to go - definitely halves/checks look far more classy. Also think you should have put ALL flags in the south stand for now as the tiny handful in the east stand & SW Upper are not really having an effect.

 

Finally if I accidentally ram a flag down the throat of the moaning half fan sat behind me, shall I just make a donation to cover the cost or should I make you a new flag?

[TomBustler1884]

I agree that the plain white flags aren't the way to go - definitely halves/checks look far more classy. Also think you should have put ALL flags in the south stand for now as the tiny handful in the east stand & SW Upper are not really having an effect.

 

Finally if I accidentally ram a flag down the throat of the moaning half fan sat behind me, shall I just make a donation to cover the cost or should I make you a new flag?

if yo wouldnt mind making a new one and donating to cover the lawsuit against us, that would be great!

[Carnero]

Noted.

[Ram a lamb a ding dong]

 

Tom and the 1884 have achieved more in 3 months than the previous 18 yrs at PP combined.

[i-Ram]

Far too many people taking flags home - i took 5 off people on the way home and took them back to the ground.

God, 5 people. They must have been desperate Dan.

[uttoxram75]

This thread got me thinking back to where we were as a support when I first started going with just my mates regularly and when I had a season ticket - roughly 2004 until 2011.

If I think back to 95% of those games and trying to get mates a ticket anywhere near stair 46 to be with the 300 or so singers we had, to be drowned out by 250 fans from Colchester with the occasional scarf twirl the only modicum of partizanship on display, it makes me pretty damn proud of the efforts folks have made to improve the atmosphere. The improvement is massive. We used to be forever saying, "wouldn't it be great if we had our own End" - a place where everyone could be rowdy together and there would be banners, flanges and scraves held aloft. Well now we have it and it's the duty of everyone in the South Stand to make sure it continues to progress.

I don't like some of what happens still, "Barmy Army... Barmy Army...", Dale Cavese will annoy me forever, and I'm a bit disappointed we pretty much never sing "We are Derby" or "Tired and Weary" or even that slow version of "Oh when the Rams" we used to do anymore. A few better individual player songs wouldn't go amiss either. But it has to be said the visual impact was brilliant on Saturday, and has been previously against Brighton in the Play-offs. I always thought my ideal of what an English home support could be like was impossible in these days of mass organisation, but Saturday looked like it could have been straight out of Spain 82 or Serie A in the mid 90's (minus the flares) and that is probably as close as I can ever hope for. The only challenge remaining for now is to replicate and better that visual impact on a semi-consistent basis and get the stand vociferously behind the team when we are a goal behind.

Well done to everyone involved - Nick, 1884 Group, Derby County, the fans who signed the petitions to claim the south stand as our own, anyone who made a flag, who took a scarf... onwards and upwards. Give it a bit of time and a decent season on the pitch and the South Stand can become one of the best End's in the country.

This.

Its not perfect, its only in its 2nd season and still early days for what is a huge culture change at the stadium, but if you go back a few years like JtR says above, then its already a vast improvement and as an end is already better than most clubs.

The South Stand will continue to improve imo.

Well done to all involved.

[TomBustler1884]

 

Tom and the 1884 have achieved more in 3 months than the previous 18 yrs at PP combined.

thats a very nice thing to say but a bit harsh on the likes of Nick who put a lot of work unto getting the south stand up and running.

There's also a group of people making the 1884 work, not just my project.

Thank you though, I'll pass that on to the other lads!

[TomBustler1884]

This thread got me thinking back to where we were as a support when I first started going with just my mates regularly and when I had a season ticket - roughly 2004 until 2011.

If I think back to 95% of those games and trying to get mates a ticket anywhere near stair 46 to be with the 300 or so singers we had, to be drowned out by 250 fans from Colchester with the occasional scarf twirl the only modicum of partizanship on display, it makes me pretty damn proud of the efforts folks have made to improve the atmosphere. The improvement is massive. We used to be forever saying, "wouldn't it be great if we had our own End" - a place where everyone could be rowdy together and there would be banners, flanges and scraves held aloft. Well now we have it and it's the duty of everyone in the South Stand to make sure it continues to progress.

I don't like some of what happens still, "Barmy Army... Barmy Army...", Dale Cavese will annoy me forever, and I'm a bit disappointed we pretty much never sing "We are Derby" or "Tired and Weary" or even that slow version of "Oh when the Rams" we used to do anymore. A few better individual player songs wouldn't go amiss either. But it has to be said the visual impact was brilliant on Saturday, and has been previously against Brighton in the Play-offs. I always thought my ideal of what an English home support could be like was impossible in these days of mass organisation, but Saturday looked like it could have been straight out of Spain 82 or Serie A in the mid 90's (minus the flares) and that is probably as close as I can ever hope for. The only challenge remaining for now is to replicate and better that visual impact on a semi-consistent basis and get the stand vociferously behind the team when we are a goal behind.

Well done to everyone involved - Nick, 1884 Group, Derby County, the fans who signed the petitions to claim the south stand as our own, anyone who made a flag, who took a scarf... onwards and upwards. Give it a bit of time and a decent season on the pitch and the South Stand can become one of the best End's in the country.

nailed it there mate.

[Derby blood]

Let's get the ipro rocking again for tomorrow,let's show boro what a full ground with atmosphere is really like,keep creating a atmosphere,like we have been doing,we will be the talk of the championship,so yes a big well done to all who have improved the atmosphere in the last 15 months or so,ps leave the flags in the stadium tomorrow everyone,so we can have them all season.Being its a night match tomorrow,I really think the atmosphere will take off,an early goal could really set the stadium alive.

[G.Roberts (GR3)]

Tbf the flags need to be returned to conserve them for the atmosphere for longer, but if it becomes a witchhunt then people are going to be too scared to bring them to the game for fear of being victimized. i agree with previous posts there needs to be a flag amnesty so people can drop in a quiet times.

 

[G STAR RAM]

Any constructive feedback on how it went then?

Hope you take this as constructive and not criticism...

Have you not just targeted the area of the ground where there was already an atmosphere and just ignored trying to improve the atmosphere in the rest of the ground?

Apart from 1 minute of flag waving and confetti throwing I don't think there was much difference to normal in the South Stand. Still same old boring chants and still deathly quiet when not winning.

Not a criticism of you but I really think you are going to struggle to change the ways of the South Stand clique. If that is what you want to do can I suggest you start by banning the singing of the Collymore chant, it really is getting boring now and serves no purpose.

Obviously first game and hopefully things will change, certainly well done for trying!

[uttoxram75]

Hope you take this as constructive and not criticism...

Have you not just targeted the area of the ground where there was already an atmosphere and just ignored trying to improve the atmosphere in the rest of the ground?

Apart from 1 minute of flag waving and confetti throwing I don't think there was much difference to normal in the South Stand. Still same old boring chants and still deathly quiet when not winning.

Not a criticism of you but I really think you are going to struggle to change the ways of the South Stand clique. If that is what you want to do can I suggest you start by banning the singing of the Collymore chant, it really is getting boring now and serves no purpose.

Obviously first game and hopefully things will change, certainly well done for trying!

How do you "ban" a chant?

There's no organisation in the South Stand. There's no one telling folk what to do, what to chant. There is quite often two or three chants going on at the same time that peter out before they really get going.

It'll carry on evolving but you can't expect a diverse group of people to get together once a fortnight and suddenly become like a choir where songs are carefully rehearsed and chosen.

We want a large passionate support but that will inevitable come with extremes of behaviour and inflammatory chants like the Collymore one. I personally cringe when it starts up but what can you do? Once it starts and a couple of thousand join in you just hope its only once that game and they've got it out their system.

Nasty songs about your rivals have always been around during my time following Derby, if anything, its less so now than at anytime over the last 40 years.

[Tombo]

I liked the Collymore chant last season, it was at least relevant then because he made comments about us. Let it go now I think, I don't think it does anything for the atmosphere and it certainly means nothing to the players, who sort of count on our  support. What must they think when they hear that song?

[Day]

Didn't Collymore only make comments about us because of the chant? which sparked a load of people into turning it into a Twitter competition to see who can get blocked by him.

[Tombo]

Didn't Collymore only make comments about us because of the chant? which sparked a load of people into turning it into a Twitter competition to see who can get blocked by him.

Before tthat he said he didn't fancy us for promotion. That's it, that's all he said. So we responded and it was a laugh for a bit and it at least made sense. Then he responded back.

[TomBustler1884]

Hope you take this as constructive and not criticism...

Have you not just targeted the area of the ground where there was already an atmosphere and just ignored trying to improve the atmosphere in the rest of the ground?

Apart from 1 minute of flag waving and confetti throwing I don't think there was much difference to normal in the South Stand. Still same old boring chants and still deathly quiet when not winning.

Not a criticism of you but I really think you are going to struggle to change the ways of the South Stand clique. If that is what you want to do can I suggest you start by banning the singing of the Collymore chant, it really is getting boring now and serves no purpose.

Obviously first game and hopefully things will change, certainly well done for trying!

Thanks @G STAR RAM. Not criticism at all, it's a very reasonable observation.

We had to start the whole thing off somewhere and chose the South Stand for a few reasons. 2 of us sit there so it was easier to manage (we thought!!), we felt that if it would boost the noise anywhere, it would be there, and the club felt the same as us, that it was the right place for it.

It would be great if flags could lift the atmosphere for the whole game but we knew it would only make a difference at the start of the game. IMHO I thought it worked a treat in the build up to kick off and the first 10 mins or so, maybe better than normal. Certainly visually, we accomplished what we wanted.

Again, imho, chanting and noise is very difficult to change. We certainly have no "power" to say what is and isn't sung, or when and when not to sing it. I don't think I'd want that anyway! Our hope is that what we're doing encourages people to join in, bring their scarves, start songs, join in throughout the game, and hopefully as the season progresses, things will build up, but we are DCFC, change takes time here and it needs to be organic, not forced.

Ultimately we would like to raise enough money to provide flags all around the ground, in addition to lots of other things, but to do that we will need the continual support of the fans. Not just in terms of donations, but help with building, planning, matchday distribution, collection, and people in other stands to "manage" them on the day.

The biggest encouragement from all this is seeing so many different groups of Rams fans working together to try and improve things, I've never seen that before.