Saturday's National League fixture against Woking was the only game on in London, Orient took advantage of this by offering incredibly cheap tickets to home and away fans for the game at just £5! Besides the South Stand, which was sold out, atmosphere in the ground was very much the same as normal despite having an extra 2,500 in Brisbane Road, quite a dull atmosphere, in this article I will discuss my argument on things that I think need to be done next season to create more of a buzz around E10.
This season the atmosphere at Brisbane Road has been quite poor, besides the south stand which generates a fair amount of atmosphere the ground is regularly quiet considering the crowds we get which rank 2nd on average in the National League this season with just under 5,000. The new owners promised us that Brisbane Road would rock when they took over, it started off well getting our highest number of Season Ticket sales in 36 years,which is outstanding considering our prices, personally I think it should be lowered to keep our support as the O's are set to stay in the National League for another year.
In the West/East stands it is £300 for an adult season ticket and £270 in the South, in my opinion that is League 1/League 2 prices we shouldn't be paying them prices for non league football, Orient have benefited from fans starting to follow the club more passionately as the top flight becomes more distant from it's supporters and the traditions of English football that have lasted for generations. Over Orient you feel that connection with other fans, players, coaches and even board members; this season I've come to know and formed friendships with so many people through seeing the same people at away games, I've met coaches like Martin Ling, Steve Davis, Justin Edinburgh and have had really good conversations with them and I've had a drink with Kent Teague more times than I can count. You don't get that in the Premier League.
We've got a great stadium, a great set of fans that are pretty loud on their day, why not use this to our advantage?
I think we need a designated area for supporters who want to sing and create atmosphere because I feel everyone in the South Stand is scattered around, therefore not being as loud as we can be. I would picture it next to the away fans because that's were the best noise is created, this would be good in cup games and also fixture's against the likes of Wrexham, Dagenham and Aldershot who always like to give it big, also it would be good if everyone stood as if it was standing like at Maidstone Away(not Terracing). More examples of this would be Tottenham's old Park Lane, The Kop Liverpool, The Clock End Highbury, the grandstand Dortmund and the scaffold at Clapton. Also to have a load of flags hung up in this area like when England play away.
Ideally I think a great place for this would be in the East Stand next to the away fans, because in that great, historic stand you can create an ear bleeding atmosphere, I walk past the away end on match days 5 minuets before kick off, it makes 200 fans sound like 2000, it has this great echo. I remember when we played Macclesfield at home and the North Stand was evacuated and everyone was crammed together in the East, it was an amazing atmosphere, taking the spotlight off the decent amount of traveling fans, I love it like that. The only negative is that it doesn't have a bar, the one in the South Stand is great but always packed solid, the old East Stand bar has been recently renovated into a Community Room for the 'KickItOut' Sports diversity campaign.
I feel there are many O's fans that wait all week for Saturday and then is a let down because of the result and noise, I sit in the North Stand which is home to the worst atmosphere in a football stand I've ever witnessed and I've been to Southend, it's the family stand, the cheapest at £170 for an adult and is full of kids under the age of 5 kicking the back of my chair week in week out. However it does provide some funny moments, on night games there's this particular kid that sits behind me and swears for the whole 90 minutes with his dad not attempting to intervene. I used to sit in the West Stand, a great place to sit if you're visiting The O's just for a once off but too expensive for a season ticket, I like that the Gallery or now known as 1881 Suite is open to fans after games.
I would reduce our prices significantly, £250 in East/West, £210 in South and £170 in North, I like that kids are the same price all around the ground, it would be too expensive for me and my dad to sit in the South Stand with people we know but I can easily afford to go over there on my own to sit with mates. Under 6,000 turned up to the game Saturday which just shows if you price your tickets right you'll get a booming crowd and when we sell Brisbane Road out it leads to magical games of football as proved over the years. For example- Arsenal in the cup 2011, Peterborough in playoffs 2014.
Mr Kent Teague or if anyone else high in with the club, if you are reading I'd like to say Kent and Nigel are always are asking for suggestions to make the club better, I would suggest safe standing, Hannover are doing it, Tottenham are doing it, Shrewsbury are doing it, why cant we do it. At away games the atmosphere on the terraces are electric, the perfect example is Dagenham away where we had a great clump of fans squashed in the corner next to the home fans, I was in that end and we made so much noise it made the Big away stand full of over 1200 Orient look like a version of the West Stand behind the goal. I talked about this in an East Stand renovation article I done for my first ever article at Everything Orient and I think it's worth taking a look at as it could be feasible, many fans I know would love safe standing and an atmospheric section at Brisbane Road.