The return of The End
Words: Tom Reed
Images: Tom Reed
Being played on a Tuesday night aside, Exeter City vs Nottingham Forest was a classic cup clash.
City have the back-story, being bought back from the brink by their supporters and now thriving under fan-ownership.
But while Nottingham Forest’s Sosa and Silva were eye-catching alongside City’s two goal Magennis, the cameras lingered longest on the Big Bank.
Exeter’s terrace is the largest in English league football and the ITV cameras did wide sweeps of supporters singing, swaying and, unusually for modern football, actually smiling.
The idea that English football has no atmosphere was torn to bits in an instant and Exeter showed that there is life away from the soulless bowls, where supporters can literally get behind their teams like they used to, when “the end” was the place to be in grounds up and down the country.
Just last week, Wrexham AFC showed off plans for their new Kop stand, with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney smart in realising that there can be business sense in giving fans what they want.
Put simply, standing ends attract younger supporters, who can support the club in an active way, who in turn will morph into lifelong supporters. The atmosphere benefits the team. Meanwhile, the “prawn sandwich” corporate brigade in the suites and lounges buy into being part of the match-day “experience” and pop open a few more beers or maybe a Tattinger if it goes into the player fund.
Of course, if were’ talking about stand-alone home “ends” back in the day, we can’t escape the lack of investment in various terraces which left them at risk of recreational violence.
The Taylor Report and the subsequent FA Blueprint for the Future of Football saw the baby thrown out with the bathwater and grounds over-sanitised to the point of being dreary (at the top level especially), damaging the beloved “product” that football marketeers value so much.
Now you’ll see derision for artificial atmosphere creation via NFL style light-shows and communal chanting of “Is this a library?” to Man Utd supporters where their Stretford End was known as a cauldron of noise in its heyday.
The top clubs have been involved in an arms race for super stadia that make little economic sense in terms of small margin points gains when match-day income is dwarfed by TV monies and especially so by the vast input of sovereign wealth fund clubs.
Spurs are an example of an outfit with significant match-day income that doesn’t equate to on pitch success, but at least they have built a form of end into their new stadium which can create a racket with the right wind.
The smart clubs are the ones that avoid building the generic bowls that have replaced characterful grounds all over Europe. They will invest in ends, with safe-standing tech and they will further expose the quiet excesses of the super stadia fad where marketing execs decided to the turn venues into the airport lounges and conference halls they spend their time in.
Returning back to Exeter and the Big Bank which is the heart of the club, you can add layers of safety via safe-standing rail-seats, while CCTV technology can monitor for anyone causing a ruckus with little fuss.
At Orlando City FC they’ve built a 10,000 square foot safe-standing terrace, which has been praised for its inclusivity. It’s not perfect as it’s adjoined to wraparound seating but it shows where the smart money is going.
We need to be looking to the yellow wall rather than the vanilla bowls. We need distinct stands as individual as fan identity.
Organised fans groups that are finding something missing with their relationship with their club will begin to realise it’s because their home, behind the goal, was taken away.
Long live the end, the past is the past but football can find a way for fans to be together.
©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. The Big Bank terrace at Exeter.
©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. The Big Bank terrace at Exeter.
Tom is Terrace Edition Editor and can be found on X: @tomreedwriting
