Thought it was a great atmosphere yesterday. We kept the singing going virtually throughout.
We always stand at Villa (mainly coz thee isn't much choice behind the goal if you want to see), but I was surprised that the Upper Tier did too yesterday. Don't get me wrong, it made for a much better atmosphere as a lot of them were singing too ('though I could imagine the moaning coming from the rest of them up there!), but one thing concerned me - the number of people blocking the aisles throughout each half (lower tier, don't know what the upper one was like).
Normally at Villa the stewarding isn't heavy-handed but even though we stand, the aisles are kept clear - like for European games on the Kop. Hence it's pretty safe, people can get in and out if they need to, and there isn't a problem.
But yesterday the stewards did absolutely nothing to even try to keep the aisles clear as far as I could see. There was one steward at the front of Q2 but she just sat on the boardings laughing and talking. I thought that was part of their job?!
Luckily everything was fine. However, whilst IMO sanding in front of your seat is petty safe (and that way more people sing and the atmosphere is usually better), blocking all the aisles is dangerous and something needs to be done. At this rate, we'll be getting reduced allocations everywhere next season....
Just another example of how poor the stewarding is at some grounds though. Wouldn't have taken much yesterday, people were in a good mood, just a reminder but sure they would blame us and not the stewards if they felt there was a safety issue...!
