Extract from Football's Flaws & Foibles by Richard Foster:

Designated Singing Sections

It was not just Mourinho who has found that the atmosphere in Premier League stadiums has moved away from the raucous and ended up drifting into the somnolent. The man who eventually succeeded him as the permanent manager at Stamford Bridge, the irrepressible Antonio Conte, has shown his frustration at the apathy that has now become the norm.

Conte has attempted to whip up the crowd from its slumbers and he must be confused by all the reports of how English crowds are the loudest or the most passionate in the world. The Italian exhibits more energy on the touchline than most of the 40,000-odd fans at the home of the 2016/17 Champions. If they showed an ounce of the passion of their manager it would improve the noise levels immeasurably. But some bright spark has come up with a solution of sorts.

If there was ever any need for evidence that football had reached the end of its natural life then the creation of designated singing sections makes it an open and shut case. It is not feasible to be calm about such an idea, the only response is to release the demons and swamp the air with them because this really cannot happen. Just think about this for a second.

Designated.

Singing.

Section.

Everywhere you look this is one seriously bad idea. To have anything designated is anathema to the soul and spirit of football as it is all too deliberate, leaving no room for spontaneity. Singing is not an activity that is suited to the false constraints of a section. They have designated singing sections in churches and cathedrals that are also known as choirs. That is where they should remain.

There is no longer that wall of noise that used to roll down off the terraces and engulf the action with a swathe of the spectators carried away on a tide of emotion. We have now reached the point that there are matches when the only sound that can be heard is that of the players’ calls and the managers’ exhortations.

You simply cannot decree that there are only certain parts of the ground where singing should take place. If this was happening in North Korea we would all be up in arms about such a ludicrous attempt to control people, but this is not Pyongyang it is actually happening in Manchester, Birmingham, London etc. So one wonders what happens to people who start singing outside the designated section. Maybe they are shuffled away and join the list of disappeared. Any resistance is futile and will be met with the firmest of actions. You have been warned. 

It was bad enough that Old Trafford, a former cauldron of noise and one that used to intimidate opposition was one of the first grounds to opt for such a scheme. But that pales into insignificance when it was revealed that it was the fans themselves who were behind it. The supporters that congregated in the Stretford End apparently complained to the club that they could not be heard in other parts of the ground. Dale O’Donnell, who is the man behind fans’ website Stretty News was quoted in The Daily Telegraph as saying that “the atmosphere for some home games can resemble a library and we want to change that.”

Well there is a simple answer to that problem and it does not involve designated singing sections, it revolves around an idea that may be a little ahead of its time but is at least, simple to understand and even simpler to carry out. Just sing louder. If you really see the solution as grouping the most vocal of your supporters in one particular place then I would suggest you have more of a fundamental issue on your hands than merely seating arrangements. It could be time for a transfer, not of players, but of your fans, so that they can go and watch a more appropriate game such as Crown Green Bowls or catch a spot of dressage.