The Kop Band

7 hours ago, Warhurstsleftfoot said:

You may well be correct with your conclusion but a few posts on OT does not a consensus make.

They were far from nice to me when I actually quite politely asked them at Wembley was there not a Leeds game on.

Not nice people - and everyone around gave them grief for how they shouted and swore at me and then also a few 80 year old men who said they ruin the atmosphere.   This was 2015.   Trust me, the consensus is these people are parasites and need to be gone.

23 hours ago, leighrichy said:

As a musician, I want to add something from a musical point of view. One of the biggest issues is that the band will often jump into leading a song in a completely different key to the one the crowd has already started. When that happens, it kills the natural momentum because everyone has to suddenly adjust and it puts people off joining in. It changes the feel and flow of the chant completely.

 

They are also incredibly loud on the Kop which means the Kop naturally ends up following whatever the band plays. That leaves the North Stand and sometimes South singing at a different tempo or even a different point of the song. So the atmosphere becomes split instead of unified and it all ends up feeling quite artificial rather than organic crowd noise.

 

To be fair to them they are good at lifting things when it goes quiet and they can get something going that might not have started otherwise. The issue is mainly when a song has already been started in the crowd and they come in over the top in a totally different key or tempo which shuts down the natural flow.

 

I am not anti band and I understand why they are there, but from a musical and atmosphere perspective those issues really do affect participation and the natural energy in the ground.

The issue of joining in already started songs is one of sound delay rather that key. The time it takes for the sound to travel between areas of the ground means, if you join a song you hear from front of the kop when at the back, that sound travels back and is by default out of sync. 

So if the drums power in, they will be out by a fraction, thus causing momentum to be lost.

You can see the ripple effect if you watch carefully when they to a Wednesday chant and the ground all join in, is like a very fast Mexican wave as the hands go up

New owners should do a poll to the fans starting with season ticket holders to see if they’re wanted.

On 15/11/2025 at 01:49, @owlstalk said:

Liza looks like a "New Man". 

5 hours ago, Jimothy said:

The issue of joining in already started songs is one of sound delay rather that key. The time it takes for the sound to travel between areas of the ground means, if you join a song you hear from front of the kop when at the back, that sound travels back and is by default out of sync. 

So if the drums power in, they will be out by a fraction, thus causing momentum to be lost.

You can see the ripple effect if you watch carefully when they to a Wednesday chant and the ground all join in, is like a very fast Mexican wave as the hands go up

It definitely is an issue of key as well as tempo.

Every song is slowed down, some almost sounding like a funeral dirge and ins much lower key. 

Enjoyed the England game on Sunday without their tuneless noise

On 09/11/2025 at 13:14, wisewoodowl said:

I started the thread after the Oxford game.  It was their silence, and my suspicion that they were at The Etihad, that prompted my post.

They were at Wembley for the RL ashes, England v Australia.

On 16/11/2025 at 12:54, lukeyswfc said:

New owners should do a poll to the fans starting with season ticket holders to see if they’re wanted.

Sadly there is an awful lot more for new owners to do first.

Getting to the band may take them several years to get to that issue.

This isn't even tongue in cheek.

To truly have a Wednesday band it should be like the red arrows where it’s constantly applied for at the beginning of each season with auditions. This will stop the horrendous noise of very basic tones we have to endure. You’d of thought after 25+ years you would be good at your instruments and be able to provide a more engaging experience for everyone but it’s absolutely drab and uninspiring. 

On 15/11/2025 at 11:58, Hornsby said:

Luckily, I'm old enough to remember our glory days in the 90's. We had no band, and I remember the atmosphere being great at Hillsborough.

Then the Band comes along at precisely the same time as the start of our decline.

Now, obviously, I'm not saying it's all their fault, but they're an absolute albatross to the club. The friendly, hockey type atmosphere they generate does absolutely nothing to make the ground a fortress. For 30 years, they've been in place. For 30 years, we've been free-falling.

I started watching in 1980. We'd just been promoted under Big Jack, and we continued a steady rise at the hands of Wilkinson, then Atkinson and, for a period, Francis.

So my time watching Wednesday has been all rise, then all fall, pretty much (with the odd promotion here and there).

Gone are the creative songs from the fans. They've largely given up. Any of us who are a similar age to me will be able to go through those 90s teams and sing you the song for pretty much every player.

Anyone who is stepping foot inside Hillsborough for the first time in 10 years will be treated to the same old songs that they heard the last time they came - and they were tired then...

Over the last few months, we've shown, as a fanbase, that we have plenty about us. We have grit and determination. Other teams should feel this when they visit. But we've been drowned out by this lot for 30 years. It really is a truly dreadful noise and has no place at a football ground.

I remember not long after the band first started, we had a Monday night game against Forest, Carbone scored a cracking first goal for the club, it was an absolutely Baltic cold night in November and the band were playing, there was only 16,000 or so there but the atmosphere was great as everyone joined in back then, the band joined in and kept things going back then. (The song that was known as the 'Utrecht song ' that is now more familiar as the one ending in 'famous Sheffield WEDNESDAY' seemed to go on forever).

A Manchester United game also on a Wednesday night I think when Carbone scored another beauty and the noise and atmosphere was immense.

They've become more of an annoyance and a parody as time has gone on and those heady days and nights of 1996/97.

Wonderful without them today.  Absolutely wonderful.  

Sack The Band 

Have they gone yet??

They’ll be at the England women’s game.