Why not make more of a meal of matchdays?

Swisdom

When I was a kid I recall going to see Charlton and there was always something going on before kick off - whether it was a penalty shoot-out between some of our kid fans and those of our opposition or some other form of light entertainment

I've often wondered why we don't have a youth team game on the pitch before the main event - that way some fans could get to the ground early - watch another game of football and the clubs would get extra revenue from food and drink sales and the players would get used to playing in a big time environment and would get experience of playing in front of a crowd (even if it's only several hundred its good for them)

I see that as a win-win for all concerned personally

I'm pretty sure in places such as Spain the fans get to the ground really early and make more of a day of it so I don't see why we don't do something similar

WSS

Cost issue I should think. Staff we'll probably have to be paid for another 3/4 hours if you opened the ground earlier.

Chunes

True. Youth team game would be great but you have to think about the pitch.

Swisdom

[cite]Posted By: Chunes[/cite]True. Youth team game would be great but you have to think about the pitch.

Probably couldn't do Nov/Dec/Jan for fear of cutting up too much but aside from that our pitch is usually in pretty good nick

BigRedEvil

[cite]Posted By: WSS[/cite]Cost issue I should think. Staff we'll probably have to be paid for another 3/4 hours if you opened the ground earlier.

Cost won't matter now we have Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani behind us.

I'm expecting the opera singer back before too long