Think we'd all acknowledge that you can't do 'Fill The Valley' too often but Saturday was a runaway success. There will be those who see the giveaway as undermining the value of their season ticket but far, far more season ticket holders will have been delighted to to able to gift three free tickets to friends and family and everyone will surely have enjoyed the fuller house and better atmosphere. I think the club should look at using this again when we next face a crucial home fixture, hopefully during the run-in when we look to secure a play-off place.
The main difference between AB and most of the rest of us including me is he has been there and done it, so please keep the analysis coming @Airman Brown.
Also worth noting the club weren’t even on this page before the recent FF and FTV meeting, Altho neither directly involved in this one. I’m interested to know the detail of the intent behind this approach.
As I mentioned way back I would be far more radical and among other things restructure ticketing including at this level make kids tickets very cheap if not free, take the opportunity of League One to rebuild our support.
That's not the case.
The Commercial Director has been talking about a business development group almost since he took over, a successor to the Target40K group. I happen to know because I had meetings with him about it and even suggested some names which included Rick's. And most definitely didn't include mine.
No mention of half season tickets, launched the previous day, in the programme on Saturday.
Blimey, they missed a trick there then, I take it it was well advertised in the stadium and on the big screen though?
I understand there were ads in the toilets. I didn’t notice the big screen. My point though is the lack of joined-up thinking within the club. It’s not as if the idea of doing half season tickets will have come up at a meeting on Friday after the programme had been printed. Nobody is joining the dots.
No mention of half season tickets, launched the previous day, in the programme on Saturday.
Blimey, they missed a trick there then, I take it it was well advertised in the stadium and on the big screen though?
I understand there were ads in the toilets. I didn’t notice the big screen. My point though is the lack of joined-up thinking within the club. It’s not as if the idea of doing half season tickets will have come up at a meeting on Friday after the programme had been printed. Nobody is joining the dots.
There were still adverts in the upper west toilets for the Cheltenham Festival in March 2020. A bit of a morbid reminder of that super-spreader event...
No mention of half season tickets, launched the previous day, in the programme on Saturday.
Blimey, they missed a trick there then, I take it it was well advertised in the stadium and on the big screen though?
I understand there were ads in the toilets. I didn’t notice the big screen. My point though is the lack of joined-up thinking within the club. It’s not as if the idea of doing half season tickets will have come up at a meeting on Friday after the programme had been printed. Nobody is joining the dots.
There were still adverts in the upper west toilets for the Cheltenham Festival in March 2020. A bit of a morbid reminder of that super-spreader event...
See this sort of thing is shocking, it may be trivial but why are old adverts not removed by the very same people that put the new ones up.
We managed to give away 10k tickets without a programme advert, im sure half's will do just fine being pushed on social media. Out of interest, how many programmes are even sold on the day now days ?
TBF I've seen adverts in high street shops and pubs regarding covid protocols that are not currently relevant. So not unique to football clubs.
True, but the people using those businesses are likely to be pretty well versed in what is required or not required in those premises (whereas we had many irregular attendees on Saturday) and the shop/pub signs will be more current than December last year, which is when Charlton last admitted fans on the basis set out.
In the distant past it was someone’s job to go round and check / refresh all the leaflet dispensers and adverts before every matchday and the chief executive would himself pick up these issues if they had been missed.
It’s understandable that current staff are pressed for time and mistakes get made, but the operations director has had three and a half months of matches - plus the whole summer - to address these very prominent warnings at the turnstiles and still done nothing. Why not?
Watched the game online, and you could hear the difference in atmosphere. The noise was fantastic. A great payback for season ticket holders, and a bonus for the rest of us.
No mention of half season tickets, launched the previous day, in the programme on Saturday.
Blimey, they missed a trick there then, I take it it was well advertised in the stadium and on the big screen though?
I understand there were ads in the toilets. I didn’t notice the big screen. My point though is the lack of joined-up thinking within the club. It’s not as if the idea of doing half season tickets will have come up at a meeting on Friday after the programme had been printed. Nobody is joining the dots.
There were still adverts in the upper west toilets for the Cheltenham Festival in March 2020. A bit of a morbid reminder of that super-spreader event...
See this sort of thing is shocking, it may be trivial but why are old adverts not removed by the very same people that put the new ones up.
No one can find them through the smoke in the khazis
No mention of half season tickets, launched the previous day, in the programme on Saturday.
Blimey, they missed a trick there then, I take it it was well advertised in the stadium and on the big screen though?
I understand there were ads in the toilets. I didn’t notice the big screen. My point though is the lack of joined-up thinking within the club. It’s not as if the idea of doing half season tickets will have come up at a meeting on Friday after the programme had been printed. Nobody is joining the dots.
There were still adverts in the upper west toilets for the Cheltenham Festival in March 2020. A bit of a morbid reminder of that super-spreader event...
See this sort of thing is shocking, it may be trivial but why are old adverts not removed by the very same people that put the new ones up.
No one can find them through the smoke in the khazis
I was disgusted to find that the ashtrays had not been emptied. Come on Keohane - what do we pay you for?
I didn't check on Saturday, but until recently there were adverts in the West Upper toilets for a Jake Bugg single that was released a couple of years ago at least.
However, my biggest buggbear on Saturday was the way they managed the turnstiles. Mentioned this on the post match thread. Not sure what it was like in the rest of the ground, but at least three of the (I think) eight turnstiles were closed, including the two furthest south. This resulted in massive queues / confusion, stewards directing people to the West Lower queues by mistake and at one point a steward letting a load of people in through an exit gate before a more senior one put a stop to it.
Many people were struggling to scan tickets, me included and I go to the majority of games. I was let in manually by a steward in the end. There was probably a rate of about one or two entrants every minute or so as the system doesn't deal well with people scanning on phones.
Was always going to be busy with queues on Saturday, but surely they could at least have opened all the entrances.
The majority that were closed were where there would have been a disproportionate number of newcomers and I could see many people being pretty shocked by the experience, my girlfriend included who at one point suggested we go home, which was never going to happen!! We did miss the first ten minutes though despite arriving a good 25 minutes or so before kick off.
I'm willing to accept a bit of chaos on such a day when the attendance is much higher than normal, and the collective behaviour pattern of the crowd is not as it would have been in the Prem days when everyone knew what to do and where to go etc.
However, surely much of that could have been planned for and alleviated. I'd guess there was a breach of the safety certificate, probably several.
Once inside though it was a great day and my girlfriend was glad we toughed it out and wants to go again!
I didn't check on Saturday, but until recently there were adverts in the West Upper toilets for a Jake Bugg single that was released a couple of years ago at least.
However, my biggest buggbear on Saturday was the way they managed the turnstiles. Mentioned this on the post match thread. Not sure what it was like in the rest of the ground, but at least three of the (I think) eight turnstiles were closed, including the two furthest south. This resulted in massive queues / confusion, stewards directing people to the West Lower queues by mistake and at one point a steward letting a load of people in through an exit gate before a more senior one put a stop to it.
Many people were struggling to scan tickets, me included and I go to the majority of games. I was let in manually by a steward in the end. There was probably a rate of about one or two entrants every minute or so as the system doesn't deal well with people scanning on phones.
Was always going to be busy with queues on Saturday, but surely they could at least have opened all the entrances.
The majority that were closed were where there would have been a disproportionate number of newcomers and I could see many people being pretty shocked by the experience, my girlfriend included who at one point suggested we go home, which was never going to happen!! We did miss the first ten minutes though despite arriving a good 25 minutes or so before kick off.
I'm willing to accept a bit of chaos on such a day when the attendance is much higher than normal, and the collective behaviour pattern of the crowd is not as it would have been in the Prem days when everyone knew what to do and where to go etc.
However, surely much of that could have been planned for and alleviated. I'd guess there was a breach of the safety certificate, probably several.
Once inside though it was a great day and my girlfriend was glad we toughed it out and wants to go again!
The turnstiles being shut was ridiculous dor a near capacity crowd. We also got there about 25mins before kick off and were set to miss the start before we went in when the steward opened that exit. Didn’t show our tickets at all to get in.
It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t shock you anymore with Keohane in charge of operations.
I didn't check on Saturday, but until recently there were adverts in the West Upper toilets for a Jake Bugg single that was released a couple of years ago at least.
However, my biggest buggbear on Saturday was the way they managed the turnstiles. Mentioned this on the post match thread. Not sure what it was like in the rest of the ground, but at least three of the (I think) eight turnstiles were closed, including the two furthest south. This resulted in massive queues / confusion, stewards directing people to the West Lower queues by mistake and at one point a steward letting a load of people in through an exit gate before a more senior one put a stop to it.
Many people were struggling to scan tickets, me included and I go to the majority of games. I was let in manually by a steward in the end. There was probably a rate of about one or two entrants every minute or so as the system doesn't deal well with people scanning on phones.
Was always going to be busy with queues on Saturday, but surely they could at least have opened all the entrances.
The majority that were closed were where there would have been a disproportionate number of newcomers and I could see many people being pretty shocked by the experience, my girlfriend included who at one point suggested we go home, which was never going to happen!! We did miss the first ten minutes though despite arriving a good 25 minutes or so before kick off.
I'm willing to accept a bit of chaos on such a day when the attendance is much higher than normal, and the collective behaviour pattern of the crowd is not as it would have been in the Prem days when everyone knew what to do and where to go etc.
However, surely much of that could have been planned for and alleviated. I'd guess there was a breach of the safety certificate, probably several.
Once inside though it was a great day and my girlfriend was glad we toughed it out and wants to go again!
I asked a steward about this and was told the turnstiles are broke. On a more positive note it was good there were more food and drink outlets.
I didn't check on Saturday, but until recently there were adverts in the West Upper toilets for a Jake Bugg single that was released a couple of years ago at least.
However, my biggest buggbear on Saturday was the way they managed the turnstiles. Mentioned this on the post match thread. Not sure what it was like in the rest of the ground, but at least three of the (I think) eight turnstiles were closed, including the two furthest south. This resulted in massive queues / confusion, stewards directing people to the West Lower queues by mistake and at one point a steward letting a load of people in through an exit gate before a more senior one put a stop to it.
Many people were struggling to scan tickets, me included and I go to the majority of games. I was let in manually by a steward in the end. There was probably a rate of about one or two entrants every minute or so as the system doesn't deal well with people scanning on phones.
Was always going to be busy with queues on Saturday, but surely they could at least have opened all the entrances.
The majority that were closed were where there would have been a disproportionate number of newcomers and I could see many people being pretty shocked by the experience, my girlfriend included who at one point suggested we go home, which was never going to happen!! We did miss the first ten minutes though despite arriving a good 25 minutes or so before kick off.
I'm willing to accept a bit of chaos on such a day when the attendance is much higher than normal, and the collective behaviour pattern of the crowd is not as it would have been in the Prem days when everyone knew what to do and where to go etc.
However, surely much of that could have been planned for and alleviated. I'd guess there was a breach of the safety certificate, probably several.
Once inside though it was a great day and my girlfriend was glad we toughed it out and wants to go again!
The turnstiles being shut was ridiculous dor a near capacity crowd. We also got there about 25mins before kick off and were set to miss the start before we went in when the steward opened that exit. Didn’t show our tickets at all to get in.
It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t shock you anymore with Keohane in charge of operations.
I had no issues getting in on Saturday, but this reminded me of something. Took my three kids to the Cheltenham game this season and had etickets. Couldn't get the bloody things to scan so asked the girl on the gate to let us in. She didn't even look at each ticket just ushered us through! Once inside we were met by a group of about 5 stewards. I tried to show my tickets to one fella and he was like "nah mate, you've been checked". We hadn't! I had a backpack and my daughter also had a bag. No searches, no ticket checks, just straight in. I was genuinely shocked how lax it was.
I haven’t been for a while on a Saturday and found some things a bit weird. Like the “grassing” phone number if you don’t like someone’s behaviour. What the hell is that all about? Also the fella that tried to tell us to go out of the ground and queue up to get in the bar even though the doors are open and you can walk straight in. Weird.
The bar service in the covered end was brilliant getting in at 2.50 was easy, my QR code worked. It wasn’t the result or the crowd or the skill we showed that was my highlight. My highlight was the way those 11 players worked and pressed Plymouth.it was amazing and Plymouth didn’t know how to deal with. I thought we’d Peter out in the second half and we did a bit but not enough to notice.
I am now buying a half ST off the back of it. After a few years in the wilderness I’ve got my mojo back.
I didn't check on Saturday, but until recently there were adverts in the West Upper toilets for a Jake Bugg single that was released a couple of years ago at least.
However, my biggest buggbear on Saturday was the way they managed the turnstiles. Mentioned this on the post match thread. Not sure what it was like in the rest of the ground, but at least three of the (I think) eight turnstiles were closed, including the two furthest south. This resulted in massive queues / confusion, stewards directing people to the West Lower queues by mistake and at one point a steward letting a load of people in through an exit gate before a more senior one put a stop to it.
Many people were struggling to scan tickets, me included and I go to the majority of games. I was let in manually by a steward in the end. There was probably a rate of about one or two entrants every minute or so as the system doesn't deal well with people scanning on phones.
Was always going to be busy with queues on Saturday, but surely they could at least have opened all the entrances.
The majority that were closed were where there would have been a disproportionate number of newcomers and I could see many people being pretty shocked by the experience, my girlfriend included who at one point suggested we go home, which was never going to happen!! We did miss the first ten minutes though despite arriving a good 25 minutes or so before kick off.
I'm willing to accept a bit of chaos on such a day when the attendance is much higher than normal, and the collective behaviour pattern of the crowd is not as it would have been in the Prem days when everyone knew what to do and where to go etc.
However, surely much of that could have been planned for and alleviated. I'd guess there was a breach of the safety certificate, probably several.
Once inside though it was a great day and my girlfriend was glad we toughed it out and wants to go again!
I asked a steward about this and was told the turnstiles are broke. On a more positive note it was good there were more food and drink outlets.
But they can operate the turnstiles even if the machines are broken, because the little cabins where the people checking the tickets are still there (well they are for the West Stand)
No mention of half season tickets, launched the previous day, in the programme on Saturday.
Blimey, they missed a trick there then, I take it it was well advertised in the stadium and on the big screen though?
I understand there were ads in the toilets. I didn’t notice the big screen. My point though is the lack of joined-up thinking within the club. It’s not as if the idea of doing half season tickets will have come up at a meeting on Friday after the programme had been printed. Nobody is joining the dots.
There were still adverts in the upper west toilets for the Cheltenham Festival in March 2020. A bit of a morbid reminder of that super-spreader event...
See this sort of thing is shocking, it may be trivial but why are old adverts not removed by the very same people that put the new ones up.
No one can find them through the smoke in the khazis
I was disgusted to find that the ashtrays had not been emptied. Come on Keohane - what do we pay you for?
I haven’t been for a while on a Saturday and found some things a bit weird. Like the “grassing” phone number if you don’t like someone’s behaviour. What the hell is that all about? Also the fella that tried to tell us to go out of the ground and queue up to get in the bar even though the doors are open and you can walk straight in. Weird.
The bar service in the covered end was brilliant getting in at 2.50 was easy, my QR code worked. It wasn’t the result or the crowd or the skill we showed that was my highlight. My highlight was the way those 11 players worked and pressed Plymouth.it was amazing and Plymouth didn’t know how to deal with. I thought we’d Peter out in the second half and we did a bit but not enough to notice.
I am now buying a half ST off the back of it. After a few years in the wilderness I’ve got my mojo back.
COYRRGSA
That ridiculous system for Crossbars has been in place for a while now.
I didn't check on Saturday, but until recently there were adverts in the West Upper toilets for a Jake Bugg single that was released a couple of years ago at least.
However, my biggest buggbear on Saturday was the way they managed the turnstiles. Mentioned this on the post match thread. Not sure what it was like in the rest of the ground, but at least three of the (I think) eight turnstiles were closed, including the two furthest south. This resulted in massive queues / confusion, stewards directing people to the West Lower queues by mistake and at one point a steward letting a load of people in through an exit gate before a more senior one put a stop to it.
Many people were struggling to scan tickets, me included and I go to the majority of games. I was let in manually by a steward in the end. There was probably a rate of about one or two entrants every minute or so as the system doesn't deal well with people scanning on phones.
Was always going to be busy with queues on Saturday, but surely they could at least have opened all the entrances.
The majority that were closed were where there would have been a disproportionate number of newcomers and I could see many people being pretty shocked by the experience, my girlfriend included who at one point suggested we go home, which was never going to happen!! We did miss the first ten minutes though despite arriving a good 25 minutes or so before kick off.
I'm willing to accept a bit of chaos on such a day when the attendance is much higher than normal, and the collective behaviour pattern of the crowd is not as it would have been in the Prem days when everyone knew what to do and where to go etc.
However, surely much of that could have been planned for and alleviated. I'd guess there was a breach of the safety certificate, probably several.
Once inside though it was a great day and my girlfriend was glad we toughed it out and wants to go again!
The turnstiles being shut was ridiculous dor a near capacity crowd. We also got there about 25mins before kick off and were set to miss the start before we went in when the steward opened that exit. Didn’t show our tickets at all to get in.
It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t shock you anymore with Keohane in charge of operations.
I had no issues getting in on Saturday, but this reminded me of something. Took my three kids to the Cheltenham game this season and had etickets. Couldn't get the bloody things to scan so asked the girl on the gate to let us in. She didn't even look at each ticket just ushered us through! Once inside we were met by a group of about 5 stewards. I tried to show my tickets to one fella and he was like "nah mate, you've been checked". We hadn't! I had a backpack and my daughter also had a bag. No searches, no ticket checks, just straight in. I was genuinely shocked how lax it was.
If it had been strict then you would have written a similar, but contradictory, post.
The main difference between AB and most of the rest of us including me is he has been there and done it, so please keep the analysis coming @Airman Brown.
Also worth noting the club weren’t even on this page before the recent FF and FTV meeting, Altho neither directly involved in this one. I’m interested to know the detail of the intent behind this approach.
As I mentioned way back I would be far more radical and among other things restructure ticketing including at this level make kids tickets very cheap if not free, take the opportunity of League One to rebuild our support.
That's not the case.
The Commercial Director has been talking about a business development group almost since he took over, a successor to the Target40K group. I happen to know because I had meetings with him about it and even suggested some names which included Rick's. And most definitely didn't include mine.
We may be talking at slight cross purposes, but my observations as limited as they might be, was the feedback given in both meetings and other discussions certainly showed an impact in the meeting from TS at least and after, and accompanying rhetoric that hadn't happened before, the phrase Fill the Valley being one example but there are others. I recall in the FF TS literally giving WM a new steer on the topic of loss leaders etc
The main difference between AB and most of the rest of us including me is he has been there and done it, so please keep the analysis coming @Airman Brown.
Also worth noting the club weren’t even on this page before the recent FF and FTV meeting, Altho neither directly involved in this one. I’m interested to know the detail of the intent behind this approach.
As I mentioned way back I would be far more radical and among other things restructure ticketing including at this level make kids tickets very cheap if not free, take the opportunity of League One to rebuild our support.
That's not the case.
The Commercial Director has been talking about a business development group almost since he took over, a successor to the Target40K group. I happen to know because I had meetings with him about it and even suggested some names which included Rick's. And most definitely didn't include mine.
We may be talking at slight cross purposes, but my observations as limited as they might be, was the feedback given in both meetings and other discussions certainly showed an impact in the meeting from TS at least and after, and accompanying rhetoric that hadn't happened before, the phrase Fill the Valley being one example but there are others. I recall in the FF TS literally giving WM a new steer on the topic of loss leaders etc
The main difference between AB and most of the rest of us including me is he has been there and done it, so please keep the analysis coming @Airman Brown.
Also worth noting the club weren’t even on this page before the recent FF and FTV meeting, Altho neither directly involved in this one. I’m interested to know the detail of the intent behind this approach.
As I mentioned way back I would be far more radical and among other things restructure ticketing including at this level make kids tickets very cheap if not free, take the opportunity of League One to rebuild our support.
That's not the case.
The Commercial Director has been talking about a business development group almost since he took over, a successor to the Target40K group. I happen to know because I had meetings with him about it and even suggested some names which included Rick's. And most definitely didn't include mine.
We may be talking at slight cross purposes, but my observations as limited as they might be, was the feedback given in both meetings and other discussions certainly showed an impact in the meeting from TS at least and after, and accompanying rhetoric that hadn't happened before, the phrase Fill the Valley being one example but there are others. I recall in the FF TS literally giving WM a new steer on the topic of loss leaders etc
I think a commercial director knows what a loss leader is.
The business development/T40k concept was already being discussed at the back end of 2020. WM was fully aware of how the T40k group operated and the initiatives it launched such as football for a five (a classic loss leader) because he was given a briefing on them verbally and in writing. And Rick was in his ear about the coaches, something which was acted upon.
The phrase "Fill the Valley" is another way (better IMHO) of saying lets target getting 40k people into this place.
The main difference between AB and most of the rest of us including me is he has been there and done it, so please keep the analysis coming @Airman Brown.
Also worth noting the club weren’t even on this page before the recent FF and FTV meeting, Altho neither directly involved in this one. I’m interested to know the detail of the intent behind this approach.
As I mentioned way back I would be far more radical and among other things restructure ticketing including at this level make kids tickets very cheap if not free, take the opportunity of League One to rebuild our support.
That's not the case.
The Commercial Director has been talking about a business development group almost since he took over, a successor to the Target40K group. I happen to know because I had meetings with him about it and even suggested some names which included Rick's. And most definitely didn't include mine.
We may be talking at slight cross purposes, but my observations as limited as they might be, was the feedback given in both meetings and other discussions certainly showed an impact in the meeting from TS at least and after, and accompanying rhetoric that hadn't happened before, the phrase Fill the Valley being one example but there are others. I recall in the FF TS literally giving WM a new steer on the topic of loss leaders etc
The main difference between AB and most of the rest of us including me is he has been there and done it, so please keep the analysis coming @Airman Brown.
Also worth noting the club weren’t even on this page before the recent FF and FTV meeting, Altho neither directly involved in this one. I’m interested to know the detail of the intent behind this approach.
As I mentioned way back I would be far more radical and among other things restructure ticketing including at this level make kids tickets very cheap if not free, take the opportunity of League One to rebuild our support.
That's not the case.
The Commercial Director has been talking about a business development group almost since he took over, a successor to the Target40K group. I happen to know because I had meetings with him about it and even suggested some names which included Rick's. And most definitely didn't include mine.
We may be talking at slight cross purposes, but my observations as limited as they might be, was the feedback given in both meetings and other discussions certainly showed an impact in the meeting from TS at least and after, and accompanying rhetoric that hadn't happened before, the phrase Fill the Valley being one example but there are others. I recall in the FF TS literally giving WM a new steer on the topic of loss leaders etc
I think a commercial director knows what a loss leader is.
The business development/T40k concept was already being discussed at the back end of 2020. WM was fully aware of how the T40k group operated and the initiatives it launched such as football for a five (a classic loss leader) because he was given a briefing on them verbally and in writing. And Rick was in his ear about the coaches, something which was acted upon.
The phrase "Fill the Valley" is another way (better IMHO) of saying lets target getting 40k people into this place.
I doubt it will happen, but The Valley would be a stunning stadium if that photo became reality (and it already is a great stadium, I hasten to add !!!)
Love that photo but moving home fans to the Jimmy Seed does not sit well with me, just does not seem right.
agreed - i've always preferred the idea of anothe tier and / or a raised height on the East - would need to buy up a couple of houses to create more access half way down the stand but lets keep the jimmy seed small and lets keep the covered end the home end. The roof of the east is at the height of the original terracing - i know that coz i interviewed Roy King (client) and Kennedy Woodward (the designers) and Mowlem i think (contractors) when doing my QS degree and used it as a poject for my dissertation - got a desmond in the end coz i spent most of it talking about Charlton rather than design and build !!!
Comments
The Commercial Director has been talking about a business development group almost since he took over, a successor to the Target40K group. I happen to know because I had meetings with him about it and even suggested some names which included Rick's. And most definitely didn't include mine.
In the distant past it was someone’s job to go round and check / refresh all the leaflet dispensers and adverts before every matchday and the chief executive would himself pick up these issues if they had been missed.
It’s understandable that current staff are pressed for time and mistakes get made, but the operations director has had three and a half months of matches - plus the whole summer - to address these very prominent warnings at the turnstiles and still done nothing. Why not?
However, my biggest buggbear on Saturday was the way they managed the turnstiles. Mentioned this on the post match thread. Not sure what it was like in the rest of the ground, but at least three of the (I think) eight turnstiles were closed, including the two furthest south. This resulted in massive queues / confusion, stewards directing people to the West Lower queues by mistake and at one point a steward letting a load of people in through an exit gate before a more senior one put a stop to it.
Many people were struggling to scan tickets, me included and I go to the majority of games. I was let in manually by a steward in the end. There was probably a rate of about one or two entrants every minute or so as the system doesn't deal well with people scanning on phones.
Was always going to be busy with queues on Saturday, but surely they could at least have opened all the entrances.
The majority that were closed were where there would have been a disproportionate number of newcomers and I could see many people being pretty shocked by the experience, my girlfriend included who at one point suggested we go home, which was never going to happen!! We did miss the first ten minutes though despite arriving a good 25 minutes or so before kick off.
I'm willing to accept a bit of chaos on such a day when the attendance is much higher than normal, and the collective behaviour pattern of the crowd is not as it would have been in the Prem days when everyone knew what to do and where to go etc.
However, surely much of that could have been planned for and alleviated. I'd guess there was a breach of the safety certificate, probably several.
Once inside though it was a great day and my girlfriend was glad we toughed it out and wants to go again!
Also the fella that tried to tell us to go out of the ground and queue up to get in the bar even though the doors are open and you can walk straight in. Weird.
The bar service in the covered end was brilliant
getting in at 2.50 was easy, my QR code worked.
It wasn’t the result or the crowd or the skill we showed that was my highlight. My highlight was the way those 11 players worked and pressed Plymouth.it was amazing and Plymouth didn’t know how to deal with. I thought we’d Peter out in the second half and we did a bit but not enough to notice.
I am now buying a half ST off the back of it. After a few years in the wilderness I’ve got my mojo back.
COYRRGSA
Did the positives out number the negatives or vice versa for instance....
Our Crossbars experience, for example, was enhanced by very helpful, informed bar staff which was so welcome.
However, with the suite usually opening at 12 noon ( I THINK), we planned our arrival for as close to this as possible for once.
At 12.15, we were amazed to find no spare tables there which was unexpected.
Unless I missed the info, we were unaware that the opening would be brought forward for this sell out match.....
So, one minor criticism was the lack of a heads up on this issue.
Had we been turned away with capacity reached, the day would have turned particularly sour, with nearly 3 hours to kill before ko.
The business development/T40k concept was already being discussed at the back end of 2020. WM was fully aware of how the T40k group operated and the initiatives it launched such as football for a five (a classic loss leader) because he was given a briefing on them verbally and in writing. And Rick was in his ear about the coaches, something which was acted upon.
The phrase "Fill the Valley" is another way (better IMHO) of saying lets target getting 40k people into this place.