when do you get inside the valley 'complex' and when do you leave it ?...i usually try to get to bartrams around half an hour before kick off and generally leave the ground 5/10 mins after the final whistle, once in a blue moon staying a bit longer for a quick beer though if i fancy a pint i head for the liberal club as you know you wont get wound up waiting to get served...a big shame really but the valley is hardly a welcoming venue and getting served is more often than not a chore...even the club shop aways has a long snaking queue (which could possibly be alleviated if the club invested in some tables/stalls sited around the ground selling merchandise on match days)...
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I don't buy anything because the queues are always too long but sometimes manage to fight my way through for a piddle at half time if I'm desperate.
Sometimes i like to go in early and watch the comparative warm up methods the two teams use, but then i get wound up seeing the oppo going through vigourous drills and our lot watching the big screen !
May I ask why you leave early?
My daughter can't understand why PEOPLE LEAVE EARLY,try and explain that to an 8 year old who can't wait for the next home game.
Now, if I was being really devilish then I would've said, "because the West Stand buffet gets packed pretty quickly and if you're not quick the sausage on a stick goes cold".
leave as soon as final whistle goes.
LOL. Good point LTGTR!!
yep.... very reflective!!!!
With beer at £3.10 a pint is that a surprise?
What do you want ? Open the gates at 11.30am and put the 'film of the week' on the big screen ????
true, but we also know that a large chunk of this board are in the local pubs before and after the game so they cant be added to the 'dont spend a lot of time and money inside the ground brigade through choice' as well...
I do think you are right there ltgr. The Club should be looking to keep people in the ground as long as possible and you've got some good ideas there, including small retail kiosks.
I think they primarily though need to create some kind of space that is conducive to the hardcore support. Local pubs have been around for generations and have developed hand in hand with supporters and the way they follow their clubs the land over. It's hard to compete with that, and I'm not sure how much I would want the Club to intrude on that relationship, if it were even remotely possible. But, having supporters in earlier and leaving later will be more conducive to the kind of passionate atmosphere we'd all like to see more of, as well as help with revenue and traffic issues.
I know some European clubs have Supporters' spaces for their Ultras attached to their particular home stands. Members meet and socialise there and their version of Supporters' Director manages the space usually, I think. There are lounges and the like and this is wear banners are made and issues are discussed pertaining to the Club and supporters. (And with many a club this seems to involve some kind of gangsterism). I think the lounges and bars at The Valley only appeal to the "sanitised" and not the great unwashed, who retreat to the local pubs (and fair enough of course. There's got to be a balance). It's probably a bit late now, considering the plans have been drawn up and planning permission has gone through, but perhaps some form of supporter's space, run for and by organised supporters, can be fitted into the East Stand (of course, would be best in the Covered End), or the SE corner?
Never gonna happen eh?
Afka> whats the member/regular poster stats?
There are a lot of people, my family that sit in the west stand that all meet by the shop and head into the ground half hour before k/o, buy a programme, jackpot ticket, a coffee, they stand and have a chat before taking their seats 10 mins before the game starts, and before I moved to the north I used to go with them. the place was packed with others too watching the tv screens for news.
I don't drink beer, so personally the thought of standing in the concourse with no drink or in a pub with a drink, is more appealing to me, plus the beer is fosters, and my other half drinks different lager, so each to their own. I wouldn't criticise the club tho and say its "appalling" that people dont spend time there.
The view out of Curb_its kitchen window at 2pm an hour before k/o is evidence enough that some people do get to the ground well advanced of k/o time.
oh yeah, and isn't there a merchandise stall in the lower north?
In Europe the "ultras" and other such organisations pretty much run the club themselves!
Surely we have 2 "supporter sections" endorsed by the club, bartrams and Crossbars, plus any other such lounges. not surprised the club isn't advertising them as "a place for the great unwashed to visit" as that would be ridiculous!
I can think of a few games last season where a good movie would have been welcome AFKA, ; ) start time about 3
That's part of my point Suzi. The Club caters to one set and the locals to another. The idea I find interesting is how a space in one of the stands (but unlike the various bars and lounges, I mean something different) would help the organised and active support to raise the atmosphere and extend the image of the club as supporter friendly and something worth investing (personally) in.
If not 5 minutes before kick off and then out straight after the final whistle
If it was filled with 400 supporters before every game, would the club make less income from what it already does ? But from the club point of view, the income angle is their only interest.