Any real benefit in shutting the chapel?

[ooohTerryHurlock]

... so its meant to save money, but due to the pandemonium in the itchen concourse i would suggest that takings at the hatches were down just onthe pure numbers that could n't be ****ed to battle there way to the hatch??Surely there cannot be that much of a saving? does anyone know or is it another wall of silence question??

[John B]

Seemed common sense to me to close certain sections of the ground

[Chez]

I ended up with a small child sat behind me kicking my ****ing seat all game. Who closes a family centre? Madness. It would be nice if the club actually explained their stand closure policy as it makes no sense to me. It felt strange having an entire end closed, almost like a practice game.

 

Why also did the screens only come on in the second half?

[Matthew Le God]

Makes the other stands fill up more.

 

3 full(ish) stands and 1 behind goal stand empty >>> (better atmosphere) >>> 4 sparsely populated stands

Edited 2 January, 2010 by Matthew Le God

[ooohTerryHurlock]

...but it kills the atmosphere, what are hte exact economic benefits??

 

Personally why not just close the upper rows all the way round?? It said of wedging every one in three sides. The Itchen Concourse was unbearable today so they must have got something wrong somewhere.

 

Also season ticket holders are then forced to be relocated.... ??

[Thedelldays]

...but it kills the atmosphere, what are hte exact economic benefits??

 

Personally why not just close the upper rows all the way round?? It said of wedging every one in three sides. The Itchen Concourse was unbearable today so they must have got something wrong somewhere.

there obviously are some...

[Matthew Le God]

Why also did the screens only come on in the second half?

 

They were on for most of the first half and then had technical problems around 30 minutes and came back on later.

[Matthew Le God]

Personally why not just close the upper rows all the way round??

 

Close the lower rows would be better. The further back you sit the better view you have.

[ooohTerryHurlock]

there obviously are some...

 

so what are they?? or is it more mushroom syndrome??

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Close the lower rows would be better. The further back you sit the better view you have.

 

whichever,but pretty sure if our swiss leaders are listening it may be something they care to cast their expert eye over as the customer service side could do with a bit of a revamp as far as I can see

[Matthew Le God]

whichever,but pretty sure if our swiss leaders are listening it may be something they care to cast their expert eye over as the customer service side could do with a bit of a revamp as far as I can see

 

I really don't have a problem with how they did it. As I said earlier it makes the areas of the ground more densely populated...

 

3 full(ish) stands and 1 behind goal stand empty >>> (better atmosphere) >>> 4 sparsely populated stands

[kpturner]

...but it kills the atmosphere, what are the exact economic benefits??

£15,283.23 (and I corrected your typo for you). HTH

[saint boggy]

Close the lower rows would be better. The further back you sit the better view you have.

 

then where would the disabled/elderly/infirm go , as they couldn't climb stairs could they.

shutting one section is the best thing to do IMO......

[yellow&blue]

...but it kills the atmosphere, what are hte exact economic benefits??

 

Personally why not just close the upper rows all the way round?? It said of wedging every one in three sides. The Itchen Concourse was unbearable today so they must have got something wrong somewhere.

 

Also season ticket holders are then forced to be relocated.... ??

 

So what if the itchen concourse was unbearable as you say, it would have been exactly the same if the game was a complete sell out surely? Personally I am not bothered about it either way........

[Whitey Grandad]

If they close a stand then they don't need to pay stewards, catering staff, safety staff for that stand so it can't just be a matter of lower rows only as all the stands would need to be open. I think the club misjudged the potential crowd for this game.

 

From the safety point of view, it must be better to have a thinner crowd spread out over a larger area?

[Whitey Grandad]

Did anyone else notice that the Chapel was louder than usual today?

[The Cat]

I was hoping the Northam would start up the 'Chapel Give Us A Song' chant.

[OldNick]

It must be a cost saving exercise. It seems sensible to me, although not having the family section might have been a bad idea.

[latter day saint]

I was hoping the Northam would start up the 'Chapel Give Us A Song' chant.

my mate tried getting that going in the Kingsland but none of the borring farts around us wanted to join in

[Saint_clark]

...but it kills the atmosphere, what are hte exact economic benefits??

 

Personally why not just close the upper rows all the way round?? It said of wedging every one in three sides. The Itchen Concourse was unbearable today so they must have got something wrong somewhere.

 

Also season ticket holders are then forced to be relocated.... ??

 

Because that saves nothing - you still need the same amount of people in the concourse.

And season ticket holders are not FORCED to do anything. You move for a couple of games or you don't go. Simple.

[kpturner]

my mate tried getting that going in the Kingsland but none of the borring farts around us wanted to join in

Yeah - they are all boring farts in the Northam.

[ooohTerryHurlock]

So what if the itchen concourse was unbearable as you say, it would have been exactly the same if the game was a complete sell out surely? Personally I am not bothered about it either way........

 

never that bad before!

[ooohTerryHurlock]

If they close a stand then they don't need to pay stewards, catering staff, safety staff for that stand so it can't just be a matter of lower rows only as all the stands would need to be open. I think the club misjudged the potential crowd for this game.

 

From the safety point of view, it must be better to have a thinner crowd spread out over a larger area?[/QUOTE]

 

Wisdom Again...thats what I was driving at!! at least you got it!- Alos lost revenue from the fact people just can't get to the hatches!

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Because that saves nothing - you still need the same amount of people in the concourse.

And season ticket holders are not FORCED to do anything. You move for a couple of games or you don't go. Simple.

 

hmmm so if all season ticket holders have that attitude we would be in a right mess....and why are we now bothered about saving money??

The crowd today was not far off our average for the season so why not close one stand period then??? We have no mortgage on the gaff anymore so i guess the aim of the owner is to see the ground packed out with people enjoying the expience of football, being wedged in like a sardine in a hillsborough type situation is n't actually aiming to keep the paying customers happy.

[Saint_Jonny]

I just think they didnt think that - that many saints fans would turn up to today's game. By the time they had figured it out the policing and stewarding would have been in place.

[Toadhall Saint]

so what are they?? or is it more mushroom syndrome??

 

You obviously have a view on this so why don't you tell us what you really think? Me I don't really care ad long as I get to see my team play. You seem to want to moan about........?

[Toadhall Saint]

hmmm so if all season ticket holders have that attitude we would be in a right mess....and why are we now bothered about saving money??

The crowd today was not far off our average for the season so why not close one stand period then??? We have no mortgage on the gaff anymore so i guess the aim of the owner is to see the ground packed out with people enjoying the expience of football, being wedged in like a sardine in a hillsborough type situation is n't actually aiming to keep the paying customers happy.

 

Sorry hadn't seen this - so you want two seats because we have no mortgage on SMS? Hillsborough - don't make me laugh, people died there you ****. Did you see anyone anywhere near that today? Bloody drama queen.

 

Oh and if your not happy with the "customer service" don't go.

[Saint Fan CaM]

The whole organisation around ticketing and seating for this game was rubbish IMO. Firstly, the club broke one of its central mandates to ST holders by not offering us the opportunity to purchase our ST seats (e.g. mine is in block 30). Secondly, I have never known the ticketing office to be in such a shambles for a 15k ticket game - it took me 35 minutes to queue to collect my 2 tickets meaning we missed the first 15-20 minutes of the 1st half.

 

Sort it out please Mr Cortese - this is basic stuff. I trust this poor level of customer service does not reflect what we might expect in the Premiership with 30k gates - it will be intolerable then!

[Matthew Le God]

it took me 35 minutes to queue to collect my 2 tickets meaning we missed the first 15-20 minutes of the 1st half.

 

To be fair that is your fault turning up 15 minutes before the game. Even if the line was short you are cutting it fine.

[Hopkins]

The whole organisation around ticketing and seating for this game was rubbish IMO. Firstly, the club broke one of its central mandates to ST holders by not offering us the opportunity to purchase our ST seats (e.g. mine is in block 30). Secondly, I have never known the ticketing office to be in such a shambles for a 15k ticket game - it took me 35 minutes to queue to collect my 2 tickets meaning we missed the first 15-20 minutes of the 1st half.

 

Sort it out please Mr Cortese - this is basic stuff. I trust this poor level of customer service does not reflect what we might expect in the Premiership with 30k gates - it will be intolerable then!

 

Its pretty basic stuff not to turn up 20 minutes before kick off without a ticket.

[SNSUN]

Close the lower rows would be better. The further back you sit the better view you have.

 

My missus has cruddy eyes ( I think the technical term for it is short-sightedness) and moans if we don't sit near the front. I take your point, but doing it that way may inconvenience too many people.

[SNSUN]

The whole organisation around ticketing and seating for this game was rubbish IMO. Firstly, the club broke one of its central mandates to ST holders by not offering us the opportunity to purchase our ST seats (e.g. mine is in block 30). Secondly, I have never known the ticketing office to be in such a shambles for a 15k ticket game - it took me 35 minutes to queue to collect my 2 tickets meaning we missed the first 15-20 minutes of the 1st half.

 

Sort it out please Mr Cortese - this is basic stuff. I trust this poor level of customer service does not reflect what we might expect in the Premiership with 30k gates - it will be intolerable then!

 

I missed the first 15 minutes of the Bristol Rovers game due to turning up 20 minutes before kick off without a ticket, (through no fault of my own might I add), and learned my lesson. I now either ring the ticket office and reserve my tickets in advance, or book them online. The queues for the collection windows are virtually non-existant, and tickets cost less.

[niceandfriendly]

it took me 35 minutes to queue to collect my 2 tickets meaning we missed the first 15-20 minutes of the 1st half.

 

Totally your fault that. I can't understand why so many people leave it until under an hour until kick off to queue for your tickets. Some have genuine reasons obviously, but I bet for most it's just laziness!

[Saint Fan CaM]

I missed the first 15 minutes of the Bristol Rovers game due to turning up 20 minutes before kick off without a ticket, (through no fault of my own might I add), and learned my lesson. I now either ring the ticket office and reserve my tickets in advance, or book them online. The queues for the collection windows are virtually non-existant, and tickets cost less.

 

 

Hang on - as I said originally, I paid for the tickets days before the match but chose to collect the tickets. In all the years going to SMS have I ever seen such a huge queue just to collect tickets - whatever system they employ seems to have changed and today it did not work - it was rubbish.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Totally your fault that. I can't understand why so many people leave it until under an hour until kick off to queue for your tickets. Some have genuine reasons obviously, but I bet for most it's just laziness!

 

Well you wouldn't know would you, however the traffic into Southampton from the west of the city was horrendous for some reason and gridlock. I had to divert. I can tell you that there was a very large number of people behind us when we eventually got to the collection window. Two windows open? I could say the ticket office were lazy by clearly having prior knowledge of the numbers who would be collecting and only putting on two windows!

[70's Mike]

Interesting

will probably be the last game this season this happens

i think the club underestimated the demand or else why not completely shut the Chapel and open corners for ALL games.

[SaintRobbie]

Seemed common sense to me to close certain sections of the ground

 

I think if you're going to close anywhere then close the Chapel/Itchen South corner.

 

I still can't understand why we closed the Itchen North when it was rocking and hemming in the away fans. It was creating a 12th man FFS with the Northam Alliance in place!!

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Sorry hadn't seen this - so you want two seats because we have no mortgage on SMS? Hillsborough - don't make me laugh, people died there you ****. Did you see anyone anywhere near that today? Bloody drama queen.

 

Oh and if your not happy with the "customer service" don't go.

 

Hilllsborough occured because people in authority did not recognising a potential problem, and at half time today there was a potential for a crush to occur, there was a log jam of people and it had the potential to turn into something quite nasty if someone had slipped or fallen..... I do put the safety of the customer at a very high level unlike yourself who after reading your response to my post I put you down as moron type, unable to think outside of the box and wanting a return to the old days where people urinated in each others pockets on the terraces - SMS is a European Class A stadium designed to cater for 32 500 odd spectators,unfortunately we have a Blue Square Conference Customer Service manager!!!

 

I will treat your finally comment that it deserves by simply ignoring it - MORON

[Thedelldays]

Hilllsborough occured because people in authority did not recognising a potential problem, and at half time today there was a potential for a crush to occur, there was a log jam of people and it had the potential to turn into something quite nasty if someone had slipped or fallen..... I do put the safety of the customer at a very high level unlike yourself who after reading your response to my post I put you down as moron type, unable to think outside of the box and wanting a return to the old days where people urinated in each others pockets on the terraces - SMS is a European Class A stadium designed to cater for 32 500 odd spectators,unfortunately we have a Blue Square Conference Customer Service manager!!!

 

I will treat your finally comment that it deserves by simply ignoring it - MORON

 

 

lol

[ooohTerryHurlock]

lol

 

glad you find that funny!

[Thedelldays]

in todays world, you would be hard pressed to find customers who stamp their feet more than football fans

[SaintRichmond]

... so its meant to save money, but due to the pandemonium in the itchen concourse i would suggest that takings at the hatches were down just onthe pure numbers that could n't be ****ed to battle there way to the hatch??Surely there cannot be that much of a saving? does anyone know or is it another wall of silence question??

 

FALSE ECONOMY IMHO

 

By originally "closing" The Kingsland, Pi**ed off quite a few people, me included (My alternative seat was in the Itchen, but I hated it, the sun in your eyes was cr*p)

 

Then, within the last few days, they "opened up" The Kingsland

 

So, all they did was annoy quite a few people, and lose out on a gate of over 20000 IMHO

 

I said at the time, BAD PLANNING, great for upsetting Fans

 

The FA Cup IS still unique, and a crowd puller

 

For me, looking at the Chapel, with no one in it was PATHETIC

 

It won't happen again, because IF we get a Home tie in round 4, we will get well over 20000, no problem:D

[Thedelldays]

The FA Cup IS still unique, and a crowd puller

 

when was the last time you visited planet earth

[Evil Monkey]

There is normally an empty seat next to me in the northam. Someone was sat in it today. I felt completely sophicated by this over crowding. Then, walking around the concourse area, people were so cramped for space, they were literally brushing past one another. It was mayhem. I nearly didnt get my pint.

[SaintRichmond]

when was the last time you visited planet earth

 

 

The same time as you by the sound of it

 

Just as a matter of interest, where do YOU sit at St Mary's ???:cool:

[Thedelldays]

The same time as you by the sound of it

 

Just as a matter of interest, where do YOU sit at St Mary's ???:cool:

when I go..I sit anywhere..the view is pretty much the same all around the bowl shaped stadium

 

as for the FA Cup..it is no longer this magical competition...things changed and evolve..

[SaintRichmond]

when I go..I sit anywhere..the view is pretty much the same all around the bowl shaped stadium

 

as for the FA Cup..it is no longer this magical competition...things changed and evolve..

 

So you are not a ST Holder, just a "casual" Fan ??? Easy to please, wouldn't say boo to a goose, East stand at the Dell, :cool:all is calm in the world etc etc ????

[saint boggy]

Hilllsborough occured because people in authority did not recognising a potential problem, and at half time today there was a potential for a crush to occur, there was a log jam of people and it had the potential to turn into something quite nasty if someone had slipped or fallen..... I do put the safety of the customer at a very high level unlike yourself who after reading your response to my post I put you down as moron type, unable to think outside of the box and wanting a return to the old days where people urinated in each others pockets on the terraces - SMS is a European Class A stadium designed to cater for 32 500 odd spectators,unfortunately we have a Blue Square Conference Customer Service manager!!!

 

I will treat your finally comment that it deserves by simply ignoring it - MORON

there were no more people in there yesterday than there was when we were getting full houses in the Prem, and no-one died then!.:smt102

Saints fans (me included) have gotten used to having space to roam/swap seats/get to the bar easily since our crowds have diminished, so i think yesterday was just a culture shock for some.

Also, i think the club have underestimated the interest in Saints games,and so go into these 'smaller' games under the assumption that we will only get 8-10,000, and the late take up of tickets shocks them a bit.

all IMHO of course.

[Block 5]

Was the Chapel closed? I hadn't noticed.

I experienced no traffic problems and no parking problems.

I arrived at SMS at 1.30pm, queued for about 5 minutes to buy my ticket, and got it for £10 and not £18.

No problems. I can't understand what everyone is whining about.

[This Charming Man]

Is this TerryHurlock fella for real or is he on a wind-up?

 

I was actually laughing out loud reading his comments comparing a few people trying to get a half time beer to the Hillsborough tragedy. Have you ever attended a sold out football match? One word describes you sir, Moronic.