sotonian Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 something has to be done, its nearly impossible to get a pint without missing some of the game, its been bad all season, but with the extra jcls last Saturday it got stupid, the concourse areas need extending with more outlets, they could put up the mesh type barriers (that are used on building sites) outside home areas at half time with mobile catering units within them, the club would make more money, smokers could smoke, everyone could get food and drink, everyone's happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubblyone Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 What a sensible post!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimbornesaint Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 What a sensible post!! +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colinjb Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 (edited) Agreed. It was however good to see that the request in my 'location' was finally followed. They re-opened the beer bar in the family end v Walsall. Sadly the ONE (!?!) member of staff attending it didn't know what hit him. By the half time whistle it was already queuing back up to the other end of the concourse. And they ran out of beer after serving less the half of the people waiting....... Some party. The sales opportunities lost. They could have made one heck of a lot more. What would be the problem in buying in more reserves? It's not like the bottles will go off!!! Edited 12 May, 2011 by Colinjb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gambol2K9 Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 Imagine what they the queue would be like if the food and drink was actually any good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latter day saint Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 Imagine what they the queue would be like if the food and drink was actually any good. there wouldnt be anyone queing up inside if they did this! like Colinjb said opening the Beer Bars would help but need to be manned by capable people not yts lads or one's who look like they sniff glue! bottle's od cider would have been nice as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gambol2K9 Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 Last time i bought a pint there (£3) the lad on the till had to work out change from a fiver on his fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudders Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 Last time i bought a pint there (£3) the lad on the till had to work out change from a fiver on his fingers. Maybe that's why the skates are in such a mess financially. Their additional fingers means they keep giving out extra change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastleighSoulBoy Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 Maybe that's why the skates are in such a mess financially. Their additional fingers means they keep giving out extra change Not, if like most of them down there, they are webbed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai_phil Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 Stangely, Saturday was the first ever time I had a beer before a game at SMS. Even more strange was that it took me about 45 seconds to get a pint of Tetley's & a Carlsberg. Wasn't a queue at all at 2:37pm for some reason at the Chapel end..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COMEONYOUREDS Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 something has to be done, its nearly impossible to get a pint without missing some of the game, its been bad all season, but with the extra jcls last Saturday it got stupid, the concourse areas need extending with more outlets, they could put up the mesh type barriers (that are used on building sites) outside home areas at half time with mobile catering units within them, the club would make more money, smokers could smoke, everyone could get food and drink, everyone's happy Heras fencing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 I may be completely wrong, but aren't the last of the old regimes catering contracts (beer etc.) running out this summer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colinjb Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 I may be completely wrong, but aren't the last of the old regimes catering contracts (beer etc.) running out this summer? I think you're right. Hence evolution this year not revolution. Something else to look forward to next season perhaps. And maybe a more competant working strategy. Dare I be the first to (yet again....) suggest a similar scheme to the one I found at the Allianz Arena in Munchen? A pre-charged card that can be swipped to pay for goods, speeding up the service and queuing time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Shearer Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 Vending machines in some areas would be sweet but ones with rolls and burgers in! But yes the beer situation does need to be sorted. Man City are a good example of serving beers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 I like the idea of an outside bar/food bit. Other grounds let you go out even if it's just for a smoke, don't see why we can't do the same. We should follow the lead of Palace. In the upper bar in the Holmesdale End you can order your drink before the game and pick it up at half time. Alternatively we could sell books of vouchers in the club shops or at the ticket office. Say £25 for 10 vouchers. These can then be handed over instead of cash at the bar. It speeds things up, means less money is handled and the customer also gets a bit of a discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattio Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 all good ideas but i doubt any will ever happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadgerBadger Posted 12 May, 2011 Share Posted 12 May, 2011 all good ideas but i doubt any will ever happen i fear you may be right - so frustrating given how easy it would be to sort out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyo-Saint Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 What about.... Preparing a whole load of beer just before half time so that when appox 20k of people come to get a drink, it doesn't come as a supprise? I don't mean preparing about 10 or 15 as no doubt they do now but 100 or more. Some may say that they get flat but they do it at Arsenal and it seemed to work there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Guest Ales please, there are some cracking local brews available for us connoisseurs and we like our beer flat and warm so lining them up during the first half would go down even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish fingers Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Guest Ales please, there are some cracking local brews available for us connoisseurs and we like our beer flat and warm so lining them up during the first half would go down even better. 100% with you on this. Brighton are having real ale in their new ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Garrett Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 If you want a beer go to a pub. Even I can go 15 minutes without a half time pint you p*ssed up tossers. I've heard on the grapevine that bottles of Carlsberg and Magners will be sold at the ground next season. Not sure if this is what is being sold now, and to be honest, I don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry the Badger Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Wierdly, the full pints were back for Saturdays game as opposed to the bottles. Not sure why, trial run perhaps with a full ground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toomer Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Service poor, quality of food poor, went to the counter at the Wasall game only to be told can you go to the other till as this one is not open walked round the barrier to next till only for someone to go to the origional till and open it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 If you want a beer go to a pub. Even I can go 15 minutes without a half time pint you p*ssed up tossers. I've heard on the grapevine that bottles of Carlsberg and Magners will be sold at the ground next season. Not sure if this is what is being sold now, and to be honest, I don't care. I don't always have a beer at half-time, but its not really 15 mins without a beer is it? Lets say you leave the pub at 2.45 and get back at 5pm, that's over two hours without one, if you're doing a day out on the beer (like many do at a game), a cheeky half-time pint doesn't do any harm. Plus its potentially a massive money maker for the club.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 I agree with the OP. this has to be a priority for the close season. The most important thing that needs to be done is to sort out the queues and the quality of the beer and food ao the gutty c*nts amoungst us dont have to queue to stuff food down their faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_saints Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Why do people always bang on about getting a load of real ale in? Even if they did bring in a decent one, lager (and probabyl Magners!) would still outsell it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Why do people always bang on about getting a load of real ale in? Even if they did bring in a decent one, lager (and probabyl Magners!) would still outsell it. Because they'd rather drink real ale than lager or cider? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_saints Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Because they'd rather drink real ale than lager or cider? Well, yes. But people also mention that the club could make more money on the catering side. Real ale would hardly help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Well, yes. But people also mention that the club could make more money on the catering side. Real ale would hardly help. Maybe, maybe not. Think there must be scope to do a lager, a cider and a decent ale. Depends how much the club want to develop what they offer, or keep it basic, tried and trusted churning out the same stuff. Things like keeping the Itchen South concourse open after games suggested the club were looking at a few different approaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huffton Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 THere are plenty of good suggestions in this thread for improving service, but has anyone actually contactd the club to put anything forward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norwaysaint Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 What about a good quality, freshly squeezed orange juice, or a range of smoothies made freshly on the premises. Also how about a good selection of freshly brewed coffees, perhaps a guest coffee every week. Perhaps there could be some sort of delicatessen open on the premises selling cold meats and cheeses from around the world. Also, which wines are currently available at St Mary's? Couldn't they keep a good cellar stocked for those who don't want beer or cider? Come on Cortese, the club could be making money on these things! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 THere are plenty of good suggestions in this thread for improving service, but has anyone actually contactd the club to put anything forward? I suggested strongbow rather than magners on the last day of the season, but the blokes behind the counter didn't seem interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doggface Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 I seem to remember the club making a big deal that they were taking over all the food and catering operations at SMS branding it "Halo". I can't be bothered to find the link but local produce, improved service and freshness was promised. Epic fail. The food is like cardboard, the beer is flat, there is no choice. The football has been great but the catering in the stands is unacceptable imo. Just need to take a look how they do it in American sports, it's not rocket science and would vastly improve our revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macey_J2 Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 When some lucky sth's met Cortese last year it was put to him that the concourse refreshments needed improving, as did the concourses- to make them more inviting to make people want to spend time there before and after matches. Cortese acknowledged all the points raise (coincidently containing nearly all mentioned above) he agreed, and actually said this was on his list (as are automated turnstyles, new P.A system among MANY other improvements required). He was aware of Man City's suspended ceiling concourses and was keen to replicate it here, but ideally, the concourses would need completely re-arranging to get them to the standard he wants. He is very keen for fans to spend more time and thus money in the stadium on match days, the entertainment after matches in the itchen concourse is an experiment to see if this idea is popular among us fans. IIRC, the carlsberg lease ended this season and he said the club are looking to make great improvements to the selection of alcohol available, as well as the options for food. Higher quality food was requested by the fans and accepted by Cortese. In addition to this, local real ales, decent lagers and ciders were noted to be favourable over the usual alcohol suspects found at football stadia. I am hopeful we see some improvements over the summer, even if it is just different alcohol available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevegrant Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 I suggested strongbow rather than magners on the last day of the season, but the blokes behind the counter didn't seem interested The people actually serving the stuff will have absolutely no input on what they sell, they're agency staff who come in on what's probably minimum wage for a few hours every other week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toomer Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 The people actually serving the stuff will have absolutely no input on what they sell, they're agency staff who come in on what's probably minimum wage for a few hours every other week. Hence they have not got a mucking clue what they are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRM Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Hence they have not got a mucking clue what they are doing. even better than that, there was chaos at the bournemouth at home cup game when they were in the wrong positions and had to swap positions as the ones standing by the beer outlet couldn't sell it as they weren't over 18 hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knellster Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Dare I be the first to (yet again....) suggest a similar scheme to the one I found at the Allianz Arena in Munchen? A pre-charged card that can be swipped to pay for goods, speeding up the service and queuing time? Please no! In my experience it doesn't sctaully save much time, but if it starts here then it'll get very expensive for anyone who travels away. Each club in Germany has their own system so you pay 3 Euros "deposit" for the card (try finding someone to return the card to after the game) and then have to put a minimum of 10 Euros on the card. You will invariably end up with a couple of Euros left on the card at the end and be stuck with it until your club plays there again. It's not a problem if it's your own team 'cos you just take the card back next week and use it again, but I don't fancy the idea of having 20 other clubs' cards to look after for a year. Just to play devil's advocate on one other point: I seem to recall someone who shall not be named being ridiculed (quite rightly) for stating in his programme notes that our catering was fantastic while conveniently forgetting that the team was sh1te. We have since concentrated on building a decent team, and now people are complaining that the catering is sh1te which sort of makes his point that it matters doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Please no! In my experience it doesn't sctaully save much time, but if it starts here then it'll get very expensive for anyone who travels away. Each club in Germany has their own system so you pay 3 Euros "deposit" for the card (try finding someone to return the card to after the game) and then have to put a minimum of 10 Euros on the card. You will invariably end up with a couple of Euros left on the card at the end and be stuck with it until your club plays there again. It's not a problem if it's your own team 'cos you just take the card back next week and use it again, but I don't fancy the idea of having 20 other clubs' cards to look after for a year. QUOTE] Yep, agree with this. It's good for home fans. And I like some of the more creative ideas mentioned above, but the bog-standard getting a card topped up to buy food and drink is rubbish in my opinion, I didn't bother spending any money when I was at Ajax's ground the other year, too much hassle, took too long and seemed like a rip off. Guess nothing stopping us keeping a cash system going in the away end or running some sort of parralell cash system for those that want to stick with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellone Posted 13 May, 2011 Share Posted 13 May, 2011 Is it too much to ask for a table for two at half time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelman Posted 14 May, 2011 Share Posted 14 May, 2011 Guest Ales please, there are some cracking local brews available for us connoisseurs and we like our beer flat and warm so lining them up during the first half would go down even better. Agree. As I don't like my Carling the temperature they hand it out at, an ale would be much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyin Posted 14 May, 2011 Share Posted 14 May, 2011 Fact of the matter is, the only ale worth drinking is hand pulled and therefore extremely time consuming. Whilst I would love to sup a fortyniner, timmy taylor or such like at half time, I just can't see it happening. I wouldn't go near a John Smith's or Tetley's if you paid me. As for asking football clubs to take a leaf out of the American way of doing things - not really comparable as their day at the sports equates to a working day...or near enough. There is time to take a leisurely drink, burger or dog whenever you want without being hit by the sight of a queue from here to eternity. Multi pouring systems like the ones at the MCG which actually seemed to work and visas new wave and pay system using your phone see to be the way forward. It's getting the staffing right that matters. You're never going to get a homemade/gourmet/farmers market burger at SMS so get real. The only hope is that those with the buying power do their research and make sure they buy the best. Then again, you pay for quality, even processed factory made stuff, and I'm sure there'd be some moaning about increased prices if they did that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breeny Posted 14 May, 2011 Share Posted 14 May, 2011 Protest ( all clubs ) and apply for a licence to have the bar / catering facilities open 1 hour before kick-off and close 1 hour after. Just like other sports and countries....why do we put up with being treated like savages ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelman Posted 14 May, 2011 Share Posted 14 May, 2011 You're never going to get a homemade/gourmet/farmers market burger at SMS so get real. Fact of the matter is that I don't go to SMS for the food (or drink). It is very much of secondary importance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigthesaint Posted 14 May, 2011 Share Posted 14 May, 2011 This is what they need in the concourses and would eliminate all beer queues. If they had a couple of these on the go at each of the beer bars half time queues would be a thing of the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry the Badger Posted 14 May, 2011 Share Posted 14 May, 2011 This is what they need in the concourses and would eliminate all beer queues. If they had a couple of these on the go at each of the beer bars half time queues would be a thing of the past That's pretty cool but not convinced it would eliminate queues. There were still massive queues when they were just serving bottles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saints1980 Posted 15 May, 2011 Share Posted 15 May, 2011 What about a good quality, freshly squeezed orange juice, or a range of smoothies made freshly on the premises. Also how about a good selection of freshly brewed coffees, perhaps a guest coffee every week. Perhaps there could be some sort of delicatessen open on the premises selling cold meats and cheeses from around the world. Also, which wines are currently available at St Mary's? Couldn't they keep a good cellar stocked for those who don't want beer or cider? Come on Cortese, the club could be making money on these things! I know you're taking the mickey, but I like the sound of the meats and cheeses from around the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DECROMAX Posted 15 May, 2011 Share Posted 15 May, 2011 Don't really care about the beer , the pasties they serve though are probably the worst I have ever eaten. Surly the they could give the contract to a local company like Plested pies. Ever since I were a nipper, we would catch the X9 to Southamton bus station and get a plesteds pie and walk to the Archers Road for the game. With the move to St Mary's came a Plesteds move to east street Utter devastation when the East street shop closed -- my universe collapsed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976_Child Posted 15 May, 2011 Share Posted 15 May, 2011 What about a good quality, freshly squeezed orange juice, or a range of smoothies made freshly on the premises. Also how about a good selection of freshly brewed coffees, perhaps a guest coffee every week. Perhaps there could be some sort of delicatessen open on the premises selling cold meats and cheeses from around the world. Also, which wines are currently available at St Mary's? Couldn't they keep a good cellar stocked for those who don't want beer or cider? Come on Cortese, the club could be making money on these things! Ghey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 15 May, 2011 Share Posted 15 May, 2011 I'd just like a half decent meat and tatty pie or a pasty that isn't as greasy as ****. As for concourses, we have to de-concrete them (tiles etc) if you are ever going to get me having a drink before a game. Depressing is the only word to describe the surroundings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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