Easy there son, easy.
If discussions on height, and correcting peoples' slackwaddery are the peak of discussion, then alas, I fear no-one can live up to your standards of content.
Then I offer my apologies, I must have misread. F & B isn't your only beef, (area of concern), though is it, you have a problem with plenty of other areas if I interpret your posts correctly.
Please don't misunderstand me, I think it's good that questions are asked, but you do appear to have a personal crusade with the people running the club.
FWW, I believe that those in charge do have the best interests of the club foremost & post Hayes it has been a mammoth task. Have they made mistakes, sure they have. Even I could see through the Mat Phillips/Oystons sale fiasco. I know that the club were pretty well up poo creek without a paddle, however it was a problem, (without hindsight), that could have been overcome and a "paddle" could have been found with the right connections. I'm certain other mistakes have been made, but football is a business like no other and unless the staff have experience which to my knowledge that have very little, errors are to be expected.
We can't escape the facts that even cutting costs down to the marrow, we are still spending more than we bring in. Donations from fans was never going to be enough, it was only ever going to slow down the inevitable.
I really don't like the wording "outside investors", as it suggests that they will want a profit on their return & as things stand, that aint gonna happen. Maybe the wording should be "outside donors", but the question, (rightly so), would be why? As I stated yesterday, time to shelve the topic until the proposed "investors/donors are announced, then they can be grilled by us all to find out the motives. As with nearly all investors in to football clubs, they have a hidden agenda, it's a question of "follow the dollar" for the answers. Look very carefully at the financial interests of the parent companies and who is connected to them would be my experienced guess? I was involved with a group for many years that kept hammering on the door of Westminster City Council regarding the award of contracts and it really was an eye opener!!
Agree, excellent post @EwanHoosaami although please don't ruin our fun by getting us to shelve the topic!
It allows us all to demonstrate our total lack of understanding and nuance on matters appertaining to running a football club off of the pitch but still maintain the air of experts.
This is a pleasing departure from us all demonstrating our total lack of understanding and nuance on matters appertaining to running a football club on the pitch whilst maintaining the air of experts, with which we usually fill in time and space on here.
Perhaps we should impose a curfew on talking about it 24 hours either side of an actual game of football though...
If only we could replicate the success that local and national government have in awarding contracts to highly reputable companies who always deliver services competently and on budget and are not corrupt or incompetent in any way.
Onto the matter at hand Alan, I mostly always use the terrace end kiosk as discussed , sometimes stewards let us slip Between the terrace and Beechdean through the gate to use their terrace kiosk. When in woodlands we go upstairs to upper frank Adams. Last night was terrace as usual.
Sorry , just needing to clarify - were you standing in the terrace on Tuesday and using their kiosks or sat in the Beechdean and used the kiosk at the end of that stand facing the terrace?
It's good to see the club are pursuing a new opportunity to raise funds by including (presumably) sponsored advertorial on the official Twitter feed. This post did make me chuckle though, in the context of having just brought in new caterers. Are they saying, "Don't bother queueing for a pie at the ground, wait and cook your own afterwards?":
Nipped out of my seat with 30secs of the first half to go to get 2nd in the queue in the Frank Adams.
I feel sorry for the very young lads, as they look absolutely overwhelmed at the quick fire nature of these bars, taking a few mins to serve the one geezer ahead.
Saw a full compliment of chocolate in the Beechdean stand. My wife was extremely complimentary about the chicken noodles outside at the tent. Very tasty with plenty of chicken, so will give that a go next time.
There were signs up in the Frank Adams explaining that staff hadn’t turned up and to be patient. I was given chips that were cold and a coke that was warm but the girl serving was friendly and polite.
Beer in the Vere was excellent, keep stocking the Rev James please.
I have a burger in the FA every game, had a double cheeseburger on Tuesday night which was excellent. Yesterday I opted for a single cheese burger about 15 mins into the game. It was burnt to a crisp, not good. Also only has sachets of Tommy k, no mustard. After a good run of burgers yesterday was a let down. No queue though.
The queues in the family stand were horrendous. My mate left before half-time and it took so long he was still gone when the second half started! Plus, by the time he got to the front only 1 pie left. The burgers were pretty dried out and bland. Other than that it was good. Hope the new caterers get to grips with it soon. They must have the experience to sort it out.
Saturday was surely the last straw for our caterers and general managers. Michael Davis has had two years to sort things out and the new caterers have had ample time to get over any teething problems, get their staff sorted and deliver even a basic standard of services and range in reasonable time.
I was lined up outside the Vere with a large number of others when Michael Davis wandered out looking lost when some regular home supporters took him to task for the lack of preparedness of the food and beverage department Saturday .
The lost revenue the poor operations has cost our club is downright scandalous considering our financial position and downward spiral off pitch over the past 12 months.
Before anyone jumps in and says I’m over the top or being unfair , consider whether Saturday was even close to good enough and whether the general manager of our club , paid general manager who has had two years to get a grip and install some basic operational control , Is succeeding in that task .
Maybe not the biggest issue but they had run out of milk before HT in the family stand, having previously had no hot water at I think either the Bradford or Gillingham game
There are other threads of people pointing out basic deficiencies and lack of thought effort or planning around or match day offering, this one has been highlighting the issues for years and nothing changes.
Our current off field operations and financial management it seems is being run by the management equivalent of Tony Adams or ownership equivalent of Steve Hayes.
Family Stand kiosk had "run out" of ketchup before kick off last night, which I think actually meant they never had any to start with. Presumably, it would have been known at the end of the match on Saturday that they had run out of ketchup, so there would have been plenty of time and opportunity to procure some by Tuesday evening.
Comments
Easy there son, easy.
If discussions on height, and correcting peoples' slackwaddery are the peak of discussion, then alas, I fear no-one can live up to your standards of content.
Then I offer my apologies, I must have misread. F & B isn't your only beef, (area of concern), though is it, you have a problem with plenty of other areas if I interpret your posts correctly.
Please don't misunderstand me, I think it's good that questions are asked, but you do appear to have a personal crusade with the people running the club.
FWW, I believe that those in charge do have the best interests of the club foremost & post Hayes it has been a mammoth task. Have they made mistakes, sure they have. Even I could see through the Mat Phillips/Oystons sale fiasco. I know that the club were pretty well up poo creek without a paddle, however it was a problem, (without hindsight), that could have been overcome and a "paddle" could have been found with the right connections. I'm certain other mistakes have been made, but football is a business like no other and unless the staff have experience which to my knowledge that have very little, errors are to be expected.
We can't escape the facts that even cutting costs down to the marrow, we are still spending more than we bring in. Donations from fans was never going to be enough, it was only ever going to slow down the inevitable.
I really don't like the wording "outside investors", as it suggests that they will want a profit on their return & as things stand, that aint gonna happen. Maybe the wording should be "outside donors", but the question, (rightly so), would be why? As I stated yesterday, time to shelve the topic until the proposed "investors/donors are announced, then they can be grilled by us all to find out the motives. As with nearly all investors in to football clubs, they have a hidden agenda, it's a question of "follow the dollar" for the answers. Look very carefully at the financial interests of the parent companies and who is connected to them would be my experienced guess? I was involved with a group for many years that kept hammering on the door of Westminster City Council regarding the award of contracts and it really was an eye opener!!
What an excellent post.
Agree, excellent post @EwanHoosaami although please don't ruin our fun by getting us to shelve the topic!
It allows us all to demonstrate our total lack of understanding and nuance on matters appertaining to running a football club off of the pitch but still maintain the air of experts.
This is a pleasing departure from us all demonstrating our total lack of understanding and nuance on matters appertaining to running a football club on the pitch whilst maintaining the air of experts, with which we usually fill in time and space on here.
Perhaps we should impose a curfew on talking about it 24 hours either side of an actual game of football though...
If only we could replicate the success that local and national government have in awarding contracts to highly reputable companies who always deliver services competently and on budget and are not corrupt or incompetent in any way.
Sorry , just needing to clarify - were you standing in the terrace on Tuesday and using their kiosks or sat in the Beechdean and used the kiosk at the end of that stand facing the terrace?
It's good to see the club are pursuing a new opportunity to raise funds by including (presumably) sponsored advertorial on the official Twitter feed. This post did make me chuckle though, in the context of having just brought in new caterers. Are they saying, "Don't bother queueing for a pie at the ground, wait and cook your own afterwards?":
Many EFL clubs put this out during the week uncle,sadly no extra revenue at all for what looks like some type of league sponsor requirement.
As for today’s Food and Beverage.. opinions anyone?
The beer choice in the Vere beforehand was excellent
Nipped out of my seat with 30secs of the first half to go to get 2nd in the queue in the Frank Adams.
I feel sorry for the very young lads, as they look absolutely overwhelmed at the quick fire nature of these bars, taking a few mins to serve the one geezer ahead.
Struggling to see anything new or different in the Woodlands kiosk. Still awful quality and awfully slow.
I don’t often use the food facilities at AP. I did today in the Frank Adams. Average at best.
Saw a full compliment of chocolate in the Beechdean stand. My wife was extremely complimentary about the chicken noodles outside at the tent. Very tasty with plenty of chicken, so will give that a go next time.
Cheese and onion pasty in the family stand today for the first time in years. And a full chocolate display. But the chips were still cold....
Massive (slow moving) queues before the game and a couple of minutes before halftime so didn’t bother today.
There were signs up in the Frank Adams explaining that staff hadn’t turned up and to be patient. I was given chips that were cold and a coke that was warm but the girl serving was friendly and polite.
Well credit where due,at least transparency is improving!
Beer in the Vere was excellent, keep stocking the Rev James please.
I have a burger in the FA every game, had a double cheeseburger on Tuesday night which was excellent. Yesterday I opted for a single cheese burger about 15 mins into the game. It was burnt to a crisp, not good. Also only has sachets of Tommy k, no mustard. After a good run of burgers yesterday was a let down. No queue though.
The queues in the family stand were horrendous. My mate left before half-time and it took so long he was still gone when the second half started! Plus, by the time he got to the front only 1 pie left. The burgers were pretty dried out and bland. Other than that it was good. Hope the new caterers get to grips with it soon. They must have the experience to sort it out.
Agreed that the beer was much improved in the Vere Saturday.
Saturday was surely the last straw for our caterers and general managers. Michael Davis has had two years to sort things out and the new caterers have had ample time to get over any teething problems, get their staff sorted and deliver even a basic standard of services and range in reasonable time.
I was lined up outside the Vere with a large number of others when Michael Davis wandered out looking lost when some regular home supporters took him to task for the lack of preparedness of the food and beverage department Saturday .
The lost revenue the poor operations has cost our club is downright scandalous considering our financial position and downward spiral off pitch over the past 12 months.
Before anyone jumps in and says I’m over the top or being unfair , consider whether Saturday was even close to good enough and whether the general manager of our club , paid general manager who has had two years to get a grip and install some basic operational control , Is succeeding in that task .
Who is ultimately accountable?
Hello @marlowchair have you been on holiday?
Maybe not the biggest issue but they had run out of milk before HT in the family stand, having previously had no hot water at I think either the Bradford or Gillingham game
Hot water? Milk? Beer? Decent Food? You people want the earth!
I even recall one individual bemoaning the fact that he couldn’t get a packet of crisps. I ask you.
There are other threads of people pointing out basic deficiencies and lack of thought effort or planning around or match day offering, this one has been highlighting the issues for years and nothing changes.
Our current off field operations and financial management it seems is being run by the management equivalent of Tony Adams or ownership equivalent of Steve Hayes.
We urgently need further investment! Now let me see........
@ValleyWanderer the incompetent lot in charge would just carry on squandering it. Apparently.
Family Stand kiosk had "run out" of ketchup before kick off last night, which I think actually meant they never had any to start with. Presumably, it would have been known at the end of the match on Saturday that they had run out of ketchup, so there would have been plenty of time and opportunity to procure some by Tuesday evening.