The club shop was a bit of a shambles today I must say. Great that so many people were buying shirts etc but half an hr of queuing to do so is bonkers. Felt for the staff running it as they really need some more help/better IT
A few things for starters:
-More tills
-More staff (there were only two people serving countless punters)
-Roped off queuing lanes
-Need the ability to print a ticket at the desk, not in the back room
-Keep the ipads now used for booking tickets constantly on and logged in. The staff were faffing around connecting a Bluetooth card machine with the app
Stack the shirts in their plastic wrappers underneath those on hangers. Loads of people were getting to the till and then the staff were having to find their size from the racks behind the till
sort out the signals in the stadium so that card payments don’t require staff to hold the machine up like they’re trying to get phone signal in the early 2000s
stop doing tickets and merchandise at the same desk.
Club shop still looks like a military grade operation compared to the Terrace food kiosk of course. I went to get a drink at around 35 mins when someone went down injured. Already a queue going back as far as the gents loos. Needless to say, I didn’t join it.
Plenty of room for improvement and I’m sure that smoothing over the match day operations will be a priority.
Pretty good observations, @Glenactico. Aside from the timing, I had the same experience with the terrace food stall. I noticed from glancing across that the queue was as far back as you described some minutes into the second half. I dare say this will be something of a priority for the Couhigs given the impact it probably has on income - they lost out on at least a fiver from me today because of the food queue and perhaps another tenner because an impulse purchase of those nice new t-shirts was immediately ruled out by me because of the queue in the (uncomfortably hot) shop.
I wonder why they got rid of the ticket collection booth just outside the club shop just before the end of last season. The current arrangement is disastrous. Hopefully, the app/ phone arrangement will diminish the problem. I was glad to be able to use my phone to get in today, though it was an alien experience for an old sod like myself.
I usually avoid the food at Adams Park, but I decided to get one of the famous cajun burgers at half time.
By the start of the second half I was still stood outside the toilets and it was roughly 4:15 by the time I got to the front of the queue, where I was told there were no burgers left and only chips and pies. Just to rub salt into the wound, it was at that moment that Smyth scored.
In the end, I paid £2 for small carton of rubbish chips that I didn't even really want. I was in a foul mood for missing the goal, thank god Fred scored or that would have really ruined my day - Imagine spending all that time and money going to the football and missing the game's only goal because professional caterers can't crack chips.
That's it for me. They can start serving ribeye steak for all I care, I'm never getting food at AP ever again.
Fair enough @Jonny_King, but it's going to take time to sort the catering properly (and I believe Pete Couhig will) so I'll have a rethink in a few months. I don't do big queues for food or drink so I probably have a similar view as you. Never, say never though.
Went for my usual burger in the FA on the 30 min mark and they had no burgers. Went with a balti pie in the end but agree the food situation needs sorting out throughout the ground.
I agree with the above posts re the shop, wanted to buy a wanderer tee shirt but seeing the throng of folks in the shop put me off and I went an had another rebellion iPa instead.
@ValleyWanderer No, you're quite right. Of course these things will take time to put right. I was just very frustrated by the experience, heightened by it being the first goal of the season, coming after so much hard work to break Bolton down.
I'm sure the new regime will get it right, or at least significantly improve it and I was being churlish to say I'd never use it again.
The queues and the lack of burgers, and Rebellion in the tent before the game, are good problems to have if they reflect greater than expected demand, so long as they remedy the issues expeditiously.
Seeing a number of people comment on the poor quality of the food, albeit good-naturedly on the whole because it was a happy day, is not a new issue. Let's be honest: we've not exactly got Raymond Blanc producing this stuff in the kitchens, have we. Better, more rigorous training and higher expectations of the staff?
But, according to the Bolton Fans’ Forum (see post by @perfidious_albion on the Rebellion Tent thread), they did spot Raymond Blanc at Wycombe train station. What could be more middle class than that was apparently their reaction, probably making a mental note that there seemed to be very few people living in.....whoops, swore not to go there again. Wonder if he was on the way to meet Peter Couhig?
I had a cheese burger, chips and cold drink (meal deal), before the game started. The burger actually had meat in it, the cold drink was actually cold and the chips were OK. Unlike last season when the burgers were like cardboard and the cold drink was nearly hot. I do get in the ground about 30 mins before kick-off, so no queues.
I am sure the teething problems will be sorted out.
I was at the club this afternoon and he picked mine up from the pile of over 2000 on the Reception desk! It was already in an addressed envelope so I managed to save them the postal cost. Couldn't find my other one though.
@ValleyWanderer said:
I was at the club this afternoon and he picked mine up from the pile of over 2000 on the Reception desk! It was already in an addressed envelope so I managed to save them the postal cost. Couldn't find my other one though.
It comes to something when the club only has ONE of your season tickets ready! Rob sort it out!
It's not even that I don't like controversy.... I find jimmy carr funny as hell. He pushes the limits to the extreme, and then some.... But Frankie.... I dunno, I just think he comes across as a cun*.
I feel jimmy knows he's pushing the boundaries, and that is his act.
I feel Frankie is just being 100% himself and just comes across as a nob head.
Carr is a PR man, so he knows there’s money in getting people wound up and he delivers some fairly nasty stuff. IMHO his material is relentlessly more offensive that Boyle’s because he doesn’t even try to make a decent point with any of it. It’s just for bantz.
Are you saying offensive comedy is fine if it appears that the act doesn’t mean it?
I dunno.... You make a valid point I guess. Maybe I'm being overly critical because I personally don't enjoy franky as a comedian. I suppose a lot of "humor" gets passed off as ok if it's delivered as "banter" as you call it @arnos_grove . Maybe you are right. It may just be the delivery of jimmy carr that I enjoy over franky..... Personal preference i guess.
Might it be argued that rude and/or insulting language can be funny if it's not meant but that when it is meant to be rude and insulting it is, well, rude and insulting and thus the opposite of funny? I think I might know what @alexo means if it is something along these lines.
I've just booked tickets through the new online system for tomorrow nights game. I was surprised that at no point did it ask for any season ticket User Number, nor did it request I set up an account (as these things normally seem to do). Question is, should we have a run in this cup and ticket restrictions are imposed, how will I prove I have a ticket history?
Comments
The club shop was a bit of a shambles today I must say. Great that so many people were buying shirts etc but half an hr of queuing to do so is bonkers. Felt for the staff running it as they really need some more help/better IT
A few things for starters:
-More tills
-More staff (there were only two people serving countless punters)
-Roped off queuing lanes
-Need the ability to print a ticket at the desk, not in the back room
-Keep the ipads now used for booking tickets constantly on and logged in. The staff were faffing around connecting a Bluetooth card machine with the app
Club shop still looks like a military grade operation compared to the Terrace food kiosk of course. I went to get a drink at around 35 mins when someone went down injured. Already a queue going back as far as the gents loos. Needless to say, I didn’t join it.
Plenty of room for improvement and I’m sure that smoothing over the match day operations will be a priority.
Obviously Richie wasn't managing the shop today @Glenactico!
Pretty good observations, @Glenactico. Aside from the timing, I had the same experience with the terrace food stall. I noticed from glancing across that the queue was as far back as you described some minutes into the second half. I dare say this will be something of a priority for the Couhigs given the impact it probably has on income - they lost out on at least a fiver from me today because of the food queue and perhaps another tenner because an impulse purchase of those nice new t-shirts was immediately ruled out by me because of the queue in the (uncomfortably hot) shop.
I wonder why they got rid of the ticket collection booth just outside the club shop just before the end of last season. The current arrangement is disastrous. Hopefully, the app/ phone arrangement will diminish the problem. I was glad to be able to use my phone to get in today, though it was an alien experience for an old sod like myself.
Yep, the app and gate scanners should take care of many of the ticketing issues if they work as planned
I usually avoid the food at Adams Park, but I decided to get one of the famous cajun burgers at half time.
By the start of the second half I was still stood outside the toilets and it was roughly 4:15 by the time I got to the front of the queue, where I was told there were no burgers left and only chips and pies. Just to rub salt into the wound, it was at that moment that Smyth scored.
In the end, I paid £2 for small carton of rubbish chips that I didn't even really want. I was in a foul mood for missing the goal, thank god Fred scored or that would have really ruined my day - Imagine spending all that time and money going to the football and missing the game's only goal because professional caterers can't crack chips.
That's it for me. They can start serving ribeye steak for all I care, I'm never getting food at AP ever again.
Fair enough @Jonny_King, but it's going to take time to sort the catering properly (and I believe Pete Couhig will) so I'll have a rethink in a few months. I don't do big queues for food or drink so I probably have a similar view as you. Never, say never though.
Went for my usual burger in the FA on the 30 min mark and they had no burgers. Went with a balti pie in the end but agree the food situation needs sorting out throughout the ground.
I agree with the above posts re the shop, wanted to buy a wanderer tee shirt but seeing the throng of folks in the shop put me off and I went an had another rebellion iPa instead.
@ValleyWanderer No, you're quite right. Of course these things will take time to put right. I was just very frustrated by the experience, heightened by it being the first goal of the season, coming after so much hard work to break Bolton down.
I'm sure the new regime will get it right, or at least significantly improve it and I was being churlish to say I'd never use it again.
The queues and the lack of burgers, and Rebellion in the tent before the game, are good problems to have if they reflect greater than expected demand, so long as they remedy the issues expeditiously.
Seeing a number of people comment on the poor quality of the food, albeit good-naturedly on the whole because it was a happy day, is not a new issue. Let's be honest: we've not exactly got Raymond Blanc producing this stuff in the kitchens, have we. Better, more rigorous training and higher expectations of the staff?
But, according to the Bolton Fans’ Forum (see post by @perfidious_albion on the Rebellion Tent thread), they did spot Raymond Blanc at Wycombe train station. What could be more middle class than that was apparently their reaction, probably making a mental note that there seemed to be very few people living in.....whoops, swore not to go there again. Wonder if he was on the way to meet Peter Couhig?
Although I accept I am denying the club more money I eat before I go. The food is better and There's no queue.
I had a cheese burger, chips and cold drink (meal deal), before the game started. The burger actually had meat in it, the cold drink was actually cold and the chips were OK. Unlike last season when the burgers were like cardboard and the cold drink was nearly hot. I do get in the ground about 30 mins before kick-off, so no queues.
I am sure the teething problems will be sorted out.
Be nice to have some meat-free options, but I suppose a portion of chips will do :-)
Did someone say our new season tickets will be at the ground for the visit of Franchise or are they sending them out?
Just tell the turnstile kid you're a season ticket holder, that'll be fine.
'Uh. Right. Enjoy the game.' (said as joylessly as is humanly possible.)
I was at the club this afternoon and he picked mine up from the pile of over 2000 on the Reception desk! It was already in an addressed envelope so I managed to save them the postal cost. Couldn't find my other one though.
It comes to something when the club only has ONE of your season tickets ready! Rob sort it out!
I don't think Boyle's comedy relies on bad language. Rather the intelligence of the audience
Yes you have to be very intelligent to see the real meaning between him calling random audience members pedos, c'nts and all sorts else.
Frankie boyle is not funny at all! He is a vile, crude, cretin of a human being. I can't stand the pleb.
It's not even that I don't like controversy.... I find jimmy carr funny as hell. He pushes the limits to the extreme, and then some.... But Frankie.... I dunno, I just think he comes across as a cun*.
I feel jimmy knows he's pushing the boundaries, and that is his act.
I feel Frankie is just being 100% himself and just comes across as a nob head.
@Alexo funny that. I’d say the exact opposite.
Carr is a PR man, so he knows there’s money in getting people wound up and he delivers some fairly nasty stuff. IMHO his material is relentlessly more offensive that Boyle’s because he doesn’t even try to make a decent point with any of it. It’s just for bantz.
Are you saying offensive comedy is fine if it appears that the act doesn’t mean it?
I dunno.... You make a valid point I guess. Maybe I'm being overly critical because I personally don't enjoy franky as a comedian. I suppose a lot of "humor" gets passed off as ok if it's delivered as "banter" as you call it @arnos_grove . Maybe you are right. It may just be the delivery of jimmy carr that I enjoy over franky..... Personal preference i guess.
I think he's saying offensive comedy is fine if you're callous enough to avoid paying taxes.
Lol ... Not quite @drcongo ... I'm stepping out of this one now. I prefer jimmy carr over cranky boyle. That's all, that's it!
Might it be argued that rude and/or insulting language can be funny if it's not meant but that when it is meant to be rude and insulting it is, well, rude and insulting and thus the opposite of funny? I think I might know what @alexo means if it is something along these lines.
I've just booked tickets through the new online system for tomorrow nights game. I was surprised that at no point did it ask for any season ticket User Number, nor did it request I set up an account (as these things normally seem to do). Question is, should we have a run in this cup and ticket restrictions are imposed, how will I prove I have a ticket history?
I asked this last week.
I'm not sure you can
@HomerLone as a later stage glory hunting cup ticket snaffler I don't like your tone...