@HolmerBlue said:
Got a feeling I'm going to be one of the ticket holders between 2000 and 2300, as was a little late... ahh well, we'll just have to wait and see
I suspect I will be in the same grouping & I bought 3 season tickets. TBH, if I don't get offered any seats by the middle of Jan, I will go for a total refund & give up. I was going to let the club keep the 2 adult tickets and only go for a refund on the third, (junior one), thinking it would be to the benefit of the club. Been a STH for 25+ years, usually one of the first to renew, but this year needed to add a third, so had to wait until the end to get the next seat so we would be together. If it is the same 1-2000 each time, I somehow feel a fissure will have developed that I personally would no longer have a desire to reconnect. Won't be the end of the world & maybe it's time to find new pastures?
I suppose in hindsight you should have bought the two, then tried to move seats later on when you could get a 3rd. At least 2 of you could have got in then.
I hope you get in though - no need to look elsewhere! There's every chance 300-400 can't or won't want to get in each week.
Exactly. Think about clubs that get 30,000 plus each week. What chance have any of their supporters got of getting in the magic 2,000 (or 4,000 for those huge clubs in Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly).
I'll be surprised if every ST holder doesn't get into a game when we have 2,000 allowed. Especially for midweek games which the likes of me rarely attend.
And as @Glenactico points out, the club were pretty clear about how priority would be given.
My memory maybe failing me but I thought the commitment to allow fans in was only for the first 1000 season tickets bought?
Happy to be corrected. My post was based entirely on that assumption.
If it is first come first served then I think the club have made a mistake and whilst it would upset some people to do a u-turn and introduce a rotation of some sort, I feel it is the right thing to do.
In my mind if 1800 people go to every game and 500 are denied access to any games, then that's 500 people who may ask for a refund and also not return/buy season tickets in future years.
Whereas 2300 people going to 3 out of 4 games I think would see less people asking for refunds and very few not buying again.
@Commoner No. The figure of 1,000 has only ever come up as part of this trial.
A lot of people were adamant we wouldn't get into any games this season, some seemed almost smugly so. I always thought we'd get in, but perhaps in the spring.
Let's hope by spring 4,000 or more can get in and then there's no problem for any STH and a lot of regulars outside of holding STHs too.
@chairboyscentral said: @Mr67 I've just read about surgeons washing their glasses in soap and water to stop them steaming up. Got to be worth a shot! Although that doesn't solve the problem of the mask straps pressing the arms of your glasses into the back of your ear.
I tried hand sanitiser on the lenses and after a quick clean that worked a treat until it got very cold
I can confirm I got around to renewing my ST fairly late (I think the day before they went on general sale) and was well aware that it was first come first served if there was limited availability. I am sure this was common knowledge at the time.
Looking forwards to one day getting back down, but a bit accepting it won’t be for a while.
Travel logistics by train are normally tricky enough as it is without having to factor in getting in the ground at a predetermined time and leaving perhaps some time after.
Out of curiosity, how long did it take some people to get out of the ground?
@Malone said:
Rubbish answer from me I'm afraid @bookertease as I was about 1metre from an exit as well as in an end block...so about 30seconds!
Very quick from block S Frank Adams. I’d told Her Indoors to settle back for a while but we were off almost immediately. Felt very grateful to be there and saw very little of clarity as without specs my eyes are rubbish and with them and a mask on it was like peering through my shower screen during my morning ablutions. Although that didn’t stop me questioning several officials’ decisions with as much conviction as if I’d seen a dozen slow motion replays from a dozen hi def cameras.
All people I saw (with limitations as described above) well masked and well behaved. Stewards asked our names and what our time slot was on the way in, never looked at phones.
@Malone I was in block S and had watched the players leave the pitch turned and saw those around me were leaving. I walked through the gates onto HB Road a little slower but got away in good tine.
All the usual tossers were still driving their cars at pedestrians on the way out. I genuinely believe the greatest risk of the night was avoiding car drivers who won't wait 30 seconds before careering out onto Hillbottom Road.
As an aside, did anyone else notice how dark the AP car park was, now that the hugely impressive floodlights are trained solely on the pitch?
@Malone I think it was Trevor Stroud on the radio this morning who said even if we go into tier 1 they'll be no more than 2,300 fans allowed in to AP. It's due to the social distancing that has to be in place so well short of the 4,000 that would be allowed in a bigger ground. (Perhaps Alan Parry was right to support us moving to Booker after all).
...........@arnos_grove A really good point re the "ear-splitting rawk" (although it seemed a bit more listenable at half-time - David Byrne etc.). A great opportunity for some lo-fi tunes in the next few weeks. I'd start with Elliot Smith's Either/Or, Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and the collected works of Gillian Welch. @micra might have some nice Stranger on the Shore type suggestions.
Oh dear @our_frank. Pleasant enough tune but certainly not jazz. Simple tunes don’t really feature beyond the opening bars in, shall we say, the more progressive styles of jazz.
Having said that, I still enjoy the New Orleans/traditional stuff in fairly small doses and, interestingly (to me, anyway), there is currently a small-scale revival amongst younger musicians (20-50 age group) epitomised by a band called Tuba Skinny, based in New Orleans. Sadly, their beguiling singer - Erika Lewis - has moved away from N’awlins and rarely if ever performs with them now.
I used to love the jazz, especially the early stuff in the late ‘fifties/early ‘sixties, played by the Acker Bilk band. I heard him play on countless occasions in the early days, including a wonderful all nighter at Chesham Town Hall In (?) 1961 along with Bob Wallis Storyville Jazz Band from oop north and a third band the identity of which escapes me. Acker was a self taught genius on clarinet (forgetting the schmalz of Stranger on the bloody Shore) and was very amusing to chat to with his lovely Bristolian accent. He used to say that “Strangler on the Floor” was his pension.
@arnos_grove said:
All the usual tossers were still driving their cars at pedestrians on the way out. I genuinely believe the greatest risk of the night was avoiding car drivers who won't wait 30 seconds before careering out onto Hillbottom Road.
As an aside, did anyone else notice how dark the AP car park was, now that the hugely impressive floodlights are trained solely on the pitch?
Could probably do with a couple of lights in the carpark now.
And solve the Impossible question of how to encourage carpark rompers to leave efficiently but safely.
As someone who drives, walks and cycles regularly, I take a pretty dim view of the levels of entitlement of car drivers.
But on the narrow issue of post match, why do they think it’s acceptable to drive across the pavement when people are walking along it? The pavement is the pedestrian’s space and if there is a constant stream of them having the temerity to use it, then I’m afraid you are required to wait.
The worst I’ve ever seen on Hillbottom Road was a moody lorry driver reversing his 38 tonne vehicle into one of the units while departing supporters literally ran for cover. I did actually hop onto his cab and bang on the window as he could easily have crushed someone.
I’ll warn any driver now, if a car touches me because its driver won’t wait, it will get a hefty dent courtesy of my boot.
Steve_Peart. I had my code printed as my phone is rubbish. The QR code doesnt have the seat/row no. I could have shown anything. I was surprised no temp check and no hand sanitiser to be seen. I didnt hear the track and trace comment. Overall I felt safe and will go back for the Coventry game, I will try and get a seat on the back row as I prefer to stand.
@Malone said: @micra did you mean to post that elsewhere?
Not sure about the self referencing either. The online version of speaking in the third person?
Self-indulgence on my part @Malone. Like many jazz fans I am sensitive to misrepresentation of what is an incredibly broad church of a musical genre. I am pretty sure @our_frank was tongue in cheek and gently teasing me when he implied that a schmalzy highly commercial recording was a relevant example of ‘my kind of jazz’. It most certainly isn’t. But I was over the top with my reaction.
Not sure what you meant by ‘third person’ and ‘self-referencing’ unless you read the first paragraph in my quote as part of my own comment. It is the last paragraph of a longer post by @arnos_grove commenting on several aspects of the Wednesday evening match experience. Unfortunately, it seems that, when you edit the post that you’re commenting on, it removes the grey shading, making it appear to be your own.
@arnos_grove said:
As someone who drives, walks and cycles regularly, I take a pretty dim view of the levels of entitlement of car drivers.
But on the narrow issue of post match, why do they think it’s acceptable to drive across the pavement when people are walking along it? The pavement is the pedestrian’s space and if there is a constant stream of them having the temerity to use it, then I’m afraid you are required to wait.
The worst I’ve ever seen on Hillbottom Road was a moody lorry driver reversing his 38 tonne vehicle into one of the units while departing supporters literally ran for cover. I did actually hop onto his cab and bang on the window as he could easily have crushed someone.
I’ll warn any driver now, if a car touches me because its driver won’t wait, it will get a hefty dent courtesy of my boot.
As a driver I'd have to say driving out of Wycombe's ground is high on my "avoid" list so I've only ever parked anywhere near the ground about twice in 2 decades.
It's just fraught with danger - and as many "entitled" drivers as you get, I'd say you have even more fans who are utterly oblivious to the fact that they're in a road, or that there are numerous cars edging in from the side.
Add in fans perhaps steaming after a poor result or ref and looking to invoke a confrontation somewhere and it's a perfect setting for a major incident.
The massive lorries that seem to be able to illegally sit on double yellow lines for hours, or even worse like you allude to, the companies who arrange deliveries in massive lorries timed to arrive as 1,000s of fans are departing - especially in dark midweek nights is a real health hazard.
Throw in 100s of cars trying to steam into the traffic flow from many locations both sides on the road and it really is a wonder there's been very few incidents over the years.> @Fit2drop said:
Steve_Peart. I had my code printed as my phone is rubbish. The QR code doesnt have the seat/row no. I could have shown anything. I was surprised no temp check and no hand sanitiser to be seen. I didnt hear the track and trace comment. Overall I felt safe and will go back for the Coventry game, I will try and get a seat on the back row as I prefer to stand.
No seating details on the season ticket code no, but on the email on your phone it had these.
You'd have to have been a real chancer to try turning up on Wednesday without having a ticket as no-one would have known what actual checks were taking place.
They could easily have insisted on seeing the physical evidence of seat details on your phone and you may have had to have an awkward conversation in the office to convince them if you claimed you had "forgotten" your phone or it had lost charge etc.
I doubt anyone would bother!
I don't think it's worth the risk, especially if we don't physically need to. Carlisle is mostly standing, so I guess they don't have a choice, but it didn't look very socially distanced the other night - Weymouth today looked even less so. And anyone who was at the Chesham game knows what will happen, unfortunately.
Interesting to see some pics from Reading’s game today. They seemed to have everyone very close together in just one stand and an attending mate reports the spacing was ‘every other seat’ and that there were no empty rows.
I'm watching EFL on Quest and all the games so far show the fans close together, no empty row between, and less than three seats between. Maybe the spacing is set by the local SAG.
Presumably some clubs are operating with as few stands as possible to keep their bills down?
Like we did in more normal seasons when in the Checkatrade or even League cup at times?
Comments
I suppose in hindsight you should have bought the two, then tried to move seats later on when you could get a 3rd. At least 2 of you could have got in then.
I hope you get in though - no need to look elsewhere! There's every chance 300-400 can't or won't want to get in each week.
Exactly. Think about clubs that get 30,000 plus each week. What chance have any of their supporters got of getting in the magic 2,000 (or 4,000 for those huge clubs in Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly).
I'll be surprised if every ST holder doesn't get into a game when we have 2,000 allowed. Especially for midweek games which the likes of me rarely attend.
And as @Glenactico points out, the club were pretty clear about how priority would be given.
My memory maybe failing me but I thought the commitment to allow fans in was only for the first 1000 season tickets bought?
Happy to be corrected. My post was based entirely on that assumption.
If it is first come first served then I think the club have made a mistake and whilst it would upset some people to do a u-turn and introduce a rotation of some sort, I feel it is the right thing to do.
In my mind if 1800 people go to every game and 500 are denied access to any games, then that's 500 people who may ask for a refund and also not return/buy season tickets in future years.
Whereas 2300 people going to 3 out of 4 games I think would see less people asking for refunds and very few not buying again.
@Commoner No. The figure of 1,000 has only ever come up as part of this trial.
A lot of people were adamant we wouldn't get into any games this season, some seemed almost smugly so. I always thought we'd get in, but perhaps in the spring.
Let's hope by spring 4,000 or more can get in and then there's no problem for any STH and a lot of regulars outside of holding STHs too.
Apparently rose-tinted glasses don’t fog up...
I can confirm I got around to renewing my ST fairly late (I think the day before they went on general sale) and was well aware that it was first come first served if there was limited availability. I am sure this was common knowledge at the time.
Looking forwards to one day getting back down, but a bit accepting it won’t be for a while.
Travel logistics by train are normally tricky enough as it is without having to factor in getting in the ground at a predetermined time and leaving perhaps some time after.
Out of curiosity, how long did it take some people to get out of the ground?
Rubbish answer from me I'm afraid @bookertease as I was about 1metre from an exit as well as in an end block...so about 30seconds!
Very quick from block S Frank Adams. I’d told Her Indoors to settle back for a while but we were off almost immediately. Felt very grateful to be there and saw very little of clarity as without specs my eyes are rubbish and with them and a mask on it was like peering through my shower screen during my morning ablutions. Although that didn’t stop me questioning several officials’ decisions with as much conviction as if I’d seen a dozen slow motion replays from a dozen hi def cameras.
All people I saw (with limitations as described above) well masked and well behaved. Stewards asked our names and what our time slot was on the way in, never looked at phones.
@Malone I was in block S and had watched the players leave the pitch turned and saw those around me were leaving. I walked through the gates onto HB Road a little slower but got away in good tine.
All the usual tossers were still driving their cars at pedestrians on the way out. I genuinely believe the greatest risk of the night was avoiding car drivers who won't wait 30 seconds before careering out onto Hillbottom Road.
As an aside, did anyone else notice how dark the AP car park was, now that the hugely impressive floodlights are trained solely on the pitch?
Yeah, some of those cretins need to have a long hard look at themselves.
If you're that desperate to get home don't come in the first place
@Malone I think it was Trevor Stroud on the radio this morning who said even if we go into tier 1 they'll be no more than 2,300 fans allowed in to AP. It's due to the social distancing that has to be in place so well short of the 4,000 that would be allowed in a bigger ground. (Perhaps Alan Parry was right to support us moving to Booker after all).
...........@arnos_grove A really good point re the "ear-splitting rawk" (although it seemed a bit more listenable at half-time - David Byrne etc.). A great opportunity for some lo-fi tunes in the next few weeks. I'd start with Elliot Smith's Either/Or, Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and the collected works of Gillian Welch. @micra might have some nice Stranger on the Shore type suggestions.
Oh dear @our_frank. Pleasant enough tune but certainly not jazz. Simple tunes don’t really feature beyond the opening bars in, shall we say, the more progressive styles of jazz.
Having said that, I still enjoy the New Orleans/traditional stuff in fairly small doses and, interestingly (to me, anyway), there is currently a small-scale revival amongst younger musicians (20-50 age group) epitomised by a band called Tuba Skinny, based in New Orleans. Sadly, their beguiling singer - Erika Lewis - has moved away from N’awlins and rarely if ever performs with them now.
I used to love the jazz, especially the early stuff in the late ‘fifties/early ‘sixties, played by the Acker Bilk band. I heard him play on countless occasions in the early days, including a wonderful all nighter at Chesham Town Hall In (?) 1961 along with Bob Wallis Storyville Jazz Band from oop north and a third band the identity of which escapes me. Acker was a self taught genius on clarinet (forgetting the schmalz of Stranger on the bloody Shore) and was very amusing to chat to with his lovely Bristolian accent. He used to say that “Strangler on the Floor” was his pension.
@micra did you mean to post that elsewhere?
Not sure about the self referencing either. The online version of speaking in the third person?
Could probably do with a couple of lights in the carpark now.
And solve the Impossible question of how to encourage carpark rompers to leave efficiently but safely.
As someone who drives, walks and cycles regularly, I take a pretty dim view of the levels of entitlement of car drivers.
But on the narrow issue of post match, why do they think it’s acceptable to drive across the pavement when people are walking along it? The pavement is the pedestrian’s space and if there is a constant stream of them having the temerity to use it, then I’m afraid you are required to wait.
The worst I’ve ever seen on Hillbottom Road was a moody lorry driver reversing his 38 tonne vehicle into one of the units while departing supporters literally ran for cover. I did actually hop onto his cab and bang on the window as he could easily have crushed someone.
I’ll warn any driver now, if a car touches me because its driver won’t wait, it will get a hefty dent courtesy of my boot.
Steve_Peart. I had my code printed as my phone is rubbish. The QR code doesnt have the seat/row no. I could have shown anything. I was surprised no temp check and no hand sanitiser to be seen. I didnt hear the track and trace comment. Overall I felt safe and will go back for the Coventry game, I will try and get a seat on the back row as I prefer to stand.
Self-indulgence on my part @Malone. Like many jazz fans I am sensitive to misrepresentation of what is an incredibly broad church of a musical genre. I am pretty sure @our_frank was tongue in cheek and gently teasing me when he implied that a schmalzy highly commercial recording was a relevant example of ‘my kind of jazz’. It most certainly isn’t. But I was over the top with my reaction.
Not sure what you meant by ‘third person’ and ‘self-referencing’ unless you read the first paragraph in my quote as part of my own comment. It is the last paragraph of a longer post by @arnos_grove commenting on several aspects of the Wednesday evening match experience. Unfortunately, it seems that, when you edit the post that you’re commenting on, it removes the grey shading, making it appear to be your own.
Hope that clarifies it. I am no Kevin Nolan !!
I’m at it myself now @Malone. The first paragraph of my quote was of course taken from @our_frank’s post. Dooh !
As a driver I'd have to say driving out of Wycombe's ground is high on my "avoid" list so I've only ever parked anywhere near the ground about twice in 2 decades.
It's just fraught with danger - and as many "entitled" drivers as you get, I'd say you have even more fans who are utterly oblivious to the fact that they're in a road, or that there are numerous cars edging in from the side.
Add in fans perhaps steaming after a poor result or ref and looking to invoke a confrontation somewhere and it's a perfect setting for a major incident.
The massive lorries that seem to be able to illegally sit on double yellow lines for hours, or even worse like you allude to, the companies who arrange deliveries in massive lorries timed to arrive as 1,000s of fans are departing - especially in dark midweek nights is a real health hazard.
Throw in 100s of cars trying to steam into the traffic flow from many locations both sides on the road and it really is a wonder there's been very few incidents over the years.> @Fit2drop said:
No seating details on the season ticket code no, but on the email on your phone it had these.
You'd have to have been a real chancer to try turning up on Wednesday without having a ticket as no-one would have known what actual checks were taking place.
They could easily have insisted on seeing the physical evidence of seat details on your phone and you may have had to have an awkward conversation in the office to convince them if you claimed you had "forgotten" your phone or it had lost charge etc.
I doubt anyone would bother!
Anyone heard if the terrace will be open for the Coventry game?
While it should be quite easy to distribute at least say, 100 fans in there, I wonder how they'd police it.
So much easier in seats.
400 easily in the terrace. Enough stewards on Wednesday to oversee.
It'd certainly make the numbers easier to manage utilising that stand. But surely no chance they'll go from 0 to 400.
Some fans would still try "Limbs" and sprinting to the front so I'd imagine it'll either be a low number or none at all.
I don't think it's worth the risk, especially if we don't physically need to. Carlisle is mostly standing, so I guess they don't have a choice, but it didn't look very socially distanced the other night - Weymouth today looked even less so. And anyone who was at the Chesham game knows what will happen, unfortunately.
It'll definitely take some working out to double the numbers.
A couple of blocks in the Frank Adams were fairly empty, but that's probably only about 100 extra you could fit in.
I presume they'll have to either reduce the space between seats to 2 instead of 3, or open up more blank rows?
At least family bubbles will be able to sit next to each other., but a real logistical arse either way.
Shame they can't just stick 100 or so in the terrace and just stick some signs up or something with zones?
Maybe I imagined it but I thought Pete said the terrace would be open for Coventry on the last Ringing the Blues.
Interesting to see some pics from Reading’s game today. They seemed to have everyone very close together in just one stand and an attending mate reports the spacing was ‘every other seat’ and that there were no empty rows.
I'm watching EFL on Quest and all the games so far show the fans close together, no empty row between, and less than three seats between. Maybe the spacing is set by the local SAG.
Presumably some clubs are operating with as few stands as possible to keep their bills down?
Like we did in more normal seasons when in the Checkatrade or even League cup at times?