Wandy

2 minutes ago, RS said:

Would there be complaints if the Reuben’s complete the purchase of the land  adjacent to Benton Asda in North Tyneside and build the new stadium there?  Serviced by Palmersville metro and close to the A19. It is the perfect venue for these new state of the art stadiums craved by the modern fan. 

There would be hell on.  That is never happening. Or anything even remotely like it.

3 minutes ago, cubaricho said:

 

I very much hope so.

it will never happen. They know they struck gold with the location. Finding the sweet spot around that location is the head scratcher. But if regeneration or relocation within a few hundred yards isn’t possible then they will make do with what they have got. Thing is though, they will definitely find a way to add at least another 8k seats. But I still think a grand plan to remodel the entire Leazes plot of land is what will happen.

1 minute ago, Disco said:

Bit of hyperbole for the lads

No hyperbole, just 100% fact. It’s a relic from a time when architecture was at it’s very worst.

It’s mad how dewy-eyed people get about SJP. The location is stunning but the stadium itself is seriously flawed.

1 minute ago, OptimusSlime said:

But in terms of location - Anfield is seriously grim.  SJP is unique in the city centre rather than in the middle of an estate away from the city centre like Anfield.

NUFC’s stadium will never leave the city centre. Whatever happens over the next 10 years, it will remain pretty much where it is, give or take maybe a few hundred yards.

The London Stadium isn’t even a football stadium. Wembley’s problem is its size. The Emirates is definitely looking a bit dated already though.

Definitely don’t agree about the Etihad though. On the outside it’s pretty mundane but inside it’s a great looking stadium and continues to get better. It’s pretty well designed to create an atmosphere too.

Everton’s new stadium is a perfect example of how new stadiums can be built to have character. They have also specifically designed it with atmosphere in mind.

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

Depends on what you define as better. I'd take an embarrassing dive with character over yet another soulless 'matchday experience' bowl filled any day. 

Which stadium are you thinking of when you say soulless?

14 minutes ago, Amir_9 said:

 

People need to see what the likes of Anfield is and what the surrounding location is like before calling SJP an "old heap" lol

 

I love St. James' - for its history, its location, its view of the city from the top seats and under the lights it is a fantastic ground for football. If there are improvements it would be no more than extra seating and the interior (bars / food / toilet area) rather than anything else at this point imo.

Anfield is slowly turning into one of the best stadiums in the country. If they extend the Kop to match the new Anfield Road then the stadium will look seriously impressive.

19 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

An old heap

It’s pretty antiquated compared to the standards of the best stadiums now. The East Stand is an embarrassing shithole and the Milburn is pretty basic for a stand that is supposed to be the ‘luxury’ part of the stadium, as its suites are garbage. There is going to need to be a LOT of leeway given by various authorities to get SJP anywhere near the required standards.

26 minutes ago, JackieDoor said:

 That sounds way too complicated for our ticket team.

I mean, it's about as simple as you can get. The club provide two links. The first to access the ballot, and then the second link to access the queue.

15 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

My thing with the seating thing is I don't know how it'd translate in a ballot? Say there's so many in The Corner and 3,000 who've been lucky enough to win in the ballot want those few hundred seats. You're in the same position where loads aren't going to get their preference?

 

Then do you have the palava of those who won in the ballot but didn't get the place they want, given the option of giving up on their ticket and having countless re-sales until everyone is happy with their seat? At least this way everyone knows the craic and is in the same boat. 

The craic is that the atmosphere will be pitiful. That is unacceptable.

The answer is simple. You enter the ballot to get a chance to access the ticketing queue, which will only have the 15k who won the ballot. Its basically a way of whittling down the queue to only 15k people. And then you select your seat in the way that you always have done.

The ballot system isn't really the problem here. It's not perfect but under the present circumstances, with a "small" stadium & legions of fans from the last 30 years trying to get back in, it's probably the least worst option.

The fuck up is how they have come up with the seating arrangements and this is what needs to be reversed. Is it really going to take losing matches at home, and a mute atmosphere playing a part in that, to make them see the error of their ways?

Even under the ballot system I think people will find a way to attend matches. But there's little they can do about the club deciding where they sit.

5 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

Seems like it

 

The question remains as to why, when every other stadium in the land allows attendees to select a seat 

Well it's basically a decision that keeps me out of SJP indefinitely. I bet I won't be the only one too, as people quickly get pissed off with being shoved into a seat that they hate.

1 minute ago, bobbydazzla said:

For anyone wondering what the club’s official line is, I got a bland copy n paste response after politely contacting some of the leadership. It’s not addressing the key issues about but headlines are:

 

- Demand is greater than supply

- We consulted with fans in ticketing meetings and there was frustration they couldn’t get tickets last season 

- We’re not planning any system change

- We’ve logged your concern 

- Visit the fan zone when we build it 

- DJ Otzi will be played after every goal 

 

I like to think that I’ve made my point, even if it’s falling on deaf ears for now.
 

So they aren't ever going to let people select their own seats? Wow. 

So not only is this new ticketing system a fiasco but the map that showed the categories was also out of date, meaning that Level 7 wasnt entirely the family section and some poor sods will now end up there when they at least thought they would be in the Leazes or Gallowgate. Lovely stuff.

If they have anything about them, then the club will be making sure that fans get to choose their own seat for the Liverpool match & onwards.

42 minutes ago, Keegans Export said:

Like 25-30k season ticket holders for example? 

 

I can totally understand the frustration from any fan who may well get into SJP fewer times this season than they did last (I'm probably one of them) but I think a fair counter point would be - what's better for the club and the supporter base as a whole - two fans getting to see ten games each, or ten fans getting to see two games each?

 

The previous system locked out (or reduced the odds) for people who didn't realise there was going to be a cap on membership (unsurprising seeing as it wasn't mentioned at the time). It also heavily favoured people who could sit in front of a computer for an hour or so, debit card in hand, waiting to get to the front of a virtual queue (or knew people who could).

 

Personally I think the more fans that get to experience a live game at St James Park this season, the better. Maybe a few of them will be happy-clappy day-trippers, but there'll also be plenty who are going to be ready to go mental for 90mins because they know how fortunate they are to be sat there.

The trouble with that is I'm not convinced it's the current ST holders who make the noise at SJP.

22 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

That’s a good point. Previous system benefited people with an attitude of “I really want a ticket, so I’ll figure out a way to do it” 

 

Even if you couldn’t get online at 10am as long someone you knew could, you just linked your account to them and sorted the ticket. I did that on behalf of friends. 

 

The new system will be much more suited to people who think that going to the football could be interesting, I’ll chuck an entry into the ballot and see what happens.

Yep, it's going to make the stadium a haven for day trippers.

It's all very well trying to entice new fans to witness the "SJP Experience", but that very experience was created by the very people who might now be locked out.

In a football stadium you need a base level of fans you can rely on in every game to help get the team through sticky patches. Again, this new system might just have removed that base level.

I don't know why they couldn't just keep the que system and then also introduce a ballot alongside it. Split the available seat allocation in half, and then distribute each half via the two systems.

I'm morbidly curious to see what the atmosphere is going to be like next Saturday.

2 hours ago, Whitley mag said:

....it’s certainly a worry in terms of atmosphere next season, if league games turn into cup home game atmospheres we are truly fucked.

That's exactly what I see happening, unfortunately. Last season's hitty-missy atmosphere might seem like a cauldron compared to what could be coming this year. I just don't see how having the rowdy elements sitting miles apart from each other is going to produce anything but a mute stadium. Would love to be wrong mind.

12 minutes ago, Heron said:

No. Our standard display.

 

Not sure what (if anything) we're doing regarding the ticketing except for the tweets and private communications with the club. However, we are making our feelings known.

Let them know that not being able to select your own seat is unacceptable. Youse have decent clout with them so you might get somewhere with it. 

41 minutes ago, Heron said:

We've made our feelings know on Twitter and also with the supporter liaison officers at the club. Display plans are already afoot for Villa but discussions are being had around a more visual/public display, nothing decided as of yet though.

A display about the ticketing situation?

17 minutes ago, Hovagod said:

So, what? Another 24 hour period to do this? With others complaining that they can’t get online at that point and why should they have to etc

 

Aside from people with genuine reasons for being unable to be placed in whatever seat, I do think this is starting to get a bit silly:

 

A) Apply for a seat in a category that costs a price you want/are prepared to pay

B) Be allocated a seat.

 

It doesn’t sound that unreasonable to me. People desperate to sit next to others can apply together. 

 

 

It's not about being sat next to others, it's about being in a seat with a view you find acceptable & in amongst people who are like-minded in the nature of their support.

4 minutes ago, Bally21 said:

Let's say they didn't take any money up front, they draw the ballot, the people who come out of the ballot go to the usual seat map, select seat they want at price they want and the money is paid, or they decide no seat is acceptable, they do not pay any money, and their place on ballot is released for a second ballot.

I wouldn't even mind if they took the money up front, as long as I get a range of seats to actually choose from. 

1 minute ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Then you've paid your £44, you get in, people have beaten you to the seats you want and you have to sit anywhere anyway?

They might have beaten you to a seat, but I'd bet that you would get another one pretty close to the one that you wanted.  And for the next match you apply for you might get your exact seat. Law of averages, and all that.

It's ten times better a system than one that could easily put you in the very front row...or very back row...of a stand. And you having no say in that.

1 minute ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

That was when it was first-come, first-served so you had that luxury. 

The point is that the queue was the gateway to getting into the ticket selection section. There is absolutely no reason why the ballot cannot be made to be the new gateway.

14 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Which is fair enough. I'm not sure how that could work though? I'd take from row of Gallowgate corner or back row Level 7 Milburn Stand just to get in and experience it again. It's impossible to cater to everyone. 

It's not impossible though is it? The old system let you sit where you want, once you got through the queue.

If that kind of accessibility does not come back then I seriously doubt I will be attending any more games at SJP. I'm not being dictated to as to where I'm sitting.

1 minute ago, bobbydazzla said:

 

Hopefully they won't and the pressure on the club to sort out this shitstain of a system will continue.

 

If the Trust etc now keep schtum and those in charge think we're satisfied with the little bit of movement we got today, then it's a sorry state of affairs.

That's the concern. The club wreck the system but then give a little bit back to shut people up. Knowing our fanbase it will probably work too.