SteV

It depends what you want really. The stricter the conditions to get in, the harder it becomes to tout. The lesser the conditions the easier to tout. I’m not saying you need to go full blown either way, but there has to be a realisation that we can’t have it both ways. Undoubtedly, it should be something that’s under constant review by the club though.

Yes, I think the line about “a lot of these tickets not being genuine” was an answer in response to a question from the Trust. Obviously, that’s not to say they shouldn’t keep raising it if they believe there’s a continuing problem.

Agreed, more advanced tech is surely the answer. There’s one of the new stadiums in Turkey (forget which one) that has face recognition at the turnstile, so your face has to match with the account that bought the ticket. It was brought in to combat hooliganism, and I think they only use it for ‘high-risk’ games, but that kind of thing is the future. *god knows how big the East Stand queues would be then like…

Obviously he’s a Reuben pick/recommendation, but he sounds like he’s got an extensive background in property development and regeneration, just at the point the board are about to make a decision on a billion pound property development.

Clearly related to the forthcoming stadium decision given his background.

Depends on which narrative you’re trying to spin.

Nah, they’ve won one game this season, and that was against a team that hasn’t won any.

Are we sure he didn’t slip?

Nah, he had to issue a grovelling apology for letting us use a fucking bar in January. I genuinely think he’d be run out of town if he did that.

Chelsea Cup Scheme payments taken tomorrow:

Neil the kit man’s going a bit ‘Wayne Lineker’.

We’re not playing at Sunderland like. I know the kid that owns them now has made decisions that have angered their fan base in the past, but this would be on a different level. Even they aren’t that stupid.

https://x.com/theathleticfc/status/1841523791706652883?s=46&t=OQLMckSuatbpqWF13Al4mQ An almost carbon copy of the discussion in this thread.

Memories of his one PL assist being in this ground…

He’s absolutely fuming there mind 😂

Seems sensible.

I don’t know what the current stewarding policy is in that area tbf. But it’s the ambiguous nature of the way club sell the tickets that’s exacerbating the issue. If it was made clear that it was a safe standing area, then you’d get far less people in there who didn’t want to stand.

This is an issue every single time we get returns from an away club. We then put them on sale, but not specifically as safe standing, so people buy them initially, not knowing that’s what they are. So you end up with a mix of people that want to stand and people that don’t, which obviously doesn’t work, and then everyone has to sit down. The club need to either sell them as specifically safe standing, or sell them as normal seating with some kind of note that safe standing is not in use for that game. And the stewards in that area need to be told the craic one way or the other to try and prevent any disputes.

Were Wimbledon the most limited team offensively to play at SJP in recent memory? No shot of any description until the 95th minute, and even their long throws and free kicks were shite. Credit to them for the defensive commitment and resilience, but I can’t recall a team who appeared less likely to score.

Of course. Expectation is an atmosphere killer the world over.

Somewhere between 51.5k and 52k. With more empty seats visible (mackem-style, although not to that extreme) because people have signed up to the cup scheme but then not been able/bothered to go.

At home they’ve been good, albeit at the level they’re at. Away they’ve won one league game at Fleetwood at a cup match at Bromley. They are not in good form away from home, again with the caveat they haven’t played too many matches. We’ve beaten Spurs at home and drew with Man City. I’d say, even ignoring the respective levels we’re both at, our home form looks stronger than their away form.

Are they really though? Won one away game in the league so far. Lost at Bromley. Drew 0-0 in their last game at Bradford. Whilst it’s obviously important Eddie makes sure we aren’t complacent, anything other than a fairly comfortable home win isn’t really acceptable.