St Andrews (7 Viewers)

Jukeblue

Well-Known Member
Hearing some horror stories today from people at work who were behind the goal getting crushed on way in - blokes in ladies toilets etc
That was down to poor planning and organisation rather than the ground itself. The ground will perfectly accommodate 29'000 if Blues ever reach the play offs or a League Cup semi final again. Questions do need asking of Blues and CCFC over how spectacularly they eff'd this up between them. 8'000 empty seats for segregation and yet people have spoken of being allocated Row 2 seats in the Tilton that were covered up & haven't been sold for three seasons? Major balls up I'd say.
 

pusbccfc

Well-Known Member
The Ricoh is exactly the same with a large crowd. Big queues for toilets & bar

Nowhere near as bad as it was Saturday. Not even close even when we played Chelsea or the return game.
 

Nick

Administrator
Nowhere near as bad as it was Saturday. Not even close even when we played Chelsea or the return game.

The toilets and bars have been worse.

The concourse is bigger so has never been anywhere as close as packed as then.
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
That was down to poor planning and organisation rather than the ground itself. The ground will perfectly accommodate 29'000 if Blues ever reach the play offs or a League Cup semi final again. Questions do need asking of Blues and CCFC over how spectacularly they eff'd this up between them. 8'000 empty seats for segregation and yet people have spoken of being allocated Row 2 seats in the Tilton that were covered up & haven't been sold for three seasons? Major balls up I'd say.
Tell them to email the safety officer it’s really important. It could have been very nasty
 

pusbccfc

Well-Known Member
The toilets and bars have been worse.

The concourse is bigger so has never been anywhere as close as packed as then.

I've personally not waited 25 minutes for the toilet and the best part of 40 for a drink before the game.

The queue was in to the seats 10 minutes into the second half on Saturday.
 

Jukeblue

Well-Known Member
Tell them to email the safety officer it’s really important. It could have been very nasty
Don't think they're particularly dangerous. Maybe blues fans are just more used to the layout/facilities and therefore stagger trips to the loo and so forth. I sit the other side anyway but at away games up and down the country the loos are always heaving at half time so I generally go 5 mins before half time or wait till half times nearly finished. I get the impression lots of people do this all over the country not just at Stans. I recall when I used to sit over in the Tilton 15 years or so ago I used to walk all the way round to exit through the Kop rather than walk up to the back to get out, mainly cos I was heading towards town after each game. Essentially Cov fans won't be all that familiar with the stadium yet but give it two/three years

How was the stewarding? Were they useful/helpful? Did they look experienced with St Andrews (was it a mix of Blues and Cov?) Or did they not have a clue?
 

Nick

Administrator
I've personally not waited 25 minutes for the toilet and the best part of 40 for a drink before the game.

The queue was in to the seats 10 minutes into the second half on Saturday.

I have seen people wait that long for a drink but wouldn't do it myself, no patience.

I got in for the toilet within about 5 minutes before the match, no messing.

It was the width of the concourses and the sheer amount of people that was the issue.
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
I have seen people wait that long for a drink but wouldn't do it myself, no patience.

I got in for the toilet within about 5 minutes before the match, no messing.

It was the width of the concourses and the sheer amount of people that was the issue.
Yep completely unsafe accident waiting to happen
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
Don't think they're particularly dangerous. Maybe blues fans are just more used to the layout/facilities and therefore stagger trips to the loo and so forth. I sit the other side anyway but at away games up and down the country the loos are always heaving at half time so I generally go 5 mins before half time or wait till half times nearly finished. I get the impression lots of people do this all over the country not just at Stans. I recall when I used to sit over in the Tilton 15 years or so ago I used to walk all the way round to exit through the Kop rather than walk up to the back to get out, mainly cos I was heading towards town after each game. Essentially Cov fans won't be all that familiar with the stadium yet but give it two/three years

How was the stewarding? Were they useful/helpful? Did they look experienced with St Andrews (was it a mix of Blues and Cov?) Or did they not have a clue?
Kids
Crushing
No stewards
Just checking in the entrance to the stand
Someone falls it could easily have gone very badly
 

PVA

Well-Known Member
I don't understand why it was so busy in the concourse?

The ground was far from a sell out so how could it possibly be so busy in there. Did they not have all concourses and food/drink outlets open?

We queued for a drink for 15 minutes before the game and gave up. Came down at half time to try again, took one look at the queue and turned straight back, and still only just made it back in time for the 2nd half!
 

OffenhamSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
From my previous experiences in the Kop, the concourse is divided up into very small sections, so can easily get filled if everyone decides to go down at once. The Ricoh having an open concourse means that you can get lateral movement if there is any crush in a hotspot.
 

Londonccfcfan

Well-Known Member
Kinda expect it away the small venues like FGR/Burton/Barnet etc when we pack out away end , but never seen those sorts of queues at Bigger capacity grounds.
 

pusbccfc

Well-Known Member
From my previous experiences in the Kop, the concourse is divided up into very small sections, so can easily get filled if everyone decides to go down at once. The Ricoh having an open concourse means that you can get lateral movement if there is any crush in a hotspot.

Yep. That's the issue. At modern grounds, the concourse tends to be continuous around the ground.
 

Monners

Well-Known Member
It was unsafe on Saturday. Nobody took responsibility. Doesn’t excuse some of our moronic fans though. Pushing people out of the way and laughing about it. Wasn’t as bad a Donnington 88 when Guns’n Roses played for dangerous, but poor organisation.
 

Stan_Drews

Well-Known Member
Feckin cokeheads who can’t go 90 minutes without taking some of their shit. Once saw a grandad, dad and son doing a line together at half time at one of our games.

Pitiful
 

SKYBLUES90

Well-Known Member
Feckin cokeheads who can’t go 90 minutes without taking some of their shit. Once saw a grandad, dad and son doing a line together at half time at one of our games.

Pitiful

Apologies on behalf of my dad, it’s the only way he can take his medication...
 

ccfcway

Well-Known Member
I don't understand why it was so busy in the concourse

It’s not set up for how we treated it. We treated it like an away game, as such more people wanted drinks etc than would have done if it was a standard home game for us or Birmingham.

At tranmere they only served plastic bottles of beer. You were standing queuing for no longer than 30 seconds, both before the game and at half time. Serving pints slows down the speed they can serve.

If we had this many fans every Birmingham game treating it like a day out, it would be an accident waiting to happen.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
Or pour loads ready. It's not too difficult to predict what supporters will drink when the vast majority are ordering a lager.

they used to do that at St.Andrews.
Remember going there some years ago, they weren't allowed to serve drink while the game was on. As soon as the first half ended the shutter went up and there were dozens of poured pints ready to sell.
 

Nick

Administrator
they used to do that at St.Andrews.
Remember going there some years ago, they weren't allowed to serve drink while the game was on. As soon as the first half ended the shutter went up and there were dozens of poured pints ready to sell.

Bet they tasted amazing.
 

Jukeblue

Well-Known Member
Yep. That's the issue. At modern grounds, the concourse tends to be continuous around the ground.
It is a modern ground (apart from the 1954 relic main stand). The site of the ground is the main issue. It's ace in many ways, a throwback surrounded by inner city urban grime. I'd not want it gone. Also when they first built the Kop and Tilton in season 1994-95, unlike other clubs whose ground lost their atmosphere a bit when they went all seater, St Andrews retained a decent hostile atmosphere. However it is built into a slope so as a result the concourses for the Tilton are right up at the back whereas there are no real concourses for the Kop, just some service hatches and toilet space tucked under the stand in between offices and that exterior bar Happy Abode, plus there are only two of those. If they didn't have the facilities at the back of the Tilton End open last Saturday, I can sort of see why there was an issue as too many would've been using too few facilities - an organisational cock up.

Also important to note that for bigger Blues home games the Tilton is usually fairly full whereas the more expensive seats in the Kop are often only half full especially down the front.

When the Kop was finished being built halfway through season 94-95 they should've had more concourse space but I guess Sullivan and Brady were trying to maximise corporate space upstairs at the back of the Kop and Brady wanted a nice big private office on that side to replace the old offices on the other side
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
It is a modern ground (apart from the 1954 relic main stand). The site of the ground is the main issue. It's ace in many ways, a throwback surrounded by inner city urban grime. I'd not want it gone. Also when they first built the Kop and Tilton in season 1994-95, unlike other clubs whose ground lost their atmosphere a bit when they went all seater, St Andrews retained a decent hostile atmosphere. However it is built into a slope so as a result the concourses for the Tilton are right up at the back whereas there are no real concourses for the Kop, just some service hatches and toilet space tucked under the stand in between offices and that exterior bar Happy Abode, plus there are only two of those. If they didn't have the facilities at the back of the Tilton End open last Saturday, I can sort of see why there was an issue as too many would've been using too few facilities - an organisational cock up.

Also important to note that for bigger Blues home games the Tilton is usually fairly full whereas the more expensive seats in the Kop are often only half full especially down the front.

When the Kop was finished being built halfway through season 94-95 they should've had more concourse space but I guess Sullivan and Brady were trying to maximise corporate space upstairs at the back of the Kop and Brady wanted a nice big private office on that side to replace the old offices on the other side
And id be happy with that from the safety officer if I get nothing I’ll be phoning again and taking it further it was very unsafe
 

PCH

Well-Known Member
Or pour loads ready. It's not too difficult to predict what supporters will drink when the vast majority are ordering a lager.
That’s fine for the missus but I’d still have to wait ages for my strawberry daiquiri
 

Jukeblue

Well-Known Member
And id be happy with that from the safety officer if I get nothing I’ll be phoning again and taking it further it was very unsafe
Were they letting people outside for a smoko? They normally do at the back of the Tilton/Kop corner and I think they usually do outside those 2 service areas behind the Kop which it sounds like got packed. I'm wondering if WMP were making things ten times worse than normal?
 

Joy Division

Well-Known Member
It is a modern ground (apart from the 1954 relic main stand). The site of the ground is the main issue. It's ace in many ways, a throwback surrounded by inner city urban grime. I'd not want it gone. Also when they first built the Kop and Tilton in season 1994-95, unlike other clubs whose ground lost their atmosphere a bit when they went all seater, St Andrews retained a decent hostile atmosphere. However it is built into a slope so as a result the concourses for the Tilton are right up at the back whereas there are no real concourses for the Kop, just some service hatches and toilet space tucked under the stand in between offices and that exterior bar Happy Abode, plus there are only two of those. If they didn't have the facilities at the back of the Tilton End open last Saturday, I can sort of see why there was an issue as too many would've been using too few facilities - an organisational cock up.

Also important to note that for bigger Blues home games the Tilton is usually fairly full whereas the more expensive seats in the Kop are often only half full especially down the front.

When the Kop was finished being built halfway through season 94-95 they should've had more concourse space but I guess Sullivan and Brady were trying to maximise corporate space upstairs at the back of the Kop and Brady wanted a nice big private office on that side to replace the old offices on the other side

If they ever manage to replace the main stand it will be a fantastic stadium, modern but unique in its own way. I'd take going here each week having a pint in Digbeth and walking to the ground than having to endure Aston on weeknight.
 

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