Blocks 14 to 16 (13 Viewers)

With the thread going five pages it's probably moved into slanging matches by now, but on the main subject I did notice last season that people were congregating in the aisles a lot more than I'd seen before. It's not something that generally bothers me until you see old folk or people with young kids who need space to get past and having to squeeze past people who should at least be in the rows if not their own seats.

Fans should behave......but some don't....and never will.....same as it ever was!

however....91 other grounds manage to deal with their minority of twats without having to resort to these extreme measures........its simply a shitty dumb knee-jerk decision.

letsallsingtogether said:

Tbf I also heard it was a request from the police also they have had problems with fans pissing on the terraces aswell as the smoke bombs etc

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There's a huge leap being made from the police raised an issue at the SAG meeting, which is what they are for, to the police demanding blocks be closed off. The later was done by Wasps as it is Wasps the club are going back to asking them to reconsider. If the police had said close them end of discussion that wouldn't be happening.

Lets look at the bigger picture.

The stewarding used to fall under the control of CCFC, overseen by someone with many years experience of working football matches. Wasps decided he wasn't up to the job they would be taking over themselves, and of course charging the club for the privilege. The chap they pushed out from CCFC was clearly so bad at his job he immediately got picked up by a Premier League team.

Since then there has been, despite smaller crowds, an increase in issues with the stewarding.

When these issues are raised at the SAG there is no longer anyone fighting CCFC's corner.

I would suggest that if we were still running things ourselves then when the police raised concerns rather than a knee jerk 'we'll close those blocks off' sensible solutions could have been found. Just off the top of my head by if I was representing CCFC at that meeting I'd be suggesting:

Increased ticket checks - they're already checked on the gate, check them as fans enter the blocks as well;

Open all the kiosks - remove a reason for fans to be wandering from block to block in the concourse;

Only sell tickets for 14-16 in advance - those stewarding the problem blocks can then be given a print out showing what seats are sold, making it easier to identify those in the wrong place;

Increase numbers of stewards and police - the problem area is not the whole block it is a few rows. you could put 5 stewards up there, each accompanied by a police officer (if they aren't too busy standing at the bottom of the block doing nothing), anyone standing in the aisle or in the wrong seat gets requested by the steward to sit in their own seat, if they don't police chuck them out;

Club communicates to fans police concerns and outlines changes being made making it clear it is zero tolerance and if the behaviour continues those blocks will be closed.

That's just of the top of my head and obviously I'm not someone who has spent years with this as my job. Just saying the first option doesn't have to be shut everything down.

italiahorse said:

Again, stop complaining, what do suggest should be done to stop the overcrowding ?

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See above, and that's just off the top of my head.

I would suggest that Wasps forcing out someone with decades of experience handling football fans to replace them with someone who can't manage run of the mill events let alone football (I know at the Catfish gig their tour manager had to come out and sort out issues as the person at ACL in charge of the event was incapable of doing so) was probably not the brightest idea.

Coincidentally that change seems to coincide with the start of these issues.

covcity4life said:

not seeing any anger aimed at the idiotic fans?

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To be fair there were plenty of posts last season about fans being sat in the wrong seats etc.

is silly, just need better enforcement of rules

if people site where seat isnt ban them for the season. soon will learn

Well done to the club for listening to the fan’s views. I think the outcome is fair.

So season tickets can be sold, season ticket holders can get tickets for their mates and match package people can sit there?

Sounds sensible!

Liquid Gold said:

Pain in the ass having to go to the ticket office but I can live with that.

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Can you not do it at the Ricoh before the games?

Liquid Gold said:

NEWS: Restrictions on Match and Season Ticket sales to be relaxed in Blocks 14, 15 and 16

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Thanks, I didn’t attach the link! Yes, fair outcome.

Nick said:

Can you not do it at the Ricoh before the games?

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Yes, you can

Seems silly that a season ticket holder cannot buy them online, but it's still better than nothing.

if you have match package you can order tickets online for block 14 and get them posted to you?

covcity4life said:

if you have match package you can order tickets online for block 14 and get them posted to you?

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From my reading of the article no, you can't. I suspect the ticketmaster system is not clever enough to be able to restrict the sale of some areas to only match package holders (or season ticket holders).

I wonder if this will cause more problems with people moving blocks than existed before

probably have to give your passports in at the same time

Nick said:

So what is it that CCFC couldn't sort then? Surely it is Wasps who couldn't sort it when it happened hence this is happening?

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CCFC are responsible for their fans in the ground. They can at the very least appeal to these fans. Which may or may not have been done. I’m a fan and I missed any request.
They were unable to sort it hence Wasps took over.
Now they are escalating the actions and out comes the bo77ocks about Wasps are creating trouble for the club.
FFS you can’t have it both ways.
The fans won’t behave, they ignore stewards and now the whole block needs to suffer for the few. In addition they are costing the club money.

italiahorse said:

CCFC are responsible for their fans in the ground.

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No they aren't, Wasps are. Wasps also were when the overcrowding took place so they failed to deal with it happening didn't they?

Not a wasps fan ,but they are not the ones causing the problem it is our fans who will insist on trying to go where they have not got a ticket if it takes every ticket being checked so be it, but we will pay . Overcrowding is very much a safety issue if someone got injured or even killed because of it there would be uproar not only from H S E but the city fans would be asking why did it happen ? If someone has a better solution lets have it. These guys and girls are trying to do a very difficult job . Probably with hindsight moving the top guy on has not worked .The people who seat in this area are going to be harassed whether they in right seats or not .So lets hope the ones in the wrong buy a ticket and sit in that seat otherwise the policing bill will keep going up

italiahorse said:

CCFC are responsible for their fans in the ground. They can at the very least appeal to these fans. Which may or may not have been done. I’m a fan and I missed any request.
They were unable to sort it hence Wasps took over.

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No Wasps are responsible for the fans. They insisted on taking that responsibility off CCFC and since then there's been nothing but problems.

Its almost as if getting rid of someone hugely experienced with football crowds and replacing him with someone who doesn't have a clue has somehow impacted on things.

The reason you might have missed the requests is because you can't hear them on the broken PA that Wasps haven't repaired. I didn't know what the requests being made during the game were until I came on here after I got home from the game.

thekidfromstrettoncamp said:

Overcrowding is very much a safety issue if someone got injured or even killed because of it

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Is this a serious comment? Did you see what the overcrowding being referred to was? A few people standing on the steps and a few more people than there should have been in a couple of rows.

Pretty sure nobody was in fear of their life.

chiefdave said:

No Wasps are responsible for the fans. They insisted on taking that responsibility off CCFC and since then there's been nothing but problems.

Its almost as if getting rid of someone hugely experienced with football crowds and replacing him with someone who doesn't have a clue has somehow impacted on things.

The reason you might have missed the requests is because you can't hear them on the broken PA that Wasps haven't repaired. I didn't know what the requests being made during the game were until I came on here after I got home from the game.

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chiefdave said:

Is this a serious comment? Did you see what the overcrowding being referred to was? A few people standing on the steps and a few more people than there should have been in a couple of rows.

Pretty sure nobody was in fear of their life.

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So there is no problem ?
The police never raised a concern?
There were no problems before Wasps took over the stewarding ?
Just a few people standing on the steps and a few more in a couple of rows is how you see it?
You make no mention of pitch invasions or flares ?

..... and you say I'm burying my head in the sand ?

italiahorse said:

So there is no problem ?
The police never raised a concern?
There were no problems before Wasps took over the stewarding ?
Just a few people standing on the steps and a few more in a couple of rows is how you see it?
You make no mention of pitch invasions or flares ?

..... and you say I'm burying my head in the sand ?

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Nobody is mentioning the pitch invasions and flares in here because the issue was with overcrowding.

You said ccfc were in charge of the fans in the ground, you were wrong again so try to deflect.

italiahorse said:

So there is no problem ?
The police never raised a concern?
There were no problems before Wasps took over the stewarding ?
Just a few people standing on the steps and a few more in a couple of rows is how you see it?
You make no mention of pitch invasions or flares ?

..... and you say I'm burying my head in the sand ?

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The issue raised is overcrowding. That occurred at the last 2-3 games which was under Wasps crowd management.

Personally I do see it as just a few people standing on the steps and few more people in a couple of rows as that's what it was. At no point did I, or as far as I'm aware any other supporter, have any concern we were on the brink of a Hillsborough type tragedy due to overcrowding.

I would suggest that if the police were concerned at the time the best course of action would to have been to provide support to the stewards in getting people back to their correct seats.

I am staggered we are discussing overcrowding at our 32000 stadium!

Might as well close the thread.
It's Wasps fault not the fans.
Problem sorted.
:banghead:

italiahorse said:

Might as well close the thread.
It's Wasps fault not the fans.
Problem sorted.
:banghead:

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Flounce because people disagree. Get you!

italiahorse said:

Might as well close the thread.
It's Wasps fault not the fans.
Problem sorted.
:banghead:

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Not happy they are getting some flack? It’s been long overdue. I expect friction to crank up as the season goes on.

italiahorse said:

Might as well close the thread.
It's Wasps fault not the fans.
Problem sorted.
:banghead:

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at last it's starting to sink in!

Moff said:

Flounce because people disagree. Get you!

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Grendel said:

Not happy they are getting some flack? It’s been long overdue. I expect friction to crank up as the season goes on.

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I don't care if a few on here disagree with me but I do know that we are renting off Wasps and have nowhere else to go.
The tedious reversal of blame on this helps no one and our position is already on a cliff edge.
I'll stick to my position that the club already have a good working relationship with Wasps and we need to build on this.