Question So how was your match day experience?

[Holy Joe]

I chatted with mates about this last season. Is it logistically possible to get down there without leaving the ground ? seems a waste of a bar once the game has started. Even if the money goes into the Trusts pocket as opposed to the club it still eventually benefits the club in some way.

Does the trust profit from the shrimpers bar?

 

[Mad Cyril]

May I suggest a replica Kestral is put on the roof of the stand ?

I picked up a couple of Kestrels on Hamlet Court Road.

 

[Blue Streak]

Does the trust profit from the shrimpers bar?

that was always my presumption

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

It was a great day, one I sincereley feared we would never see at a few points in the last couple of years.
My only disappointment was the number of people who started to leave before the final whistle.
Apart from obscuring the view of the other supporters, to not clap the players off the field after all they have done for us in the last few years seems a bit, I don't know, ....ungrateful?

My only disappointment was the number of people who started to leave before the final whistle.

I needed a poo………

 

[Holy Joe]

that was always my presumption

I thought they just had their stand in the corner. But the bar etc was the clubs?

 

[LBBlue]

Only gripe I have is that someone needs to replace the lightbulb in the east stand concourse

There was one not working on the exit stairs in the blue seats. With dark glasses, it was pitch black going down the stairs. I had no idea when I got to the bottom as I couldn’t see a thing. A real safety issue.

 

[jphfitz]

Does the trust profit from the shrimpers bar?

No, it goes to the football club. By all means come and buy a badge though

 

[GBJ]

So had a lot of spare time - and I know the club have spoken about this - but man is it calling out for a Fan Zone now. Was baking hot and thought a fan zone, with some ice cream vans, a bar, food etc would do absolute gangbusters. We really need to look at that asap.

The "simple" addition of an outside fanzone can't come quick enough for me if the club want to capitalise on the pre-match spending for the reason above. Not sure how long the licensing element for that would take but I'd say that long-term it would be a great addition to the match day experience.

I believe this is still a massive priority for COSU, and whilst it won’t be done in the next few weeks, it is definitely still in the pipeline.

I have heard October as a possible opening.

 

[Blue Streak]

No, it goes to the football club. By all means come and buy a badge though

ahhh didnt realise that. Is the bar just for Shrimpers Trust members still then ? If the club technically "own" the bar ? And is there possible access from above ?

 

[jphfitz]

ahhh didnt realise that. Is the bar just for Shrimpers Trust members still then ? If the club technically "own" the bar ? And is there possible access from above ?

The bar is available for all, not just for Trust members.

There are a couple of routes into the bar from elsewhere but don’t believe they are currently accessible/suitable to send supporters through but not exactly sure on how far you would have to go around the houses etc to make it.

 

[leeblue]

Obviously time and money needed for improvements.
If I was the consortium I'd make the North West and south passable, little improvements here and there.
I'd knock the east stand down at the end of this season and put something all singing all dancing up in its place and make that stand the big earner. Get it done early.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Absolutely this. Have already got this to discuss with them. Also, sponsors' names were lost. We've waited 3 or 4 years to have a scoreboard that works, so howabout rewarding the player sponsors by actually making them big enough to be legible?

Yep, they’re obviously still getting to grips with the new scoreboard. All fixable but it’s not the same as what looks good on a TV - only the players are closer than 60 yards away, the South stand is 120 yards away and the back of the family stand maybe even further away than that so it needs bigger (and less) text.

Walking up from Southend Central I realise that we should have got the big screen from outside the Forum. Nobody ever seems to be paying attention to whatever they show and it would have continued the tradition after the last one was repurposed from the High Street.

I do hope the old one hasn’t been chucked out and they’ve found a spot for it in the Museum. With how few bulbs remained working it could have doubled up as a replacement for the night sky in the Planetarium.

 

[OldBlueLady]

A simple fix by us each buying our own beers, rather than a round. There was a sensible suggestion of directing the overflow down to The Shrimpers Bar.

The Shrimpers is only open before matches (edit - since found out this was not the case and it was open at half time and had been at the end of last season!)

Below is a copy of the email I sent over to Tom and Rhys this morning, which I think, covers most of the grumblings:

Congratulations on a successful day, hope the bars and kiosks reflected the success!

Some feedback for you - some my own, some gathered from SZ and some sent directly to me, firstly, delighted to see some much more modern draught options in the Shrimpers, and the dishwasher in place. Nat said she was waiting for more of the hard plastic glasses, but that wasn't a problem. It did get very warm in there, I don't know if there's something else that can be opened to allow a through draft?

Ladies toilets looked cleaner and brighter, soap dispensers actually worked.

We had problems with the TVs, as discussed. Hopefully that is only down to the changes that took place and all should be fine next match.

I think people were expecting better improvements in the West. Apparently there was no soap in the main gents toilets (near W block), and the ladies had a couple of taps that were jammed solid. People were 4 or 5 deep standing at the back of U and V blocks making it really difficult to get through to the toilets, and causing major problems with the food kiosk queues building also. Lots of complaints about the capacity of the West bar. Would it be possible to look into mobile lager vendors which might help with that jam at half time? Kev reckons they have them at cricket, with backpacks where they pour from.

This might also work with mobile vendors going round the pitch at half time, with crisps and soft drinks (back to the old days - I remember doing this myself with sweet trays back in the 70s!).

South Upper also reported problems with toilets with no soap and the hand dryer not working.

Now, we never have a problem with the burgers, but it seems a lot of people do, some said they were rubbery and uninspiring - there was also some criticism of the personnel in the West kiosk, maybe a smile or two when serving could be encouraged?

The scoreboard - well, obviously someone reset the time in error causing a good deal of humour! Early days, and these things happen. Have to say though, that the yellow/gold is not easily read, especially for the smaller items. Club badges for scores elsewhere didn't work either, as you couldn't distinguish them, and many people simply don't know them. We've waited several years for a working scoreboard, please can the sponsor names be bigger?!

I've been specifically asked (again) about vaping. One person who messaged me said someone was vaping in front of them, right in front of a steward in the West, and challenged the person about it, but was not backed up by the steward. Several people have also told me that there was a very strong smell of cannabis in the area of U/V block for much of the match, more like it being used than being on someone's clothing.

Rubbish - a lot of people were upset by the amount of rubbish left behind at the end, after fans had worked so hard on Friday, and it was agreed that there were not enough bins around for people to put rubbish in on the way out. If there were, then people might be encouraged to take their own rubbish and discard it in them. Is this something that could be looked into?

Finally, after full time, the queues to get out of the stands was ridiculously slow, very notable in the West. I don't know if this is something that can be looked into as well?

Hope you don't have any objection to me bringing these matters to your attention. I think we all just want it to be the best experience possible and sometimes, little tweaks are all that's needed.

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

Was absolutely my thought from that side of the stand. I just looked over the edge from the seating and just saw a massive crowd all "stuck" and thought any sort of emergency in this stand is going to be an absolute carnage site. Needs sorting somehow.

Still dont know why South Upper doesnt re-open the snack bars etc. When south upper was first built, was great to have all those open.

Dunno... great effort Friday, but hate to think the state it was in considering it still wasnt great Saturday (lots of poo everywhere, some seats were absolutely covered)

@palexander My understanding, and this is from memory, the 'Snack Bars' in the South Upper had/have no plumbing. Therefore Urns would need to be filled from elsewhere and carried up the stairs or a relay of people with jugs/buckets would be needed to fill them manually. At the end of the match this procedure would potentially need to be carried out in reverse to empty the Urns. The contents this time however, near boiling water.

I believe H&S 'weren't too keen!!!'

 

[Cockle43]

They're not allowed to sell when the game is on I believe

Correct, and drinking not allowed within sight of the pitch during play unless in hospitality.

 

[Cockle43]

First up, I think it was far busier at RH before the game as so many people wanted to give their £ to the club rather than spend it elsewhere. We got there early for exactly that reason. Well done to everyone who had that intention.

The queues were far too long to wait in. The toilets were still awful. The food was still bad…. BUT….. the consortium have had the keys for weeks, not months. We need to give them time to make the changes needed and those changes have to be knocking down walls, building new spaces, buying new equipment, organising contracts with third party food sellers and making the space for them to operate. These things just won’t happen quickly. I imagine the real change we want to see will come next close season, ready for 25/26.

We’re already doing our bit as fans by backing them big time via season ticket sales and attendances like yesterday. Let’s keep doing that, and try and spend your £ inside the club wherever possible. It’s almost a partnership between the consortium and us. Let’s keep our side.

On a personal note, it was a big improvement to see the stewards and security making sure people sat where their tickets said they should. W block looked safer and the aisles not full of standing people. That’s a simple and free change which made things far more pleasant.

That was as a result of some direct liaison over the, frankly, dangerous situation with overcrowding towards the end of last season; how there weren't serious injuries I don't know.
Pete the steward did come to see me and explained these measures will be continuing, they are more costly in manpower but everyone seemed to feel safer and it made for a much better experience. Pete did explain that there will, hopefully, be different measures in place once the roof over X Block is sorted out and passes safety requirements as that will allow a fair bit of tweaking to what they can currently do, so I'm reading positive noises there on possible increased ground capacity, possibly bringing X Block back into regular use?

 

[Piledriver]

Correct, and drinking not allowed within sight of the pitch during play unless in hospitality.

Unless its Rugby or Cricket isn't it.

 

[Cockle43]

Unless its Rugby or Cricket isn't it.

Yes, only for football and in the upper tiers.
I believe, but don't quote me because I don't know for certain, those rules don't apply in NLN and NLS; others amongst our cadre of groundhoppers will know chapter and verse...

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Whilst I like a beer or three, not having it on football terraces/stands is a good thing.
Getting drenched with beer in the middle of December when your team scores wouldn't be much fun.
When England scored at the Euros you just knew you were going to get soaked!

 

[wivs]

I chatted with mates about this last season. Is it logistically possible to get down there without leaving the ground ? seems a waste of a bar once the game has started. Even if the money goes into the Trusts pocket as opposed to the club it still eventually benefits the club in some way.

The Shrimpers bar was open at halftime. There were over 70 people in there. It was used last few games of last season too.
I think the plan is to keep it open at half time if it proves worthwhile. Unfortunately the far post is limited to 100 people. Obviously with the pre orders it is quite difficult to manage the numbers and keep everyone happy. On Saturday the idea was to let pre orders in first and send others down to the Shrimpers. I think it worked quite well in the end.