Question The North Bank and your thoughts?

[GBJ]

Well that was a complete failure today, with people having the choice there was about 150 at most in there.

That’s being generous mate. Would have said it was far less than 100

 

[Holy Joe]

Didn't the club do a survey or am I thinking of a poll on here?

The results on here was primarily yes if it was standing I seem to recall - so not too surprising the take up, especially midway through the season when season tickets have been purchased.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Be interested to know why we don't kick towards the North Bank 2nd half. Maybe we have lost the coin toss every game its been open so far?

 

[The Late One]

Today was a joke, west stand chanting and the drum starts drumming aimlessly. So what was there 100-150 in there today...can you imagine what that will be down for a Tuesday night game ?? Can’t transfer from the west on match day is not helping

 

[Cricko]

IMO it will not work as the club stand, we dont need it capacity wise and unless it was safe standing it's a dead duck. It was tried a number of seasons back and it never worked then. Now it just splits TBV up.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Said before that it's X Block that should have been opened up and not the North Bank.

The North Bank is OK for an increase in capacity. But it will never be a true home fans end whilst being shared with away fans

 

[HertfordshireBlue]

North bank needs to be scrapped this year and done properly for next season. It’s all too rushed and it’s clearly not a standing stand at present.

 

[Danshrimper]

Worst atmosphere of the season by far.

Not knocking the limited number in there who were making an effort. But the dull beat of the drum being the only noticeable noise does not constitute an atmosphere.

 

[Suffering shrimper]

Worst atmosphere of the season by far.

Not knocking the limited number in there who were making an effort. But the dull beat of the drum being the only noticeable noise does not constitute an atmosphere.

You’ll never get a good atmosphere when the team are playing **** at home most weeks

 

[Danshrimper]

You’ll never get a good atmosphere when the team are playing **** at home most weeks

Yes, that’s part of it. But the current split between the West and the North isn’t helping.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Didn't the club do a survey or am I thinking of a poll on here?

The results on here was primarily yes if it was standing I seem to recall - so not too surprising the take up, especially midway through the season when season tickets have been purchased.

Primarily a "yes", however I don't think those that supported the idea were aware they'd have to pay to move their seat (resolved now, I know...but the damage was done), enter via Fairfax Drive rather than walk round from the West etc etc

 

[North Banker]

COSU took over and asked the fans what they wanted. The fans said we'd love to return to the North Bank. The fans were also, at the time, packing out the stadium to near max capacity (even the South Lower was looking busy), W block was dangerously overflowing, and the Charlton match loomed. So COSU rushed to make the rest of the North Bank viable. It was the obvious thing to do - it could solve the occasional need for more away capacity, the immediate need for more home capacity, and tick off a longstanding fan aspiration all in one go. But it could only do those things if it happened straight away. It was therefore done in a rush, and it was a bumpy ride (I can only imagine how bumpy it looked from the inside), but the basis of the decision made sense. Let's not forget how desperate we all were to see more capacity at the start of the season.

The weird thing is that they seem to have finally got it open, and then put their feet up, thinking it's job done. They haven't quite listened to why we want to be in the North Bank: not just to have more seats available, but to create an atmosphere, together. Many want to switch but they want to do it collectively, and getting a whole set of fans to switch in the middle of a season isn't easy. Not only are COSU not encouraging it, they've been actively discouraging it (indeed profiteering off it!).

They need to make it easy to switch and indeed they need to find ways to encourage it. They should communicate firmly that from a certain match onwards, the North Bank will the be designated area for standing and singing, perhaps even with the threat that persistent standing in W block will no longer be tolerated (though perhaps they'll be hesitant to put in writing that it ever was tolerated). At least for a few matches, let people with West tickets who haven't caught on to walk round to the North. And get fans to help encourage it. Of course, last time we were in the NB TBV were an organised lobbying force and were able to help coordinate these things - I think we're seeing the difference without that.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Be interested to know why we don't kick towards the North Bank 2nd half. Maybe we have lost the coin toss every game its been open so far?

Because, we prefer to kick towards our own fans second half.

If we get the North Stand sorted properly, we may kick that way second half, but the preference is to kick towards the South Stand second half.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Because, we prefer to kick towards our own fans second half.

If we get the North Stand sorted properly, we may kick that way second half, but the preference is to kick towards the South

We need to change that so that the away team are not kicking towards their fans in 2nd half.
The most vocal section of the ground is up towards the North Bank.
We should be kicking towards the North Bank 2nd half of every game even with or without home fans in the North Bank.

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

On the subject of the Blue Voice, are there any souls that actually coordinate operations or similar as associated with the moniker ? We'd like to encourage more into the NB, we saw stewards doing their job and turning away Westanders from entering, but how about some encouragement? North Banker's post above makes some good points. Some effort in there today, certainly before we realised we were taking a pasting on the pitch, whilst feeling a bit hung out to dry !
I always said it'll take a while to fill up, doing this mid season and all and having to phone up each week and change stands over the phone.

 

[Tommy2holes]

So today when shooting toward the north, plenty of fans wanted to walk around to the north. Got stopped, tickets checked and sent back.

The end result, about 150 fans in the north..

Seems pointless to me. Knock down the wall and make w and x block the blue voice

 

[Sherif H]

The Club know what they need to do to make the North Stand a viable revenue generating tool whilst satisfying the fans at the same time. They just need to make some decisions.

 

[BoyWonder2]

The Club know what they need to do to make the North Stand a viable revenue generating tool whilst satisfying the fans at the same time. They just need to make some decisions.

Just out of interest, are these options we can do during the season, or would they need to be done during the summer?

Are we basically sticking a plaster on a cut that needs surgery for now, and getting by till the summer?

 

[Sherif H]

Just out of interest, are these options we can do during the season, or would they need to be done during the summer?

Are we basically sticking a plaster on a cut that needs surgery for now, and getting by till the summer?

Can't really say any more, but there are various options which would make a lasting difference. There just needs to be a definitive strategy for the development of RH.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Can't really say any more, but there are various options which would make a lasting difference. There just needs to be a definitive strategy for the development of RH.

Fair enough.

Just wondered if they were doing this as a suck it and see whilst they waited for summer to do a proper job. No worries.