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Question The North Bank and your thoughts?

Forums New posts
Sherif H said:
I suspect they are just doing it to appease the fans in the short term, but in doing it in a 'half foot in' way, they are inadvertently detracting people from choosing to move back.
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If and when the East gets redone I'd probably relocate to the north if fans are in there still. Love my seat on the halfway line and would migrate back to my original position once the East has been built.

But as an interim I'd happily head to the North. Even if the view is a little crap. Was in there for the Southport game. Do feel it needs to be standing. Didn't realise how poor a view you would get from row A.
 
North Banker said:
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.
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Well put. I think, part of the rush was to extend the capacity for the busy Boxing Day fixture, aswell. Charging people to switch (at first) and making them do it each game was a real own goal, though !
 
Supa Shrimpa said:
Well put. I think, part of the rush was to extend the capacity for the busy Boxing Day fixture, aswell. Charging people to switch (at first) and making them do it each game was a real own goal, though !
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Has anyone actually asked to move their season ticket for all remaining games?
 
Shrimp and two veg said:
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.
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FWIW mate, I thought the NB and W Block generated some good noise today (up until the second goal at least)

If the club can strategise properly, it’s definitely an asset
 
THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK said:
I did suggest a few months ago that COSU might want to look at hiring out cushions for your backside or your back. Obviously it can't be done like the 60s and 70s where the cushions would be thrown on the pitch for all sorts of reasons. There would have to be a big enough deposit to stop fans throwing them. Yes, those wooden seats in the East are so uncomfortable. So a little cushion hut outside or inside the East. Maybe £15 deposit, and 3 or 4 pounds per cushion to hire each match. Is it worth doing, any thoughts?
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Or take a cushion with you?
 
North Banker said:
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.
Click to expand...

Great post.
 
I maybe hopefully misheard but I thought from my half way line position that I heard the barnet fans using the rhythm of our drummer for their 'we're
top of the league' songs when our fans were quiet. Maybe a disadvantage of the drum being in the north bank.
 
in the know said:
I maybe hopefully misheard but I thought from my half way line position that I heard the barnet fans using the rhythm of our drummer for their 'we're
top of the league' songs when our fans were quiet. Maybe a disadvantage of the drum being in the north bank.
Click to expand...
Which is why away fans need to be placed right away in the NW corner
 
The whole setup is wrong. The only way it works (and a number have said this) is if the away fans are tucked away in Y, Z (and X for 1000+ turnouts) using the Fairfax drive entrance.

Our fans then go in the whole North Bank (NA to NF) using the East car park entrance.

More works would need to be done of course before it could happen, but as the North Bank is now that’s the only way it would be semi-successful.

This whole need to call or email the ticket office to swap for each game is a nonsense as well and puts the vast majority off doing so. Plus the original farce of charging to swap wasn’t a good look either. Chucking a load of comps etc from the East Blues in there as well is also counterproductive to what the NB is about.

We all appreciate the effort COSU have gone to getting it back operational again. Really. But this hybrid version just isn’t and won’t work, especially when fans wanting to improve the atmosphere can’t roam freely from the West. If we can’t have the whole NB, scrap the idea and wait until it’s rebuilt as a proper “home end” hopefully as terracing, or at least safe-standing.
 
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