Stewards in the West Stand

[shaneyshrimper]

I think i have already seen something like this in a previous thread. So i apologise if it has already been said, but i need to get this off my chest.

What on earth were they doing today. I got asked at the beginning of the game for my ticket. I had just got through the turnstiles and was trying to get to my seat. How do they think i got in?

Half time was even worse, they completely caused the top walkway behind at the top of Block U to come to a standstill. These guys were taking the ****. What on earth would have happened if a fire had started or someone has got knocked over. People were push and kids were getting crushed. All because a couple of over the top marshalls think that because they had a uniform on that they could annoy fans that pay there wages.

Im a season ticket holder and take some offence to ****s who have no manners when i am supporting my football club and just belt out" Can i see your ticket mate!!!"

Sort it our SUFC its not on and its dangerous when we had so many people at the Hall today, the organisation sucked .

 

[Pubey]

absolutely joke in there today. i'm not sure what they can do, because it seems so many tickets had been double-sold or something, it was mayhem at half-time and as you mention, a massive fire hazard. SUFC need to sort this out soon cos it's the kind of thing we could get a fine for

 

[Mr Gilbo]

yeah we got asked4 times for our tickets as we made our way down to block x, and 3 stewards were in a few yards of each other. total joke!!

you don't get badgered that much at wembley where you haven't a clue where your seat is!!!

 

[ozzy-shrimper]

I saw that the whole of the BV section were sitting down?! Was this the stewards? Most of the away section were standing! Really hate this.

 

[The Late One]

I think that the stewards in the West thought they were cinema attendants rather than stewards today. Next time they ask to see you ticket ask them to show you where your seat is, that will bugger them up !! It will be good exercise for them !!

I got to within three steps of the rear of the West at half-time only for everything to stop, nobody knew why it was stationary in the end I gave up at went back to my seat and crossed my legs. Dick Spooner was about three steps behind me and he stood there shaking his head because it was not moving - sort it out SUFC, you cannot treat people like this.


On the matter of everybody sitting down in that area of the West where the BV are, I think that they are now making sure that there is a disabled fan put behind where the singing/standing fans are thus giving the stewards a reason to make them sit down. Thought that SUFC were behind the BV, not helpful if they go out of their way to make them sit down !!

 

[Pubey]

I think that the stewards in the West thought they were cinema attendants rather than stewards today. Next time they ask to see you ticket ask them to show you where your seat is, that will bugger them up !! It will be good exercise for them !!

I got to within three steps of the rear of the West at half-time only for everything to stop, nobody knew why it was stationary in the end I gave up at went back to my seat and crossed my legs. Dick Spooner was about three steps behind me and he stood there shaking his head because it was not moving - sort it out SUFC, you cannot treat people like this.


On the matter of everybody sitting down in that area of the West where the BV are, I think that they are now making sure that there is a disabled fan put behind where the singing/standing fans are thus giving the stewards a reason to make them sit down. Thought that SUFC were behind the BV, not helpful if they go out of their way to make them sit down !!

sorry but we all know the rules about standing up, sitting down. they aren't going to change and the stewards aren't going to stop pestering people who stand. it is frustrating that away fans stand all game but from what i've heard, sitting is nigh on impossible.

however suggesting that SUFC are purposely putting a disabled fan by the "singing/standing" fans is ludicrous. perhaps it's the only available disabled spot? perhaps the fan wants to go there? whatever the reason, that fan has every right to watch the game, not the back of the jacket infront of him, obscuring their view. The Blues Voice isn't a dedicated standing area, and won't ever be unless the national laws regarding football stadia changes... and I don't go with the idea that you have to stand to sing, clap, shout whatever. if you are blocking any fans view, disabled or not... then have the balls to sit down and respect them, don't just moan that SUFC are putting these fans there just to spite you!!

 

[The Late One]

When we played Forest I walked along the back of the West before the game and there were three disabled fans up there and one was in the space nearest the North Bank. Since this is the area that is known for problems with standing home fans why would you want to lose the highlights of the match and instead look at somebodies arz. They may of course like their view being limited everytime the Blues pass the halfway line but ask yourself at the Forest game why so many other disabled bays (behind people who do sit down for the whole game) were left empty (even in the second half).

Myself, what goes on at the rear of the West stand does not affect me personally as I sit near the front of the West, what does matter to me is when I cannot have a p*** at half time because of people blocking the area (appartently people who are employed by SUFC at that). At the previous game two fans were standing outside the toilets talking and in doing so blocking people access while a steward stood next to them - now that is clever !!

 

[bomma77]

Access to the toilets is shocking in the West Stand. There should be two doors, one in, one out. What gets up my nose is fans who just stand in the walk way at the top or on the stair aisles, gassing to their mates. With people queuing for grub there ain't much room for maneuver up there especially if your desperate for a jack lash.

 

[Southend_Lady]

To be honest I actually felt a bit sorry for the stewards yesterday.
I know they can be annoying but I guess the bottom line is they are just doing what they are paid to do and a lot of them are actually ok.
The reason I felt sorry for them is the fact that the club had obviously sold some seats twice.

From what I could see almost every seat in Blocks U/V/W etc was full. Yet there was still a good few hundred people standing up along the whole of the west stand. It also seems that either mine, or one of my mates seats had been sold and we all have season tickets!

I accept that the odd mistake can be made with ticketing sometimes but I thought it was a bit of a shambles on the part of the ticket office and therefore they made it a very tough job for the stewards.

Maybe sometimes we prob should be a bit more considerate to the fans around us. Not everyone wants to or can stand and probably have their views blocked more often than not. I agree with pubey that it is ludicris to suggest that disabled fans are purposly being put in the disabled areas! Thats just ridiculous.

Like I say though, seems like a bit of a shambles on the ticket office front, but maybe we just need to put it down to the fact we have an aging ground. Hopefully we wont have this problem with fossets and the days of queuing after half time for 15 minutes to get back to your seat that has already been resold will be long gone.

 

[Cricko]

To be honest I actually felt a bit sorry for the stewards yesterday.
I know they can be annoying but I guess the bottom line is they are just doing what they are paid to do and a lot of them are actually ok.
The reason I felt sorry for them is the fact that the club had obviously sold some seats twice.

From what I could see almost every seat in Blocks U/V/W etc was full. Yet there was still a good few hundred people standing up along the whole of the west stand. It also seems that either mine, or one of my mates seats had been sold and we all have season tickets!

I accept that the odd mistake can be made with ticketing sometimes but I thought it was a bit of a shambles on the part of the ticket office and therefore they made it a very tough job for the stewards.

Maybe sometimes we prob should be a bit more considerate to the fans around us. Not everyone wants to or can stand and probably have their views blocked more often than not. I agree with pubey that it is ludicris to suggest that disabled fans are purposly being put in the disabled areas! Thats just ridiculous.

Like I say though, seems like a bit of a shambles on the ticket office front, but maybe we just need to put it down to the fact we have an aging ground. Hopefully we wont have this problem with fossets and the days of queuing after half time for 15 minutes to get back to your seat that has already been resold will be long gone.

Are you Steve Tilson in disguise Sam ..look on the bright side you had the pleasure of standing next to J and some handsome bloke:unsure:

 

[Mick]

Like I say though, seems like a bit of a shambles on the ticket office front, but maybe we just need to put it down to the fact we have an aging ground. Hopefully we wont have this problem with fossets and the days of queuing after half time for 15 minutes to get back to your seat that has already been resold will be long gone.

The age of the ground has nothing to do with it. Each seat has a unique number and there is no excuse for selling any seat twice. As for the congestion at the back of the West Stand, I'm sure it could be eased by opening those two big gates with white sheets on them. Should not be a problem when away fans are contained at the east end of the North Stand.

I hope we are not going to have two seasons of administrative incompetence perpetuated on the grounds of moving to a new ground.

 

[OldBlueLady]

To be frank, if there's a season card issued on a particular seat then there should not be any possibility of a paper ticket being issued as well. Obviously a blip in the ticket office system somewhere.

 

[Southend_Lady]

To be frank, if there's a season card issued on a particular seat then there should not be any possibility of a paper ticket being issued as well. Obviously a blip in the ticket office system somewhere.

Well according to the one of the stewards it "happens all the time" !!!

 

[Pubey]

Well according to the one of the stewards it "happens all the time" !!!

yep it's not the first time i've heard of it happening. it seems ludicrous, and like i mentioned... we could easily get a large fine if this "blip" occured during a routine inspection/secret shopper by the authorities

 

[mattytheshrimper]

I think i have already seen something like this in a previous thread. So i apologise if it has already been said, but i need to get this off my chest.

What on earth were they doing today. I got asked at the beginning of the game for my ticket. I had just got through the turnstiles and was trying to get to my seat. How do they think i got in?

Half time was even worse, they completely caused the top walkway behind at the top of Block U to come to a standstill. These guys were taking the ****. What on earth would have happened if a fire had started or someone has got knocked over. People were push and kids were getting crushed. All because a couple of over the top marshalls think that because they had a uniform on that they could annoy fans that pay there wages.

Im a season ticket holder and take some offence to ****s who have no manners when i am supporting my football club and just belt out" Can i see your ticket mate!!!"

Sort it our SUFC its not on and its dangerous when we had so many people at the Hall today, the organisation sucked .

it was me who started a thread about this exact same thing. i did this after the forest game as i was ****ed off at how much of ****s they were, really think they just want to ruin the game for everyone.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Do we think therefore, that there were rather more in the ground than the 9790 odd quoted officially and we were in fact much nearer the 10,000 that many of us thought?

If this does happen that frequently, then its something Uncle Ron needs to turn his attention to because it is completely out of order and there's no way the fire inspectors would be happy.

 

[McNasty]

Please can any poster refrain from inferring that any under declaration of attendees is intentional on the club's part as we don't want any more threats of legal action being taken against the Zone.

Thank you.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Please can any poster refrain from inferring that any under declaration of attendees is intentional on the club's part as we don't want any more threats of legal action being taken against the Zone.

Thank you.

If that's aimed at me then I apologise, but I don't think there was any actual inference. All I was pointing out was that if a seat has in effect been "sold" twice then the attendance quoted might not have been completely accurate. Don't see how that could have any legal implication, but then I'm no expert. Last thing I would want to do is drop you lot in it.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Please can any poster refrain from inferring that any under declaration of attendees is intentional on the club's part as we don't want any more threats of legal action being taken against the Zone.

Thank you.

If that's aimed at me then I apologise, but I don't think there was any actual inference. All I was pointing out was that if a seat has in effect been "sold" twice then the attendance quoted might not have been completely accurate. Don't see how that could have any legal implication, but then I'm no expert. Last thing I would want to do is drop you lot in it.

Might have been me as well. I believe there are quite a few ways official attendances can be announced. Clubs can choose to include all tickets 'issued' so even if season ticket or any other ticket holders don't actually turn up then they are still included as being in the official attendance. The same with comp/players/staff/competition tickets they can choose to include or not include these in the official attendance figures.

I believe most big clubs include all tickets issued therefore when you see what appears to be a stadium with 5,000 empty seats the attendance is always still given as 60,000.

Now for whatever reason many lower league clubs choose not to include certain comp/players/staff/competition tickets in the official attendance. It's not against league rules to do so and I'm not sure why some clubs do this but it might have certain tax/vat implications (all above board).

So at certain grounds a crowd might be given as 9,800 when infact there might well be just over 10,000 people in the ground.

This does not cover the situation where a club might in error sell 2 tickets for the same seat as I do not have any idea how they would record the official attendance.

Going back a few seasons Southend United did print a list of the Official Attendances compared with the 'actual' attendances. This was a list printed by the club in a matchday magazine and did infact show there were usually more people in the ground than the official attendance. (this attendance list was pre Ron Martin days).

 

[McNasty]

That wasn't aimed at anyone in particular , just reminding people to be careful as we have had posters advising everyone about "tax fiddles" etc and the club not being pleased.