Cheltenham Town v Sheffield Wednesday

[Si Robin]

We don't help ourselves a lot of the time.

Whilst I don't blame the club for making as much as they can, whenever we do get a big cup draw they've always been very quick to jack up the prices. Given a lot of people I speak to said it was too expensive in the first place, then putting prices up isn't going to get all the casuals in.

[Fuller]

Probably like most of us on here we have friends and family who live locally and who enjoy watching football but won’t go anywhere near Whaddon Road.
Usual reasons are “too expensive” or they think the standard is cr@p.
Hence there is no haste to progress anything to do with a new main stand?
And if we could only get 5,500 or so yesterday why not give Sheffield Wednesday 2,000 tickets or is that not allowed?

[Jerry St Clair]

I don’t think the Everton game was completely sold out?

6891 which I'm guessing was a sell-out. There would have been a few hundred seats unusable for segregation/TV cameras.

I remember arriving at the PRE that night and stewards had blocked off the entrances closest to the middle because they were full. Went in the the side nearest the Colin Farmer and it was rammed - cheek by jowl. I've never known the PRE get even remotely close to that full since.

[Fuller]

I’m pretty sure at the time that there were a lot of brickbats going around that we couldn’t even sell out against Everton. Might be wrong though, it was nearly nine years ago now.

[Si Robin]

6891 which I'm guessing was a sell-out. There would have been a few hundred seats unusable for segregation/TV cameras.

I always found it odd with that Everton game that in the two seats next to mine (my season ticket seats) I had a couple of scousers.

Lovely blokes who absolutely hated David Moyes.

Like Fuller, I remember it being a thing that we didn't sell out that day.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Probably like most of us on here we have friends and family who live locally and who enjoy watching football but won’t go anywhere near Whaddon Road.
Usual reasons are “too expensive” or they think the standard is cr@p.
Hence there is no haste to progress anything to do with a new main stand?
And if we could only get 5,500 or so yesterday why not give Sheffield Wednesday 2,000 tickets or is that not allowed?

In my view the concourse and facilities of the Colin Farmer stand cannot cope when full. Yesterday during half time I went down as I could have done with a wee. It was hard enough trying to get through the tunnel into the concourse, before moving through the concourse crowds only to see the toilet queue pretty much snaking out of another tunnel back to the pitch.

So I didn’t bother and got out of their as quick as I could and held it in until I got home.

Contrasting with my experiences at Fulham. A 5,000 seater stand behind the goal, even when full at half time you can just go straight in a gents with no queue and their are sales staff trying to thrust hotdogs, beers, coffees, pies, etc at you from numerous little stands and stalls. No doubt it is the same at the improved Ashton Gate, Cardiff and the West Midlands sides.

I did not actively want to buy anything yesterday and just as well given the queue and crowding in the concourse, and because it would have just filled my bladder further. But had the facilities been up to scratch and it was convenient to buy something I may have done so impulsively.

Obviously this doesn’t put committed fans off going to games as we are there for the Robins no matter what. But for people who like football but do not go to WR because the football and experience is poor will be put off. If they put the prices up to £30 for a big cup game then the choice for floaters is pay £30 for a game where you have no access to toilets or drinking water for 90 mins (or longer if it goes to extra time) or for a similar price plus travel go to a Championship or Premier League stadium to see good football and have usable facilities. And those who can take or leave football will do something else instead, probably for less than £30. I wonder how many floating supporters came on Saturday who won’t come again any time soon after seeing how bad it was.

Obviously with current ground situation the club cannot expand the CF so cannot really do much to improve it. Until we get a new main stand it will just be the case that for anyone who is not a committed CTFC fan or big football fan £20 quid to visit such poor facilities is not worth it.

[Si Robin]

I daresay the main reason for the queue on Saturday was because they brought in the rule in the bar that alcohol could not be served in the bar until the half-time whistle was blown and then stopped serving the moment the second half got underway.

Now regardless of any rules that maybe should have been in place since the start of the season, the simple fact is that this wasn't even remotely publicised, so those of us who do like a drink at half-time and go down 5 mins early because we expected a queue, went down as normal to be told this as if we should have been well aware in the first place. Of course, this all meant the barmaid, who is absolutely lovely by the way, was getting grief from all quarters which was completely unnecessary.

Not only this, but they introduce it on what was probably the busiest Saturday at the ground in a very long time.

God knows how many pints were thrown away at the start of the second half.

[horlickfanclub]

We lose toilet and catering facilities by blocking off under the CFS to allow visitors to come in to the corner.

[Fuller]

The CFS is getting vert tatty in parts, I'm not too sure there has been much if any maintenance since it was opened in November 2001, so it is 20 years old this month.

Have a look at the state of much of the original steelwork, much of it is clearly rusting and has probably not seen any paint since it was originally installed. Rooflights never cleaned. Gutters leaking badly in places causing the cladding sheets to rust by the joints. Blockwork fallen from the wall by the top entrance.

Also didn't look great around the ground on Saturday with a number of the advertising signs disappearing, especially the big one over the PRE, sponsors pulled out?

I know we run a very tight ship and give as much as we can to the playing budget, just think we are getting a bit behind in other areas around the club.

[Shade]

Regarding boards, SWJ (I think) behind the goal at the Hazelwoods stand is gone because they’ve gone out of business and I assume the Speedy Skips sponsorship of the PRE has come to an end.

[Robin]

I reckon other than Accrington and arguably Fleetwood (although their main stand is decent and probably similar to what we will likely get) we probably have the worst ground in league one. That new stand cannot come soon enough but it needs more than just exec boxes, it needs to increase overall capacity (future proofing the ground) and have decent match day facilities for home stands.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Completely agree. Let’s ensure it has everything we need.

5,000 seats preferably.

A bar, a restaurant and a coffee shop/cafe opening to the car park. A gym for midweek use.

Then in the stand I would do what they do at Newcastle. There, they have bars only accessible for people sat in the adjacent block of seats. So say we had a block of 1,000 seats in the middle of a new stand. Only those with tickets for that block would be allowed in. At Newcastle you actually by a ticket for the bar, as in I know someone with a season ticket for “the sports bar” and then has his regular seat in the block below that.

[Anteros]

I don't want to be negative about the club because there is so much to be positive about. But how on earth are we a third of the way through the season and there is still teething problems with the CF stand. If you are paying nearly £30 a ticket or £400 for a ST , surely you should expect decent catering , bar facilities.

[CTFCfan99]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, but here's Matty Blair speaking about his goal:

https://twitter.com/JonPalmerSport/stat ... KHOrQ&s=19" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Clearly a really strong friendship between him and May, brings a tear to the eye. What a great team we have.

[London Exile]

I reckon other than Accrington and arguably Fleetwood (although their main stand is decent and probably similar to what we will likely get) we probably have the worst ground in league one. That new stand cannot come soon enough but it needs more than just exec boxes, it needs to increase overall capacity (future proofing the ground) and have decent match day facilities for home stands.

Even Accrington have massively improved their stadium, currently they’re just building a new hospitality block on the back of their main stand.
We’ve talked about a new main stand for 10 years, maybe more, it’s unlikely to be getting built.
I know it’s going to cost millions to build so I don’t expect the club to spend money they haven’t got but it’s getting very close to the stage where if we can’t build a new main stand to provide the ability to support L1 football, then they’ll need to look at a plan b which would mean significantly improving what’s currently there.

As others have said, we’ve not really maintained the CF or PRE, neither have changed since the day they were built. Some colour and murals would be a nice addition, old club has got plenty of legends that could adorn the walls.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I reckon other than Accrington and arguably Fleetwood (although their main stand is decent and probably similar to what we will likely get) we probably have the worst ground in league one. That new stand cannot come soon enough but it needs more than just exec boxes, it needs to increase overall capacity (future proofing the ground) and have decent match day facilities for home stands.

Even Accrington have massively improved their stadium, currently they’re just building a new hospitality block on the back of their main stand.
We’ve talked about a new main stand for 10 years, maybe more, it’s unlikely to be getting built.
I know it’s going to cost millions to build so I don’t expect the club to spend money they haven’t got but it’s getting very close to the stage where if we can’t build a new main stand to provide the ability to support L1 football, then they’ll need to look at a plan b which would mean significantly improving what’s currently there.

As others have said, we’ve not really maintained the CF or PRE, neither have changed since the day they were built. Some colour and murals would be a nice addition, old club has got plenty of legends that could adorn the walls.

Surely between the Club, Parklands and the Council they can sort out some sort of new shared venue and facility which can be accessed from the car park during the week and evenings for Parklands and then on match days is accessed from inside the CF/C&G in that corner. The existing Parklands building can be demolished and the car park shifted over there to replace the spaces lost to the new and much better building. It would benefit everyone.

[Artemis]

We lose toilet and catering facilities by blocking off under the CFS to allow visitors to come in to the corner.

^^This. The toilet and catering facilities in the CFS are halved for home fans in the CFS by allocating block 7 and 8 to away fans. Yes, I know that away fans bring in much needed revenue, which might not be made up by home fans, but at what long term cost. That said, I've seen the second catering facility open once this season even with only home support in the CFS, something the club need to get EFC to sort out. Harder to blame EFC when their staff wear CTFC-badged clothing. Not a good image for the less frequent attendee.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

We lose toilet and catering facilities by blocking off under the CFS to allow visitors to come in to the corner.

^^This. The toilet and catering facilities in the CFS are halved for home fans in the CFS by allocating block 7 and 8 to away fans. Yes, I know that away fans bring in much needed revenue, which might not be made up by home fans, but at what long term cost. That said, I've seen the second catering facility open once this season even with only home support in the CFS, something the club need to get EFC to sort out. Harder to blame EFC when their staff wear CTFC-badged clothing. Not a good image for the less frequent attendee.

Make one of the EFC outlets drinks, crisps and crisps only if firing up the chip fryers and grills is too big a cost. I always check the second one with a view to picking up a tea or Fanta, sometimes a mars bar. But if there is only one open with a queue of groups/families buying varying combos of chips and burgers etc it takes too long and not worth the wait.

It’s a ‘nice to have’ not a ‘need to have’ for me, and will be for others. If it is easy to spend money we will. If not we won’t.