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SoL To Undergo Multi-Million-Pound Investment Programme

Drinking outside is the only way to get the space people crave. You can still provide some temporary cover from the rain if you want to. As for swiping a card as you go into a collection area and taking pints out which you are charged for automatically that’s standard tech now, for example Twickenham has it in some of the bars. But as with all things it will cost a lost to install so unless it pays back with materially more sales why do it.

All new grounds will prioritise match day experience for fans including the ability to want to spend money at the ground.
 

Take this as your invite then, you're welcome to come along with me to the next one!

You're right, time will tell, but I can't help but feel like the experience as a whole was really positive and that the club are serious about listening and improving. I think now we've got a Premier League budget it's changed the scale of how quickly they can do stuff.

One of the big things I raised that I feel needs tackling is the fact that people routinely leave their seats from 35 minutes onwards - and I'm one of these people at most home games - to get a pint because if you don't, you haven't got a chance of getting one at half time in time to get yourself back to your seat. Thousands of people do it and they are thousands that are not in their seats supporting the team before and after half time.

The club really need to think seriously about improving the speed at which kiosk service happens on the concourse. The E-Bars have been a really smart addition but it's not enough - if they need to line every single spare space with them in order to facilitate the demand then they should do it. Presumably they cannot build more kiosks but there need to be alternatives explored.

One other thing that was put to the club was about opening up outdoor space and putting bars out there, like loads of other clubs do (went to loads of away games last season where this was the case). If they haven't got room on the concourses themselves, open up areas outside that people can use with pop up bars and so on. Seems a no brainer to me.

I know getting a beer at the match isn't a priority for most people, but it is for many and particular where I sit in the SWC it's almost impossible to spend your money on the concourse unless you leave your seat well before half time and, thus, you're not up there supporting the team.
Agree with all that so what was their reply? If it was nodding and agreeing and we will look into it then thats BS im afraid they've been told about the above issues for years and done nowt.
 
Agree with all that so what was their reply? If it was nodding and agreeing and we will look into it then thats BS im afraid they've been told about the above issues for years and done nowt.

They previously said that the clubs who have external smoking areas hated it and regretted installing it. This was pre David Bruce.

This may have been a cop out/lie or it may have been the truth. Either way, they’re now focussed on being “fan centric” so if it’s what the fans want they should do it.

I can’t see them extending the concourses. That would be a huge undertaking and likely have knock-on implications for any extension that was planned.
 
They previously said that the clubs who have external smoking areas hated it and regretted installing it. This was pre David Bruce.

This may have been a cop out/lie or it may have been the truth. Either way, they’re now focussed on being “fan centric” so if it’s what the fans want they should do it.

I can’t see them extending the concourses. That would be a huge undertaking and likely have knock-on implications for any extension that was planned.
So did they not reply in your focus group meeting?
 
The underpass to the riverside won't be done till December if that's what you are talking about
Forgive my ignorance but what is actually down on the Riverside bit? Is there owt even there? or is it being done now with future development in mind?
 
They previously said that the clubs who have external smoking areas hated it and regretted installing it. This was pre David Bruce.

This may have been a cop out/lie or it may have been the truth. Either way, they’re now focussed on being “fan centric” so if it’s what the fans want they should do it.

I can’t see them extending the concourses. That would be a huge undertaking and likely have knock-on implications for any extension that was planned.
Smokers are a minority in the general population, every effort should be made to eradicate the filthy habit, not encourage it.
 
I might be being naive as to why this wouldn’t work, but now with digital tickets, why do stadiums even need fenced off areas outside? I can understand the way it used to be because if you didn’t employ the fences method with gates left open, you’d need to pay turnstile operators to work beyond half time. Nowadays though, why couldn’t people just exit via the turnstiles or gates even and then scan back in when they want? Nobody without a valid ticket could scan in so there’s no risk there surely.
 
I might be being naive as to why this wouldn’t work, but now with digital tickets, why do stadiums even need fenced off areas outside? I can understand the way it used to be because if you didn’t employ the fences method with gates left open, you’d need to pay turnstile operators to work beyond half time. Nowadays though, why couldn’t people just exit via the turnstiles or gates even and then scan back in when they want? Nobody without a valid ticket could scan in so there’s no risk there surely.
What happens for sold out matches if someone sends the ticket to a mate and they scan them self in for the second half?
 
What happens for sold out matches if someone sends the ticket to a mate and they scan them self in for the second half?
How is the risk with this any different to scanning in before kick off? The only difference is the time. Not exactly sure how it works but if a ticket is forwarded on, doesn’t that mean the ticket of the person forwarding it becomes invalid and therefore wouldn’t scan at any time for that specific event. So again, I’m not understanding how it’s any different.
 
If you had to scan in and scan out, then it wouldn't matter.

We have fingerprint turnstiles at work that only work one way , depending if you are already in or out . Pretty simple concept
Simple but exploitable, you could scan your ticket, spin the turnstile and stay in the ground. Then your mate scan in.

I guess you could put a steward on every turnstile like to monitor it. Or fingerprint like you say but I’d love to see the reaction on here to that :lol:
How is the risk with this any different to scanning in before kick off? The only difference is the time. Not exactly sure how it works but if a ticket is forwarded on, doesn’t that mean the ticket of the person forwarding it becomes invalid and therefore wouldn’t scan at any time for that specific event. So again, I’m not understanding how it’s any different.
the difference would be that a ticket could be used more than once. I get what is said above about scanning in and out but I definitely think there could be workarounds unless you do some kind of biometric entry
 
Simple but exploitable, you could scan your ticket, spin the turnstile and stay in the ground. Then your mate scan in.

I guess you could put a steward on every turnstile like to monitor it. Or fingerprint like you say but I’d love to see the reaction on here to that :lol:

the difference would be that a ticket could be used more than once. I get what is said above about scanning in and out but I definitely think there could be workarounds unless you do some kind of biometric entry
Someone goes out the ground and has a few of the mates tickets on them

Then shares them and suddenly with people not originally in the ground .

It is too much of a risk to allow something like that .
 
Simple but exploitable, you could scan your ticket, spin the turnstile and stay in the ground. Then your mate scan in.

I guess you could put a steward on every turnstile like to monitor it. Or fingerprint like you say but I’d love to see the reaction on here to that :lol:

the difference would be that a ticket could be used more than once. I get what is said above about scanning in and out but I definitely think there could be workarounds unless you do some kind of biometric entry
Could that not technically happen now then, by someone scanning in and then when it goes green, passing their phone back to their mate? I always presumed the technology would be clever enough to identify when there is a scan in, meaning any other inward scan would be blocked until the following event (next home match in our case). So I thought it might be possible for them to be able to identify an outward scan, which would then allow another inward scan. So basically as long as there aren’t two of the same in or outward scans consecutively.
 
I was down there today and it looks like a lot needs doing to have the bit between sheepfolds and the sol ready for next weekend. At the moment you have to walk around what remains of the Edward Thompson building to get to the ground.
The new plaza between the Sol/sheepy/new bridge has been open every home game
 
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