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Early leavers and final whistle on Sunday

JaFlan86 said:
I put alot of this down to infrastructure both in and outside the SOL.

For me, the match day experience is pretty poor. At half time especially you can bearly get moved never mind get to the toilet or get a pint/pie etc. Clearly people are leaving early before half time to beat the que' and the ones returning late for the second half are prepared to wait- probably because its now routine. There must be thousands of other fans that just don't bother at half time because its right chew on - and its now their routine.

And from reading some of the post on here, its clear to me that this mentality exists at full time - people leaving early to avoid being stuck in the ground or to beat traffic.

I've said this before. The steel work around from the SWC to NWC juts out over the turnstiles. I think new walls/turnstiles could be installed, bring them down flush/plum from this point. This would create alot more space within the ground (possibky doubke the current size). I wouldn't imagine the existing walls/turnstiles are load bearing so they would come out easily enough. Maybe there would be enough room for some internal stair cases to assist fans in the higher bowl to exit too?

Imo if they created more space, it may stop bottle necks, effectively reducing exit times. Who knows the club may even recoup the money from more folk buying refresments, enjoying an improved match day experience. Add a few more turnstiles in while were at it - might help with the ques getting in!

I would also allow fans in lower bowls on the West Side to exit using massive the tunnels in the SWC NWC. Park n ride is a very good suggestion.

We are lucky to have the space around the SOL to extend the capacity, so what I am suggesting who be more than possible.
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Alot of it is down to an attitude and a mentality that's been in some of the fanbase for years.
 

Weremuthe said:
If you've got mobility problems the lack of stair handrails at the SOL means you've got to leave early or stay late.
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The majority of the ones we see leaving early practically run down the stairs mate so I don't think it's that
Disco_Pants93 said:
Alot of it is down to an attitude and a mentality that's been in some of the fanbase for years.
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100% how many people are just out to get pissed and be with the lads? The match is an inconvenience when they want it to be
 
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Randy Savage said:
I know for a fact from personal experience (nothing bad!) that the club monitor this forum closely.

As such, if they’re really serious about trying to encourage people to stay until the end, they first need to get to the bottom of why folk are leaving.

They need to put in some hard yards here and contact all SC holders and people on the ticket database about this just to establish some facts. Nothing confrontational, just a fact finding mission to see if those who leave early do so all the time or some of the time?

If the former, is it habitual, due to concerns over getting out of the stadium (perhaps if with young children or due to mobility issues), to go to the pub/for food, for transport/traffic reasons, or a combination of the above.

If the latter, is this due to personal circumstances on the day or due to the match situation.

In either scenario, is there anything the clubs could to that would help.
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Who are the early leavers. Are they mainly middle aged men, families, youngsters, OAPs. Season ticket needs a sensor on it so it registers when you come in and out of stadium ( like those traffic sensors on roads ), then data can be seen if it's same people week on week etc.
I just think it's men who are driving that want to get home and their pax have to follow. Its in their DNA to beat the traffic even if it means they only get home 30 mins earlier. How you overcome that, is you have to hope that future generations don't think this way.
 
League Wan said:
The majority of the ones we see leaving early practically run down the stairs mate so I don't think it's that

100% how many people are just out to get pissed and be with the lads? The match is an inconvenience when they want it to be
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Bang on. Its an excuse for their lass to let them out without saying its just out on the drink
 
Its a cultural thing going way back into the history of Roker park when going 10 minutes early genuinely did get you away out the match traffic much quicker as the traffic in the tight streets then along the front was a nightmare.

There will be some locals who just want to get to the pub and get served quicker

Culture passes on from parent to children and theres now two generations that are used to doing it over decades.

Weve always had a high proportion of our fans who drive from all over and I would imagine thats the subset of fans that do it the most.
 
I did see a recent test of this situation on social media. I'm pretty sure it was at The Emirates and 2 lads who lived together were at the match and they tested the benefit of leaving a few minutes earlier compared to staying to the end.

The result was the lad who left a few minutes earlier was home almost an hour before the other lad.
 
RedandWhiteRebel said:
More people leave early when the team look devoid of attacking intent and never look like getting back into a match after conceding.

It doesn't really need a full investigation. If the team can pick up the intensity again more people will have the belief back and stay longer in the hope something happens.
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The people who use the teams performance as an excuse would find any reason to leave.
 
I have one issue with getting out.
I am in the upper bowl of West stand P3.
When I go out I have to cross the access door to the corporate areas to get to the stairs down. They have a suited type steward who stops the ordinary folks crossing until the hospitality lot have gone in. This could be 5 minutes or more.
So I go down during injury time to avoid the delay most of the time mainly night matches and if I need to be somewhere straight after the game.
If the club could work that one differently I would stay.
 
Disco_Pants93 said:
Alot of it is down to an attitude and a mentality that's been in some of the fanbase for years.
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theres also the modern phenomena of people having short attention spans and needing to be 'entertained' at all times. if the match is a bit boring, loads of people zone out and just think 'fuck this i'll shoot off and start doing what ever i'm doing next' - probably sitting on a bus or a couch playing on their phones.

35 mins is the max that a lot of people can concentrate on one single thing without distraction
 
Peel Street Massif said:
The people who use the teams performance as an excuse would find any reason to leave.
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I'm not sure they would.

When the team are playing well there are generally more people in the stadium at the end.

When we are not playing well and dont ever look like scoring it causes the mass exodus and excuses about beating the traffic are amplified.

Team playing well - not many early leavers,
Team playing poor with no attacking intent after conceding a goal - mass exodus.

It has everything to do with what is happening on the pitch.
 
We didn’t have the problem of early leavers back in the season tbf

It’s a simple fact of if we are losing and playing g shit people will leave

Earlier in season when Arsenal and Brentford etc weee beating us till late it was still packed because we actually looked like we were going to make something happen

Just the way it is
 
tunstallhill said:
theres also the modern phenomena of people having short attention spans and needing to be 'entertained' at all times. if the match is a bit boring, loads of people zone out and just think 'fuck this i'll shoot off and start doing what ever i'm doing next' - probably sitting on a bus or a couch playing on their phones.

35 mins is the max that a lot of people can concentrate on one single thing without distraction
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I think the strangest thing about it all for me is those people who leave early simply to get home 10 minutes quicker rather than be stuck in a bit of traffic. As if a tiny bit of traffic is such an inconvenience to them that it means more than the £500+ season tickets they're using to attend the games and plan their day around. Mental
 
It’s personal choice. It’s a shame to see it happening but it’s down to the individuals.

It’s not realistic to expect the police to close more roads, the club to open up more exists etc, just to try and keep people in the ground for a bit longer.
 
Disco_Pants93 said:
I think the strangest thing about it all for me is those people who leave early simply to get home 10 minutes quicker rather than be stuck in a bit of traffic. As if a tiny bit of traffic is such an inconvenience to them that it means more than the £500+ season tickets they're using to attend the games and plan their day around. Mental
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I’m not encouraging it and I don’t do it. On the two occasions I have - genuinely leaving my seat on 90 or leaving at full time (4-8 minutes of added time?) can be an hours difference in getting home. It can be 20 minutes difference in just getting out the bloody ground.
Personally I think the front of the pitch is too easy to walk around. Stop it. Bring the railings of row one to the front of row one and have no “walkway” around the front.

Just pick someone out who walks around the front next game. I bet they walk past multiple sets of stairs whilst still watching the game.


And the back of the stand is too hard to get away from. Their needs to be exits at the top as well as the bottom
 
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Keep the bars open after the game so folk can nab a pint on walking out after full time, was great at Brighton away and brings in revenue for the club.
 
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