Graeme S

He ****ing loves it, doesnt he.

For my many and varied sins, I am chairing Spoony's Testimonial Year, along with a brilliant committee of Saints' fans.   We've had a couple of great events, including last Friday's Off the Ball night (see pix here: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122138778027223844&set=pcb.122138779263223844) and our next one is a Quiz Night, at the Tulloch on the evening of 14th November.  Go to our website: www.spoonytestimonial.co.uk to enter a team.  There will be questions on Saints (which I'm going to set, so they will be historical and difficult!), on Spoony himself, and General Knowledge, as well as a raffle and opportunity to donate to the testimonial fund.  

Electrics tripped and were fixed fairly quickly but they couldn't guarantee that it wouldn’t trip again without fully testing …so catering, fire alarms, smoke detectors etc couldn’t be tested quickly enough.
Put the tin foil hats away lads 👍
as an aside, i thought they did a decent job in organising plan b in a short amount of time. 

Gus MacPherson might be good to hear from -:could talk about the signing process - how do they find, access and sign someone from Bosnia for example - how does analytics and scouting work for saints now?
Might also be able to give an idea of what the 5 year plan for the youth academy look like saints and what the club would view as success for the academy ?

So theyve pissed off a huge chunk of the support over 100 tickets?

Believe we win more games against the OF when its dark at dinner time and the moon is covering Neptune too.

Just on the income point, I still say that if the OF were given a smaller allocation, the "loss" taken from that could be offset by giving a larger allocation to Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Dundee, Hibs etc. If we'd stuck with giving these clubs the north stand and the north half of the Main Stand, we'd be able to sell more tickets to them throughout the season. If we so desperately need the money brought in by OF fans, why do we not also desperately need money from Aberdeen etc?
It still irks me that when Fran was asked this question at the previous forum night, he brushed it off with something along the lines of "that's just what we budgeted for." So it's OK to lose out on ticket money from some clubs because we budgeted for it, but it's not OK to budget for it with the OF?
So much of this seems to stem from their commitment to no longer have any away fans in the Main Stand, but in all my years of following Saints I've never heard a single fan complain about that. No one cared.
Incidentally, it also annoys me that Fran said the changes would help the "flow" around the stadium, when we've seen at both the Hibs and Celtic games that the "flow" has become worse. Until the Hibs game I don't think I'd ever seen police having to form a protective line between the Main Stand and the Ormond Stand.
I haven't seen anything at all in these opening games of the season to change my opinion that the club has made a massive mess of all of this.

I feel very differently about the team and the club at the moment. Absolutely loving this team - they work hard for each other, have a bit of ability, and you can actually see the progress they're making. Bearing in mind the team is still very much a work in progress, with some positions still a bit up in the air and probably still to be strengthened, I've been really impressed with the last few performances. I think you can see how Simo's style from last season is gradually being played at a quicker tempo and with a bit more drive to it. It also looks like Campbell, Cotterill and Alic have been very shrewd signings who have significantly improved our options. And I also thought it was great to see Finlayson really step up and take his chance last night. We look capable of hurting opponents and scoring goals, and if we can cut out the occasional lapse at the back, we generally look solid in defence too. I'm excited about what's to come on the pitch this season.
The club, on the other hand, I feel really disenchanted with. Hated that atmosphere last night and I don't buy into this idea coming from some that we should move on from these issues purely because they've been raised before or because they're negative. Sometimes negative feedback is important to discuss, especially when it's unresolved.
Even if we accept that giving three stands to the OF is a necessary evil (personally I don't accept that, but that's another discussion), I think it's entirely reasonable to press the club on why:
- Celtic fans were allowed to set up an elaborate display in our stadium, which included their fans being given permission to leave the stand and walk around on the track beside the pitch in order to co-ordinate. All of this directly in front of stewards and police. And is it not also the case that flags and banners aren't supposed to cover sponsor boards? (Speaking of the stewards, has anyone seen them ensuring that people are sitting in the correct seats yet? - This is one of the things we were assured would be happening this season.)
- Celtic fans were allowed to congregate in large numbers in the area between the Main Stand and the Ormond Stand for around an hour pre-match. I've never understood why OF fans feel the need to hang around outside the stadium before the match anyway, but if this is something they must do, surely the police and the club could get together to work out where they should go? As it is, they have three sides of a four-side stadium to choose from and yet they're choosing to gather in the one area of the park that all home fans had to walk through in order to get to their seats. From a home fan perspective it makes the matchday experience dangerous at worst, downright nasty at best.
I know it's been said already, but in my view the club had a big opportunity this year to try something different and positive with these matches, but what they've somehow managed to do is make them much, much worse.
 

Where has this come from as im seeing it a lot. Have people just forgotten we had the best 15 year spell in the clubs history without having to give away fans 7000 tickets?
Its a choice the club has made and is absolutely not "necessary" so can people stop pretending it is.

Morning Fran

Yup. Claimed on the radio after the game that Celtic were so dominant that he would've scored if he'd played, even at his current age.
They've absolutely zero respect for us but why would they when we just bend over for them and give them our stadium?

Fowler got man of the match for his goals but i would have gave it to Mitchell as he played like a man possesed .. maybe it was his GIRFUY to Hibs after his loan spell with them last year 

Oh for the days of the Lord Totten. 433 formation every match. If we were chasing the game, Kenny Ward on and 424. Never saw Totten or Bert referring to notebooks. Love Simo but changed days indeed. 

Can any submitted questions please be asked verbatim instead of freestyled by the Chair?

Whats the point o putting in questions when someone decides they wont put it forward as it was mentioned before, questions are put so there is a trail to question people in the future.

Its only possible because they absolutely sandbagged ST sales on purpose to make it possible.
If they hadn't removed u12 STs, or told Family Stand ST holders their tickets arent valid for these games, then it wouldn't be possible.

Well no, its pretty much known amongst regulars what faces are missing and its usually the most vulnerable.
Anyone disputing that either just doesnt care enough to find out (the club) or are trolling because they think its hilarious (myspazz) or are so horrendously stuck up the clubs arse in this idea that criticising the club is somehow an insult to them personally that they feel they have to fight every battle for the club regardless of whether theyre right or wrong.
We're about 30 years into this issue and theres not been a single time the club have actually asked fans "why?".
Id assumed Webb might be that guy this Summer but he went even deeper into the financial black hole than even the Browns. Telling family groups that their season ticket is worthless and theyll have to pay extra for these games, if there's even any tickets left, is absolutely shit

Last count I did on 3rd August had 1,834 ST holders in the East Stand.
First choice in GB falls to Premium East Stand and East Stand Ambulant. There are 469 in Premium and 6 Ambulant, total 475.
Next group to pick are those in Standard which totals 650.
The last choice goes to those in Entry level which totals 709.
Total overall is 1,834.
The 709 in Entry includes 155 ST holders in the front sections of block H on the half way line with some of the best views in the stadium.
Family stand ST holders will only be offered something after the East Stand holders have had their chance to secure a seat and only if any seats are still available in the GB stand.
We averaged about 1,400 walk ins last season. This is the folk many of which are loyal, long terms supporters that for whatever reason do not have an ST. If everyone in the East Stand takes a seat in the GB stand then there is no room for our family stand ST holders or our loyal walk ins. This is madness. Saints have had months to sort this mess out yet leave the GB stand allocations until the last minute. Surely saints did not have to wait until the Celtic date was announced before East Stand ST holders could pick their GB stand seat. 
Shockingly poor from saints. I love my club as much as the next supporter but this carry on is totally unprofessional and does nothing for our community club image.

This has all been discussed on the thread already so feels like it's going around in circles a bit, but given that the club has confirmed East Stand season ticket holders will retain the same Geoff Brown Stand seat for Category A games throughout the season, why would any season ticket holder not reserve a Geoff Brown Stand seat? Even if not planning on attending the first few OF games, it surely makes sense to have that seat reserved in case there's an important/unmissable game later in the season?

Don’t think they know how it might work. Think their just going on a wing and a prayer.

The squad is something that the club updates internally. The squad photos have all been taken recently so this should be updated very shortly. 

Stats. Yes.
All the statistics get loaded in currently and are stored in the back-end of the website such as appearances, goals, assists. I'm finishing an upgrade to the website that shows more of these. There's a bigger v2 coming also, we're always looking to improve both the club and the retail site. 

We have also been testing the club website going into 'live' mode that shows the live score and live updates during a game, this is data we are already getting into the website. Lineups now automatically populate also. 

I don't know about data such as contract lengths as that's something that would have to be added manually for all players so that's a club decision. 

Whits left o Willies team would gie them a game, an Willies team would hae run rings roond them.

Season ticket pricing is varied depending upon category of seat, Entry Level, Standard or Premium.
Walk up prices are varied by category of match A, B and C. 
Kilmarnock on Sunday is a cat. C match
Walk up match day prices are the same for all seats. For the Killie match its £26 for full price and £18 for over 65 etc.
So, grab the very best seat in East Stand premium or next to the padded seats in the GB stand for the same price as the worst view seats in the stadium!
Easter Road pricing has different match day pricing for different parts of the stadium. For example for their next game adult prices vary from £24 to £28 and over 65 from £14 to £18.
Aberdeen have 3 different match day prices depending on the view.
Saints have kept it simple by just charging one price for all seats for walk in tickets with East and GB priced the same.
Find it a bit strange that saints have just one price for all walk in seats after the fanfare of the ST seats at different prices depending on view.
I am sure walkin pricing will be kept under review but if you are buying individual match tickets best to grab the best seats early before they are gone.

Could have put the mortgage on one of these accounts making a reappearance!

A lot of those making decisions at the club are in for a shock this season in terms of what they expect fans to pay for.
You cant drastically increase prices, remove free u12s, tell thousands of season ticket holders theyve to move stand for the benefit of the Old Firm, and then serve up that and expect fans to still shell out on merchandise/alcohol etc.