New Owner

[RandomGuy]

5 hours ago, MySpazz said:

Sustainability,  profitability and reality 

I don't see how this works by pissing off the folk you rely on to fund the club year in, year out, every week, in favour of the folk who appear maybe 3 times a year and 0 times if you're relegated.

[MySpazz]

39 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

I don't see how this works by pissing off the folk you rely on to fund the club year in, year out, every week, in favour of the folk who appear maybe 3 times a year and 0 times if you're relegated.

You choose not to understand that money runs the club, and we need more of it.

 

If I owned the club I'd forego your support to sell another 10,000 tickets per season, in the knowledge tgat the money could fuel the team and lead to better results, and attract locals to all games. Rather than relegation and sat next to someone who has their needs rather than the clubs needs first.

 

Get out if the way...let saints adapt to reality.

[Strawman]

7 hours ago, blueheaven said:

What I do really like is the idea of outdoor fanzones etc. McDiarmid Park is one of the few grounds around that actually has the space to make that work, and it would be brilliant if it could be like the experience you get in Germany where you can also buy streetfood, hot drinks, etc. I think it needs to be set up for the cold, rainy weather we often have here during the football season so would need to be more appealing than just a couple of stalls selling cold drinks. But I really, really wish the club had tried doing this sort of thing for our European games when we were getting big crowds in good weather.

 

I was at Stockport County last year and they had what you described in car park, proper street food you’d consider buying, beer but also coffee bars etc. 

They had a way you could go back there at half time but it was far to busy, one look meant we turned back.

I don’t think we can consider the Astro as space for this though as are they not hoping the Women will move there, I can’t see how everything could be set up and taken done in time.

[Mizfit]

I’ve said it before but use the top of the carpark as a fanzone where it’s at its flattest. 
 

Or, where the hospitality car parking is on matchdays, 

[pezza70]

We have designated non alcohol bays in grounds down here which are generally family seating and the rest of the bays you can get a drink.

Most clubs have kid zones these days with little footy drills, face painting, arts and craft and they open up appropriately two hours before kick off.

Ive seen some pretty ugly incidents in the crowds over the years but at the same time 99% of the people who are at games and having a drink behave themselves responsibly.

There isn’t too much segregation at grounds here where non season ticket holders from both home and away fans sit together.

[garydavidson]

9 hours ago, blueheaven said:

I'm slightly dreading the beer thing if it ever gets introduced, TBH. My experience of it at English grounds is that the concourses/food areas become a pain in the arse to make your way through because of all the people standing around boozing...

The strange thing about it was he mentioned having a beer at his seat so that would be something totally different from the English system where they can get a drink but it is only under the stand and not allowed to go back to the seat, unlike rugby which is his comparison. 

Still believe category A games would be excluded from any license or dealt with on a game by game basis. 

[Cleveland-Saint]

6 hours ago, Dooj said:

I actually think that Adam Webb may be extrapolating too much from his experience of American sports - yes, you can get a beer in your seat but not only are beers ridiculously expensive (along with hot dogs and so on) the Americans have a very different relationship with alcohol anyway, and sports crowds in general behave differently. You dont get the same level of confrontation which I reckon is probably down to the far lower numbers of away fans that attend games. Yes, you do get some trouble, but nothing like on the scale that you get in the UK (maybe the fact that the police are armed helps too 🤔😆).

I watch the Browns here and love the booze, we stand most of the game, get beat religously and have a raucus time for 3 hours. More away fans and more fights than you may think, but mainly boozy tumbles and ejections are quick. Id love to see some beers at a saints game personally. I get to a few a year, have some beers with my brother, get a nice buzz but don't enjoy the 2 hour pause..... a pint or two during the game would hit the spot  

[blueheaven]

16 hours ago, MySpazz said:

You picked up on young people being out of a job. That was your line.

But that's the wrong way around thinking—you create jobs by innovating and expanding a business. That's what Webb is attempting. And with that comes more money spent by those people having earned a bigger wage than the youth. The youth are just that. Their time for work will come. And to that end, it could be argued that the stewarding goes back to paid locals and volunteers with the correct credentials, then hired stewards for the "big" games.

 

You seem to have missed that I was responding specifically to a post about something that happened to a 14-year-old member of staff at a Celtic game, so was making the point that if alcohol was on sale those 14-year-olds would be out of a job.

I've no problem with Saints creating more jobs for adults. I think that would be brilliant. But it doesn't shift the likelihood that selling alcohol at the kiosks would mean that a lot of our current kiosk staff would lose their jobs, and I don't see that as a good thing.

[blueheaven]

15 hours ago, sane_tee said:

The selling of alcohol during a football game is such an unknown quantity for me that I didn't know it would only be allowed in the concourse. Not much space under the seats at McD, so I think it would need to be done in specific areas.

From what I've experienced at some English grounds, a lot of them don't really have much/any more space in their concourse areas than McDiarmid does. It can get very uncomfortable at some of those grounds as a result - I was at one game at Charlton a few years ago where there was an actual crush happening at half-time that the stewards were struggling to get a handle on. It happens because people crowd down into the kiosk areas at half-time, buy a drink and then have nowhere to go, because they can't go back to their seats. So they all just hang around with their drinks and the space gets busier and busier and busier until no one can move. A lot of those old grounds just aren't designed for that, and I'd put McDiarmid in that bracket too.

Below National League level in England you can buy alcohol and take it to your seat and it's a much more relaxed and enjoyable experience. I always thought it was a shame non-league Scottish clubs like Jeanfield Swifts couldn't have a bar like that as it could be a great income-generator for them.

 

[The Kinross Saint]

19 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

From what I've experienced at some English grounds, a lot of them don't really have much/any more space in their concourse areas than McDiarmid does. It can get very uncomfortable at some of those grounds as a result - I was at one game at Charlton a few years ago where there was an actual crush happening at half-time that the stewards were struggling to get a handle on. It happens because people crowd down into the kiosk areas at half-time, buy a drink and then have nowhere to go, because they can't go back to their seats. So they all just hang around with their drinks and the space gets busier and busier and busier until no one can move. A lot of those old grounds just aren't designed for that, and I'd put McDiarmid in that bracket too.

Below National League level in England you can buy alcohol and take it to your seat and it's a much more relaxed and enjoyable experience. I always thought it was a shame non-league Scottish clubs like Jeanfield Swifts couldn't have a bar like that as it could be a great income-generator for them.

 

To add a positive experience at an English ground, I stopped off at Exeter on the way to Cornwall in January to watch their FA Cup game against Oxford and the fan experience was superb. A couple of pre match pints in a fan zone right outside the main stand with fans mixing and no trouble at all. Add to that, no ridiculous searches on the way in, we left the fan zone 2 minutes before kick off assuming we wouldn't be in the stand in time and had no problem at all, considering the attendance was at least double what we get I was really impressed. Add to that you can but things like plastic bottles ect in the ground, they're treated like adults down there and we get treated like naughty children in Scottish football.

I know it's slightly off topics but the searches going in to the East Stand are a joke. I'm always questioned about what's in my pockets or patted down and then they say 'what's that' to which I'll saw 'wallet, keys, ect' and they don't even check. Either actually search someone or stop harassing every fan.

Edited February 7 by The Kinross Saint

[sane_tee]

1 hour ago, The Kinross Saint said:

To add a positive experience at an English ground, I stopped off at Exeter on the way to Cornwall in January to watch their FA Cup game against Oxford and the fan experience was superb. A couple of pre match pints in a fan zone right outside the main stand with fans mixing and no trouble at all. Add to that, no ridiculous searches on the way in, we left the fan zone 2 minutes before kick off assuming we wouldn't be in the stand in time and had no problem at all, considering the attendance was at least double what we get I was really impressed. Add to that you can but things like plastic bottles ect in the ground, they're treated like adults down there and we get treated like naughty children in Scottish football.

I know it's slightly off topics but the searches going in to the East Stand are a joke. I'm always questioned about what's in my pockets or patted down and then they say 'what's that' to which I'll saw 'wallet, keys, ect' and they don't even check. Either actually search someone or stop harassing every fan.

I've never been searched, nor asked to empty my pockets, yet my other half always gets asked. It's definitely men they're keeping an eye on. Which is unfair, because if they assume I'm not bringing contraband because I'm female, or because I have kids, they should assume all men with kids have nothing too. I like the security guys, they're always nice, although chocolate fireguard comes to mind

[The Kinross Saint]

2 minutes ago, sane_tee said:

I've never been searched, nor asked to empty my pockets, yet my other half always gets asked. It's definitely men they're keeping an eye on. Which is unfair, because if they assume I'm not bringing contraband because I'm female, or because I have kids, they should assume all men with kids have nothing too. I like the security guys, they're always nice, although chocolate fireguard comes to mind

Agreed that they're always friendly and are just following the instructions they are being given, but like you say they're profiling people which isn't fair.

[crieffsaintandy]

Refreshing hearing Adam looking for change and recognising we need more progressive thinking, as the narrow minded attitudes have not built on our success over the last decade, lots of opportunities missed after the cup wins.

Edited February 8 by crieffsaintandy

[Cagey]

I see the case against Roddy has been dropped 

 

[sixties saintee]

31 minutes ago, Cagey said:

I see the case against Roddy has been dropped 

 

In any other organisation he would hae been suspended without prejudice,  until the outcome o the investigation. Surely damaged the clubs reputation as a family club, in ma opionion should gae been let go.

[Saintdunc]

6 hours ago, Cagey said:

I see the case against Roddy has been dropped 

 

Two sides to every story.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/14371007/ex-spfl-star-cleared-leaving-man-scarred-pub-brawl/

[garydavidson]

1 hour ago, Saintdunc said:

Two sides to every story.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/14371007/ex-spfl-star-cleared-leaving-man-scarred-pub-brawl/

Must have been some night, two with vision issues and one with a bit of the thumb missing and a criminal conviction.

Does say something if one is convicted and they can't build a case against the other. Although it's an appallingly written article.

[HOODLUM65]

3 hours ago, garydavidson said:

Must have been some night, two with vision issues and one with a bit of the thumb missing and a criminal conviction.

Does say something if one is convicted and they can't build a case against the other. Although it's an appallingly written article.

Depending on which version you read, one guy had part of his thumb bitten off.

In another comment, the staff at P.R.I. stitched a 2cm cut on his thumb.

Your correct, the gutter press will print anything in an attempt to sell their rag.

[rik2304]

Looks like they're investigating selling the naming rights of the stadium. 

Put out last night by Fran Smith.

Edited February 23 by rik2304