had quite a few instances of people, for reasons best known to themselves sitting in the wrong seats in the family stand on Friday
II normally sit in the FA stand but as stated before for reasons best known to the club they decided to shut this and chus all in the family stand instead. I arrived about 20 minutes before kickoff and didn’t have any problems getting into my seat. Two people who volunteer for the club doing great work right up to about 10 minutes before kickoff arrive just on kickoff time to find two people sitting in their seats when they pointed out that they were in the wrong seats they refused to budge . A steward or crowd control erccame along and basically did nothing except offer to redirect my friends to a seated area well away from that and near the choir which they didn’t want to do.
the two people who refused to budge should be ashamed of themselves making two pensioners who volunteer for the club move to another part of the stand when they were in their seats and secondly the steward basically didn’t do her job. Apparently the people sitting in their seats gave their excuse that there was someone sitting in theirs, not the problems of my friends.
issues to be raised here firstly all this would’ve been avoided if the FA stand instead of the family stand had been opened. Secondly the crowd controllers should do their job. It would’ve been quite interesting had we had a few hundred more people turn up on the night and the family stand filled up certainly the beach Dean stand on the other side was nearly full. Ironically, the people with the best seats in the house and the most room were away fans would be nice if they actually had consideration for the Home fans.
apologies for the dodgy spelling and grammar it’s not really letting me edit properly on my phone, but hopefully you’ll get the gist of this
Saw a bit of this on Facebook and perhaps the club should have been clear it’s a “sit in actual seat job”. Although I’d have thought that goes without saying unless they literally communicate unallocated.
I dare say the steward was utterly overwhelmed by the prospect of having to do a dominoes effect across the whole stand minutes before kick off.
I can sympathise with this situation in the family stand, our experience on Friday was similar…
Me, my son and grandson (aged 4) got to our seats about 10 minutes before kick off. It would have been earlier but we hadn’t anticipated the long queue for entry.
Luckily our allocated three seats were still empty, deliberately purchased at the end of a row as the grandson needs the toilet at least twice during the game.
There were only a couple of empty seats in the row immediately in front which didn’t worked out well when a group of 6 turned up to take their spaces. Luckily those sitting in the wrong places quickly moved, but their reasoning was “Someone was sitting in our seat when we arrived”.
None of this was helped by either the steward, who just looked in quite bemused, or the lack of clear row identifications.
It shouldn’t be difficult for people to comprehend that you sit in your allocated seat unless specifically told it’s unallocated. I mean, you wouldn’t do it at the theatre would you?
Going forward this will lead to issues if the Family Stand is more busy this season with the terrace at reduced capacity. It shouldn’t be difficult to comprehend that you sit in your allocated seat.
Yes, as you say, the family stand is likely to have more customers this season. Clear instructions to the stewards or maybe the Stuart is actually understanding their job whichever you prefer. And clearer seat marking will help tremendously.
The FA stand is the largest and most comfortable and user-friendly IMO in the stadium so that ought to be for most games the stadium or first choice when it comes to being selective as to which bits of the ground should be open for certain cup matches
I have to say, I think the Steward would’ve been overwhelmed by most things
It wouldn’t have been rocket science for two people who rightly should be sat in those seats were pensioners. The two people who were sat in their seats looked young and physically fit. You ask the the latter to move and find seats elsewhere as they are in the wrong in this instance under no circumstances should you make two pensioners who as I stress before our club volunteers move away from the seats they have bought
What’s worrying is if we get scenarios like this in a crowd of 2500 what on earth are we going to do? And when we get into the championship or we get a cup game against big opposition
Had no problems myself but the Family Stand is looking rather shabby lately (not been in for a few years)
Confusing seat numbers and poor leg room, seats looking all faded too, it’s not aged well. Baffling that when they are encouranging people to upgrade to the Frank Adams they don’t open it and try and sell it based on the view.
Could have given the Stevenage fans the Origin stand and closed both ends.
In my humble opinion, I have one of the best seats at AP. Not regularly, but on two of three occasions last season, someone was sitting in my ST allocated seat. To be fair, normally when I’m running late. But it does bring a level of awkwardness I’d rather avoid.
I’ve not had any issues shifting them apart from the odd huff from one of them. Part of me thought “actually, you can sit by the ‘COME ON WYCOMBE’ person a couple of rows behind but then I quickly reconciled with how much I fork out for that seat.
I think ultimately, it’s out of respect. If someone has an allocated seat and you’re in it, shift your arse. If it’s unclaimed, fill your boots given we hardly ever go anywhere near capacity.
Away games are still a minefield. It’s going to be very annoying if we do get to the Championship and start taking a larger away contingent.
I should also emphasise that the two people concerned who wouldn’t
budge we’re sitting in aisle seats
So very easy for them to get off their backside and sit somewhere else in favour of two pensioners and volunteers of the club whose seats they were anyway the club have got a fair bit to answer for but those two have a lot to answer for beneath contempt
I’ve had the same problem every time in the family stand. It obviously only takes a few people to be in the wrong seat to them cause a knock on impact that creates a game of musical chairs.
The labelling of the rows and seats is not very clear and it’s generally quite cramped. When you’ve got kids and there are also other families wandering around I can see how people mistakenly sit in the wrong place. The upper tier is much easier to navigate.
It should be a pretty basic task for the club to repaint the rows on each step and replace the seat number badges, which I think would help a lot.
While it may seem like a small thing, if you’re a casual supporter it creates a crap first impression when we need to be doing everything possible to get those people to come back.