Your matchday experience v Wigan

[IJN]

I don’t understand what is humiliating about being searched. It’s a mild inconvenience at most surely - certainly not sufficiently to prevent you doing something you enjoy doing.

I can.

Plus I truly believe searching people is so OTT.

How many terrorist attacks has there been in a football match?

 

[Born green]

At least it's done by a wand... Charlton was hands on...

 

[boletus edulis]

Get there early as advised by the club....no que at turnstiles or the kiosk's... Sit in seat ..watch game, then go home.
How hard is that?

I know what you mean, and this is eminently sensible. However, for all sorts of reasons this may not be possible for everyone. Our son and the lad that sits next to us both play in the DJM which means that we can never be at Home Park the same time each week. When they have 10.30 games (they play 80 minutes) we don’t have an issue, but the other time slot they have is 12.30. If they have, and there has been before, games kicking off at 12.30 in Ivybridge, Horrabridge or Tavi getting their early is physically impossible. We can drop the kids off outside Home Park so they can get in, but the car driver may have a mad rush finding parking and then getting to and in the ground.

 

[bigalf]

At least it's done by a wand... Charlton was hands on...

Did raise a laugh at The Valley though with the very drunk Argyle fan shouting ‘Touch me, Touch me’ and chasing the steward around the area behind the turnstiles demanding to be frisked!

 

[foreigner]

Hi All.

Thanks for the comprehensive feedback on yesterday. Some excellent posts with points I will take away. I am unable to comment too much on the disorder at the end of the game as an investigation is already underway.

Searching - I’m sure everyone is aware that the UK terror threat has recently been heightened to amber. While there is no specific threat to Argyle we have also reviewed our own procedures and searching is naturally part of those. I do absolutely agree that it can be extremely frustrating and there’s some work for us to do in speeding things up. Ultimately our safety officer has responsibility for the supporters and I will review with him this week and look to implement some changes that will speed this process up. We are extremely disappointed a flare got into the away end and will review CCTV to see how this happened.

Queuing - Queues were generally well controlled in the Mayflower and Devonport end, wait times were less than 5 minutes on average. We did however not get organised quickly enough on the Lyndhurst side and will deploy additional resource for future matches from the start to ensure this improved. As another poster has mentioned, the Devonport is well equipped with ample turnstiles, way above capacity limits. The Lyndhurst ideally needs more access points, and a project is being looked at however not something we can address during the season. We are also seeing a larger number of supporters bringing bags that have to be searched and with the colder weather additional layers of clothing. We will be looking into transparent bags for supporters who need to bring one however ask that you do not bring a bag unless absolutely necessary. We will find a new home for the bins!

We also understand that in order to get supporters to arrive early the facilities have to be available. Last week we installed Sky back onto the concourse TV’s to show the early kick off, we’ve put live music in the Mayflower fan zone and put a discount of 25% off all products to the concessions for 45 minutes after turnstiles open. We will continue to implement anything (better/more toilets, more concessions, shelving etc) we feel will attract supporters early and in time improve the content in the stadium via the big screen.

Catering - understand the frustrations with the internal catering. We are compromised on the concourses due to width and flow. This ultimately means we are limited to measures we can put in for queuing. This ends up being driven by people rather than barriers etc because we have to maintain flow of people and space. That said, it can absolutely be better and should be. To achieve that we have to be innovative and utilise all space. We are discussing this with the brewery for the inside and also working on how we can improve outside. Alongside this we are reviewing the offer.

With all of the above every week we plan resource for managing queues at H/T however we are increasingly having to draw on that resource to deal with issues under the Devonport End and yesterday with disorder. While stewarding can always be improved and the club will no doubt take learnings from yesterday, I emphasise that we need supporters to abide by ground regulations and be respectful of others and what we are trying to do. Ultimately we now require more resource which has a knock on impact to costs for the club.

I always to try to be as transparent as possible and this regular thread has given us valuable feedback on improvements over the last few games. Please do feel free to email me (Christian.kent@pafc.co.uk) and I’ll always feedback the comments across the wider team.

Thanks again, Christian

Any chance you could speak in English please?! Last week it was vomitory's. This week any chance of translating " ...put a discount of 25% off all products to the concessions for 45 minutes after turnstiles open."?!

 

[The Doctor]

25% off purchases from the concessionary outlets in the concourse for 45 minutes after the turnstiles open.

 

[HC Green]

Hi All.

Thanks for the comprehensive feedback on yesterday. Some excellent posts with points I will take away. I am unable to comment too much on the disorder at the end of the game as an investigation is already underway.

Searching - I’m sure everyone is aware that the UK terror threat has recently been heightened to amber. While there is no specific threat to Argyle we have also reviewed our own procedures and searching is naturally part of those. I do absolutely agree that it can be extremely frustrating and there’s some work for us to do in speeding things up. Ultimately our safety officer has responsibility for the supporters and I will review with him this week and look to implement some changes that will speed this process up. We are extremely disappointed a flare got into the away end and will review CCTV to see how this happened.

Queuing - Queues were generally well controlled in the Mayflower and Devonport end, wait times were less than 5 minutes on average. We did however not get organised quickly enough on the Lyndhurst side and will deploy additional resource for future matches from the start to ensure this improved. As another poster has mentioned, the Devonport is well equipped with ample turnstiles, way above capacity limits. The Lyndhurst ideally needs more access points, and a project is being looked at however not something we can address during the season. We are also seeing a larger number of supporters bringing bags that have to be searched and with the colder weather additional layers of clothing. We will be looking into transparent bags for supporters who need to bring one however ask that you do not bring a bag unless absolutely necessary. We will find a new home for the bins!

We also understand that in order to get supporters to arrive early the facilities have to be available. Last week we installed Sky back onto the concourse TV’s to show the early kick off, we’ve put live music in the Mayflower fan zone and put a discount of 25% off all products to the concessions for 45 minutes after turnstiles open. We will continue to implement anything (better/more toilets, more concessions, shelving etc) we feel will attract supporters early and in time improve the content in the stadium via the big screen.

Catering - understand the frustrations with the internal catering. We are compromised on the concourses due to width and flow. This ultimately means we are limited to measures we can put in for queuing. This ends up being driven by people rather than barriers etc because we have to maintain flow of people and space. That said, it can absolutely be better and should be. To achieve that we have to be innovative and utilise all space. We are discussing this with the brewery for the inside and also working on how we can improve outside. Alongside this we are reviewing the offer.

With all of the above every week we plan resource for managing queues at H/T however we are increasingly having to draw on that resource to deal with issues under the Devonport End and yesterday with disorder. While stewarding can always be improved and the club will no doubt take learnings from yesterday, I emphasise that we need supporters to abide by ground regulations and be respectful of others and what we are trying to do. Ultimately we now require more resource which has a knock on impact to costs for the club.

I always to try to be as transparent as possible and this regular thread has given us valuable feedback on improvements over the last few games. Please do feel free to email me (Christian.kent@pafc.co.uk) and I’ll always feedback the comments across the wider team.

Thanks again, Christian

If I’ve read your response correctly you are saying that the terrorist threat level is the reason for the searching of supporters. If so why isn’t this applied across all football as from my recent visits to Wembley, Hampden Park, Accrington, Charlton etc it certainly isn’t.
Also the fact that someone managed to bring a flare into Home Park doesn’t give much confidence in the processes.

If Argyle allowed people in blocks 6 and 7 to enter through the Devonport turnstiles and walk through to their blocks it would relieve a lot of pressure on turnstile 9.

 

[metroace]

If Argyle allowed people in blocks 6 and 7 to enter through the Devonport turnstiles and walk through to their blocks it would relieve a lot of pressure on turnstile 9.

How nice to see a positive suggestion rather than just highlighting the problem again. I hope the club take this suggestion seriously.

 

[ArgyleOfficial]

If I’ve read your response correctly you are saying that the terrorist threat level is the reason for the searching of supporters. If so why isn’t this applied across all football as from my recent visits to Wembley, Hampden Park, Accrington, Charlton etc it certainly isn’t.
Also the fact that someone managed to bring a flare into Home Park doesn’t give much confidence in the processes.

If Argyle allowed people in blocks 6 and 7 to enter through the Devonport turnstiles and walk through to their blocks it would relieve a lot of pressure on turnstile 9.

We will certainly consider it 👍

 

[IJN]

Great idea Clive. 👏

 

[IJN]

Any chance you could speak in English please?! Last week it was vomitory's. This week any chance of translating " ...put a discount of 25% off all products to the concessions for 45 minutes after turnstiles open."?!

I think the fact that Christian takes the time to post on here should give him some slack when he uses buzz phrases.

Let's face it 'whacking great square hole which allows people to ingress and exit' is a bit more of a mouthful than vomitory isn't it?

 

[Torbay Green]

I normally get inside the ground for around 2.15 and the queues are already forming for food & drink.
The club will have access to sales data and should be able to predict which drinks will be most popular. Therefore, why not have 20-30 pints pre-pulled at each kiosk and give a youngster the job of pouring more to top up the levels until 2.55 when most people will head for the seats. Same again at HT. The speed of service would be much improved.

The searches are excessive. Why are they happening? I don't recall any weapons or flare issues inside HP until yesterday and ironically it was in the away end. I've been to grounds at higher levels than L1 this year and haven't been searched.

The merchandise kiosk by the Devonport end was a good idea and probably eased queues at the club shop.
What's happened to the big flag? Got used to that coming around the ground at 2.45 but havent seen it for a few games now.

 

[meetoo]

I don’t understand what is humiliating about being searched. It’s a mild inconvenience at most surely - certainly not sufficiently to prevent you doing something you enjoy doing.

He hardly fits the narrative of a hooligan, flare smuggler etc. My 80+ year old mother has also been subject to a search whilst teetering on her walking sticks. Uncalled for and not necessary in these 2 examples.

 

[jerryatricjanner]

He hardly fits the narrative of a hooligan, flare smuggler etc. My 80+ year old mother has also been subject to a search whilst teetering on her walking sticks. Uncalled for and not necessary in these 2 examples.

Absolutely. You are a steward and see an octagenarian or a young child in front of you. Does that person seriously look like they might be a terrorist? Not everyone is born with a modicum of common sense but good grief some basic training should sort that.

 

[Devongreenowl]

I can.

Plus I truly believe searching people is so OTT.

How many terrorist attacks has there been in a football match?

They probably would have said that about pop concerts a few years ago.

Matter of time before there’s another terrorist incident at a major football match. Unlikely at an EFL 1 fixture, granted.

Islamic State supporter 'urged football stadium attacks'

Husnain Rashid allegedly encouraged attackers to target the World Cup in Russia and Prince George's school.

www.google.co.uk