TDR V2 Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: The problem I guess we have for the next game is that we have no idea at this point whether the new NFC ticketing caused any real delays and we won't really get a good test of that until we play Everton. The entirety of the problem on Saturday was down to the club asking everyone to arrive early, then not being bale to open the turnstiles because of their staffing issues. Fans did exactly what was asked of them, turned up in numbers and early - and because we had large numbers of supporters do that, there were huge queues at 16:00 when the turnstiles were supposed to open - and even more dangerous crowding at 16:40 when they still weren't open. When the turnstiles around the ground did finally open at 16:45, the majority of people were in the ground by the 17:30 kick off and a few more after Villa and the referee connived a six minute delay out of claiming a refereeing kit clash - but whether the NFC ticketing system helped or hindered that process is a complete mystery. We could have been using cards, paper tickets or facial recognition on Saturday - it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference - the problem was that the club couldn't open the stadium. Some of the good ideas in your suggestion around turnstiles simply wouldn't have worked - it wasn't possible for example to have people walking the lines, because it was barely possible to walk through the lines - Witton Lane was full of people, from the North Stand entrance to the edge of the Holte End, it was like the front forty rows of a festival - there's no chance people would have been able to circulate through there. Saturday was only really about the tickets to the extent that the club asked people to get there early and be ready - fans did that - the club didn't open the stadium. Upper Holte was open as normal, was plenty in TV and LG. There was also plenty of staff wandering around. Digital tickets weren't the problem either.... the thing that I found the most worrying is that there was none of the normal searches done, not in lower holte anyway. We have forgotten how to do anything right, dumb staff, no-one organising the dumb staff. It's not like they had the whole summer to prepare anything, too busy pissing off season ticket holders and selling kits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 28 VT Supporter Share Posted August 28 1 hour ago, Stephen_Evans said: The sticky paint on my shoes was not appreciated! I am sure none of us in the Upper DE would have minded the old decor for a few more weeks. Now they will have to redo it because it is a mess. I really don't understand the point of painting the floor with no realistic chance of it drying. I can only think they needed to be offsite and achieve Practical Completion by matchday. Possibly cheaper to avoid paying LADs for late completion and re-doing the floor as snagging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted August 29 Author Moderator Share Posted August 29 21 hours ago, TDR V2 said: Upper Holte was open as normal, was plenty in TV and LG. TV and LG don't use the regular turnstiles do they? 21 hours ago, TDR V2 said: There was also plenty of staff wandering around.... the thing that I found the most worrying is that there was none of the normal searches done, not in lower holte anyway. I'm not sure if the staff wandering around were part of the catering team - but it was the stewarding that had a staffing issue, it's why the turnstiles couldn't open and why the searches weren't in place properly. 21 hours ago, TDR V2 said: It's not like they had the whole summer to prepare anything. To a large extent, this is the problem, they've tried to do an enormous amount in a single summer and fallen a long way short - the stuff they wanted to do in the summer won't be finished until the end of September and they could really have done with aiming to get that done for mid-July so that we could have a friendly to make sure everything worked. From a construction point of view it would have made a lot more sense to spread this work over two summers. There are people at Villa Park that struggle with the realities of what is possible for contractors. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano & Dalian's Umbrella Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 22 hours ago, Stephen_Evans said: The sticky paint on my shoes was not appreciated! I am sure none of us in the Upper DE would have minded the old decor for a few more weeks. Now they will have to redo it because it is a mess. I would put money on nobody even noticing what a mess it is and it being left like that for the next few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano & Dalian's Umbrella Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 (edited) When I spoke to a steward about the wet paint in the DE stair-wells, he said that when they arrived in the ground , the concourse was full of builder's equipment and they had to race against time to clear it all away. Edited August 29 by Deano & Dalian's Umbrella Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted August 29 VT Supporter Share Posted August 29 1 hour ago, Deano & Dalian's Umbrella said: When I spoke to a steward about the wet paint in the DE stair-wells, he said that when they arrived in the ground , the concourse was full of builder's equipment and they had to race against time to clear it all away. That's pretty much what I thought was the case. It had all the hallmarks of a panicked tidy-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sidcow Posted August 29 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted August 29 48 minutes ago, Lichfield Dean said: That's pretty much what I thought was the case. It had all the hallmarks of a panicked tidy-up. Should have got teenage me and mates to do it. A party here? No way! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
withes_shin Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Lets look at the positives. I now know how it feels to be like King Charles where everywhere you visit smells of fresh paint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 10 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: TV and LG don't use the regular turnstiles do they? They do. Well, LG does, can't think why TV would be any different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 29 VT Supporter Share Posted August 29 (edited) 1 hour ago, Risso said: They do. Well, LG does, can't think why TV would be any different. For TV you stroll up to the entrance and the young lady who is the greeter scans your ticket with a handheld reader then directs you to the guy who gives you the sacred wristband whilst angelic music plays and a golden light illuminates you. Then you get a ticket for a free beer. Edited August 29 by sidcow 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy54 Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 9 hours ago, Risso said: They do. Well, LG does, can't think why TV would be any different. I thought there was a secret TV members only entry with a red carpet towards the gold plated turnstile where a top hatted commissioner takes your phone and scans you in before escorting you to your 8 course pre match meal ?. Then your personal butler attends to your every need, like pre warming your plush padded seat before the game starts on a particularly chilly evening. Or have I got that completely wrong? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted August 30 Author Moderator Share Posted August 30 10 hours ago, Risso said: They do. Well, LG does, can't think why TV would be any different. Lower Grounds people enter through the big glass doors to the Holte Suite - but thinking about it, they don't then sit there so I guess they must come out and use a turnstile where their seats are. I'm not sure how people in TV get from the terrace view to their seats, but I don't think they go through a turnstile, I think there's just a door on to the Holte concourse. They enter the TV through a manned roped off entrance at the top of the Holte steps I believe. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheltenham_villa Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 Bit more ticket chaos in the Lower Holte yesterday, tickets in app didn't work meaning everyone had to open the Qr code and scan. At least they deployed staff inside the turnstile to inform everyone. We got into the ground at 3:15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chips'ngravy Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 1 hour ago, cheltenham_villa said: Bit more ticket chaos in the Lower Holte yesterday, tickets in app didn't work meaning everyone had to open the Qr code and scan. At least they deployed staff inside the turnstile to inform everyone. We got into the ground at 3:15 That's just not good enough, especially in light of the cost of the tickets and the fact it was the third home game of the season. So you effectively missed about 15% of the game. Perhaps you should ask for an equivalent percentage refund? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa87 Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 1 hour ago, cheltenham_villa said: Bit more ticket chaos in the Lower Holte yesterday, tickets in app didn't work meaning everyone had to open the Qr code and scan. At least they deployed staff inside the turnstile to inform everyone. We got into the ground at 3:15 That’s piss poor, especially considering the cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picicata Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 1 hour ago, cheltenham_villa said: We got into the ground at 3:15 What time did you start queuing to get in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 Got there an hour early to avoid the queues and went straight into the ground no problem. No queues for beer either right up until kick off. Someone has worked some black magic because I thought that was an unsolvable problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunther Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 I got there early today so only a few people in front of me in the queue. The two people in front’s tickets didn’t work though. They had their ST open in the wallet, they were doing everything right but getting ‘Access Denied’. So obviously the queue started to build up behind as it took a couple of minutes to get them through. Repeat that a few times and you have ridiculous queues very quickly. It’s not good enough at all. Another example of a premium price for a poor product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDR V2 Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 9 minutes ago, blunther said: I got there early today so only a few people in front of me in the queue. The two people in front’s tickets didn’t work though. They had their ST open in the wallet, they were doing everything right but getting ‘Access Denied’. So obviously the queue started to build up behind as it took a couple of minutes to get them through. Repeat that a few times and you have ridiculous queues very quickly. It’s not good enough at all. Another example of a premium price for a poor product. It's does look like the season tickets don't work as smoothly as the match ones do. We got there approx 2pm and no queue outside, tickets worked first time and got a pint straight away inside. Loads of empty seats at kick off in lower holte, I think folk just need to leave the pub 15 mins earlier than they used to (not saying that's the only reason) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunther Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 The other odd thing is the expiring season tickets. I’d heard about this on here so checked on the train and it had expired. If someone isn’t reading places like this, they’d have no reason to expect their season ticket to expire u til the end of the season. Then you’ve no doubt got people getting their tickets up in the queue, not being able to find it and having to load the app with the crap signal. I know the PL are pushing this for some reason, but another interim season where most people still get cards while they ironed out these issues would have been a good idea. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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