Preston BEST place for away fans experience

[Never to the dark side]

https://www.efl.com/news/2019/may/top-efl-away-days-revealed/

Not if your a Bristol City follower, not beaten them since 2010(home or away)

[Miah Dennehy]

Annoying typo there, obviously they meant BRISTOL Rovers not Doncaster in League One.

[Red7]

Have never thought PNE experience was all that. Enjoyable for sure. But it's Brentford all day for me. Each to their own.

[Bristol Rob]

Knew we should have encouraged the away fans to use Parson Street station.

[winsaw]

I don't think Preston is that great an away day at all now, I used to like it when they had the national football Musium that was great, Always liked how they showed all the things the visiting club had won over the years, when we visited it was really only the division 3 south shield in the case :laugh:,

These days I think Brentford or Fulham are the best 2 away days we have, 

[Olé]

Surprised from what other fans have been saying about Ashton Gate this season that we havent won this.

Preston is the correct answer for me, although my criteria may be slightly different. You could hardly say Brentford, good day out yes, but the lack of space to even queue for food or toilet in the lower tier make using either during half time virtually pointless.

Stoke worth a mention for the away fan only coaches back to the station from right outside the away turnstiles at full time. Nice touch and better than the scrum at Leeds. Easier to pick the worst away experiences/grounds.... Birmingham, Reading, QPR.

[WAHGS.]

7 minutes ago, Olé said:

Surprised from what other fans have been saying about Ashton Gate this season that we havent won this.

Preston is the correct answer for me, although my criteria may be slightly different. You could hardly say Brentford, good day out yes, but the lack of space to even queue for food or toilet in the lower tier make using either during half time virtually pointless.

Stoke worth a mention for the away fan only coaches back to the station from right outside the away turnstiles at full time. Nice touch and better than the scrum at Leeds. Easier to pick the worst away experiences/grounds.... Birmingham, Reading, QPR.

Birmingham? How've you concluded that?

Great away day if you drink in the right places, old school ground with a decent atmosphere once it gets going.

[Bristol Rob]

6 minutes ago, Olé said:

Surprised from what other fans have been saying about Ashton Gate this season that we havent won this.

Preston is the correct answer for me, although my criteria may be slightly different. You could hardly say Brentford, good day out yes, but the lack of space to even queue for food or toilet in the lower tier make using either during half time virtually pointless.

Stoke worth a mention for the away fan only coaches back to the station from right outside the away turnstiles at full time. Nice touch and better than the scrum at Leeds. Easier to pick the worst away experiences/grounds.... Birmingham, Reading, QPR.

Would have thought that the Ashton Gate experience is slightly diluted when, from the Ayteo, all you can see are newly developed stands and you have clearly been given the cheap seats. Which really aren't cheap at all.

Guess price was a criteria for this.

[elhombrecito]

2 hours ago, Miah Dennehy said:

Annoying typo there, obviously they meant BRISTOL Rovers not Doncaster in League One.

Well, obviously. Everyone knows it's Doncaster United.

[phantom]

50 minutes ago, Olé said:

Surprised from what other fans have been saying about Ashton Gate this season that we havent won this.

Am I correct in saying that the results are taken from the responses to the weekly FSF survey they held?

It COULD be that people coming to Ashton Gate simply didn't bother responding to the survey?

I did at the start of the season, but it started to get boring completing the same questions each time

I wonder if any of the "winners" actually advertised this weekly survey so making people aware to complete it?

[phantom]

3 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Knew we should have encouraged the away fans to use Parson Street station.

I believe that it was NTTDS that asked the question on another forum, but this explains why he keeps raising the point

https://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/39971/estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18-methodological-report.pdf

[BS4 on Tour...]

15 hours ago, Never to the dark side said:

https://www.efl.com/news/2019/may/top-efl-away-days-revealed/

Not if your a Bristol City follower, not beaten them since 2010 (home or away)

....not sure that’s correct NTTDS... didn’t we stuff them 0-4 up there after 2010?

[Mr Popodopolous]

1 hour ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

....not sure that’s correct NTTDS... didn’t we stuff them 0-4 up there after 2010?

Yep, 2011- a rare away day for me, excellent win! Seem to recall was pretty wet. Caulker's long range passing stuck in the mind too- surprising that he didn't make more of his career given his superb season in a struggling side.

[swanker]

23 hours ago, Red7 said:

Have never thought PNE experience was all that. Enjoyable for sure. But it's Brentford all day for me. Each to their own.

Funny you say that because I don’t do many away days but I’ve be to both of them recently and have had a great time at both. Brentford this season was a very good day out!

[Red7]

22 hours ago, Olé said:

Surprised from what other fans have been saying about Ashton Gate this season that we havent won this.

Never get the feeling that there's much mingling with the opposition's fans in the pubs around Ashton Gate (for the right reasons). All part of a good away day for me.

And getting to the stadium/parking can be a pain.

[RedM]

22 hours ago, FOTC! said:

Birmingham? How've you concluded that?

Great away day if you drink in the right places, old school ground with a decent atmosphere once it gets going.

I think you and others are slightly missing the point. Birmingham and Brentford maybe good away days, if you eat and drink away from the stadium. I think this is purely from the point of view of what the club provides.

If you haven’t read the link this is part of the article:

Fans are asked to report back on a number of touchpoints ranging from information and first impressions; to quality of refreshments and the inside the stadium experience. The feedback assists Clubs in their ongoing efforts to enhance the matchday experience and levels of engagement for visiting fans across the EFL.

Across this season’s visits many Clubs received praise for the quality of staff engagement and stewarding, pre-match SLO interaction, ability to enjoy mixed fanzones and refreshment facilities, as well as the atmosphere and unrestricted views on offer once inside the stadium.

Championship winners Preston North End’s excellent away fan guide provided detailed information for away supporters travelling to Deepdale, whilst also outlining their rich history. They received praise for their staff engagement, social media content and the overall friendly welcome from all associated with the Club.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

So let’s look at a few points. We all agree that our concession stands and toilet facilities are much improved, but you got to remember the away fans are using the Atyeo, their experience would be vastly different, although not dissimilar to many away grounds. Plus point is the fan village we provide for them. They probably sit in the outdated Atyeo and look at the other imposing stands all around them and believe they have been given inferior seats for an inflated price, I think they would have a point.

Staff engagement and SLO interaction. Well we have lots of stories about how officious our stewards can be to our fans, can you imagine what an away fan feels like if they get the same treatment. As for the SLO, I never see him at a home game interacting and at away games he travels with the players so doesn’t interact, not with the ‘normal’ fan anyway. But to be fair I haven’t knowingly met another teams SLO either.

I think we do provide a decent guide for away fans, or we did if it’s still the Scott Murray one. As for staff engagement and social media content, I think ours is appalling. Juvenile Tweets and just the whole social media thing has been worse than awful since Adam Baker left, we certainly won’t be getting any recognition from away fans for that. It’s embarrassing. 

 

 

 

 

[Red7]

16 minutes ago, RedM said:

Birmingham and Brentford maybe good away days, if you eat and drink away from the stadium. I

Brentford is a good away day when you eat and drink right next to the stadium, to be fair. Policing and stewarding also excellent. Lovely old ground, too.

[WAHGS.]

36 minutes ago, RedM said:

I think you and others are slightly missing the point. Birmingham and Brentford maybe good away days, if you eat and drink away from the stadium. I think this is purely from the point of view of what the club provides.

If you haven’t read the link this is part of the article:

Fans are asked to report back on a number of touchpoints ranging from information and first impressions; to quality of refreshments and the inside the stadium experience. The feedback assists Clubs in their ongoing efforts to enhance the matchday experience and levels of engagement for visiting fans across the EFL.

Across this season’s visits many Clubs received praise for the quality of staff engagement and stewarding, pre-match SLO interaction, ability to enjoy mixed fanzones and refreshment facilities, as well as the atmosphere and unrestricted views on offer once inside the stadium.

Championship winners Preston North End’s excellent away fan guide provided detailed information for away supporters travelling to Deepdale, whilst also outlining their rich history. They received praise for their staff engagement, social media content and the overall friendly welcome from all associated with the Club.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

So let’s look at a few points. We all agree that our concession stands and toilet facilities are much improved, but you got to remember the away fans are using the Atyeo, their experience would be vastly different, although not dissimilar to many away grounds. Plus point is the fan village we provide for them. They probably sit in the outdated Atyeo and look at the other imposing stands all around them and believe they have been given inferior seats for an inflated price, I think they would have a point.

Staff engagement and SLO interaction. Well we have lots of stories about how officious our stewards can be to our fans, can you imagine what an away fan feels like if they get the same treatment. As for the SLO, I never see him at a home game interacting and at away games he travels with the players so doesn’t interact, not with the ‘normal’ fan anyway. But to be fair I haven’t knowingly met another teams SLO either.

I think we do provide a decent guide for away fans, or we did if it’s still the Scott Murray one. As for staff engagement and social media content, I think ours is appalling. Juvenile Tweets and just the whole social media thing has been worse than awful since Adam Baker left, we certainly won’t be getting any recognition from away fans for that. It’s embarrassing. 

 

 

 

 

Matt Parsons has travelled to games on his own by train before, I sat opposite him having a chat on the way to a game a couple of seasons ago (17/18).

We do have a club official go onto opposing forums and offer details, not sure who though.

Personally when I consider the factor of rating an away day it's how far is the train station to the ground, boozers in the city that we can drink in, are the police force welcoming and not a bunch of ******* arseholes and does the ground have an old school feel to it with atmosphere? So based on all that my favourites are Newcastle, Fulham (away end atmosphere not bloody home!), Brighton etc.

I couldn't give a damn if I'm stood watching City in a run down dive or a pristine state of the art ground that was built yesterday for 90 minutes, in fact I'd say I enjoy grounds like Brentford and Luton more than I do Derby or Middlesbrough.

 

[RedM]

28 minutes ago, Red7 said:

Brentford is a good away day when you eat and drink right next to the stadium, to be fair. Policing and stewarding also excellent. Lovely old ground, too.

Only one more season of it though 

[Olé]

23 hours ago, FOTC! said:

Birmingham? How've you concluded that?

Great away day if you drink in the right places, old school ground with a decent atmosphere once it gets going.

Aggressive WMP policing without fail. Depressing entrance to stand. Know of away fans (not ours) racially abused on club land around stadium.

Certainly never going to win any awards for "fan experience" at St. Andrews, regardless if there are some decent boozers in central Birmingham.

I went to uni walking distance from the ground, and apart from the new stuff at the Custard Factory, Digbeth is hardly top of a list of experiences!

[Red7]

58 minutes ago, RedM said:

Only one more season of it though

Yes, will be sadly missed.

[Mr Popodopolous]

1 hour ago, Red7 said:

Never get the feeling that there's much mingling with the opposition's fans in the pubs around Ashton Gate (for the right reasons). All part of a good away day for me.

And getting to the stadium/parking can be a pain.

All pubs around AG home only- the closest that might admit away fans and home alike- might being a key term- is Tobacco Factory from past memory.

As you say that can feed in, but also right reasons to have home only.

@RedM Interesting you should mention that- seen on varied forums, online feedback- small sample etc- but our away stewards seem to take a pretty relaxed approach, based on what I've read and seen online. Home stewards? Mixed bag...increasing presence of security firms mixed in not a good sign I'd say but we'll see- stewarding football vastly different to concerts etc.