Will fans be allowed in next season?

[CyderInACan]

Just now, RedM said:

And how many people will be rushing to have something with such limited testing, I wouldn’t want to be a guinea pig. Who knows what side effects it could have.

You can get an antibody test for £25 now too - but what's the point in knowing you've had it if that can't stop you from contracting it again? 

[Guest]

There are so many ways to do this, but to offer one:

Club put the feelers out to the ST holders, 'You pay half price of a ST for RobinTV and we'll hold your seat for the following season. Would you be interested?'. See what response they get.

If not good enough to achieve the 40% capacity, then draw a lot. Offer a full refund or the offer of half price ST with RobinsTV still stands, with a hold on the seat for the following season.

Ultimately, they aren't going to keep everyone happy so they have to come up with couple of proposals and see what the majority of fans are happy with.

I just hope that fans are consulted on options available rather than just 'Here's what we've decided'.

[Son of Fred]

3 hours ago, reddogkev said:

What's the latest on this? Haven't heard anything for a while, but I feel a percentage of home fans should be allowed to attend matches, say at least 40% of stadium capacity.  There must be a safe way to do this.  Has anyone announced whether something like this is happening?

I guess those tickets would have to be for season ticket holders who agree to follow any new rules and regulations, although deciding which season ticket holders attend the matches will be difficult, but there should be a fair way to solve that problem.

Here's hoping that supporters are back next season.

 

Let's all pretend everything's ok....

[extonsred]

18 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

There is no reason for people living at the same address to be socially distanced, if it's season ticket holders only they have this information on their database so in some cases adjacent seats could be used

True - and people go in groups etc but yes Same household would have to be together - not sure how this could be extended though. 

[Lrrr]

19 minutes ago, RedM said:

I did ask this after seeing rugby in Australia being played and people being distanced with  4 seats or so between individuals,even family members. Someone was kind enough to explain it had to be done like this as otherwise it would mess up the spacing in the rows either side of a family group, it does make sense.

This, it’s a logistical nightmare to try and calculate who can sit where, how many seats left in rows etc if you allow family groups, it’s not just your row but then impacts those of the whole block of seats 

6 minutes ago, extonsred said:

True - and people go in groups etc but yes Same household would have to be together - not sure how this could be extended though. 

Best they could be would be the 3 or 4 seats away from each other 

[Kid in the Riot]

42 minutes ago, CyderInACan said:

How can there be a vaccine when they're not even sure that having had it gives you immunity? 

No vaccine is going to be 100% effective. The research I've seen suggests that in most cases, having had the virus will lead to immunity. Clearly, there are levels of immunity but second, third time around the symptoms should be less severe in most cases. There is also a decent body of evidence that shows you can get immunity to it through having had another type of coronavirus I.e. a usual seasonal cold. 

There's going to have to be several ways in which we fight this virus and there is unlikely to be a silver bullet. I think a vaccine will do wonders for public confidence though. 

[Son of Fred]

2 hours ago, Lrrr said:

Who knows with a vaccine, imperial college are staying first half 2021 is more likely 

There are Well over a hundred possible vaccines being worked on worldwide...a good dozen already begin the exhaustive human trials,,so fingers crossed somthing,,somewhere sticks.

AstraZeneca ( Imperial College Vaccine )have a deal agreed with the US worth $1 billion- at this unproven stage!

Also a deal with the EU I believe,,but are we gona' be part of that?...

With Governmental advisors throwing cold water on hope of a successful vaccine being produced I wouldn't be surprised if we're yet again hamstrung by dithering.

[Ska Junkie]

3 hours ago, pillred said:

How the hell could the club allow 40% of fans in, how would they choose who to allow, what if you had bought a season ticket with your friend and he was allowed in but not you, can you imagine the uproar, I can't see fans being allowed until it's one in all-in.

I would guess it would be a SC lottery for a match ticket but family members would be allowed as they wouldn't need to social distance from family members. if the 12,000 renewals is true, we're over the social distancing number already I would imagine.

The other thing to take into account would be the accepted distance needed, is it 2M or 1M now?

What an administrative nightmare for someone to sort out. 

[Bristol Rob]

35 minutes ago, RedM said:

 

Too many complications with getting people in and out of the stadium, toilet facilities etc. As much as I love live football I can’t imagine not being able to jump up and hug the people I go with ( and even those sitting nearby at times!). I think it would be a very diluted experience and hard to accept after being in huge crowds.

But equally there is talk about spending 15 minutes in the company of.

So aside from getting out of the Dolman, everything else can be managed with floor stickers and face masks.

Walking past someone on your way for a piss is no different to walking past someone who has realised they have forgotten to pick up brocoli in Sainsbury's and doubles back on themselves briefly.

35 minutes ago, RedM said:

 

Too many complications with getting people in and out of the stadium, toilet facilities etc. As much as I love live football I can’t imagine not being able to jump up and hug the people I go with ( and even those sitting nearby at times!). I think it would be a very diluted experience and hard to accept after being in huge crowds.

But equally there is talk about spending 15 minutes in the company of.

So aside from getting out of the Dolman, everything else can be managed with floor stickers and face masks.

Walking past someone on your way for a piss is no different to walking past someone who has realised they have forgotten to pick up brocoli in Sainsbury's and doubles back on themselves briefly.

35 minutes ago, RedM said:

 

Too many complications with getting people in and out of the stadium, toilet facilities etc. As much as I love live football I can’t imagine not being able to jump up and hug the people I go with ( and even those sitting nearby at times!). I think it would be a very diluted experience and hard to accept after being in huge crowds.

But equally there is talk about spending 15 minutes in the company of.

So aside from getting out of the Dolman, everything else can be managed with floor stickers and face masks.

Walking past someone on your way for a piss is no different to walking past someone who has realised they have forgotten to pick up brocoli in Sainsbury's and doubles back on themselves briefly.

[Lrrr]

4 minutes ago, Robert the bruce said:

There are Well over a hundred possible vaccines being worked on worldwide...a good dozen already begin the exhaustive human trials,,so fingers crossed somthing,,somewhere sticks.

AstraZeneca ( Imperial College Vaccine )have a deal agreed with the US worth $1 billion- at this unproven stage!

Also a deal with the EU I believe,,but are we gona' be part of that?...

With Governmental advisors throwing cold water on hope of a successful vaccine being produced I wouldn't be surprised if we're yet again hamstrung by dithering.

I believe we're opting out of the EU deal, our govt is going with the conspiracy theory that we'd be last to be given vaccines due to no longer being in the EU, whereas its actually a partnership working with the EU not a project just for EU countries and all countries receive a relevant amount proportionate to their population. 

Thing is even if we strike lucky asap a million vaccines produced weekly (I honestly don't know how many they could produce a week) would still take a year to produce enough for the population of the UK, factor in that those is biggest need will be vaccinated first, then probably children so schools can get back to normal asap (regardless of what the govt says about returning in September) then the majority of those who'd attend sporting events will be the last to receive the vaccine as they're the mass of the general population and least affected by the virus (barring health conditions) 

[Bristol Rob]

35 minutes ago, RedM said:

 

Too many complications with getting people in and out of the stadium, toilet facilities etc. As much as I love live football I can’t imagine not being able to jump up and hug the people I go with ( and even those sitting nearby at times!). I think it would be a very diluted experience and hard to accept after being in huge crowds.

But equally there is talk about spending 15 minutes in the company of.

So aside from getting out of the Dolman, everything else can be managed with floor stickers and face masks.

Walking past someone on your way for a piss is no different to walking past someone who has realised they have forgotten to pick up brocoli in Sainsbury's and doubles back on themselves briefly.

[Bristol Rob]

gawd knows how I managed to post all that!

[Lrrr]

4 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

I would guess it would be a SC lottery for a match ticket but family members would be allowed as they wouldn't need to social distance from family members. if the 12,000 renewals is true, we're over the social distancing number already I would imagine.

The other thing to take into account would be the accepted distance needed, is it 2M or 1M now?

What an administrative nightmare for someone to sort out. 

They would in a stadium or it throws off the distancing of seats for everyone else. I imagine the stadium will have a plan in place for which seats will be used, being the same for every game.

[Ska Junkie]

1 minute ago, Lrrr said:

They would in a stadium or it throws off the distancing of seats for everyone else. I imagine the stadium will have a plan in place for which seats will be used, being the same for every game.

I agree Lrrr but there's no reason why little Johnny has to SD from his dad and grandad, hence the administrative nightmare. 

[Bristol Rob]

1 minute ago, Ska Junkie said:

I agree Lrrr but there's no reason why little Johnny has to SD from his dad and grandad, hence the administrative nightmare. 

Little Johnny is a right nause though, both his dad and grandfather can't stand him.

If he doesn't want feeding he need to go for a wee.

They only take him out of obligation.

[Lrrr]

1 minute ago, Ska Junkie said:

I agree Lrrr but there's no reason why little Johnny has to SD from his dad and grandad, hence the administrative nightmare. 

But my point above is why, if you allow 2 or more people to sit together it disrupts the distancing for the whole row hence why I imagine it will be a strict policy of sit in the seat you're assigned x amount away from each other regardless of family or not. Just because you don't have to SD from family members doesn't mean that its the policy within stadiums etc.

[Ska Junkie]

Just now, Lrrr said:

But my point above is why, if you allow 2 or more people to sit together it disrupts the distancing for the whole row hence why I imagine it will be a strict policy of sit in the seat you're assigned x amount away from each other regardless of family or not. Just because you don't have to SD from family members doesn't mean that its the policy within stadiums etc.

I've no idea lrrr, your point is correct though but where do they draw the line? I appreciate it would throw the whole thing out if family members were to sit together but there's no reason why they couldn't, unless the clubs specify individual SD is mandatory. That's probably the easiest way of doing it TBH as it would be impossible to implement otherwise. 

[collier]

No fair way that this could work out. We are all City fans and prioritising any fan over another is wrong. It's actually more important for the club's future that the u19s should attend over everyone else really. If we exclude the youth and they all decide to go do other things for a season, who is to say they bother to come back?? We adult's are going to be back regardless so what would be the point in placating the people who are already coming back? If the club wanted to tell me that only certain members of my family could attend then I would probably just refund us all. I imagine that a few others would as well. 

[Lrrr]

1 minute ago, Ska Junkie said:

I've no idea lrrr, your point is correct though but where do they draw the line? I appreciate it would throw the whole thing out if family members were to sit together but there's no reason why they couldn't, unless the clubs specify individual SD is mandatory. That's probably the easiest way of doing it TBH as it would be impossible to implement otherwise. 

The other thing to consider is if you have mandatory seats every 4 (for a random number) family members decide 'ah screw it' and sit together ignoring these rules the people who will have to go around cleaning/disinfecting the seats will have no idea which seats will have been used and rather than disinfect 6500 seats they'll need to disinfect 27000 seats instead. I say this because as we share with rugby we won't be able to just say 'the virus will have been killed off by exposure by the next time someone uses the seat'. 

[Lrrr]

Just now, collier said:

No fair way that this could work out. We are all City fans and prioritising any fan over another is wrong. It's actually more important for the club's future that the u19s should attend over everyone else really. If we exclude the youth and they all decide to go do other things for a season, who is to say they bother to come back?? We adult's are going to be back regardless so what would be the point in placating the people who are already coming back? If the club wanted to tell me that only certain members of my family could attend then I would probably just refund us all. I imagine that a few others would as well. 

If they didn't fancy watching on RobinsTV they'd have a season of premier league football on sky (if their family has it) to watch other clubs and be interested by them

[TonyTonyTony]

I cant see it happening until the vaccination. There is limited space around AG so you would have to queue people - i just dont see how it could be done safely. You would also have to ditch your usual seat and fill up the stadium row by row or something, and getting out would take ages.

Dont fancy that myself. Ill pay the season ticket money still to help the club but even if there was some method of going not so sure id go. Then again - footy crowds starting back up again when the Flu season is starting is an accident waiting to happen whilst CV19 is still floating about

[Bristol Rob]

And of course, there is that other curve ball the club might play...

(And this isn't a suggestion)...

Length of time you have been a season ticket holder.

Which would screw over those who took the refund rather than streaming option.

[Chappers]

What I have heard, mostly based on Europe is capacity about 25%, allocated on a rota basis, with small ‘groups’ allowing families/ friends to attend same matches. Logic would say selling no new ST’s as that would further complicate matters. Personally, I would want unused payment as credit, so I can choose when to watch on Robins TV, as it is a pretty rubbish alternative, and sure I can find better things to do.

Pretty sure vaccine is some way off, false optimism used to bury the grim reality, and not joining the EU scheme will probably delay it further. Probably better to hope that the virus mutates to be less deadly.

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

2 hours ago, zombie said:

This probably won’t go down well, but do we know the breakdown of our season ticket sales by age group? If we were to exclude U19s and OAP group how many adult season ticket holders do we have? Could the right/permitted capacity amount give or take.

Fully appreciate it’s not a perfect way of determining who gets in, but most U19s will be back in FT education then and therefore at higher levels exposure and we know that the over 65s are at greater risk, the stats back this up.

I sit with my old man (in his 70s) and my nephew (14, I think) they would not be happy with this, but if the club makes the decision then they’d have no choice but to accept it. I know many others in those groups who would hate or would have a tricky decision to make, take it out their hands, obviously they will retain their seats and they’ll be there when we can fully reopen.

Tin hat on.

What is an OAP. I am 63 and having retired receive a work pension but won't receive my state pension until I'm 66, however I will be entitled to a senior ST when I'm 65.

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

All of the potential solutions, none of which are suitable to my way ofvthinking, are centred around ST holders which are relevant to home games only. What about away matches, or are we applying a blanket ban to away support? Perhaps not with City but some clubs have very different support between home and away followings. Somehow there is going to have to be a way to get supporters back in grounds, or 75% of the EFL may as well go semi pro now. 

[James54De]

44 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

I believe we're opting out of the EU deal, our govt is going with the conspiracy theory that we'd be last to be given vaccines due to no longer being in the EU, whereas its actually a partnership working with the EU not a project just for EU countries and all countries receive a relevant amount proportionate to their population. 

Thing is even if we strike lucky asap a million vaccines produced weekly (I honestly don't know how many they could produce a week) would still take a year to produce enough for the population of the UK, factor in that those is biggest need will be vaccinated first, then probably children so schools can get back to normal asap (regardless of what the govt says about returning in September) then the majority of those who'd attend sporting events will be the last to receive the vaccine as they're the mass of the general population and least affected by the virus (barring health conditions) 

The most promising vaccine, worldwide, is the Oxford Vaccine. The second most promising is the Imperial College Vaccine. A deal has already been agreed to give the Government 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine should it pass, which looks likely. In this case, much like with procurent of ventilators and PPE, the scheme from the EU is likely to have little effect on the UK. Imperial College vaccine, we’ll be at the front of the queue due to funding. 
The benefits of having the worlds best research universities, ay? 

27 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

The other thing to consider is if you have mandatory seats every 4 (for a random number) family members decide 'ah screw it' and sit together ignoring these rules the people who will have to go around cleaning/disinfecting the seats will have no idea which seats will have been used and rather than disinfect 6500 seats they'll need to disinfect 27000 seats instead. I say this because as we share with rugby we won't be able to just say 'the virus will have been killed off by exposure by the next time someone uses the seat'. 

The whole stadium will have to be sprayed anyway, it won’t just be individual seats. With the right equipment and a team of 20 people that won’t be a lengthy process. 

[James54De]

2 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

All of the potential solutions, none of which are suitable to my way ofvthinking, are centred around ST holders which are relevant to home games only. What about away matches, or are we applying a blanket ban to away support? Perhaps not with City but some clubs have very different support between home and away followings. Somehow there is going to have to be a way to get supporters back in grounds, or 75% of the EFL may as well go semi pro now. 

Surely away support is the least of the concerns. That would come at the bottom of the list of getting fans in attendance. It also creates huge logistical problems in track, trace and containment. 

[Chappers]

2 minutes ago, James54De said:

The most promising vaccine, worldwide, is the Oxford Vaccine. The second most promising is the Imperial College Vaccine. A deal has already been agreed to give the Government 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine should it pass, which looks likely. In this case, much like with procurent of ventilators and PPE, the scheme from the EU is likely to have little effect on the UK. Imperial College vaccine, we’ll be at the front of the queue due to funding. 
The benefits of having the worlds best research universities, ay? 

The whole stadium will have to be sprayed anyway, it won’t just be individual seats. With the right equipment and a team of 20 people that won’t be a lengthy process. 

Maybe, maybe not. Odd that the press outside the U.K. don’t seem to think that is the case.

[Lrrr]

1 minute ago, James54De said:

Surely away support is the least of the concerns. That would come at the bottom of the list of getting fans in attendance. It also creates huge logistical problems in track, trace and containment. 

Would probably require a rule change vote from EFL clubs again, I believe currently rule is away clubs are entitled to 10% max capacity so even under likely restrictions at AG away teams would be entitled to 650 seats. I can see a rule change taking place to remove this rule problem then comes for voting it back in if a proportion of clubs decide they don't fancy having to give over 10% of their capacity anymore and would rather say 5% or whatever.

[zombie]

6 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

What is an OAP. I am 63 and having retired receive a work pension but won't receive my state pension until I'm 66, however I will be entitled to a senior ST when I'm 65.

An OAP is 65 in the eyes of the club, you’re not far away from receiving a discount on your card. This thread was about attending the Gate, a suggestion was to try to reduce our 12k season card holders to whatever the permitted number may be, some said a ballot, some have said rota, I suggested removing groups defined by the club as then they have control.

Removing all U19s and 65+ should leave us with a number closer to the first phase of permitted attendees, it also means our more at risk fans aren’t there, nor are our more exposed and likely to spread the virus fans (assuming schools reopens in September), not ideal and bound to upset some, but a potential solution.

I would rather the club told my old man he couldn’t go than make leave it to him make a decision about whether to go there, I worry about our older fans in particular, if I’m phasing the fans in then I’d start with the 20-64 and the oldest would be the very last to be welcomed back because we know they have the weakest immune systems and the virus is more likely to be fatal for them than someone in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s etc...