ExiledAjax

Honestly I don't need them to justify it. If someone wants to pay £30 to go to the Hawthorns and gurn and wave at another human then fine, that's his prerogative. If that's his 'fan culture' then fine. I'll watch what the CDM is doing and speak about xG and read the EFL Regulations, and he can gurn at his new friend. We all follow the game differently. I was just replying to @lenred to support @Leveller and to say that I've also witnessed that behaviour. I neither condone not support it, so long as it doesn't inconvenience or endanger any fellow attendee.

Absolutely yes. More at away games. At Millwall a few years ago I stood next to a group of 4 or 5 young guys who spent the entire match flicking the Vs/flirting with a corresponding group in the Millwall home end. Same at West Brom in the autumn. An away day is basically speed dating for some of these chaps it seems. To each his own.

Pearson out. I want my housing market back.

Exactly. @Blagdon red @shahanshahan @Dollymarie has the SC&T been contacted by anyone in relation to this?

I agree, although I can also understand why the club would at this stage be totally bland and non-committal.

£10 admin fee plus pay the difference between your current seat and the new one (assuming you are moving to a more expensive seat) on a pro rata basis.

Is it against the advice though? Is it against the club statement? The club say "...physical ticket checks in place..." and "Supporters who have purchased tickets in the E34 block are advised to take only the seat specified on their match ticket. If supporters are found to ignore their seating instruction they will also face removal from the stand." The E34 group statement says "...get your ticket and bring your voice." I don't see anything contradictory there. Now you can say "it's only words and words are cheap, let's see what happens on Saturday" but I don't see anything wrong or even inflammatory in that statement. PS> I do enjoy the grammar though "A Block Statement" as opposed to maybe "A Pyramid Statement"? Or maybe "A Spherical Statement".

It is incumbent upon the organisers to lead the footsoldiers and ensure that they behave.

I get that, I understand that for some people going to the football is their escape from the rules that govern them at school, home, work, and in society in general. Many of us seek that escape. Some find it on holiday, some on a hike in the remote contryside, some at the bottom of a bottle. Some find it at the football. No pyro/no party and sneaking an extra mate in past the stewards is part of that understandable rebellious vibe. It's natural, but it's not always useful. To then be told that you actually are bound by rules, and to be told that when you believe yourself to be acting virtuously in pursuit of "atmosphere", that will be hard. But there are rules, there are always rules, it's how society, and in particular crowds comprised of disparate parts of that society, are governed and kept safe. So my message to the "movers" is to be virtuous, build atmosphere, but abide by the few rules that keep you and your fellow fans safe.

I mean that...seems fair? "Do it in accordance with the rules."

This friction between the manner in which two demographics want to behave when they attend a football match is why I spent so much time earlier in the thread imploring those that move to do it in accordance with the Club's terms and conditions. I didn't mention it at the time, but of course that implicitly includes behaving in accordance with the normal behaviour of block E34. So sitting, not standing (unless at the very back row I guess), obviously not taking a seat that is already paid for by an ST holder or single match ticket holder - and politely moving if you do so in error. However, it's clear that the manner in which the "movers" wanted to behave was largely incompatible with the normal behaviour expected by the usual occupants of E34 and of the Club. The boat has been rocked, waves have been created, and someone is going to have to steady the ship. What course the ship lands on after that process will determine how E34 looks going forward. I suspect that realistically nothing will change this season. Perhaps the off-season, under the new CEO, will be the time to revisit this.

Cheers. I Googled it and this picture came up as well. Nice to be reminded. Thanks @Ashton Hero

I can't remember what happened last time we were in league 1. Anyone? Anyone help me out?

Update on this one. Stevenage FC have been in the news recently due to their FA Cup heroics, but there's been some big changes off the pitch as well. A new CEO and changes in board make up, but more interestingly they've granted a "Golden Share" to their Supporters Association. Veto rights include: stadium move; name change; changes to badge or crest; and colours. there are good provisions around still allowing the club to make "bona fide" changes to these things so long as they follow and fulfil certain criteria. Articles 25 - 33 in the latest articles of association available here set out the legal detial https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02901467/filing-history. These were written by the same lawyer that wrote Brentford's articles. He's a good guy who I have spoken to and shared a little knowledge with. Press release here. https://www.stevenagefc.com/news/2023/january/golden-share-supporters-association-stevenage-fc-football-club-sky-bet-league-two-efl-english-football-league/ Chairman Phil Wallace said, “I have owned the Club for 24 years this summer. It has taken a long time, but I am satisfied that we now have an infrastructure in place that will last for generations to come. The move towards fans having more of a say in future on the big identity decisions is gathering pace and will continue to grow. What we have done is positioned ourselves in front of that movement and provided a Golden Share veto on specific subjects that would be considered important to a Club. We changed our name to Stevenage Football Club when we achieved promotion to the EFL over twelve years ago to clearly represent the town of Stevenage and we modernized and simplified the badge a few years ago. If these are to be changed in future, along with any change to the accepted home colours and stadium location, the Supporters’ Association will have to agree to any change. We are delighted with our progress on the pitch this season and hope that we can continue to provide pride, enjoyment and entertainment to our fans. This veto is a small step forwards in ensuring our fans have a say in the big decisions in future”.

His merit in terms of managing the contracts and finances speaks for itself so I'll just share my personal experiences of his tenure. I've had the pleasure of speaking to him regularly over the last year. He's listened and done what he can to improve accessibility for our colourblind fans and to prime the club for the dawn of independent regulator. I emailed him/the club out of the blue after Birmingham wore green at AG last season and it was a nightmare for us colourblind folk. He could have ignored that email but he didn't. We discussed what the club could do and he listened. Then when the Fan-Led Review came out in Nov 2021 the conversation naturally moved on to that and I, the SC&T, and Fair Game have worked with him to consider it's recommendations and how they might impact our club. That work continues to this day, and Gould is facilitating a handover to Alexander later this week. Gould didn't have to listen to me, Ashton certainly never did, and in fact often during our chats Gould has on occasion exercised that right. But he did make time for us, for the fans. The greatest tribute is that I know I'm far from the only person with a story like this. What a change from his predecessor. Yes I'll miss him. Phil Alexander has a tough act to follow.

Why couldn't it be this Lloris that went to Qatar?

Andy Rolls.

Just watching the EFL highlights show. Apparently Holden has repeated his little "trip to the pub" visit in south-east London. Fair play to the guy for getting a win yesterday, three in a row in the league for him apparently and I think he left Old Trafford with his head held high. Always wish him well, but he was never going to succeed here.

Would you expect anything less from the god of the sea?

I use it for our away games as well when I drive. It's never let me down.

Lads. Get Just Park and you'll pay far less (rarely more than a tenner) than that to park on someone's driveway. Pick exactly where you want to park, how long you want to pay for, pre pay on the app, and don't queue in and out of a busy car park.

Can you imagine that graph! Considering on average per game we allowed 4.3 on target in 20/21 under Holden, and scored 0.96. The numbers @Olé shows are based on an average of 2.87 shots on target by us against 1.37 goals conceded. So the opposite graph would be dramatic.

So I should probably caveat my post - I'm not saying that we are off on a run of 10 wins and all our woes are over. Rather that I think we might get up to 1.3 PPG and a slight rise up the table. If you want false dawn's yesterday then look no further than Rotherham.

I don't blame him for much. Some of the decisions around injuries and things like that yes, but I don't think he had much choice regarding general tactics and how we played. Him being given the job was like asking a plumber to fix your pipes and giving him a toothbrush and a stuffed squirrel as the tools to do it with.

And it's relevant today because yesterday's win wasn't like that. Yesterday we won fair and square and deserved it. That's why I don't think yesterday was a false dawn like the Huddersfield game two years ago(ish) was.