South Stand

[RedM]

I read on another thread about people saying we should limit the number of away fans, and replies were that the club wouldn't do this and turn down money.

I had a better view from the Lansdown on Tuesday than I usually do from the Domain regarding the problem of empty seats. Yes it was half term, but I don't think this is too unusual.

People would buy these seats if they weren't 'seatblocked' by ST holders.

The first phot taken almost 5 mins into the game and the 2nd 10 or 15 mins after HT

 

[GrahamC]

On Tuesday I think there is the additional factor that it was on Sky, I know several ST holders who don’t live within walking distance (like me) so rarely bother to attend these games due to the difficulty in parking & then getting away afterwards.

I also think there are as usual a fair few South Stand ST holders who move into any vacant (much nicer) seats in the Lansdown, exacerbating this issue.

Edited February 15 by GrahamC

[Back of the Dolman]

2 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

On Tuesday I think there is the additional factor that it was on Sky, I know several ST holders who don’t live within walking distance (like me) so rarely bother to attend these games due to the difficulty in parking & then getting away afterwards.

I also think there are as usual a fair few South Stand ST holders who move into any vacant (much nicer) seats in the Lansdown, exacerbating this issue.

I’ve said this before but I think the open concourse layout definitely leads to people moving into areas that they haven’t actually bought tickets for.

[Barkhamred]

It was noticeable on Sky how many empty seats there were in the Dolman also

[TonyTonyTony]

Can we not just setup a ticket exchange system? ST holders get some money back and it gives people the opportunity to go.

Other clubs do it

In regard to movement : After my halftime toilet break the other week, i came back to my seat and some bloke sat there. I watched him wander off down the row to find an empty seat. Really annoying

[W-S-M Seagull]

11 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

On Tuesday I think there is the additional factor that it was on Sky, I know several ST holders who don’t live within walking distance (like me) so rarely bother to attend these games due to the difficulty in parking & then getting away afterwards.

I also think there are as usual a fair few South Stand ST holders who move into any vacant (much nicer) seats in the Lansdown, exacerbating this issue.

I'm not sure. The Lansdown was pretty empty too. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

7 minutes ago, Barkhamred said:

It was noticeable on Sky how many empty seats there were in the Dolman also

Didn't feel like that in there albeit perhaps it varied by block.

[RedM]

3 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

I’ve said this before but I think the open concourse layout definitely leads to people moving into areas that they haven’t actually bought tickets for.

I've seen this a few times. My ST ticket is as I said in the Dolman but if a workmate cannot attend I use their ST's and sit in the Lansdown. Often I have got to their seat and someone is sitting there, I advise them it's my seat and they move without problem (as they aren't meant to be there, and obviously don't want to draw attention to this). They often move a few seats or rows away until the same thing happens! I have seen stewards occasionally ask other people to leave the Lansdown stand and point to where they are meant to be, eg the SS or even the Dolman! But no, it's certainly not monitored very well.

[RedM]

10 minutes ago, Barkhamred said:

It was noticeable on Sky how many empty seats there were in the Dolman also

The Dolman looked pretty full from what I could see, but I did pass my ST on to someone and they said there were quite a lot of empty seats near them.

[spudski]

12 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

On Tuesday I think there is the additional factor that it was on Sky, I know several ST holders who don’t live within walking distance (like me) so rarely bother to attend these games due to the difficulty in parking & then getting away afterwards.

I also think there are as usual a fair few South Stand ST holders who move into any vacant (much nicer) seats in the Lansdown, exacerbating this issue.

It's a sad situation where ST holders and fans can't attend because of the transport and parking problems... especially night games. 

We should be looking at ways the Club can work with the Council when it comes to game days. Instead of looking to sell their tickets to those that can make it who lives nearer. 

How ridiculous that you pay for a ST and you can't make games because of our terrible parking and public transport. 

It's the only reason I gave up my ST. 

I absolutely detest trying to drive, park or use public transport in and out of Bristol. 

It just isn't worth the stress. 

 

[The Fat Controller]

We've had one Saturday 3pm kick-off at home in 2024. 

In December, we also had only one Saturday 3pm kick off. 

At a time where only ~6% of people work 9-5 hours combined with the number of games that do not kick off on a traditional match day at a traditional time, I think you will continue to see empty seats on a game by game basis. 

[RedM]

1 minute ago, spudski said:

It's a sad situation where ST holders and fans can't attend because of the transport and parking problems... especially night games. 

We should be looking at ways the Club can work with the Council when it comes to game days. Instead of looking to sell their tickets to those that can make it who lives nearer. 

How ridiculous that you pay for a ST and you can't make games because of our terrible parking and public transport. 

It's the only reason I gave up my ST. 

I absolutely detest trying to drive, park or use public transport in and out of Bristol. 

It just isn't worth the stress. 

 

Great point, and the 8pm KO probably made catching buses or trains even more difficult with connections etc

[Mr Popodopolous]

Remember too, be careful about the snapshots at certain times.

Some games people pour in after kick-off.

There is an exodus 5, 10 mins from halftime not including stoppage time.

Then people are still pouring in after the start of the 2nd half. Queues for beer, toilet, finishing pints etc.

Hence it can mislead but clearly there are a % of no shows for every game too.

Edited February 15 by Mr Popodopolous

[spudski]

Just now, RedM said:

Great point, and the 8pm KO probably made catching buses or trains even more difficult with connections etc

Very true. Never thought it would come to this. 

[GrahamC]

5 minutes ago, spudski said:

It's a sad situation where ST holders and fans can't attend because of the transport and parking problems... especially night games. 

We should be looking at ways the Club can work with the Council when it comes to game days. Instead of looking to sell their tickets to those that can make it who lives nearer. 

How ridiculous that you pay for a ST and you can't make games because of our terrible parking and public transport. 

It's the only reason I gave up my ST. 

I absolutely detest trying to drive, park or use public transport in and out of Bristol. 

It just isn't worth the stress. 

 

I’m someone who is more than happy to have a moan about the club but do think they’ve tried to get help & although the park & ride bus option isn’t for everyone then it is a partial solution.

Not only BCC though, North Somerset Council (despite covering an area barely a mile from the stadium) aren’t remotely helpful, either.

If someone can explain to me the logic of having an empty car park like we have had in walking distance of Ashton Gate for years now, I’m all ears.

Edited February 15 by GrahamC

[RedM]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Remember too, be careful about the snap shots at certain times.

Some games people pour in after kick-off.

There is an exodus 5, 10 mins from halftime not including stoppage time.

Then people are still pouring in after the start of the 2nd half. Queues for beer, toilet, finishing pints etc.

Hence it can mislead but clearly there are a % of no shows for every game too.

That's why I made a point of checking when I took the photos and stating the timings. I guessed that with an 8pm KO them most people would be in their seats as in reality it's 20 mins later than normal. Same with after HT. If your not back in your seat 15 mins after the restart why  attend games!

[Merrick's Marvels]

10 minutes ago, The Fat Controller said:

We've had one Saturday 3pm kick-off at home in 2024. 

In December, we also had only one Saturday 3pm kick off. 

At a time where only ~6% of people work 9-5 hours combined with the number of games that do not kick off on a traditional match day at a traditional time, I think you will continue to see empty seats on a game by game basis. 

Just you wait until we get promoted mate.

[Mr Popodopolous]

26 minutes ago, RedM said:

That's why I made a point of checking when I took the photos and stating the timings. I guessed that with an 8pm KO them most people would be in their seats as in reality it's 20 mins later than normal. Same with after HT. If your not back in your seat 15 mins after the restart why  attend games!

I dunno how it is in other stands maybe the same in all, but it does seem quite prevalent in the Dolman.

Edited February 15 by Mr Popodopolous

[spudski]

12 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I’m someone who is more than happy to have a moan about the club but do think they’ve tried to get help & although the park & ride bus option isn’t for everyone then it is a partial solution.

Not only BCC though, North Somerset Council (despite covering an area barely a mile from the stadium) aren’t remotely helpful, either.

If someone can explain to me the logic of having an empty car park like we have had in walking distance of Ashton Gate for years now, I’m all ears.

The park and ride isn't 24/7. 

From memory the times don't often suit night games..

There is little logic with our councils. Not fit for purpose. 

[Back of the Dolman]

Just now, spudski said:

The park and ride isn't 24/7. 

From memory the times don't often suit night games..

There is little logic with our councils. Not fit for purpose. 

The park and ride run AG services that are specifically for the football and the times are fitted to the kick off.

Ive always found the service to be good and reliable 

[OliOTIB]

I do wish we introduced a seat exchange system for ST holders

[spudski]

3 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

The park and ride run AG services that are specifically for the football and the times are fitted to the kick off.

Ive always found the service to be good and reliable 

I used to use the AG4 a few years back. It was good. But it's only any good if you live within certain regions of the City. 

[mattjb]

35 minutes ago, RedM said:

I've seen this a few times. My ST ticket is as I said in the Dolman but if a workmate cannot attend I use their ST's and sit in the Lansdown. Often I have got to their seat and someone is sitting there, I advise them it's my seat and they move without problem (as they aren't meant to be there, and obviously don't want to draw attention to this). They often move a few seats or rows away until the same thing happens! I have seen stewards occasionally ask other people to leave the Lansdown stand and point to where they are meant to be, eg the SS or even the Dolman! But no, it's certainly not monitored very well.

I think this goes on a lot more than people realise. People buy the cheapest tickets then all they have to do is look on the ticketing app to see where the seats are in the landsdown that haven’t been sold just before they go in. Not rocket science is it. The stewards on the steps going up into each section could do random ticket checking but even that might not stop it

[NcnsBcfc]

@GrahamC would love to see the breakdown of how many under 12 STs are in the South stand.

At £50 a go (with free shirt), i reckon quite a few of the kids only go to 50% of the games, as the cost per game is what £2.10ish? No point anybody selling there seat back to the club for that.

it's noticeable that when we had non ST games (cup against West Ham and Forest) the South stand is rammed again as people have obviously paid out for that particular match.

I know it was half term and that would have some impact, but generally most league games that stand is at least 20-25% empty and it is of course bar about 20 seats, completely sold out to STs.

I can see either the club making pricing the same as the Dolman for under 12s (£99, rather than £50); or limiting the number of child STs in that stand altogether.

 The club hierarchy sees ground at pretty much 85% capacity now (Atyeo is 4400, but limited to 3400. The new disabled sections have also taken some off the 27k capacity) and so many empty spaces they will start to do the maths again pretty sharpish over then loss of match by match punters and associated concourse purchases.

Not saying this is the right course of action, just something that a growing business (customer wise) would look to expand on.

 

[Natchfever]

44 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

I’ve said this before but I think the open concourse layout definitely leads to people moving into areas that they haven’t actually bought tickets for.

Definitely.

I know SS SC holders who always go in the Lansdown.

If the club wanted it would be easy to see which seats werent being used and whether full price or kids and could act accordingly or take away the shirt incentive.

Having said that, maybe theres no evidence that those seats would be taken up and the club is happy to keep future (if currently absent) fans ticking over?

[Mr Popodopolous]

Atyeo I thought was more like 4.2k, but restricted to 3.4k.

Is this yet another decision by our Unaccountable yet all-knowing, all-seeing overlords the SAG?

If there is a sound reason fair enough but publish it and perhaps publish some names or positions.

Edited February 15 by Mr Popodopolous

[forbespm]

Myself and my son were about to go but the car let us down. 

Living in gloucester we had no chance to get to the game in time for kick off,if I could have offered my seats to other city fans i would have.there should be an easy way of doing this.perhaps the club should set something up?

[GrahamC]

23 minutes ago, spudski said:

The park and ride isn't 24/7. 

From memory the times don't often suit night games..

There is little logic with our councils. Not fit for purpose. 

Without getting into a wider debate about Councils per se, what I find baffling is Bristol & North Somerset Councils aren’t remotely positive about the major sporting venue in the region.

As I said above North Somerset is so close to AG that it is their issue too, but all I see are obstacles being raised.

Weird that local councillors saw fit to very proactively support a planning application that hadn’t followed due process in North Bristol, though..

[Silvio Dante]

A seat “sale” system isn’t happening any time soon. If anyone wanted a ticket for Saints they were still available - less so for Leeds but if you work on this is a league game only issue, then it’s not really an issue. As long as there are spare tickets for sale, it’s not worth the admin of running a seat sale system for when ST holders can’t go - the club would rather have 100% of sale proceeds for an available seat as opposed to 50% of sale proceeds on a resale.

The game changes if we have continued sell outs. Right now, that isn’t the case.

On the broader ST front I think a lot of the issues have been given here. The guy I go with couldn’t attend vs Soton due to work, I couldn’t against Leeds due to illness. I’ve said before that for various reasons ST holders may well miss 10% of games each a season, but I don’t see us doing a seat buy back scheme until it’s financially worthwhile for the club to do so. Which again, only happens on a sell out.

What I would say though is the exodus before HT is mental sometimes, but also understandable. If you go down bang on HT, you aren’t getting served before the second half starts. Things need to be better there.

[exAtyeoMax]

1 hour ago, RedM said:

I read on another thread about people saying we should limit the number of away fans, and replies were that the club wouldn't do this and turn down money.

I had a better view from the Lansdown on Tuesday than I usually do from the Domain regarding the problem of empty seats. Yes it was half term, but I don't think this is too unusual.

People would buy these seats if they weren't 'seatblocked' by ST holders.

The first phot taken almost 5 mins into the game and the 2nd 10 or 15 mins after HT

 

I didn't go on Tuesday. I'd had a busy week and couldn't face the journey down from London. I could've forwarded my ticket to someone but I didn't want to upset those who I sit by, if the person misbehaved.