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March 19 2024 3.37am

Long queues on Saturday

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View ripleyeagle's Profile ripleyeagle Flag Ripley Surrey 29 Nov 21 5.53pm Send a Private Message to ripleyeagle Add ripleyeagle as a friend

The Villa game was my second home game this season, the first being the 0-0 draw against Brentford.After a 1 1/2 hr drive that normally takes an hour I finally got to the ground to be met with massive queues outside the Arthur and only just made the kick off.While in the queue a passing Villa fan asked me what was going on and was it like this every week? I apologised to him and mentioned it was probably down to rail problems in the area,was this the case or has it been this bad in previous weeks?
I must be a Jonah as I even missed our goal as was moving back up the stairwell in the last seconds of the game,just my luck to watch a last season type of performance on Saturday.

 

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View sydtheeagle's Profile sydtheeagle Flag England 30 Nov 21 12.24am Send a Private Message to sydtheeagle Add sydtheeagle as a friend

The Arthur is a f***ing s***hole. Sorry, but that's the long and short of it. Not fit for purpose. It takes the whole of half time just to reach the concourse, never mind actually getting to a urinal. 12,000 (or whatever) people divided into a concourse fifty yards long and three yards wide divided by 15 minutes supplied by two urinals and two or three small catering outlets doesn't work. I ended up there on Saturday too and we shouldn't be apologising to Villa fans; our club should be apologising to us. I'm all for the Old Stand rebuild but something really needs to be done about the Arthur first. What, I don't know. I'm not an architect. But it shouldn't be beyond the wit of an architect to do something to make it better at a reasonable cost. And while they're at it, either get rid of that frigging pitch length TV gantry or start pricing every seat above the twentieth row at a reduced cost. If you can't see 15% of the pitch then knock 15% off the ticket price.

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.18am)

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.19am)

 


Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

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View Wilbraham413's Profile Wilbraham413 Flag 30 Nov 21 2.37am Send a Private Message to Wilbraham413 Add Wilbraham413 as a friend

The Arthur is an old stand, that has old stand problems. It's right on top of prime real estate homes, so I have no idea what they could possibly do to fix it within a reasonable budget, or even an exorbitant budget.

There is simply no room to do anything there. The Main Stand has "much more" room, and even that is proving to be impossible to renovate.

I agree the sightlines in the AW can be rough, and the bathrooms are a challenge. For me, the worst part is the claustrophobic rotating gates that look more like a torture device than an entrance to a stadium.

It almost would make more sense to buy a large parcel of land and build a brand new stadium, rather than fight the government over every square inch of housing in our current location.

 


2017 Feb. (Van Aanholt) Palace 1 - 0 Middlesboro
2018 Jan. (Sako) Palace 1 - 0 Burnley
2019 May (Batshuayi, Batshuayi, OG, Van Aanholt, Townsend) Palace 5 - 3 Bournemouth
2020 Feb. (Van Aanholt) Palace 1 - 0 Newcastle

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View Barcelona Based Fan's Profile Barcelona Based Fan Flag No longer Barcelona, now living in... 30 Nov 21 5.40am Send a Private Message to Barcelona Based Fan Add Barcelona Based Fan as a friend

Originally posted by sydtheeagle

The Arthur is a f***ing s***hole. Sorry, but that's the long and short of it. Not fit for purpose. It takes the whole of half time just to reach the concourse, never mind actually getting to a urinal. 12,000 (or whatever) people divided into a concourse fifty yards long and three yards wide divided by 15 minutes supplied by two urinals and two or three small catering outlets doesn't work. I ended up there on Saturday too and we shouldn't be apologising to Villa fans; our club should be apologising to us. I'm all for the Old Stand rebuild but something really needs to be done about the Arthur first. What, I don't know. I'm not an architect. But it shouldn't be beyond the wit of an architect to do something to make it better at a reasonable cost. And while they're at it, either get rid of that frigging pitch length TV gantry or start pricing every seat above the twentieth row at a reduced cost. If you can't see 15% of the pitch then knock 15% off the ticket price.

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.18am)

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.19am)



This

 


TaxiMark
Sheffield Wednesday Fan
Posted 23 February 2013 - 07:49 PM
I don't mind palace to be fair. Much better club than tinpot Charlton and Brighton

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View Flightsequence's Profile Flightsequence Flag 30 Nov 21 6.24am Send a Private Message to Flightsequence Add Flightsequence as a friend

I took a couple of people who have not been for a few years, and could only get Arthur seats. After telling them that things had changed from past years, I was looking to revive their passion for the game. Unfortunately all it did was to dampen mine. Squashed in to a small walkway, not very Covid friendly to say the least, not able to get to the toilet during the half time period, had to go 10 mins before the end and missed two goals, sitting in a seat where the view was shocking (row 47) and costing £42!. On top of that, a poor team performance, which was just one of those things unfortunately. However, the most disappointing thing after bigging up the fantastic atmosphere, was the complete lack of one! Could not hear the Holmesdale hardly at all, and my guests went away saying how loud the Villa fans were. Just disappointing all round really. And it started so well at the Box Park before the match.

 

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View ripleyeagle's Profile ripleyeagle Flag Ripley Surrey 30 Nov 21 8.54am Send a Private Message to ripleyeagle Add ripleyeagle as a friend

Originally posted by sydtheeagle

The Arthur is a f***ing s***hole. Sorry, but that's the long and short of it. Not fit for purpose. It takes the whole of half time just to reach the concourse, never mind actually getting to a urinal. 12,000 (or whatever) people divided into a concourse fifty yards long and three yards wide divided by 15 minutes supplied by two urinals and two or three small catering outlets doesn't work. I ended up there on Saturday too and we shouldn't be apologising to Villa fans; our club should be apologising to us. I'm all for the Old Stand rebuild but something really needs to be done about the Arthur first. What, I don't know. I'm not an architect. But it shouldn't be beyond the wit of an architect to do something to make it better at a reasonable cost. And while they're at it, either get rid of that frigging pitch length TV gantry or start pricing every seat above the twentieth row at a reduced cost. If you can't see 15% of the pitch then knock 15% off the ticket price.
Couldn’t agree more,last Saturday’s experience has dampened my enthusiasm for my next visit with my West Ham supporting grandson on New Year’s Day as will be embarrassed if we get the same experience!!
Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.18am)

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.19am)

 

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View SW19 CPFC's Profile SW19 CPFC Flag Addiscombe West 30 Nov 21 9.19am Send a Private Message to SW19 CPFC Add SW19 CPFC as a friend

Originally posted by Flightsequence

I took a couple of people who have not been for a few years, and could only get Arthur seats. After telling them that things had changed from past years, I was looking to revive their passion for the game. Unfortunately all it did was to dampen mine. Squashed in to a small walkway, not very Covid friendly to say the least, not able to get to the toilet during the half time period, had to go 10 mins before the end and missed two goals, sitting in a seat where the view was shocking (row 47) and costing £42!. On top of that, a poor team performance, which was just one of those things unfortunately. However, the most disappointing thing after bigging up the fantastic atmosphere, was the complete lack of one! Could not hear the Holmesdale hardly at all, and my guests went away saying how loud the Villa fans were. Just disappointing all round really. And it started so well at the Box Park before the match.

Atmosphere was very flat on Saturday, much like the performance.

And the AW is terrible. No major queuing for the Holmesdale, but walked through the massive queue waiting to get into the Arthur!

 


Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

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View Dubai Eagle's Profile Dubai Eagle Flag 30 Nov 21 9.27am Send a Private Message to Dubai Eagle Add Dubai Eagle as a friend

Just a heads up - my brother was thinking of coming to the AV game, eventually he cried off, but I went looking for a ticket in the main stand (near to my season ticket so we could at least share a pint in the bar) I was late looking for this ticket, (about a week before the game) the only ones left in the main stand were restricted view at £43.00, but for sure the facilities in the main stand are much better that the AW - if your paying £42.00 for a restricted view in the AW (Because of the gantry) perhaps you would be better off paying almost the same amount for a seat in the main stand with the better facilities.

 

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View Wilesy01's Profile Wilesy01 Flag Bristol 30 Nov 21 10.30am Send a Private Message to Wilesy01 Add Wilesy01 as a friend

Originally posted by sydtheeagle

The Arthur is a f***ing s***hole. Sorry, but that's the long and short of it. Not fit for purpose. It takes the whole of half time just to reach the concourse, never mind actually getting to a urinal. 12,000 (or whatever) people divided into a concourse fifty yards long and three yards wide divided by 15 minutes supplied by two urinals and two or three small catering outlets doesn't work. I ended up there on Saturday too and we shouldn't be apologising to Villa fans; our club should be apologising to us. I'm all for the Old Stand rebuild but something really needs to be done about the Arthur first. What, I don't know. I'm not an architect. But it shouldn't be beyond the wit of an architect to do something to make it better at a reasonable cost. And while they're at it, either get rid of that frigging pitch length TV gantry or start pricing every seat above the twentieth row at a reduced cost. If you can't see 15% of the pitch then knock 15% off the ticket price.

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.18am)

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Nov 2021 1.19am)


Sums up my feelings about the AW. Was my first time in the stand for a long time at the weekend and I was shocked at how poor the facilities are, and how poor the view is from towards the back of the stand.

The concourse at HT is a lawless mess. For the prices charged the experience should be so much better.

 

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View sydtheeagle's Profile sydtheeagle Flag England 30 Nov 21 12.28pm Send a Private Message to sydtheeagle Add sydtheeagle as a friend

Originally posted by Wilbraham413

There is simply no room to do anything there. The Main Stand has "much more" room, and even that is proving to be impossible to renovate.

I get where you're coming from but I'm not sure I entirely agree with you. As I said, I'm not an architect and I'm guessing neither are you but there are some pretty simple things that could be done to improve the Arthur at no enormous cost in terms of capital investment, although they might reduce matchday revenues somewhat. Among them:

1. Do something about the TV gantry. If nothing else, with a bit of imagination it ought to be possible to put it on the roof of the stand so it doesn't block sightlines rather than immediately below the roof where it does. There might need to be a small investment in new access and reinforcing a section of the roof, but doing this shouldn't be a major financial issue. Instant result is that you'd improve the sightlines for about 40% of the seats in the Arthur. I can't imagine the TV camera pictures would be any different if they were placed 20 feet or so higher.

2. Reduce the capacity of the Arthur. If you can't properly accommodate the number of people it presently seats (and accommodating people means giving them a decent matchday experience; not simply finding out how many sardines can you shove into a can) then admit fewer. Knock 10 or 15% off the capacity and the concourse mess will be reduced by 10 or 15%. That would make a difference. I realise revenues will go down accordingly but right now, the club are making out like bandits and they shouldn't be. The situation in the Arthur boils down to exploiting the goodwill of the fan base; providing us with a s*** experience because the club knows we'll put up with it.

3. This may be more expensive and where you'd need an architect to confirm viability, but build a second concourse behind the present seats at pitch level (effectively, a tunnel) beneath the higher mid-stand level concourse that exists now. As I said, it would require investment but building a 100-yard long tunnel where you already own the land would surely not be prohibitively expensive. And there must be room to do it? Anyway, do that and you instantly halve the sardine problem by removing 50% of the crowd who presently use the only available concourse.

4. Get rid of the top 15 or so rows of seats and create an upper concourse at the top of the stand. Yes, you lose income from those seats (all of which have s*** sightlines anyway) but it would be cheaper to do than the tunnel idea (above) and, again, provide a second concourse to accommodate the supporters in the Arthur.

5. Dramatically expand the existing concourse into what is now the stand itself. Double it in size. Essentially, remove 10-15 rows of seats in the middle of the Arthur and expand the present concourse into the area where there are now seats, essentially turning the Arthur into a "two-tier" stand where you have what you used to be enclosure at the bottom, then a "walled section" behind which the expanded concourse sits, and then an "upper" section above the concourse. You'd be losing some crowd numbers and doubling the concourse space. That should work and no major structural building investment should be required.

As I said, I'm neither an architect nor a builder and it may be that someone better informed than me can tell me why any or all the above ideas aren't viable. But they strike me as simple, logical, not prohibitively expensive, and they would me a difference. In any event, I don't buy the "it is what it is; nothing can be done" argument at all.

 


Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

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View Barcelona Based Fan's Profile Barcelona Based Fan Flag No longer Barcelona, now living in... 30 Nov 21 4.01pm Send a Private Message to Barcelona Based Fan Add Barcelona Based Fan as a friend

Duplicate post


Edited by Barcelona Based Fan (30 Nov 2021 4.02pm)

 


TaxiMark
Sheffield Wednesday Fan
Posted 23 February 2013 - 07:49 PM
I don't mind palace to be fair. Much better club than tinpot Charlton and Brighton

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View Ginger Pubic Wig's Profile Ginger Pubic Wig Flag Wickham de L'Ouest 30 Nov 21 4.23pm Send a Private Message to Ginger Pubic Wig Add Ginger Pubic Wig as a friend

Pretty sure you can make the Arthur shallower but higher without messing up residents sight lines too much.

Then again, you have to assume the old stand is considered the easiest fix...and it's taking forever.

Edited by Ginger Pubic Wig (30 Nov 2021 4.24pm)

 


If you want to live in a world full of kindness, respect and love, try to show these qualities.

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