[Official Site] FAN ENGAGEMENT FORUM | 21/10/2021

Well, I know for a fact that alcohol has bee consumed in seats in the Ponty too. And the stewards have known and tried to act on it. I'd have thought it a lot easier to do something about them all in one spot at the back of the West Stand. And I'm no mechanic, but turnstiles are a fairly simple mechanism. Don't even need to change them all , as long as one allows access at the required height.

 

Cheers Gally. Wasn't entirely sure of the context when asking the question and, as you say, reading a transcript makes it difficult to assess mood.

I think the particular part of it I picked up on was when she was the one explaining about the collapsed wall/damaged turnstiles.

Any idea why the turnstiles on the east side of the North Stand aren't operational? Is this simply down to them not being in use for 20 years or so?

 

I'm going to buck the trend and say that that statement actually made me feel a bit better about things. I'm a proper worry-wort so I can empathize with not wanting to put my signature to something that seems dangerous. If anything happened and he signed it off he could be up for manslaughter charges and I'd rather be too cautious than not cautious enough. I've moved on now though to the fact that some sort of action plan with rough timescales need to be shared. Whilst I'm a bit more sympathetic as to why it shut now, we need to know if that's it then... we're a two stands for home supporters club for the next 100 years or if and when something is going to change and how. Basically, I get it but now what?

 

Thank you.

 

Everything I expected. Hollow soundbites with no details on actual tangible improvements. Much like every fan engagement during the whole time we have been owned by the new regime.

 

There really is no conspiracy to hide anything that was said on the night from those not attending. There just isn't. There's so much material to get your teeth into and this is a sideshow that's distracting from that. The club have given a transcript, many supporters groups have or will do the same, some as it was happening, others writing it up after. It's entirely open source. There are serious questions that anyone with an interest in Barnsley FC should be asking, but 'why aren't you telling us everything that was said' isn't one of them. That's just creating an impenetrable fog that the pertinent questions get lost in. Everything said is public domain, that those who wrote it up chose to edit out coughs, wheezes. 'ummms' and things of no interest at all is to make the document more legible, more interesting, more on point, and ultimately more open, not less.

 

@JamDrop , if you ever stop to think about anything it is easy to see all manner of awful scenarios. But as you say, a timetable would be helpful and I'm surprised that he didn't say we have contacted x firm that specialises in older stands to come and give their assessment and costs.

 

Unlike others that does make me feel a little easier about the behind the scenes situation. Seems to be fairly open and I do see the sense in what they are saying.

HOWEVER…

1. There seem to be an awful lot of identifying problems but no coming up with actual solutions

2. the flippant comment about relegation doesn’t inspire much confidence in the football side of things because anyone who knows anything about football knows we are destined for league 1 unless something happens quick

 

That is very true. I can definitely imagine that things are not as great as they can be safety-wise at Barnsley though when I think about the lack of lights for years in the carpark that everyone walks through after the match, the tannoy system that cannot be heard in areas of the ground in an emergency, the general rubbishness of the stewards etc. that is just tolerated. I can definitely imagine people just letting something tick along because it's been like that for years and an outsider with fresh eyes coming in and saying 'are you f/cking kidding me, that's a disaster waiting to happen'. If there really are holes in the floor in WSU for example, that he says can easily be seen, then why hasn't someone seen it and done something about it before? When the wall fell down and was patched back up, why didn't someone check and sort out the rest of the length of it then rather than doing half a job and considering it good enough until another bit of it falls down?

 

I imagine (and it is just my opinion) that a lot of these issues have been on the back burner last year because there were no fans in the stadium. With no matchday income we will have not spent money on maintenance on things that aren't going to affect us right now. I'm sure I remember when there was a brief statement about the Premier league inspecting the ground just in case we got promoted and issues being raised then about us needing to spend a lot of money.

 

If this is such a problem why didn't they just stop serving alcohol in the west stand, seems easier than having to dream up some sort of solution

 

Money's been spent on the electronic advertising. Surely organisationally it's better to do stuff in a ground that's empty for months.

They've got the alcohol free products so that's an obvious solution. Or you could actually write to the ST holders, explain the no alcohol rule again and say you get caught and you face a ban as its against the law. Plenty of possible solutions.

 

I think the problem is the issues are so vague that they haven't got a clue about how to remedy them let alone putting a timetable together.

 

Exactly, well we've sorted out that issue - wonder how many more we could fix.

 

That pays for itself though, I'm assuming.

 

You'd hope so.

 

Just put a barrier fence to the right so they can't step there.