Matchday Experience : Suggestions

Agree re Timerider - doesn't matter whether it's a good tune or not, it's OUR tune and it always makes the hairs on my neck stand up. Brings up so many memories of games, goals, players etc in the lead up to kick off. God knows what was playing on Saturday but it had no link to BFC!

 

A bar? Inside? Have you taken leave of your senses?!


Imagine someone familiar with the weather in Barnsley but unfamiliar with Oakwell reading this thread. Firstly, the horror that we're served food and drink outside, and then the realisation that we've been treated so badly for so long that our hopes and dreams are that one day, if we're very lucky, we'll be allowed inside.

 

I know I know, just sometimes us fans have these crazy ideas

 

Probably been suggested already but - get safe standing installed on the Ponty End, I think that would bring back some of that missing atmosphere. People just seem to be more passive when simply sitting there waiting to be entertained...

 

They used to do that years ago, I enjoyed it.

 

Traffic lights at the exit and the end of Grove Street, only active at the end of games would do a lot.

However, I park at Hoyle Mill and the traffic heading for Cundy cross is always a bit of a mare so speeding up car park exit may just move the problems elsewhere.

 

Exactly that ! It’s ours .
They don’t mess with Z Cars at Everton or Watford . Or Hi Ho Silver lining at Wendy and Wolves .
It seems we are vulnerable to certain groups or individuals who decide a tune they like is appropriate to inflict upon the rest of us .
Fanfare and Timerider gets a reaction from the fans especially when the timing is spot on with Fanfare as they set off out of the tunnel and Timerider to walk on , when it’s right most of the crowd react but in recent years it’s Ben messed with or sabotaged to the extend it’s played a good five minutes before the teams emerge .
As I said when it’s timed right the crowd sre uplifted but we need someone as enthusiastic to co ordinate it .
As a crowd pleaser I can’t understand why it’s messed with they only have to see he crowds reaction when it’s timed right to see that it works instead of some privileged leaders of fan groups who keep on insisting that it’s the first thing that should be changed as part of a new fan experience .
Leave it alone snd get it right .

 

Food and drink - yes the fayre on offer inside the ground could be better, but the priority has to be service time. Other places, not necessarily bigger or richer, turn queues around much, much quicker. We either need more people, or better trained people. Probably both. The wait times for a drink or a pie or whatever at the kiosks prevent people bothering. I haven’t tried to get a drink at half time for years; if I thought I had a chance of going at the half time whistle, not before, then get a drink and not miss the start of the second half, then I would. I don’t even mean a beer; I’d need five mins to sup that so we need to be realistic (!!!) - I’d be happy just taking a tea or coke and maybe a pie or chocolate bar if I fancied one back to my seat.

Once (if) they sort that out they can make a better offering too. There are local suppliers that could do better pies and pastries - the burger buns look nicer now, no idea about the burgers themselves. But Pukka pies and rollover hotdogs in crappy buns isn’t a great offer.

I’ve never understood why they’ve never done fries or Chips. Quick, easy and cheap. If you have someone staffing a fryer all the time and have enough in a Warmer. Profit coming out your ears.

It’s quite tight in the east upper concourse, especially when it’s a busier game - but there’s loads of empty space in the lower concourse. They could put allsorts in there, it’s dead empty space. A seated bar area, maybe a snack bar. Kids tuck shop maybe. The problem as ever is money as it’d need building and staffing.

Half time entertainment - to be honest over the years they’ve done everything I could think to suggest and it makes little difference. You’re still going to have people going for a pee, a pie or a pint (or a smoke) so that doesn’t really make a huge difference. Prematch you can do bits and pieces on the pitch but the teams have to be able to warm up as well. So it would need to be away from the pitch if they wanted to attract us early. They opened Rimmo’s in the east stand the other match - I didn’t go as it needed a paid ticket in advance, that’s a start but the paywall and prior planning requirement a shame: we have the room for a big, accessible and attractive supporters area/lounge, heated, seated, food and drinks offers, maybe entertainment on - but where and how does it get funded?

To be honest I’d be happier match days than I am now if they liaised properly with the local authority and emergency services, did some joined up thinking and actually sorted getting to and from the ground in different directions, communicating to us properly and transparently and not bottle-necking folk through a small gate at the bottom of the car park! If we can’t use the Beevor court gate, ok - but there’s surely a way round that and an alternative?

It would be nice to see some of the tiredness of the ground freshened up a little. The west stand is now embarrassing. Teary eyed memories aside it isn’t really right that we have a half uncovered stand 80% or more empty with barely post war wooden seats, a lack of sufficient proper toilet facilities and an annual bill of a ridiculous amount just to stop it falling down and/or being closed down. It’s a relic of a past era. A bit like the club in some ways.

The east stand is draughty, dated, and after 30 years still looks unfinished. Open concrete and breeze blocks, an unused second level of hospitality, more stairs up to the upper tier than there seems to be getting up to the fifth tier of St James’s or Wembley - but no lift for those who struggle. Full of empty space at the bottom tier.

The ponty is ok, also a bit dated but as single tier kop stands go, not bad. Better policing of smokers / vapers in the concourse at half time might be good, last time I was in there it was horrendous. Maybe provide somewhere for smokers to go at half time in each stand.

The north stand is too big and the majority of those seats are a waste of space as even if we have visitors who’d fill 6000, which would be once a flood, we can’t let them due to the concourse sizes and exits apparently. (Leppings Lane at Hillsbrough is a delight to get out of, loads of room… we should ask Wednesday for advice).

The fact is the ground is dated and unattractive. It’s a pain in the arse to get to it these days - even being close to tarn you can’t even just walk to it in a direct manner currently from there. If you dare approach from the other side of the ground up ponty rd towards Hoyle mill etc, we are expected to walk all the way down past the ground and back up the car park to get there - and the same on the way back.

There is so much the club could do on paper to make the match day experience better, but we don’t know what is viable from a logistical and financial point of view. But for a relatively modest outlay of money, and a bit more outlay of time, thinking and consideration, I’m sure the club could make a match day a more attractive proposition. I find myself dreading the journey these days; I can’t imagine stopping coming altogether yet but it wouldn’t take too much more I don’t think.

 

Oh and what everyone else says about Timerider/Cocoon.

It’s ****. But it’s ours. The one thing that wasn’t broken was that.

 

This all day. It's not as boring as you think.

 

I love it but I can't stand the turgid stuff that normally precedes it.

 

I'm not too fussed about pre-match or half time entertainment. Just want proper access back to the ground, a new up to date scoreboard like 90% of clubs have these days and better catering facilities.
A bit of the old atmosphere that Oakwell used to generate would also be great.

 

When preceeded by the Rocky theme it creates atmosphere.

Rocky theme as build up. Fanfare as they are in the tunnel, and come out to Timerider.

 

Used to take it for granted that lads were about to come out when fanfare was played then the hand clapping on of the players to Timerider ,
But it seems it was a mammoth task to co ordinate judging by the recent efforts of the incumbents .

 

Noooo , not if that's the tune that normally precedes Timerider. Its crap. Never seen Rocky so I don't recognise the tune. All I know is the one that is played prior to Timerider is in no way moving.

 

East Stand lift has been answered before. Basically if you're bad on your feet don't sit in the East Stand Upper because if there is an emergency the lift couldn't be used anyway, so you've to be quick on your feet to get away.

 

LEAVE TIMERIDER ALONE!!!!

 

Match day experience

Wouldn’t hurt looking at what other clubs do not only in football, one thing that always amazes me is that we get circa 10,000 on average, half time draws usually £700 yet you can go to the ice hockey and have crowds of 4000 with a prize of £2000 Christmas when it was a sell out the 50/50 prize was something like £12,000! Imagine if they got enthusiastic sellers about and pushed it the club could make probably 5/6 grand a week and a lucky support could be walking away with a handsome cash prize too. Same with programmes put a golden ticket in a programme winner wins a season ticket for the season after, yeah they’ll lose £8000 in free season tickets but they’ll make that up in more folk buying programmes for a chance of winning one.

Food
Without doing the local outlets out of business but if we had proper food trucks outside the ground doing different things each week like the BFC social events I’d certainly buy from them and be up at the ground earlier than usual.

Fanzone
As mentioned needs to be a proper structure to make it worth while, it’s a great in the summer the sound could be better but that’s probably just me being a bit picky.

kids zone
Why not team up with the retrodome in town and work with them to get some arcade games up there for kids to play on make it a little bit more appealing, players would be great but at then end of they day they don’t want to be there so why force them, you can tell by body language 90% of the players don’t want to do the ‘social’ stuff even the fanzone interviews most aren’t arsed.

 

Permanent structure could have multiple uses attaches to the football club possibly with a media room sectioned off.cafe /resturant operating non match days

 

And Fanfare for the Common Man by ELP was good.