Refunded season ticket.

Can't it just be the same time as the other renewals but before season tickets go on general sale?

 

I may be misunderstanding but are you suggesting that former West Stand ST holders should be allowed to kick season ticket holders out of their regular seats so then they end up with dregs instead? I'm not sure what that solves.

 

Legal post,probably dull.
I have followed this thread and the others about the closure of the West Stand and I'm not pass an opinion on the views expressed.
However, I would like to offer my own rationale for the sudden closure,which has as much credence as anyone's.
The last home game took place in heavy rain,supporters in the lower west stand by their own admission, moved to the rear of the stand and blocked the gangways ,despite being asked to move. We have a new CEO,in the days following during senior leaders meetings,this will have been discussed. I can not remember evacuation practice taking place at the stadium. Even in dry weather, the length of time to evacuate the upper tier,is long,add in blocked gangways at the front exits, you see the potential problems.
All this presents a problem to the club legally, which their representatives may have highlighted to them. Namely, that even as tenants, the club are liable under the Occupiers Liability Act,1957,Section 1,sub section 2 and Section 3,sub sections 1,2and 3.
The stand may have a safety certificate but so did Hillsborough and Valley Parade. The club have a duty of care to everyone who visit. I'm surprised it's taken so long for it to be closed.
I understand the emotional attachments, I used to sit there myself for many years but left has it seemed to be getting more and more unsafe. So whilst it may not be at risk of falling down,there is a potential risk if certain situations conspired together,of harm being suffered by one or more persons. Should the club take that risk? The answer is obviously no.
One complaint I will make, is the lack of opportunity to relocate to the North Stand,unless I have misunderstood.
Commercially and PR wise,it's not been a good week for the club but I cannot believe it's some sinister plan,more a culmination of events.
Just my opinion, quite dry and boring, just like me,sometimes you have to take a step back and try to rationalise.

 

I feel like I'm being a bit thick, but it has been a long day. Are you suggesting they shut an entire stand for the rest of the season (at least) because of some rain and supporters not moving? Wouldn't the solution to that just be telling the stewards to kick out a few of the people who didn't move? Or go extreme and check CCTV and ban a few of them if it happens again? I know you also mentioned safety in general but I'm not sure what that had to do with the rain if they moved them on.

 

I think the West Standers have been dumped on from a great height, so I'm proposing a bit of extra customer care next renewal. They get to renew first - not to displace existing ST holders, but to perhaps have a better chance to shuffle around.

Yes, Mansfield, you could also do it alongside regular sales. Or perhaps a separate window might be better - inbetween ST renewals and general sale, so that if any current ST seats become available due to non-renewals, the West Standers get first dibs on these.

As you can probably tell, I'm making this up on the hoof...

 

The company I work for does a lot of fire risk assessment work. It's not my department, but I do know that if a client gets a report every year saying we recommend you carry out x, y and z because if you don't and there is a fire, you're up a certain creek with out a paddle, they always do the work within an agreed timescale to protect themselves from litigation.
If they had a list if remedial works "recommended" by the council and just one of them was not completed and this caused injury to a spectator or further damage to the stand, I'm pretty sure the insurance wouldn't pay out to cover the costs.

 

I doubt very much that folk moving not to get wet would amount to a premises being unsafe under the OLA.

I'd defend that one all day long.

 

Some seats were unavailable to west stand season ticket holders. Because Sheff utd tickets had already been put on general sale. One guy in front of me this a.m. Took the option of 2 seats for the rest of the season starting after that said game. And chose 2 different seats for said game.
Too many single spaces cause an issue. Someone should have looked at the possibility of closing those gaps with the will of the fans to make way for adjacent empty seats. Not easy. But hopefully we would all come together to help those affected.

 

Pretty sure most fans would shuffle up one seat either way to make space for other fans to fit in certain areas, whilst at the same time I'm sure people in the West Stand would sit 2 behind 2 to keep their family/friend groups together.
I'm sure it's not insurmountable if the club has the will to try and organise it.

 

I do get your point but then I have two things that make me believe it is not the reason (even if the club now jump on it and pretend it is)

Firstly its true quite a few fans moved to the back and stood crowded but not half as many as were crowded around the top left corner of the ponty end. I commented at the game how we let the same section of the ground do as they want week after week. The west stand fans were spread out across half the stand, the ponty lot who stood were all crammed into one corner. If one is unsafe surely the other is?
Secondly the upper tier and lower tier of the west stand are basically two completely separate stands. One is an 100+ year old structure, the other an open air stand with no roof on it that was constructed 25 years ago when the old terrace was removed, dug up and a new stand built in its place. Even if there was a risk of evacuation from the upper tier that doesn't explain closing the lower tier. If fans can't evacuate from the lower tier then God help anyone else in the stadium.

Also I appreciate that the length of time to evacuate the upper tier is quite long but from my experience of looking across the pitch it empties much quicker than the east stand does at the final whistle where fans are queuing for ages waiting to get to the gangways while the west upper has practically emptied.

 

What a load of ********. Fans have been sheltering from the rain for years and it’s never been an issue. No gangways were blocked for fans and never have been.

The West Upper is no slower to evacuate than any other stand.

In fact, it’s so easy to get people out of the West that the club actively encourages people from the Ponte to walk through the West Stand to leave the ground at full time.

You’re making excuses for the club where they simply don’t exist.

 

I don't know anything about fire regulations but I'd imagine the west stand has a greater risk given its wood content vs the East made of stuff that doesn't burn and has fire doors etc. So there are likely to be different evacuation times

 

Bit harsh, he was only offering an alternative view.

 

There was last week. Got 7 in a row.

I knew we’d have to be quick to get anything decent, so acted straight away and phoned up.

 

Don't worry. The club isn't. They are rubbing their hands they have been able to get another how many thousand £36s off blunts fans. Visiting fans are alright jack . Sod our own fans

 

Exactly, not sure what the plan is next year if we get relegated though - sod all away fans at three quarters of the games and less season tickets sold.

 

The hardcore in the best seats will stay, we'll still be picking from the dregs albeit it possibly better dregs.

 

If we manage to get a Premier league big wig home draw in the fa Cup 3rd round, do we think there's a possibility the west stand maybe viable once again?