Back to the Mad Stad

[tidus_mi2]

How was it for those who went? Concourses open? Beer? Sounded good on TV.

Could only buy snacks and non-alcoholic drinks outside the stadium, nothing was open inside.

[tidus_mi2]

Great another issue has emerged, I bought tickets for Birmingham, this time I selected print at home and the email I got says they should be attached as PDF documents but the email has no attachments.

[Snowflake Royal]

Is there no e-ticket option?

This all sounds very 2006.

How do you get an RFID tag in an e-ticket? Pretty sure the turnstiles run on that sort of system.

Barcode reader

Wouldn't that involve changing the turnstile tech though? Or do the paper tickets use barcodes... I've never had one, thought I heard they used the tags too

[Zip]

How do you get an RFID tag in an e-ticket? Pretty sure the turnstiles run on that sort of system.

Barcode reader

Wouldn't that involve changing the turnstile tech though? Or do the paper tickets use barcodes... I've never had one, thought I heard they used the tags too

Barcodes on the paper tickets Ian. It was pretty straight forward although there was a long queue outside gate 8 before kick off but we got to our seats in time.

[Zip]

How was it for those who went? Concourses open? Beer? Sounded good on TV.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt a lot busier than 2000 people. A surprising array of food stalls too.
Would not hesitate to return.It felt safe.

[Snowflake Royal]

Barcode reader

Wouldn't that involve changing the turnstile tech though? Or do the paper tickets use barcodes... I've never had one, thought I heard they used the tags too

Barcodes on the paper tickets Ian. It was pretty straight forward although there was a long queue outside gate 8 before kick off but we got to our seats in time.

Fair enough. That makes sense. E ticket would be easy then.

[Zip]

Wouldn't that involve changing the turnstile tech though? Or do the paper tickets use barcodes... I've never had one, thought I heard they used the tags too

Barcodes on the paper tickets Ian. It was pretty straight forward although there was a long queue outside gate 8 before kick off but we got to our seats in time.

Fair enough. That makes sense. E ticket would be easy then.

There were a higher number of people than usual who were unable to get through the turnstile. A steward was there though to sort it all out.

[Jagermesiter1871]

How was it for those who went? Concourses open? Beer? Sounded good on TV.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt a lot busier than 2000 people. A surprising array of food stalls too.
Would not hesitate to return.It felt safe.

Great to hear! Certainly sounded more than 2000.

[DelBoyRodders]

It was great to see and hear the fans back on Saturday and brought a tear to my eye when the players entered the pitch from the tunnel - long overdue.
Admittedly it looked great for TV to see all the fans in the East Stand cheering, singing etc, butconsidering the (lack of) social distancing, it looks as if Donald Trump came up with the seating plan.
The whole point of allowing just 2000 fans back at this stage was so they could be spread out around the stadium - then hopefully more allowed as the weeks pass as infection levels hopefully drop. Just take a look at West Ham's seating arrangement for their TV game on Saturday.
I certainly won't be rushing back anytime soon and considering how slow tickets are selling for games many others must feel the same.

[Zip]

It was great to see and hear the fans back on Saturday and brought a tear to my eye when the players entered the pitch from the tunnel - long overdue.
Admittedly it looked great for TV to see all the fans in the East Stand cheering, singing etc, butconsidering the (lack of) social distancing, it looks as if Donald Trump came up with the seating plan.
The whole point of allowing just 2000 fans back at this stage was so they could be spread out around the stadium - then hopefully more allowed as the weeks pass as infection levels hopefully drop. Just take a look at West Ham's seating arrangement for their TV game on Saturday.
I certainly won't be rushing back anytime soon and considering how slow tickets are selling for games many others must feel the same.

Fair comment about the lack of social distancing. I certainly felt within one metre of those in front and to the side of me. It would perhaps have been better to have had the West Stand open too and had 1000 fans in each stand. Having said that it didn’t feel unsafe to me.

[Greatwesternline]

Your going to struggle to catch COVID off someone outdoors IMO. The fresh air would blow the offending droplets all over the place

[Nameless]

It was great to see and hear the fans back on Saturday and brought a tear to my eye when the players entered the pitch from the tunnel - long overdue.
Admittedly it looked great for TV to see all the fans in the East Stand cheering, singing etc, butconsidering the (lack of) social distancing, it looks as if Donald Trump came up with the seating plan.
The whole point of allowing just 2000 fans back at this stage was so they could be spread out around the stadium - then hopefully more allowed as the weeks pass as infection levels hopefully drop. Just take a look at West Ham's seating arrangement for their TV game on Saturday.
I certainly won't be rushing back anytime soon and considering how slow tickets are selling for games many others must feel the same.

Fair comment about the lack of social distancing. I certainly felt within one metre of those in front and to the side of me. It would perhaps have been better to have had the West Stand open too and had 1000 fans in each stand. Having said that it didn’t feel unsafe to me.

The West Stand is kept as a secure area for players and officials so no way would they put fans within touching distance either in the seats or on the way in.
You could argue opening one of the ends might have been an idea but neither have a secure external space to allow people to go at half time.
I felt more comfortable than in most shops or walking down Broad Street, wearing masks and being outdoors meant the distance issue was not really a concern personally.

[Lower West]

How was it for those who went? Concourses open? Beer? Sounded good on TV.

Could only buy snacks and non-alcoholic drinks outside the stadium, nothing was open inside.

What were West Berks brewery selling on the day?

[Lower West]

I certainly won't be rushing back anytime soon and considering how slow tickets are selling for games many others must feel the same.

Club cannot sell tickets to anybody in Tier 3. This will block supporters travelling from Slough for example.

[Snowflake Royal]

2000 in an 8000 capacity stand seems about as spread out as you can manage without having to significantly increase your costs by opening and staffing a second or third stand...

Certainly looked pretty well spread out on the TV.

You wouldn't really be practically any more spread out with a 1000 in each end - they're 4000 capacity, right? So smaller number of people in a smaller area means just as close to the people who are near you and you've no need to worry about anyone further than those, be they a 5 metres away or the length of the stadium. I imagine it's a similar deal with the West Upper and Lower, but you're not a stadium away, just at a different level.

[Nameless]

2000 in an 8000 capacity stand seems about as spread out as you can manage without having to significantly increase your costs by opening and staffing a second or third stand...

Certainly looked pretty well spread out on the TV.

You wouldn't really be practically any more spread out with a 1000 in each end - they're 4000 capacity, right? So smaller number of people in a smaller area means just as close to the people who are near you and you've no need to worry about anyone further than those, be they a 5 metres away or the length of the stadium. I imagine it's a similar deal with the West Upper and Lower, but you're not a stadium away, just at a different level.

The benefit of the East Stand is the secure outside space which means the concourses don’t get full of people. The other stands don’t have that.
The West is simply not an option because it is kept secure for player and staff protection..

[Snowflake Royal]

2000 in an 8000 capacity stand seems about as spread out as you can manage without having to significantly increase your costs by opening and staffing a second or third stand...

Certainly looked pretty well spread out on the TV.

You wouldn't really be practically any more spread out with a 1000 in each end - they're 4000 capacity, right? So smaller number of people in a smaller area means just as close to the people who are near you and you've no need to worry about anyone further than those, be they a 5 metres away or the length of the stadium. I imagine it's a similar deal with the West Upper and Lower, but you're not a stadium away, just at a different level.

The benefit of the East Stand is the secure outside space which means the concourses don’t get full of people. The other stands don’t have that.
The West is simply not an option because it is kept secure for player and staff protection..

Yeah, think you already said about the West.

[bloody Volvo driver]

It was great to see and hear the fans back on Saturday and brought a tear to my eye when the players entered the pitch from the tunnel - long overdue.
Admittedly it looked great for TV to see all the fans in the East Stand cheering, singing etc, butconsidering the (lack of) social distancing, it looks as if Donald Trump came up with the seating plan.
The whole point of allowing just 2000 fans back at this stage was so they could be spread out around the stadium - then hopefully more allowed as the weeks pass as infection levels hopefully drop. Just take a look at West Ham's seating arrangement for their TV game on Saturday.
I certainly won't be rushing back anytime soon and considering how slow tickets are selling for games many others must feel the same.

And Brighton - 3 seats between supporters
And Millwall - 3 stands open
And Watford - 2 stands open

There are no acceptable excuses about cost, access etc that doesn’t outweigh the current need for social distancing when they could. 1,000 fans in the East Stand and 500 in the ends would be infinitely more socially distanced than shoe horning 2,000 fans into half a stand.

I am actually surprised there hasn’t been more said about it, I thought it was shocking for a club which on the wholly goes out of its way to please fans to think their seating plan was a good idea.

[Nameless]

It was great to see and hear the fans back on Saturday and brought a tear to my eye when the players entered the pitch from the tunnel - long overdue.
Admittedly it looked great for TV to see all the fans in the East Stand cheering, singing etc, butconsidering the (lack of) social distancing, it looks as if Donald Trump came up with the seating plan.
The whole point of allowing just 2000 fans back at this stage was so they could be spread out around the stadium - then hopefully more allowed as the weeks pass as infection levels hopefully drop. Just take a look at West Ham's seating arrangement for their TV game on Saturday.
I certainly won't be rushing back anytime soon and considering how slow tickets are selling for games many others must feel the same.

And Brighton - 3 seats between supporters
And Millwall - 3 stands open
And Watford - 2 stands open

There are no acceptable excuses about cost, access etc that doesn’t outweigh the current need for social distancing when they could. 1,000 fans in the East Stand and 500 in the ends would be infinitely more socially distanced than shoe horning 2,000 fans into half a stand.

I am actually surprised there hasn’t been more said about it, I thought it was shocking for a club which on the wholly goes out of its way to please fans to think their seating plan was a good idea.

I really didn’t feel the seating was an issue.
What was more of a concern was the free for all at the end which was no different to a normal match with everyone bunching up on the stairways and in their rows.
Spreadingnthe 2000 across more stands would have reduced that but as I say in an open air environment where everyone was masked the seating arrangements didn’t worry me. However I work in retail so perhaps am used to people being around and anyone who has worked from home for months might have felt more claustrophobic.

[Hendo]

For the Luton game on Boxing Day, the tickets will go on sale from Thursday for those who paid the retainer before the first deadline.

I guess this allows the club to release information but still withdraw it just in case Reading goes into T3 following the review announcement tomorrow.