Why don't you see if you can swap two rather than just the one? I know it's disappointing that you won't be in the West as a group but you can meet up pre and post match, it'll only be an hour and a half apart

It so whats the new capacity for Saints. I imagine a safety certificate for the full capacity will only be issued now if the ability to stop people moving between stands is removed.

Shame but was always going to happen if you can't control the crowd. Leaving it to the honesty of the individual is never going to work, it only takes 1.

Yeah but it means i have to spend that hour and half with my Mrs!!

lol, good point!

Very very shoddy from the club again. Whoever had the idea of letting people move between stands is an idiot to be frank. What would happen if it were raining heavily for a sold out game and a thousand people from the West and East decided that rather than get wet that they would get into the unallocated seats in the side North and South?

Bedlem!

Put some cattle gates up like every other modern ground has.

This had nothing to do with the club. The club wanted fans to be able to mingle pre-match and at halftime on the concourses, but it was idiot fans who decided to change stands. Where Saints were possibly being naive is to think that there weren't selfish idiots in the fan contingent.

I think Saints should announce at the Salford match that if any fans end up in the wrong stands they will be thrown out. Then let me kick their selfish, idiotic asses.

Saints twitter states West terrace season tickets sold out.

It shouldn't be. It will be a retrograde step if it is. Easily solved with all the suggestions made thus far re tighter stewarding.

That's because only season ticket holders are being allowed in there and we're on reduced capacity. All other Saints fans are being located in the East Stand.

So if this reduced capacity carries on how much do you estimate we'll lose in revenue each game in ticket sales alone?

That's anyone's guess as the club hasn't stated what the capacity will be. But if it's 2000, say, well that's 2,000 x £18.50 minimum I should think. That's a lot of money just on ticket sales alone.

I hope those fans are really happy!

That's what I was thinking. Unless Saints sell match day tickets for the West terrace in the future the reduction will be for the whole season.

If the reduction is based on the west stand situation alone, can only see a 20% reduction there of 700 to 800 places but if they are looking at the stadium as a whole they may well double that figure.
We seem to have a similar scenario as what happened at the Halliwell Jones.

But a couple of gates makes it easily fixable. They could even make it variable, for lower crowds leave it open, for capacity shut the gates.

It says in the letter I received only season ticket holders are allowed in the West BUT, I haven't got a S T and have been told my ticket is still valid, it is only the one I bought later that is not valid.

Gates just irritate people. We've done it to death about how it can be governed by proper stewarding. KEEP THE CONCOURSE OPEN! It was designed for free flow let's keep it that way.

Saints don't half know how to make a straightforward situation utterly confusing!



If I was in your position I would be taking a trip to Langtree Park ticket office and asking for confirmation that my non-season ticket ticket is still valid! But maybe I'm just more paranoid than you.

In light of the issues identified at the Widnes friendly its sensible to operate with a reduced capacity in the terraces.

I expect this to stay in place until Saints can show to the authorities that they can adequately police those stands in a safe manner. Once that is achieved then the club can apply for further capacity extensions to our safety certificate

If we have further issues in the terraces at the Salford game then we can expect a further reduction in terrace capacity.
Season ticket holders in the West stand will need to be on their best behaviour, otherwise they may find they no longer have a place on the terraces, as the authorities could decide that the capacity of the terraces needs to be reduced further.

I just hope the Merseyside safety authorities take a sensible approach to the terracing rather than taking a draconian safety approach. It would certainly look daft if Warrington with a smaller end terrace, were allowed more people to stand in their end terrace than Saints, merely because of differences in interpretation by local authorities on what is and isnt safe.
It also has to be said that these type of shenanigans would not have cropped up with an all seater stadium. Not that i favour such things.

Actually, no. It is the season ticket holders/other ticket holders from stands outside of the West Stand that need to be on their best behaviour as they were the reason one end of the West Stand was overcrowded and we are now having this difficulty!

Us West Standers were very good boys and girls, thankyouverymuch.

What was the original idea behind having open concourses? If it's just for the sake of people to "mingle" at half time then surely it's better/easier to segregate the concourse as well as the stands? If having open concourses is going to result in you working under a reduced capacity then surely it isn't worth it? Not trolling btw just 1st time I've read that there was this freedom around the concourses and the problems it seems to be causing.

Apparently it was the Chairman's idea. He thought it would be nice for fans to meet up with people located elsewhere before the match and during halftime. It is a great idea and it worked a treat until some idiots decided not to go back to their stand and subsequently ruined the experience for everyone else.

The trouble arises because we have terracing. Had the stadium been all seater then there is no way people could have sneaked into another stand. The best option would be to install card readers at the West and East Stand entrances but that would be expensive no doubt and so ultimately I can see West and East Standers being asked to show their season ticket/ticket in order to get back into those stands.

Perhaps until they figure out a longer term solution the club has stopped selling West Stand tickets for the Salford match (saying only season ticket holders can go in there) and started selling tickets to Saints fans for the East Stand, which is the nominal away end.

Is there not a bar that fans/season ticket holders can use before the game? It seems a lot of trouble for the sake of 15 minutes at half time. It would also be pretty time consuming for the stewards to check everyones tickets. I'd be pretty annoyed if I went down for a pee at half time and then had to join a queue to get back in to the stand. If each stand's concourse has the same facilities then surely there's no need for this. It's likely you'll be sat/stood with your mates during the game anyway. I guess the Widnes game was there to find niggly problems like this but if something so trivial is going to potentially affect your SL attendances then surely it's best to knock the idea on the head?

Also, letting your fans use the away end against Salford to make up for the limited capacity in the west is a very good idea, if our friendly against them on Tues is anything to go by there'll be plenty of room in there for you!

I'm going on Saturday, I have just looked at the ticket again (the first one I bought) and it's got a different name on it (possibly a S T holder??)

Its not just the 15 minutes interval it's the hour or so before the game when potentially a lot of revenue could be lost if they meet up for a drink beforehand and choose to go elsewhere. There's people I would want to meet up with that are in other parts of the park and I welcome that freedom of movement not to be segregated like animals in a zoo. So it's not that trivial in some peoples minds!