Metrolink to / from Etihad

[Bluemoon dan]

I remember the lie they told. No concerts would be taking place on the day of a game.
Last night thousands are arriving at the Etihad stop just as thousands are leaving.
No wonder kids got crushed, absolute piss poor planning as CFG and others chase financial dominance.

The bit about no concerts on a match day was a nonsense promise from the start. It's been pointed out loads of times already but concerts are booked months and months in advance. Football fixtures get moved 5 or 6 weeks in advance. And nobody at Sky, TNT Amazon etc will even give a seconds thought to whether there's a concert on. Perhaps just as well yesterday wasn't a close game as it allowed people to start leaving from about 75 minutes onwards to stagger things!!!

 

[M23 Citizen]

I remember the lie they told. No concerts would be taking place on the day of a game.
Last night thousands are arriving at the Etihad stop just as thousands are leaving.
No wonder kids got crushed, absolute piss poor planning as CFG and others chase financial dominance.

Paul McCartney is playing at the Co-Op Live on derby day

 

[M23 Citizen]

If there’s somewhere after the game to get a coffee/food in the warm and dry then it might not be too bad as some might do that while the queue shortens. Hopefully the food outlets in the new stand will be opening to cater after the match.

But, as I keep saying, shuttle buses to and from Central Park would be a doddle. Just run it along Ten Acres Lane and either Briscoe Lane or down near the Velodrome. Make use of the expensive tram stop built there.

There used to be 24 pubs around the stadium when we first moved there in 2003. They all always used to be packed, went in them all over a few seasons. It was a cracking pub crawl for some games.

Now there are 5 pubs left (not forgetting that there is no City Sqaure anymore either), and they are fucking rammed after the game (and before).

If those pubs were all still open, those using the Met would use them over a more spread out period of time before and after the games. With so few options now, people leave getting to the stadium until the last minute before the game and leave immediately after the game so the Mets are rammed before+after.

Back in the early 00s, loads of fans would have been around Bradford/Beswick/MilesPlatting/Clayton/Ardwick areas in the pubs well before kick off and going back to and staying in them well after the final whistle.

The thing with that is, one of the landlords told me he could run his pub just from the take from City matchdays, yet almost 20 pubs have shut?!

 

[chesterbells]

Paul McCartney is playing at the Co-Op Live on derby day

AND IT’S LIIIVVVEE!






(Sorry, my inner Martin Tyler coming out there)

 

[Really_here]

I haven't been to the Etihad for years and after reading this thread I wouldn't want to go these days if I had free tickets. It sounds like a worsening shambles. Having concerts on the same day as matches just shows contempt for the paying punters.

 

[dansyb]

To be fair to the employees they were all in the dark. The issue was that large crowds were arriving for the concert and some kids apparently got crushed getting off as football fans were attempting to get on.

Someone made the decision to tell football fans that all trams were suspended until further notice. It lasted about 15 minutes and then it was back to normal.

The poor fuckers trying to police it hadn’t a clue what was going on and were just getting non stop abuse.

Telling people to start walking to town when they struggle to walk that sort of distance. IMHO anyone saying that to people who struggle walking is in the wrong job

 

[Stephen230]

Telling people to start walking to town when they struggle to walk that sort of distance. IMHO anyone saying that to people who struggle walking is in the wrong job

I think whoever the person in charge of making the decisions, panicked. He probably got a message that there was some crushing going on down on the platform. He immediately ordered all the entrances to be shut, which was fair enough, while they assessed the situation. But they gave no information to the staff manning those gates, other than, there’s no trams until further notice.

That left the staff winging it regarding what to tell increasingly agitated and aggressive punters. I think some of them assumed “until further notice” was most likely something along the lines of a bomb scare and were telling people they might as well walk it in good faith.

 

[uwerosler28]

I haven't been to the Etihad for years and after reading this thread I wouldn't want to go these days if I had free tickets. It sounds like a worsening shambles. Having concerts on the same day as matches just shows contempt for the paying punters.

It's an inconvenience yes, but manageable, I certainly wouldn't turn down free tickets to a team I supposedly support because of it.

 

[Roachy]

I think whoever the person in charge of making the decisions, panicked. He probably got a message that there was some crushing going on down on the platform. He immediately ordered all the entrances to be shut, which was fair enough, while they assessed the situation. But they gave no information to the staff manning those gates, other than, there’s no trams until further notice.

That left the staff winging it regarding what to tell increasingly agitated and aggressive punters. I think some of them assumed “until further notice” was most likely something along the lines of a bomb scare and were telling people they might as well walk it in good faith.

Comms is definitely an issue throughout and it's something they need to address. I approached the tram driver on Sat at Stretford and politely asked what was happening due to the tram being sat there for 15 mins. Also trams were backing up. He didn't know the reason and had been told to wait there with no further info.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

I think it’s fair to say that having late football and a concert together on the same Saturday night proved too much for the system. If only someone had spoken out to warn them. ;

Hopefully someone can ask Burnham about it on his weekly (?) radio interview.