Re: Ejections in 109
I sit in block 119 of the South stand in row W and i also received one of these letters AFTER i had bought my season ticket.
This has been started by a woman [as someone else pointed out on here] who sits at the back of this block above me.She started last season,screaming out loud in a voice that would curdle milk and could probably be heard on the moon,''SIT DOWN WE CAN'T SEE!!''
As she sits right at the back and nobody stands on the four of five rows immediately in front of her i am a little suprised she can't see.She only started this shouting in the last four or five games,so i doubt she has sat there for years.I think we have only been at the new stadium 7-8 years so no one has sat in there for donkeys years as some posters wrongly stated.
I have written a letter to Mr Fletcher and i am also forwarding it to Gary Cook.It is reproduced below.
Dear Mr Fletcher,
Firstly I was dismayed to receive the letter about persistent standing sent to my address. You say the club has received numerous complaints about standing in the block I am seated, yet you don’t mention the block. Is this an add hoc letter sent to ALL supporters to discourage standing?
I have sat, or stood in the South stand for a number of years now. In my experience at least 70% of fans in this area appear to favour standing. It adds to the atmosphere and improves the match day experience for us, who are after all fans too.
I am well aware that we have all seated stadiums, wrongly in a lot of fans view, in light of the Taylor report after the Hillsborough disaster and the club has to follow that by law. Since it’s implication a large number of fans have lobbied the club since our Maine Road days to allow us one stand where this could be relaxed and to help improve the atmosphere. The club has failed to do this, though as you rightly say there has been a certain relaxation in areas of the South stand, for which we are grateful.
As the club has moved people without appeal to accommodate families in the North stand, could they not move the small but vocal and persistent moaners in the South stand to somewhere more quiet and where everyone sits down in an orderly fashion? If I am to sit like a well behaved schoolboy in my seat for ninety minutes I may as well save myself the money and watch the match in the comfort of my armchair at home on the internet for free. Alternatively I could go to the pub and spend the money I pay for a seat on a few drinks and watch it there. Of course I don’t want to do that but if I am continually controlled and stifled I may be left with no alternative.
I may add I am not a rowdy youth. I am fifty four years of age but part of MY match day experience is to stand, have a sing song and at times swear. Football is a release from the grind of day to day life as well as being a source of entertainment and this is part of that release. God knows for many years when the team was so bad it was our ONLY source of entertainment!
So….how about a letter to all season card holders in the South stand telling them that the club has chosen this stand as the ‘vocal’ stand where it wants our more vocal and passionate fans to gather. As a result there may be Persistent standing, loud chanting and singing and on occasion the odd swear word. Any fans who feel this is not for them can apply to relocate to another stand. If I remember rightly the South stand was advertised as ‘The area where our more vocal supporters want to gather and have a beer with their mates’’ anyway. So we are halfway there already. We get to to stand, have a laugh and let off steam and the moaning Minnie’s go somewhere where they can sit in peace and quiet.
I am forwarding a copy of this letter to Gary Cook also.
Yours faithfully,
P. Chapman, a supporter for forty four years.
I sit in block 119 of the South stand in row W and i also received one of these letters AFTER i had bought my season ticket.
This has been started by a woman [as someone else pointed out on here] who sits at the back of this block above me.She started last season,screaming out loud in a voice that would curdle milk and could probably be heard on the moon,''SIT DOWN WE CAN'T SEE!!''
As she sits right at the back and nobody stands on the four of five rows immediately in front of her i am a little suprised she can't see.She only started this shouting in the last four or five games,so i doubt she has sat there for years.I think we have only been at the new stadium 7-8 years so no one has sat in there for donkeys years as some posters wrongly stated.
I have written a letter to Mr Fletcher and i am also forwarding it to Gary Cook.It is reproduced below.
Dear Mr Fletcher,
Firstly I was dismayed to receive the letter about persistent standing sent to my address. You say the club has received numerous complaints about standing in the block I am seated, yet you don’t mention the block. Is this an add hoc letter sent to ALL supporters to discourage standing?
I have sat, or stood in the South stand for a number of years now. In my experience at least 70% of fans in this area appear to favour standing. It adds to the atmosphere and improves the match day experience for us, who are after all fans too.
I am well aware that we have all seated stadiums, wrongly in a lot of fans view, in light of the Taylor report after the Hillsborough disaster and the club has to follow that by law. Since it’s implication a large number of fans have lobbied the club since our Maine Road days to allow us one stand where this could be relaxed and to help improve the atmosphere. The club has failed to do this, though as you rightly say there has been a certain relaxation in areas of the South stand, for which we are grateful.
As the club has moved people without appeal to accommodate families in the North stand, could they not move the small but vocal and persistent moaners in the South stand to somewhere more quiet and where everyone sits down in an orderly fashion? If I am to sit like a well behaved schoolboy in my seat for ninety minutes I may as well save myself the money and watch the match in the comfort of my armchair at home on the internet for free. Alternatively I could go to the pub and spend the money I pay for a seat on a few drinks and watch it there. Of course I don’t want to do that but if I am continually controlled and stifled I may be left with no alternative.
I may add I am not a rowdy youth. I am fifty four years of age but part of MY match day experience is to stand, have a sing song and at times swear. Football is a release from the grind of day to day life as well as being a source of entertainment and this is part of that release. God knows for many years when the team was so bad it was our ONLY source of entertainment!
So….how about a letter to all season card holders in the South stand telling them that the club has chosen this stand as the ‘vocal’ stand where it wants our more vocal and passionate fans to gather. As a result there may be Persistent standing, loud chanting and singing and on occasion the odd swear word. Any fans who feel this is not for them can apply to relocate to another stand. If I remember rightly the South stand was advertised as ‘The area where our more vocal supporters want to gather and have a beer with their mates’’ anyway. So we are halfway there already. We get to to stand, have a laugh and let off steam and the moaning Minnie’s go somewhere where they can sit in peace and quiet.
I am forwarding a copy of this letter to Gary Cook also.
Yours faithfully,
P. Chapman, a supporter for forty four years.