A little of topic for this board but I thought I'd just ask a question of how the ticket collection goes on a regular Premier League fixture at the cottage? The reason I ask is that I decided to go to the Brazil Vs Ghana match on Monday night and to be quite frank it was a bloody shambles. I traveled down from Suffolk to visit some mates and take in the match. We got to the cottage at half 6, in plenty of time to collect our purchased tickets for a 7.45 ko but 2 hours and a few bruises later we got in missing the first 35-40 minutes with easily a few hundred still waiting to get in (if not more) the queuing system to collect tickets was ridiculous with two very small booths on the side of the ground. I've been to plenty of away matches following my team - Ipswich and find the electronic turnstiles as much a benefit as a hindrance. But having two staff manning the ticket collection seemed poor planning and the level frustration in the crowd queuing was bordering on dangerous with pockets of violence breaking out. I appreciate this was a unique match and obviously has different needs than a standard Prem match but I just wondered why there were so many issues given the 20+ games played at the cottage each year?
I was reading about the chaos on Monday earlier on, and I was very surprised. I've not heard of problems anything like this at the Cottage before now. Everything I've heard suggests that someone, somewhere made a complete pigs ear of the organisation for this one. I'm only glad that no one - as far as I've heard - got hurt, as it sounds like it was catastrophe waiting to happen. Some reports I've read have commented that the police were at times just standing by and watching the chaos rather than doing anything about it, whereas the club stewards were more proactive in trying to sort things out. Does that tally with your experience, King? The fact that this was a one-off type of match, rather than a Fulham home game, shouldn't come into it. In recent years we've hosted a number of similar games, so I can't see why anything about this one should have caught the club by surprise.
You're sort of right captain. The stewards were visible but they looked (at times) as bewildered as we were with the situation. Sort of understandable if it came completely out of blue, like you say there's rarely any incidents like this and caught everyone involved off guard. A women near me called the police because she couldn't move and was getting barged and shoved and they came in to get her out but they weren't really doing anything in terms of calming the flow... But that said they perhaps were not permitted or asked to act as crowd control more as a case of overseeing and stepping in incase of violence. I think the whole situation seemed to catch everyone involved off guard really, which did surprise me with Fulham being a well established Premier League team. Also it is the same for league games that the ticket collection booth is the one behind the Johnny Haynes stand? This seemed quite small and definitely unable to cope with the demand On a more positive note, I liked the cottage as a ground as it was my first visit and this hasn't put me off visiting again.... That is if Ipswich manage to get themselves into the Prem... Or if you get relegated, but I would much prefer the first.
Never had any problems since we've been in the Prem. And welcome to the Cottage listed as one of the 10 Greatest Grounds in the World by the Times a couple of Seasons back. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6789326.ece
