Just a change from the doom and gloom. Went into the Fanzone on Saturday. I thought it was pretty good. Certainly a good idea. Hopefully it will get better as it goes along too. It was great to see fans mixing with no problems at all. It will be interesting for the visit of the mags (will it be only home fans)? At least the club is trying to improve the match day experience. Much cheaper than improving the football on offer too ha ha! Although at £4 a pint we should be able to afford Messi! What did people think?
"It will be interesting for the visit of the mags (will it be only home fans)?" No . . . . they're not allowed to discriminate, so everyone will be welcome
looked a bit rubbish to me. one big bar, a few tables to stand around, a stage for music (before a match? i think not. more football, please) and a bouncy castle? WTF? the club would have been better off developing the area behind the swimming pool and the bank of the Wear into the 'fan zone'. Put some stairs and ramps up the bank for the fans (home and visiting) who walk along Wessington Way to get to the ground from the park and ride. surely this is an area where you want good natured mingling of home and away fans not 'one-last-pint-before-we-go-in-despite-having-already-had-a-few-in-town'. locating it at the opposite end of the site from the away fans tells me they don't want outsiders in there. Wherever they put it they should have more big screens than they do bouncy castles and karaoke machines that's for sure. £4 a pint? for the same swill they serve in the stadium? not a chance.
I had an argument with someone who said "Why didn;t they spend the money wasted on the fanzone on a player or put it towards one" when I said "The player sales and signing budget is completely different to this" he started shouting at me like he knew better! I explained that having the fanzone will mean that the club can write off money against the fanzone and it's creation - sort of like having a creative accountant who knows that we can spend £2m on the fanzone but write off £4m (That's basically one of the ways Man City/Chelsea etc work around the FFP) but that doesn;t matter to him so I'm a "useless thick c*nt" apparently! (****ing hate fans like that!) It was good for the kids with the "how hard can you kick it" and other things like that and the live music was canny too. I never drink at matches as I normally have to drive on the evening (and it's depressing enough without adding more depressants to your system!)
Landed there at 1pm, had a beer that had been already bought and then stood in a 19 deep queue for another, looking at bar-staff that looked as though they'd struggle to pour a glass of milk. Waited for 15 mins, moved about 6 foot so legged it to the club shop to buy my daughter the new away top. Stood in a queue for 20 mins and then was charged £44 for a age 7/8 without sponsors name. A very forgettable day for lots of reasons..
Not when you're used to paying two ****ing twenty it isn't. I don't get to many games & I wouldn't touch the slop the stadium serves up anyway so I dinnet really give a ****. If people want to be ripped off that's entirely up to them.
I got there about quarter past two and had a quick walk around to see if I could find you (I didn't have my phone). I was driving and going to work straight after the game so couldn't even have a pint. The only plus side of the day was bumping into Marcus in the queue to get into the ground..
It's set up for families I would say. A bit small but can be improved upon. There was plenty of Norwich fans mingling.
I think it has the potential to be good once it is up and running properly. Itll be ideal to go pre match with my lads when their older. They were people with Carling machines scattered round to save queuing up at the bar if you just wanted lager. I must've forgot to tell you that dad
You will get that with Norwich, wait till the pond-life come to town and there are lots, should prove to be a good battleground..
