Sensible, for once I will agree with you about some of the organisation at the club- it is hapless. Being retired/unemployed and needing a reason to get out of bed I 'volunteered' (or my wife said I wouldn't mind) to queue up for a couple of coach tickets this morning (yes they are on sale). Got to the club just before 11 and spent 90 mins in the queue.....reason , only one window open grrrr. I have no doubt whatsoever that all the small staff at the club have worked incredibly hard over the last few days /weeks to get the wembley arrangements in place, but for all their hard work surely it would have been obvious that there would be a large Q this morning as people panic about travel and they could have employed a couple of temp staff-I would have done it myself for free -cant take more than a couple of hours training . Typically the 2nd window opened just as I got to the front of the Q. As it is, job done and my wife's friends (both lovely nurses) are on coach 17. No idea how many coaches the club have been able to secure but it is obviously 'a lot'. On the plus side there are less than 150 match tickets left in the lower lever and tier 1 and the ticket site has just opened up the upper level. Think that means we have sold somewhere like 27000 tickets so far. It is going to be a cracking day out. Just hope my match tickets arrive before I head up north for the weekend next Thursday!
Think about it, they are selling coach seats only. Now what you do is give the cashier person a sheet of paper marked coach 1. They take £40 off somebody and write their name in seat one. They give the customer a bit of paper that says coach 1 seat one with advice to produce this on the day of travel. Repeat from one to fifty seats wise. They give coach one a list or copy of the page and on the day the driver looks at bit of paper with coach and seat number on it. Ask name and tick it off. Complete job done once repeated for coaches 1 to 99. There you go I've just spent the time it has taken to type this to think about how to do it.
I think that they have been slow to do anything. The main logistic problem would be how to get 25000 people from A to B and back. The rest would be assumed to make their own way by one method or another. There are probably 2 maybe 3 trains at a push you could rely on which would take around 3500. The point I'm getting at is coaches are reequired in numbers. They should have had every coach they could lay their hands on standing by for that day. If we didn't make it then it just gets binned and I'm certain the coach operators would have understood that arrangement. But, by having them on standby they could have been on offer from minute one and a lot of people would not have pannicked to get some sort of method of getting there and back. I suspect there are people who have spent more than they should making sure. It all just shows no forethought. It's like making the memberships live. They could have just done this automatically. Be honest none of it is rocket science is it and as a business person Brent ought to know how to run one.
You've forgotten to tell them what time the coach leaves sensible.....is Home Park the only pick-up stop or is there other pick-up stops.....how long do you wait for missing people.......and getting them all together to come home and to leave on time that is another problem....how do they find their coach amongst many.......glad I'm not involved.
Still don't know who we will be playing as it's just gone into extra time at 2 - 1 after the 90. I hope it goes to penalties even though there is a big recovery gap, Akinfenwa scored the Wimbledon goal. I really though he was finished to be honest but seems he has a few more goals in him yet.
Leaving time already notified. You give 15 minutes as you would for anything and if not there then the coach goes. As for at the other end you were told last time that you should be back at the coach, it's in a carpark next to the ground, a certain time after the final whistle. Again, if not there then you are walking home. As you spent numerous hours on the coach going it should not be difficult to identify it coming back. You got off in the carpark in position A and as long as they don't play carpark dodgems after then it will be where you left it. It really is simple plym. Would you know where you left your car?
Numbers for the two games Accie v Wim are around 9500. That compares with our numbers of about 32000. With the split of proceeds from gates it seems both Accie and Wimbledon keep all of their receipts and get a bit extra. Pompey and us pay the rest along with the 50% the FA snaffle. It's not very fair is it.
At this minute we are playing Wimbledon but there is still a half of extra time to go. Unlike lyndhurst I do have some sympathy for Accrington if they don't do a come back. They really were a good side down here and have been very good all season. Just dipped out on goal difference which is a shoker as we know historically. Watch this space.....................
Wow!!!!!! Hold the front page the lights have gone out apparently. Will this be abandoned??? Will we ever get to Wembley? Who was that electrician they saw scuttling away from the pilon????? Oh me god what am I saying......
From a numbers point of view there will be more there with Wimbledon and us than if Accrington had done it. I still have some sympathy though. So that's it for a week or so then.
They where our first game this season......we won 2-0 at their place....the first game I saw this season.....and we did it again a few weeks later.
They returned the compliment down here as well plym so I think it was honours even. Akinfenwa scored the winner after he had come on as sub. If I'm honest I don't really care who we play. You have to beat whoever is put in front of you to win out and at this stage nobody is easier that anyone else. I thought we did the really hard bit by beating Pompey. Despite that being a Wembley mass crowd day I would have worried about playing them there for sure. The best team will out on the day.
State of play on ticket sales as of this morning: http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Gre...-000-Wembley/story-29291717-detail/story.html I can't vouch for it, but I read that the 15,000 at Home Park on Sunday was 25% of Accrington's home attendances for the entire season. Perhaps it's just as well we are playing Wimbledon although I thought they looked the better side last night. We'll need to do better at stopping Akinfenwa than we did in the home league game... Another point on the quality of the Sky commentary, or rather the lack of it, who noticed at the end of the match the link man announced that Wimbledon would go to Wembley in the footsteps of the great Wimbledon legends of the past? I bet it went down really really well with the supporters of AFC Wimbledon that the had the honour of following the footsteps of FA Cup winners Wimbledon FC, which abandoned them for pastures new 13 years ago. Not like it's a sensitive issue is it?
Using GoS figures notdistant. Accrington S.....1,834 average home gate for season.....x23 = 42,182 for the whole season. Which means your 15,000 at Home Park on Sunday equates to 35% approx of Accrington's total seasons figure. Just for the record..... PAFC averaged 8,798 per league game x23 = 202,354 for the season....best for awhile. Accrington punching well above their weight if you take into account only their finances from gate receipts. Cannot remember, but have they another source of revenue....such as a rich owner....slips my mind at present.
Woop Woop....3 shiny tickets just dropped through the letterbox. Didn't realise when booked that we are in one of the 'Club Wembley' areas-no idea what this means really -probably just that the food and drinks will be twice as much!
I have mine too - four as my daughter's boyfriend is coming with us. It's a noble cause I'm fighting with him as although local, he's being led by family influence towards Premier League glory hunting with a team he hardly ever sees. I have dragged him along to Home Park 4 or 5 times this season and now to Wembley. We're in the Steerage Class next door to you so perhaps you could lob us a prawn sandwich or two? PS that's Steerage Class that costs more than twice what it does for an adult to go to Home Park BTW, and 3 times as much for the 2 under-18's, but what can you do? I wouldn't mind so much if the cash went to PAFC. PPS I've come down in the world as last time I saw Argyle at Wembley, I took my other half and a friend of hers who was a model at the time. Strange experience, we couldn't have got more attention than if we'd gone in Exeter City shirts. She was so tall, she'd have made a an excellent centre half.
Just looked it up Lindy.........a VIP area.....Exclusive membership seating on a private level....with bars etc to go with it....even special travel facilities to get there..........a package of at least twelve special events is generally part of the deal. Obviously this play-off match has opened it up to the riff raff for a change...enjoy the perks if you can afford it.
Yes , I've just had a look as well-had a slight panic as the website said that 'club colours' are not allowed in the club wembley area. Rang them up and they then said that because it is a segregated match its not a problem- could have saved me a phone call and put that on the website. On the plus side most of the club wembley facilities are open so might have have a spot of pre match lunch.
