Club's Attitude To Family Stand & Gully's Gang

[Best Foot Forward]

I really don't understand some people....

I take my two sons (ages 9 and 6) to the family stand and they absolutely love it. They go to watch a football match and support their team (be good if everyone did!!). They meet up with their friends whilst the dads have a pre match pint or two, and this adds to the pre match atmosphere. I pop into a newsagent on the way to the ground and buy them each some sweets for half time which they enjoy. They watch the premier league game on the concourse TV's. Yesterday the pre match entertainment was a bonus, and is not expected every week (if at all). They will ocassionally get a bit wet on the way to the ground, at the ground, or on the way home, and I have been wise enough to buy them coats with hoods. When we get home they read through the programme

Maybe my boys are easily pleased....or perhaps they are just proper football fans

 

[Ninja Elephant]

people blindly jump to the defence of the club £5 pound for sweets is not a rip off its out and out robbery
as is paying £55 for a shoddy replica shirt that falls to piece's within a month im in agreement with the op i think there are quite a few things that need to be sorted out But as soon as someone posts on here everyman and his dog jumps on their back
I for one wil lnot be buying my son another brighton replica shirt next season

It's funny, a lot of people moan about shirt quality, and yet I've managed to keep all of mine intact for the last 10 years. Must be a miracle.

 

[Stat Brother]

people blindly jump to the defence of the club £5 pound for sweets is not a rip off its out and out robbery
as is paying £55 for a shoddy replica shirt that falls to piece's within a month im in agreement with the op i think there are quite a few things that need to be sorted out But as soon as someone posts on here everyman and his dog jumps on their back
I for one wil lnot be buying my son another brighton replica shirt next season

What have you done about this?
Have you spoken to the club?
Did you request a replacement?
Or are you just bleating on from behind your keyboard.

Our shirts have been to hell and back and are all still fine and dandy.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Hello Everybody,

This is my first ever posting, so please be gentle!

As a supporter of many years, the response to a question recently asked by Return of the Rev, on "Ask the club" has angered me enough to write now.

When asked about our younger supporters Insider dismissed his question by saying "the family stand is family friendly, and there is artwork and a sweetstall".

With respect, either he is not a parent or he has not been in the East Stand on a matchday.

The poster was correct in saying that the concourse is like a pub. As soon as we enter the turnstile, we are faced with large amount of men standing around drinking, which is very ironic given that as the poster also mentioned children are not allowed in Dick's Bar.

Yes there is some amazing artwork in the stand, but I had to go on a tour to see it. Normally, understandably fans stand in front of the artwork eating and drinking.

As for the sweetstall, they have to be joking. We all know that this was supposed to be a betting outlet which again seemed inappropiate for a family area. Now it is a sweetstall, the club is ripping off parents by charging high prices for their fayre. The children pester, the adults pay.

£2 for a bottle of drink, £5 for a plastic (not even glass) jar of mini football chocolates, £1.99 for a small bar of chocolate. Surely they must be joking!

Yesterday's efforts with the juggler and funny linesmen were to be commended, but lets be blunt for a family day it did not amount to much.

If the club is serious about investing in its future fans, then to put it simply it needs to properly invest in its young fans, not take them for granted.

I mean this in the way that in the past when we were desperate for young blood, the kids were given sports bags, baseball caps, watches. Now that they are tied in, this year they got a pencil, stickers, notepad and a fixture list! Sum total, about 50p each if that.

To cap things off nicely, at Withdean we used to get soaked, but then we all did. Now in a £105M stadium, against West Ham, we got absolutely soaked still. Why? How?

If we want to keep 10,000 young fans, we need to do better, otherwise we will have to do it all over again in the future.

After leaving the Goldstone a whole generation was lost. If the club is not careful all its efforts through Dick Knight in recent years will be wasted as new fans become disenchanted.

(An incensed season ticket holder in the family stand)

4 of those men would be me and 3 other Dad's. Our kids happily pile down the front of the East Stand to meet Gully while we enjoy a pre match pint (or 2). We generally bring our own popcorn, fruit, crisps, snacks etc. for the kids, so have rarely gone to the sweet shop. Our kids aged 4 - 7 love the family stand, love going to the football, have started singing at the games and having a great time. A few of them turning 7 have had their brand new replica shirts free from the club for their birthday. We've being loving the whole experience as have the kids.

The cost of sweets and stuff is probably cheaper than the cinema for comparison, and the Odeon didn't have any jugglers last time I looked.

I'm left completely perplexed by your post I really am. I think you must be on a wind up, or so detached from reality you've been living in a shoe.

 

[Stat Brother]

BOZZA - mod's in general.

Can this thread be included in the OP ATC original question.

I personally wouldn't want that to be the impression given from the family stand, but also don't want to clog up ATC, with this ungrateful bollox.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I really don't understand some people....

I take my two sons (ages 9 and 6) to the family stand and they absolutely love it. They go to watch a football match and support their team (be good if everyone did!!). They meet up with their friends whilst the dads have a pre match pint or two, and this adds to the pre match atmosphere. I pop into a newsagent on the way to the ground and buy them each some sweets for half time which they enjoy. They watch the premier league game on the concourse TV's. Yesterday the pre match entertainment was a bonus, and is not expected every week (if at all). They will ocassionally get a bit wet on the way to the ground, at the ground, or on the way home, and I have been wise enough to buy them coats with hoods. When we get home they read through the programme

Maybe my boys are easily pleased....or perhaps they are just proper football fans

Exactly the same. For an opening 3 months it's been amazing, some teething problems, but overall amazing.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

I don't understand what the problem is. Did you go to the Goldstone as a kid? Were you given sweets there? Did you stay completely dry?

I don't get it, as I kid I was hooked by the atmosphere and the football, not because the club gave me a baseball cap or there was a sweet stall. Quite how you can be 'incensed' by this I really don't understand. Either kids like the football, or they don't. I don't see how bribing them with sweets etc is going to make any difference to whether they become lifelong fans or not.

kids expect too much these days and usually get it which isn't doing anyone any favours in the long run

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It's funny, a lot of people moan about shirt quality, and yet I've managed to keep all of mine intact for the last 10 years. Must be a miracle.

The kids in my family have outgrown theirs and they've been passed on to another family. Maybe macky doesn't know how to wash them properly.

 

[Sallys Pigtails]

i went to the goldstone as a kid and also selhurst,i dreamed of a new albion ground so we could have the family friendly social club that they had! 100 million pounds later and we are way behind cardiff and even swindon with providing facilities for our younger fans! WHAT WAS THE POINT OF BUILDING UP THE JUNIOR MEMBERSHIP JUST TO ABANDON THEM WHEN WE HAVE A PRODUCT TO SELL THEM!

At last! A poster who has actually read my original post.

In summary, what I am saying is that a fan of 30 yrs, and now a parent, we either embrace our young blood that we have worked hard for or lose them to other distractions in today's world.

To the incredibly smart people on here, who have belittled some of my comments,
1) nobody can tell me why it is OK for kids to watch grown ups drink but kids are not allowed in Dick's Bar,
2) why have a sweetstall if like one poster you have to sway your children away from it (its meant to be a sweetstall for gods sake!)
3) yesterday's entertainment, supposed to be part of the Football League's intiative not the club's, was actually pretty poor
4) no where in the ground can you buy chips, a child staple, and they have stopped vans filling this void outside the ground.
5) if the club was really serious about its youngsters, and not just trying to bleed them financially dry, £29.99 for a child's shirt, over priced sweets (Yes, I repeat £1.99 for a sixty pence bar of chocolate with a seagull badge on it, shame on you), it would have researched other clubs like Cardiff, but they didn't.

With a brand new state of the art stadium, opened in the 21st century, where fans still get wet on an average night because the stand was not built big enough, there is absolutely no vision for the retainment of the fans of the future. If I think like this after 30 years of following the Albion, with blue & white running through my veins, what are all the JCL's thinking?

Only time will tell who was right.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

At last! A poster who has actually read my original post.

In summary, what I am saying is that a fan of 30 yrs, and now a parent, we either embrace our young blood that we have worked hard for or lose them to other distractions in today's world.

To the incredibly smart people on here, who have belittled some of my comments,
1) nobody can tell me why it is OK for kids to watch grown ups drink but kids are not allowed in Dick's Bar,
2) why have a sweetstall if like one poster you have to sway your children away from it (its meant to be a sweetstall for gods sake!)
3) yesterday's entertainment, supposed to be part of the Football League's intiative not the club's, was actually pretty poor
4) no where in the ground can you buy chips, a child staple, and they have stopped vans filling this void outside the ground.
5) if the club was really serious about its youngsters, and not just trying to bleed them financially dry, £29.99 for a child's shirt, over priced sweets (Yes, I repeat £1.99 for a sixty pence bar of chocolate with a seagull badge on it, shame on you), it would have researched other clubs like Cardiff, but they didn't.

With a brand new state of the art stadium, opened in the 21st century, where fans still get wet on an average night because the stand was not built big enough, there is absolutely no vision for the retainment of the fans of the future. If I think like this after 30 years of following the Albion, with blue & white running through my veins, what are all the JCL's thinking?

Only time will tell who was right.

chips a childs staple diet .......... you couldn't make it up !!!!!

 

[Bold Seagull]

At last! A poster who has actually read my original post.

In summary, what I am saying is that a fan of 30 yrs, and now a parent, we either embrace our young blood that we have worked hard for or lose them to other distractions in today's world.

To the incredibly smart people on here, who have belittled some of my comments,
1) nobody can tell me why it is OK for kids to watch grown ups drink but kids are not allowed in Dick's Bar,
2) why have a sweetstall if like one poster you have to sway your children away from it (its meant to be a sweetstall for gods sake!)
3) yesterday's entertainment, supposed to be part of the Football League's intiative not the club's, was actually pretty poor
4) no where in the ground can you buy chips, a child staple, and they have stopped vans filling this void outside the ground.
5) if the club was really serious about its youngsters, and not just trying to bleed them financially dry, £29.99 for a child's shirt, over priced sweets (Yes, I repeat £1.99 for a sixty pence bar of chocolate with a seagull badge on it, shame on you), it would have researched other clubs like Cardiff, but they didn't.

With a brand new state of the art stadium, opened in the 21st century, where fans still get wet on an average night because the stand was not built big enough, there is absolutely no vision for the retainment of the fans of the future. If I think like this after 30 years of following the Albion, with blue & white running through my veins, what are all the JCL's thinking?

Only time will tell who was right.

You've got an ally in Return of the Rev, God help you!!

 

[the wanderbus]

The Albion is a football club, you buy your season ticket to watch the Albion play and that's it whether you are 6 or 60. If you want clowns , jugglers, happy meals or other such shite then f*** off somewhere else that caters for such crap.

f*** me, a £100million ground playing some of the best football we have seen in years and morons still complain.

Bang on, what a load of gibbering dribble the original post is, if you don't like the price of chocolate buy it elsewhere, if you don't like to see people having a relaxing drink don't look & if you don't like what the club does for your kids find another way of entertaining them.We all know that no club is perfect but complaining about something BHA does very well, especially seeing as its free, is absolute bollocks

people blindly jump to the defence of the club £5 pound for sweets is not a rip off its out and out robbery
as is paying £55 for a shoddy replica shirt that falls to piece's within a month. I for one wil lnot be buying my son another brighton replica shirt next season

Bloody hell they must have seen you coming, £55 for a shirt? I thought the most expensive adult shirt was £49.99 & even that has now been reduced by a tenner.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

chips a childs staple diet .......... you couldn't make it up !!!!!

Imagine a deep fat fryer in the concourses. 'Elf & Safety nightmare. Chip vans cannot clog up the car parks as the traffic is bad as it is. Surely on a Sunday (or a Sat for that matter) afternoon the kids have had their lunch. Bring some sweets with you as has been suggested before. If the club can't sell their overpriced sweets they'll either bring the price down or stop selling them. I agree with the poster that said the sweets are cheaper than the cinema prices.

 

[Working class pride]

I can understand those that are fed up with parents who bring their kids up to think they are special little darlings that need free sweets and then wonder why the kids grow up to think the world owes them a living. However, the kids are the future and they are customers, as such the club has to think how theu can attract and keep a customer. As ever there is a balance to be had, and if a free packet of buttons helps makes a kid a fan for life, then that is a great investment.. especially as with an advertising deal the buttons would be free anyway. After all it doesn't really matter what you hand a kid, its the opening the bag that they really enjoy.

 

[matt]

It's a shambles. I took my daughter to the family stand and there weren't even any 3D glasses - WTF IS GOING ON?!

 

[the wanderbus]

chips a childs staple diet .......... you couldn't make it up !!!!!

Someone should grass her to Jamie fat tongue Oliver!

 

[cloud]

I signed up my son to Gully's Gang and he was really looking forward to it. Well, after 6 weeks I had heard nothing and got in touch with the club again, and after 8 weeks we have now just received the pack. That's a long time for a child to have to wait .. in that length of time, he could become a Man City supporter!

Funnily enough I have been doing some work with other football and rugby clubs assessing how child-friendly they are. When I took my son to the rugby they did face painting, balloons, bouncy castle and all that malarkey, but when I asked him what the best part was, he said it was watching the game and watching the players warm up. I certainly wouldn't want (or expect) sweet stands - just somewhere to buy a snack at half time would be fine.

 

[Sallys Pigtails]

chips a childs staple diet .......... you couldn't make it up !!!!!

Show me one kid, never mind adult, who does not eat chips. If it is good enough for our continential cousins, it is good enough for Albion fans. Moron!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Show me one kid, never mind adult, who does not eat chips. If it is good enough for our continential cousins, it is good enough for Albion fans. Moron!

6 posts in and name calling already!

 

[CheeseRolls]

Sally please tell, what is it that Cardiff have done that has so impressed you.

Kids are barred from Dick's bar because many adults do not want to be bothered by other people's poorly behaved children, charging around and screaming. As a parent and a beer drinker I am fine with that.
Chips - and you have a problem with men drinking beer ?? For three hours a week kids are in a chip free environment and you think this is a problem ? Now that I think is really wierd, sorry.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk