The Lower Grounds Matchday experience

[Rugeley Villa]

12 minutes ago, blandy said:

The number of seats in the stadium and the capacity for premier league games are not the same. The capacity is just shy of 42000 I think. Was just over, last season, but some seats have been lost to facilities for wheelchair users.  When you exclude the “no view” seats in the corner of the lower Holte, segregation seating, seats just by the dugout…that brings it all down to the 42k, so the empty spaces in those 2 blocks were the bulk of the unused seating today.

It’s all been badly implemented and badly handled, IMO.  It is probably necessary, given the way the league is going and the new FFP rules, but at the moment the club’s messaging and communication leaves a lot to be desired.

Agree with what you’re saying Bland . Those two big blocks of empty seats in Doug Ellis and Trinity were the bulk of what was unsold because of the lower grounds fiasco . It needs sorting because as you say it’s a mess .

[Rugeley Villa]

1 minute ago, Stephen_Evans said:

But there were plenty of season ticket holder returns available when I checked.  This initiative hasn’t stopped anyone going to the game today.

Yes there was a few hundred returns because of rail strikes I assume. A lot of them weren’t sold so as you say there was tickets for your normal fan to purchase today. Definitely didn’t sell out today that’s for sure and I think we were just shy of selling out v palace too although palace had about 600 empty seats .

[Brumstopdogs]

 

[jones1328]

19 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

 

That looks absolutely soulless. 

[blandy]

50 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Purslow before he left...bastard!

 

(I am joking)

The Terrace view was Purslow. At best the lower grounds was an as yet to be implemented plan from Purslow and at worst, yeah it was him, too.

That said, he and Heck are doing what they did/do under an overall objective set by the owners. And the owners are ok with it because UEFA and the PL set rules on finance which mean spending on the team is limited by how much revenue you can raise.

It’s this basic “chain” that isn’t understood as well as it might be by us lot. It’s where the club seriously needs to up its game in terms of explaining. I don’t think the club understands things from our perspective, so they can’t explain things in a way that connects with us.  As a result we feel miffed and the club feels we’re not grounded in reality. But neither is wholly justified. The onus is on the club to work smarter in their comms, but , well, “work in progress” is probably being kind to them from what I see.

[tomav84]

so you have to stay in your seat presumably? can't mill about, stand at the bar mingling with other fans? yeah seems pretty poor

[The Fun Factory]

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

Christ. Sounds like they've REALLY misunderstood the appetite for something like this. 

They've spent all that money and ended up with a big empty room, empty seats in a stand that 100% would have sold out and presumably had to chuck away a load of food. 

Not to mention the lost beer sales the old Holte Suite used to get through. 

Serves them right for the entirely underhand way of opening this. I hope it crashes and burns spectacularly.  A massive misreading of what the average holtender  wants, or they just ignored us. If we weren't doing so well on the pitch it would probably be kicking off more by now.

[Talldarkandransome]

38 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

 

Looks very convivial.

Saw loads of empty seats in Upper Doug, were they reserved for Lower Grounds? Couldn't see if the same was in Trinity as I was in that.

[It's Your Round]

Looks like college canteen. Terrible. Burgers and chips don’t count as street food just because they’re sold from greasy vans on the streets outside. 

[Talldarkandransome]

4 hours ago, sidcow said:

Those empty seats were weird. Definitely reserved blocks for something. But surely nothing to do with The Lower Grounds. The entrance to that doesn't come with a ticket does it?  The fee in just covers you to enter the area and have free food and drink. 

It does smack of a corporate failure somewhere though. 

Can either be ST bolt on or a one off which includes a ticket, which I'm fairly sure are in Upper Doug or Upper Trinity. Bonkers idea if it leaves empty seats, totally bonkers

[sidcow]

Be interested to see what would happen if they just charged a tenner to get in and you had to pay food and drink yourself. 

How much did it cost to get in to the old Holte Suite before? 

[punkymonkey666]

50 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

 

As someone who has never been in the old Holte Suite, how does this compare - for instance decor wise and "atmosphere" wise.

I could probably get £60 value out of the food and drink, especially if the "street food" was more Digbeth Dining Club and less the standard offal burgers.

[Brumstopdogs]

 

[nepal_villan]

Decor/Design looks terrible.  Hopefully it was done in a rush and it will improve. 

[chappy]

12 hours ago, sidcow said:

Be interested to see what would happen if they just charged a tenner to get in and you had to pay food and drink yourself. 

How much did it cost to get in to the old Holte Suite before? 

It was free. I would usually arrive 60-90 mins before kick off and often get food as well as 2-4 drinks depending on time of arrival. Then another drink at half time. So that’s £25-35 a match they’re not getting any more. The tables were usually full when I got there so presumably most arrived when it opened 3 hours before KO. I Imagine they’re not gonna make that much more out of the ST bolt on than they were - they want the one off tourist money.

[John]

15 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said:

I miss the balloons in the holte when the teams come out 

Quite a few of us moved to the Scottish Stand when the standing ended and most of us probably haven't got enough puff to blow them up anymore, they would just hit the roof too. Would be nice to see a new generation of fans start doing it again behind the goals, can't see the corporate clients being up for it though. 

[VillaChris]

On 30/09/2023 at 19:39, Brumstopdogs said:

 

I think that's a good point actually. It would work better as a Saturday half 5 v a Man. United, Arsenal or Liverpool. We usually play at least one of those teams in that time slot during a season so with 3pm Sat games on it would make a decent atmosphere. Same for Sunday half 4 games.

Does feel like we've done all this 12 months early.

Edit: Is that the game from the final day of last season on the screen in the first clip? I think that would be a good selling point actually. Let's say we're playing Man. United at half 4 later in the season and they announce last season's game would be shown in its entirety, I'd certainly want to watch it again.

There's potential in this but needs to be a fair bit of tweaking in the delivery. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by VillaChris

[PeterSw]

Also confirmation that it's actually unlimited alcohol too judging from the drinks menu 

[Villatillidie95]

Read online that there were chants/abuse aimed at fans entering the lower grounds after the game on Sat...

[brommy]

21 minutes ago, PeterSw said:

Also confirmation that it's actually unlimited alcohol too judging from the drinks menu 

They'll be hoping fans tuck in to the ice cream and pick 'n' mix soon after the savoury food. I can't be the only bloke who struggles to continue drinking beer after having something sweet.