If we stay up... Give us the family stand back.

[Doakes]

I think the idea is good in theory but not sure it would work in practise... If you've been in W7 recently you'll know what I mean, police like to stand and stare at people, increased searches on the way in. I'm not sure parents would enjoy taking their weans through a search point where the police can be pretty aggressive, also horses have been known to bang into people. You'd need separate access doors for each section. Also a few of the songs ain't "family friendly", and being in the family stand won't stop people singing them. Doubt a lot of the boys would be keen to move from W7, atmosphere is good in there, banter is good with away fans.

[BuddieinEK]

I think the idea is good in theory but not sure it would work in practise... If you've been in W7 recently you'll know what I mean, police like to stand and stare at people, increased searches on the way in. I'm not sure parents would enjoy taking their weans through a search point where the police can be pretty aggressive, also horses have been known to bang into people. You'd need separate access doors for each section. Also a few of the songs ain't "family friendly", and being in the family stand won't stop people singing them. Doubt a lot of the boys would be keen to move from W7, atmosphere is good in there, banter is good with away fans.

Why separate access doors for fellow St Mirren fans?
I really don't see the need there?

I'd rather have a family section available at every game than a hit or miss family stand on selected matches only.

Sure there are lots of police... When opposing fans are so close, the police and stewards are always going to be ready to respond.

I see real merit in Oaksoft's suggestion.

Ironically, If it was rejected out of hand, I see that being due to complaints from West stand season ticket holders not wanting to share facilities rather than the W7 crew

The W7 crew's primary aim is to encourage the team vocally.

Surely that can be done from any area of the ground?

[TPAFKA Jersey 2]

3 hours ago, oaksoft said:

I think the key to this is having an arrangement which fills the South stand but it would of course require the agreement of existing season ticket holders in both W6/7 and in the South Stand. The gain for W6/7 would be financial for that first year but I think it gives them an opportunity to seriously affect (n a very positive way) the next generation of fans. I don't mean that in a patronising way either. I genuinely think this idea might be welcomed by our players as well to be playing straight at a full stand full of noise, flags and colour.

At least the idea has something of a long term solution about it. We may need to compromise a little financially in the short term but better spending by Gus and OK compared to previous regimes would sort that out. Also, as my figures showed, the loss wouldn't really be substantial anyway so the risk is fairly minimal.

I like your thinking here but I only have two personal reservations.

Being old school I kinda like the idea of the singng section being next to the away fans. I think it helps the atmosphere and I never did like the idea of having away fans in the west stand. 

Also whilst hearing swearie words never ruined my life when I was growing up, I think modern day parents have a different view on this and may object. 

Ironically my middle daughter (now 24) at the age of about 7, heard her first “c**t” in the family stand at Love Street! 

Edited April 9, 2019 by TPAFKA Jersey 2

[oaksoft]

2 hours ago, Doakes said:

I think the idea is good in theory but not sure it would work in practise... If you've been in W7 recently you'll know what I mean, police like to stand and stare at people, increased searches on the way in. I'm not sure parents would enjoy taking their weans through a search point where the police can be pretty aggressive, also horses have been known to bang into people. You'd need separate access doors for each section. Also a few of the songs ain't "family friendly", and being in the family stand won't stop people singing them. Doubt a lot of the boys would be keen to move from W7, atmosphere is good in there, banter is good with away fans.

 

13 minutes ago, TPAFKA Jersey 2 said:

I like your thinking here but I only have two personal reservations.

Being old school I kinda like the idea of the singng section being next to the away fans. I think it helps the atmosphere and I never did like the idea of having away fans in the west stand. 

Also whilst hearing swearie words never ruined my life when I was growing up, I think modern day parents have a different view on this and may object. 

Ironically my middle daughter (now 24) at the age of about 7, heard her first “c**t” in the family stand at Love Street! 

I'd like to think that these issues could be resolved amicably between the club and the fans if there was sufficient will to end the problem of the OF being given both stands behind the goals. People need to ask themselves whether the current situation is sustainable and whether there is a better solution.

In an ideal world, I think it would be great if the W6/7 guys suggested it to the club first but it doesn't affect me so I can't try to force the issue.

[proudtobeabuddy]

10 hours ago, cockles1987 said:

20 hours ago, proudtobeabuddy said:

I still maintain that in the long term we are in danger of  of alienating the present fans who attend the family stand and discouraging future fans. Those who are pondering who to follow will instead prefer to watch the big teams in Glasgow  because we act like a wee diddy club who are reliant on the big clubs cash.

What we don't know is the amount of families that benefited from the arrangement because they wouldn't have attended a game involving two Glasgow clubs with children.

Agreed, we don't know that and we're less likely to encourage them to come if we give their stand away to the OF for the "extra money".

[Wendy Saintss]

If everyone boycotted games against the OF them change would be forced

We need a new league without the OF

Every Saints fan that attends games against OF is supporting the OF and sectarianism

Hang your heads in shame

[proudtobeabuddy]

If there's a real possibility in future of increasing the capacity i'd rather not give it to away fans first, please your own first and then if we can do both ends...it's all good.

[proudtobeabuddy]

3 hours ago, cockles1987 said:

I take it you don't remember the 80's and 90's when we did it.

I know I hated it when I wasn't allowed to goto a game involving them, but it certainly never put me off to goto the next game against whoever.

I don't believe there's a single bud that wants to give up a seat never mind a stand to them.

I certainly do know that GLS and the board would love it if there was enough buds filling the three stands and they didn't have to make such a decision.

We'll never know the actual figure that was made because there's so many whatabouts senarios.

Rant over.
 

Yes i do. i've been going since 1979 so i do remember how much worse it was then with casuals thrown into the bargain. I didn't like it then and i was a child so i'm hardly going to think it's a good thing now. Also it was a different ground back then with a higher capacity and for some of the era we were in substantial debt so we really did need their money. It obviously didn't put me off if i'm still going 40 years later but that doesn't mean i'm going to agree with those who think money is the be all and end all in this scenario, IMO it's not and long term could be  detrimental policy in regards to encouraging future generations to support teams like St Mirren. I grew up spoilt for the first 12 years of going to the football, we played in Europe and won cups, now we are considered a diddy team, doesn't mean we have to act like one when the OF stroll into town.

[Dirty Sanchez]

We only allocated the Old Firm both ends of Love Street from 1987-1992, and never since.

The rest of the time it was just unofficially full of them at both ends, with no segregation at the LoveStreet end.

[Hambud]

I would suggest that we move W6 and W7 to the Family stand permanently and then when the OF, Killie, Hearts, Hibs etc. come to town, nobody gets moved at all and we use these areas as overflow only.

So we move two sections to stop people getting moved, seems like the only sensible solution. [emoji848]

[BuddieinEK]

So we move two sections to stop people getting moved, seems like the only sensible solution. [emoji848]

I would class W6 and W7 as one section.

If that saves a whole stand being moved, then yes, it IS potentially a sensible solution.

Easy to diss an idea.

Any counter proposals?

[oaksoft]

6 hours ago, Hambud said:

 

So we move two sections to stop people getting moved, seems like the only sensible solution.
 

Yes. We move two sections once to permanently solve the problem of moving people three times per season.

I can understand people not wanting to do that but are you seriously struggling to understand the concept?

[FTOF]

I think that this has been debated to death (yet again).

However, I'll leave you with this quote below from another thread.

Quote

When did our country start becoming a nation of people endlessly whining about their lot in life?

 

Edited April 10, 2019 by FTOF

[oaksoft]

4 hours ago, FTOF said:

I think that this has been debated to death (yet again).

However, I'll leave you with this quote below from another thread.

 

And I was right too.

No harm in discussing problems and potential solutions though.

[proudtobeabuddy]

On the whole i don't count myself in the whining about absolutely everything bracket. However when it comes to something like this, which i think is wrong, you can call it whatever you like if it floats your boat.

[FTOF]

2 hours ago, oaksoft said:

And I was right too.

No harm in discussing problems and potential solutions though.

Whilst "whining" about the board's actions.

[Sweeper07]

1 hour ago, proudtobeabuddy said:

On the whole i don't count myself in the whining about absolutely everything bracket. However when it comes to something like this, which i think is wrong, you can call it whatever you like if it floats your boat.

I will not point the finger at anyone who has posted their fair and honest opinion on this or any topic. What would be helpful though it to get some facts from the club. Can SMiSA get us some answers? Then we could argue with a more informed perspective and have a better understanding on the thoughts, practice and results of these "trials".

I do think that it is about more than money, and so I am unsure how you quantify all of that without actually engaging with the fans who will never go to an OF game, the ones who opt out for any reason (huff, fear, don't want to see us beaten or whatever) and whether there is a better long term solution to avoid shifting fans from their seats.

e.g. Should the OF games be part of the season ticket? How many fans would want this and how many would not?

Good management would seek out answers and be happy to inform the customers about why their actions were best for the club etc. They have nothing to hide and even though some will never agree with whatever decisions are made, at least there would be decent interaction between management and fans... The current BOD lot are pretty good at this kind of thing - don't you think?  

[oaksoft]

4 hours ago, FTOF said:

Whilst "whining" about the board's actions.

No I am not.

[kevo_smfc]

On 4/9/2019 at 11:43 AM, TPAFKATS said:

On 4/9/2019 at 7:42 AM, kevo_smfc said:

Yes. 

Cheers kevo. Wonder what state they are in now after the old firm fannies have been in the stand.

Hopefully still intact, A lot of work went into those.

[proudtobeabuddy]

16 hours ago, Sweeper07 said:

I will not point the finger at anyone who has posted their fair and honest opinion on this or any topic. What would be helpful though it to get some facts from the club. Can SMiSA get us some answers? Then we could argue with a more informed perspective and have a better understanding on the thoughts, practice and results of these "trials".

I do think that it is about more than money, and so I am unsure how you quantify all of that without actually engaging with the fans who will never go to an OF game, the ones who opt out for any reason (huff, fear, don't want to see us beaten or whatever) and whether there is a better long term solution to avoid shifting fans from their seats.

e.g. Should the OF games be part of the season ticket? How many fans would want this and how many would not?

Good management would seek out answers and be happy to inform the customers about why their actions were best for the club etc. They have nothing to hide and even though some will never agree with whatever decisions are made, at least there would be decent interaction between management and fans... The current BOD lot are pretty good at this kind of thing - don't you think?  

I think the current BOD have done a great job so far but this is one  decision that in this case they have got wrong, however, that's just my opinion. I agree with you about encouraging the club to interact more with the fans for this particular, highly emotive subject.

[bazil85]

On 4/9/2019 at 6:54 PM, proudtobeabuddy said:

If there's a real possibility in future of increasing the capacity i'd rather not give it to away fans first, please your own first and then if we can do both ends...it's all good.

Is there any real requirement to increase home ends first or is there likely to be in the near future? The ground hasn’t sold out in the home end (to the best of my knowledge) 

if the option to extend comes up, surely it should be the stand most likely to sell out? 

[proudtobeabuddy]

2 hours ago, bazil85 said:

Is there any real requirement to increase home ends first or is there likely to be in the near future? The ground hasn’t sold out in the home end (to the best of my knowledge) 

if the option to extend comes up, surely it should be the stand most likely to sell out? 

As others have indicated i'd offer incentives such as very cheap season tickets to children or BOGOF. We need to be looking at ways to increase our support, getting them there in the first place is a start and hopefully most of them get the bug and keep coming.

[bazil85]

3 minutes ago, proudtobeabuddy said:

As others have indicated i'd offer incentives such as very cheap season tickets to children or BOGOF. We need to be looking at ways to increase our support, getting them there in the first place is a start and hopefully most of them get the bug and keep coming.

We do free kids tickets already under deals when parents buy and do a number of incentives throughout the year yet we still never come close to selling out. It's a fine line but regardless of the best efforts to increase crowds we're miles away from regularly taken the 7,000+ likely needed to make extending home stands needed. 

Our crowds are way up this year (highest ever at the stadium) yet we still aren't close. I do feel, thinking we could get to a stage of selling out anytime soon is idealistic and as such away stand makes much more financial sense. Attendance Numbers below. 

2018/19 (this season): 5,295

2014/15: 3,906

2013/14: 4,511

2012/13: 4,389

2011/12: 4,493

2010/11: 4,450

2009/10: 4,414

2008/09: 5,411

2007/08: 4,548

2006/07: 5,381

[proudtobeabuddy]

4 hours ago, bazil85 said:

We do free kids tickets already under deals when parents buy and do a number of incentives throughout the year yet we still never come close to selling out. It's a fine line but regardless of the best efforts to increase crowds we're miles away from regularly taken the 7,000+ likely needed to make extending home stands needed. 

Our crowds are way up this year (highest ever at the stadium) yet we still aren't close. I do feel, thinking we could get to a stage of selling out anytime soon is idealistic and as such away stand makes much more financial sense. Attendance Numbers below. 

2018/19 (this season): 5,295

2014/15: 3,906

2013/14: 4,511

2012/13: 4,389

2011/12: 4,493

2010/11: 4,450

2009/10: 4,414

2008/09: 5,411

2007/08: 4,548

2006/07: 5,381

I get what your saying,. in hindsight we should have made the away stand a lot bigger.

[BuddieinEK]

Is there any real requirement to increase home ends first or is there likely to be in the near future? The ground hasn’t sold out in the home end (to the best of my knowledge) 
if the option to extend comes up, surely it should be the stand most likely to sell out? 

You really hate the idea of developing a youth support to sustain us going forward.

So blinkered and short term I almost think you want the club to die when you can no longer get along!