The problem is where will the 3-4k (reality is you’ll probably get a bumper attendance first game fans are allowed back in post covid) go before and after kick off?
The George will likely still be shut or advised to close on matchday, same with the hotel and then you add in all those who’d normally drink in the centre and train it in (or just park at Tame Bridge Parkway like I do). Add in the mad ticket queues half an hour before kick off (that’s something that is well overdue needed to sort out regardless of the virus eh @P.T?).
Unless you give info on website for staggered stand opening times I’m not sure how social distancing would work outside the ground in build up to kick off.
I’d be pretty surprised if crowds are let in before 2020 is out. Really hope I’m wrong.
I think the first time I am back there watching football won’t be for six months and it will be season ticket holders only with no away fans and no kiosks open.
That will mean about 2,500 of us - a number that will have been agreed with both the EFL and council as suitable for our stadium and the surrounding population. It may also involve two out of every three seats being taped off.
And that could work as an interim solution for us.
A huge leap however to my two nearest league grounds - Everton and Liverpool. 45-55,000 people congregating in stadia that are crammed into the middle of densely populated areas feels years away.
Lets hope by then with track and trace in place life can return to something like normal…if it doesn’t then I think the rise in mental illness will be huge. Some people are finding it hard at the moment.I am one of them…no children, no grandchildren, no church, no football, no summer sport either watching or participating, no friends etc. Some people are happy being isolated but I am a social animal. My family and friends make my life worth living. As one expert put it recently the government and media have effectively"terrorised" people over this and the damage will be irreparable.
I agree mate. Some people are literally going out of their minds. Work, albeit from home, gives me a bit of structure so I’m not doing too bad at present.
If you’re struggling feel absolutely free to drop me a DM. Happy to talk either online or phone. Even if it is just the normal ■■■■■■■■ we all love chatting at the match, down the pub etc.
Did you get a letter saying you had to specifically self isolate W1? I’m guessing you’re over 70 so might’ve been on the list.
My Dad is over 70 and has a dodgy prostate so I ask him and he didn’t have a clue if he had the letter but he spends his days happily locked in his shed building motorbikes from Royal Enfield spares so not hugely worried about him.
This all ends for over 70s in second week of June so I imagine it will be left up to individual to weigh up their own risk in venturing outside from that point.
Thanks for the offer…it is about the first time I wish I was back at work I am finding it difficult but what is really needed is some light at the end of tunnel. Perhaps the PM can help this evening by giving us all a plan for firstly easing the lockdown and secondly for restoring some degree of normality.
I am not holding my breath.
Thanks again for your kindness…
Yes I am over 70 but have no underlying health issues. Just before the lockdown I had all my bloods tested and everything is ok. That is partly my frustration . I am fit and healthy but cannot mix with my friends and do all the things I normally do except my garden which is looking at its best ever!
Good on yer dad…I have no practical skills at all!!!
The pubs, bars and kiosks will all be closed. So will the ticket office. If you haven’t got a season ticket you will have to try your luck over the phone and the few tickets that will be available will go quick and be posted out to the lucky ones. I imagine that season ticket holders would have their seats reassigned to accomodate social distancing. And you would have to be allocated an entry time and turnstile to enter the ground. It would be no good turning up at 5 to 3 and expecting to get in. Very different to what we’re used to I’m afraid.
Still can’t see it, what about those congregations at train stations etc, you also wouldn’t be able to enter and leave the ground without being in spitting distance of 100’s of others.
Genuinely hope I’m wrong but I don’t see this ending any time soon.
WHY NO MENTION OF THE RENT?
There’s something that’s been bugging me ever since Leigh Pomlett took over the reins at WFC, I’ve just revisited that ‘interview’ and now re read all of the Pomlett articles; Express and Star and press releases including a bit of research into our ‘new chairman’ his history, businesses and financial dealings [all in the Public domain and freely accessible] and I’m afraid it’s not good news as far as I’m concerned for Walsall FC.
It appears that the primary objective is to ensure that the rent is paid, nothing more nothing else.
So sorry about that folks absolutely nothing has changed apart from the Chairman’s name now steering us along a familiar path.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Slightly off here but this talk of a vaccine leading to a more normal life. We have a vaccine for the flu but look how many thousands die each year of it. Surely a lot of these people would have had the vaccine so will the vaccine help much?
As I’ve said on another thread, the silence on one of the biggest overheads is deafening. When the business that supports that rent is essentially mothballed it is also very puzzling.
I love what ISSA are doing and I’d happily help fund the skin for the bar if I knew that the landlord were being sympathetic. But £5,000 absolutely pales against the £9k per week in rent.
At least Bonser isn’t involved with the club any more. Instead of being the ■■■■ that shafted us to line his pockets paying himself, it’s our own club paying the evil landlord. big difference in my head.
Still doesn’t excuse the pension fund from not helping out. I’d hoped to hears news of this a long time ago, but Bonser’s showing his true colours. Grubber.
Yeah. Pomlett said when he took over he didn’t have the money at the moment to buy the ground and that the rent was a bigger issue than most people make out, that we actually pay a lot less than a lot of clubs at our level.
Not sure why people are expecting that to change because of Covid. What are they expecting him to say? “Hey everybody! Still can’t buy the ground”
Thing is if he stays silent we assume, or certainly I assume, that the landlord has made no offer of dispensation despite the business which occupies its premises being mothballed for reasons outside of its control.
Simultaneously, there is a plea to the customers of that business to effectively wipe away a sixth of the value of last years purchase and make a purchase this year based upon huge uncertainty. They are also working with its customer base to fund the improvement of the building.
As a customer and a supporter I want to know which entity I am providing lifeblood to. If I am keeping blood flowing towards the vampire then I’m not happy at all about putting my hand deeper into my pocket. If it is about keeping my football club alive then I’m in and will do more. I don’t see the club being able to keep paying its rent and it’s existence as mutually inclusive. I think the club could survive even if evicted. But for now, I just want to know if my money is going more directly than it ever has before (because the playing side and venue overheads have been all but mitigated) towards the pension of its former owner and his brother. Given that we are silent on this, I have to assume it is.
I am finding it difficult but what is really needed is some light at the end of tunnel. Perhaps the PM can help this evening by giving us all a plan for firstly easing the lockdown and secondly for restoring some degree of normality.