Commercial Activity

[Jamie_M]

1 hour ago, Toby said:

I also noted around 2pm when I went to the merchandise stall that kids were able to walk into the ground unsupervised by adults. I don’t object to this at all, quite the opposite in fact. But is this a policy that has been communicated or is consistently followed? I’ve not heard whether or not the weans are now allowed in without adult supervision. Are other kids being told they can’t go in at busier times?

The statement on Friday also mentioned under 12s:

 

CHILDREN UNDER 12 YEARS OLD
Children under the age of 12 years old should always have a responsible adult in attendance with them.

 

'Should' is a strange choice of word if the policy of 'must' remains.

 

[port-ton]

Heard earlier that the general manager has made the decision to remove ball boys and replace them with Morton in the community attendees. You can argue the fairness of that either way but the wee boy I know was absolutely gutted. Massive Morton fan who gets bought all the club strips and merchandise etc who absolutely loved his role and is now disenfranchised from the club. Losing loyal and valuable office staff, kit men and now ball boys since the arrival of Dale. Funny that. 

he was a media guy at his previous clubs and was brought in to do general manager duties with no experience in working in a  football department yet he couldn’t get his hands on doing player negotiations/recruitment and fluffing his CV quick enough while we go in to the first game of another season with the matchday experience a shambles again. 
 

Do your actual job Dale. 

 

[Deego]

14 minutes ago, port-ton said:

Heard earlier that the general manager has made the decision to remove ball boys and replace them with Morton in the community attendees. You can argue the fairness of that either way but the wee boy I know was absolutely gutted. Massive Morton fan who gets bought all the club strips and merchandise etc who absolutely loved his role and is now disenfranchised from the club. Losing loyal and valuable office staff, kit men and now ball boys since the arrival of Dale. Funny that. 

he was a media guy at his previous clubs and was brought in to do general manager duties with no experience in working in a  football department yet he couldn’t get his hands on doing player negotiations/recruitment and fluffing his CV quick enough while we go in to the first game of another season with the matchday experience a shambles again. 
 

Do your actual job Dale. 

 

Noticed Imrie shouting up and moaning to Dale about the ball boys not paying attention (and retrieving the ball quick enough) during one of the pre-season or cup games.

[Mr.Blue]

2 hours ago, Alibi said:

I would have bought an irn bru but they insisted it had to be poured into a paper cup so I declined. Takes 2 hands to eat a pie when it’s in a wee foil container and I don’t have 3 hands. I’ll remember to bring cash next game.

Hopefully you remember to bring cash which is no one else's responsibility but your own. 

[irnbru]

3 hours ago, Alibi said:

I would have bought an irn bru but they insisted it had to be poured into a paper cup so I declined. Takes 2 hands to eat a pie when it’s in a wee foil container and I don’t have 3 hands. I’ll remember to bring cash next game.

How did you expect the drink? 

[Deego]

5 minutes ago, irnbru said:

How did you expect the drink? 

Quite enjoying Irn Bru personally asking how they should be served here.

[The Bewilderedbeast]

Are all the drinks still being served in the large cups?

I bought a couple of drinks at the St Mirren game, one for a 7 year old and was given, and chrged for, a full cup. He was never going to drink it all and half of it got wasted.

Not a big deal I know, but just another one of those little annoying things.

 

Edit to add

I know if I'm given a full cup it should be paid for, no complaints on that score, but thought they should have large and small cups,  or even asked if it was a full cup I wanted.

Edited August 11 by The Bewilderedbeast

[TRVMP]

Just to pile on the catering - they opened a second window just before half time but relied on the steward to (unreliably) direct people towards it, Bovril was available but not on the tiny wee price list, and surely there must be a more efficient way of saying what's left in stock than waiting until people are at the front of the line then telling them one by one. Even if that results in people leaving the queue, it means a better experience for those remaining and reduces walk-aways at the front.

I've run concessions for events before, albeit measured in the mid-hundreds of attendees rather than the thousands. It's not easy. But you need to foresee issues like this. You need to make queueing extremely obvious, you need your price lists/menus to be extremely obvious, and any sold out items need to be immediately removed from those lists. It's just what people expect. 

[Alibi]

4 hours ago, Mr.Blue said:

Hopefully you remember to bring cash which is no one else's responsibility but your own. 

Yes, I intend to, as my last sentence says. Just seems a bit daft to require a minimum £5 spend. Never had a similar problem at away games.

[Tink]

4 days have passed since the poor organisation at the Hamilton game, and no apology, explanation, nor even acknowledgement of the issues from the club. For a GM with no experience in business management, but with apparent expertise in comms, it is not a good look. It seems that they are again taking fans for granted. A huge step backwards. 
The least we could expect would be a statement saying that things went wrong and we will do better next time. 

[HamCam]

Things will only get better is a common soundbite coming out of Cappielow. Alas the reality is very little changes to enhance the matchday experience. All the while the whine is - why are more people not attending?

[TONofmemories]

8 hours ago, Tink said:

4 days have passed since the poor organisation at the Hamilton game, and no apology, explanation, nor even acknowledgement of the issues from the club. For a GM with no experience in business management, but with apparent expertise in comms, it is not a good look. It seems that they are again taking fans for granted. A huge step backwards. 
The least we could expect would be a statement saying that things went wrong and we will do better next time. 

I wasn't there personally but what were the issues? As far as I seen, the turnstile issue and kiosk issue was called out in advance?

[Tink]

7 minutes ago, TONofmemories said:

I wasn't there personally but what were the issues? As far as I seen, the turnstile issue and kiosk issue was called out in advance?

The turnstile issues were announced shortly before kick off. These things can happen at any time, but they should be checked before match day. They may well have passed the test the day before and then crashed on match day, in which case it is just another in the long series of issues with them. 

I haven’t seen anything from the club about the catering issues. I waited in the cowshed queue at half time and there seemed to be a shortage of staff, as the line wasn’t moving. I was then advised that they had run out of pies and juice before half time. 

I didn’t see any programmes for sale, and have not seen anything from the club about this. I may have missed the programmes on the day, but others have commented on this too. There was also the inconsistency on the kids bringing their new flags into the stadium. They were given flags the week before, and then some were not allowed to bring them into Cappielow. 
I may have missed out some problems, but that was what I noted on Saturday.

[TONofmemories]

Was a genuine question as I wasn't there. To have a whole summer and not be remotely ready just smacks of incompetence 

[TonFan]

12 hours ago, Tink said:

I haven’t seen anything from the club about the catering issues. I waited in the cowshed queue at half time and there seemed to be a shortage of staff, as the line wasn’t moving. I was then advised that they had run out of pies and juice before half time. 
 

https://x.com/Morton_FC/status/1821886693206618180?t=9nSnqVv34bVHdLhI6i5S4g&s=19

 

Maybe you should read the articles they post.

[Toby]

2 hours ago, TonFan said:

https://x.com/Morton_FC/status/1821886693206618180?t=9nSnqVv34bVHdLhI6i5S4g&s=19

 

Maybe you should read the articles they post.

Maybe he should have.

But at the same time, a message about a one-off issue (we’ll wait and see if it is a one off issue) being stuck on the end of a fairly generic statement about procedures/codes of conduct, most of which is second nature to regular fans is going to slip under the radar for many, as their attention drifts.

If the club want to relay information that could prevent complaints because of the nature of the problem, they could make that particular issue far more prominent.

It’s one thing mentioning an issue, it’s another alerting people to it.

[Tink]

3 hours ago, TonFan said:

https://x.com/Morton_FC/status/1821886693206618180?t=9nSnqVv34bVHdLhI6i5S4g&s=19

 

Maybe you should read the articles they post.

I hadn’t seen this (my fault) but it doesn’t cover the circumstances presented on Saturday. I was not affected by some items not being available. I was affected by an apparent shortage of staff leading to long and slow-moving queues, and items selling out long before half time. Had they chosen, for example, to not sell pies then that would have been understandable given the statement. What happened was a failure to properly anticipate the demand. It’s not like we haven’t sold pies at Cappielow before. 

[The Bewilderedbeast]

1 hour ago, Tink said:

 I was affected by an apparent shortage of staff leading to long and slow-moving queues.

This is exactly the reason I suggested removing the top half of the wall at the rear of the Shed and replacing it with clear perspex. 

At least if you're then in a queue you can still see the game while queuing.

As far as I can see, that wall doesn't form any support to the roof, therfore this should be easy and relatively inexpensive to do.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15 by The Bewilderedbeast

[Tink]

1 hour ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

 

As far as I can see, that wall doesn't form any support to the roof, therfore this should be easy and relatively inexpensive to do.

 

 

 

 

I’ll have to check when I’m next at Cappielow, but I think you might be right. If I’m not going senile, I think there is a gap between the wall and the roof, and so it seems to serve no purpose other than for crowd control. Some clear Perspex blocks would be an option. I doubt that glass would be allowed (H&S rules etc).

[TONofmemories]

18 hours ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

This is exactly the reason I suggested removing the top half of the wall at the rear of the Shed and replacing it with clear perspex. 

At least if you're then in a queue you can still see the game while queuing.

As far as I can see, that wall doesn't form any support to the roof, therfore this should be easy and relatively inexpensive to do.

 

 

 

 

My guess is they'd be keen to avoid people gathering there to watch the game as opposed to just going for a pie/piss. 

Take the Motherwell/Hearts cup games as an example, there was overcrowding in the shed to the point the main stairs on the half way line were completely rammed (a safety risk in its own right); remove the wall and folk would just gather up there, blocking the main exit in event of an emergency. 

It's not as easy as just taking a wall down for convenience sake.