I have to agree with most of the gripes but anybody who claims they everything right first time is lying. As regards the queues, I can't think of any stadium where I haven't had to queue ages for beer. Headingley western terrace is legendary and they have those multipour things. There was a guy in front of me that left his seat at half time and was back sitting down with a tray of beers before the second half started

I would suggest you begin by cutting them some slack. Most of them will be new recruits. They need to learn the ropes. You can have weeks of training but nothing prepares you in any job for the actual hands on doing the job. They will become familiar with their roles, the stock, the pressure, and all of it over time. I felt real sorry for them last night and I hope they didn't cop abuse (but I suspect they may have done because I know how rude and demanding some people can be).

I have no problem in queueing for beer because it's busy, none at all and I was expecting most things to not go to plan at the first game. The thing that worries me is that I genuinely don't think the staff have the capacity to deal with it whether it's the 1st or he 100th game at the stadium. It wasn't anything to do with the stadium, it was basic common sense and intelligence that was lacking, as I said earlier, I can see Saints losing a lot of money over the season with the same staff.

I can honestly say they didn't get any abuse from me, that wouldn't of been fair, they were struggling enough as it is.

I don't conform to your view of 'they need to learn the ropes' though. Yes I expected some problems with perhaps managing the till and issues like that. I worked on a till as a part-time job when I was doing my A levels and it can be a little confusing at first with the new systems, however the user-interface is usually easy to navigate around with the slightest bit of intelligence and initiative. The problem I have is after 18/19 years of their life they can't manage £5 - £4.30, they're not going to be able to. I don't want to be horrible about it but they simply don't have the brain capacity to deal with these roles. I'm sure there are far better options looking inside the job centre everyday for some work.

I can't understand why people were allowed to move from one concourse to another. There was nothing stopping people from other areas joining the West terrace.

All i'm going to say, is the bar staff tried to kill me.

Whilst Foster's isnt the best tasting drink in the world at the best of times, it tastes even worse when its mixed with line cleaner.

The club did say earlier in the week that one match days the area's between the stands will be out of bounds for fans, so i've no idea why it wasn't last night.

It needs sorting though, it could cause huge problems at high crowd games.

I think what your arguing here Backrow is really about our education system that is chucking out semi numerate individuals.
The ability to add up or takeaway is not something kids are taught these days, as they have access to computers and calculators that do it for them.

I heard a similar story from a friend of the family whose child was looking for a part time job to fill in for college. The individual had written out a CV and sent it to numerous employees without success. It was only later when the family got to see the individuals CV, that they realised why the teenager wasnt even getting interviews at McDonalds.
They had written their CV in what amounted to text speak. Now this was from a teenager with GCSE's.

The thing is though, there a plenty of people who are educated who are looking for jobs, that's what's annoying me. I'm at University myself so not much older and probably the same age as a lot of the bar staff. I'm from the same generation and there are plenty of people who have the capability to do this basic task. If it was a case of they're the best staff Saints could possibly get I wouldn't be bothered. But there are unemployed people in St Helens who could do a far better job.

The problem is that most of those people wouldn't work for the wages being offered. (I'm assuming that the rates are similar to the DW stadium where my grand-daughter sometimes works. She's at college so needs the money)

I have no doubt at all that will be true in some cases as the wages are probably awful. However, some people would surely see any income as better than none at all?

Spot on, give them time and they will be reet. It's all new to them and was very busy night, all the training in the world still needs real life experience and I'm sure 3/4 games in and the bars will glow better.

Very true. First night, a big crowd and, no doubt, plenty of teething problems with a new stadium, new surroundings and new equipment. It will definitely get better and better. Just give them a chance.

I'll be the happiest person on this forum if the service improves exponentially and will happily eat a large portion of humble pie. I just can't see it happening with the current staff.