I think the staffing issue is a red herring. In the end it's about the paying customers. Never forget, it maybe sport, it maybe entertainment, but the minute sport went pro, it became a business and in business those who pay are called customers.

What is that famous mantra???

The customer is always right!!!!

Whilst sporting fans are customers who may not go and shop elsewhere, they may just stop shopping!!!!

I disagree. I disagree firstly because how staff are treated is never a red herring but secondly, I am simply following through my own initial point which rested on staff AND paying customers.


Exactly, which is why the staff issue is not a red herring. McManus has spoken of Saints being a business. There are two sides to that coin. If Saints can charge a fiver for putting your birthday wishes on the scoreboard then they can also ensure the health and safety requirements are met in relation to their customers AND their staff. In addition there is also the point that any business not providing the most customer-friendly service will ultimately pay the price, as you suggest.

I thi k it's £10 for your name on scoreboard when I enquiried about it, which I told them to go and get stuffed.

Doubled in price since my friend arranged it in that case. She organised it about two months ago.

They may have dropped the price then. I know for fact it was £10 when we played Catalan at home.

I paid for a hospitality package for 8 people for someone's birthday which wasn't cheap (really good tho) and while I booked I asked them to put the name on scoreboard and she told me its a extra £10. I told her I've just spent a fortune and couldn't they do it free of charge and they says no.

I told them to get stuffed, I'm not paying £10 for that!!!!

Surely cladding won't make a blind bit of difference to the temperature in the concession stands?

We've been told it's 50% maximum due to the construction of the stadium so while it may stop some of the rain coming in, it won't stop wind or warm the place up.

If it protects staff from the wind then it will, even if it cuts down the impact of it rather than obliterates it completely. Sometimes that wind has been biting. Obviously, though, a proper wall would have been better. A proper wall is, of course, what most of us thought we were going to get!

It's cladding with thermals

But it should provide some protection from the wind in the stadium, I think the wind and the rain effects different areas.

The rain has not bothered me in the seating sections that seams to be in the areas outside where it pools the worst, but the wind does blow through the stadium something cronic. You maybe right and it may not effect the climate inside at all, but if the club said such then that would be the end of it, put up or shut up.

You didn't look at the plans properly then? They just had a wooden fence round the outside, not even the brick wall we have.



I can understand it stopping some of the rain coming in (and the problems with wet concourses currently), but I've not noticed wind being a major problem within the concourses, I've only been in the North Stand myself though.

Usual pacifists. McClennan would have a haircut for the rest of his days to save the trouble of telling his hairdresser he wanted to change it 15 years ago.

The questions are thus:-

1) If you were to receive a new ground in 2012 would you expect it to be fully protected from the elements in both your seats and on the concourse? If not, why not?

2) If your chairman said that you would be getting said cladding six weeks after fans expressed reservations then would you expect it a) to happen or b) when it doesn't happen, get an explanation why/ If not, why not?

There are too many of our supporters who are too happy to settle for second best. They think that being runners-up is acceptable and they think that accepting a ground that has been shockingly designed is acceptable on the basis that is better than Mount Pleasant. Well it isn't. The designers have ballsed up and that is a cast iron fact. If you want to settle for a shoddily designed affair without question after all these years then that says everything about your weak personalities.

NO - That is a cast iron OPINION.

Anyone would think you actually contributed to paying for the building of the stadium and therefore your OPINION has some weight. And before you do, PLEASE don't spout that you've bought a 5 year season ticket. That does nothing but give you admission to games, nothing more noithing less and at a price lower than it would be if you bought either matches one by one or seasons.

Cladding money on Willie Manu me thinks

Everyone who has bought tickets has contributed to the stadium, without them there would be no club and no stadium.

I like the stadium, but I do agree with a lot of what DD says. The design would be fantastic for a stadium in a hot sunny country, but alas, England is not one of them. We don't have enough games in a hot sunny climate to justify not having cladding round the back of the stands to protect those inside from the elements that are prevalent, such as rain. The fact that it rains in on those at the ends and backs of the stands is a basic design error.

No they haven't - the monies from season ticket sales would not be diverted into capital expenditure. It would be used as part of their ongoing cash flow. Capital projects are funded totally differently.