So our first new stadium in 125 years , of course Saints will get everything right the first time after all its not like they have`nt done it a hundred times before................................oh hang on!!

For gods sake guys give em some slack will you , its less that 2 days since the event I am sure lots of work will be going on sorting any problems people have , after all the club want people at Langtree Park its not like they are going out of their way to you all off !!

The old saying is true " When you do something right nobody remembers , when you do something wrong,nobody forgets!!"

I've not seen, read or heard anyone bagging saints or Langtree Park, it's a forum and people are discussing the positives and negatives they found on Friday night.

Nobody expected it to go 100% to plan but I think it was expected to go better than it did with people being escorted in full vision from the west stand to the north east corner.

Most people making comments on the threads are basically moaning about the poor service and queues at the bars and most are saying its easily fixed in time and experience.

My main gripe is the water on the floor at the bar and toilet areas which is slippy and very very dangerous as its got a concrete finish made for inside and not for the outside. This was clearly visable on the ope
Training event and if not sorted soon will be a problem, where's the is blame, the is a claim.

And do you not think the club is aware of all this? Everybody knows! It's being dealt with! Do you have any idea at all what might have to go into organising cladding? Especially given the unique construction of the roof and the part everybody knows that wind is playing in the safety of the roof? It's not a question of let's go out to B&Q, buy a bit of cladding, stick it on and Bob's yer uncle you know. It's a major change to the building. It will have impact on the roof structure and the club will have to get it right. There were conditions attached to the planning permission. We don't know what those conditions were but they may be requiring yet more financial outlay and/or expertise that we know nothing about. The club has said that certain stands will be clad. Given the amount of standing water I would imagine not another game would be played there without definite plans in place for certain stands to be clad. But the size of the task will mean it is not a quick fix but has to be done properly. That requires time and patience. Moaning on and on about it just gets totally boring and ignores the fact that the rest of the stadium is utterly wonderful.

And that's what I'm saying saintsfan, the shouldn't be another game played unless they can sort this water coming in. They didn't even have cones out saying wet floor or stewards standing saying carefull of wet floor.

Why are they not doing the whole stadium?

Ive seen loads of people moaning , about the service, the water , the hand dryers in the loos , the water on the floor , and the supposed overcrowding in the West Terrace, which is why i posted my comment,

i'm no expert Pete, nor am i involved in the safety planning, just offering my opinion based on what happened with the Halliwell Jones, and having read Footballs Green guide on stadium safety

. The number in the stand is being controlled
B) Stewarding. They should know the grounds layout and prevent spectators endangering other people
c) Keep Gangways clear
d) Distribution. Even spread of spectators within the stand
e) Migration viewing distance . Spectators moving closer to the action at exciting moments, eg crowd surges forward
f) Migration partial cover Spectators crowding into covered areas when it rains etc. Classic example was the Eddington end at Knowsley road.
g) large standing areas Were safety systems dont meet modern standards then attention needs paying to the ability of stadium management to handle large crowds
h) removal or control of potential restriction eg staff or equipment should not block vomitories, gangways, etc
I) Provision for children. Events with large numbers of children present additional safety concerns as they are more vulnerable
j) Signs clear signage
k) Crowd behaviour for example a tendancy to behave like hooligans

looking at the West stand in particular we have anecdotal evidence of people moving between stands eg people with seat tickets deciding to stand up. So thats a failure on A.
I have photographic evidence showing two of the gangways blocked by fans so thats a failure on C.
It was more crowded in the South west corner than north west corner, so thats a failure in D
There is also an argument that due to the unclad nature of the north west corner that this may result in F occurring if there is a sudden change in the weather.
Rugby league is also a family sport so you have to also take into account the higher levels of children present hence be extra cautious when dealing with the above.

With all that in mind i would definitely have a reduced terrace capacity for the Salford game, and further games until Saints have shown an ability to safely manage the crowds within the terraced areas.

I'm confident that all the above a fixable, and to be fair Fridays event was all about identifying such issues so they can be nipped in the bud.

The only major negative for me (apart from catering, which I didn't experience but probably will at the Salford match) was the lack of cladding. Not only does it look poor aesthetically, but it means the elements will always get the better of us. My first experience of entering Langtree Park was standing in a puddle, being blown by the wind, looking for the toilets.

What does the future hold in regards to cladding? I know during the building we were told that they stadium would be FULLY cladded - now i'm hearing that its only going to be partially cladded.....and when will the work to clad further take place? Do we know the answer to these questions or is it just speculation at the moment? In my opinion this needs to be addressed sooner rather than later (although I take on board Saintfan's comments that its not something that can be fixed overnight).

Prople will moan if the is something to moan about but most of the things are simple to sort.

The bar staff will grow more confident and get used to serving and using equipment.

The PA system will be sorted as that a simple thing to sort.

It's only the cladding IMO which is the ultimate worry due to floods of water and everyone crowding in the south west side of west stand to avoided getting wet. When the cladding is up that will be sorted but I think it's got to be done everywhere possible.

There was plenty of room in the West stand. I was stood to the left of the sticks near the back and not at all squashed. The problem was the stewards being over cautious and shifting the latecomers/boozers (everyone I saw was carrying two pints) into the spare North stand seats.
Some of the comments on here have quite frankly been gross exaggerations. The standing water, whilst unacceptable, was hardly 'ankle deep',or even one inch deep.

I wasn't ankle deep or inch deep but that don't matter, it's slippery and danerous, in fact, the shouldnt be any water on that type of finish of concrete.

The south west stand of the west stand was jam packed and well over crowded because everyone knew if you stand in the north west side of the west stand you'll get wet!

Does anyone know the latest definitive news on the cladding e.g. when and where?

We did not get wet in the north west side of the west stand. It was not even that windy.

It was the north west part of the north stand that got the brunt of it. I was sat there unfortunately and it was very wet and windy. Didn't bother me too much though, it's January, I expect to be wet and cold.

No they didnt everyone came in from the SW corner turnstiles and went naturally into the first entrance they saw , and filled up from the SW corner first

Yes. I was watching the empty seats blowing in the wind from my snug space in the West Stand! Must have been perishing sitting there. The edge wall needs to be a few feet higher to protect you!