Our “new” seats

[joewarkfanclub]

49 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Going through the UEFA guidelines, I noticed this clause:

"18.05 Spectator areas must provide unobstructed lines of sight of the field of play."

Now there are restricted view seats in both the Hunter and POD stands. Were these seats left unallocated on Thursday evening? 

That will be the away end at Celtic Park buggered then! 😍😍😍

[stv]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

That will be the away end at Celtic Park buggered then! 😍😍😍

Now, now don't go picking on the darlings of Scottish Football. 

[cambo97]

3 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

That will be the away end at Celtic Park buggered then! 😍😍😍

8 match suspension for you

[stv]

First time in the new seats in POD. They are terrible.  Most uncomfortable seating i have sat in. Obvious this was the cheapest option. Too close , bad design, flimsy and dig into your back.

Did they actually do a test with the new seats before installing them . Strip out a few seats and a few rows in a block n see how it went testing under matchday conditions with folk sitting in them.Trying to get past each other when there is folk sitting in the row in front . The back of the seat moves into the passage space behind making it even narrower.  With hot food and drinks in their hands people can't pass in front of you . Its a fukin shambles.

Wonder how long til someone gets a couple of cups of roasting hot bovril spilt over their head. Seen it almost happen today. Tall guys knees protrude over the back of back rest in front. Folk arriving late and leaving early cause chaos . Some one(probably an older person) is bound to get hurt over the season.

This must be classed as an unacceptable risk , if there was ever a fire or a panic it would be chaos . I would love to see the risk assessment for this and access for those with restricted movement.

No way there is the same space between the rows as before when occupied. Two skeletons couldn't pass each other safely never mind your average Scottish football fans.

Who is responsible for this shambles. Get them to sit in the middle of the centre block for 3 games and then give us an honest opinion.  The POD center block has gone from one of the most comfortable seats in the league to one of the worst to watch a game from. Not enough thought went into this before it was carried out. Still to see what happens to my knees when we sc0ore a goal

Official line seems to be if you don't like it then move. Fair enough ????

[Kmcalpin]

8 minutes ago, stv said:

With hot food and drinks in their hands people can't pass in front of you . ......Wonder how long til someone gets a couple of cups of roasting hot bovril spilt over their head. Seen it almost happen today. 

Almost happened to me today. Not acceptable. 

[stv]

18 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Almost happened to me today. Not acceptable. 

Its really dangerous. I can't believe they never thought of this. Its so obvious they didn't. Blinker by trying to comply to regulation seating, stuff the paying customer. 

[weeyin]

51 minutes ago, stv said:

Official line seems to be if you don't like it then move. Fair enough ????

Where did that official line come from? Not The Well Society I'd imagine (the actual club owners).

Raise it directly with your Well Society representative. I'm sure if enough people do that, there might be some positive action taken. Maybe use some of the UEFA prize money to fix it.

[Happy Dosser]

A guy coming into our row before k.o. spilled his bovril all over the seat below. Fortunately the fan who sits there was standing up at the time  and wasn't soaked/burned.  Two new ST holders in the row behind me said they would be down at the ticket office asap to move away from the new seats. They are unsafe and uncomfortable.

[wellfan]

If only UEFA were as pedantic about the standard of pitches as they appear to be about stadium seating.

[grizzlyg]

I don't sit in POD but definitely think more folk that complain the more the club need to do something. We are not exactly short of money do not fair asking folk to pay over £400 season ticket for a rubbish seat

[Pettywulliegrew-2]

I’m season ticket holder in the Cooper was at hospitality yesterday in main stand and we were sitting on the “old” wooden style seats……why have they not been replaced ???
 

The leg room in the main stand has always been very tight …… luckily the area we were in wasn’t that busy …..still very restrictive and I m only 5’11 🤬

[mfc]

The club has got a lot right in recent times but we have really dropped the ball when it comes to the seating in the POD,nobody should be paying to go and sit in a seat that is deemed a health hazard.theres a decent debate over on p&b about the seating still being a mess in the mclean stand and away supports being housed in the upper tier,it's not s great look all round on the club. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

I suspect the seating in the POD stand is a stop gap measure. No point investing more when the stand is likely to be demolished. I suspect it will be short term pain for long term gain and those fans in there will have the best seats in the house in a couple of years. . Although I accept that doesn't help the current occupants right now. That said I cant believe folk sat in there with the old wooden seats either. Designed for midgets.

[joewarkfanclub]

Is the problem the same in the areas with the bucket seats? 

I would have thought they were just the same as the new ones without the plastic back on them re leg room?

I dont recall there being any furore when we put them in.

Just curious.

[Happy Dosser]

On reflection, maybe it's all a cunning ploy by the club to get us all to "stand up and sing for Motherwell."

[El Grew]

Makes the case, not that it needs to, for the club to hurry up and decide whether they intend to stay at FP or move.

If it’s the former (and that seems to be most folks preference) then get a plan made for the upgrade of FP asap.

[stv]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Is the problem the same in the areas with the bucket seats? 

I would have thought they were just the same as the new ones without the plastic back on them re leg room?

I dont recall there being any furore when we put them in.

Just curious.

The back of the new ones over laps the seat pan itself by a couple of inches that digs into yer back. And the back leans backwards when you sit in them into the passage behind. 

I looked around yesterday there were people lying over three seats to let others pass in front of them. It would be funny if it wasn't so shambolic.

[Spiderpig]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Is the problem the same in the areas with the bucket seats? 

I would have thought they were just the same as the new ones without the plastic back on them re leg room?

I dont recall there being any furore when we put them in.

Just curious.

As seats the new ones are not the comfiest ive sat on but they are passable. The major problem is access, with the old seats you could flip it back and move into the seat space to let people past etc with no issues, now you stand up with nowhere to go and nothing to hold on to, so its a nightmare trying to get in and out of a row.

The old yellow bucket seats with no back never had any access issues as people could just step over them, now they are comfier but with the nightmare access issues the other seats have.

Fan saftey should be a main priority, ie getting in and out of your seats safely when carrying hot food, people with mobility issues however serious are really struggling to get to their seats

I know the pod has limitations and there were tight timescales re the UEFA regulations etc but for me the club failed in its due dilligence, ie nobody actually fitted a few seats in the pod, sat in them, tried to get in and out etc and judged them fit for purpose or not.

Now we will be stuck with them for who knows how long, the club dropped the ball on this issue and it needs resolved before we start getting accident or injury reports etc.

 

[stv]

1 hour ago, Happy Dosser said:

On reflection, maybe it's all a cunning ploy by the club to get us all to "stand up and sing for Motherwell."

That would certainly be less of a saftey hazzard

[mio]

I have noticed a number of people bringing cushions with them which I can totally understand but i find it unacceptable they’d have to do this.

the bucket seats in the wings were more comfortable than the sharp plastic seats we need to ensure at the moment. I’d honest prefer sitting on a bench than the things we have.
 

[dennyc]

On this occasion the Club are ignoring fan feedback and hiding behind Uefa considerations. And the Society are also noticeably silent.  In short, MFC made an arse of this and nobody is willing to admit it. The odd person may have received a reply to letters of complaint, but many people putting a reasonable case have not. No way can these seats be considered safe but it appears that only when someone is badly hurt will anybody in authority take notice. Not a good look. Given how well things have gone on the pitch it speaks volumes that seating is the hottest topic in town.

I guess many who sit elsewhere will think folk are exaggerating how poor the situation is. But I assure them it is as bad as reported. I really do question whether any of the decision makers have even tested the seats. In fact, on Thursday I offer any one of the Board members...Cub or Society.... (that includes you Brian and Kirk) who sit on those nice comfy seats directly behind me to swap seats for the match. I won't hold my breath though.

[stv]

29 minutes ago, dennyc said:

On this occasion the Club are ignoring fan feedback and hiding behind Uefa considerations. And the Society are also noticeably silent.  In short, MFC made an arse of this and nobody is willing to admit it. The odd person may have received a reply to letters of complaint, but many people putting a reasonable case have not. No way can these seats be considered safe but it appears that only when someone is badly hurt will anybody in authority take notice. Not a good look. Given how well things have gone on the pitch it speaks volumes that seating is the hottest topic in town.

I guess many who sit elsewhere will think folk are exaggerating how poor the situation is. But I assure them it is as bad as reported. I really do question whether any of the decision makers have even tested the seats. In fact, on Thursday I offer any one of the Board members...Cub or Society.... (that includes you Brian and Kirk) who sit on those nice comfy seats directly behind me to swap seats for the match. I won't hold my breath though.

They must know how bad it is they can't sit above looking down on the chaotic scenes on Saturday and not notice it. We'll maybe the can if they take their seats just before kick off and bugger off for hospitality on the stroke of half time. Then say they didn't  see anything amiss.

I can see bovril and hot drinks getting banned from the seated area,  it's that bad an accident waiting to happen.

[joewarkfanclub]

Its sad to hear all of this, and whilst not wanting to absolve the club from their part in this it just goes to show you how ridiculous the UEFA rule is.

Im not aware of any safety issues that were raised re the bucket seats that were in place, yet they were the first to be outlawed by UEFA.

We now have seats that fit the UEFA criteria, but are causing absolute mayhem and apparent safety issues.

I perhaps wouldnt expect the club to be making a public statement about the situation, but an email acknowledging they are aware of the problems and are reviewing options to rectify it would help.

Not sure if it would work numbers wise, but would it help if they only used every second row of seats to allow more space?

There must be a way to fix the problem whilst adhering to the UEFA rule without closing down the entire stand.

[dennyc]

1 minute ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Its sad to hear all of this, and whilst not wanting to absolve the club from their part in this it just goes to show you how ridiculous the UEFA rule is.

Im not aware of any safety issues that were raised re the bucket seats that were in place, yet they were the first to be outlawed by UEFA.

We now have seats that fit the UEFA criteria, but are causing absolute mayhem and apparent safety issues.

I perhaps wouldnt expect the club to be making a public statement about the sutuation, but an email acknowledging they are aware of the situation and reviewing options to rectify it would help.

Not sure if it would work numbers wise, but would it help if they only used every second row of seats to allow more space?

There must be a way to fix the problem whilst adhering to the UEFA rule without closing down the entire stand.

I hear what you say about not wishing to absolve the Club, but mentioning UEFA in mitigation kind of does that. That's the first excuse Brian came up with. UEFA may have been the driver, but it was not UEFA who chose a dangerous and ill thought out solution. Plenty of other teams will have had to modify seating to meet higher standards.....some we will both have visited.....but they did so without the shambles we are now faced with. Someone at the Club got this badly wrong and the Board need to accept that fact and rectify matters before it becomes an even bigger issue. ie. Someone gets injured. Not saying anyone should be sacked. Just that a solution needs to be found.

The top tier of the away Stand could possibly be used to temporarily accommodate displaced home fans as improvements are made on a staged basis. Say, 250 or 500 at a time. Maybe not ideal having to move but I think folk would understand. Plenty of home games where a tier of that Stand lies empty. Looking at our fixtures, if and when we get past HJK, Oct 10 v Celtic is the first time the full Stand is certain to be full of away fans. Is that a window that could be utilised ? Even if Freiburg could fill the stand that would only delay matters a week. 

[David]

13 minutes ago, dennyc said:

I hear what you say about not wishing to absolve the Club, but mentioning UEFA in mitigation kind of does that. That's the first excuse Brian came up with. UEFA may have been the driver, but it was not UEFA who chose a dangerous and ill thought out solution. Plenty of other teams will have had to modify seating to meet higher standards.....some we will both have visited.....but they did so without the shambles we are now faced with. Someone at the Club got this badly wrong and the Board need to accept that fact and rectify matters before it becomes an even bigger issue. ie. Someone gets injured. Not saying anyone should be sacked. Just that a solution needs to be found.

The top tier of the away Stand could possibly be used to temporarily accommodate displaced home fans as improvements are made on a staged basis. Say, 250 or 500 at a time. Maybe not ideal having to move but I think folk would understand. Plenty of home games where a tier of that Stand lies empty. Looking at our fixtures, if and when we get past HJK, Oct 10 v Celtic is the first time the full Stand is certain to be full of away fans. Is that a window that could be utilised ? Even if Freiburg could fill the stand that would only delay matters a week. 

That's a good point. It could very well have been a situation where the seats were swapped out and fans forced to endure what they've endured, only for us to get papped out of Europe early doors and it to have been a waste of funds. 

Perhaps a better option would have been to ask fans to relocate to the top tier of the away stand for the first few rounds, then if we did make it to a tie with the likes of Freiburg we could have used some of that progression money to invest in better seating options that may even do a job for a few years, rather than what seems like a cheap option that isn't up to the job.