Everton FC E-mails 207 - Match Day Experience Special
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Whatever
you think e-mail your views to info@bluekipper.com
Upper Bullens As I was unable to attend the first game against Watford, I was interested in your article about the facilities in the upper Bullens. It seems to me that besides a lick of paint by outside contractors, and a new plasma screen at the Gladys street end by the look of it, no one from the club has ventured into the 1878 style cavern , that is upper Bullens. We have been promised a new stadium, since Mr Johnson I think. We have looked at the 15” out of order television for the last three years, and if you remember before it broke altogether, it had a black line running through it for I don’t know how long. How many people have complained????????????Loads !!!!!!!!!! What has happened? Nothing! I wonder what size television is being viewed in the main stand or anywhere else. We don’t ask for much, a clean smelling toilet, a television that works, and some decent fare from the overpriced and hard to access stall that is our restaurant. We pay the same as everyone else! in the vast amount of cases, but not as much as the corporate people. I am sure if their TV’s and facilities were in the same state as ours, they would not frequent our ground. We are Evertonians and are season ticket holders for life. EFC play on this fact and treat us like second class citizens. That’s better! sorry about the moan, but if you could ask MBE the next time he interviews Mr Wyness about Upper Bullens I would, and so would hundreds of Evertonians. Thanks for a great site. Nhoj Nagoom. (30/08/06) Cold Comfort If
it's any comfort (which I doubt) the Upper Bullens wasn't unique. The
Park End was just as bad. The plasma screen was right by the turnstiles
we have to use now, so everyone had to try and force their way through
the crush of people watching the Liverpool game. When we had done that
we found the central area largely empty. The reason soon became clear
- the same telly's as before and only one of them working. We were then
treated to possibly the worst pint I've ever had the misfortune to taste
- warm, flat as a very flat thing and we were stung for £3 for the
dubious pleasure. It can't help when they have them already pulled and
lined up for God knows how long before you get served. When you add in
the rip off food prices, Bully's plan became clear: get em in early using
the new entry system as a convenient excuse (and the shite's match as
a selling point for christ's sake), tell people they can't come back in
if they go out to find a decent pint (so no-one misuses the system - apart
from the club of course) and you've got a captive market. And I thought
I was cynical. But unless more people refuse to dance to their tune they
won't change the record. Is that going to happen? Stadium "Entertainment" As
I am sure you are aware the same situation as was described for the
upper Bullens', was repeated in the park end (and I will take an educated
guess everywhere else in the ground, bar the directors area and corporate
area's) I am absolutely disgusted! I couldn't give a toss if there are
no TV's in the ground. We have done without for almost 2 seasons in our
end of the park end. The reason I am pissed off is the way "Everton
fc " take the fans for granted and take every opportunity it seems
to annoy and patronise the SUPPORTERS. Ironically the money wasted on
fancy laminated false promises would probably have paid for TV screens
right around the ground, with maybe a little left for the fella' from
the repair shop to fix the screen in the corner of the ground as well
! Plasma screen tellys and cold draught beer.......my arse!! hi there...all at the Kipper. Let me tell you a story about our club and how it lets down its fans. I was a season ticket holder for the very first time during our greatest ever managers last spell in charge. Me and my mate Graham went to pick our seats in the Park End and we picked 2 totally brill seats with a wonderful view. We sat in them seats throughout our disastrous flirtation with the R word. When Vialli scored for Chelsea to save our top flight status, we were in heaven and celebrated so much that in the Black Horse post Coventry game at about 10pm i went outside and puked. Well worth the money...hahaha. Anyway
I will get to the real issue that occurred 12 months later. Graham and
me went to renew our seats and found that these seats were going to be
upgraded to include use of the Legends lounge because it had been severely
underused in previous seasons. Bearing in mind that our The
programme was shit as always ......I can accept that.......we had no cup
run to talk of .....I cud accept that.........the food was shit and overpriced
.......I can accept that cos i have gone to watch football......not eat
Gordon Ramsay food. What i took total exception to was the poor in fact
, diabolical bar and lack of service. The first match i attended using
this service was shite. The bar was 200 people deep and I didn't actually
get served a pint at all. Some games this bird with buck teeth allegedly
working behind the bar would announce to the members at the bar that they
would not be serving draught beer and only bottles so that they cud serve
more people. That never really improved during the season. The other thing
I am moaning at is that the entertainment we got at half time was none
existent. And the televisions to view the game en route from the bogs
seemed to work one week then not the following week. And the promised
brew at half time was permanently cold!!! Catering for no one at Goodison Park Having just read the article posted by Cookie regarding the mess that was the catering at Goodison on the opening day of the season, I thought I'd add weight to his grievances by sharing my own sorry story. In response to the club's repeated requests for an early arrival, we too abandoned our usual pre-match routine and got to the ground just after 2.00 pm - only to be greeted by queues a mile long at the bars in the Park End. It was a f***ing joke! Had any of those multi-pump beer dispensers (like you find at almost any other major sports or entertainment venue) been installed during the summer? No. Had the staff bothered to think ahead and actually pull a few pints in anticipation of the fans arriving? No. Did said staff give a toss that people were having to wait quarter of an hour for a beer? No. Were their supervisors doing anything to impress upon them that they were there to serve, not have good old natter about what dress they were going to wear that night? No. Frustrated we went and sat in our seats instead of enjoying another pint in The Top House. As
if this pre-match debacle wasn't enough to get you seething, half time
was even worse. It has become a fact of life at Goodison that if you want
a pie and/ or a pint at half time you have to miss at least 10 minutes
of the first half in order to stand anything like a chance of getting
served. Last Saturday it was my turn to get 'em in, so off I trotted at
3.35 to stand in line. 25 (yes, twenty-fucking-five) minutes later I finally
made it to the counter. All that was on offer was warm cans of Chang.
In the 45 minutes since kick off, not one single pint had been pulled
ready for the half time rush. The one (yes, read it and weep, ONE!) Chang
draught pump had broken down. The staff hadn't got any change in the tills.
They were still gassing on about what to wear instead of serving, pausing
only to tell their increasingly irate customers to 'fuck off' for being
rude enough to interrupt their chat. Their supervisors were still ambling
up and down behind the scenes, smiling from ear to ear like everything
was running like a well-oiled machine. And the canned Chang? I've drunk
sour milk (accidentally, of course) that tasted better. Honestly, the
whole Imagine if this sort of thing happened at the opening night of one of Bill's plays. Would the audience miss 10 minutes of the first half of the performance just for the privilege of putting up with this kind of service? I rather think they would be demanding their money back instead. Everton supporters deserve better than this. Sort it out Mr Wyness! Marcus Leigh. (30/08/06) Cold Chang and Plasma TV's I
read your article on the chang and plasma's and i have to say it is on
draught in the park end. I live down south because of my work but i try
to keep up the good work at Bluekipper speak from the heart not from your arse like the red shite. Craig, Portsmouth. Once A Blue Always A Blue. (30/08/06) No Draught Chang In response to the article on your site “Everton Football Club a disgrace” this is an e-mail I sent to Everton on 22nd August on the same subject: “I am writing in response to the news article displayed on Evertonfc.com on Friday 19th August where it stated “For the 2006/07 campaign extra-chilled Chang beer will be available on draught throughout the stadium.” As encouraged I arrived early on Saturday to find that in the Gwladys Street Upper Stand there was no draught beer available – only two cans poured into a plastic cup. I am disappointed to yet again feel like the poor relative in terms of where I choose to sit in the ground, other sections of the ground have better amenities than the Gwladys Street Upper. I would just like to state that your news article was misleading and as such I am sure I will not be the only one deciding to find elsewhere for my pre-match drinks. Yours sincerely, Mark Hannah” The reply I have had so far has promised to pass on my e-mail to the relevant department, as yet I have had no further reply. The Upper Gwladys also has to suffer small tv’s and not the promised Plasma. It seems that the Upper Bullens and Upper Gwladys unfortunately share the same inadequate amenities. Nuff said. Great site, keep up the good work! Mark Hannah. (30/08/06) Everton Football Club - A disgrace With the excitement of the first day of the season alone, I couldn't wait to get to Goodison for the first game of the season. With the new Everton TeamCard replacing the actual season ticket, we were asked to get to the ground early. Now like most Evertonians, we all have our own routines on a match day. I meet my mates about 1.00pm on County road have a few pints, whilst discussing the game ahead and then get in the ground about 2.45pm. After reading the bumf Everton had posted, mailed and the stuff I'd read on the official website, we decided to get down to Goodison early around 1.30pm. We thought lets try and help the club. There maybe teething problems with the new Teamcard, but they are pushing the boat out to get people in early. They had unveiled a new Internationally recognised catering company, they had ice cold draught beer, installed new plasma screens, which was going to be showing Sky sports and old Everton clips. To be inside Goodison with a cold beer seeing the redshite getting turned over. What more can we ask. Ok we said lets give it a try. Here is how they described it: " Goodison is now home to the coolest draught lager in the Premiership, thanks to main sponsors Chang Beer. For the 2006/07 campaign extra-chilled Chang beer will be available on draught throughout the stadium. The beer is cooled to four degrees centigrade, which is a chilling five degrees cooler than most other draughts in the UK. The extra 5 degrees is crucial to deliver its smooth, distinctive full-bodied taste. And to ensure supply meets the inevitable demand, the club has introduced new cellars, pumps and equipment. Supporters will have to make the most of the new draught service as Goodison is the only location in the UK offering Chang Beer on draught. Wolverhampton & Dudley installed the new chilling equipment throughout Goodison Park. The equipment ensures that every pint of Chang is delivered to the correct temperature. Pat Lynch, Regional Manager for W&D, joked: "The staff serving draught Chang might have to wear gloves!” Chang
teamed up with Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries to deliver Chang on
draught and boost the speed of match day service. New cellars, pumps and
equipment are now installed to bring a faster service that all Everton
supporters can enjoy. Each
barrel is shipped direct from the Chang brewery in Thailand - a journey
of over 6,000 miles. To ensure that supplies into Goodison Park are maintained,
at least two ships will be carrying draught Chang throughout the season
- as one is unloading in the UK, another will be leaving Thailand with
the next shipment. When I showed a few of the lads, who are not on the net, their tongues where hanging out. And there's more! Furthermore Everton Football Club are offering the added incentive to season card holders who get there early. Holders who are inside the ground before 2.30pm will be entered into a competition to win back the cost of their SeasonCard. Wyness said: "We will also be showing the Sheffield United versus Liverpool game in the ground so I think there will be some cheers for Sheffield. We will also be showing some classic footage of Everton matches of the past. By getting here early fans will be helping the club make sure we have a straightforward transition to this new system." So off we went got to the ground just after 1.30pm. Flashed our cards and in. Not a problem. We noticed that were quite a few other supporters inside the Upper Bullens, who had obviously done the same thing as us. One of the lads gets in the small queue for the ice cold Chang, while the rest of us check out the plasma screens. We walk along to our spot to find no plasma screens, but the same old small TV from last season, but it's not even working. This has not worked for over a year. So we walk further along and find another not a plasma screen, but another small TV, but at least it's working. Still further on to the end of the Bullens road, and there is the solitary plasma screen. By this time the place is crowded. The position of the screen is facing the serving hatch for the ale. Loads of fans are queuing for stuff. The stewards are trying to move fans along after they had been served to keep the area clear, but everyone wants to stand and watch the match on the plasma screen. As you can expect it's chaos. So we decide to go and get our super ice cold beer and watch the only working small TV. By the time we get there, we are met by our mate with the ale. Before I touch a drop, I knew there was something wrong. The super ice cold Chang, had a head on it like Sir Philip Carters and was warm as toast. Our mate says: "There no draught ale! It's in cans." Even though, I was holding this warm shite in a plastic glass, I couldn't believe it. I had to go and take a look myself. Sure enough there was a couple of girls pouring warm Chang from a great height into plastic glasses. Some Internationally renowned catering firm this is. What does the Who sing? "Meet the new boss same as the old boss!" That was it! We were fuckin fumin! To a man we said: "Lets go!" We thought lets rescue the situation and get back down to County Road. Easier said than done. I approached a steward and told him the situation, he said he could let us out but we wouldn't be able to get back in as the Teamcards won't let you in twice, as they are programmed to not let fans misuse them. The lad stood there and took the most bitter, angry, tyraid from 5 grown men you have ever heard. Sorry mate. It was meant for Wyness. Mr Wyness you are a fuckin disgrace. You led us up the garden path with your clever propaganda and shit on your own fans. This could have easily been solved by adding a few words to any of the announcements. "The Upper Bullens will not have draught beer or plasma screens in all areas." After reading that we would have stayed in our normal haunt. The only thing we saw new was the posters in the bogs advertising The Sun newspapers. Very poor! Glad to hear that Everton made record profits on the catering side at the Watford game. I doubt very much that it will be repeated, as there are a couple of hundred Evertonians in the Upper Bullens who won't be there early ever again. Cookie. (26/08/06)
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