Band View

                                               Band View

Following my sales centre visit last week I will explain how the meeting went and how for some fans they wont be pleased with the outcome.

Firstly I will admit that the task of moving over 20,000 season ticket holders from one stadium to the other would always lead to some fans winning and some losing, and so far we have not really heard much disappointment coming from those that have visited already, but there may be a reason for that.

The fans with the Seats in Band 1 at the Boleyn have finished their viewings and chosen their seats, as they had first choice they naturally had the best chance of securing the best view, the band 2 viewings are coming to a finish and this is where i came in, with a couple of other fans, I'm not band 2 I am in band 4, but was looking to secure a Club 1966 seat, I sat in with a Band 2 Season ticket holder who sits right on the edge of Band 2 in the West lower, towards the Bobby Moore stand. I am guessing here but the fact he sits on the edge of his band meant he got allocated one of the last block of meetings for his banding. When the Stratford office gives out meetings to fans I believe that those in the middle of a band will get the first meetings and then they work themselves outward. Luckily for those in Band 1 as they came to the end of their meetings many of the band 1 fans would of moved into the 1966 seats and also obviously with a larger capacity stadium, there will be more seats to chose from without the need to sit in the back rows. All good with the band 1s then, onto the Band 2 seat holders, those at the front of the meetings  have been able to take up any of the unfilled 1966 seats and also move into the Band 1 spares. So why then when I sat down in the meeting was the Band 2 season ticket holder I was with faced with a virtually sold out stadium for bands 1&2 and the 1966 seats. In the Olympic Stadium there must be more band 1 seats and band 2 seats than at the Boleyn, throw in the extra 1966 seats why was Dave (name changed) so unhappy that not only did he not buy at the OS but was claiming that fans have been shafted so bad he wont go to the Boleyn ever again either. The answer lies in the introduce 2 friends policy, one which on the face of it has been so successful that many existing Season Ticket holders are being denied the opportunity of upgrading as there are no better seats to upgrade to. i wrote recently that the move to the Olympic stadium was based on a Robin Hood ticketing policy, Take from the existing to give to the missing, it seems in some cases that is the reality.

The Picture's above I took from the computer screen in front of me as the salesman started his pitch for David (name changed) to choose from. The colour coding for the larger picture is as follows, Red is sold out, green is available, Orange has limited availability, Block 139 was opened up, and as from the smaller picture you can see a sea of red seats, the purple by the way are Bond holder reserved seats, ill quickly explain that. Bond holders that are season ticket holders can not only buy a seat for their season ticket, but can also hold a seat for their bond, that seat can not be sold until I believe 14 days before the game is played. anyway back to Dave and his Hobson choice, He didn't want the last seat in the front of the West as was offered to him as he wants to have quick access to the trains station, which are in the East, from which the club estimate 75% of fans will come from. So all that was left was those 2 seats shown above, on the aisle, handy for quick exit anyway. The view from those seats wasn't for me to be honest, as the advertising banner round the pitch seemed to take up alot of the view.

but Dave seemed happy enough, and accepted that seat. Me, I passed on it, the reason was, i wanted the best seat, I was leaving my mates in band 4 behind to get the best view possible, but as i have said, they were all gone, so if I'm going to have a bad view, ill sit with my mates with it. 

This is where things took a turn for the worse, just as Dave was ready to settle up, it was pointed out to our Salesman that he couldn't sell them to Dave, as Dave didn't have an aisle seat at the Boleyn, and as the people in the equivalent seat at the Boleyn hadn't been in for their meeting. What was worse, the only other seats available were the back rows, we saw the view from the back rows, and bear in mind, these were still in Band 1, which when you look at the Boleyn bands in the tip picture, you'll notice that the back row seats are actually band 2, nice little uplift for the club there then.

The picture is Blurry but you can still see, for nearly a thousand pounds, that is not a great view. 

Dave was not happy, I wasn't happy for Dave, he wanted that seat at the front, but no can do. It was back of East, or front of West, but he didn't want West. He was Pissed off big time, mainly as he felt he had agreed a seat that was then 20 minutes later taken away from him. I then decided to try do him a favour, remember i wasn't buying, i was dropping out till band 4, i called someone inside the club,  to see if they could help Dave, sadly that made no difference , the sales manager wasn't for budging, the salesman was apologetic, Dave wanted to complain. they took Dave away to talk to him while i sat at the desk, 

it was at this point, the man who i believe to be in charge of the salesman appeared and sat at the back of the sales centre talking to salesman who had no customers. Funny thing is I heard my name mentioned, at which point the Salesman with no customer said, "what, that mentalist" and laughed. 

I had actually had enough, and to be fair I have been called worse, but it showed a big lack of judgement and in a way respect for what is at the end of the day, a fan of the club, i may be mental, i know i have caused problems for the club, at SAB meetings and outside in being vocal about the move, but in doing so all i have tried to do is to make sure the club did right by the fans. and this process is wrong. The fact any season ticket holder attending a meeting can take 2 non season ticket holders with them, has led to this, Fans at the end of band meeting being left the scraps no one wants, and as they cant down band, that means for Dave, that a fan in Band 3 attending his meeting that starts this week can choose a better seat than Dave was offered. the previous week. 

i actually think that it is now we will hear from the fans hard done by, Band 3, as picture above, is Bobby Moore upper, but realistic they wont want to sit upstairs behind the goal, if that view at the OS is put on the Boleyn map, The Bobby upper fans will be sitting upstairs above Nathans pie mash shop, so they then have to move to the side. The same for me and my mates, we sit Trevor Brooking Upper in the family seating stand, Which gives a great view of the pitch, 

This is the view the salesman showed me as comparable

when the salesman asked me what i was thinking, I just said, " you don't want to know what Im thinking"

I don't know if chaos follows me around, i don't know if the club was deliberately difficult as it was me, What i do know is there will be many upset fans in the coming months, that will feel they have shafted by the club they have stood by in the bad times. Long serving fans that have sat in the family seating stand for 10-15 years and now find that because they are band 4 they will get the scraps left behind, long term season ticket holders that have been bypassed in the Queue and shafted by a club that claim they are run by fans for the fans, and by owners that 12 years ago were celebrating with Birmingham City fans as West Ham were relegated. Fans that have only supported one club, showed the loyalty by not walking away through the lean times, but now we sit on the cusp of good times are given a take it or leave it ultimatum, 

Congratulations West Ham you really know how to reward loyalty.