Home V Grimsby Town

Great news - looks like the people in charge listened to the our opinions and hopefully they can take away some learnings from the poor handling of this.

Thanks to the club for listening to some of our pained bleetings – will try and consume an additional pint on Saturday just to say thanks!

Seats for Grimsby fans now sold out. Still a few remaining for Harrogate fans.

Right let’s get on with the more fun elements of the build up…..

Score prediction
2-2 (Colbeck and Knowles)
Attendance
1655

…..and will Brendon the Goals Daniels be fit?

Score 3-1 (Clayton x2, Daniels)

Attendance 1842

So whats stopping Grimsby fans going in the top end and occupying all  4 sides of this segregated match plus the bar

Should imagine they will be putting in some metal event fencing at the top end, as they will have to now between the tea bar and the corner of the 1919.

If they are carrying a fish don’t let them in the home end!
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Then again…

Am quite happy to provide Town fans with the facts relating to this fixture if they are in the 1919 venue after the game, but the reason for the"shambles" is nothing to do with Town management, but four square down to the fact that a small minority of football fans cannot be guaranteed to behave themselves (not Town fans I hasten to add), as a consequence of which the Club will have to pick up the tab for extra stewarding, policing, fencing, and loss of commercial sales.

Perhaps the question is why in this day and age do we still need to segregate fans - a misnomer if ever there was one.

Add to this conflicting messages from the away team and the police, and perhaps you may start to understand these things are never as straightforward as they appear.

A good FA cup run used to be an opportunity for clubs to have a little bit of excitement and generate club funds - welcome to the real world!

is it pay on day for Grimsby fans if they don't sell out as some of their fans on the Grimsby forum think so?

Just envisage a load getting in the Harrogate end if not. Doesn't bother me one bit as I am sure most are well behaved but it kind of makes the segregation thing a waste of time.

trevdee wrote:is it pay on day for Grimsby fans if they don't sell out as some of their fans on the Grimsby forum think so?

Just envisage a load getting in the Harrogate end if not. Doesn't bother me one bit as I am sure most are well behaved but it kind of makes the segregation thing a waste of time.

Just what i have been saying or trying to say

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A lot of locals starting to say they will be coming down to this one now!
With the majority paying on the day this might slow down entry a bit compared to the Leeds United friendly where tickets were pre-sold before the match!
Starting to look like a 2000+ match this one!!!!!

GARAGE wrote:

trevdee wrote:is it pay on day for Grimsby fans if they don't sell out as some of their fans on the Grimsby forum think so?

Just envisage a load getting in the Harrogate end if not. Doesn't bother me one bit as I am sure most are well behaved but it kind of makes the segregation thing a waste of time.

Just what i have been saying or trying to say

Couldn't agree more but if we disregard advice / information from the police then we should expect to pay the consequences if things go wrong.

The people at the Club who have that information are in the best position to make a judgement - believe me when I say it would create a lot less hassle for our Club if there was no segregation but expect any Grimsby fans in among town supporters will be politely asked to relocate to the Sterling Motors stand.

We have sold nearly 600 now so i would expect close to a sell out by Saturday, and if our fans are not allowed beer in the ground then i would advise any pubs in the local vicinity to invest in some boards in preparation for their windows.......
I would say probably 95% of our fans go for a good day out but we do still have a few young idiots that like to smash pubs up, ala Chester last season.

Hi GTFCfan. I hope you are one of the 95% of decent fans, if so, you will find Harrogate is a very welcoming town and a family friendly club.

If I was a landlord at the local pubs I would actually consider closing for 3 hours prior to the game. With your comments, is it worth the chance for problems in their pubs. Loss of earnings ? Not from what you say. "Board them up", not great.

Harrogate town centre has plenty of pubs and the local police will be aware and hope all your fans who want a pre game drink in our town centre can do so and the police observe it correctly, away from our ground.

We have a great reputation with away fans and the decision to not allow Grimsby fans access to our bar has been made outside our control.

I hope you and all the Grimsby fans have a good day out.

We went to Histon a few seasons ago when Grimsby were at Cambridge and we all met at Peterborough Services. We were all great together.

For you GTFCfan and the majority, we hope you enjoy your visit and enjoy the game safely.

If our game with Grimsby ends in a draw, the replay will take place on Tuesday 27th October.

A supporters coach will be running to the game (subject to numbers) for the following reduced prices:-

Supporters Club Adult - £8
Supporters Club Child - £5
Non Supporters Club Adult - £12
Non Supporters Club Child - £8

Coach will leave the CNG at 17:00 prompt.

I will be in the 1919 immediately after the game to take bookings. Payment is required upon booking.

I will have information regarding coaches to Stalybridge, Boston, Corby, Gainsborough and Stockport next week.

gedmaloney wrote:Am quite happy to provide Town fans with the facts relating to this fixture if they are in the 1919 venue after the game, but the reason for the"shambles" is nothing to do with Town management, but four square down to the fact that a small minority of football fans cannot be guaranteed to behave themselves (not Town fans I hasten to add), as a consequence of which the Club will have to pick up the tab for extra stewarding, policing, fencing, and loss of commercial sales.

Perhaps the question is why in this day and age do we still need to segregate fans - a misnomer if ever there was one.

Add to this conflicting messages from the away team and the police, and perhaps you may start to understand these things are never as straightforward as they appear.

A good FA cup run used to be an opportunity for clubs to have a little bit of excitement and generate club funds - welcome to the real world!



 

Was quite happy to enjoy the build up to the match on this thread now the club have done the right thing with regards to the 1919 but I take your use of "shambles" means you think otherwise........

Don't need to meet you in the 1919 to see the facts that this was a bit of a mess - a cursory glance at this thread would confirm that.......

So we first off offered GTFC 1200 tickets at an inflated price (something you said was partly Grimsby's instigation - something when their fans have asked at their end has been denied by their club). Of which I am still waiting for you to provide clarity on past precedent of charging more for Cup games - used Hastings as example where I am sure we never increased the prices for a Second Round game.

We offered this quantity of tickets without thinking at all about the need for segregation. A cursory glance at some of their away exploits would confirm the need and their dislike of most things Yorkshire. Did we speak to GTFC or Humberside Police at the stage prior to offering that quantity of tickets? Plus our own experience of a former league, big club coming to Town for example County last season - wasn't the best in the 1919.

When it turned out it was probably a good idea to segregate - nothing wrong with this change of plan - the "kneejerk reaction" was to then say sorry home fans but the bar is not in the equation, with no provision made for alternatives and allow the very people we now need to segregate access to booze, before, during and after the match.

So apologies Ged for not thinking it a great situation at that point but have every right on to voice that - as it was not a great situation at all.

Again, the club should be heartily thanked for reversing the decision but to come on and make out like it hasn't been a bit of a mess, something some people on here and FB would think otherwise and then to blame it on a minority of GTFC fans is a bit of a joke Ged. Was it the Cleethorpes Beech Patrols or whatever name they now go by that made the decisions above? No. Somebody at the club did.

Hopefully this brilliant change of heart by the club and the experience of this match will give everyone a bit of guidance for the FC United and potentially Stockport games.

Up the Town and lets get back to the football and big match build up. Cannae wait.

I think that the main cause was TownFan coming on here thinking that they knew what was happening. At no point did the club say that the 1919 would exclusively for the use of Grimsby fans and it was that statement which caused the Town fans to be unhappy.

Yes the club originally said it would not be segregated, which they have now decided correctly to segregate.

600 tickets sold to GTFC fans in the "segregated area". Great. The top turnstile is open to the public.

Without colours, how do you define a HT or GT fan ? The turnstile will want to take the money, get em through to ease the bottleneck which could happen.

To sell GT seats is an absolutely stupid idea. Surely HT would have sold that stand out. Why have segregation then ? Are those the GT fans allowed in the bar ? It beggars believe.

God help us when FC United turn up if we don't get switched on.

GT are a conference/league club who are used to getting away ends, all sealed off with a porto loo and burger fan, like when HT go to Stockport, been twice. You just get on with it.

GT will be everywhere.

Sorry HT, we have made a mess of this.

My suggestion is this. When we have a big game with plenty of away fans, the board, hosted by Ged, invite the likes of Jordan, Trev, Neil and Kev, Dave and Andy (sorry if I have missed anyone, I only know their first names....you know who you are) to attend a meeting first to propose how the game should be hosted. Them fans make sense and are very well educated in how we host a game with plenty of experience going away and know what fans like and how to maximise the event.

OOH TOWN

Mart

TheNeil30 wrote:I think that the main cause was TownFan coming on here thinking that they knew what was happening. At no point did the club say that the 1919 would exclusively for the use of Grimsby fans and it was that statement which caused the Town fans to be unhappy.

Yes the club originally said it would not be segregated, which they have now decided correctly to segregate.  

to be fair to TownFan they did call it correctly and it did confirm on the site at the weekend that it would be segregated with access for GTFC to the 1919. No one came onto the refute this assertion and indeed i think Townfan was posting as there was no news officially coming out and to be fair he did give the level of details that would suggest they were in the know.

Back to the game!!!!

Does anyone have knews on The Goal Machine and if he will be fit?

I have a feeling my train might be a bit full on Saturday! Hope someone has told Northern!

Hi Martin L thanks for the reply.
To be fair so far this season i have not witnessed any proper trouble from our fans, so hopefully the corner is being turned a little.
On the opening day at Kidderminster we had over 1700 there and conceded a 93rd minute equaliser so i expected something to happen there but to my knowledge everybody was well behaved, i certainly did not see anything untoward anyway.
My wife has always liked the idea of a day out in Harrogate so when this draw was made she was delighted, until she realised she was working so it will be me and my lad there, and we are definately part of the 95%!
Looking forward to a top game and top atmosphere, and one tning guaranteed, Macca will get an amazing ovation from all us GFTC fans, absolute legend. ☺☺

Nice one GTFCfan, I hope you and your son enjoy the day. If you want to go offline, I am very happy to welcome you both for a pre game drink and walk you down to the ground. Send me a message on this board with your mobile. Shame your good lady cannot enjoy Harrogate, however, that will save you a few quid !

just sent you a message to meet up for a pint and a drink for your lad......

told you we were friendly !