Facilities At The Vic

At least they show more urgency than Bayo to get into the box.

 

Have you never had Snakebite and Pale Ale before?!

 

Half of them are Indian exchange students as well, if someone actually started playing up they wouldn't have a clue how to handle the situation.

 

I’ve no idea but I always assumed the stewards doing what they do was just a requirement, otherwise why on earth would any club do it (assuming they’re paid a wage) unless they’re so scared of whatever the fine is for pitch invasion they feel it’s worth it.

 

This has been a ‘thing’ at Watford for as long as I can remember. I’m assuming it’s a rule that’s come down from the FA about preventing any pitch invasions no matter what the fixture.

 

In my time I've only ever known 3 matches where there were pitch invasions at the Vic:

Grimsby 1994
Play off semi 2013 x2
Sheffield Wednesday 2015

Slightly before my time the Wrexham match in 1982 as well.

 

Darren Bazeley's last minute equalise vs the scum, the infamous pitch invasion against them in the League cup, Jamie Moralee opening the scoring against them which we lost 4-2 I think

 

Yesterday at the WBA game I said to my mate shall I pop down early and grab a couple of beers, (SEJ stand). He said no, even if you go early it's touch and go if you'll get served in time.

I've said this before, but that game at Leicester where the owners son decided we could have a free bar meant no queues whatsoever, despite the fact that twice as many people would then be wanting refreshments as they were now free. This clearly showed me that when no payment details are needed there are literally no queues. So how do we speed that part up?

 

A few years ago they did a thing where you could buy a half-time beer token before the match.

 

Versus Plymouth April 1969; celebrating our first promotion above level 3.

 

And weirdly again v Plymouth in Feb 1975 as we were heading for relegation to Div4 and they were going up but this time it was the away fans.

Out of their few thousand (IIRC) travelling fans, a few hundred charged across the pitch from the Vicarage road into the Rookery around 2.30 egged on by 30/40 L*t*n who had entered the Rookery a little earlier and run out the few home fans in there at that time.

L*t*n were in Div 1 at the time but relegated, like us, by the end of April.

By 2.50 ish the Plymouth and some of the L*t*n were back in the Vicarage rd end (via the Shrodells stand and some back across the pitch) without any real police involvement as they had preferred to watch the home fans reclaim their "territory" and then moved in to lift a few stragglers/injured.

 

Serving staff in all their glory in the GT yesterday.

Fair play they had pre-poured about 10 pints of budweiser.

Not one single person wanted budweiser. Everyone was ordering Camden ale. So every single pint had to be poured from scratch. At snails pace obviously. They couldn't go any slower if they tried.

So a small queue of about 5 people in front of me when I got there still took nearly 10 minutes to get served. Utterly ridiculous.

 

One more reason to hate 48?
The Rookery was quite ‘lively’ from about 1967/8 onwards. No segregation, just a line of police in the main gangway going up the terrace watching on as all sorts got lobbed into the oppo fans by both sides. They only really did anything if one lot tried to storm across to get at the other.
I also remember the end of the Ken Furphy testimonial vs the Ar5e early May…loads on the pitch after the game and lots of Gooners charging en masse at a load of kids.
You ‘earned the right’ in those days!

 

They've got maybe 60 minutes before the match and 15 minutes at half time. A bit more frequently than once a fortnight. That's the main time to make money on food and drink. 75 minutes a fortnight to be at the top of their game.

Slowly pouring beer, not enough staff, slow payment taking, don't really sit well at time when every pint served is money in the till.

 

The not enough staff part - they are only 'operational' from an hour before the game to half time. Not many people are going to be arsed for 2 hours of minimum wage work every couple of weeks for 9 months of the year tbh.

 

Pitch invasions
Hull City May 1979

 

They could pay more. Enlist some fans. Do something else different…

 

Steve Sherwood Testimonial v Hearts, 1987.

 

Very true, although I guess you could treble the wage and employ three times as many and it would probably pay for itself if they could shift overpriced booze by the bucketload!

 

If we can get a cheese room then I'm up for it.

Rock (fort) and roll baby!

 

A room full of cheese sounds like my Boxing Day cheeseboard plans.