Thetownend.com

Interesting point on thisis, about opening up the bank when the TE's full or approaching it. If we fill it up then anybody left is forced to pay the Arkells/Nationwide prices - and may not be up for it - plus I HATE having one end unused.

One for Mark D? (if your feeling up to it mate!)

i was just thinking about this myself. it would be nice to open the bank. i know a lot has been said about it in the past but now is the best time. keep prices the same as the town end and we may get more in. its clear a lot of teamsin this league wont bring many so there will only be a few games where we cant open it

Id go on there it would be ace 8)

I prefer it in some ways that its empty .. as i prefer to see a packed Town End and Nationwide stand .. u open the SB and it looks empty everywhere then

Its only a £3 difference, and for that you get a better view and better facilities.

Why have I got a TE season ticket again?

dont get ahead of yourself maybe if the ateendances go up by another 1 or 2 thousand

no Fatbury the point is that you only open the Bank if the Town End is full

Know what you mean by dispersing the rest of the crowd - maybe if we didn't sell pre-booked tickets for it and used it purely as a matchday overflow for those that don't want to pay the Championship prices in the main stands.

Pay cash on the gate, sit where you want (near the away fans) - only when we need it like...

exactly. if fans turn up on the day and find out the TE is sold out then they can just pay £15 and walk into the bank without even needing a ticket in a sort of sit where you like thing. most of the Nationwide is pre-booked tickets and season ticket holders anyway as you say. and on the day its £20 some people would rather not pay that much (i know i wouldn't)

Good idea,but what about the card board cut-outs? :wink:

Give them a £2 discount as they won't be using the toilets.

agree with using SB when TE is full

I used to really enjoy standing in stratton bank and its the added bonus of being close too the away support for a bit of banter.

 :soapy tit wank:

Nationwide want to do a deal with the club, every home match where theres not away fans on the bank they would open it to familys for £5 each. I think thats an ace idea for the club to make money and everyone will be happy really.

Nationwide want to do a deal with the club, every home match where theres not away fans on the bank they would open it to familys for £5 each. I think thats an ace idea for the club to make money and everyone will be happy really.

Nationwide want to do a deal with the club, every home match where theres not away fans on the bank they would open it to familys for £5 each. I think thats an ace idea for the club to make money and everyone will be happy really.

fuck nationwide   :wanker:

the company not the stand

how do you know about this? good idea i think

the extra cost of getting in extra stewards, catering staff, food, turnstyle operators and bog roll would far outweight the any profit made....

The opening of the bank gets asked about every 6 months....

 :nod:

So the club either pays for all that, or dont bother and the majority of the same people sit in the nationwide / Arkells each paying £3 more, with no extra staff costs required.

If i was the CEO, I know what I'd do.

They won't let you in.

everyone says they want to go on there ,and when they do they realise its shite,and then they forget about it in a year, and the cycle continues................

think it may be usefull to do a promotion with the primary schools of swindon as well maybe for the bank, sell a bunch of tickets to them in bulk for kids and teachers, say that it works out as about three of four quid per ticket and they can get a group together selling them to the kids for about a fiver.

They make a bit of a profit for the school, lots and lots of kids are watching the town again and the bank is open.

when they've opened the bank in the past - was it 2004/2005? - people went on there once then went back to from whence they came.

as dv says, the costs involved wouldn't be worth the hassle when there's still plenty of space in the wings of the nationwide and arkells.

that was just for away fans though wasn't it? think it was about 2000 ish when they last opened it to home fans

no, there was a few games in recent years as i remember them pretty well. definitely wasn't 2000ish, i wasn't coming to football at that stage.

the bank was opened once or twice last seasons for kids, although i believe that due to the somewhat inclement weather they ended up in the arkells.

yeah your right about the Kids thing. i remember it being opened for away fans too but that didn't last long either

on second thoughts just stick the away fans in there and let them get soaked  :D

they can wear them silly rain coats too  :D

The Bank wont generate much noise though.

im not so sure. when its full of away fans it makes a fair bit

But it wouldnt get packed out especially with Winter approaching.

true. and that could be the only down side to opening it. if we fill the nationwide and arkells we will have in excess of 10,000 and i can't see that happening

SB is crap

you feel completely isolated from the rest of the groud

stick the away fans in there

i beg your pardon..the stratton bank on a nice summers day is as good as any other end in football.allways remember standing on the bank when it was packed against newcastle ,people were actually climbing up the floodlights i think colin calderwood actually scored that game.i could be wrong though

now theres seats :angry:

and are you on about in the prem?

nah not in the prem calderwood was at spurs then..i just think it looks fuckin stupid with a empty stand behind the goal every game

I agree, as it is the current Stratton bank is crap, and should remain closed. Maybe move the away fans exclusively into there, and have the Arkells all Swindon.

Only proper answer for me is if we make it smaller, and put a roof on it, therefore removing the opposition of the local herberts on shrivvy road. But the club wouldnt want to do that (rightly), as when we do get a club on the bank, quite often they sell out, and smaller capacity = smaller revenue from big games.

If we were allowed, I'd stand on the Bank every time - like I did as a kid - and every time I went on there I'd unbolt one of the seats and lob it in a builders skip on the way home, eventually turning it back into the terracing that it should have always remained.

Last time I was on there was the Town v Liverpool game in the Prem season. Great atmosphere, shit result.

I loved the Bank.  As many older than me love the TE as their spiritual home, so the Bank was to me.  Stood right on the back in front of the clock close to the fence with the away fans.

Surviving the downpours, freezing on the ice in winter etc.  I would use it again but not many would now that people have got used to creature comforts.

The roof is a red herring.  Building a roof would be fine, the issue was an increase in height being proposed at the time, although it never got to planning anyway.  Problem now is the cost of doing it so much greater and we have slipped into a period of lower attendances.

If someone crazy company could be persuaded to sponsor a roof being built to get naming rights or something, and unreserved seating was allowed, it might just work.  Don't hold your breath on that though.

I wouldn't mind going in there just to see what it is like, and if we had the guarantee of getting a large number of people in there it would be great.

Realistically that isn't going to happen so its a bit of a silly idea if you ask me

Sister works at Nationwide, inside info.

How many people will turn up on a match-day, find out the Town End is full and trot back home, no-one! In all fairness I think this will lose the club money, extra stewarding would be needed along with cleaners and venders.

I also imagine that a family will not want to be sat on the freezing bank in the middle of December.
Im all for money saving schemes for families but the Stratton bank isn't really a viable option

its not up to you though is it :D