Thetownend.com

We sit in the second row of the upper part of the Don Rogers Stand next to an aisle.  At the bottom of the steps, there is a barrier which very slightly obstructed our view last season but we could see what was going on through the railings and were happy with our seats so bought the same season tickets for the upcoming season.  Having been to the pre-season friendlies, we found that our view through the railings is now obscured by an advertising hoarding placed there in the close season.  Looking along the stand, we could see that the other seven barriers are similarly obstructed.  The guy who sits in front of us has an even worse view and is furious, having got nowhere on his approaches to the club.  I have e-mailed the club this evening to register my displeasure and await a response.  Anyone else having a similar problem?  

Don't hold your breath waiting for a reply!

I'd imagine that when the league season starts, there will be further complaints, there being seven other barriers similarly obscured by advertising.

Either just move....there'll be plenty of room, or kick them down, this is STFC so won't be substantial.

Sounds a bit of a cock up.  Presumably they'll change your ST seats to somewhere else free of charge. Bit of a bugger if you've sat there a while and know the people around you (but who will presumably also move).

In my (limited) experience, the club are shit at dealing with pretty much anything other than taking money from us, so I wouldn't expect to get an answer as to why advertising hoardings have gone up that obscure your view.

If you kick the fucking things out of the way, you'll be fine because the company that used to supply the stewards have been fucked off (loads of newbies on zero hours contracts next season) and the remote control security cameras don't work.

I usually sit in the Arkells but mixed it up for villa match. Was sat near one of these and I thought to myself it must piss people off having to keep sitting up when the ball is on the touch line. It's not like there aren't any other areas to have advertising and when weighing up where to put them you would think they checked seat views!

All part of Power's plan to increasingly upset the fansbase so he can jump ship (with a large swag of transfer / Wembley cash) crying "I'm off, they don't love me anymore".

Have you emailed a generic address or emailed a particular person, I'm sure I saw something about this on twitter a week or so ago and thought someone had moved seats after talking to stfc.  I'm sure if you speak to the stadium manager (name escapes me) they will help you move seats, it's just a shame they don't think of people sitting down when they do this - are they nationwide signs by any chance ?

I also sit in the front row of the main bit of the DR stand & have had that seat since the season after the DR stand opened.  Not having been to the Villa or Baggies friendlies, it sounds as if my view of part of the pitch is going to be blocked out too! I'm going Sunday, & will certainly put in a complaint to the club if my experience is as others are describing. I sit around a lot of friends & really don't want to have to consider requesting I move seats.

While it is great the club can gain additional revenue from Nationwide from all of the advertising, how utterly short sighted of the club to put up these boards without considering the consequences. Strike that, am i really surprised?  :no:                                 

Has anyone considered contacting the marketing dept at Nationwide?  Maybe they can agree/suggest they are moved if the club aren't responding?

Received the following from the club in relation to this following my query this morning: "All Season Tickets holders that have contacted the club regarding this have been invited in to choose a new, non-restricted seat from the ones available."

That's pretty shit tbh. No prospect of possibly reconsidering the ad hoardings then, just "Oh, yeah, we put these up without so much as considering you, you'll have to fuck off somewhere else". Nice.

Thanks Sam, but why on earth did they create the situation in the first place? They must have known that some fans would be affected?  Why did they not contact those of us affected to warn us/offer us different seats in the first place?  It is all a bit unnecessary.  I chose my seat in the first instance because it was near to the front. 

Moral of the story, dont sit close to the front of the tier ;)

I've just moved my Season Ticket and I'm picking up my new card at the Liverpool/Bradford game. Either talk to someone at the club face to face or keep emailing.

I b
I bet your one those people who complain at away games...

The club isn't going to contact everyone it's down to the customer to complain.

Really? So you'd be happy if you bought a season ticket for a seat you'd been sitting in for years and then some idiot blocked your view with an advertising hoarding?

surely he's trolling.

I think the stand looks pretty smart with them all on, certainly given it a bit of a facelift. At the end of the day it probably impacts 50/60 seats in total so is just one of those things and anyway the  prospect of peering through the railings sounds equally unappealing so I don't see why people would choose to sit there in the first place.

Bingo :fishing:

I've had a response from STFC already:

I hope your well and thank you for your e-mail regarding the new Nationwide advertising boards.
 
This was first brought to my attention at the Everton Friendly a couple of weeks ago.
 
We have checked with our General Manager on this, however due to the sponsorship agreement being signed we cannot take the advertising boards down.
 
If you want to stay in your current seats we can offer you 15% off of your season ticket, you would need to come into the club shop or email us a contact number for yourself and we will call you to arrange the refund.
 
If you wish to move seats please let us know and we can try and find some better suited seats for you.
 
Apologies for the inconvenience this will cause, this was something that was over looked when the sponsorship agreement and branding was agreed.

I think my next job will be to contact Nationwide for their comments.  I'm sure they (nor STFC) won't want the unwanted publicity this might bring if someone (as the guy who sits in front of us is talking about doing) were to go to the Adver with this.

I genuinely don't think you were fishing with that 1!!

So complaining to Nationwide, what do you expect to achieve?! Surely the club is getting more revenue by having bigger advertising boards.

They have offered you 15% refund or move seats. Which is a kind gesture.

NOOOOOO
(http://i.imgur.com/bjPV5TA.jpg) (http://imgur.com/bjPV5TA)

Take the money and let the plastics get pissed if/when we sell out.

I also cringed.

It's a terribly written piece of communication to come from a professional organisation, assuming that it is this person's job (maybe it was a trialist). But the sentiment is good, which I suppose is the main thing.

I think it's a very decent apology.

firstly it apologises for the inconvenience - rather than the more non-committal "for any inconvenience which may have been caused" and it fesses up to something having been overlooked.

It also offers a solution, 15% off or another seat.

There's even a grammatical mistake to make the addressee feel good about her superior language skills.

What's not to like?

Just take the 15%, and find a better seat on matchday with a clearer view. Bound to be plenty around next season.

I doubt they'll be too concerned about negative publicity. They've admitted they should have had better foresight initially, apologised for the inconvenience, and offered a discount/ change of seats. It's not exactly the sort of story that's going to go nationwide.

Then again, the way things are with the adver at the moment, they'll probably stretch a weeks worth of news out of it.

Really?? Get in the fucking sea.

I expect Tom Bassam is salivating as we speak.

(http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/903/458/f7b.gif)

REALLY?!? I think you need to have a word with yourself and get a life. The club are doing more than enough, they are letting you move to a better seat free of charge or giving you a decent discount. You've been sitting in a seat that effectively had a restricted view anyway with the railings there so it's not like it's made that much difference. Even if they took the advertising down you'd still be peering through railings, why would you choose to do that?!
Get a grip!!

Oh and I'm sure Bassam at the Adver will probably run a story on it as he has nothing better to do and appears to be a shoddy and petty 'journalist'.

When they say overlooked it, it means fuck em. But, its not a huge issue, like others said take the 15% and move , I would imagine if matey writes to nationwide it will be filed straight in the bin anyway.

Well, having read some of the comments on here I was wondering whether not I should contact Nationwide about this.  But then I thought that, come the start of the season, a lot of people are going to be unhappy about it, so I did contact them to ask for their comments.  I received the following response:

I am sorry to hear of your concerns especially as you are a season ticket holder with Swindon Football Club.
 
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.  This information has been passed to our Marketing Team and they are contacting Swindon FC to see how we can resolve this.  Our Marketing Team have asked if they can contact you directly once they have liaised with the football club.

And, today, guess what?  I had a call from Nationwide have saying that the boards will be removed.  Maybe not this weekend but they've asked STFC to remove them ASAP. 

Well done Mrs B!

Your season ticket card wont work now in revenge :D

I'm half expecting that, Tans!

Blimey, good work, I'm genuinley surprised. I'm sort of wondering if it will get vetoed, as the person responding calls us swindon fc, so I'm sort of thinking they are low down the chain and might have jumped the gun, but we'll see.

Swindon football club. Good lord.

Well done. You should be proud of your achievements. Maybe you should go to the adver anyway and recount your triumph. Maybe even have picture of your grumpy face in your seat on the front page. A moral victory for the common man.....

There should be a fanfare for that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgpnlLz7WR0

One of the greatest pieces of American music ever written.

Go wash your mouth out with something soapy..

Not sure it really works at the County Ground, if I'm honest.

Wasn't so much referring to your kitsch 70s version, to be fair.  More to Copland's 1940s classic.  I think it's right up there with Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'.

Yeah lost me. I was thinking Ramones and New York Dolls :)

Take the discount and sit somewhere else. Win win!

Fair play, surely there can be some common sense agreement that Nationwide signs can be placed strategically elsewhere and still be in full view of the paying public

Perhaps over the windows of the press box?

So the sponsors are showing the club how to deal with customers. It's not difficult is it, but when the culture of the management is 'if it doesn't make us money, it's not worth doing' what should we expect.

Got to say, fair play to Nationwide over that. Swindon Town FC give a half-assed response, but the people paying the money for the advertising are telling the club to take them down?

Only in Swindon.

I know there isn't a lot going on but it does seem like the fans aren't exactly being given a good experience currently. Given the way this appears to have gone down with the support attendances could be way down this season.

The club really should be doing more to get the fans onside.

We don't need a press box now, surely.

Just offer two half-price season tickets for Hawes and Parkin.

  :clap: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

 :doh: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Tbh if the terms of the deal were agreed upon it's highly likely Nationwide printed up the boards and sent them to be fitted at the ground. Not absolving STFC of all fault, but it's more in Nationwide's court than theirs. It's not as if they want to be thought of as being the company that obscures football fans views every week. Not exactly great PR for them.

I can see why you'd be miffed, but I think the club provided a reasonable solution. If they're taken down then even better.

The view of at least 20 cunts who insist on leaving 5 minutes before the end of every game and hovering on the stairs

Those are the real villains

Ed: referring to the picture attachment

YES!! As someone who used to sit at the back of the front enclosure, you constantly have people leaning and literally breathing down your neck for the last 5 mins!

Berniman?

He doesn't sit by me any more!  :cry:

Saying that I don't have a season ticket any more either!

Neither does Berniman :D

Actually, as I half expected, our season ticket cards did not work!  We had to go to the club shop (with another guy whose ticket also didn't work) to get replacements.  So much for the club saying to keep the same cards.   :headhurts:

How dare you...  Wash you mouth out :D