Hospitality Area In The East Stand

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

According to a leaflet given out at the match yesterday a new hospitality area is planned for the east stand, blocks Y21-24 rows X to DD seat nos 129-190 will all be lost.

Obviously the club are thinking about all the extra money they can make from having extra corporate hospitality but at what cost?

For a start all the season ticket holders who sit in this area, me included have been sitting there since reserved seating was introduced to the east stand and would not i presume due to the high amount of season ticket holders be able to get a seat with a similar view and would therefore be forced to move into the newly built area at the back of the stand, i for one find the back of the current east stand to far and would not enjoy watching the game from even further away and i assume this is the same for the people around me.

The next thing is people in these hospitality areas more often than not aren't even proper supporters but just clients that some buisness people are trying to impress by taking to a premiership football match, they won't sing and contribute to the atmosphere, they will take away from it.
Also the new area will effectivly split the east stand into two halves. This will also take away from the atmosphere as the real fans will be split into the areas above and below this area which could make getting the whole stand singing together impossible as the people at the bottom are cut off from the sound of the people further back.

I can only speak for myself on my next point but i will not be renewing my season ticket if this area is built, not that the club will care becuase of the thousands more they will make in revenue from this new hopitality area, and i remember nigel howe not so long ago saying on local radio how the season ticket holders were the life blood of the club.
I wonder how many more loyal, long term supporters will not renew because of this? the supporters that have been there though the good and the bad years, because Mr Howe if the bad years come back and heaven forbid we are relegated in two or three years time will these hospitality boxes still be full? i don't think so neither will the majority of these fair weather supporters only here because we are in the premier league.
a better idea i propsose may be to extend the current hopitality areas through the south stand where only the most recent season ticket holders sit and the away fans, although i imagen the fact that the seats in question also back onto the jazz cafe has something to do with it.

These plans may only effect a relativly small number of supporters for now, but what if they decide to expand this development a year or so later, spliting the east stand into a higher and lower tier with higher ticket prices for the top tier and the current prices for lower, would you want to pay more for the same view just because they built some boxes accross the stand? and i know that may not happen and the club will deny any future expansion plans but it is possible, it s easier for the club to make these changes a small amount at a time as some people not effected by this now may not oppose these changes as they are "Progress" but then lose their seat later on, divide and conquer i think it is called.

Also to learn of these plans from a leaflet handed out seconds before kickoff rather than from the club itself shows the disrespect they have for the supporters in general.

Obviously i don't want to lose my seat, but if i didn't sit in this area i would still think a hopitality area in the east stand is wrong. the east stand is like the south bank of old elm park where the normal supporters go to support and cheer on the lads, the executives and coporates should be kept accross the park where they have always been.

Long post i know, i hope you all have something to say on the issue to.

[Royal Monk]

Its called progress ... unfortunate for a few but best for the club in the long run. Hospitality = ££££ and any club wanting to go forwards needs to rake in the £££

[Royal Lady]

I thought that area was going to be the new disabled area. Anyway, we're Row W!!! Cheerio you miserable barstewards who sit directly behind us!!!

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

Its called progress ... unfortunate for a few but best for the club in the long run. Hospitality = ££££ and any club wanting to go forwards needs to rake in the £££

they already are raking in the cash from the new tv deal, not to mention all the extra seats they will have and we will still be paying alot more for our tickets than other supporters.
if they really need the extra cash they should be built in the south stand where the longest standing supporters won't be affected.

[Royal Lady]

I've replied on your other thread about this on AE. I agree that building hospitality on the South Stand is one possibility. Move the current South Stand people to the new extension in the East and make the rest of the South for Away fans only.

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

Before anyone says i would also like to point out i do realise that the club can do what they want as it is their ground but should money always come before the supporters?

[willz_royal]

Honestly, this club is turning its own fans against it every day of the year!

Without wanting to sound like an old romantic, just remember division 2, where it was unreserved, the fans were real, and the prices were good, and compare it with nowadays!

I feel the only thing good about Reading Fc as a club is the players and managerial staff, as they dont have any say in how much money they can take off of us!

[andyhalls]

I can understand where you are coming from BigDave, but I for one will not stop supporting my beloved Reading just because they are building an executive area in the middle of the stand. If you are one of the loyal, long term supporters that you spoke about in your post, grit your teeth and get on with it. It is going to be what is best for the club in the long term, and if you are true supporter, you will understand that.

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

I can understand where you are coming from BigDave, but I for one will not stop supporting my beloved Reading just because they are building an executive area in the middle of the stand. If you are one of the loyal, long term supporters that you spoke about in your post, grit your teeth and get on with it. It is going to be what is best for the club in the long term, and if you are true supporter, you will understand that.

good point, i didn't say i would stop supporting them just that i won't get a new season ticket. It costs alot to buy one and i'd rather not be stuck at the back of the new extension struggling to make out which player is which every week.
i want to enjoy my football after a 250 mile trip just to get to the ground for each game i come to rather than have to watch it through binoculars.

[M4 Junction 11]

Someone mentioned this on the Stadium Expansion thread - From Page 23.

Not happy with these plans, my East Stand seat has disappeared and been replaced by a row of executive boxes

Y22-Y24 rows X to about CC will go.

I just don't buy this 'disabled area' argument. Perhaps the plans have changed but ...

The image clearly shows a "Match Day Hospitality Suite" – in green – between Y21 and Y24. In RFC's eyes it would be the prime spot for Corporate Hospitality. I'd imagine they'd move the matchday restaurant over there and shift the match sponsors from the windowless Thames Room into the existing West Stand restaurant overlooking the pitch.

The two yellow areas are the current disabled areas at ground level. Surely if they were going to increase disabled capacity, they'd add more at the existing ground level – possibly between Y22 and Y23 – than halfway up the stand, between concourses and accessible only by lift.

[andyhalls]

I feel the only thing good about Reading Fc as a club is the players and managerial staff, as they dont have any say in how much money they can take off of us!

Tell that to Steve Sidwell!

[premiership_bound]

Also mentioned that this would mean the end of the Jazz Cafe. Assuming this means building work during the season so the Jazz Cafe will be gone from next season?

Are these all the seats that will be lost or are these just seats lost for the windows to the corporate area but additional seats to sit the prawn sandwich brigade will also be required so I reckon row W may also not be safe.

[weybridgewanderer]

I can understand where you are coming from BigDave, but I for one will not stop supporting my beloved Reading just because they are building an executive area in the middle of the stand. If you are one of the loyal, long term supporters that you spoke about in your post, grit your teeth and get on with it. It is going to be what is best for the club in the long term, and if you are true supporter, you will understand that.

good point, i didn't say i would stop supporting them just that i won't get a new season ticket. It costs alot to buy one and i'd rather not be stuck at the back of the new extension struggling to make out which player is which every week.
i want to enjoy my football after a 250 mile trip just to get to the ground for each game i come to rather than have to watch it through binoculars.

I suspect people in rows below you may want to move to the back afer the extension is completed so you may have a wider choice of seats than just the ones at the back of the stand

also the front of the new section won't be that much further back than the rear of the current stand

Why would the club have handed out these flyers yesterday of the changes won;t come into effect till the season after next?or are your seats being removed during next season and you need to find a new seat now, before the extension is built?

oh and at the moment nobody know what the view will be like, I'll wager it will be fine. Why complain about the view from seats you haaven't even seen yet?

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

i think the club should really let people know what their plans are on this new area are and what they intend to do with the people currently sitting there rather than me bitching about it on here. I think i'll give them a call tommorow.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

You'd have thought the club could have avoided this by making the new boxes start at the back of where the east stand is now, so no current seats would have to be lost. They could also have added a lot more boxes.

Looking at those plans though, I just can't see how those boxes can work. If they are cut into the stand then nobody in the boxes will be able to see the pitch unless the are stood up, just as you wouldn't if sat at the back of the wheelchair enclosures. If the boxes are moved forward so that anyone sitting in them can see the whole pitch then all the people behind them are going to find their seats have an obstructed view.


the Jazz Cafe is also being turned into a kitchen for this corporate area and there are no signs that it's going to be replaced.

[M4 Junction 11]

The corporate boxes will soon empty if we fall out of the Premier League.

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

I can understand where you are coming from BigDave, but I for one will not stop supporting my beloved Reading just because they are building an executive area in the middle of the stand. If you are one of the loyal, long term supporters that you spoke about in your post, grit your teeth and get on with it. It is going to be what is best for the club in the long term, and if you are true supporter, you will understand that.

good point, i didn't say i would stop supporting them just that i won't get a new season ticket. It costs alot to buy one and i'd rather not be stuck at the back of the new extension struggling to make out which player is which every week.
i want to enjoy my football after a 250 mile trip just to get to the ground for each game i come to rather than have to watch it through binoculars.

I suspect people in rows below you may want to move to the back afer the extension is completed so you may have a wider choice of seats than just the ones at the back of the stand

also the front of the new section won't be that much further back than the rear of the current stand

Why would the club have handed out these flyers yesterday of the changes won;t come into effect till the season after next?or are your seats being removed during next season and you need to find a new seat now, before the extension is built?

oh and at the moment nobody know what the view will be like, I'll wager it will be fine. Why complain about the view from seats you haaven't even seen yet?

these fliers were not made by the club, in retrospect being moved back a few rows rather than moving everyone in ths area to the back may not be so bad as i first feared as the view will be similar.
There will still be a new hospitality area in the east stand though effectivly spliting the supporters into two smaller groups rather than one larger and louder group.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

The corporate boxes will soon empty if we fall out of the Premier League.

why? They were usually full before we got into it.

[PieEater]

This is not exactly news.....

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57859

and the stadium expansion thread.

I contacted the club and they say they have not decided will happen yet, which I think means they have but we wont like it. Apparently since it wont affect us next season means it's all OK

I'm most disappointed STAR don't seem to care at all, they've made no noises about representing the fans affected to ensure the best solution, which IMHO is to slide everyone back above the executive area 5 rows.

[weybridgewanderer]

these fliers were not made by the club, in retrospect being moved back a few rows rather than moving everyone in ths area to the back may not be so bad as i first feared as the view will be similar.

So who made them then? just someone scaremongering?

I am sure the club will communicate in due course but as yet the plans haven't been approved so there is no point communicating a plan that may never happen

There will still be a new hospitality area in the east stand though effectivly spliting the supporters into two smaller groups rather than one larger and louder group.

we don't know yet what the club plans to do when the new seats are available in terms of season ticket allocation. i suspect a "movers week" allowing eveyone in the stadium an opportunity to look at new seats in across the rear of the east stand. those being inconvenienced likely to get first opportunity. it may be the majority of the people in the corner will want to move further back