alimci

Just before we start planning for next year's trip, and very belatedly (I haven't unpacked yet either), many thanks to everyone for making the Romania trip such a great few days. Alison

Also Astra fans have only just done Scotland, I'm sure we'll be equally disappointed if we draw another Romanian team next year

British Airways are having a sale which essentially gives you free accommodation (return flights + 3 nights in 4* star hotel < standard return fare). Thanks to DBJ for organising the buses So looking forward to the ultimate Caley Away Day.

Worst game I have seen since the days of Brewster's return. I think it's far too early to start complaining about Terry, he has an injury list as long as his arm and there still is the need to gel, but we can't string three passes together and why we think we need to pass into the net is beyond me. I don't mind being beaten by Ayr at all, but the manner of the defeat was just awful. Also surprised at the stats. We had 18 attempts on goal? Really???

Or rather WE are not allowed to stand. On the matchday report thread there's a link from CapitalCaley to the St Mirren board. The reason we aren't allowed to stand appears to be because there aren't enough of us standing... So the simple solution is actually to take 2000 fans and then we can do whatever we like.

For those who weren't there on Saturday, it wasn't just a simple case of sitting v standing. People were made to sit down right after the goals had been scored. Reading the St Mirren board, the stewards obviously acted the same way towards their own fans. Do people really want an environment where you must sit down exactly 60 seconds after scoring or be thrown out? And the last time we went to St Mirren, we were able to stand at the back for the whole game.

Not a bad result given our total lack of defence and the blind officials. Unfortunately St Mirren obviously decided the stewards were far too friendly on our last visit, and had sent them for re-training to Tannadice. Pity. But good also to speak to a couple of fellow CTOs.

It would have been nice to have had a comments section so I could have explained why Ayr was the best away experience. Seriously though, it's difficult to give a proper answer to the more generic questions. What if you find two grounds really hostile, and the rest completely friendly? Basically what is required to improve the matchday experience (ugh) is standing / less power-trip stewards / alcohol probably in that order.

I also thought "Is this a library?" strangely accurate. Thank god we were there to supply a bit of atmosphere. But was that weird thing with the wall of sound around 20 minutes in, when the whole place erupted for about 3 minutes? They didn't even make as much noise as that again when they scored. Oops, sorry - just realised this has its own thread...

At Killie yesterday, there were so few home supporters that one stand was totally empty, one had hardly anybody in it, and actually all the home support together would probably have fitted into one stand. It's not just TCS having problems with attendance. The Airdrie games last year were amazing - fantastic facilities and a miniscule home support. And ICT without question.

"Cillit-Bang, for an *rse so clean you can eat your pies off it."

I will give ya a green dot fer that - we were in the Alamo and heard about this although the rumour was that you had all been asked to sit down !! But what the feck were you doing in Legoland and not the Alamo at 2.00 ? By the way - can ya see the fervour of the support on the caleyjags.com site. Good to hear the drum away again as well Couldn't act for the Seating Defence League *and* go to the Alamo...though the real reason was I hadn't logged in for ages and wasn't sure which pub folks would be at...didn't want to end up in a bar with the likes of photo 23...

Huge thanks to the chief steward yesterday. The first five or six of us arrived in the ground just after 2pm and were told we had to sit in our allocated seats (printed on the tickets) as it was club policy, and was necessary for their security and health and safety to know which seats were occupied. We said how unhappy we were about the set seating, as none of us wanted our allocated seats, and he said he would register our complaints in his report. Then after a long discussion where we suggested it would be easier for both fans and stewards if we could pick the seats we wanted from the ticket office in future, and he told us about what a pain some fans from other clubs had been, he suddenly said he would go and check on whether we could really just sit where we wanted. He came back less than the 20 mins he said, and gave us the all clear. Totally great bloke. So big thanks to him and his whole team for helping make a great afternoon, after what had initially seemed just a recipe for disaster.

A fantastic moment of stewarding. You couldn't have made it up. But I'm sure Lee Cox was flattered by the all the extra attention :biggrin: