TUFC v Hereford United, Football League 2, 29/10/11

[stevegull]

Pleased to hear it was a more dominant display yesterday, and i'm gutted i couldn't make it now! Hopefully our boys can get a run together now!

COYY

[ferrarilover]

I hadn't seen that Pitman was whining about the ref, what exactly was it that he was club happy with? The dozen handballs his team got away with? His evenhandedness? His consistency? I fail to see how many fouls we could have committed, given that we had all the meaningful possession and every time they got it, they whacked it as long as they were able, with absolutely no desire to play any actual football.

Managers bemuse me.

Matt.

[HRG]

On the Hereford forum one fan took comfort in thinking that Edgar Street is nicer than Plainmoor .

[Southampton Gull]

It does look like a battlezone at the minute but at least we can rest safe in the knowledge that Edgar Street looks like that all the time. In fact, it looks like an SAS playground

Once the new grandstand is up and being used the ground will look pretty tidy in my opinion.

[Dave]

Yep i saw that comment aswell HRG, never been Edgar street however what i have seen on the T.V i would say our ground with one side a building site still looks some way better than there's.

[HRG]

Edgar Street is not great Forever. There's a few holes here and there, the old terraced area for away fans had been closed due to health and safety and been replaced with some dodgy temporary seating that looks more suited to a leisure centre. As for the loos, they don't appear to have cleaned or replaced the light bulbs in them for a good few years. Not nice.

The plus points though, for the sake of fairness, are that it's parking is pretty good except maybe around the mad Christmas rush and it's cheap too. It's not a long walk from the train station, it's close to town and pubs and the bar at the ground welcomes away fans.

Whilst Plainmoor may not look good at the moment at least improvements are taking place. It's a work in progress.

[royalgull]

I could understand their manager's annoyance at the goals, lets be honest if there is an smidgen of doubt you'd hope to get the decision go your way or would hope your keeper wouldn't carry it in, but it was in so meh. Heat of the moment, not seen a replay I could understand his view.

Plainmoor at the minute isn't the greatest place in the world to go, although it again depends what you are after, i'd say for an away fan it's decent. You've got an awesome bar on site, you've got a cluster of pubs in the close proximity to the ground, you get a terrace with a low roof and no obstructed views. As well as a trip to the seaside, don't know if there's much to complain about. Hereford on the other hand, £13 to get in excellent work there, The main stand windows were all boarded up which was hardly the first impressions you want, i thought they might have mmoved grounds at first and nto told anyone, instead of a bar on site you have a public toilet, the away end whilst terracing has obstructed views all over the show and the original away end is pretty much condemned. As for their toilets now that really is 'a tough place to go'. Edgar Street is still quirky I'd sooner go to a place like that than a place like Shrewsbury for example but it's not better than Plainmoor in my opinion. With Plainmoors new stand on the way for me it will be one of the best grounds in the league. Perfect size, perfect match between old and new with regards to seating and terracing, happy days.

[Regiment]

On the Hereford forum one fan took comfort in thinking that Edgar Street is nicer than Plainmoor .

if anyone has ever seen (and who hasn't ??) THAT Ronnie Radford goal, they will know exactly what the ground still looks like now. only difference is the stands were a bit more populated then.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Edgar Street is not great Forever. There's a few holes here and there, the old terraced area for away fans had been closed due to health and safety and been replaced with some dodgy temporary seating that looks more suited to a leisure centre. As for the loos, they don't appear to have cleaned or replaced the light bulbs in them for a good few years. Not nice.

The plus points though, for the sake of fairness, are that it's parking is pretty good except maybe around the mad Christmas rush and it's cheap too. It's not a long walk from the train station, it's close to town and pubs and the bar at the ground welcomes away fans.

Whilst Plainmoor may not look good at the moment at least improvements are taking place. It's a work in progress.

I've only been once HRG and i was shocked to be faced with the narrowest turnstiles i've ever encountered. I'm no Peter Crouch lookalike but i struggled to get through them. I stood on the terrace on that occasion and i think there were away seating above us but i couldn't see. In fact i couldn't see much due to the massive concrete pillars dotted about the place. Is this the terrace area that you mentioned was now shut HRG? Make no mistake Edgar Street is a sh*thole but the benefits are it is easy to park, easy walk to the town centre which is nice, cathedral area etc and there are some nice places to eat and drink. The views from the terrace are awful, the programme i bought was one of the worst i have ever read in terms of quality, content and value and i didn't even taste their food. We lost too! Bugger.

[royalgull]

How grounds should be rated

All seated -5 points
Floodlights + 2 points
A bog with no roof -1 point
Pillars obstructing views -3 points
Less than 10minute walk from a train station +2 points
2 pubs or more within 10 minute walk of the ground +5 points
A retail park nearby -4 points
A car park charge -3 points
No roof on away end -2points
Anywhere that serves 'Herta rollover hotdogs' - 3 points
Grounds outside of town centre -5 points
Grounds size ridiculously out of proportion for the club it houses -5 points

So on the grand scheme of things Edgar Street would fair up reasonably well, it has flaws but give me Edgar Street over Oxford's 3 sided baseball ground, miles out of town, crappy all seater with seat colours that don't match the club with no floodlights, 30mins from the train station, in the worst part of Oxford with a retail park attached anyday.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Good points there Royal but my exception (being the tight and brought up in Yorkshire stereotype) would be ticket price. I think at Accrington away last season i paid £11 or £12 quid to get in and the view of the playing area was better than when i went to Edgar Street. At both grounds the facilities are poor but at Hereford i paid something approaching the £20 mark. Accrington had it spot on. You cannot charge that kind of money when the services you provide are of such poor quality and wholly inadequate to cater for hundreds of fans. I am happy to pay £20 at places like Shrewsbury and Oxford as i get a nice seat (although don't tend to sit in it that much due to all the singing!), a nice view of the game, toilets that actually work, have toilet paper and will lock, and a general all round convivial day out. I have had enough really of visiting dumps that aren't fit for paying spectators and i am quite happy to go to soulless identikit stadia. That said, i do prefer old grounds because of the history and if they are maintained properly and the needs of the fan are catered for then give me them over lego-style stadiums anyday.

[royalgull]

I paid £13 to get into Hereford last season. Admittedly I could barely see one corner of the pitch but I'd still rather that than our £25 trip to swindon this season. Swindon actually is very much thumbs up as a ground but that price is insane.

Very valid point regarding ticket pricing, it's an absolute joke at all levels. Football should be a hobby sport for people to go to, £10 a time at our level but it's not it's this money making juggernaut business instead of a sport where everything is MASSIVE news and of immesne importance. It's not, it's crud.

Was reading some bits about the FA Cup the other day, back in 18-summat, might be 1873 but whose counting really? Oxford uni played the final of the FA Cup in front of 3000 people, of which most left before the end because the boat race was on.

That's what we need, football being the working man's game a hobby which although is a nice distraction from the mundane hideousness of life itself, isn't the life and death of the human race if David Silva isn't fit for saturday's game with bolton. At the end of the day who gives a flying Donald Duck.

[numpte]

£25 for Swindon. Possibly my nearest ground, with Oxford and Shots but no way am I paying £25 for a 4th tier match.

[royalgull]

almost certainly. I was a bit bored last Tuesday and was looking at games near to me, Swindon were playing Gillingham, a ticket for the Arkells stand (same stand they share with the away fans) was £25 a ticket, plus an extra £2 for a card transaction and 'booking fee'. So £27 altogether. Delightful. That's £4 more expensive than it is to watch Reading in the Championship.

Oxford was £19 for their game with Argyle, so ours again will be the same. Disgraceful.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Spot on again Royal and apologies forcontinuing to be negative about this as there are lots of positives to being a football fan but. We all know times are hard for most clubs, especially at our level but it's not just ticket prices that are having a real impact on attendances. The economy is totally different to how it was even 5 years ago when i remember going on holiday to Polperro and seeing a litre of diesel at £1.15 a litre and being staggered as it was at least 15p dearer than i usually paid up here in Derbyshire AND it was a JET garage notorious for being overpriced anyway. Now it is £1.38 a litre and shows no sign of dropping. Most fans have to travel to get to games and rail fares are a rip off as are bus fares. I thought about going to Crewe from Chesterfield via train on saturday until i was priced off the railways and into my car. 30 odd quid return which changes twice and takes an hour longer than by car on average. I can get there and back in my car for about £15. Food at games also needs addressing. It is generally unpalatable with a few exceptions and a sausage roll which costs around 70p in Greggs will cost you up to £3 in some grounds. I admit you don't have to buy food and drink at grounds but if you've got kids you'll know about it if you tell them they can't have something. Also it is something else you may feel deprived of if you can't afford it just because some robbing arses at the clubs want to make ridiculous mark ups on convenience foods. I just think that for many fans not earning very much then they will choose not to go to games as regurlarly as they once did and the club will ultimately suffer financially. They are not recession proof. In terms of clubs like Man City or Chelsea or Arsenal, i quite honestly believe that if i was a fan of those clubs then i would now probably do the unthinkable for a football fan and start supporting a local side like Rochdale or Barnet. For most people paying upwards of 40 quid for a football ticket every game is insane. If you do this you are either poor and stupid, well off, or just a bit mental. I fear that League clubs will eventually follow suit and we will all be paying at least £20 at every league ground in the country.