Congratulations to Paul Barber.

BUTTERBALL said:

I hope Mr Barber reads this, but I will be e-mailing him anyway.

The behaviour of the door staff in the West Reception/1901 Harry Bloom was a DISGRACE today. I have been a fan since 1984, but today was embarrassing and my worst experience of treatment by club staff.

As soon as I walked in the main entrance, I was given a filthy look at by one of the security staff, no idea why. Then I was BOOMED at by an over officious female steward as soon as I approached the entrance to the lounge without any sort of greeting. "You can't come in here without a collar" she shouted, despite the fact i was smartly dressed with a smart plain jumper and shoes and smart collared coat. A second female steward then patronisingly thrust a leaflet in my hand and said "we are enforcing it this season". Enforcing what? The leaflet didn't even mention jumpers not being acceptable.

I am not a Harry Bloom 1901 regular as i have a season ticket in the East stand, but sometimes get tickets. I have never ever been treated with this level of contempt by anyone, yet alone my own football club. It's not as if i am some corporate numpty, i was a Goldstone and Withdean regular and went on all the marches for the stadium, I am a long standing supporter through thick and thin. I had to buy a £25 polo shirt to gain admission from the shop (fine because it had a collar) and queue for half an hour to get it. There was no way i was missing the match.

When i finally got in to the lounge, there were lots of scruffy people in there, some wearing hoodies and ripped jeans with a scruffy collared polo shirt underneath. Two even had trainers. I would say i was in the 20% of the smartest people in that lounge but the collar jobsworths were having none of it. I saw a number of other fans suffer the same fate. As one guy said, they will regret it when they get 10,000 fans next season and none of these fair weather supporters want to know.

Sterile, plastic, over officious and downright RUDE. I never thought i would pine for the days of Withdean and Dick Knight. The stadium might be the best in the division and god knows we fought for it, but treating the fans with this level of disrespect and indeed contempt ruins the whole experience. I will not be spending a single penny at the stadium again as a personal protest unless i receive an apology.

I have defended the club until now on things like pricing and treatment of fans as things do have to change and evolve. However, my day was summed up for me just as i was leaving. The train announcement said "we would like to remind all CUSTOMERS the last train leaves in 10 minutes.....". No further comment necessary.

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Tom Hark said:

Some emailed Barber on the spot, demanding that he come down in person and explain that idiotic decision. Post-match catering RIP. Twats.

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Seagull73 said:

Club staff unnecessarily efficoius, rude and unapproachable. Much like their glorious leader.
Been saying for ages that this is the way it would end up. Sad times.

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Rugrat said:

It's just that his responses to everything I have seen are patronising and either don't deal with the issue or simply tell us what we already know

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BUTTERBALL said:

I hope Mr Barber reads this, but I will be e-mailing him anyway.

The behaviour of the door staff in the West Reception/1901 Harry Bloom was a DISGRACE today. I have been a fan since 1984, but today was embarrassing and my worst experience of treatment by club staff.

As soon as I walked in the main entrance, I was given a filthy look at by one of the security staff, no idea why. Then I was BOOMED at by an over officious female steward as soon as I approached the entrance to the lounge without any sort of greeting. "You can't come in here without a collar" she shouted, despite the fact i was smartly dressed with a smart plain jumper and shoes and smart collared coat. A second female steward then patronisingly thrust a leaflet in my hand and said "we are enforcing it this season". Enforcing what? The leaflet didn't even mention jumpers not being acceptable.

I am not a Harry Bloom 1901 regular as i have a season ticket in the East stand, but sometimes get tickets. I have never ever been treated with this level of contempt by anyone, yet alone my own football club. It's not as if i am some corporate numpty, i was a Goldstone and Withdean regular and went on all the marches for the stadium, I am a long standing supporter through thick and thin. I had to buy a £25 polo shirt to gain admission from the shop (fine because it had a collar) and queue for half an hour to get it. There was no way i was missing the match.

When i finally got in to the lounge, there were lots of scruffy people in there, some wearing hoodies and ripped jeans with a scruffy collared polo shirt underneath. Two even had trainers. I would say i was in the 20% of the smartest people in that lounge but the collar jobsworths were having none of it. I saw a number of other fans suffer the same fate. As one guy said, they will regret it when they get 10,000 fans next season and none of these fair weather supporters want to know.

Sterile, plastic, over officious and downright RUDE. I never thought i would pine for the days of Withdean and Dick Knight. The stadium might be the best in the division and god knows we fought for it, but treating the fans with this level of disrespect and indeed contempt ruins the whole experience. I will not be spending a single penny at the stadium again as a personal protest unless i receive an apology.

I have defended the club until now on things like pricing and treatment of fans as things do have to change and evolve. However, my day was summed up for me just as i was leaving. The train announcement said "we would like to remind all CUSTOMERS the last train leaves in 10 minutes.....". No further comment necessary.

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Ernest said:

Deserve all you get for going CORPORATE

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Vegas Seagull said:

No further comment & then you edit...
Corporate hospitality is like a job interview, you need standards & the fact that you think it's ok to turn up wearing just a jumper shows your lack of respect for the Club & others around you.

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Vegas Seagull said:

No further comment & then you edit...
Corporate hospitality is like a job interview, you need standards & the fact that you think it's ok to turn up wearing just a jumper shows your lack of respect for the Club & others around you.

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BUTTERBALL said:

I hope Mr Barber reads this, but I will be e-mailing him anyway.

The behaviour of the door staff in the West Reception/1901 Harry Bloom was a DISGRACE today. I have been a fan since 1984, but today was embarrassing and my worst experience of treatment by club staff.

As soon as I walked in the main entrance, I was given a filthy look at by one of the security staff, no idea why. Then I was BOOMED at by an over officious female steward as soon as I approached the entrance to the lounge without any sort of greeting. "You can't come in here without a collar" she shouted, despite the fact i was smartly dressed with a smart plain jumper and shoes and smart collared coat. A second female steward then patronisingly thrust a leaflet in my hand and said "we are enforcing it this season". Enforcing what? The leaflet didn't even mention jumpers not being acceptable.

I am not a Harry Bloom 1901 regular as i have a season ticket in the East stand, but sometimes get tickets. I have never ever been treated with this level of contempt by anyone, yet alone my own football club. It's not as if i am some corporate numpty, i was a Goldstone and Withdean regular and went on all the marches for the stadium, I am a long standing supporter through thick and thin. I had to buy a £25 polo shirt to gain admission from the shop (fine because it had a collar) and queue for half an hour to get it. There was no way i was missing the match.

When i finally got in to the lounge, there were lots of scruffy people in there, some wearing hoodies and ripped jeans with a scruffy collared polo shirt underneath. Two even had trainers. I would say i was in the 20% of the smartest people in that lounge but the collar jobsworths were having none of it. I saw a number of other fans suffer the same fate. As one guy said, they will regret it when they get 10,000 fans next season and none of these fair weather supporters want to know.

Sterile, plastic, over officious and downright RUDE. I never thought i would pine for the days of Withdean and Dick Knight. The stadium might be the best in the division and god knows we fought for it, but treating the fans with this level of disrespect and indeed contempt ruins the whole experience. I will not be spending a single penny at the stadium again as a personal protest unless i receive an apology.

I have defended the club until now on things like pricing and treatment of fans as things do have to change and evolve. However, my day was summed up for me just as i was leaving. The train announcement said "we would like to remind all CUSTOMERS the last train leaves in 10 minutes.....". No further comment necessary.

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Daddies_Sauce said:

We were searched on the way into to WSL by the stewards along with a number of other ‘customers’

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BUTTERBALL said:

I hope Mr Barber reads this, but I will be e-mailing him anyway.

The behaviour of the door staff in the West Reception/1901 Harry Bloom was a DISGRACE today. I have been a fan since 1984, but today was embarrassing and my worst experience of treatment by club staff.

As soon as I walked in the main entrance, I was given a filthy look at by one of the security staff, no idea why. Then I was BOOMED at by an over officious female steward as soon as I approached the entrance to the lounge without any sort of greeting. "You can't come in here without a collar" she shouted, despite the fact i was smartly dressed with a smart plain jumper and shoes and smart collared coat. A second female steward then patronisingly thrust a leaflet in my hand and said "we are enforcing it this season". Enforcing what? The leaflet didn't even mention jumpers not being acceptable.

I am not a Harry Bloom 1901 regular as i have a season ticket in the East stand, but sometimes get tickets. I have never ever been treated with this level of contempt by anyone, yet alone my own football club. It's not as if i am some corporate numpty, i was a Goldstone and Withdean regular and went on all the marches for the stadium, I am a long standing supporter through thick and thin. I had to buy a £25 polo shirt to gain admission from the shop (fine because it had a collar) and queue for half an hour to get it. There was no way i was missing the match.

When i finally got in to the lounge, there were lots of scruffy people in there, some wearing hoodies and ripped jeans with a scruffy collared polo shirt underneath. Two even had trainers. I would say i was in the 20% of the smartest people in that lounge but the collar jobsworths were having none of it. I saw a number of other fans suffer the same fate. As one guy said, they will regret it when they get 10,000 fans next season and none of these fair weather supporters want to know.

Sterile, plastic, over officious and downright RUDE. I never thought i would pine for the days of Withdean and Dick Knight. The stadium might be the best in the division and god knows we fought for it, but treating the fans with this level of disrespect and indeed contempt ruins the whole experience. I will not be spending a single penny at the stadium again as a personal protest unless i receive an apology.

I have defended the club until now on things like pricing and treatment of fans as things do have to change and evolve. However, my day was summed up for me just as i was leaving. The train announcement said "we would like to remind all CUSTOMERS the last train leaves in 10 minutes.....". No further comment necessary.

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jimbob5 said:

I'm a good mate of Dick Knight. We used to go regularly to the Albion. He often pestered me to go to the games at Gillingham and then the Withdean. I'd lost interest in the football but I was always made to feel welcome. Since we moved to the Amex things have not been the same. Frequently I have been cast away for not looking the part. It came to a head today when some security staff started shouting at me in a satirical and sarcastic way. I felt intimidated and fled in fear of my life. Apparently this has happened to many others . I've heard that the club are deliberately trying to get rid of ALL the fans by treating them this way and banning the team from scoring! FACT

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Skylar said:

How can I stop thinking it?

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Beach Hut said:

I have little sympathy for the 1901 person, if you really feel you have to go and watch a football match in an area where there is a dress code then if you cannot conform to it you got what you deserved.

As to why anyone would ever want to watch a football match in an area where there is a dress code is completely beyond me.

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