Undercroft locked, again

[mikeyb]

Once again, the undercroft was locked to supporters yesterday. It's happening virtually every week now. I usually (when it's open that is) walk through the undercroft to get to the other side of the stand to sit down. For some illogical reason, the stand was built without a horizontal gangway from one side to the other (there are vertical ones). That means, to get to the far side of the stand, you have to excuse yourself past many people to get there. If you need to use the toilet or the bar, you have to do it again, twice! We were told that we would have access to the undercroft when it was built. Indeed many people 'bought' foundation bricks under there but now cannot see them!

[dag]

Valid point miceyb. Pam and I, along with many hundreds more loyal supporters paid for foundation bricks to be placed there.

[southernmose]

To be honest, right from the start the undercroft has been poorly thought through. When it opened it had a bar, the club shop, and there was a suspicion that it was supposed to take over from the clubhouse over time.

Relegation and the subsequent drop in gates meant the bar went, then the club shop (or the other way round, can't remember now), and then they had the bright idea of putting the player gym in there - which sort of worked but more than once supporters couldn't get through because KM - this is how far back we're going with an access problem - had a habit of using the space for his half-time team talks.

Presumably the gym as it is now is more an outworking of the pandemic, because the club makes money from it being run commercially. In the current climate that's probably not a bad thing, but it does have the side-effect of the sponsored bricks being at best difficult to access, if not actually hidden away on the wall of what is now a private business.

Either way - and as I say I think we need to be grateful for the income but...- since very soon after opening the Undercroft has never really felt like public space, I don't think fans feel particularly welcome down there, and it just doesn't feel like you're supposed to be there.

Which is a shame - and I know flies in the face of the repeated assurances from the club that that isn't the case.

[kingsheathlad]

I don't sit in the stand anymore but I do like to stand at the side of the stand furthest away from clubhouse, which, with the undercroft shut, entails a walk around the pitch.

[sorrento]

It also means that toilet facilities are limited to the clubhouse, which means more congestion at half-time.