It may provoke more vitriol but I feel I need to say a few things.

Over the last week I have been sadly laid up with a virus that has meant I have had little time to post on the internet since the JPT final, perhaps a blessing in disguise judging by the vitriol that has been levelled at both COYR and myself personally.

Now is the time to redress part of that balance, I am going to make no excuses, nor do I ask for any sympathy.

Six weeks ago two individuals and myself formed COYR, it had two real aims, to provide a service for Saints supporters and also as a bit of fun for the three of us, it should be stated that all of us have other paid jobs and that we knew from the outset that profit in this venture would be minimal and probably no where near the loss of earnings from our other jobs given the time needed, anyway the idea was that any profit  made would be ploughed back into the business.

Our first venture was T Shirts, perhaps the reaction in some quarters from the  start should have warned us, as certain individuals attacked us on message boards before we had even sold a T shirt, the whole irony was that many attacked us on the Saints Web  accusing us  on profiteering from Saints fans & taking money from the club, missing the entire point that the Saints Web is a pay to post site and doing exactly what we were accused of ( Nothing against Saints Web here )

Our second venture was Silverspoons, having been there myself at last years FA Cup Final I knew that a good time was to be had there and we were determined to get it for Saints.

Initially we were offered it on a rental basis which meant that we had to put down a large sum of money, cash we neither had not cared to risk, however the owners of Silverspoons through their lets say “agent”  agreed that instead we could be effectively ticket agents, they set the price and printed the tickets, we were responsible for selling them, paying them a percentage of each ticket, to be blunt the owners were concerned with one thing and that was profit, no negotiation, there was the ddeal take it or leave it, we decided to take it, lets just say they made more from each ticket than we did, however we had no financial risk if we failed to sell many, so we figured that this way we could ensure that Saints fans would be in there.

I would now like to address a few of the issues brought up by various fans on message boards, before I do so I would say that I am saying things “Without Prejudice” COYR are still  looking at these issues and what can be done, with this in mind, nothing I am saying can be taken as anything other than a general comment on the situation and certainly not as indicative as what we do or intend to do.

1. Ticket pricing.

As stated the price was set by the venues agent and the tickets all numbered and printed by them, we therefore only made a proportion of that price, if you then take off our selling costs which included setting up a web site, advertising including flyers, 5% or so deducted by paypal and postage, commission to various ticket outlets, its fair to say that our net profit was a fraction of the gross ticket price and certainly not even minimum wage on a per hour basis for the three of us.

1. Silverspoons Capacity

We were told the capacity was set at 2,000 and we were sent tickets to that number, we had to account for them to the agent no more no less, on the day the venue was visited by The Police, Trading Standards & the Licensing Authorities, all of whom were happy with the number present, the only real problem being the fact that many were blocking the bar by the entrance  and not moving into the main hall.

1. Food

Some have claimed that there was no food available, this is untrue, right outside the door of the venue was a large stall selling burgers etc and attached  to the venue was a takeaway, whilst this was not exclusive to those in Silverspoons, it  was only yards away.

1. DJ

       We have had no complaints about the DJ who played a good selection including                           

        Saints songs

1. Opening Time

The upstairs bar of the venue was open at  9am, and did not reach capacity before the main area downstairs opened at approximately 9.40pm, the club opened again after the game as advertised.

1. State Of The Venue

We have had several complaints about the state of the venue including the toilets, taking the loos first I used the toilet before the main area opened and the toilets had just been cleaned, all had toilet seats and toilet paper, I used them again at 1pm just before leaving, whilst they were not pristine, they were certainly no worsse than most toilets at the bars around St Mary’s, if there was a problem it had been caused by those using them that day.

The venue was exactly as advertised, it was a nightclub and in that respect was never going to be a carpeted venue, however it was clean and had plenty of room and seating.

1. Enjoyment

 Whatever some of the gripes it seemed that most enjoyed themselves, certainly from the video footage we took and have seen, as well as pictures, the spirit of the day was being entered into and from that point we succeeded in putting on a party right next to the stadium

1. Bars/Queue  For A Drink

This seems to be the main gripe of many and we cannot deny they have a point, there were five bars open on the day and all had queueing problems from the moment they opened, the venue say they put on enough bar staff to cope with the numbers, that may be right in terms of licensing law, but it certainly couldn’t cope with the numbers and the demand for drink.

Some have threatened legal action for this, if that’s the case then they could also take similar action against Saints for the half time beer queues and just about every other bar within half mile of SMS.

The venue did take some steps to try to alleviate the problem by bringing in a large amount of cans of lager and for a time this reduced queueing, however when these were all sold the queuing problem was still there. 

In general everyone seemed to enjoy themselves the only real gripe being that the drink queues were too long. Other than that we gave people what we set out to do and that was a big party right next to Wembley Stadium, did people enjoy themselves from that respect yes. Large numbers came back straight after the match as well, so we must have done something right

 Perhaps the saddest thing though is the vitriol of a small percentage of the fans, whilst I can accept that some have a genuine grievance, COYR said from an early time that we would be looking at these grievances and seeing what action we could take, however this was not good enough for some people who were threatening legal action before they had actually complained to COYR, in some cases, many complaining on message boards hadn’t even been to the game.

I am not surprised by this, I have been used to it for years, even being slagged off for daring to try and raise money for the club by bucket collections last year, however my two partners in COYR were taken aback by the vitriol of certain individuals and their threats to fellow Saints fans, both are Saints supporters for over 30 years, they considered Saints to be a family club, that being the case they and I don’t belive that the actions of some are how you treat members of your family, we are big boys and ask for no sympathy, but we are asking ourselves this week why some individuals are so vitriolic and what drives them to the levels of rage, certainly some of it is personal to myself, I did chuckle at some of the posts including one who accused me of being crap at playing football, no hidden agenda there then !! But many seemed to be driven by something a more sinister than having paid out a tenner and not being able to get as much drink as you would have liked.  

One of the directors of COYR is now seriously considering ever going to another Saints game again, he cannot believe that his fellow Saints supporters could behave in such a manner to other Saints supporters, that is perhaps the saddest fact of all and in case anyone asks that director is not me  

We at COYR are now looking at ways of making amends for people not being able to get a drink, a full refund is not an option as we did not keep the full price of the ticket as earlier explained, the venue tell us that legally we have no comeback from them as they supplied what they had specified and as with any venue they cannot be held responsible if demand outstrips supply, whilst I deplore their attitude, I have to say they have a point in that I have spent half my life queueing at various bars in nightclubs in Southampton andd have never had a refund.

Our first thought was that we would offer everyone a discount off our T Shirts, however we are wary of this as certain cynics will just say we are out to profit more, the fact is we would lose money, however we would lose an amount we have the funds to cover (This includes profits from t shirts already sold)

A second idea is that we throw an end of season party, if we reached the play offs we could have possibly done a deal with Silverspoons, however im told that they are being shut down for breaches of their licence (Away from football) which perhaps tells you of the type of people we are dealing with.

That being the case we could perhaps consider hiring a local venue and providing the first few drinks free, this wouldn’t suit some, but at least it would enable us to make up for the fact that for some it wasn’t the experience that they expected.

In conclusion we know that we are not going to be able to please everyone, many will no longer have their ticket stubs so wont be able to prove they were there, however perhaps some of our detractors will take a step back and see COYR for what it is Saints supporters trying to do something for their fellow Saints fans, is Southampton Football Club a family, if it is then perhaps we can be given time to look at the situation, we set out to give Saints fans a good time at Wembley, it hurts us if some didn’t have that time.

NB

This is the personal view of Nick Illingsworth and should not be taken as the views of COYR nor its Co Directors, nor should it be taken as an admission of any intentions of COYR.     

Photo: Action Images

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