HJ is a lovely stadium. And i've never had any trouble parking there at all. Then, really, i've never driven a coach down.

Theres normally a parka dn ride which has a biig car park not to far. Its probably easier to park and walk actually.

Or more like DW wouldnt allow it.

I like the HJ Stadium but the food and ale is utterly overpriced, luckily there is a pub right opposite! The food and drink people do themselves no favours by overcharging as the last time we went we didn't buy anything there at all, if it was a more reasonable charge then we would have spent a good deal of money at the HJ.

So he clearly hadn't then. Perhaps your ire would be better addressed at the coach company rather than "whoever arranged" the grand final?

£6.80 for a pint and a hotdog was bordering on extortionate.

Tb, The coach driver went to the place he'd been told to park and it was already full. That doesn't necessarily mean it was his or the coach company's fault. The Coach park could have been oversubscribed, attendents could have been letting drivers in who they shouldn't have. The bottom line is that if you build a stadium with decent provision in the first place, parking, bars, food outlets, etc. you won't get these kinds of problems. Also why host big games at grounds that aren't equipped to deal with this volume of travelling fans.

TBF "the place he was told to park" doesn't always mean that it has been pre booked. We have been told where to park on Saturday but that doesn't mean we are guaranteed a place there.

That ran out of beer too by 4.00.

It's £3.80 for a hot dog?

I still splutter when I think of Wembley's "Special Deal-A Pie and a Pint Just £8"....

I thought it was functional, but not very homely. It didn't have a proper bar anywhere, like it's own little pub, where you could have a pint in comfort.
Not like Cougar Park has!
...although I'll admit their toilets are better

With that £20k we won on Sunday we might be able to buy a bulb for toilets in the South Stand.

Not read the whole thread, but on this point, I don't think it helps when it is still pay on the day. It would be interesting to know how many tickets they had sold in advance, if it wasn't many, then the caterers want shooting. If it was loads, then they could have been caught out.

As for the coach parking, wouldn't this kind of thing normally be sorted in advance? I know I wouldn't just expect to turn up in a coach and expect to find loads of places for parking!

Normal car parking is very easy in Warrington, with a little bit of research. As the ground is less than 5 mins from the town centre, you have all the shopping car parks, which are all free on Sunday.

No, that was something that quite a few fans were peeved about when it was built, the lack of a supporters bar, however it has worked out perfectly well, as there are plenty of decent pubs within 500 yards of the ground, which or packed with fans on matchday.

I was working at the HJ on Sunday, and received many complaints for things that were beyond my control, and as one person pointed out, was the fault of the superiors on the day.
I actually spent half of my time running round trying to find more stock as we were running out so quickly.

I was told 9,000 fans were expected on the day, although more than 9,000 were in the ground during the second match, and there was still more to arrive.

We were told to close shortly after the beer had ran out in the other stands, and were not allowed to leave in case of fans causing trouble.

I can tell you though that the management were desperately trying to get more food during the day, and for the comments about not all of the kiosks being open..we would have had the same stock regardless, so having every kiosk open would have made no difference to the day!

I also saw a comment about holding it at the saints ground? We're actually run by the same catering company, and HJ prices are cheaper! Oh, and a lot of the staff work both venues.

Did they try the large supermarket next door ?

Double Clubcard points too !

They certainly did (:

Bet they didn't use your clubcard spongey

No complaints about the catering staff, thought they were fine. It's always them that get it in the neck when stuff runs out but it isn't their fault!
Yes, there's pubs around the ground and I suppose on a normal matchday that works well; but when you're stuck in the ground for a couple of games and a break in between it's a bit different! Although I suppose that only happens once a year, eh?

Definitely can't criticise the front line catering staff at HJ.

They were working their backsides off despite being woefully under staffed and deserved every penny and probably more for what they had to cope with.

I used to do a similar job myself and whilst not highly skilled, it's definitely not at all easy.

Sounds like your bosses got their sums wrong and left you to take the flak.

Doubtful that more than 500 paid on the day , no ques at the ticket office , a few neutrals like me , vast majority bought from RFL and the clubs

Having just the one point of sale in the west stand seems a bit poor , even the LSV has 2 , and they are twice the size of the one in the west stand , do the SDL fans not drink and eat when they visit , or is it a ' policy to not let them get too drunk

Sounds like I was lucky, but I arrived at 3:30pm and parked on a side street literally 50 yards or so from the stadium!

Spongey quoted above that he was told to expect 9k, and the crowd was over 11k, so there could easily have been more paying on the day.

As for the West Stand, I believe there are two kiosks, although not sure whether they both serve beer, which may have been an issue (or both open, I didn't go). I suppose the issue is that for 90% of games, the West Stand has only a few hundred in there.

Spongey is not a 'he', and she works very hard and probably not only had to cope with a shortage of food and drink but also staff who had been upset by unnecessary abuse from a minority of 'fans'.

Apologies, for some reason it is a natural assumption.