Yes in recent years its been good to us, but after the demics got promoted, i never liked the away stand, and after going in the south stand for the semi in 04, i liked it even less.

Whats going on with the concourses in there, its like a bloody rabbit warren, so enclosed and claustrophobic, trying to use the gents at half time yesterday was ridiculous, one door in and out of the gents, you couldn't even getinto the queue from the stand at one point.

Really really wouldn't like to be in there if there was an evac in place.

Write to Halton Council

The emergency exits are via the corners of the pitch are they not? You wouldn't be forced into a burning stadium, if they were doing an evac it would be everyone forwards towards the pitch and out via the open corners.

Kallum Watkins has the right idea, next time you need a dump just nip behind the video screen, no queing etc until it catches on.

one lad had a in the concourse whilst waiting last night,

The concourses are small, but they are made worse by people smoking in them and the toilets.

The police could have had a field day chucking people out and issuing fines.

The concourses look like a Soviet Gulug, not that I have ever been to one. But the Stobart Concourses are how you would imagine a Siberian Gulug to be.

Why was the game general admission also? Even coming into the ground over an hour before kickoff it was like a cattle market. 3stands rammed and the one empty(which was the main camera angle for sky sports) does not make sense. Considering it's what we would class a new stadium it seems as though they are only set up for small championship crowds. It continues to amaze me how clubs do not capitalise on big crowds or get the organisation right?
Pity as we seem to love playing there!

clubs shoot themselves in the foot when they try certain marketing techniques to get you to panic buy, if fans think there will be no room they won't walk up, how many extra Wire would have gone if they'd realised one stand would be half empty?

I said years ago that I was amazed they got a safety certificate.

I was in the North Stand for the semi last year. The concourses looked like they were from the old Naughton Park and that the stands had been placed on top of them. They are very narrow and don't seem particularly safe to me.

In comparison the concourses in the East and South stands are quite a bit bigger.

Went in the South once for Widnes vs Cas

I think Saints have been approaching the marketing of their tickets to Saints fans as if it was the new stadium we were going into. What I mean is, they have tried to replicate the ticketing arrangements because this is temporary and it makes no sense to have two season tickets. The South Stand at the new stadium is for the corporates and rich people. Unfortunately, Widnes built a new TV gantry opposite to the South Stand where it used to be opposite the North Stand (which would have shown a full looking stadium). However, the plan really backfired when they over-estimated the enthusiasm of Saints fans to travel any further than their local pub to watch a match. On top of that, never in a million years will you get a sizeable number of Saints fans paying £26 for a seat! Only in a final. So unless Saints have a Plan B, every time we appear on TV, viewers will be looking at a two thirds empty stand.

Concourses can get cramped in all stadiums. It's an unfortunate truth. I was appalled at last years' Grand Final when, for the first time in living memory, the authorities, RFL, and Old Trafford management conspired to ban taking alcohol in to the stands during the game (It has never been a problem before, why now?) - I've forgotten which stand we were actually in (I have a rubbish memory for such stuff), but the concourse was far too small to accomodate the number of people who were in there trying to do nothing more than enjoy a simple beer before the game and at half time.

If we ever do the same at the HJ, and decide not to allow taking alcohol in to the stands, the concourses are all of a sudden going to seem completely inadequate and cramped. I do not look forward to that inevitable day

The West Stand was a design nightmare - away fans are allocated the East Stand for Widnes games with a completely different set up with the concourse at ground level and then steps leading up to the stand so there is much more space on the actual concourse.

Good point. We have commented on the concousrses on previous visits to the stobbart. I think part of the problem looks like widnes had restrictions on the ground size i.e. the main road at lowerhouse lane and also the south stand. If they had built the stand with entrance at ground level there would have been more room, similar to the HJ.

Onto the crowd, I supose it was never going to easy for saints to share a ground, there will always be fans that will not make the switch, probably similar for any team in their position. Saints have missed out here knowing that we took about 6000 to KR last year they restricted the number of free junior tickets, how many wire fans did not go for that reason? It will probably only affect one other game being Wigan so they will just take the loss I would imagine.

no, they're not, the ones in teh south at the hj are like vicky park compared to at widnes