This is no doubt going to be controversial, but it is at times like these that I really miss Ron Noades.
He could be a curmudgeonly old b****r and I had no end of runs in with him over the years. He may not have been a ?Palace man? by birth but in situations like we have now, I miss him greatly.
You only have to read the threads here or on Holmesdale Online to learn of the tragic horror stories that supporters, many of them long-standing, are experiencing in attempting to attend today?s game.
Many are faced with long journeys, unsure whether they will actually be able to gain access to the ground or whether they will face long queues at the box office to redeem a ?product? which they paid for many months ago. We hear of Palace families who are unsure whether all or just some of them will gain access.
The supporters never asked for this. The club decided that NFC and smart phones was the way to go, and, I will be the first to admit, it makes sense. At the same time, you also have to make allowances and provision for those who cannot access this technology.
The ticketing arrangements for Brentford were not ideal, but that was nothing compared to the problems that appear to be inevitable today due to a ticketing system which has been badly conceived and poorly implemented to the point of being negligent.
And the fans affected are the same people who were lauded in the recently produced When Eagles Dare video for their support in enabling the takeover in 2010.
Well, now those fans deserve something back. They deserve something better than this. It?s all very well the club asking for us all to pull together when things aren?t going well on the pitch, but, sadly, it?s very easy for the club to forget when things are not going so well for the fans.
The staff in the box office are quite obviously completely overwhelmed by this. It is not their fault. It is those above who are responsible for this ludicrous, amateurish situation.
Only in the world of football would a company treat its customers like this.
I have supported this club since 1968. I was club photographer for 45 years, until this season when I stepped down and returned from whence I came.
Now I am in the same situation as so many others ? unsure as to whether I will actually be able to gain access to the ground today with a season ticket for which I have paid in advance for.
It promises to be carnage, but I know that 30 years ago, in similar circumstances, Ron Noades would have been out there, front and centre, taking all the abuse from supporters, but sorting the problem.
I fear that, today, it is the box office staff and stewards who will be on the receiving end of the flack. They don?t deserve it.
No apology from the club, nothing. I have never, ever, been as ashamed of this club as I am right now.
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