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Post by jj123 on May 7, 2023 14:31:32 GMT
Game will be live on BT Sport - Sunday 1230pm!
Bring it on!
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Post by notsorecentconvert on May 7, 2023 15:18:52 GMT
I believe the south final kicks off at 12.30. North final at 3.30pm.
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Post by bob666 on May 7, 2023 15:24:16 GMT
Yes that what thought, 12.30. Issue is there a rail strike day before, so the trains will be all over the place until about 11AM, also there is engineering works on the Paddington to Oxford line. Maybe the club could run a few coaches?
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Post by jj123 on May 7, 2023 16:08:15 GMT
According to BT Sport it’s the second game but national league website says it’s the first!
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Post by citycentresaint on May 7, 2023 17:35:04 GMT
According to BT Sport it’s the second game but national league website says it’s the first! Least the pubs will have it on. The Mix FM commentary rarely works. |
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boojiboy
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 328
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Post by boojiboy on May 7, 2023 20:47:10 GMT
The allocation for this will be really small. I don’t know if they will do priority application for season ticket holders like they did for Chelmsford. I don’t know how many season ticket holders we have including half season tickets but even with priority application there’s a chance that supporters who have followed the team around the country will not be able to get tickets.
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Post by jj123 on May 7, 2023 20:55:35 GMT
Should move it to the Kassam Stadium
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Post by bob666 on May 7, 2023 21:18:11 GMT
Should move it to the Kassam Stadium They only had 2000, capacity 3000, for semi final but Worthing allocation sold out days ago. If Oxford can only sell 1500, which is what I suspect they should give us half the ground |
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hotsaint
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 290
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Post by hotsaint on May 7, 2023 21:50:35 GMT
Imagine next year if we were sixth or seventh we could have Truro, Yeovil and Torquay away in the play offs. Better go up this season 😉
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Post by Boomer on May 8, 2023 22:00:24 GMT
Should move it to the Kassam Stadium They only had 2000, capacity 3000, for semi final but Worthing allocation sold out days ago. If Oxford can only sell 1500, which is what I suspect they should give us half the ground Apparently, Oxford City originally allocated 450 tickets to Worthing for yesterday's semi final. They, then, condescended to allocate them a further 100 tickets last Saturday, just 24 hours before the game. Oxford City's ground capacity is 3,500, yet yesterday's attendance was just 2,017. Of the 24 teams in the league, Oxford City's average attendance for 2022/23 was 438 and 22nd in the standings. Only Hungerford Town and Concord Rangers were lower. Their highest league attendance for 2022/23 was 814. It will be very interesting to see how many tickets St. Albans City will be allocated for next Sunday's play off final. If Oxford City cannot offer us a reasonable ticket allocation for this game, which after all, is the National League South final, perhaps the original poster's idea of moving the game from Marsh Lane to the Kassam Stadium might provide the perfect solution for all concerned. |
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Post by minty on May 9, 2023 5:39:52 GMT
I think the tickets for the final should be split 50:50. All other play-off finals above this level must be. Why should it be any different at this level and below.
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Post by lagerman on May 9, 2023 6:50:37 GMT
I think the tickets for the final should be split 50:50. All other play-off finals above this level must be. Why should it be any different at this level and below. Absolutely, couldn't agree more, and if it does turn out to be an unfair allocation to us, then the Club (us) should challenge this |
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Post by notsorecentconvert on May 9, 2023 8:22:41 GMT
In theory there's no problem with the way the play-offs work. Everyone knows that the final is one leg, hosted by the team that finished highest in the league.
So I don't think a 50:50 allocation is necessarily appropriate. The whole point is that the home advantage has been earned over a full season. Imagine if we were at home and the rules said we had to offer the visitors 2,000 tickets. I'm sure we'd not be happy.
Problem is, Oxford's ground is pretty small – 2,000 capacity according to the Football Grounds Guide so we have a situation where potentially 3,000+ would like to go to the game and a lot of people will be disappointed.
Oxford City's ground is the joint smallest at National League North / South level. If they went up, it would be by far the smallest in the National League (Dorking is the next smallest, 3,000).
Non-league crowds are growing. Since the pandemic, Saints have grown things to the point where anything under 1,000 would feel like an unusually small crowd.
Not sure what the answer is. Could it be switched to the Kassam Stadium? Not sure at such short notice.
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boojiboy
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 328
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Post by boojiboy on May 9, 2023 8:48:38 GMT
Oxford do have a massive advantage each year because they play on that shocking pitch. I’m not a big fan of plastic but a lot of them play ok these days and we’ve got a good record on plastic this year but still lost at Oxford. Visiting teams just can’t get to grips with it as the ball spins off at weird angles and it’s so slow paced.
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Post by lagerman on May 9, 2023 9:02:05 GMT
Oxford do have a massive advantage each year because they play on that shocking pitch. I’m not a big fan of plastic but a lot of them play ok these days and we’ve got a good record on plastic this year but still lost at Oxford. Visiting teams just can’t get to grips with it as the ball spins off at weird angles and it’s so slow paced. I must admit, l am a fan of 3G or 4G, whatever they are called, pitches. If l was a player, I'd love to play on one of them, they look like a carpet |
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Post by lagerman on May 9, 2023 9:05:02 GMT
In theory there's no problem with the way the play-offs work. Everyone knows that the final is one leg, hosted by the team that finished highest in the league. So I don't think a 50:50 allocation is necessarily appropriate. The whole point is that the home advantage has been earned over a full season. Imagine if we were at home and the rules said we had to offer the visitors 2,000 tickets. I'm sure we'd not be happy. Problem is, Oxford's ground is pretty small – 2,000 capacity according to the Football Grounds Guide so we have a situation where potentially 3,000+ would like to go to the game and a lot of people will be disappointed. Oxford City's ground is the joint smallest at National League North / South level. If they went up, it would be by far the smallest in the National League (Dorking is the next smallest, 3,000). Non-league crowds are growing. Since the pandemic, Saints have grown things to the point where anything under 1,000 would feel like an unusually small crowd. Not sure what the answer is. Could it be switched to the Kassam Stadium? Not sure at such short notice. No, that's true, l guess they have earned their home advantage. I wonder if they'll be segregation? Can they even segregate? The last time l went there, l can only remember there being one set of turnstiles there |
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Post by minty on May 9, 2023 10:46:37 GMT
In theory there's no problem with the way the play-offs work. Everyone knows that the final is one leg, hosted by the team that finished highest in the league. So I don't think a 50:50 allocation is necessarily appropriate. The whole point is that the home advantage has been earned over a full season. Imagine if we were at home and the rules said we had to offer the visitors 2,000 tickets. I'm sure we'd not be happy. Problem is, Oxford's ground is pretty small – 2,000 capacity according to the Football Grounds Guide so we have a situation where potentially 3,000+ would like to go to the game and a lot of people will be disappointed. Oxford City's ground is the joint smallest at National League North / South level. If they went up, it would be by far the smallest in the National League (Dorking is the next smallest, 3,000). Non-league crowds are growing. Since the pandemic, Saints have grown things to the point where anything under 1,000 would feel like an unusually small crowd. Not sure what the answer is. Could it be switched to the Kassam Stadium? Not sure at such short notice. Going back to my original post. The divisions above ours get to play the final at a neutral ground, Wembley, and to the best of my knowledge get an initial 50:50 ticket allocation. My point is why can't these games at our level and below be played at a neutral venue of suitable size if warranted. For example our previous NLS final against Histon was played at Stevenage. |
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Post by bob666 on May 9, 2023 11:48:16 GMT
In theory there's no problem with the way the play-offs work. Everyone knows that the final is one leg, hosted by the team that finished highest in the league. So I don't think a 50:50 allocation is necessarily appropriate. The whole point is that the home advantage has been earned over a full season. Imagine if we were at home and the rules said we had to offer the visitors 2,000 tickets. I'm sure we'd not be happy. Problem is, Oxford's ground is pretty small – 2,000 capacity according to the Football Grounds Guide so we have a situation where potentially 3,000+ would like to go to the game and a lot of people will be disappointed. Oxford City's ground is the joint smallest at National League North / South level. If they went up, it would be by far the smallest in the National League (Dorking is the next smallest, 3,000). Non-league crowds are growing. Since the pandemic, Saints have grown things to the point where anything under 1,000 would feel like an unusually small crowd. Not sure what the answer is. Could it be switched to the Kassam Stadium? Not sure at such short notice. Oxford ground capacity is more than 2000. They had over that at the semi-final (just) and home tickets were still available on the day. Also the football ground guide entry makes no sense as they indicate the highest 'modern' (2018 when current safety rules would have applied) crowd as more than this. I not saying there needs to be a 50/50 allocation but there should not be unused capacity. If I was Oxford I want to play on my pitch, so would not accept a move to a neutral ground. The Kassim stadium is also a bit too big (12,500) it probably be less than half full and you would lose the big match atmosphere I not sure if the final should be planned for a neutral ground or not in the future. I don't think having the final of the national league playoff at Wembley works. The 2019 National League final had an attendance of 8000 at Wembley - so was basically like playing at an empty stadium. I going to the National League final on Saturday and got my ticket for 20 quid in the neutrals section, the FA clearly need to offer cheap neutral tickets to half fill the ground. The highest attendance I could find for National League was 22,897 and that was at the London Stadium. Somewhere like Fulham would be more suitable. In the case of the National League South my issue would be if the neutral ground was not local to either finalist and both were smaller teams you need up with a dead stadium. You have to determine before the season starts, so no selection bias for either team and you cannot know demand at that point. For example if Braintree played Oxford in the final and you booked a 10000 seat stadium you would have a disaster. But if St Albans v Dulwich you need at least this. |
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Post by minty on May 9, 2023 12:10:30 GMT
Just had a quick look at the Worthing forum. Their fans thought the area of the ground allocated to them was inadequate to hold their supporters and some had fears for their safety!
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Post by bob666 on May 9, 2023 12:16:57 GMT
Just had a quick look at the Worthing forum. Their fans thought the area of the ground allocated to them was inadequate to hold their supporters and some had fears for their safety! Bloody hell! That is worrying. Does the game actually need to be segregated? Its not like Oxford and St Albans are Millwall/West Ham. There no animosity between the clubs? Just let people mingle |
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Post by notsorecentconvert on May 9, 2023 12:29:01 GMT
Found various different estimates of Oxford City's capacity, ranging from 2,000 to 3,500. Quite a difference between those two.
Anyway, are there any indications when tickets will go on sale?
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Post by Boomer on May 9, 2023 12:51:30 GMT
For the record, the attendance for Oxford City's Quarter Final play off game at home to Eastbourne Borough last season on 11 May 2022 was just 1,349. Make what you want of that.
If the current ground capacity is 3,500, segregation for next Sunday seems pretty pointless.
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Post by lagerman on May 9, 2023 13:00:29 GMT
Just had a quick look at the Worthing forum. Their fans thought the area of the ground allocated to them was inadequate to hold their supporters and some had fears for their safety! If any of them flagged that up afterwards, or indeed by Worthing FC Officials themselves, you never know, it might be that its being taken into consideration for Sunday |
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Post by lagerman on May 9, 2023 13:01:31 GMT
Just had a quick look at the Worthing forum. Their fans thought the area of the ground allocated to them was inadequate to hold their supporters and some had fears for their safety! If any of them flagged that up afterwards, or indeed by Worthing FC Officials themselves, and the National League got wind of this, you never know, it might be that its being taken into consideration for Sunday |
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asf
Saints Trialist
Posts: 17
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Post by asf on May 9, 2023 16:23:22 GMT
550 ticket allocation. What a joke!
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boojiboy
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 328
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Post by boojiboy on May 9, 2023 16:39:09 GMT
Looking at some YouTube clips, the Worthing fans were stuck in the corner under the scoreboard. There’s no terracing there and just like them, we will be 5 deep with most people having no view.
I expect a lot of Oxford Utd fans will be there so there’ll be a decent crowd but the ground is not capable of staging a game with this size of crowd, not ideal when you’re looking to progress to a higher league with bigger crowds!
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Post by greyhound on May 9, 2023 16:39:16 GMT
We're going in the home end I guess then
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Post by Boomer on May 9, 2023 16:55:06 GMT
Looking further into this, there are several discrepancies between websites on the ground capacity at Marsh Lane. It seems to vary from 2,000 - 3,000, with seating capacity varying from 250-529. Wikipedia also puts the ground capacity at 3,500.
All very puzzling.
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hsc
Saints Trialist
Posts: 17
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Post by hsc on May 9, 2023 17:08:06 GMT
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Post by notsorecentconvert on May 9, 2023 17:15:47 GMT
HSC, I was just about to issue the very same stern warning.
What a preposterous state of affairs. Make the team with by far the bigger fan base wait until Thursday morning to buy while home tickets are freely available already!
But I mean, how would they know?
Smacks to me of a club that knows it hasn't really got many options and wants to collect as many £14 as possible and then eject people if it's obvious they support the visitors – which really is totally against the ethos of non-league football. I mean, 3500 or whatever it was – supporting both clubs – went to Chesham nine years ago and there was no trouble whatsoever.
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