It appears that the ticket office may open on a Sunday to sell tickets for Darlo game. A "2 strikes and your out of here" system may operate to clamp down on racial abuse. I hope the same is true of sectarian abuse too. The idea is that people will be permitted to anonymously report the seat number of anyone uttering racial abuse. A CCTV camera will then be trained on that seat at subsequent games.
The question of Steve Wilson's testimonial was tabled. He, we were told, been offered use of Boothferry Park for testimonial but apparently can't get two teams together. Volunteers anyone? He hasn't contacted club since last May, but the offer remains open.
There was a suggestion passed on from a member of a message board that season ticket holders could buy a ticket after they had been offered for sale to the various privilege groups (e.g. weekly draw holders) before they were on general sale. There was some agreement with this, but thankfully the majority dissented.
There are still complaints about the standard of the stewarding. Aside from the usual complaints of gangways not been clear and stewards not being polite to their customers, Pearson admitted they are presenting serious cause for concern, given that at one game his wife was refused entry. Even more serious was one steward's decision to deny Stuart Elliot's wife the right to drop off the left sided maestro outside Kwik Save. The steward insisted that she drop him off outside the car park on Boothferry Road.
The new stadium will be open on time or large penalties will have to be paid by Burse. Within half an hour of Leicester's announcement that it had gone into administration, the Birse Group announced to the stock market that it had to incur a bad debt charge £5.5m charge for the non-payment by Leicester for its new stadium. This is not far off its pre-tax profit figure of 6.1m for 2001, so the pressure is on for them to complete within schedule. We were told that the first game at new stadium could in fact be the FA Cup 2nd round replay. The day of the grand opening clashes with this hypothetical fixture. Either way, there are grand plans afoot for this day. We are advised to take our seats by 5.30pm and we can expect to see a classy firework display whatever the score. England v Germany, Wembley 7th October 2000, anyone? Heaven forbid. Organising these events is not a job for those with a weak stomach.
There was a brief discussion about which of the past chairman of Hull City to honour. If one was to be chosen, then Harold Needler, with his not too dissimilar vision of the club to that of the present chairman is, perhaps, the obvious choice. Various other incumbents will be doing well if they have lavatories named after them. The idea of statue not liked by Pearson, although it could be a focal/meeting point of ground. Past players could be commemorated with banners similar to those at the Stadium of Light. These hang from the ceiling in one of the concourses and are perhaps two feet long and span the width of the concourse. As many as 75 could be made. These will presumably have different names on them. To further commemorate past-players, a plaque of the top ten players by appearance (number of games played, not looks, for those who wondered). Various rooms will also be named after players and local celebrities - Carter and Wilberforce for example.
This month's (at least) manager, Peter Taylor will have final say on the colour of the goal nets. It was suggested during a recent forum that amber or amber and black striped nets could be used. At least one of the players has questioned this as this was tried at Wolves. They only used them for a couple of weeks, as the players couldn't see the goal easily enough when shooting from an angle.
Finally, there is good news for the fan of the Rev Alan Bagshaw out there. He will after all be leading the Christmas reverie. Let's hope the brass band are given the main microphone. Only joking, Rev!