First home game of the premiership today and couldn’t wait to get to the ground via the Lair & Brickies of course. Steve Bruce has put in a lot of effort into the pre season in getting the team and tactics right and it’s a shame the KC didn’t put the same effort into readying the stadium as my first visit can’t go without mention from a caretaking and operating point of view.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first and hope they are rectified sooner rather than later.
My first port of call after getting through the turnstiles was to the bar. Nothing unusual there. On the way I spotted a betting form pinned onto a notice board and thought I would have a flutter which I did. City to win 1-0 and a 3 match accumulator, City, Blackburn & Brighton all home wins. I filled in the slip and looked for the betting booth which I thought might be a brightly coloured, sharp looking unit with a few computer terminals and screens etc. Wrong. There was a scruffy bloke in a T-Shirt in what can only be described as a coal house, broom cupboard or crap bit of DIY in an attempt to make a sentry box. Never the less I handed over the slip and cash.
Next, the Bar. A TV monitor advertising “Any Pie & Pint” £6. I thought, “I’ll have a bit of that” and duly ordered “Steak pie and a Bitter please” I asked the young lad who’s first day it was. “You can’t have bitter” came the reply. In a chirpy mood I said, “Ok, I’ll have a Guinness then.” “Can’t have a Guinness either” he said.
I told him the sign said “ANY Pie and Pint for £6” and he replied “it only includes carling”. So my first issue is why are they advertising “ANY Pie and Pint”? When it only includes “Specific” Pint.
Moving on. Having secured my glass of synthetic beer (lager) and Pie I spotted a nice window cill to sit my pint on while I readied my pie with the mandatory brown sauce and half way across the concourse I was pounced upon by an over eager “Steward” (Not the “Bar” type as I’d already been there) but one that has just successfully completed his “Festungswerkmeister” exam and shouted at me “Get behind the white line.” I told him I was just going to stand at the window (that was 3 feet across a white line) and he told me I wasn’t allowed as it’s forbidden to cross the “White line” with alcohol. Instead of an enjoyable day at MY football ground with my stepson it had started to resemble some 1940’s movement restriction programme, half expecting to hear “schnell schnell, Bewegung oder ich schieße.” So we moved before he set the dogs on us.
Nextly. We stood, having consumed said pies at a barrier with our beer looking through a gate onto the ground. A couple in front of us (In their sixties) stood with a plastic glass of wine and half a plastic cup of beer, but they were in the “no man’s land” between two “No Alcohol beyond this point” signs, only one is set further forward than another, This sparked off a near DEFCON 4 incident as two more “Stewards” homed in on them and told them to “Move back” as they had crossed the line. I half expected them to get the cattle prods out, such was their determination t quosh the uprising.
These people hardly portrayed drunken hooligans or in any way a threat to world security or otherwise but yet again within 15 minutes I experienced over the top and restrictive, not to mention antagonistic behaviour from people who obviously thrive on power trips.
When I got to my seat, I found it was absolutely caked in thick muck. These seats had never seen a cleaner since the stadium was built and at 30 quid a throw I would at least expect to be able to sit down without ruining a 40 quid City shirt. Seriously, all the seats were a disgrace and if the caretakers work a 40 hour week I would like to know what they do for the other 39 hours because a simple hose down once a week is the least they could do to maintain them. Let’s face it we pay enough to sit in them.
Back to my bet. I won. City 1-0 and the treble came in. I went back to the coal shed, broom cupboard, sentry box after the game and guess what?...They couldn’t pay up because they have no screens and was told to collect my winnings from the one and only betting shop they own situated in a particular avenue in Hull.
KC In short. In my first experience of the new season, the KC is ill prepared for Premiership status, the betting facilities are amateurish, The seats are disgusting and the Stewards want to remember that a dictatorship style approach to decent people in what is a family day out for most people is outdated and they would do well to remember that. To recap “Any Pie and Pint” is in actual fact “Carling” only deal. Carrying on like this, Allam May rebrand the KC to WC?
On the upside.
City 1 – 0. Cracking start to a home campaign and some great one touch football on display. Huddlestone has set his stall out already and shown us what he can do. I think by and large he may be a lethargic (bordering on lazy) player but dominated possession in midfield today and is a great ball holder and distributor. A well deserved MOTM.
What was Sagbo thinking about? He very nearly cost a victory today and completely blew Steve Bruce’s tactics out of the window in a moment of stupidity when he head butted Norwich’s Martin. He needs to learn very quickly to keep his cool and that reactions like the one he made will put pressure on the team and ultimately let everyone down and most importantly, his actions are not, what we as a club are about.
Full credit to Steve Bruce for his forced change of game plan and for all the critics who are complaining that “we need to score more goals” and “make more chances” etc etc, once we were down to 10 men it was a rear guard action and none so much as displayed after 15 minutes of the second half when city defended like their lives depended on it and in my book, the level of commitment today was commendable to say the least. We had three points to win today and we did it. The hard way.
Unsung hero. Allan Mc Gregor. He answered every time he was called upon, his kicking was inch perfect and commanded his area with confidence and will be worth many a valuable point in our kitty over the season.
So, KC need to up their game and City need to give us more of the same please.
Sagbo. Use your head. In the right way. Up there for thinking. Down there for dancing.