Shrimpsvoices

Confirmation that club directors James Wakefield and Charlie Appleyard are hosting an online Q&A session via Zoom on Thursday 3rd September concerning the return of spectators to the Mazuma Stadium.

With other clubs announcing their protocols in recent days, things should hopefully be a bit clearer in terms of how new procedures will impact Morecambe FC by this point. I think its great that the club are doing this, and it gives supporters who do have safety concerns the opportunity to ask these directly to club directors.

MorecambeFC.com/online-fans-qa

Although anyone can ask a question, only 40 will be able to attend the meeting itself. These 40 people will be selected at random from the people who submit questions - which you can do so via the following link contained in the above article:

Survey Monkey:Submit Question for Q&A

Bump

Looking forward to this tonight

Can those not taking part still watch what is being discussed ?

Specifically said just 40 people, my screen will be full as it is

Fans allowed in, in October, s.t holders get priority
1206 fans minimum, with family bubbles hopefully added on to this
Away stand open to home fans, likely that no away fans all season

No pies or drinks for first few games at least

Local choice suite wont be open to fans

Very enjoyable, thanks, good to catch up and well done James and Charlie, so passionate

is what it is, a lot of it will be down to the EFL, and we just go with it like everyone else, better than no Football at all.

Yes Andy, football clubs need to adhere to the safety protocols to the best of their ability, otherwise they can be shut down like any other bar, restaurant or business

James is putting the Q&A video on line for those that are interested

marky No.1 wrote:Fans allowed in, in October, s.t holders get priority
1206 fans minimum, with family bubbles hopefully added on to this
Away stand open to home fans, likely that no away fans all season

Just to add to this, James said that the would build towards an initial capacity of up to 1,206 (depending on family bubbling, based on the current guidelines) but for the first few games it will be season ticket holders only - of which there are over 600 approaching 700. I assume this is so the club can manage and introduce the new protocols sensibly (learning curve for all). It was also mentioned that any season tickets bought after the 4th October would not be subject to the free ifollow access, which is driven by the EFL.... So if you are on the fence and want to attend/watch games this is something to consider before our first home league game to take advantage of the offer.

Full questions and answers will be published by the club. Thank you to James and Charlie for giving up there time to outline some of the implications to fans on a match day. I personally liked the format and felt it was refreshing that it was a less formal setting. Hopefully this is something that can be done more regularly... Not necessarily with the same fans in attendance if different people want to get involved/participate.

marky No.1 wrote:Local choice suite wont be open to fans

Most of The LCS and JBs Bar will be marked as 'red zones' - with access only granted to players, staff and match officials (JBs bar will be an overflow changing facility). As a result neither will be open to supporters on a match day.

Shrimps Trust would ordinarily have an information desk in JBs Bar every home match, which is used by supporters to purchase Memberships, memorabilia and for general information enquiries. If you haven't yet signed up/renewed as you usually do this in person.... Please consider joining online:

Shrimps Trust Memberships

1206 wouldn't be bad a few years ago some games were getting down to 1000.

However to break even what would we need 1800 -2000 average?

With no big away followings and no money to be made in the bars and the snack bars it will still be a big loss of income this year.

Just to reiterate, the Q&A last night was chiefly about fans returning to the stadium. INITIALLY the stadium capacity could be up to 1,206 home fans only, season ticket holders priority (season ticket holders exclusively for the first couple of games) with no food and drink sales and reduced facilities. But all of this will be subject to review dependant on the external situation.

We're still waiting for the specifics about what it will be like for fans on a game day, for example as a terrace season ticket holder theoretically I could go in one of three terraces.... But how will this work in reality, what's the process of entering the ground!? Do I decide which stand I want yo go in, or am I told where to go? Is space in a stand allocated on a first come first served basis, at which point I go to another part of the ground? How will social distancing work in terraced areas (the majority of our ground capacity) where there's no numbered seating etc!?! Sounds like social distancing will be mainly self policed, which seems sensible given anything else like marking a cross on the floor where you're supposed to stand (I've seen other clubs are doing this) seems largely unenforceable and draconian. I say all this as somebody who isn't really concerned about the virus being transmitted at he moment (appreciate some people are) but more from the perspective of people needing to understand whatever the new protocols are to prevent it being a bit of a shambles with a lot of queuing and people walking around aimlessly.

Regarding loss of income, every very club (and most businesses) are in the same situation, but getting up and running operationally is so important IMO. It might not seem like it, but relatively some factors in play that are perhaps more beneficial to the Shrimps than other clubs (salary cap, which we are below... Home advantage enjoyed by a lot of well followed clubs in the league... Flexibility in recruitment due to having capacity available in terms of squad size - 9 new players)... Which makes a change.

The club draws its income from multiple sources, rendering a break-even number in terms of attendance difficult to calculate and largely pointless. We need them to improve - mainly for commercial reason IMO... but we'll never be able to survive on gate receipts alone in the league unless we double maybe treble our crowds.

Crowds did pick up last season, the game we hosted against Crewe had 1800 home fans (away fans not included), so let's hope we can have at least that capacity again sooner rather than later.

I agree we will be in a better position than others the so called big clubs who need big gates to pay their massive wage bill will be in trouble.

I noticed all functions at the globe were halted until October which is another income stream drying up.

Thanks to everyone who got involved last night and apologies to anyone who couldn't join us, but would have liked to. A full write up of everything discussed is here for those who missed it:

https://www.morecambefc.com/news/2020/s ... -covid-19/

Bring on Grimsby tomorrow.