Post by Meadow on Aug 8, 2008 10:27:14 GMT
The club published this yesterday.
A message from Newport County about Saturday's game
Earlier this evening Chris Blight, the Newport County chairman, sent the following message to our fans, which we reproduce in full below:
To The Chairman, Directors and Supporters of AFC Wimbledon
On behalf of all of us here at Newport County AFC, can I firstly offer you our congratulations on your promotion to the Blue Square South league.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have had several conversations with your Chairman, with whom I have built a good rapport. I appreciate the history of your fine club, and I would invite any recipient of this e mail to visit our web site and read a little more about us as a club. We have a very healthy respect for all other football clubs in our league and we are very much looking forward to receiving you to our ground this coming Saturday.
Like yourselves, we are supported by a growing fan base, although your average gate recorded at just over 2,600, is something to be admired. Our average gate is just over 1,000, and we can normally expect to travel to away fixtures with between 200 - 300 supporters. We have been involved in this league since its inception, and we have found our average gate had previously been considered - the highest in the league. I feel confident that your average gate will leave all the clubs in our league, very jealous of such wonderful support.
Whilst speaking to your Chairman, we believe we can expect some 800 - 1,200 travelling fans from your club. A wonderful prospect for us, but obviously a gathering that must be planned meticulously for the purposes of safety during the course of the afternoon.
We want you all to feel confident and assured, that we will be making every endeavour to ensure your safety whilst entering, staying in and leaving our stadium. You will see a police presence, as there will be a total possible crowd of between 2,000 - 2,500. This is standard practice under Gwent Police Authority ruling. We have already met the Police and discussed our preparation at length. Segregation is necessary and sensible to promote the highest level of safety. In addition, an increased number of stewards are also on hand to assist in all areas. Unfortunately, we do not have the perfect football ground, due to the fact it is an atheletics stadium. We have one main seated stand, an additional covered terrace opposite and an uncovered terrace at the one end.
Being an ex league club (late 80's) we still have many loyal and true supporters, many of whom are voicing their opinions that they would like you all looked after within our ground. To this end, we have agreed with the Police's consent, that we would like you to share the standing covered terrace with us, on a roughly 50/50 basis. The terrace holds a maximum of 1,800, although a tarpaulin will need to cover half of the one middle section in order to provide the segregation, as would be expected with a crowd of this size. It would have been an easy decision to place all Wimbledon fans on the open end terrace, but this would not have been in the spirit of accommodating you. Weather reports lead me to believe that we may be subject to some heavy downpours and so the covered stand is essential for your comfort. Any overspill will have to go onto the open terrace.
As a club, we adopt the policy of zero tolerance in order to insure safety and together with the segregation, we feel confident in our arrangements. In addition, we have delivered portaloos directly alongside the stand for your sole use and also we are providing a burger van for food and drinks. You will have direct access via two turnstiles on the north side of the ground which is a 5 minute walking distance from the dedicated parking facility that we have hired for you in the grounds of Nash Technical College.
Our admission prices are £10.00 adults, £7.00 senior citizens, £6.00 students with card ID and £3.00 juniors under 16 years.
Remember you can "google" the ground and see our stadium and stands for yourselves. A map and directions are available on our web site - www.newport-county.co.uk. Do not forget that you will need to pay £5.30 at the Severn Bridge tolls on the M4. In our directions, at the fifth roundabout, you will need to turn left into the dedicated Wimbledon car parking facility within Nash College, which is 200 yards off the roundabout - and not continue across the roundabout to our normal car parking facility, directly outside the ground. We may have to make a small car park charge to cover the cost of hire and stewarding of the car park. I would also inform you, that other than food outlets in the immediate vicinity, there are no walking distance alcohol hostelries. In addition, to those of you travelling by train, the main Newport train station is some 45 minutes walk from the ground and is not recommended, especially bearing the predicted weather in mind. Dragon Taxis are based in the station car park and the fare is likely to be around £7.00.
So, I will conclude by hoping this message relays to you our excitement at the prospect of what hopefully will be a great opening game for the League of the Blue Square South. We wish you all a safe journey down to South Wales.
Yours sincerely
Chris Blight - Chairman
We have talked at some length to Chris Blight about the decision not to allow any Wimbledon fans into the seated area. As we understand it, this is a police decision - one that was arrived at after careful thought, as the issues are complex. We are seeking a dispensation for older and infirm fans and any fans who are worried about travelling to the game without the guarantee of a seat should call the office tomorrow between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm for more news.
No alcohol outlets. Apparently their bar is not open to us. A number of our older/infirm fans and those with small children have decided not to go because of the seating situation.
What's your Newport experience?
A message from Newport County about Saturday's game
Earlier this evening Chris Blight, the Newport County chairman, sent the following message to our fans, which we reproduce in full below:
To The Chairman, Directors and Supporters of AFC Wimbledon
On behalf of all of us here at Newport County AFC, can I firstly offer you our congratulations on your promotion to the Blue Square South league.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have had several conversations with your Chairman, with whom I have built a good rapport. I appreciate the history of your fine club, and I would invite any recipient of this e mail to visit our web site and read a little more about us as a club. We have a very healthy respect for all other football clubs in our league and we are very much looking forward to receiving you to our ground this coming Saturday.
Like yourselves, we are supported by a growing fan base, although your average gate recorded at just over 2,600, is something to be admired. Our average gate is just over 1,000, and we can normally expect to travel to away fixtures with between 200 - 300 supporters. We have been involved in this league since its inception, and we have found our average gate had previously been considered - the highest in the league. I feel confident that your average gate will leave all the clubs in our league, very jealous of such wonderful support.
Whilst speaking to your Chairman, we believe we can expect some 800 - 1,200 travelling fans from your club. A wonderful prospect for us, but obviously a gathering that must be planned meticulously for the purposes of safety during the course of the afternoon.
We want you all to feel confident and assured, that we will be making every endeavour to ensure your safety whilst entering, staying in and leaving our stadium. You will see a police presence, as there will be a total possible crowd of between 2,000 - 2,500. This is standard practice under Gwent Police Authority ruling. We have already met the Police and discussed our preparation at length. Segregation is necessary and sensible to promote the highest level of safety. In addition, an increased number of stewards are also on hand to assist in all areas. Unfortunately, we do not have the perfect football ground, due to the fact it is an atheletics stadium. We have one main seated stand, an additional covered terrace opposite and an uncovered terrace at the one end.
Being an ex league club (late 80's) we still have many loyal and true supporters, many of whom are voicing their opinions that they would like you all looked after within our ground. To this end, we have agreed with the Police's consent, that we would like you to share the standing covered terrace with us, on a roughly 50/50 basis. The terrace holds a maximum of 1,800, although a tarpaulin will need to cover half of the one middle section in order to provide the segregation, as would be expected with a crowd of this size. It would have been an easy decision to place all Wimbledon fans on the open end terrace, but this would not have been in the spirit of accommodating you. Weather reports lead me to believe that we may be subject to some heavy downpours and so the covered stand is essential for your comfort. Any overspill will have to go onto the open terrace.
As a club, we adopt the policy of zero tolerance in order to insure safety and together with the segregation, we feel confident in our arrangements. In addition, we have delivered portaloos directly alongside the stand for your sole use and also we are providing a burger van for food and drinks. You will have direct access via two turnstiles on the north side of the ground which is a 5 minute walking distance from the dedicated parking facility that we have hired for you in the grounds of Nash Technical College.
Our admission prices are £10.00 adults, £7.00 senior citizens, £6.00 students with card ID and £3.00 juniors under 16 years.
Remember you can "google" the ground and see our stadium and stands for yourselves. A map and directions are available on our web site - www.newport-county.co.uk. Do not forget that you will need to pay £5.30 at the Severn Bridge tolls on the M4. In our directions, at the fifth roundabout, you will need to turn left into the dedicated Wimbledon car parking facility within Nash College, which is 200 yards off the roundabout - and not continue across the roundabout to our normal car parking facility, directly outside the ground. We may have to make a small car park charge to cover the cost of hire and stewarding of the car park. I would also inform you, that other than food outlets in the immediate vicinity, there are no walking distance alcohol hostelries. In addition, to those of you travelling by train, the main Newport train station is some 45 minutes walk from the ground and is not recommended, especially bearing the predicted weather in mind. Dragon Taxis are based in the station car park and the fare is likely to be around £7.00.
So, I will conclude by hoping this message relays to you our excitement at the prospect of what hopefully will be a great opening game for the League of the Blue Square South. We wish you all a safe journey down to South Wales.
Yours sincerely
Chris Blight - Chairman
We have talked at some length to Chris Blight about the decision not to allow any Wimbledon fans into the seated area. As we understand it, this is a police decision - one that was arrived at after careful thought, as the issues are complex. We are seeking a dispensation for older and infirm fans and any fans who are worried about travelling to the game without the guarantee of a seat should call the office tomorrow between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm for more news.
No alcohol outlets. Apparently their bar is not open to us. A number of our older/infirm fans and those with small children have decided not to go because of the seating situation.
What's your Newport experience?
