Fireworks and knives

[cdbearsfan]

15 to 20 minute walk to stop near The Bartons, never more than a 10 minute wait for a buzz to town, in my experience. Pretty easy... though maybe not so much for older or less mobile supporters.

[dave.woodhall]

Spurs is fine for public transport. A tube station and 2 much closer overground stations all carrying fans back into central London. I think even Palace is easier to get away from after the game than Villa Park. On public transport, at least

Public transport being the key. London is good, so is Manchester. Unless you miss the end of the game to make sure  of getting the first train off Witton, Villa Park is dreadful.

[Risso]

I find most London clubs easy to get to and from, even if like Spurs it takes a combination of a few tubes to do so. I drive to most games home and away (other than London). Liverpool and Everton suffer from the same problems as Villa, in that the grounds are in old residential areas with lots of narrow streets between terraces, not designed for that much traffic. Man U is easy to get away from, being on the edge of an inudsutrial estate with quite a few dual carriageways. Leicester is really shit as well though to be fair, despite it being a new stadium. I was sat in traffic for a good 90 minutes after the game just before the pandemic shut down.

[clash city rocker]

Spurs is fine for public transport. A tube station and 2 much closer overground stations all carrying fans back into central London. I think even Palace is easier to get away from after the game than Villa Park. On public transport, at least

Public transport being the key. London is good, so is Manchester. Unless you miss the end of the game to make sure  of getting the first train off Witton, Villa Park is dreadful.

Miss the first train from witton and in bad weather it sorely tests you.Nothing worse than when you think you will be on the first train and they stop you with about 20 in front of you and say that's enough. Then they lie and say another train will be here shortly. Yeah right.

[Mister E]

Not premier-league, but the Stadium of Shite is a bitch to get away from by car.

[Sister of Top Cat]

I felt quite vulnerable on Saturday waiting an hour for a taxi with TC in her wheelchair

Was it a pre-booked taxi who didn't turn up? What is the possibility of waiting in the stand areas as most alert of arrivals on Apps / SMS messages?

No, TOA were reluctant to send us one because of the volume of traffic after the match.  They recommended we just hailed one when they started coming through.  We have to wait for a wheelchair accessible cab so can't just use any minicab company.

[The Edge]

Spurs is fine for public transport. A tube station and 2 much closer overground stations all carrying fans back into central London. I think even Palace is easier to get away from after the game than Villa Park. On public transport, at least

Public transport being the key. London is good, so is Manchester. Unless you miss the end of the game to make sure  of getting the first train off Witton, Villa Park is dreadful.

Which is not the fault of the club. Public transport needs for the city of Birmingham have been criminally neglected for decades in favour of both the capital and Manchester.

[Sister of Top Cat]

I felt quite vulnerable on Saturday waiting an hour for a taxi with TC in her wheelchair

Was it a pre-booked taxi who didn't turn up? What is the possibility of waiting in the stand areas as most alert of arrivals on Apps / SMS messages?

Or maybe the Trinity Road reception area.  You'd like to think that security would still be on the door there for the corporates who'd still be inside.

Yes I think we'll do that next time.

[Sister of Top Cat]

I felt quite vulnerable on Saturday waiting an hour for a taxi with TC in her wheelchair

Which should clearly not be the case SOTC.

The environment around Villa Park just on a purely logistic basis is, on reflection, a nightmare. The Trinity Road gets so busy and gridlocked at full time because of taxi's and pavements not being wide enough to cope with the volume of human traffic. The Ground is in the middle of a sizeable residential area with limited car parking ( even for the residents), and although the Motorway system is close it is a perilous 'shut your eyes and go for it' exercise to get onto the A38 off the slip road.

I believe a 'loop' system for buses and taxis could be built and 'safe zones' policed and CCTV'd could be made available for vulnerable supporters without too much expense or inconvenience. Potentially coincide this work with the redevelopment of the North Stand.

In the meantime SOTC if ever feeling the same as you did on Saturday then a request for company I doubt would be ignored, I still maintain that the majority of people ( and especially Villa supporters) have good hearts and have a willingness to help.   

You're quite right.  Generally people are very helpful when we're out and about.  I think next time we'll wait by the McGregor statue.

[purpletrousers]

Saw the firework throwing but not any knives

Yep same here. Took (very) little AV to the smaller of the two playgrounds off Trinity Road and we were uncomfortably close to firework throwing going on in the park. Decided to take her away and get across the park back to the car, much to her complaint.

I do think a bit of Police presence over that side would have helped, think I might contact the club too, thanks those that did. I’d hoped it was just lads (ridiculously dangerously) mucking about but imagine this was before they moved off towards fans. Glad we weren’t close enough to see any knives.

[pauliewalnuts]

Fireworks can be very dangerous,

We should get John Gidman to do a public information clip about it and project it onto the side of the Holte End after matches.

[Brazilian Villain]

Fireworks can be very dangerous,

We should get John Gidman to do a public information clip about it and project it onto the side of the Holte End after matches.

Just need Steve Bunce to tell them to 'Put It Out, Right Out!'

[dave.woodhall]

Spurs is fine for public transport. A tube station and 2 much closer overground stations all carrying fans back into central London. I think even Palace is easier to get away from after the game than Villa Park. On public transport, at least

Public transport being the key. London is good, so is Manchester. Unless you miss the end of the game to make sure  of getting the first train off Witton, Villa Park is dreadful.

Which is not the fault of the club. Public transport needs for the city of Birmingham have been criminally neglected for decades in favour of both the capital and Manchester.

Absolutely it is, or rather isn't. The club have been trying to get something done for years but the rail & bus companies aren't interested.

[purpletrousers]

I was hoping that Fireworks and Knives was the latest offering from African Car Reverser, giving the Guy Fawkes nod to the Junior Murvin Classic only to find its the home of Grindr Freddy and the Dreamers.*


*one for the teenagers

[Risso]

Ha ha, ace!