A general view of the exterior of the Hill Dickinson Stadium prior to the Carabao Cup second round match between Everton and Mansfield Town. Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Everton have continued to explore ways to improve the matchday experience at the club’s new stadium in the weeks since the Carabao Cup match against Mansfield Town. Chiefs have viewed the opening games at the state-of-the-art Hill Dickinson Stadium a considerable success, with two competitive matches held within quick succession after the final test event against Roma in August.
Work to review how those games unfolded – inside and outside the stadium – has been a feature of the break in games on the waterfront after Everton travelled to Wolves in the Premier League before the domestic schedule paused for international action. Where issues have been identified, there is confidence they have been resolved.
They include problems reported to the club in relation to the first experiences of supporters in the Club View suite. Feedback from supporters who had invested in membership of the scheme included frustration over the length of queues and time taken to be served, while there were also setbacks with the cards used to purchase food and drink in that area of the ground.
Everton believe they have identified and resolved the technical issues with the pre-loaded purchase cards. Supporters who are full Club View members for the season will have an additional £10 loaded to their cards for the upcoming Aston Villa game as a gesture of goodwill. It is hoped the resolution of those technical problems and a focus on staff training since the Brighton game and work to increase the amount of places where fans can buy food and drink from within the Club View area will help to address the initial concerns.
Three days after the historic Brighton match meant the Blues’ new dawn started with three valuable points, the club hosted Mansfield in the first cup game on the waterfront.
Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes for that match but there is confidence within the club that the issues that contributed to that decision were largely one-off factors.
A combination of issues caused some queues ahead of the game and created busy scenes outside the ticket offices for home and away supporters. A technical problem for home fans with physical season ticket cards was one setback, with many of those possessing them needing to visit the ticket office after problems at the turnstiles.
Separately, logistical issues in relation to Mansfield’s ability to distribute tickets to travelling supporters led to around 700 needing to pick them up from the club before queuing for turnstiles.
Those incidents, as well as the fact the game was the first experience of the new stadium for around one third of the crowd, were contributory factors to the queues in some areas of the stadium. Another was that some home supporters had to use alternative turnstiles for their seats due to the allocation of tickets to the away end, which led to some increased waiting times and confusion.
Some supporters did not receive tickets sent via email until the afternoon of the match, a problem acknowledged by the club. The quick turnaround in home games coinciding with a bank holiday between those games is thought to have exacerbated the issue but work to prevent a repeat has been undertaken.
Overall, the view is the factors that led to the delayed kick-off were particular to the circumstances of that match.
Crucially, that decision is said to have been taken as a precautionary measure by the club in the hope it could ensure as many supporters as possible could have a positive first experience of the stadium – it is understood more than 95% of spectators were within the stadium footprint by the intended kick-off time and the decision was taken solely by the club and not enforced upon it by outside agencies.
While it is anticipated that it will take supporters time to get used to the wider implementation of digital ticketing – something that has been the case at other stadiums when the feature has been introduced – the system itself has not been regarded as the source of any problems through the opening games.
The belief is that the first matches have been a success with significant positive feedback received so far. While some experienced problems at the Mansfield game, many others did not, and of those who did, most who contacted the ECHO did not have issues attending either the Roma or Brighton matches.
Club officials plan to keep the matchday experience under constant review and it is understood the provision for supporters will continue to evolve as they and the club settle into their new surroundings. Teething problems were expected but there has been recognition inside the club that Everton supporters have displayed patience through the process and feedback is encou
