Poor system at Stamford Bridge means queuing just got worse for Chelsea fans

17 August 2009

Over the last few seasons various improvements have been made to Stamford Bridge. New picture boards on the walls by the Britannia Gate, a new look interior, new television screens, a redesigned Megastore and new electronic advertising hoardings have been just some of the improvements that have certainly led to a smarter looking stadium and a better matchday experience.

But at the beginning of last season Chelsea also introduced a new ticketing system, whereby oyster card style season tickets were swiped at the gate to gain entrance to the ground. The hope presumably was that fans would be able to get into the ground more quickly and fewer staff at the gate would be needed, but the reality was longer queues and frustrated fans not in their seats in time for kick off. It seemed bizarre that, despite the installation of new technology, stewards were still needed at each gate (both infront and behind it) to tell people when to swipe their card and generally get in the way. So frustrating was queuing that I named the system in my top five disappointments of 08/09.

Heading to Stamford Bridge on Saturday for the opener against Hull, I was foolishly hoping that something might have been done to improve the situation. Who knows - maybe some more gates might have been built? Any hope gradually faded however as I - along with thousands of other supporters walking through the Britannia gate at 12.30 - had to queue just to get past the huge queues of people trying to get into the West Stand. On finally making my way round to the Matthew Harding end, queues were clearly far longer than they had ever been before.

It took me over 20 minutes to get into the ground from that point, and I missed one of Chelsea's best moves (which culminated in Drogba volleying a Michael Essien cross wide). Clearly someone at Chelsea thought the system wasn't good enough last season because the swipe card units have been moved just outside the gates. Despite this there was still a steward by each one and fans getting confused about when they could swipe their card without locking up the turnstile (perhaps some kind of instructions would be useful?). Walking to my seat ten minutes after kick off, I had already passed several very angry fans who had no-one to complain to save the bemused and undeserving stewards.

It was genuinely quicker and easier to get in with the orange booklets. Kenyon - if you're listening, tweaks here and there won't work - there are too many people trying to get into too few gates. Want to get people into the ground more quickly? Cut some more holes in the wall. We pay enough money each season not to have to queue for 20 minutes each game - and the team could do with 100% support from kick off.