ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Credit Where It's Due

The club get a lot of very legitimate criticism for their failures in ticketing and general organisation surrounding matches, but I think it's worth giving them a thumbs up for their arrangements in Holland yesterday.

Not travelling with the Thomas Cook arranged official party, but having flown into Amsterdam and headed up to Alkmaar, I was fully expecting to make my way to and from the ground under my own steam, via taxi or similar. So it was great to see very visible Everton stewards at Alkmaar station, directing fans to the waiting coaches that'd been laid on for fans holding match tickets. To be dropped right outside the entrance of the ground, and then picked up after the match for a quick exit and smooth journey back to Amsterdam Central station, all at no charge and available to all fans with tickets, was a real bonus. In fact it was efficiency all round from Everton on and off the pitch in my experience, with the clueless stewards being the Alkmaar ones at the stadium.

Helped make the whole travel experience stress-free and left fans able to enjoy another excellent performance on the pitch.
Robin Cannon, Manchester Posted 21/12/2007 at 14:28:51

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Comments

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Michael Kenrick

That's fantastic! Thanks Robin.

rob jones
1 Posted 21/12/2007 at 16:33:27

good to know that BK and co are pulling their money out to make sure our travelling evertonians enjoy our european adventure.

Billy Moore
2 Posted 21/12/2007 at 16:57:52

have to agree, i travelled with the everton thomas cook package and was impressed with the efficiency of everything

James Byrne
3 Posted 21/12/2007 at 17:07:51

Maybe this is a result of our overall continued success and learning curve we have all enjoyed recently while playing in Europe.

Well done to everyone involved and once again, a mention for our superb fans who have not only traveled in their thousands but behaved impeccably throughout; let’s see this continue too.

Eric Hardman
4 Posted 21/12/2007 at 17:37:57

If the players can go from no-hopers to world-beaters in 6 weeks perhaps we might expect the club admin to do the same. Then again they might be practising for transporting the couple of thousand fans who’ll turn up at Kirkby...

Rob Jones
5 Posted 21/12/2007 at 18:04:07

I?ve gotta admit no voters I am amazed at how you manage to squeeze kirkby into everything

Albert Velthuijsen
6 Posted 21/12/2007 at 18:09:29

Can somebody please put the song on here the everton fans were singing almost the whole second half like ..come on boys and singing the blues....

Jez Clein
7 Posted 21/12/2007 at 21:00:52

"I’ve never felt more like singing the blues when Everton win and Liverpool lose, oh Everton, you’ve got me singing the blues"

It was sung just to keep us warm !

Dean Johnson
8 Posted 22/12/2007 at 08:46:10

I work in Amsterdam and so I was all smiles to see all the blues around when I went out for lunch. Couldn?t make it to the game but watched it in Coco?s on Rembrandtplein, what a match.

Respect goes out to all the blues who I saw before the game and in the evening at centraal - you truly do your team, fellow fans and club proud.

Damian Wilde
9 Posted 22/12/2007 at 21:10:14

Robin, I don?t think that was the case for everyone. I made my own way and had a match ticket. But, after the game, some other fans and myself with tickets tried to board many of these buses, only to be told every time ?You?re not with the official package?. They then sped off, leaving us there. That then left many Everton fans with a 50 minute walk in the coldest weather ever, to the train station (-12). Then we had a 30 minute wait for a train, the train got delayed, so we got to Amsterdam Central at 01:30. So the club did not look after all fans, so say that is Bollocks! Typical Everton, they?re not organised. There wasn?t even info. on the website about Alkmaar, trains, etc. On the pich, love it, really enjoying it.

Albert, song:

?I?ve never felt more like singing the Blues when Everton win and Liverpool lose, oh Everton, you got me singing the Blues? (adapted from the song ?Singing the Blues)

That singing was fantastic, it lasted so long, some of the best singing I?ve been involved in for a while, loved it!!

Come on you Blues!!

Robin Cannon
10 Posted 24/12/2007 at 03:08:41

Damian, we had the same issue when we mistakenly tried to get on the official trip Thomas Cook coaches after the game, and were (completely legitimately) turned away. We weren’t part of that official package and rightfully the people who’d paid for that had those coach tickets, but there were plenty of coaches laid on purely for fans with match tickets also.

The club did put on a large number of coaches from Alkmaar station to the ground, and then from Alkmaar to central Amsterdam after the game. They did so for no charge and for fans with tickets. If that’s "typical Everton" than all power to the club and I hope it continues. Frankly the guy sitting behind us on the coach from Alkmaar station, who’s "typical bloody Everton" when his free and unbooked coach to the ground waited for 15 minutes to fill up before leaving was about par for the course in terms of "hell, let’s look for an excuse to criticise the club, even when they do good stuff."