Classy might be overdoing it, as their classless and careless approach led to this easily avoidable situation.
They caused an issue - he accepted responsibility for it , quickly came up with a solution and communicated that. He didn’t have to offer to pay for the coaches personally he could have just said unlucky.
To me that’s classy.
Which one of our owners in the past few years would have done the same ?
They are playing a training game on the pitch at the moment apparently...
They are training on the half of the ground that isn’t frozen . Holden said that one half was rock hard and unplayable
You can’t tell me that today was a freak temperature day in Peterborough, it’s been like that all week . Is there no one with a brain cell at Peterborough who could have foreseen ‘oh this pitch is unplayable around 3pm each day this week’ maybe we should have an early inspection on Saturday and pre warn fans …. it’s not fucking rocket science
We all know that we've been owned by the disinterested to crooks over the years, so of course, I can't name one who would have performed this 'gesture'!
We have not quite been the blueprint of football ownership of late.
We all know that we've been owned by the disinterested to crooks over the years, so of course, I can't name one who would have performed this 'gesture'!
We have not quite been the blueprint of football ownership of late.
I reckon TS may cancel the team coach and use one of posh’s - every little bit helps getting to break even
Turned into a gibbering twat today after spotting this CAFC legend at Peckham Town, and sheepishly asking for a selfie – like you do. This game did pass the pitch inspection though (!) but, alas, the Menace lost 1-2 to Forest Hill Park in the cup QF.
Classy might be overdoing it, as their classless and careless approach led to this easily avoidable situation.
They caused an issue - he accepted responsibility for it , quickly came up with a solution and communicated that. He didn’t have to offer to pay for the coaches personally he could have just said unlucky.
To me that’s classy.
Which one of our owners in the past few years would have done the same ?
If, as the rumours suggest, they watered the pitch first thing when it was below freezing, to get the game called off, because of injuries, then it is covering backside time. Paying for coaches on a Tuesday night, when people work and cannnot make it or would ordinarily travel by train and car is also not going to cost very much. We spent on fuel and parking which has gone to waste others spent significant sums on trains . Probably find the coach offer will benefit less than 20% of ticket holders. We certainly wont be taking the 1500 or so that went yesterday and that could impact our players. That is why the EFL should examine what happened and reverse the fixture so they dont benefit.
Classy might be overdoing it, as their classless and careless approach led to this easily avoidable situation.
They caused an issue - he accepted responsibility for it , quickly came up with a solution and communicated that. He didn’t have to offer to pay for the coaches personally he could have just said unlucky.
To me that’s classy.
Which one of our owners in the past few years would have done the same ?
The more I think about it the more I believe this was done deliberately. I wasn’t sure if I could attend the game as my boy had his game first. As his game was called we decided to go. Got to Peterborough at 1245 and decided to walk to ground and get tickets first then go back to pub. As I was getting tickets for me and the boy the lady behind the counter asked for my full name and address when I asked her why this was as never been asked before at an away games she sheepishly said in case you lose the tickets you can get a replacement. Seems to me the whole thing we planned or has anyone else brought tickets on the day and been asked your address details? Dirty bastards also charged me an extra £2 per ticket aswell! I may go to the rearranged fixture but my boy won’t if it’s on a school and def won’t be using the coaches as that’s no help to me whatsoever.
Also this was about 1pm and no mention of a pitch inspection either
@Nicholas that’s naughty. McAnthony has offered refunds to his own fans as well as CAFC but as you bought your tickets on the day you’ll have take it up direct with them for a refund if you or your lad can’t make the rearranged fixture. If you paid by card produce the evidence of the date and hopefully time of the transaction. Good luck.
Folk are angry & they’re lashing out verbally. It’s the virtual equivalent of going home and kicking the cat.
Do we really have to make them feel worse by pointing out they’re blaming the wrong people? Not really going to make them feel better is it, when they’re out of pocket with feck all to show for it.
So the Charlton comms team should cop the blame when they’ve done fuck all wrong. Sounds fair…..
If you’re gonna publicly vent on a social media platform, at least direct it in the right way.
No one knew that at the time though. The fact is we were all in Peterborough and the only person letting us know what was happening was Louis.
Any one still giving them grief is clearly a wally, but the radio silence until the actual postponement was annoying.
Going from Louis original tweets, and subsequently Holden’s comments, it sounds like there was literally a 20 - 40 minute window when all of the sudden the ref turned up and saw the pitch and decided to call it off.
This was not a pre planned inspection because Peterborough said one was not needed.
It took me 10 seconds to google ‘Peterborough FC’ to find the news article saying that it wouldn’t be an issue and the game would go ahead, and a further 10 seconds to look at Louis tweets and have an educated guess that everything happened very quickly.
I can’t believe people are using the guise of ‘fans are angry’, or ‘they didn’t know’ as an excuse to justify verbal abuse towards individuals who had nothing to do with the shit show today.
I worked in a front of house role for a period of time and no wonder it was a miserable experience.
I thought the ref had initially said it needed an inspection at midday?
Not saying the verbal abuse is OK, it isn't. I just don't feel communication was handled well.
The ref was indeed there at 12:00 for a pitch inspection, however apparently according to Holden when we rang the club secretary at around that time, they said there was not one happening.
Holden only spoke to the ref at around 13:20 when he got to ground, and that is when he found out that he had actually planned an earlier inspection.
So either the ref didn’t tell Peterborough he was going to do this, or Peterborough lied.
Either way, I really fail to see what really the comms team could have done in that situation.
What do you think would have been a good example of communication from our comms team here?
Holden says in his interview the club was aware of a pitch inspection at 12:50. Doesn't make much difference to fans already there, but there was a fair few on the 13:00 from King's X who may have held back and therefore been able to refund the train tickets.
Doesn't matter now as what's done is done, but as a bare minimum I would expect the club to announce a pitch inspection was happening as soon as they're made aware. Not simply tweet 'game off' after the fact.
Wasn't the 'inspection' at this time part of the normal procedure that officials go through before a match? I'm no expert but I am sure they will check the pitch out before every game, and expect that is exactly what he was doing at 12:50.
There was no way this was an 'early pitch inspection', at 12:50, that was requested by the home club.
What do you expect the comms team to do in that situation? Send out a message, in that 20 - 40 minute window when they catch wind that the ref is not happy saying:
'The ref has turned up, and whilst going through his pre-match inspection has called the coaching staff over because the pitch looks like it might not be playable - but no one really knows what's going on because Peterborough said that the game would definitely be on, so maybe don't get on your train'
You just have to look at the response on this forum for our home fixture against Bristol Rovers when the club announced there would be an actual pitch inspection to see how well that went down with fans - and the game ended up being on.
Look at the response from the Peterborough chairman since the postponement which is a clear indicator as to where all the blame should lay.
Also this was about 1pm and no mention of a pitch inspection either
@Nicholas that’s naughty. McAnthony has offered refunds to his own fans as well as CAFC but as you bought your tickets on the day you’ll have take it up direct with them for a refund if you or your lad can’t make the rearranged fixture. If you paid by card produce the evidence of the date and hopefully time of the transaction. Good luck.
Cheers will it have it on bank statement and like I said they took my details down so I should be on their database. Still don’t get why they took them down if they didn’t already know something as never been asked before if I have bought on the day.
Classy might be overdoing it, as their classless and careless approach led to this easily avoidable situation.
They caused an issue - he accepted responsibility for it , quickly came up with a solution and communicated that. He didn’t have to offer to pay for the coaches personally he could have just said unlucky.
To me that’s classy.
Which one of our owners in the past few years would have done the same ?
If, as the rumours suggest, they watered the pitch first thing when it was below freezing, to get the game called off, because of injuries, then it is covering backside time. Paying for coaches on a Tuesday night, when people work and cannnot make it or would ordinarily travel by train and car is also not going to cost very much. We spent on fuel and parking which has gone to waste others spent significant sums on trains . Probably find the coach offer will benefit less than 20% of ticket holders. We certainly wont be taking the 1500 or so that went yesterday and that could impact our players. That is why the EFL should examine what happened and reverse the fixture so they dont benefit.
Seen this mentioned in a few places but does anyone know what players of theirs were supposedly going to miss the game? If you read posts from some of their fans who live near the ground, the game was never going to be on so i don't feel like they've gone out of their way to get it called off.
Yes we all know they fucked up, but if the pitch was rock hard in places at 1.30 then it would've also been rock hard at 8-9am if they'd done an inspection then.
They will have to pay staff who turned up, they will have a ton of food they'll have to give away and they've offered to lay on free travel for the rearranged game. If you can't make that you get a refund AND a free ticket to the next Peterborough v Charlton game which regardless of how many turn up it will still cost them a lot more than if they'd called it off early.
So i really don't see what they supposedly gain from calling it off so late. Just seems like a complete and utter fuck up and i'd bet that MacAnthony himself isn't happy about it.
I arrived at the ground at 2pm to be told the game was off. To be honest I was not surprised as having lived up here since 1992 I have seen the problems the South Stand causes during a freezing spell. When I left home 20 miles away it was below zero in the shade in my back garden. I suspect that certain individuals, including a certain ex manager and chairman, at the club wanted the game to go ahead as it was Darren Ferguson’s first home game on his return, and also a big crowd was expected. As it was only a strip along the length of the south stand I think they took a risk that when the referee arrived as normal he would be reluctant to call it off at such short notice. Would also explain why the ref wanted Dean Holden to see it, and that Peterborough then held a training session on the rest of the pitch after the postponement to give the impression that the pitch was virtually playable. I have seen the groundsman working on the pitch on numerous occasions from a meeting room overlooking the pitch and I would very much doubt he was willing participant in this. EFL need to investigate based on the referee’s report.
What you do if you are a proper club is get a local ref to have a look in the morning if the match ref isn't there. They actually announced all was fine. They should at least be made to refund the costs of our fans and indeed their ones too.
There was nothing unpredictable about the weather. In fact the sun has been glaring and bright since this morning.
There are three stakeholders in the decision to decide whether a EFL game is off or on - one isnt "a local referee"!!
First, the senior stadium official for health and safety. He/she to decide whether conditions inside and immediately outside are safe (no snow/ice, as an example).
Secondly, the Police Office in charge of the game for the day; responsible for internal customer control and responsible for external approaches to the game being safe (usually snow/ice impact upon travelling).
The match referee, being responsible for the safety of players on the physical pitch.
Having said all that, I am surprised that a pitch inspection wasn't made earlier in the morning. I would not know whether the club failed to advise the match referee earlier that there could be some doubt about the match proceeding or whether the match referee should take some responsibility for a late pitch inspection.
I have seen clubs get an alternative referee on a number of occasions in these circumstances where the match official may not be available. It potentially saves all parties time, money and effort.
No "local refs" used at this level. Happy to be told I am wrong, but I believe local refs can only be used to judge pitches at step 5 and lower levels.
Are you saying no refs live more locally who could look at it? This has happened on a number of occasions from memory and if it happened yesterday would possibly have alerted the match ref to get there earlier.
Folk are angry & they’re lashing out verbally. It’s the virtual equivalent of going home and kicking the cat.
Do we really have to make them feel worse by pointing out they’re blaming the wrong people? Not really going to make them feel better is it, when they’re out of pocket with feck all to show for it.
So the Charlton comms team should cop the blame when they’ve done fuck all wrong. Sounds fair…..
If you’re gonna publicly vent on a social media platform, at least direct it in the right way.
No one knew that at the time though. The fact is we were all in Peterborough and the only person letting us know what was happening was Louis.
Any one still giving them grief is clearly a wally, but the radio silence until the actual postponement was annoying.
Going from Louis original tweets, and subsequently Holden’s comments, it sounds like there was literally a 20 - 40 minute window when all of the sudden the ref turned up and saw the pitch and decided to call it off.
This was not a pre planned inspection because Peterborough said one was not needed.
It took me 10 seconds to google ‘Peterborough FC’ to find the news article saying that it wouldn’t be an issue and the game would go ahead, and a further 10 seconds to look at Louis tweets and have an educated guess that everything happened very quickly.
I can’t believe people are using the guise of ‘fans are angry’, or ‘they didn’t know’ as an excuse to justify verbal abuse towards individuals who had nothing to do with the shit show today.
I worked in a front of house role for a period of time and no wonder it was a miserable experience.
I thought the ref had initially said it needed an inspection at midday?
Not saying the verbal abuse is OK, it isn't. I just don't feel communication was handled well.
The ref was indeed there at 12:00 for a pitch inspection, however apparently according to Holden when we rang the club secretary at around that time, they said there was not one happening.
Holden only spoke to the ref at around 13:20 when he got to ground, and that is when he found out that he had actually planned an earlier inspection.
So either the ref didn’t tell Peterborough he was going to do this, or Peterborough lied.
Either way, I really fail to see what really the comms team could have done in that situation.
What do you think would have been a good example of communication from our comms team here?
Holden says in his interview the club was aware of a pitch inspection at 12:50. Doesn't make much difference to fans already there, but there was a fair few on the 13:00 from King's X who may have held back and therefore been able to refund the train tickets.
Doesn't matter now as what's done is done, but as a bare minimum I would expect the club to announce a pitch inspection was happening as soon as they're made aware. Not simply tweet 'game off' after the fact.
Wasn't the 'inspection' at this time part of the normal procedure that officials go through before a match? I'm no expert but I am sure they will check the pitch out before every game, and expect that is exactly what he was doing at 12:50.
There was no way this was an 'early pitch inspection', at 12:50, that was requested by the home club.
What do you expect the comms team to do in that situation? Send out a message, in that 20 - 40 minute window when they catch wind that the ref is not happy saying:
'The ref has turned up, and whilst going through his pre-match inspection has called the coaching staff over because the pitch looks like it might not be playable - but no one really knows what's going on because Peterborough said that the game would definitely be on, so maybe don't get on your train'
You just have to look at the response on this forum for our home fixture against Bristol Rovers when the club announced there would be an actual pitch inspection to see how well that went down with fans - and the game ended up being on.
Look at the response from the Peterborough chairman since the postponement which is a clear indicator as to where all the blame should lay.
I'm not blaming anyone other than Peterborough. You asked what I think the comms team should have done, I've given you my answer. Let's leave it at that.
What you do if you are a proper club is get a local ref to have a look in the morning if the match ref isn't there. They actually announced all was fine. They should at least be made to refund the costs of our fans and indeed their ones too.
There was nothing unpredictable about the weather. In fact the sun has been glaring and bright since this morning.
There are three stakeholders in the decision to decide whether a EFL game is off or on - one isnt "a local referee"!!
First, the senior stadium official for health and safety. He/she to decide whether conditions inside and immediately outside are safe (no snow/ice, as an example).
Secondly, the Police Office in charge of the game for the day; responsible for internal customer control and responsible for external approaches to the game being safe (usually snow/ice impact upon travelling).
The match referee, being responsible for the safety of players on the physical pitch.
Having said all that, I am surprised that a pitch inspection wasn't made earlier in the morning. I would not know whether the club failed to advise the match referee earlier that there could be some doubt about the match proceeding or whether the match referee should take some responsibility for a late pitch inspection.
I have seen clubs get an alternative referee on a number of occasions in these circumstances where the match official may not be available. It potentially saves all parties time, money and effort.
No "local refs" used at this level. Happy to be told I am wrong, but I believe local refs can only be used to judge pitches at step 5 and lower levels.
Are you saying no refs live more locally who could look at it? This has happened on a number of occasions from memory and if it happened yesterday would possibly have alerted the match ref to get there earlier.
To be fair to McAnthony that was a good response.
I dont know the geographical location of refs with the correct status to make that inspection or whether such refs had their own games that day. But the suggestion that a "local ref" could make that inspection is purely speculative.
What you do if you are a proper club is get a local ref to have a look in the morning if the match ref isn't there. They actually announced all was fine. They should at least be made to refund the costs of our fans and indeed their ones too.
There was nothing unpredictable about the weather. In fact the sun has been glaring and bright since this morning.
There are three stakeholders in the decision to decide whether a EFL game is off or on - one isnt "a local referee"!!
First, the senior stadium official for health and safety. He/she to decide whether conditions inside and immediately outside are safe (no snow/ice, as an example).
Secondly, the Police Office in charge of the game for the day; responsible for internal customer control and responsible for external approaches to the game being safe (usually snow/ice impact upon travelling).
The match referee, being responsible for the safety of players on the physical pitch.
Having said all that, I am surprised that a pitch inspection wasn't made earlier in the morning. I would not know whether the club failed to advise the match referee earlier that there could be some doubt about the match proceeding or whether the match referee should take some responsibility for a late pitch inspection.
I have seen clubs get an alternative referee on a number of occasions in these circumstances where the match official may not be available. It potentially saves all parties time, money and effort.
No "local refs" used at this level. Happy to be told I am wrong, but I believe local refs can only be used to judge pitches at step 5 and lower levels.
Are you saying no refs live more locally who could look at it? This has happened on a number of occasions from memory and if it happened yesterday would possibly have alerted the match ref to get there earlier.
To be fair to McAnthony that was a good response.
I dont know the geographical location of refs with the correct status to make that inspection or whether such refs had their own games that day. But the suggestion that a "local ref" could make that inspection is purely speculative.
So if a game is called off a day before the match who does the inspection then? It’s not normally the match ref as he likely lives many miles away so they ask a more local ref to do it.
Another example of poor decision making is the Chelsea vs Liverpool women's match at Kingsmeadow (former AFC Wimbledon ground) today which was abandoned after SIX minutes had been played, as it was too dangerous
Another example of poor decision making is the Chelsea vs Liverpool women's match at Kingsmeadow (former AFC Wimbledon ground) today which was abandoned after SIX minutes had been played, as it was too dangerous
Back in the Premier League years, didn't we get another PL ref who was based reasonably near by (Orpington?) to take a look at the Valley pitch well in advance of a match?
Another example of poor decision making is the Chelsea vs Liverpool women's match at Kingsmeadow (former AFC Wimbledon ground) today which was abandoned after SIX minutes had been played, as it was too dangerous
Comments
I don't reckon we'd take more than 10 free coaches.
They would also have to refund the ticket in any case, so that's no offer as such.
Finally a free ticket for next game at Posh (and refund) if you can't make the rearranged fixture is a decent offer and may cost them @£10K.
Is there no one with a brain cell at Peterborough who could have foreseen ‘oh this pitch is unplayable around 3pm each day this week’ maybe we should have an early inspection on Saturday and pre warn fans ….
it’s not fucking rocket science
And a 3-point penalty plus fine to us for a frivolous complaint.
Or is it more likely that there has been a fuck up at Peterborough.
Hanlon's Razor is a good reference point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor
This is a bit dated, but this is the EFL guidance on pitch inspection procedures:
https://www.efl.com/news/2013/january/pitch-inspection-procedures/
There was no way this was an 'early pitch inspection', at 12:50, that was requested by the home club.
What do you expect the comms team to do in that situation? Send out a message, in that 20 - 40 minute window when they catch wind that the ref is not happy saying:
'The ref has turned up, and whilst going through his pre-match inspection has called the coaching staff over because the pitch looks like it might not be playable - but no one really knows what's going on because Peterborough said that the game would definitely be on, so maybe don't get on your train'
You just have to look at the response on this forum for our home fixture against Bristol Rovers when the club announced there would be an actual pitch inspection to see how well that went down with fans - and the game ended up being on.
Look at the response from the Peterborough chairman since the postponement which is a clear indicator as to where all the blame should lay.
Yes we all know they fucked up, but if the pitch was rock hard in places at 1.30 then it would've also been rock hard at 8-9am if they'd done an inspection then.
They will have to pay staff who turned up, they will have a ton of food they'll have to give away and they've offered to lay on free travel for the rearranged game. If you can't make that you get a refund AND a free ticket to the next Peterborough v Charlton game which regardless of how many turn up it will still cost them a lot more than if they'd called it off early.
So i really don't see what they supposedly gain from calling it off so late. Just seems like a complete and utter fuck up and i'd bet that MacAnthony himself isn't happy about it.
To be fair to McAnthony that was a good response.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64279738
I'm sure the travelling Burton fans were happy not to make a wasted journey