Birthday matchday experience

[Yellowhammer 86]

I was treated to one of these by family and friends who clubbed together for a special birthday .

The whole day was fascinating ,we were met at the ground by Peter Silvester and treated to a glass of champagne and time to chat about the seventies and the vast difference between wages and footballers lives today .

Also Dave stringer and Terry Alcock were there with other groups.

We then went on a tour which included the trophy cabinet ,and both changing rooms ,the difference between the rooms is vast with the away being drab colours ,lower ceiling and simple clothes pegs benches and showers ,where in contrast the home dressing room is plush,each players kit folded and hung up in individual sections ,plush showers and a ice bath for players with injuries.

A huge amount of half time refreshments with water ,vitamin pills,energy bars and surprisingly jelly babies and haribow sweets .we then went to the interview room which is about 6ft square and is the electric meter cupboard with plastic cardboard ad board stuck to the wall in one corner .

Then we followed the route the players take onto the pitch with canary legends staring at you from both sides ,apparently this intimidates the opposition .then we sat in the home and away dug out and delia Smith''s seat and onto her restaurant for a three course meal ,then onto our seats in the Gunn bar above the Barclay .after the match back to the bar where we met Josh for photos and one or two other players who had made their way there Tim Klose and Wes ,we were them presented with a bottle of champagne and a large cake in the shape of the shirt .also my name was flashed up on the board before and at half time .

The whole day was amazing ,very expensive but worth it as a one time experience.

[DDD In The Fine City 1]

Sounds like you had a great day which is awesome, looked a few times at getting the package for my father for his birthday but been a bit put off with the price and previous experiences of other hospitality packages at the club being very hit and miss . I''ve found that when the club isn''t doing so well the day out seems to be of a much better quality, in the premier league a few years ago we sat in the huckerby club thing and felt pushed out in the corner of the room at a table near the entrance while company sponsors were right in the action, last to get food, barely able to hear the people being interviewed and at £200 a ticket very poor value for money, in contrast while in league one we were in top of the terrace and had a great day, meal was good and waited on hand and foot, no complaints except for being behind glass to watch the game which ruined any atmosphere, my company currently has tickets in top of the terrace so I''ve been once again this year and found the quality seems to have dropped since the last visit and it seemed more about how many tables they could cram in the room and how quick the could get you to finish your meal so their job would be easier (tried to get us eating before half of the table had even arrived) but they have tried to address the atmosphere by playing in crowd noise. One of the best experiences was at a under 23''s game where for £20 per person we had a two course meal in delias and a seat for the game in the directors box after a look at the trophy cabinet with a steward more than happy to explain what every cup was and even a story behind the team and games involved, it was a cold evening so even blankets were offered around (thought this was only allowed in the river end).

In contrast my step father supports one of the oil rich premier league clubs so have also been to hospitality there a few times, the price is vastly cheaper but thats expected with who they are but also there doesn''t seem to be the overselling that the club needs to do when we''re doing well, as good as the meal is tho I''ve got no interest in what happens on the pitch except for a game when we played them when I treated the home crowd to a one man pozman when Steve Morison scored to make it 3-1 to them.

Thanks for the info, might look at booking it for the old man while we don''t look so good on the pitch. 👍

[kick it off 1,948]

I did it last year DDD. It was well worth it. Had a great day. Can recommend.

[Diane 500]

Yellowhammer

Sounds like you had a great birthday treat and enjoyed your day, glad our club made it so special for you

[Badger 2,405]

You can go on a club tour which shows you all the things that the OP cites, which are far cheaper - they run them quite regularly. I went on one recently (2nd time) and greatly enjoyed it. Compared to the one I went on about 10 years ago, the away dressing room was far better. The old away dressing room had a carpet that really stank! https://tickets.canaries.co.uk/PagesPublic/ProductBrowse/ProductEvent.aspx?ProductSubType=TOUR&utm_source=Tours&utm_medium=ToursLink&utm_campaign=EFL&soalready=MAY+WnY3V/inRtrwJxxwGuAQHwvBRqX++1fqxJFuVAg=

[DDD In The Fine City 1]

Cheers guys, shall look into it 👍

[kick it off 1,948]

[quote user=" Badger"]You can go on a club tour which shows you all the things that the OP cites, which are far cheaper - they run them quite regularly. I went on one recently (2nd time) and greatly enjoyed it. Compared to the one I went on about 10 years ago, the away dressing room was far better. The old away dressing room had a carpet that really stank! https://tickets.canaries.co.uk/PagesPublic/ProductBrowse/ProductEvent.aspx?ProductSubType=TOUR&utm_source=Tours&utm_medium=ToursLink&utm_campaign=EFL&soalready=MAY+WnY3V/inRtrwJxxwGuAQHwvBRqX++1fqxJFuVAg=[/quote]

Just so you have a full picture DDD - The additionals you get in the Fan of the Match experience (£279) as opposed to the tour (£20 each):

2 x tickets to the game (South Stand - we had reasonably good seats, about half way up, near the half way line - not sure if they''re the same every game)

2 course meal in the Gunn Club pre-game (Food is decent if you''ve not been before - limited menu but the quality is very good - Example of menu HERE )

Access to Gunn club after the game for MOTM interview (I thought this was great, Johnny Howson was MOTM for my experience)

Photo with MOTM (Very brief experience, 30 seconds to chat with the player - photo of the two of you with them holding the signed shirt with your chosen name on it)

Shirt signed by entire squad (Self explanatory - delivered just in a club shop bag at the end of the day - if you want to frame it, then that''s on your dollar - notably shirt is signed by the players on the back so it can be framed without losing any signatures)

Complimentary programme with name printed on the back (Again, self explanatory but a nice souvenir)

Personally, I would say the price is worth it if you can afford it. The tour was great but all the other bits made it a really unforgettable experience, as opposed to just seeing the ground, and having the photo/shirt/programme etc as mementos is really nice.  Not got round to framing it all up yet, but when the missus eventually lets me have a man-cave it will be framed and pride of place.

If you wanted to go for a half way option - you could do the tour on a non-matchday, and then pay the £20 each for Gunn Club access on a matchday - not sure how much the grill menu costs, but you get complimentary tea/coffee in the lounge and then access to the MOTM interview after the game. You don''t get any of the souvenir bits but it brings the cost down considerably (especially if you''re season ticket holders, which I''m not - I live 180 miles away but if I was a ST holder, I would probably say this is a better option - it would bring the cost down by over £100 even allowing a generous amount for the food and you''d only lose out on the souvenir items of the signed shirt, name in programme and photo with MOTM (I was lucky and got Johnny Howson, but it''s pot luck, I could have ended up with Whittaker or someone)

We didn''t get a legend for our tour - can''t remember who it was meant to be but they were ill - we got a media guy who was leaving the following week (which was actually brilliant, as most of the legends on the tour roster are from before my time, and because the guy was leaving he gave us a very candid view of the way things were run under McNally compared to Moxey who was CEO at the time - in summary McNally = good, approachable, made a point of getting to know staff, and made finances available to staff to be creative with projects/ideas... Moxey = bad, unapproachable, no support to staff and not interested in any kind of interaction with them)