woeful attendance

[Cleybrooke]

"Kids do you want to go to watch Aston Villa or go to Alton Towers for the day?"

"Last time we went to watch the Villa play Wolves it was rubbish - Alton Towers please!"

Fine by me - day at Alton Towers works out cheaper.

[Clampy]

I think some of the prices do need to be looked at. The North Stand is good value, but £43 for an under 16 in the Upper Trinity is just wrong.

[The Moose]

I thought it was a decent game. More good than bad.

If you'd rather go to Alton Towers than Villa Park, it says more about you, than the football on offer.

[john e]

 personally i would pay £45 quid not to go to Alton Towers

[PeterWithesShin]

Edit.

[pauliewalnuts]

So glory hunters rather than floating fans?

What glory exactly?

What else do you call fans who attend when things are looking good, but fuck off when things look bad?

And I get what you mean, but if things were looking rosier down B6 there'd have been more than 30K today. It's more than just a case of floating fans who can't afford it.

Floating fans are more likely to come when things are going well - that's one of the main reason they're floating fans and not season ticket holders.

It's too easy to call them glory hunters.

When Randy came, they made much about how ambitious they were for the club, they put money in, and crowds improved considerably.

Last season it went to shit, and this summer has been the most depressing one for a very long time.

How many of us would have believed it if, on the last day of last season, we'd been told "you'll sell Young and Downing, release NRC, Carew, Friedel, not sign Walker, and sell Luke Young, and the only signings you'll make will be Given and N'Zogbia. Oh, and you're going to appoint Alex McCleish as your manager"?

I'd wager none of us would have.

The way the club has gone to shit in the last 12 months is scandalous, depressing and very, very alarming. I've renewed, but I don't for a second blame anyone who didn't, or see people who don't want to fork out big money to watch a slimmed down version of the squad that struggled last season toil against Wolves on a Saturday morning as gloryhunters.

What we needed to do at the end of last season was work very hard to make sure we built on the positives of the last year (and there weren't very many) - to do whatever we could to make last season look like a blip rather than the start of a downward slide.

What we've actually done since then is the exact opposite, and it is all self inflicted. Short of also selling Darren Bent, I can't think of a way the club could have handled it any more counter productively.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

The attendance was a shocker.

3 games in week. Live on TV. People still on holiday. No discounts. Recession.

But most of all its a hangover from last season. A feeling that steady progress (albeit illusory) halted when O'Neill left. Also what is in my opinion a misguided feeling amongst some that the club made a mistake appointing the `devil incarnate` Mcleish.

Well the nature of football is that a few wins will soon bring back the fair weather fans to fill the spare seats. We have lost just one of our last 11 league games, so things cannot be all that bad.
25k - 30k of us will always be there pretty well come what may. Tommy Doc's statement that if you put 11 villa shirts on the washing line, 10,000 will turn up and watch them dry is as applicable now as it was in 1969.

[kippaxvilla2]

It is a combination of factors.  But the one that simply cannot be underestimated is the decision to employ Alex McLeish as manager in the summer.  Fans as promised have started to vote with their feet in protest at the boards decision and subsequent hands behind his back approach.  People promised they would not renew if he was appointed or, indeed would expect refunds and that is exactly what is happening, add to that the likes of me who struggle with kids to afford anyway were not exactly persuaded to return after what was singularly one of the worst decisions since the appointment of Billy McNeil.

I was watching it today and simply knew we wouldn't score.  It is no shock whatsoever that Bent is now feeding on scraps, already negativity in the approach is self evident.  You just know even at this stage of the season that it will be average and no more than that.  So what exactly is there in that to drag floating fans/armchair fans out of their houses during a recession.

[Irish villain]

Great post Pauliezognuts. Sums up exactly how I feel. It breaks my heart to see the fans vote with their feet but the club's wounds are self inflicted largely.

[PeterWithesShin]

I agree with pretty much everything you say Paulie, it's been a probably only the mid 80s and the last DOL season have I felt as crap over the direction we seem to be taking as I do right now. Which is in part due thinking those days were over when Randy arrived.
But for approx 20% of our "support" to stop attending so quickly as soon as the going gets tough is shocking. And if they've stopped coming so quickly and easily because things are tough, then what else are they apart from glory hunters?
I'm not including those that can't afford it in the glory statement, i've been in that position where I haven't been able to afford to get to VP, but such a large percentage drop can't all be down to pure finances.

[olofmilosevic]

I thought it was a decent game. More good than bad.

If you'd rather go to Alton Towers than Villa Park, it says more about you, than the football on offer.

This!! what a crap excuse! In my opinion if you would rather go to Alton Towers than down the Villa the you have no right to moan about crowds, the football or anything for that matter. I guarantee as soon as we put a bit of a run together you will change your mind! which I think falls into the above floating/part time supporter category!!

nobody likes a part time supporter!

[Ads]

We have a small fan base in relation to the achievements of the club and this is reflected in the poor to mediocre crowds.

Plenty of smaller clubs in terms of history maintain high attendances through bad times (not that we’re in a bad time at the moment). We on the other hand still had poor attendances even when we were winning the title.

Aint nothing ever going to change that.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I knew it was going to be poor but not that had. Under dolly the crowds were like that but under Mon they improved, now I think those supporters that came back have drifted again. It's not cheap to go down. I didn't bother because of the kick off time and I had a feeling. After seeing that today I'm not sure when I'll go again

[pauliewalnuts]

I agree with pretty much everything you say Paulie, it's been a probably only the mid 80s and the last DOL season have I felt as crap over the direction we seem to be taking as I do right now. Which is in part due thinking those days were over when Randy arrived.
But for approx 20% of our "support" to stop attending so quickly as soon as the going gets tough is shocking. And if they've stopped coming so quickly and easily because things are tough, then what else are they apart from glory hunters?
I'm not including those that can't afford it in the glory statement, i've been in that position where I haven't been able to afford to get to VP, but such a large percentage drop can't all be down to pure finances.

Things aren't just tough, though, they're tough and entirely self inflicted.

The club is abysmally run, they look utterly out of their depth, and people are starting to realise it. Look at that ridiculous letter Faulkner sent the other week, for example. I'd bet a large sum of money that, whilst that was intended to galvanise supporters and get season ticket sales going, it actually put more people off renewing, all it did was make us look like we're all about getting the money in - which is the absolute last thing supporters wanted to hear.

Throwing money at MON (not to mention paying off him and other managers / clubs) has got us into this mess. The problem is, it is increasingly clear that the only way they know to manage the club is to throw money at it. Take that away and they're revealed as utterly clueless.

If you asked me in May "devise a devioous plan to ensure piss poor crowds and shit season ticket renewal figures", I'd have come up with something very similar to what they've actually done.

[hawkeye]

I dont see how any one can criticise fans not turning up, it is the only vote fans have got and they are excercising that vote. Dont blame the fans but look a little more closely at why they are not coming.