Are we, as supporters, doing enough???

[claret and blue blood]

Read the title of this thread expecting suggestions for some kind of organised protest.I now feel very sad as the realisation of the futility of taking such action in today's game.I still go but out of a sense of duty or habit,definitely not out of enjoyment,don't blame the fans ,I think given the results and performances served up in the last 4 years we can have a clear conscience.

[dave.woodhall]

There must be a tipping point where the gate receipts become a small enough proportion of total income that it would be better for ticket prices to return to something reasonable resulting in less prawn sandwiches and more youngsters who are up for it.  The free newspapers/timeout are the model I'd compare it to - commercially it is better for them to be free and boast of a greater circulation (= advertising revenue etc) than to charge a nominal amount.  The reduced ticket price could be counter balanced by an increase in income and importantly better entertainment before the game - I dunno better bars / street food / craft beers / early kick off matches etc.

The problem is Villa tickets are pretty cheap anyway yet the product on show is so dire that I've not been this year.

To an extent I agree with lower ticket prices being (more or less) subsidised by tv and advertising money, but where does that leave smaller clubs that rely on gate money?

You'd hope their wages and costs are geared to suit their income.  I heard a random comment on 5live today during their build up to the 3rd round and they suggested that most amateur clubs/lower divisions are run much better now and are cutting their cloth accordingly.  I'm not sure how true that is, but the suggestion was that sustainability is possible even with out TV money.

It's not true at all. Hereford and Salisbury City were both kicked out of the Conference last summer due to their finances and have since gone out of business.

[wozwebs]

I agree with all the above also, it's just the fans who have decided to turn up, while we are there shouldn't we get behind them more in terms of noise, singing etc.

[PeterWithesShin]

Ticket price isn't everything though. Or rather cheaper prices isn't. You (meaning all of us) can be in the Holte End tomorrow for an FA Cup game for the same price it costs to stand somewhere like Kiddy and watch a Conference game. The attendance tomorrow will probably be our second lowest, maybe even lowest, attendance of the season. Its challenger for lowest attendance is another cheap ticket cup game.

[PeterWithesShin]

And something I wrote a couple of months ago that makes you realise how little ticket sales mean to a club now. Unlike the olden days when every club had a break even attendance figure, and were in trouble if they weren't averaging that number.

Match going fans are pretty insignificant financially to clubs now. Imagine you go to most games a season, and spend say £2,000 a year doing so. Do that for 50 years. Congrats, you haven't even spent enough over those 50 years to keep Darren Bent on the bench for 2 weeks.

[Lastfootstamper]

Read the title of this thread expecting suggestions for some kind of organised protest.I now feel very sad as the realisation of the futility of taking such action in today's game.I still go but out of a sense of duty or habit,definitely not out of enjoyment,don't blame the fans ,I think given the results and performances served up in the last 4 years we can have a clear conscience.

Indeed. In eras gone by, whenever comparable fayre had been on offer, there'd be nowhere near 30,000 of us turning up.

[ez]

You wouldn't keep going to a restaurant that kept serving up poor quality food even if it was a bit cheaper than it's rivals.

[Stu]

Read the title of this thread expecting suggestions for some kind of organised protest.I now feel very sad as the realisation of the futility of taking such action in today's game.I still go but out of a sense of duty or habit,definitely not out of enjoyment,don't blame the fans ,I think given the results and performances served up in the last 4 years we can have a clear conscience.

Indeed. In eras gone by, whenever comparable fayre had been on offer, there'd be nowhere near 30,000 of us turning up.

Or when we were challenging for title and then actually won it.

[dave.woodhall]

Read the title of this thread expecting suggestions for some kind of organised protest.I now feel very sad as the realisation of the futility of taking such action in today's game.I still go but out of a sense of duty or habit,definitely not out of enjoyment,don't blame the fans ,I think given the results and performances served up in the last 4 years we can have a clear conscience.

Indeed. In eras gone by, whenever comparable fayre had been on offer, there'd be nowhere near 30,000 of us turning up.

And yet tomorrow would be one of the biggest gates of the season instead of the second-smallest.

[CJ]

Think it's a chicken and egg thing. If we get high tempo entertaining games in which we score goals the atmosphere would be fantastic again, as it was for periods of the Manure game. The problem is we've been served up with pretty much unrelenting dross for 3 or 4 seasons now, expectations have been lowered to the point where Premier League survival is all that matters, we don't compete against lower league opposition in the cups, the owner wants out, and the manager has resoundingly failed against what we expected, breaking endless negative records in the process. I sit towards the front of K4 and the atmosphere is like a morgue at times, and I'm part of that, but the truth is it's just boring, and I go more out of habit and to see friends I wouldn't see otherwise. When the declared ambition of the club is to be somewhere on the Deloitte Football Money League rather than towards the top of the football league, and  TV money is more important than the fans' money, it's hardly surprising that fans are losing their passion.

[Lastfootstamper]

Yes, Dave, it would've. But we now seem to be a generation into where the league has become the be-all and end-all; I have tickets for two ten year old nephews tomorrow, both of whom have today decided they don't want to come, and no end of me extolling the beauty of The FA Cup has changed their minds. One, I fear, shall be lost forever to his sticker book and why "man city are just better than Villa", the other could still be saved, but not if he came to watch us presently. It truly saddens me, and I find myself at a loss to think of what I can do to change things.

[dave.woodhall]

Yes, Dave, it would've. But we now seem to be a generation into where the league has become the be-all and end-all; I have tickets for two ten year old nephews tomorrow, both of whom have today decided they don't want to come, and no end of me extolling the beauty of The FA Cup has changed their minds. One, I fear, shall be lost forever to his sticker book and why "man city are just better than Villa", the other could still be saved, but not if he came to watch us presently. It truly saddens me, and I find myself at a loss to think of what I can do to change things.

Short of uninventing the wheel there's nothing any of us can do. As someone said, the only way to raise the FA Cup's profile would be to let Sky have it, but their way of improving it would be to take what little tradition remains and replace it with hype and glitz.

[Ducksworthy]

I'm going for my first game this year (I used to go every week but quite frankly cannot afford it any more as I live up north and earn next to nothing) against Liverpool with two friends. I'm more looking forward to showing them the library and the pubs round town than the Villa - I've already apologised for what they're about to see. I'd love to see a rocking Villa Park but from what I've seen of the team lately, they can neither deserve nor expect it.

[silhillvilla]

I do think it would have been better if all games had been played today At 3 pm with perhaps 1 early TV game and a 530pm one too followed immediately by the 4th rd draw
Stringing this out over 5 days dilutes a lot of interest .

[dave.woodhall]

I do think it would have been better if all games had been played today At 3 pm with perhaps 1 early TV game and a 530pm one too followed immediately by the 4th rd draw
Stringing this out over 5 days dilutes a lot of interest .

Of course it does, but don't let's kid ourselves that the TV companies don't love it.