The support

[QuintonVilla]

Our home crowds will obviously drop when we go down. If we're top of the league then crowds will be higher and we'll get some good crowds towards the end of the season if nearing promotion. No matter the league, everyone would rather be watching a winning team. I'd rather go and watch us beat MK Dons and play decent football, than pay £40 to watch us surrender meekly against Man Utd.

Away from home our support will increase if we're doing well. New grounds to visit, cheaper tickets, big allocations and the novelty factor.

Absolutely right & a good way of making a positive out of the negatives of these last 5+ years. The support this club still gets is nothing short of fantastic, so let's hope folk will have something that better reflects their loyalty & ambitions in the coming Championship campaign & beyond.

I used to go away all the time, now I just pick and choose mainly due to ticket prices and the fact the football is dire. A few of my mates, my old man and a few of his mates have all stopped going away, they've all said they'll return when we go down. It will be good to visit new grounds and actually have a chance of winning the game. Watching us lose at Old Trafford and Etihad every season and paying £45 for the privilege is boring and as such our away numbers to those games has dwindled.

[ChicagoLion]

I think the ticket price at Villa is pretty reasonable when you compare to other forms of entertainment and lots of other Pl clubs.
It's the football that is the problem.
Put it another way, I have not heard any one say that the main reason for not going was money except those that have fallen on hard or difficult times financially.

[ez]

An apology would be something.

[QuintonVilla]

I think it's time we brought back the old classic "Always look on the bright side of life..." at games.

[walsall villain]

I think it's time we brought back the old classic "Always look on the bright side of life..." at games.

Plus 'we'll meet again, don't know where don't know when' but not sung in the same sense as before unfortunately.

[robbo1874]

Our home crowds will obviously drop when we go down. If we're top of the league then crowds will be higher and we'll get some good crowds towards the end of the season if nearing promotion. No matter the league, everyone would rather be watching a winning team. I'd rather go and watch us beat MK Dons and play decent football, than pay £40 to watch us surrender meekly against Man Utd.

Away from home our support will increase if we're doing well. New grounds to visit, cheaper tickets, big allocations and the novelty factor.

spot on QV

[oswald funkletrumpet]

ST prices will probably stay the same- more games blar blar.

Don't count on many bargain prices away from home, teams will see us like a stolen credit card.

spot on

and as far as big allocations go yes there will be odd ones like mk dons and fulham which will be high but the majority will be 3k or less

[QuintonVilla]

ST prices will probably stay the same- more games blar blar.

Don't count on many bargain prices away from home, teams will see us like a stolen credit card.

spot on

and as far as big allocations go yes there will be odd ones like mk dons and fulham which will be high but the majority will be 3k or less

What I'm saying though is these days we take a lot of sub 3k followings due to stupid initial allocations, prices and crap football. Southampton we took 1900 for a Saturday 3pm. I realise only a few weeks after we played them in the cup but still if we played them in the Championship and we were playing well and near the top we would sell out easily.
These days we only take around 1500 to places like Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd. Going to the same grounds every season, knowing we won't win and paying £45+ has wore thin.
The example I'll use is Middlesbrough. In the Premier League their following to Villa was usually crap/average, as it was to a lot of places. Now they're in the Championship and near the top they're taking thousands away, they took 7000 to Blackburn last season.

[Clampy]

The club should be laying on free coaches for all away games as of right now to give us a fighting chancing of picking up as many points as possible on our travels - but it isn't.  I just don't get what kind of thinking goes on behind the scenes.  At the moment there is a sense of disconnect between the marketing/ticketing people and the support.

I don't know how often they do it, but the first 5 coaches are free for West Ham and they have done it for others games but like I said, how many i'm not sure. I don't agree with your second point about the disconnect though.

[Legion]

I, too, no longer have a ST. I pick and choose games to suit myself now. No more evening matches if I have work the next day, for example.

[joe_c]

The club should be laying on free coaches for all away games as of right now to give us a fighting chancing of picking up as many points as possible on our travels - but it isn't.  I just don't get what kind of thinking goes on behind the scenes.  At the moment there is a sense of disconnect between the marketing/ticketing people and the support.

Another example of people complaining about a non issue for the sake of complaining about something and making connection between this and the deeper malaise at the club.

I have no idea why so many equate extra support with extra points. I have been part of a 3,000 strong travelling contingent that has seen us beaten out of sight often enough to know that this isn't the case. I'd sooner they subsidise a few pre match pints to be honest.

[curiousorange]

It's a difficult job for the club to market us at the moment. Why choose to pay thirty quid to watch Villa lose when you can pay a tenner to watch Star Wars, for example? But the club will do something, I expect, like an ST price freeze. Something which I took full advantage of when I was a swinging bachelor was the late "game for a tenner/twenty quid" type offers in 2010/11. I think the most I paid for a game that season was thirty to see the draw against United. Great game. I reckon we'll see a fair few of those in a Championship season. There may be stupid people at the club but the club isn't stupid - they know we hate what's happening, they know we're embarrassed. They're probably bricking it trying to think of a way to market a game against Huddersfield as a mouthwatering clash.

[conman]

The club should be laying on free coaches for all away games as of right now to give us a fighting chancing of picking up as many points as possible on our travels - but it isn't.  I just don't get what kind of thinking goes on behind the scenes.  At the moment there is a sense of disconnect between the marketing/ticketing people and the support.

Another example of people complaining about a non issue for the sake of complaining about something and making connection between this and the deeper malaise at the club.

I have no idea why so many equate extra support with extra points. I have been part of a 3,000 strong travelling contingent that has seen us beaten out of sight often enough to know that this isn't the case. I'd sooner they subsidise a few pre match pints to be honest.

yeah  Leicesters owners  laid on free beer for Leicester fans at Leicesters ground the other night against man city
and its not the first time they've done it

[dave.woodhall]

The club should be laying on free coaches for all away games as of right now to give us a fighting chancing of picking up as many points as possible on our travels - but it isn't.  I just don't get what kind of thinking goes on behind the scenes.  At the moment there is a sense of disconnect between the marketing/ticketing people and the support.

Another example of people complaining about a non issue for the sake of complaining about something and making connection between this and the deeper malaise at the club.

I have no idea why so many equate extra support with extra points. I have been part of a 3,000 strong travelling contingent that has seen us beaten out of sight often enough to know that this isn't the case. I'd sooner they subsidise a few pre match pints to be honest.

yeah  Leicesters owners  laid on free beer for Leicester fans at Leicesters ground the other night against man city
and its not the first time they've done it

It was the sponsors who donated it, but never mind.

[curiousorange]

The club should be laying on free coaches for all away games as of right now to give us a fighting chancing of picking up as many points as possible on our travels - but it isn't.  I just don't get what kind of thinking goes on behind the scenes.  At the moment there is a sense of disconnect between the marketing/ticketing people and the support.

Another example of people complaining about a non issue for the sake of complaining about something and making connection between this and the deeper malaise at the club.

I have no idea why so many equate extra support with extra points. I have been part of a 3,000 strong travelling contingent that has seen us beaten out of sight often enough to know that this isn't the case. I'd sooner they subsidise a few pre match pints to be honest.

yeah  Leicesters owners  laid on free beer for Leicester fans at Leicesters ground the other night against man city
and its not the first time they've done it

It was the sponsors who donated it, but never mind.

Gotta tell you, I could sure use some accounting software right now.