woeful attendance

[maidstonevillain]

I think the analogy with Alton Towers was more to do with the fact that Alton Towers is a really expensive day out, yet cheaper than Going to Villa park

Exactly. It's the opportunity cost of the money in your wallet. £120 to entertain a family of 4 over the Bank Holiday. What you going to spend you money on? 90mins that will bore the kids and wife for 90mins or a full day out at Alton Towers.

Guess that makes me an unpopular part time supporter because I'd like to try engage the family in my passion - fact is it can be a bit dull and very very expensive.

Another comparison. A couple of weeks ago I took the family to see the Lion King in London. It can probably be termed a magical evening, and which they will remember for years. For a similar cost, I could, instead, have taken them to watch Villa - v - Wolves.

I still regard myself as a fulltime fan/supporter. But I will readily accept that nowadays I am a (very) part-time spectator. One of the reasons is obviously now geograpical. But, even if I still lived within 5 miles of Villa Park, I doubt that I would attend more. Is that surprising when you consider that it now costs something like 900% more in real terms to watch a game now than it did when I was a regular in the 70's/80's. Yet, the "product" or "offer" can at best be described as turgid, and if Villa have a real good year they might get a good run in the Carling Cup.

The four of us are going to watch Harry Potter tomorrow. I am sure we will all be entertained, and have a good time. And I am sure I will get change from £30.

[dave.woodhall]

Those delusional idiots on villatalk think mcleish has nothing to do with it.

With a board name like that you have the temerity to call yourself a Villa Fan?
No matter who the manager is we support him and the team.
You should be ashamed of yourself.

I am standing up for what I believe in and what is best for Villa, as with the other 10k who now stay away. If you want to be disrespected and fleeced by some rich men in suits that's up to you. But that makes you the fool, not me.

I might take you a bit more seriously if you could spell McLeish.

[taylorsworkrate]

Those delusional idiots on villatalk think mcleish has nothing to do with it.

With a board name like that you have the temerity to call yourself a Villa Fan?
No matter who the manager is we support him and the team.
You should be ashamed of yourself.

I am standing up for what I believe in and what is best for Villa, as with the other 10k who now stay away. If you want to be disrespected and fleeced by some rich men in suits that's up to you. But that makes you the fool, not me.

I might take you a bit more seriously if you could spell McLeish.

i just assumed he wasn't a fan of McLeish or relish.

[Simba]

The fact is that the attendance wasn't even anywhere near that announced. Because, as posted, season tickets are included whether they attend or not.

The reasons for a poor turnout today for a local Derby are many and possibly due to unique circumstances such as the holiday and the kick off time but....

We appear to lack ambition.
After watching Spuds lately and especially the dippers today I can see we are slow and predictable in comparison with our competitors and why shout and sing for mid table. Again. In the third division we were there because there was a "cause". It was fun.
The stewards are ruining the fun factor.

However, above that the truth is that because we pay so much to these young men who do what they love for a weekly salary above most peoples yearly wage fans are becoming pissed off. And disaffected. It is simply becoming too expensive to go when we are not chasing something important and fans do not feel part of the experience. I mean you can understand a Father with a fixed budget asking: what is the point?

Give us a chance at a pot or two rather than another meaningless season and the fans would still enjoy and pay up, to a point ( see Liverpool). Ultimately, however imho, players must be paid less and tickets be cheaper or  mid table footy will simply die. It is eating itself and forgetting who pays those salaries and yet has to compete.

Mid table, 'nearly men' Villa are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard, plastic, empty place.

[The Laughing Policeman]

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression in my previous post . I wasn't trying to come across as a "better fan than you".
I fully understand that people have other priorities above The Villa, family should always come first.
What i was trying to get at are the people who I know that for instance were quite happy to sit in the pub and watch todays game on TV. And when I turned up after the game they were quite happy to tell me what was wrong. Not just with todays game but  with AVFC in general. Now if they can afford to sit in a pub and criticize The Villa why can't they be arsed to travel 5 miles and give the club their money?
Three of them come on here, they're the ones I'm calling fickle.

Not really, coz sitting in a pub you can walk to and buying say 3 pints at the cost of £10 is still £20 less, less cost of petrol/travel to watch a load of shite in person, especially considering all those you are paying to watch only appear to give a shit how big their 'cans' are.

If you think what is being served up at The Villa nowadays is a load of shite, can I recommend that you look back at our not too distant past?
1969-70. P 42 W8 D13 L21 F 36 A 62 . And we all know what happened next.
If we have a season comparable to that, then I'll concede that we are shite.

[kippaxvilla2]

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression in my previous post . I wasn't trying to come across as a "better fan than you".
I fully understand that people have other priorities above The Villa, family should always come first.
What i was trying to get at are the people who I know that for instance were quite happy to sit in the pub and watch todays game on TV. And when I turned up after the game they were quite happy to tell me what was wrong. Not just with todays game but  with AVFC in general. Now if they can afford to sit in a pub and criticize The Villa why can't they be arsed to travel 5 miles and give the club their money?
Three of them come on here, they're the ones I'm calling fickle.

Not really, coz sitting in a pub you can walk to and buying say 3 pints at the cost of £10 is still £20 less, less cost of petrol/travel to watch a load of shite in person, especially considering all those you are paying to watch only appear to give a shit how big their 'cans' are.

If you think what is being served up at The Villa nowadays is a load of shite, can I recommend that you look back at our not too distant past?
1969-70. P 42 W8 D13 L21 F 36 A 62 . And we all know what happened next.
If we have a season comparable to that, then I'll concede that we are shite.

I dont wish to be disrespectful I really dont.  But the comparisons are from very different eras and therefore are apples and pears arguments.  Its a bit like me telling my 9 year old I would have had a clip round the ear, it doesnt wash.

The dross we are being fed is relative.  Eg relative to todays football standards.  We have a billionaire owner who is no longer prepared to invest.  In 1969 Pat Matthews had only just invested his £30k or whatever it was.  The club then went forward.  But at that time the club was well and truly bankrupt as I understand it.

The fact is these days players are being paid up to £330k per week and still they refuse/cant perform on the pitch for 90 mins each week.  It really isnt any wonder that the average working mans fan has frankly had enough.

Its coming not only to us but quite a few clubs in my view.

[WeDontWantMcelish]

Not willing to invest he spent 30 million in January 10 mill on Zog this summer that's 40 million plus all the money he gave MON. His sole mistake was the managerial appointment.

[kippaxvilla2]

Not willing to invest he spent 30 million in January 10 mill on Zog this summer that's 40 million plus all the money he gave MON. His sole mistake was the managerial appointment.

Stop being silly.  Collectively he has received £55m from the sales of Ashley Young, Stewart Downing and James Milner and reinvested £18m (rising on England appearances) on Darren Bent, £6m on Makoun, £9.5m on Nzogbia and £3.5m on Given.  Whilst relieving himself of around £10m per annum in wages from the players released.  Whilst I do agree about MON squandering money on average players, those three just mentioned turned out to be very shrewd investments indeed.

[WeDontWantMcelish]

He's ran the club at a loss from his own pocket and supported us well financially. He's still running the club on a loss at his expense. My problem with him and other members of the board is that they don't seem to understand football on the pitch.

People calling for Randy to spend..do you really want him to splash more money on players just to play a negative 8-1-1 formation  which won't get us anywhere. It doesn't matter how much money you throw at Mcleish it'll still be the same old stuff.

I'd rather he save the money and get a decent manager in with a vision (like Houllier). We might get some fans back then.

[kippaxvilla2]

The fact is that the attendance wasn't even anywhere near that announced. Because, as posted, season tickets are included whether they attend or not.

The reasons for a poor turnout today for a local Derby are many and possibly due to unique circumstances such as the holiday and the kick off time but....

We appear to lack ambition.
After watching Spuds lately and especially the dippers today I can see we are slow and predictable in comparison with our competitors and why shout and sing for mid table. Again. In the third division we were there because there was a "cause". It was fun.
The stewards are ruining the fun factor.

However, above that the truth is that because we pay so much to these young men who do what they love for a weekly salary above most peoples yearly wage fans are becoming pissed off. And disaffected. It is simply becoming too expensive to go when we are not chasing something important and fans do not feel part of the experience. I mean you can understand a Father with a fixed budget asking: what is the point?

Give us a chance at a pot or two rather than another meaningless season and the fans would still enjoy and pay up, to a point ( see Liverpool). Ultimately, however imho, players must be paid less and tickets be cheaper or  mid table footy will simply die. It is eating itself and forgetting who pays those salaries and yet has to compete.

Mid table, 'nearly men' Villa are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard, plastic, empty place.

I think this is a very good post.

[kippaxvilla2]

He's ran the club at a loss from his own pocket and supported us well financially. He's still running the club on a loss at his expense. My problem with him and other members of the board is that they don't seem to understand football on the pitch.

People calling for Randy to spend..do you really want him to splash more money on players just to play a negative 8-1-1 formation  which won't get us anywhere. It doesn't matter how much money you throw at Mcleish it'll still be the same old stuff.

I'd rather he save the money and get a decent manager in with a vision (like Houllier). We might get some fans back then.

If I didnt think you were a troll I might engage more with you.  But for now, I will just correct you.  All the so called money he has invested out of his own pocket is loaned to the football club so Randy isnt quite the philanthropist you have him down for.

[WeDontWantMcelish]

I'm well aware of that but that's normal he has still invested a lost worse owners out there in that respect. Chicken owners at Blackburn, owners at Birmingham City?

THE MANAGER IS THE PROBLEM

I'm not familiar with what a troll means sound like a word a public schoolboy would use talking to his parents about the boy at school picking on him.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Those delusional idiots on villatalk think mcleish has nothing to do with it.

With a board name like that you have the temerity to call yourself a Villa Fan?
No matter who the manager is we support him and the team.
You should be ashamed of yourself.

I am standing up for what I believe in and what is best for Villa, as with the other 10k who now stay away. If you want to be disrespected and fleeced by some rich men in suits that's up to you. But that makes you the fool, not me.

I might take you a bit more seriously if you could spell McLeish.

i just assumed he wasn't a fan of McLeish or relish.

Mcelish ? I know, your pretending to be a drunk who doesnt know what decade it is and your slurring your words. You start off on a rant intending to say ...I dont want Mcleish ! But after 25 years of complaining about Doug you accidentally start reverting to your old mantra of....I dont want Ellis ! Or rather, because not winning the European Cup/Champions League as expected at least every 3rd year since our 1982 success the Villas massive failures made you turn to drink...so it comes out as elish !
Aghhhh 29 years of complete and utter failure...I dont want Mcelish !

Very good, I worked out your marvellously clever and subtle use of words to formulate your nickname. Or am I reading to much into it and actually your just a silly extremist who needs to learn how to spell ?

[Phil from the upper holte]

The West Midlands has been incredibly badly hit by the economic downturn.  When ticket prices have gone up, and investment in the team has gone down, together with the appointment of a manager with two Premier League relegations under his belt, and who has a reputation for playing dull football, simply writing off a poor attendance as being evidence of "glory hunters" is incredibly immature and shows a distinct lack of intelligence.

Spot on

[lordmcgrath5]

I'm 38 years of age, I've travelled all over England and Europe watching Villa and had a season ticket since I was 15.  I chose not to renew this season and I don't intend to go even on a match by match basis.

I feel so sorry for Randy, he is an amazing owner who has done so much for the club - the problem is he isn't wealthy enough and he's feeling the financial cost of giving O'Neill a free reign to do as he liked giving salaries of the likes of Beye, Harewood, Heskey etc.

I chose not to renew after the Collins/Dunne shenanigans last season, this on top of the stories of Warnock's alleged misbehaviour and the comments made by Stephen Ireland I decided enough was enough. I work my arse off and do over 50 hours per week to provide for my family. As times are getting harder I decided I wasn't prepared to give these millionaires any more of my money.

When we were going through that really shitty time last season and we were looking at relegation it made me think 'would it change my mind if we did get relegated?' - I think had we have been relegated I probably would have renewed, the arseholes would have wanted to stay in the Premier League and I would be watching likes of Barry Bannan, Chris Herd, Ciaran Clark and Nathan Baker slug their guts out for the club instead of the above mentioned arseholes.

I received a letter from Paul Faulkner in the week as i'm one of the 'chose not to renew' people his letter was completely uninspiring, and merely just a begging letter to attend the games when I could.

People are voting with their feet, it isn't so much a Villa problem, but a football problem. We aren't going to win anything, we'll finish somewhere between 8th-15th, we'll struggle to break teams down at Villa Park who play 5 across the middle, it's boring, it's dull, it's predictable. I certainly don't intend to fork out for a match ticket either when I can watch it on an internet stream for nothing or down the pub and have 3 or 4 beers.

My reason is nothing to do with McLeish, I don't like him particularly but I support (or did) Aston Villa - not a person.

Very interesting post. Sums up how a lot of people feel, I think. I'd just add that although Villa's prices aren't bad in the overall Premier League context, they're still ludicrously high compared with other forms of entertainment. And, yes, it does hurt to be shelling out for millionaires' vulgar lifestyles.