woeful attendance

[hawkeye]

I think you have a good point, when they turned supporting a Team into a product (and our club went along with this), then they exposed themselves to the Product Life Cycle. (Its a Bell Curve) At the top of the curve you have saturation followed by decline.

[Pat McMahon]

This whole debate is worthy of some professional market research by the club. When MON and Randy arrived I think there was a belief that we were going places and that we would see some great players and football down at Villa Park. This would lead to success – probably defined as pushing on the doors of the top 4, European football in some guise, and frequent full houses.

We came pretty close to this in 2007-9, when from memory we had our highest average attendances in over 40 years and finished 6th in consecutive seasons. We thought that this was a springboard and not a glass ceiling. This proved that when there is decent football (and there was some decent football) coupled with a belief in the club, fans will make tracks to Villa Park. Call it hope if you will, an important ingredient for any fan.

We ran out of steam in 2008 and 2009, the Man City millions kicked in and Gareth Barry left in the summer of 2009. We were still competitive but had been usurped by Man City and Spurs. A key moment for me was driving home after the Liverpool last minute defeat at VP in December 2009. This was a couple of days after a 3-0 drubbing at Arsenal, giving us a gloomy festive season and time to reflect on being undone by Fabregas and Torres. Graham Taylor was on 5 Live and said that Villa had made enormous progress, were well established at the top end of the table, but did not have the players with a spark of true class to overcome the big 4 or beat teams who simply came to defend. Villa would need that touch of genius to move to the next level and truly compete for the Champions League, was his summary. He also said we would have difficulty attracting that type of player. In that instant I felt that I was acknowledging that we would not get beyond 6th place.

In the last 2 years we have sold our best and most consistently influential players, who are now aiming to fulfil the ambitions that we held for the Villa at other clubs. It is normal that fans now wonder what the club is aiming for. High prices, a bank holiday weekend, stupid kick off times (have we ever had any serious trouble between Villa and Wolves, for God’s sake) and some erosion of hope probably all account for Saturday’s low attendance.

I think the club needs to act quickly and do everything possible to bring fans back. Other than winning and attractive football there are no easy answers. However, I have always believed that Midlands fans are very price sensitive – get the prices right and fans will come. For example, we tend to have lower crowds for televised games – we can watch in the pub for the price of a pint. This trend is not necessarily the same across the country. Cheap tickets make a difference to us - 21K for Hereford was a good crowd in the context of other attendances that night. Pre-season games in recent years and Intertoto games v Basel and co show that when we offer cheap deals we will fill Villa Park (or maybe these crowds are simply the result of being starved of a Villa fix for the summer months and keeping the kids occupied cheaply). I know this would result in lower matchday revenue but I hope it would be partly offset by higher off-pitch sales, hooking kids and adults into the club, and even generate more positivity in the ground: I know I prefer sitting in a full section as opposed to lounging across three seats. As a worst case scenario, just install more claret seats – I hate to see those swathes of empty sky blue around Villa Park.

A couple of signings before tomorrow night could completely change everything of course…..

[john e]

I disagree with the posters who think all fans are the same no matter how often they go to games, that there are no 'better than others' fans, it's a load of bullshit, of coarse there is

If you go to all/most games you are a better more committed fan than someone who never goes but maybe posts on a Internet site, it's pretty obvious, there maybe a few who would go regulary but can't afford it, they have a justified excuse, bit mainly it's people who for whatever reason don't live near the ground or have other things to do, just accept you not as good a fan as someone who moves heaven and earth to attend, it's pretty bloody obvious.

I'm not a regular attendee anymore, I used to be a lot 'better supporter' than I am now, I fully admit it, there's loads of better supporters than me on here, and a dare say a few worse.

To just say we are all the same on are love and commitment to the Villa coarse is just a load of bollocks, they are a few great Villa supporters on here I've met one or two of them, I they are a lot better supporter than me and certainly those who post there strong views but never go

[Simon Ward]

Pat makes perfect sense with his post! (See what I've done there?).

To summarise Villa need to put on a good show on the pitch forget who the manager is at the moment, put some deals together for match day tickets especially for families and advertise these in an appropriate way. It won't necessarily work every time but at the Blackburn match which I thoroughly enjoyed there were a lot of families in section Q but they won't be able to afford to go every week because money is tight at the moment. As I have to factor in travel costs when I attend the matches I am always on the look out fort any cheap tickets!

[adrenachrome]

I disagree with the posters who think all fans are the same no matter how often they go to games, that there are no 'better than others' fans, it's a load of bullshit, of coarse there is

If you go to all/most games you are a better more committed fan than someone who never goes but maybe posts on a Internet site, it's pretty obvious, there maybe a few who would go regulary but can't afford it, they have a justified excuse, bit mainly it's people who for whatever reason don't live near the ground or have other things to do, just accept you not as good a fan as someone who moves heaven and earth to attend, it's pretty bloody obvious.

I'm not a regular attendee anymore, I used to be a lot 'better supporter' than I am now, I fully admit it, there's loads of better supporters than me on here, and a dare say a few worse.

To just say we are all the same on are love and commitment to the Villa coarse is just a load of bollocks, they are a few great Villa supporters on here I've met one or two of them, I they are a lot better supporter than me and certainly those who post there strong views but never go

Bit of a mare with the word "coarse" there, John.

Of course, one speaks coarsely of fickle fans and glory hunters who won't stay the course then get on their high horse. Horses for courses, innit.

I agree with the thrust of your argument, though.

[Lucky Eddie]

Disillusioned in our case.  It's been a while since anyone could accuse a Villa fan of being a glory hunter.

Just over twelve months since fifty odd thousand were scrambling round for our Wembley tickets you mean!

[john e]

I disagree with the posters who think all fans are the same no matter how often they go to games, that there are no 'better than others' fans, it's a load of bullshit, of coarse there is

If you go to all/most games you are a better more committed fan than someone who never goes but maybe posts on a Internet site, it's pretty obvious, there maybe a few who would go regulary but can't afford it, they have a justified excuse, bit mainly it's people who for whatever reason don't live near the ground or have other things to do, just accept you not as good a fan as someone who moves heaven and earth to attend, it's pretty bloody obvious.

I'm not a regular attendee anymore, I used to be a lot 'better supporter' than I am now, I fully admit it, there's loads of better supporters than me on here, and a dare say a few worse.

To just say we are all the same on are love and commitment to the Villa coarse is just a load of bollocks, they are a few great Villa supporters on here I've met one or two of them, I they are a lot better supporter than me and certainly those who post there strong views but never go

Bit of a mare with the word "coarse" there, John.

Of course, one speaks coarsely of fickle fans and glory hunters who won't stay the course then get on their high horse. Horses for courses, innit.

I agree with the thrust of your argument, though.

i'd say its a bit embarresssing but i cant even spell that

[Phil from the upper holte]

Bump

I had another txt from the Villa today about cheap tickets for Newcastle and my mate had a call offering two adults for £40! he hasn't had a season ticket for 4 years, has anyone else had this? Are we getting desperate?

[Vanilla]

The main concern is if the ones that go, don't come back at all. And then the club loses out on them bringing their kids, and so on.

Hopefully, if things pick up, fans will start coming back, but that's a big if.

[richardhubbard]

I just rang villla and been told that I need to pay 18 quid for a 10 year old to come to wigan game , fuck that

I had season tickets for 4 years but got pissed off last season, I am thinking about bringing me and 3 kids to game at cost of 59 quid which i was  thinking of doing

But some muppet asked if I lived in B6 or B20 as if I did as a local resident as a gesture of goodwill could come to the game for 5 pounds as they have put with that noice and litter

Villa been in B6 since 1890 something

No residents been there that long

So as I live outside B6 we pay more! sounds like shit marketing to me

I get home my kids come home with 3 free tickets to man city first champion league game and 2 adults as part of manchester community programme
they may become man city fans now
villa your marketing bollocks

[dave.woodhall]

Can you please not post exactly the same thing in two threads.

[Si]

This better fan than you is so pathetic and childish, it's what you'd expect from pupils in a junior school. I was a ticket holder for ten years in the 90's, then chose to settle down have kids and a mortgage my priorities changed and personally what spare money I have I'd rather spend on my two daughters. This obviously makes me a lesser fan. Personally the club and many people here believe if you're not a brummie you're not welcome here, a ticket holder mate of mine has been abused in the Holte because he didn't have a brummie accent. I've been told to pop up in my lunch break to pick up tickets by Villa ticket office staff....I live at least an hours drive away. Is this not the problem, when I grew up in Evesham the P.E teacher was always offering free tickets to Wolves and Albion handed out by the Clubs. I even went on a School coach trip to watch Man City. Why does this Club continue to ignore Worcestershire, Gloucestershire. there is a large fanbase down here waiting to be exploited. There again if we turned up would we be welcome with our farmers accent.....by alot of you so called better fans, probably not.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Why does this Club continue to ignore Worcestershire, Gloucestershire. there is a large fanbase down here waiting to be exploited. There again if we turned up would we be welcome with our farmers accent.....by alot of you so called better fans, probably not.

Maybe they feel they would be better served trying to draw support from the city itself?

Over 1 million people and much closer to the ground, so more likely to come to the game?

[dave.woodhall]

I must be living in a parallel universe or something, but the only time I ever read the phrase "better fan than you" is when people complain that others are using it. Similarly, I have never, ever seen anyone on here say that non-Brummie Villa supporters aren't welcome and furthermore, in all my years of supporting the Villa as a non-Brummie, I haven't been told I'm not welcome either.

[Percy McCarthy]

Why does this Club continue to ignore Worcestershire, Gloucestershire. there is a large fanbase down here waiting to be exploited. There again if we turned up would we be welcome with our farmers accent.....by alot of you so called better fans, probably not.

Maybe they feel they would be better served trying to draw support from the city itself?

Over 1 million people and much closer to the ground, so more likely to come to the game?

Both, in an ideal world.