woeful attendance

[philsheard]

born in Glasgow, supported Rangers, played for Aberdeen, managed Hibs, Rangers, Scotland and them lot for 3 seasons...hardly small heath born and bred is he!

give the guy a chance. we've all go to go through somewhere to get where we really want to be....

[ktvillan]

What a load of bollocks. There could be many reasons why people stay away but I would hope most right minded individuals have not stopped going to the match because McLeish used to manage that lot.

Absolutely right. The reasons for the falling attendances are complex. It has nothing to do with the bloody manager and especially who he managed before.

Can't agree Neil, I'm sure there are many and complex reasons for the declining attendances but to say it's nothing to do with apppointing AM is wide of the mark.  It's not the only factor, but it's pissed a lot of people off for one reason or another.  That includes me but I'm the camp that is willing to give the bloke a chance and hope to be pleasantly surprised.  I can't say I have been so far but it's early days.

[Merv]

My first thought when we appointed him was "Crikey, try selling season tickets on the back of AM as manager, selling players and no money to spend", and what has happened thus far is hardly the biggest of surprises.

No, it's not. I don't think you can blame AM directly for that low attendance, it's more than there has been a succession of events and decisions made in the last 12 months that has perhaps led to a bit of apathy. We're hardly steaming into the season, pushing to break top six, which was always the nailed-on aim at minimum for the past few seasons. Now the signals that we're putting out suggest that middle of the table would suit us fine, and so it's not a surprise that there's perhaps a bit of disenchantment around.
Some decent results and performances could change things quickly. Though I do feel that lower attendances had maybe not been considered by the board when they implemented their newish strategy. Bound to be affected, I'd have thought.

[willywombat]

"What a crock of shit" I wonder if this fan goes to many games???

Armchair I wonder?

Season ticket every season between 1972 - 1998. Distance makes midweek games difficult these days

[Chris Smith]

Most people do disagree with my opinions as a life long villa fan. I just dont see how fellow villa fans can accept him maybe I have more of a hatred towards the scum down the road than most Villa fans do.
At the end of the day I have put my money where my mouth is and renewed again as I always do surely this entitles me to an opinion? I certainly wont be upset when he leaves which he will do.

Did you hate us signing Peter Withe as well?

[QBVILLA]

Most people do disagree with my opinions as a life long villa fan. I just dont see how fellow villa fans can accept him maybe I have more of a hatred towards the scum down the road than most Villa fans do.
At the end of the day I have put my money where my mouth is and renewed again as I always do surely this entitles me to an opinion? I certainly wont be upset when he leaves which he will do.

Did you hate us signing Peter Withe as well?

OOooh, that's the ace played

[pauliewalnuts]

i think the main non-economic reason is that we've seen ambition melt away.

Over the summer we were told we would not be spending, we sold two of our best players, we appointed a man absolutely nobody wanted as our manager (and regardless of how willing you are to give him a chance, and I am in that bunch, the fact is, it was met with disbelief when he got the job), and generally sent out a series of indications we weren't going to try to compete any more.

There's no point whatsoever in crucifying AM, and I am going to give him a chance, but I find it hard to believe that anyone can look at the general apathy around the club and not think that the managerial appointment is part of that.

The vast, vast majority of us couldnt give a flying fuck if he managed Blues, but it looks to me like pointing at the few people who do and banging on about them is a convenient distraction from the general disillusionment which you'lll find around far more of our more sensible fans, and which should be of much more concern to the club.

And there clearly is a problem - look at the attendances and look at the desperate measures the club are taking to try to bolster ticket sales. They spent the summer putting together a series of events which they'd have been hard pushed to better if they'd deliberately set out to alienate and disenchant the support, and now they're in a position where they're throwing out all these ticket deals in a desperate attempt to dig themselves out of the shit.

I honestly can't believe anyone didn't see that coming.

[Merv]

Agree with that, chimes with my post a bit above.

We're doing okay so far, probably almost exactly as I expected. We're looking nice and solid, we're looking hard to beat (as we are, in fact, unbeatable), but we've played teams that you probably wouldn't expect to hurt us too much. Three draws from four league games, against pretty average opponents. It's steady.

Trouble is, steady doesn't exactly ignite excitement. We've set our stall out to be middle of the road, I'm afraid, and people can always live without middle of the road.

[cheltenhamlion]

That's a different argument Paulie. A whole raft of things have left the rank and file feeling apathy. Dazzy is only disenchanted because we have appointed a former Blues manager.

And, Dazzle, its twice in four seasons. The first he joined half way through and they went down. The second they came up at the first attempt, the third they finished ninth and the last one they went down and won a cup.

Not great but not atrocious.

[Chris Smith]

I can understand some if the arguments but I think this has the potential to be a really interesting season. I came to terms with it being subject to certain limitations but that gives us the opportunity to have a good look at some of the youngsters and see if and how they develop.

I agree that's not the sort of thing likely to bring in the floating fan but it shows that there are other things to appreciate.

[pauliewalnuts]

That's a different argument Paulie. A whole raft of things have left the rank and file feeling apathy. Dazzy is only disenchanted because we have appointed a former Blues manager.

And, Dazzle, its twice in four seasons. The first he joined half way through and they went down. The second they came up at the first attempt, the third they finished ninth and the last one they went down and won a cup.

Not great but not atrocious.

Yeah, that's the point, Chelts, focusing on the I 'ATE IM, HE MANAGED THEM brigade detracts from the fact that the managerial appointment is one of a raft of kicks in the bollocks last summer.

_{incidentally, he joined then in November, not halfway through}

[cheltenhamlion]

Close enough.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that everything in the garden is smelling of roses.

From the time MON started carping at the supporters, right through to the end of the transfer window just gone, we have been going backwards with one fuck up following another with all the certainty that night follows day.

I have defended the board in the past and much less inclined to do so now. An awful of the flack they are copping they have brought on themselves, no question about it.

Its the whole argument about him managing them that gets on my tits.

I have met and had a beer with senior people at the Villa and, whilst their heart is in the right place, they are wet behind the ears and lack an understanding of the game from what I have heard.

We need good news and fast. Let's hope its a season of cost cutting and taking atock then we go again next summer because we aren't going to attract the missing thousands back unless we are perceived as a team on the up.

[Vanilla]

Close enough.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that everything in the garden is smelling of roses.

From the time MON started carping at the supporters, right through to the end of the transfer window just gone, we have been going backwards with one fuck up following another with all the certainty that night follows day.

I have defended the board in the past and much less inclined to do so now. An awful of the flack they are copping they have brought on themselves, no question about it.

Its the whole argument about him managing them that gets on my tits.

I have met and had a beer with senior people at the Villa and, whilst their heart is in the right place, they are wet behind the ears and lack an understanding of the game from what I have heard.

We need good news and fast. Let's hope its a season of cost cutting and taking atock then we go again next summer because we aren't going to attract the missing thousands back unless we are perceived as a team on the up.

There are a few acid tests for this season.

We are in a brief honeymoon period at the moment, having a fairly decent start against teams how are expected to finish around us or in the bottom half. So the first acid test is how fans react to the manager when we play the more renowned teams at Villa Park. We usually get the fair weathers turning up, and they may be more inclined to deride him if we get tonked.

All in all your last sentence sums it up. It's all about potential, we may not be great now, but we could be going places. And here another acid test is if we are able to keep Bent with us into next season. If that happens, the only place will be going at best is sideways.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

What a load of bollocks. There could be many reasons why people stay away but I would hope most right minded individuals have not stopped going to the match because McLeish used to manage that lot.

Absolutely right. The reasons for the falling attendances are complex. It has nothing to do with the bloody manager and especially who he managed before.

Only 30,000 against Wolves and you thing it has nothing to do with McLeish...

[Chris Smith]

Do you think it was down to McLeish that there were a couple of thousand empty seats in the Wolves end?

If, for example, we's appointed Martinez instead do you think the crowd would have been significantly higher?