woeful attendance

[MarkM]

To help support for Wigan game season ticket holders can take 4 friends for £5 each . I have critised the club on pricing but think this may help the gate so well done Nicky Keys who told me she does read this site!

But personally I suggest drop prices across the board say 15% including season tickets and attendance may rise to compensate.

The match day revenue that way stays flat, but atmosphere improves and add on sales of shirts, beer etc increases and leads to higher footfall.

But it aint going to happen is it!

I think the club have to be careful with all this reduced priced tickets.

Quite a few people have said to me that there was no point in buying a season ticket because it would have been cheaper to just take advantage of the reduced priced offers.

I'm all for trying to get more bums on seats but simply reducing the price wont fill the stadium [22,000 last night!]

What these reductions may achieve is a reduced number of season ticket holders next season who think sod it why bother, I can pick and choose and get a better deal by not having one [and getting tickets is not a problem at VP]

Villa need to look at the loyal paying fan base and dont ignore them, or they may find them not so loyal next season

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Maybe we should try this...Women and children first

[kippaxvilla2]

30k again today was it - what is today's excuse - everyone down at the beach for one last time this 'summer'.  This is a serious situation for the owners I would suggest.  I think there was a deal for season ticket holders as well today wasn't there?

[olaftab]

Despite the very heavy promotion up to 4 tickets at £5 each we just managed 30k. I agree this is serious as I am sure we have budgetted at about 35k. So if these gates persist for the rest of the season we will face having to cut cost and very little transfer in action during closed season.

[Hoppo]

Hi not fishing for grief just information. I was there. Why were you not at the game today?

[gervilla]

I wasn't because I live in a different country and can only afford 1 trip over a season. That was for the Newcastle game. Only 50 weeks to go for my next game.

[Rigadon]

I went but it's one of about 5 or 6 games I'll be able to get to.  It'd be ace to go more often but not everybody can (work / money / kids / etc).  The lower attendances are down to a bitch of a recession and, in my opinion at least, that fans are waking up to the closed shop that is the champions league.

[Stu]

Hi not fishing for grief just information. I was there. Why were you not at the game today?

I was at work. I work every Saturday. I booked the 19th of November off to go to the Spurs game down at WHL but Sky changed the fucking K/O time to the following Monday evening. I won't get another chance to go to a match until after Christmas now

[Chipsticks]

I would go every week if I could, but I'm only 16 and my dad can barely cough up the dough to go anymore due to the recession etc.

I'm going to the West Brom game with some mates, and I've been to the Blackburn home game and Walsall away pre-season, but my main problem is that I work most weekends, so I find myself working to buy tickets to games I can't go to due to work.

[Ad@m]

You think 30k's bad?

Don't we play QPR at home on a weeknight in the winter?  If we haven't gone sub-30k by then, that'll certainly do it.

The hard core will go whatever but the only reason we've been getting gates closer to 40k over the past few years has been the occasional fans coming along.  They're there because they want to be entertained and find it exciting.  There's very little about the place to get those sort of people excited at the moment.

Add that to the current pricing structure of the Premier League as a whole, the lack of competitiveness over who will/could win the league and it's not exactly one for the neutral.

It's happened in other sports - F1 nearly died on its arse when Schumacher was dominating.  Prices were spiralling and everyone knew who would win the title before the first race began.  The organisers of F1 had to make some drastic changes to bring the fans back and the way football's currently going the Premier League will find themselves in a very similar situation at some point.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Seen my mate today he told me my other mate hasn't renewed this year first time in 30 years..I was shocked.

He's had his hours extended at work he wasn't sure at one point but he said mcleish being appointed made up his mind

[Irish villain]

I wasn't because I live in a different country and can only afford 1 trip over a season. That was for the Newcastle game. Only 50 weeks to go for my next game.

Pretty much this.

[KevinGage]

The economic situation, the lack of competitiveness in the league and the usual things are factors, for sure.

Primarily, I'd still say it's the McLeish factor, more than anything else though.
Which is an odd thing to say about a manager who currently has us in 6th place.

I think he's a good bloke too, a straight shooter.  Not a blagger or a bullshitter. Was very impressed with our play in the second half v QPR and for large chunks of the game today.  Was also impressed with what he said after both matches.

But

The vast majority of supporters did not want him, there is no escaping that. Whether it was the B-lose connection, his recent record vis a vis relegations or the reputation for dour football (probably a mix of all three).

What we are seeing now is fans voting with their feet.

You don't listen to us?  OK - we won't go.

I agree that it would be weak management to pander to the fans on every little thing- and in picking the best candidate, you'd rarely get a consensus of opinion from the support base anyroad.  Ancelotti apart (and that never really had legs, lets be honest) the polls here during the summer illustrated that point.

But what united most was McLeish was the one candidate they definitely didn't want.

The club didn't listen  - this is the consequence.

[villaparkb6]

The economic situation, the lack of competitiveness in the league and the usual things are factors, for sure.

Primarily, I'd still say it's the McLeish factor, more than anything else though.
Which is an odd thing to say about a manager who currently has us in 6th place.

I think he's a good bloke too, a straight shooter.  Not a blagger or a bullshitter. Was very impressed with our play in the second half v QPR and for large chunks of the game today.  Was also impressed with what he said after both matches.

But

The vast majority of supporters did not want him, there is no escaping that. Whether it was the B-lose connection, his recent record vis a vis relegations or the reputation for dour football (probably a mix of all three).

What we are seeing now is fans voting with their feet.

You don't listen to us?  OK - we won't go.

I agree that it would be weak management to pander to the fans on every little thing- and in picking the best candidate, you'd rarely get a consensus of opinion from the support base anyroad.  Ancelotti apart (and that never really had legs, lets be honest) the polls here during the summer illustrated that point.

But what united most was McLeish was the one candidate they definitely didn't want.

The club didn't listen  - this is the consequence.

people on here can keep taking the moral high ground and say it shouldn't be about who or where McLeish is or from but open your eyes this is the reason in my opinion why a large proportion of last seasons support are voting with their feet, the simple fact is the the mail poll revealed 97% of villa fans who voted didnt want McLeish so its a bit much to expect all  of those against him to pay to watch his brand of football when Lerner basically pissed all over their bonfire. you can keep surmising  all the reasons in the world why the support has dropped but Lerner has pissed a large amount off with this appointment, the thing is they just dont come on this forum to tell you lot.

[kippaxvilla2]

I watched the highlights against Wigan and was actually surprised at how attacking we were to be honest.  If we the fans had not demanded better I feel sure he would have persisted with defensive, negative shite.  He might get away with it at clubs that have no ambition other than survival or Rangers, but not here.