How do we change the 'cultural' make up of football crowds?

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

It is nothing to do with the colour or background of people.

Wrong.

accusing racial minorities of being glory hunters.

It's actually true though.

We need to try and address this issue rather than try and avoid it.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Is 'coconut' racist now?

Not sure if it's racist.

Can you be racist to your own race?

It's definitely an insult though.

It means the same as 'oreo' and 'bounty'

[Ger Regan]

It is nothing to do with the colour or background of people.

Wrong.

You are talking complete and utter bollocks, but carry on. What studies have you to prove this?

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

It is nothing to do with the colour or background of people.

Wrong.

You are talking complete and utter bollocks, but carry on. What studies have you to prove this?

Birmingham.

[Shoody]

Last season I got into the NFL. I have always wanted to move to New York and it's still something I plan on doing somtime in the near future. So when I started getting into this new sport and I wanted a team to follow I had a choice. New York Jets and New York Giants. Last season the Jets were doing well and I followed them through the play offs and became a supporter. I have a big admiration for the Jets and follow them almost as much as I do Villa now.

This season, we had a poor season, it all fell apart and our offence was awful. The Giants on the other hand had a fantastic season and won the superbowl. Had I not got into the NFL for another 12 months I would probably be a Giants fan and not a Jets fan. Im not a glory hunter and Im an avid Jets fan, it would be quite easy for me to buy an Eli Manning jersey, forget about the last 12 months and have good party.

My point is, if you want to attract a new legion of supporters to your club you have to be giving them a reason to do so. Supporters who come in from other countries have not grown up with local-club rivalries or a father/grandad who supported a certain team.

They want to get invested in a large part of our culture (football), they have a choice as to which team they support. Thats probably something a lot of us didnt have, whether it was family history, where your first game as a child was or what teams shirt was the first one that was bought for you. Foreign supporters dont have that (usually). People move to the country, everybody around them, newspapers, news channels is all talking about football so they decide to follow a team...

It's the club's (and current supporters) job to make sure we are giving them a reason to choose us. It isn't glory hunting, its the fact they have a choice.

Ask yourself if you hadnt grown up Villa, or grown up with football at all, would you choose to be a Villa fan right now?

Its nothing to do with racial backgrounds imo, we have a predominantly white fanbase, yes, but we havent given people newer to the country or the area a reason to support Villa. When we do, they will come and we will have a fanastic multi-ethnic fanbase.

Being one of the top clubs for racist arrests, along with poor football, a hostile fanbase at home games and no real success for 15 years isnt going to help our cause though.

[Ger Regan]

Birmingham.

You've spoken to the majority of asians living in Birmingham, have you? And what proportion of plastics are there among the asian community compared to the non-asian communities? Also, where does football rank in terms of favourite sports?

EDIT: Never mind, I can't be arsed debating stuff with you if I'm honest.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

They want to get invested in a large part of our culture, they have a choice, it's the club's (and current supporters) job to make sure we are giving them a reason to choose us. It isn't glory hunting, its the fact they have a choice.

They had a choice and they chose to support a top club.

That is glory hunting.

You say you want to move to New York and so you have chosen to support a New York NFL team.

That is not glory hunting since you are effectively supporting a local team.

You chose the Jets because they were better but I would class that as minor gloryhunting.

It would be like someone from West Bromwich supporting Villa.

It's gloryhunting on a local scale which is much more acceptable.

Gloryhunting on a national scale is unacceptable.

[Ger Regan]

So are you saying it's unacceptable for anyone to support the Villa if they're not from Birmingham / West Midlands?

[Concrete John]

Good friend of mine grew on the Wirral as a Villa fan as we were the best team at the time.  So is he a glory hunter or a dedicated fan for sticking with us for 30 years of non-glory?

[Chico Hamilton III]

If we're talking about supporting our local team, Handsworth Wood is closer to The Hawthorns than it is to Villa Park.

And it's miles away from St Andrews

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Is 'coconut' racist now?

Not sure if it's racist.

Can you be racist to your own race?

It's definitely an insult though.

It means the same as 'oreo' and 'bounty'

So now our 'Pin the Tail on the Biscuit' is no good. We might as well shut our village fete down.

Lord only knows what the Women's Institute will stick on their marmalade jars this year.

[MarkM]

You do see allot of Manc, Arsenal, Chelsea etc... shirts being worn by kids who are around VP

[DeKuip]

My question is what can we as fans do to change things.
We already know about the efforts clubs have made, but I feel that it's down to us the fans to reach out in some way.

I am more worried about the missing 10,000 from last season.I don't care what colour people are.

You could get a job on Talksport plucking figures out of mid-air like that to make an argument!
I keep hearing about the missing 10,000 from last season, but let's get it right please.

Our average gate last season was 37,193 and our average so far this season is 34,201. By my maths that's a 3,000 drop – still a concern, but nowhere near 10,000.

[Concrete John]

You could get a job on Talksport plucking figures out of mid-air like that to make an argument!
I keep hearing about the missing 10,000 from last season, but let's get it right please.

Our average gate last season was 37,193 and our average so far this season is 34,201. By my maths that's a 3,000 drop – still a concern, but nowhere near 10,000.

I think the more telling figure is our drop from MON's last season.  Without checking, I think average attendance during 09/10 was circa 39,000.  So we're down 5,000 in two seasons - that's a concern!

[dave.woodhall]

I'm ever so glad it's more acceptable for me to support Villa.