Aston Villa's Attendances Have Dropped By 8.9%

The board have shat themselves and taken action.

Ours have dropped by 12.9% and our board (if it can be called that) continues to sleepwalk.

I suppose the club is worn out from putting all its' efforts into lowering expectations while the manager has been having a go at anyone who doesn't massage his ego.

 

so the new criteria for the manager is to increase the attendances as the club increase entrance prices -£30

dohhhh

 

Can I just ask, is this you still suffering a hangover from the poor end to last season or do you have a fundamental dislike of Hill which is not going to change and mean you will continue to criticise his every move? I don't care either way but it will influence whether I bother engaging in any debate with you. I don't mean that in a sense of my opinion having more validity than yours, but if I was in a pub and there was someone who I was never going to agree with on an issue I wouldn't keep arguing with him so my new rule is I won't do the same on here.

Of course, if there is a semblence of grudging acceptance that Hill met his remit, his signings are predicated on the budget he had available to him (much of which was occupied by overpaid players from the previous regime who weren't getting a game), we lost our 3 best players in January with no time to replace them, and that the dire end to last season has now gone and we don't know what the summer will bring, then I will happily continue to engage with you.

None of the above is to say that Hill hasn't made a number of mistakes in his first season.

 

What shares should we fill our boots with today ?

Or do you need to see the closing prices before making up some trades ?

 

In your view is there any positives in supporting Barnsley because all you do is constantly bairn about the club, the board, the players, etc. Just wondered like.

 

Everyone has missed the point. I wasn't making a case for Hill to be sacked (alhough I wouldn't be disappointed if he was) I was referring to the message Villa are trying to send to the fans. They have said they are disappointed with the results and performances and the message this sends to our fans.

The club should have made a similar statement and Hill should have shown a bit more humility as the performances have not justified the ego, and he has no reason for the massive chip on his shoulder. Fans are turning away from the club in droves so I don't think a bit of positive rhetoric would go amiss. Instead we have McNulty making negative statements about next season when this one isn't even over.

 

I think the Villa board have a lot to answer for. They appoint their rivals manager who has just been relegated and was a universally unpopular choice. They then sell their two key players and provide a fraction of that money for new signings. The downward trend consequently continues so they sack the manager, laying all the blame at his door. A masterclass in deflecting critcism.

I think as has been said elsewhere the majority of fans are positive about Hill and what he is trying to achieve. If you want a scapegoat for falling attendances (in addition to being in a recession) then surely the board are the ones to blame?

 

Too easy to blame the recession as attendances in the Championship as a whole are up 2%. If so many people are behind Hill why are they not turning up at Oakwell??

I'm not looking for a scapegoat, the board, the manager and the players should all
share the blame.

 

you are a plum. everyone has missed your point because it was invalid , poorly reasoned and repeated the same rhetoric over and over again

 

In my opinion, it is not invalid. The club are already setting us up to aim for 21st place. It might really be all we can expect these days but we have got to aim higher.

 

Go on then clever ballacks. Tell me why my point is invalid.

 

The 2% increase in attendances is an anomaly caused by promotion and relegation. The 3 teams that went up were Norwich, QPR and Swansea - only Norwich have a particularly high attendance. 3 teams were relegated from the PL; West Ham, Birmingham and Blackpool - both West Ham and Birmingham have bigger average attendances than QPR and Swansea.

Of the 3 relegated teams from the Championship; Sheff Utd, Preston and S****horpe - only Sheff Utd have a reasonably large attendance. The teams that were promoted to the Championship were Brighton, Southampton and Peterbrough - both Southampton and Brighton have had high average attendances this year.

Therefore, the recession is affecting gates - just the official statistics have been skewed this season.

 

Looks like we picked up on the same point Ark104!

 

Similarly it is too simplistic to use statistics without context. That can only be used as a fair comparator if the teams had remained the same. As 6 of the teams have changed you are not comparing like with like.

The recession alone is not the cause but it is certainly a factor, particularly in areas such as Barnsley which suffer disproportionately in diffciult economic times.

There are a whole range of issues at play, some national such as the stauration of live football, increased competitions from alternative past times, general disaffection with football finances. But within that there are also local factors, not least the nonsense of the pricing structure, the fact that we are trying to break even as a club means that a dose of (necessary) realism has kicked in, and our previous manager left the club on the basis of that reduced budget.

The pricing structure is something the club could and should act on. On the reduced budget I think they are doing the right thing.

There seems to be two reasons given by those who are VOCAL about why they don't want to attend:

1. They don't like the managers ego/accent - well, get over yourselves and don't take everything so bloody seriously

2. They aren't happy that we aren't spending money - well, that's the reality of the situation, would they prefer we overspend and go back in to administration?

I would add two further points. Firstly, I don't think those who are vocal about not attending will actually stop. They are obviously passionate about the club which, in their cases, manifests itself as frustration at what they percieve as under-achievement. But I reckon they will likely continue to go. Despite all the doom-mongering about attendances they have been pretty constant to be fair.

And secondly, there seems to be a group of people who blame BOTH the board for reducing the budget AND Keith Hill for signing cheaper players. That is obviously a nonsensical paradox.

 

You see I fully agree. But the problem is if we then finish 21st people should accept that it isn't failure. To draw a tenuous parallell - carefully picked for the person I'm responding to - that is why capatlisim dooms us all. Because you are seen as failing unless you increase your share of the market. So profit is not seen to reflect success. It is only success if those profits grow and everyone gets gready and gambles until it implodes.

If we finish 21st we should be satisfied but we should undoubtedly be aiming higher. My issue is that we should set a budget at the start of the season and allow the manager to operate within that. The problem is each year we then move the goalposts mid-season by allowing our best players to leave in January when we don't have the time (or make the money available) to replace them. As I understand it Hill and Flitcroft have made this exact piont to the board. We will only progress if we build and dismantle teams in the summer.

 

Yep, but you actually bothered to support yours with analysis! Good work!

 

Talking to Hill - he made the same point re: January and also about the necessity for quality additions. Whether that happens remains to be seen - i have absolutely no faith in the off field management at BFC not to repeat this season - eg Steele. Gone in Jan with half a season left on his contract for nowt.

 

I like it.

The problem is that aiming for 21st all the time will either end in us missing it or just turn too many fans off. Or both. The club has to have some positive rhetoric at the very least. For me, the entire club accepts its perceived lot all too easily. What really annoys me is things like McNulty coming out the day the last season finished saying it would be just as hard if not harder next season. You see, we know this, but this attitude in my opinion should not be expressed in this way, especially at a time when I've just shelled out my money, earlier than usual I hasten to add and then I get that crap.