I reckon its a 50/50 split between ticket prices (which looking at other clubs are not too bad) and stay away fans. With more fans means more funding, more fans inspires the team. Basically we can't compete at the min with our income. Come on you stay aways, do your bit and spur us on to safety. We can laugh all we want at Wednesday. But they turn up no matter what. And I believe there tickets cost the same.
Rowing been clear 1500 more through the gate and they can make it £20. £25/28 keeps us going on these crowds
Lack of funding/backing from the board = small squad which needs strengthening Lack of a strong squad = poor results Poor results = stay away fans
You've got to ask yourself why so many fans have seemingly dissasociated themselves with the club. It's because they are sick, year after year of having to see the team scrap tooth and nail just to stay in the Championship without any sign whatsoever of investment, but being charged more and more for the privilege of it all. It's akin to lunacy. Would you keep going back to a restaurant (even if it was your favourite) if over time they started serving poorer quality food, and charging the same or more for it? Of course you wouldn't. You'd spend your money elsewhere. It's all well and good asking the supporters to support the team, but when the team only lasts six months then is broken up and sold off for a quick profit, how can they? The club needs a good two or three seasons of solidarity. They need to build a team and keep it together. We've always, always been the same; get a good player, then sell them. We can't keep hoping to stay up by the skin of our teeth by selling off our best assets on the cheap. Take Davies for example, I know we've made a profit on him, and I know it was probably the right time to sell him, but who in Gods name are we going to lure to the club in the state we are in, and more to the point, who are we going to get capable of firing 10-15 goals in at this stage of the season for <£300,000?
We don't have problems, only solutions. The Don will steady the ship. Things are nowhere near as bad as they were in 1966 when Ernest Dennis put £100k into the club to buy Barry Thomas and Johnny Evans. Stop worrying about things you have no control over. What happens, happens. Worrying will only make you ill and it's only football we are talking about. No ones going to die. Although Cameron and Clegg are trying to starve us all to death. COYR
Biggest problem is, with a population of maybe 260,000 in the latest census. We can't compete. If we where backed we won't be where we are. And gives us added security to go offer a player more. We can't lose 4000 fans in 3 years and compete. Yes the club can be blamed. But the stay aways could have paid £30 a month over the season and still missed out on games and saved money.
The club HAS to take the blame. If the club are doing all the right things, and the football on the pitch reflects the price of the ticket, then the fans will come. Everything has to be right - from the food served in the stands, to the role and stance the club has in the community. We have, over the last 5 years, stagnated, and at the minute we are on the verge of tipping over the edge back into League One, and if we do, we'll more than likely be in a worse position than we are right now.
Stopping the over 60 concession kept many fans away, the Catigory system, and £28 killed off the rest.
The club's biggest problem is football itself - football in the UK in general An example of this is how to compete with other clubs who think it's fine to spend £18million on wages when their income is £11million. Such clubs rely on 3 options to keep going: - 1) Get promotion to the Premier League 2) Find a really good player and sell him for millions 3) Go into admin and come out the other side with no debts, then start the process all over again. Players get paid too much compared with what fans are prepared to pay. We can argue about bars, beer prices, TVs being turned off, advertising, marketing, release clauses, lack of width, missing chances, crap defending at set pieces, diamond formations, crap refs, incomprehensible websites, debit card charges, unanswered emails, membership schemes, scoreboards, solar panels, takeovers, booing players, Sir Bobby, missing one on ones, injuries, lower league players, ex-Rochdale players, Preedys, idle ball boys, incompetent stewards, standing in seating areas, lack of smoking areas, dodgy turnstile operators, child season tickets, passing backwards, who is the chairman, what does Mr Taylor do, agents, pittance for transfer fees, puddles in the east stand, too many loan players, constant team changes, tippy tappy football, wasted signings, club shop, box office, not telling us about manager candidates, telling us too much about manager candidates, win percentage, points per game, dominating possession but still losing, telling people things at meetings, telling people opposite things at subsequent meetings, telling people confidential things at meetings, complaning about leaks of confidential things at subsequent meetings, no pies, no burgers, flat beer, no beer, too much beer, expensive beer, no coffee, no tea, no community connections, no coffee, not enough biscuits. Even neglecting all the above, the biggest problem is PLAYERS GET PAID TOO MUCH COMPARED WITH WHAT FANS ARE PREPARED TO PAY. Only when that is sorted will football recover, if it ever does.
It's the fans fault? Do you know what, there probably is someone inside the club that is willing to believe this ****.
Clubs biggest problem is the way it is run. The two Directors(not owner) are totally incapable of 'professionally running our club. Time for a change at that level i'm afraid!