Falling attendances.

[Caselord]

The 2 previous home games had been very good.

[Guppy 4 England]

Some vale fans, in fact many of those on here, are very fickle and forget any decent football played but pick up on negatives and the fact we don't beat every side 6-0 means we are "dire"

 

Barnsley are a good side and we made them look very average, Yeovil are ***** and we destroyed them, the other games bar Scunthorpe have been against half decent sides where we 've had a man sent off or a bad decision go against us.

 

The reason for falling attendance will be how difficult it is to get in the ground. **** this all ticket malarkey off and have a cash turnstile for crying out loud.

[carl]

Ask a couple of your mates if you fancy going watch the Vale...let's have a couple of pints...have some food go have another coupleof pints after..

 

That's £40 already per person and thats without the taxi home

[carl]

I watch Vale fairly regularly and they don't really play "decent stuff" to be perfectly honest. A lot of thetime the ball is launched to Pope and the midfield feed off the scraps. Like a lot of lower league teams but true nevertheless.

 

I dont think ''playing proper stuff' should come into the equasion when questioning high admission prices- rather the league your team plays in. and in comparison, Vale's admission prices (even at £21) is ridiiculous in proportion to lads from Stoke on Trent who can go and watch a premiership match at £30 (and they are on the same money as me!!)

[carl]

A taxi from Burslem to Tunstall, what's the world coming too?

 

Haha do you think they will charge a reasonable price? You will be lucky to pay less than £7 Saturday night

 

 

BTW Tunstall potter- not every Vale fan lives in Tunstall-just like Stoke fans dont all live in Stoke- surely you can testify that??

[Boslem Boy]

Folk are giving various reasons on here for low attendances and most are valid, however I think that a high percentage of those fans that are staying away fall into 2 groups.

 

Cost & entry.

 

It doesn't matter how many years people have been fans or how many decades they've watched the team, the fact remains that if you can't afford to go to the game then you can't afford and therefore you won't go. It really is that simple.

Another factor is getting into the ground. As I have said before the "walk up supporter" is no more, it can't be done. The weather was atrocious on Tuesday and walking to the ground whilst getting soaking wet is no laughing matter. Add the fact that queuing for tickets and then queuing again to get into the stand only to spend nearly 2 hours sitting in wet clothes on a cold night is something that would not appeal to hundreds of fans. Who would enjoy being skint, cold and wet after a hard day at work?

In many ways the attendance could have been much worse, I wonder how many supporters would have stayed away on Tuesday if it wasn't for the fact that they had a ST and had already "paid" for the game?

What worries me is that nobody at the club is aware of how many Vale fans have been lost because they can't afford the cost. Even if they become aware I doubt they have the knowhow or the ability to change things and make the club more accessible to the working class man and his family.

Something has to change before being an armchair Vale fan becomes the norm.

[carl]

Folk are giving various reasons on here for low attendances and most are valid, however I think that a high percentage of those fans that are staying away fall into 2 groups.

 

Cost & entry.

 

It doesn't matter how many years people have been fans or how many decades they've watched the team, the fact remains that if you can't afford to go to the game then you can't afford and therefore you won't go. It really is that simple.

Another factor is getting into the ground. As I have said before the "walk up supporter" is no more, it can't be done. The weather was atrocious on Tuesday and walking to the ground whilst getting soaking wet is no laughing matter. Add the fact that queuing for tickets and then queuing again to get into the stand only to spend nearly 2 hours sitting in wet clothes on a cold night is something that would not appeal to hundreds of fans. Who would enjoy being skint, cold and wet after a hard day at work?

In many ways the attendance could have been much worse, I wonder how many supporters would have stayed away on Tuesday if it wasn't for the fact that they had a ST and had already "paid" for the game?

What worries me is that nobody at the club is aware of how many Vale fans have been lost because they can't afford the cost. Even if they become aware I doubt they have the knowhow or the ability to change things and make the club more accessible to the working class man and his family.

Something has to change before being an armchair Vale fan becomes the norm.

 

Totally agree- Norman Smurfwaite needs to attend regular meetings with Vale fans who haven't been attending- then maybe he will gain some undertstanding of what he needs to do, to bring fans to the club.

 

He should also start to put the club out into the wider community- that's how new fans are born.

[carl]

I was referring specifically to you carl but of course you are correct.....

 

I know they this call site 'one Vale fan'' TP - but please dont take it literally...

 

Anyway..I wouldnt give them my money...i'd rather walk

[carl]

I just assumed you got a taxi so you didn't bump into all those Muslim gangs on the way home? (sorry couldn't resist :D)

 

Er- I would have bumped into one anyway if i'd got a taxi- you cant win

[Rudge's Flat Cap]

No thanks, I love Vale, but at the minute i think the football on show has been dire, as it was under Adams. The problem is the defending, but Tuesday we were toothless against a side bottom of league with an extra man. IMO we dont play decent stuff, the only game I can say we passed it very well all game and played some very decent stuff was Doncaster away.

 

We were not toothless on Tuesday. Every time we turn up expecting a performance there is another side there turning up expecting the same. So it's not going to be like the Yeovil game every match.

 

It wasn't a terrible performance at all against Scunthorpe. It was scrappy in parts but it was quite a well fought game between two struggling sides. I have seen many terrible Vale sides over the years and the current one is head and shoulders above a few of them.

[smithie]

Totally agree- Norman Smurfwaite needs to attend regular meetings with Vale fans who haven't been attending- then maybe he will gain some undertstanding of what he needs to do, to bring fans to the club.

 

He should also start to put the club out into the wider community- that's how new fans are born.

 

Regular meetings ? How many meetings would you propose ?

 

"You can lead a horse to water....."

 

I suspect he'd come away from such a meeting wishing he hadn't bothered.

 

Season-tickets were good value, the 10-game ticket a decent offer, the on-the-day cost is now on a par with other clubs.

 

So what makes you think these missing fans would offer anything useful apart from the usual crap excuses?

[Alan Baker]

Even as a ST holder it was a real chore going the other night and so how the hell can you expect the floating voters to come along when the product is *****?

[smithie]

"Product"...give me strength.

 

Football isn't like buying a product. There's no consumer rights involved.

 

People go to football at all other grounds not knowing what they are going to see.....but Vale fans demand a good game or they're not coming?

[Rudge's Flat Cap]

"Product"...give me strength.

 

Football isn't like buying a product. There's no consumer rights involved.

 

People go to football at all other grounds not knowing what they are going to see.....but Vale fans demand a good game or they're not coming?

 

What concerns me most is how many fans seem to love going to away games but not the home games. They claim to be big Vale fans but spend the majority of their money at other clubs rather than Vale. Then they moan the product isn't good enough. Well try funding the product. The bread and butter is home games. Every Port Vale supporter should prioritise them first and foremost and then pick your away games after that.

 

I bet a lot of those who moan about the prices could have bought a season ticket with the amount if money they've already spent going to away games this season.

[Rampant Zebra]

I think the going to away games thing got worse during the protests and I guess it becomes a habit. Personally I am just going to less games than I used to because I haven't got the same motivation any more.