Fri 26th Feb 2016, Port Vale v Southend U, pre-match comments and the match itself.

[Leeklass]

Just used the online Ticket Buying system for the first time. Couldn't stop laughing when it said 'checking for availability'

 

Will be a very poor crowd

[Bea Smith]

Will be a very poor crowd

 

That's not Vale's fault - they are forced to play this on a freezing Friday night when away fans cannot attend in any number, instead of a bright, sunny bracing Saturday afternoon when a football match would be an attractive way to get some fresh air and enjoy the cold but sunny weather.

Might get about 3800, would have been nearer to 5000 on Saturday.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

A very real challenge facing us on Friday. Very good result for Southend on Monday against Burton. Look a big physical outfit that could give us real test. However their away form isn't anywhere near as good as their home stats, so let's hope that "Fortress Vale Park" is to our advantage on Friday!

 

Their recent record at our place is good isn't it?

 

Isn't it 3 wins and a draw for them in their last 4 visits?

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Not sure if this has been said but i was really thinking we could get 9 points from our next 3 games BUT seeing what someone has said i aren't so sure now.......last season we had 13 games left and in with a chance of the play offs,then Smurf comes out and says this seasons budget will be cut and players will have to take pay cuts,we then finish the season just avoiding relegation,now i can see a pattern for this season as since smurfs comments about next seasons budget cut and player pay cuts we have drawn 1 and lost 1.

 

To be fair the players would be using that as a pretty awful excuse if they tried.

[Santa]

That's not Vale's fault - they are forced to play this on a freezing Friday night when away fans cannot attend in any number, instead of a bright, sunny bracing Saturday afternoon when a football match would be an attractive way to get some fresh air and enjoy the cold but sunny weather.

Might get about 3800, would have been nearer to 5000 on Saturday.

Given the choice between playing this game on a Friday, or the neighbours having their cup final on the Sunday, I'd pick this every time. Small mercies.

[beasty77]

Will be a very poor crowd

 

It would be a poor crowd if played on the Saturday too.

[Yukon]

Given the choice between playing this game on a Friday, or the neighbours having their cup final on the Sunday, I'd pick this every time. Small mercies.

 

Did you know they won the League Cup in 1972?

[Shrimpergarry]

I wonder if Southend's away following will reach three figures?

 

Southend fan here in peace - our lowest away attendance this season is 184 (Oldham on a Tuesday night, end of November), and recently we've taken 231 to Shrewsbury and 265 to Bradford - both Tuesday night games, both rearranged from a Saturday. All three of those are more than the 155 you took to our near neighbours Colchester, also on a Tuesday night! ;-)

 

I reckon our away following is similar to yours, which is not bad for a Southern club in a northern dominated league (geographically speaking).

 

Three figures won't be an issue tonight, even though it is also a rearranged game switched from a Saturday to a week night. My guess is we'll bring somewhere around the 280 that you brought to us (on a Saturday!).

 

Lots of interesting League One away stats here for those interested: http://i63.tinypic.com/2cyl6oy.jpg

[onestepatatime]

Southend fan here in peace - our lowest away attendance this season is 184 (Oldham on a Tuesday night, end of November), and recently we've taken 231 to Shrewsbury and 265 to Bradford - both Tuesday night games, both rearranged from a Saturday. All three of those are more than the 155 you took to our near neighbours Colchester, also on a Tuesday night! ;-)

 

I reckon our away following is similar to yours, which is not bad for a Southern club in a northern dominated league (geographically speaking).

 

Three figures won't be an issue tonight, even though it is also a rearranged game switched from a Saturday to a week night. My guess is we'll bring somewhere around the 280 that you brought to us (on a Saturday!).

 

Lots of interesting League One away stats here for those interested: http://i63.tinypic.com/2cyl6oy.jpg

 

 

 

You are ALL welcome, as long as you don't take the points with you!!

[Family Stand Terrier]

Southend fan here in peace - our lowest away attendance this season is 184 (Oldham on a Tuesday night, end of November), and recently we've taken 231 to Shrewsbury and 265 to Bradford - both Tuesday night games, both rearranged from a Saturday. All three of those are more than the 155 you took to our near neighbours Colchester, also on a Tuesday night! ;-)

 

I reckon our away following is similar to yours, which is not bad for a Southern club in a northern dominated league (geographically speaking).

 

Three figures won't be an issue tonight, even though it is also a rearranged game switched from a Saturday to a week night. My guess is we'll bring somewhere around the 280 that you brought to us (on a Saturday!).

 

Lots of interesting League One away stats here for those interested: http://i63.tinypic.com/2cyl6oy.jpg

 

As I mentioned on page 5, your away followings have been brilliant this season, but don't start knocking ours. Let's see how many you're taking to those places if you're still in this league in 3 years time, with little to get excited about. In our first season down here we were taking similar numbers to places like Crawley on a Tuesday night.

 

Oh, and our average away following for the season is 760, yours is 679.

[Tomo]

He did say in peace, I think the comment was a bit tongue in cheek...

 

They have a cracking away following though for being down there, hitting 300 would be great for tonight's game.

[Like Vale I Do]

Yes, they can all take the micky out of our crowd and ground while we stand there in complete silence as usual

[Family Stand Terrier]

He did say in peace, I think the comment was a bit tongue in cheek...

 

They have a cracking away following though for being down there, hitting 300 would be great for tonight's game.

 

There were three separate comments in the one post, all "tongue in cheek" digs at our away followings. "all three more than the 155 you took to Colchester", "our away following is similar to yours...in a northern dominated league", "we'll bring similar to what you brought to us (on a Saturday)".

 

The original comment clearly pi88ed him off, so much so that he; registered, researched ours (and their) away followings, then posted all of the above. I replied to the first comment about them not bringing more than 100, as they clearly will. He rightly went on to say their followings this season have been good, which they are. That would have been enough, but he went on to knock our away followings in the process so he needed knocking down a peg or two.

[Shrimpergarry]

As I mentioned on page 5, your away followings have been brilliant this season, but don't start knocking ours. Let's see how many you're taking to those places if you're still in this league in 3 years time, with little to get excited about. In our first season down here we were taking similar numbers to places like Crawley on a Tuesday night.

 

Oh, and our average away following for the season is 760, yours is 679.

 

I wasn't knocking Vale, more the poster I replied to who seemed to doubt that little old Southend could muster 100 fans on a Friday night!

 

I think our clubs are a pretty similar size, and I don't doubt that this season has been a bit of a novelty for some of the younger fans, visiting new grounds.

 

It's been a long haul for us to most away games this season as there are loads more northern than southern clubs in our division. Someone (not a Southend fan) has put together a weighted average of away fans that factors in the distance travelled - it makes quite interesting reading (if you're a statto like me, anyway!), and shows that, so far, Southend fans have travelled 8185 to our away games this season (2nd furthest in the division after Gillingham) - compare this to your 4,052 and the lowest (Sheffield Utd 3,966) - there's a lot of very committed fans out there. The figures are here, if you're interested: http://i66.tinypic.com/262mq9h.png

 

Sadly, I won't be one of them tonight as family commitments preclude me attending, but rest assured I will be following developments closely and will probably be back on here tomorrow to get the view from your side of the fence!

 

Hope it's a good game!

[davidatpreston]

Given the choice between playing this game on a Friday, or the neighbours having their cup final on the Sunday, I'd pick this every time. Small mercies.

 

Maybe it is different for me not living there, but I am only concerned with Vale and this has cost us many thousands of £££££