Fickle Fans

[Wardy]

The 5000 attendance every week isn't the exact same 5000 people is it? People who can only make every 2 or 3 games will obviously all make the effort to go to the most important games - common sense. Its not like the Withdean was full with an extra 3000 fans who hadn't been all season.

That is the point that some people seem to be missing. Because there were an extra 3000 people there they assume that it must be the first time that they have been. But in reality what happens is some people can only go when work / home life allows. So though there 5000 people there but not the same 5000 people each week. However when a big game comes along people make an extra special effort to get to the game. Even if it means rearranging work / home life commitments.

Yes for some of the people there today it would have been their first game. But lets just rejoice in the fact that the playing staff are finally producing some football that people are prepared to pay to watch.

 

[Wardy]

I took my daughter today to her first ever footie match as i knew the atmosphere would be great and as she enjoyed it she will probably come again. Isnt this what you want for the club -new punters that will help fill Falmer? There seems to be this anti-newbie feeling running thru "true fans"

Ignore him mate. the vast majority of fans welcome new fans and those fans that are unable to commit to every game. Hope your daughter had a great day and has caught the Albion bug.

 

[Brovion]

Just come back from a good old celebrationary drink after today but I have to say todays attendance really sickened and angered me slightly. WHERE WERE THESE FANS WHEN WE PLAYED SWINDON? NORTHAMPTON? YEOVIL? WHEN WE NEEDED 3 POINTS TO AVOID TODAYS GAME. WHERE WERE THE EFFORTS FROM THE CLUB TO IMPROVE THE ATMOSPHERE ALL YEAR? I remember back in the early 00's we went to pompey lost 4-2 and sang the chan 'where were you when you were shit?!' today made me feel like brighton will become one of those clubs once we move to Falmer and it made me slightly angry.

Im not saying as a STH during the difficuly years means i am a bigger fan or that as some people cant go to every game means they arent just as big fans but we could have sold out 2/3 times the amount of tickets for today. where was thew effort to do that before this last week?

Its been a hard season and one Im happy is over. looking forward to drunken weekend in southampton, norwich and leeds next season but I cant help but feel a little discusted by the attitude of some fans that as wuthdean is a bad place to watch football and the ticket prices are high the club dont deserve our support despite them needing it unless the price is value for money.

I was saying today I haven't seen so much desire and heart about the club from players fans and local media in a long time....since we have become a dull and unsuccessful medicore lower league club. And im sick of the fact that that gice people an excuse to write us off as shit and boring and decide to stay at home and watch andy gray and jeff stelling. Until when it gets interesting. We should sell out withdean every saturday game. even against hartlepool and carlisle.

Does anyone share my discust in modern football fans?

P.S. I also think Russel Slade could be the best thing that has happen to this club in a LONG LONG time

I said this on Spielberg's 'potential of this great club thread' but I'll say it again here:

I know that for some people a Brighton game is a Brighton game is a Brighton game. They go every week come hell or high water. They might look forward more to Leeds or Leicester but they still go if it's Hartlepool on a freezing wet Tuesday night. They go if we're playing well or serving up shit.

However there are several of us, well, many thousand actually, who don't think like that. We are not hardcore fans (or mug punters as some might call them). We want to see a winning team, an exciting team or at least decent football. Failing that we at least want a good reason to attend (supporting a truly and uniquely local team instead of the standard collection of journeyman pro's for example). If the club can't provide that, which for large chunks of the season they couldn't, we expect to only pay a reasonable price (£10) to watch the dross on offer. If at least some of those criteria aren't met we don't go.

For us fairweather fans yesterday ticked a lot of boxes and we happily paid full price to attend - it really shouldn't be that hard to understand.


(I should add that I used to go week in week out season after season - but that was when I was in my early twenties.)

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I consider myself a HUGE Albion fan, like, well, pretty much everybody on here. Thing is, I don't consider going to every game to be part of that huge support - in fact I go to very few, but that doesn't stop me checking on the latest ups and downs at the Albion a daily basis. The reason I don't go to many is because I'm an exile, but when I am in the UK I'll only go if I think I'm going to be entertained (don't worry, I make a racket and join in the songs when I'm there). The irony is that my first game this season was Walsall away, possibly the most boring and soul-destroying game of football I've ever seen. No atmosphere, no good football, no chance of a positive result after 20 minutes. I don't want to do that every week - and jacked going to Colchester after the Swindon result (I thought) made it all pointless. My only other full game this season was Oldham the other week - and that by contrast was brilliant.

So I'm saying that there are those of us who won't/can't shell out money every week, who often have other commitments, but still love the club. Of course its inevitable that we will make more effort to go to games that really really matters, like yesterday, but don't call us glory-hunters (oh the glory of a league 1 relegation battle). Maybe we'd like to go to more - and often really regret not doing so. Hiked over to Hull once to see us lose a dreadful game 2-0, so didn't bother with the next away game that was local to me in Manchester - and we beat Chester 7-1.

 

[dougdeep]

We'll need everyone of these fickle fans when our new stadium opens, I hope they all enjoyed the day and decide to return.

 

[Pot noodles for everyone]

I'm bored with these types of thread. I've got fickle fan anaemia.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

The 5000 attendance every week isn't the exact same 5000 people is it? People who can only make every 2 or 3 games will obviously all make the effort to go to the most important games - common sense. Its not like the Withdean was full with an extra 3000 fans who hadn't been all season.

Nail on the head. I think the average attendance was around 5,700 this year. If 1,500 of those each game are 'occasional' fans like myself (I managed about 15 games this year) then filling Withdean with regulars and occassionals is easily done. These fans - addicts, STH, occasionals or first timers all turned up because it was a game when the Albion needed support. And they gave it. And we survived.

I took my daughter today to her first ever footie match as i knew the atmosphere would be great

Brilliant.

I consider myself a HUGE Albion fan

Great to see Kalimantan still musing away in the jungle. Send my love to everyone (?) in Kuching and keep up the good work.

 

[LABHA]

Twat.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Just come back from a good old celebrationary drink after today but I have to say todays attendance really sickened and angered me slightly. WHERE WERE THESE FANS WHEN WE PLAYED SWINDON? NORTHAMPTON? YEOVIL? WHEN WE NEEDED 3 POINTS TO AVOID TODAYS GAME. WHERE WERE THE EFFORTS FROM THE CLUB TO IMPROVE THE ATMOSPHERE ALL YEAR? I remember back in the early 00's we went to pompey lost 4-2 and sang the chan 'where were you when you were shit?!' today made me feel like brighton will become one of those clubs once we move to Falmer and it made me slightly angry.

Im not saying as a STH during the difficuly years means i am a bigger fan or that as some people cant go to every game means they arent just as big fans but we could have sold out 2/3 times the amount of tickets for today. where was thew effort to do that before this last week?

Its been a hard season and one Im happy is over. looking forward to drunken weekend in southampton, norwich and leeds next season but I cant help but feel a little discusted by the attitude of some fans that as wuthdean is a bad place to watch football and the ticket prices are high the club dont deserve our support despite them needing it unless the price is value for money.

I was saying today I haven't seen so much desire and heart about the club from players fans and local media in a long time....since we have become a dull and unsuccessful medicore lower league club. And im sick of the fact that that gice people an excuse to write us off as shit and boring and decide to stay at home and watch andy gray and jeff stelling. Until when it gets interesting. We should sell out withdean every saturday game. even against hartlepool and carlisle.

Does anyone share my discust in modern football fans?

P.S. I also think Russel Slade could be the best thing that has happen to this club in a LONG LONG time

I don't understand your bitterness at all though. A lot of the "new" fans yesterday were probably kids brought along by their parents maybe for the first time. Surely that should be something that is encouraged.

Also, you forget that fans don't become week in, week out fans overnight. I started off when I was young being taken to occasional games and now I go to 40 games a season. These things don't happen overnight so maybe some people there yesterday have started/rekindled their love of the Albion and will become regular fans. Even if they do not, it created a fantastic atmosphere for Withdean and I am sure it will have spurred the players on to a vital victory. I don't see any reason for complaining about that.

 

[throbinson]

I live in shropshire do you think i can make every home game, no

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Just come back from a good old celebrationary drink after today but I have to say todays attendance really sickened and angered me slightly.

What an odd thing to be sickened and angered by

A crowd of 8,618 might just have made the difference between three points and not three points. What's not to like?

 

[itszamora]

Jesus wept. We stayed up in front of a record crowd and some idiots are moaning about TOO MANY fans turning up? Ridiculous. And for what it's worth, the game sold out before I could get a ticket. I'm gutted, but I'm not having a go at anyone because they got off their arses to the ticket office quicker than me, simple as.

 

[gullshark]

Mate, you were once a new fan and probably being looked down upon by the 'true' fans then. If half of those extra 2000 or so people continue to come back and maybe another few hundred buy a season ticket then it's FINE by me. I'm just glad they came to a game with a cracking atmosphere that we won - better than a 4-0 drubbing by Crewe.

 

[philgull25]

I live in shropshire do you think i can make every home game, no

wasnt really my point. maybe it wasnt the fans that left a bad taste in my mouth about yesterday.

 

[wigman]

We'll need everyone of these fickle fans when our new stadium opens, I hope they all enjoyed the day and decide to return.

Correct answer.
How some people are saying we dont want these fans at Falmer,is just pure stupidity.With the mortgage we are going to have then,. the more fans we pile in the better.

What planet are some of these people on!

 

[Kenhead]

The 2for1 argus offer added a few to the number.

Maybe if the club had done something like that for one of the previous games it might have added to the attendance for say the Swindon game.

 

[Marc1901]

the only thing that annoyed me was i couldnt sit in the seats i normally do every week
i had to sit in my shit seat that was on the ticket
but when the chant albion went round the whole withdean that was pretty good

 

[Clive Walker's slaphead]

Has anyone ever considered the fact that maybe they had been to some of those previous games? Do you think the 5000 regulars are exactly the same people every week?

Spot on. I go to all home games with my son but as I don't have a season ticket I end up sitting in not just different seats but different stands depending on money. In doing this you find that some people treat you as if you've never been before and are a second class supporter. Only yesterday a group of season ticket holders around us were making comments about people only turning up for yesterday's game and not to others to which the bloke next to me then cast a glare at me saying that he'd had 2 seats to himself all season. Would love to butt ***** like that.

 

[SittingbourneSeagull]

Am a STH and am addicted to the Albion, but was just glad to see the ground full yesterday. At 2:45 I am usually looking around the ground thinking what a low turn out it is going to be but yesterday the ground was all but full by then.

It was a great atmosphere, can't believe how negative Albion fans can be. We have had a crap season with so much bitching on here, and with the exception of the City game we have this one moment to celebrate and rejoice in supporting this superb club and we can't even do that for 24 hours without some people looking for a negative angle.

WE STAYED UP FFS

 

[Tomo1794]

I live in shropshire do you think i can make every home game, no

i agree with this totally, i live near mk nd instead of goin 2 c their franchise football, i go 2 sum local nd other away games such as swindon, cheltenham, northampton, mk, huddersfield (which was the furthest 1 this season) leyton orient etc. in my 5 seasons of supportin the club i've been to the withdean about 6 or 7 times. so few you think, well the games i've seen hav been absolute dross. the worst being mansfield i n the fa cup. so its no surprise i dnt come down all tht often because there is usually no atmosphere although yesterday was amazin 4 an open top stadium nd the football is poor. cant wait till falmer though as i will be comin down a lot more.:falmerspi