[Football] Giving up my season ticket.

[BN9 BHA]

There is definitely a sense of entitlement though. Most of you lot moaning sat at the Withdean getting piss wet, watching crap Micky Adams Mk2 football and stuck with it. Now we are in the PL and Tony has pumped in £400M+ people expect more - which is fair enough. But it is a sense of entitlement.

I’m not sure it’s a sense of entitlement for me, wanting to see a home game at 3pm on a Saturday and a few more wins and goals isn’t entitlement, I don’t expect the Albion to win the League.

I felt being part of something when we played at Withdean, I can understand the OP when he gets this from watching his local non league side.

 

[Brian Fantana]

Mentioned on one of the other threads that this will be my last season as a STH too - had one since early Withdean days. It's always largely been about seeing friends and family before/after the game, but COVID has killed all of that stone dead. Living in the North East, football was the 'excuse' to come down to Brighton and socialise with everyone, but COVID has just made that impossible really. It's really sad, but I just can't justify it anymore. If I want my football fix, I'll probably mooch along and watch Hartlepool from time to time.

 

[Normal Rob]

I love watching my local non-league team. Easy to get to the bar, loads of singing, no queue for the toilet etc. Plus we have just signed RYAN HARLEY!!!! so stick that those of you who think the football is crap!

 

[Withdean11]

I love watching my local non-league team. Easy to get to the bar, loads of singing, no queue for the toilet etc. Plus we have just signed RYAN HARLEY!!!! so stick that those of you who think the football is crap!

You will see better set pieces than we do at The Amex then.

 

[Weststander]

Thank you for this, given me the perfect excuse to not do any work this morning.

I nabbed the results for all of our completed PL seasons and, if my numbers are accurate, our home win percentage since promotion to the end of last season is 26.32%

57 home games.
15 home wins.

I've not done the home goals yet but I will be.

EDIT:

As was rightly pointed out I missed a whole season! Updated numbers below:

76 home games
22 home wins
28.95% win percentage

Interestingly our first two seasons had the higher proportion of home wins at 7 & 6 respectively. The two following seasons were 5 & 4.

Cheers. As suspected.

No wonder many of us have lost the spark over 5 years, that the stadium is so quiet once games unfold.

A win every 4 home games.

That ratio CANNOT be pinned on the Top 6’s money advantage.

Attrition, over the 5 years this has an effect. Hard for many of us to dine out forever on we had some home wins over Manure and Spuds in the distant past. That doesn’t give you a lift as Conor Coady or Keiron fkn Clark look imperious against some lightweight technicians.

 

[southstandandy]

I’m not sure it’s a sense of entitlement for me, wanting to see a home game at 3pm on a Saturday and a few more wins and goals isn’t entitlement, I don’t expect the Albion to win the League.

I felt being part of something when we played at Withdean, I can understand the OP when he gets this from watching his local non league side.

Totally agree. As some have said sometimes it's the journey and not the destination that's the fun part. Ironically as proud as I am for the club to have arrived in Corporate land, the Withdean years and some of the Goldstone years were my most enjoyable watching the Albion. I'm not too bothered about fancy seats and an expensive pie (which is why I go to see Shoreham play, in pretty basic conditions), but the difference with many of those past years (wherever I watched the Albion) and now in non league compared to at the Amex, is that I am enjoying the football again. I don't mind standing in a force 10 gale if the football is good. Sadly for me there is little enjoyment now watching over paid prima donnas strutting their stuff at the Amex, added to all the other factors mentioned of cost, VAR, time to get to the stadium, draconian rules like no bottle tops etc etc etc.

Non league football is the future.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Not a bad idea.

The support at Stains and West Ham looked great.

Compare and contrast to the meek NS at home games, it’s died a slow death.

Out of interest, why is it always the fault of the North Stand? We know the atmosphere isn’t great but I’m seeing and hearing far too many comments at people slating the atmosphere, yet they seemingly sit in silence amongst the other 20,000 in the East and West. Admittedly there’s far too many people in the North Stand who sit in silence which makes it difficult to generate much noise, but the West Stand is ****ing massive and hasn’t made a noise for about 4 seasons.

On topic, I can empathise with the OP, I’ve lost my ‘buzz’ for going to games recently, even away games have felt a bit meh for me this season, but I firmly believe it would be back very quickly if we scored a goal or even won a game.

 

[Weststander]

you may have seen a previous post I made about my reasons for not having been since 1st covid outbreak.

as advised I emailed Mr B asking if given sound and genuine reasons were the club still looking to implement the if you don’t attend the 25% home games level the club can cancel your season ticket rule.

he took the time to reply, virtually dismissed all the concerns of people not wearing masks on buses and trains, many ignoring them in the concourse by saying that they are mandatory, and in the end I felt the ultimatum was take your chances with covid infection or risk losing your ticket. He still says many 1000’s still on waiting lists…

we’ll time will tell if he’s right or not, and i guess if there’s not he will be gracious and kindly allow us to stay.

Bring it on.

It would solve my dilemma and £1,000 in hard cash a year (plus dosh spent at concessions).

 

[Spiros]

There is definitely a sense of entitlement though. Most of you lot moaning sat at the Withdean getting piss wet, watching crap Micky Adams Mk2 football and stuck with it. Now we are in the PL and Tony has pumped in £400M+ people expect more - which is fair enough. But it is a sense of entitlement.

For quite a few though it's not the football that's the real issue, it's all the off field crap. Why am I 'entitled' to want to be able to just pass my ticket to someone else if I can't go? Is it 'entitled' to not want to spent the best part of £10 just for a pie and pint? Is it 'entitled' to not want your jacket on the floor under your seat getting covered in coke because the kid behind has knocked over a bottle that has no lid on it? Yeah the football side isn't great at the moment but for me it's just the straw breaking the camel's back. I guess I'm just 'entitled' for wanting to be a fan rather than a 'customer'

 

[Springal]

For quite a few though it's not the football that's the real issue, it's all the off field crap. Why am I 'entitled' to want to be able to just pass my ticket to someone else if I can't go? Is it 'entitled' to not want to spent the best part of £10 just for a pie and pint? Is it 'entitled' to not want your jacket on the floor under your seat getting covered in coke because the kid behind has knocked over a bottle that has no lid on it? Yeah the football side isn't great at the moment but for me it's just the straw breaking the camel's back. I guess I'm just 'entitled' for wanting to be a fan rather than a 'customer'

My comment was specifically around those using the football as a reason to stop going etc. there is definitely a level of entitlement within our fan base - I had at least 2 examples of it last night

 

[zefarelly]

So you think we are entitled to see a win? Or be entertained, or excited by our football?

Ok then

BTW I a had a ball at withdean, and gillingham and the goldstone, with all the issues we had. We were a community club and all felt part of the club. Now this is a corporate team with customers rather than fans ( c/o Mr Barber)

A big part of the reasoning behind that was we could meet where ever we wanted, whenever we wanted . . . and stand or sit where ever, within reason ( plenty of options. )

The Amex is just a sterile corporate box.

 

[Weststander]

Out of interest, why is it always the fault of the North Stand? We know the atmosphere isn’t great but I’m seeing and hearing far too many comments at people slating the atmosphere, yet they seemingly sit in silence amongst the other 20,000 in the East and West. Admittedly there’s far too many people in the North Stand who sit in silence which makes it difficult to generate much noise, but the West Stand is ****ing massive and hasn’t made a noise for about 4 seasons.

On topic, I can empathise with the OP, I’ve lost my ‘buzz’ for going to games recently, even away games have felt a bit meh for me this season, but I firmly believe it would be back very quickly if we scored a goal or even won a game.

I sit in block D of the NS.

It’s nothing personal about you or anyone else.

It’s about the club and design. Loath them, but the bloody Holmesd…… has noise, because Parish very deliberately let the rabble take over. I watched from the front row of WSU in the first few seasons as Hebberd and Balkham’s hit squads anally spent game after game targeting people, ejecting them and then banning folk. Trangressions included standing up. Drip by drip sterilising what’s meant to be OUR raucous end. I love it that modern football is dealing with homophobia and racism, is a better place for all genders, but the club seem hellbent on making every corner perfectly family friendly. Design - a non-KOP esque home end, not very deep seems to have led to no distinct core of singing. Just two disparate groups blocks apart.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Provided we don't get a Covid lock out, I am on for a personal record for attendances. I have had a season ticket for 28 years as well. I rarely miss a home game, I think I have missed one league and one cup game at the Amex, but my away attendance has been sparse. This season I have only missed Burnley and Liverpool. The difference between last night and the away days at Saints and West Ham, was that we didn't grab a last minute equaliser.

West Ham was a midweek logistics challenge and Southampton was for Local people and to be fair a few of our fans I wouldn't let them in anything more advanced than a ball pit. I am not having a go at anyone who is losing interest, but I will look back very fondly on this era, when we had a team good enough to compete against the very best. I will never be nostalgic for the camaraderie of a 0-1 loss to the nine men of Walsall and many many more painful defeats. All these serve to do, is to make me appreciate the highs even more.

 

[Bry Nylon]

My comment was specifically around those using the football as a reason to stop going etc. there is definitely a level of entitlement within our fan base - I had at least 2 examples of it last night

Notwithstanding the ballache of getting to and from the stadium and fixtures changes for TV, I think people are perfectly within their rights to also use the quality of football on offer as a reason to stop going.

I rarely go to elite level football these days, so for me last night was genuinely a real treat but much PL football, whilst technically excellent, can be pretty dull. I wouldn't invest the hundreds and hundreds of pounds a ST costs to watch people passing in triangles 19 times a season.

 

[sparkie]

Huh? What have I missed?

I haven't used my ST this season. Barber is likely to boot me out for this terrible transgression. I've come to terms with it so

 

[nwgull]

There is definitely a sense of entitlement though. Most of you lot moaning sat at the Withdean getting piss wet, watching crap Micky Adams Mk2 football and stuck with it. Now we are in the PL and Tony has pumped in £400M+ people expect more - which is fair enough. But it is a sense of entitlement.

You're right. There does appear to be a massive sense of entitlement. If you participate in sport, either as a competitor or spectator, then you have to accept that some days you win and some days you lose. If that wasn't the case then none of us would ever get excited by it. Having written that, maybe it's more a case of some people being bad losers as these threads always seem to appear just after a disappointing result.

Some of the nostalgia going back to the Withdean era is laughable. We couldn't have realistically survived at Withdean long term. It was effectively a life-support machine for the club until the Amex was built, and that was only realistically possible with Tony Bloom's money.

 

[Springal]

Notwithstanding the ballache of getting to and from the stadium and fixtures changes for TV, I think people are perfectly within their rights to also use the quality of football on offer as a reason to stop going.

I rarely go to elite level football these days, so for me last night was genuinely a real treat but much PL football, whilst technically excellent, can be pretty dull. I wouldn't invest the hundreds and hundreds of pounds a ST costs to watch people passing in triangles 19 times a season.

For years we moaned, campaigned for a stadium. Now it is a souless stadium that is difficult to get to.
For years we moaned about the quality of football and lack of money. Now we have spent hundreds of millions on building a PL squad - we want a better squad with better football.

If I was Tony Bloom I'd tell us to **** off, take back his kids inheritance and go elsewhere

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

I decided not to renew my ST just before covid hit. It was a combination of reasons for me.

1. It was becoming stale. The "Premier League experience" is not for me.
2. The way the club(top flight football in general) is going. I don't have anything against the club and I fully understand Premier League football is a business and fans are seen as customers but that's just not for me.
3. I was doing early starts during the week which made midweek games not all that appealing and I work Sundays. That left only games on Friday and Saturday that I could make.
4. At the end of it, I was finding myself only going to games because I had a ST and I felt like I had to go.

 

[Weststander]

Notwithstanding the ballache of getting to and from the stadium and fixtures changes for TV, I think people are perfectly within their rights to also use the quality of football on offer as a reason to stop going.

I rarely go to elite level football these days, so for me last night was genuinely a real treat but much PL football, whilst technically excellent, can be pretty dull. I wouldn't invest the hundreds and hundreds of pounds a ST costs to watch people passing in triangles 19 times a season.

Thank you.

The “entitled” trope is ill thought out. Lazily copying the criticism of eg Arsenal fans who cry when they lose a single game, demanding silverware now.

We rarely score this season, very rarely win over the 5 seasons.

I’d say 28,000 folk have shown incredible resilience.

 

[nwgull]

For years we moaned, campaigned for a stadium. Now it is a souless stadium that is difficult to get to.
For years we moaned about the quality of football and lack of money. Now we have spent hundreds of millions on building a PL squad - we want a better squad with better football.

If I was Tony Bloom I'd tell us to **** off, take back his kids inheritance and go elsewhere

All of this!

After all those years progressing through the leagues, the demand for instant gratification is unbelievable at times. We almost certainly do have the strongest ever squad right now, and I'm personally 100% behind the long-term recruitment strategy of investing in the development squad as well as buying prospects relatively cheap and farming them our on loan for experience. Bloom has even bought himself another club to facilitate this and probably as another source of talent development (he's certainly not bought a random Belgium 2nd division club for the LOLs).