Interesting Piece on Withdean Crowds in the Argus..

[desprateseagull]

did anyone buy tix before the reduction, or were they all £10/12 to start with?

 

[withdeanwombat]

The call for a 22000 seat stadium is because of the potential of the Albion.No,it would not be full for Albion v Boston in the Paint Pot Trophy,and to be fair we should just toss a coin for that one to save Boston the trouble of coming down to face our youth/reserve team;no,it would not be full for Albion v Carlisle in League 1,but if the Albion were winning and going upwards,then 22000 would be possible(though not for Middlesbrough,who apart from their 6-4 win at the Goldstone in 58/9 always seem to bring dire football with them).

When we were in the TOP FLIGHT our ground was not allowed to hold 36000,and many people were in the terrible Lego Stand with its limited view.And the facilities then were pretty bad for a first division side,and the prices seemed high for the time.

There was constant talk about a new ground.

The thing is,there is a huge catchment for the Albion,and when you consider the nearest football league alternatives you can see why.Not every one of them goes to every game,and not enough of them go to any game,but stir folk up with attacking,winning,attractive football and more will come more often,and the Albion bug will bite.All clubs suffer when they are losing,and remember OUR club is losing because,genuinely,we wuz robbed.

The new ground will not in itself guarantee success,but it will rekindle interest,and to be at home and hear crowd noise again!

Who knows,we might even need to expand the capacity.


Up the Albion!

 

[The Wookiee]

Football was in a transitional time back in the late 80's early 90's. There were loads of hoolies, then E's came in and clubbing. After staying up all night dancing, the thought of going down the Goldstone to be chased to Hove station didn't sound so appealing.

It did to some and I dont think they were the ones being chased

 

[Scoffers]

Agreed WithdeanWombat, shame Naylor didn't include your comments, maybe you should send the argus a letter!

 

[seven stands]

what is a worry to me is the argus 100 FREE tickets stand was empty on staurday.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

When we were in the TOP FLIGHT our ground was not allowed to hold 36000,and many people were in the terrible Lego Stand with its limited view.And the facilities then were pretty bad for a first division side,and the prices seemed high for the time.

To repeat my earlier unanswered question, wasn't at least one of our top flight seasons restricted to season ticket holders only? And anyone know if this was because of hooliganism?

 

[Ernest]

what is a worry to me is the argus 100 FREE tickets stand was empty on staurday.

That sums it up really, people won't even go if they're given a free ticket so how the f*** are you going to make people pay £24.50 for one ?
It's all coming home to roost that if you neglect the product you're selling then you'll lose your customers and that is what is happening and until we see some investment in the squad and not some teenage nobody but a decent quality player or two the ever decreasing gates will go on.

 

[Ernest]

To repeat my earlier unanswered question, wasn't at least one of our top flight seasons restricted to season ticket holders only? And anyone know if this was because of hooliganism?

No

 

[seven stands]

That sums it up really, people won't even go if they're given a free ticket so how the f*** are you going to make people pay £24.50 for one ?
It's all coming home to roost that if you neglect the product you're selling then you'll lose your customers and that is what is happening and until we see some investment in the squad and not some teenage nobody but a decent quality player or two the ever decreasing gates will go on.

can only get worse once the cold weather kicks in

 

[Ernest]

can only get worse once the cold weather kicks in

I dread to think what some of the gates will be then if we are still only playing kids and losing most weeks

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Out of a point of interest if the club charged £28 for an adult & child and £5 extra for each additional child you take would that make you more tempted to take the littl'un? It would tempt me to treat one of little Bulldog's mates every time we go for that price.

Because the oldest is under ten, it is actually only £23.50 plus £1 for us [but £14 for one more]. If the total were under £30 I would take them both.

 

[Brixton Seagull 2]

As one of the "fickle" fans Naylor talks about, I agree with those of us who find a combination of depressing facts (Withdean is horrible and overpriced, Flamer has dragged on for too long, playing in a poor league against unglamorous oppo with no travelling support).
I have, over the course of 25 years of going to watch the Albion, put up with all of those reasons and more.
But there have been two times when I stopped going altogether, once when Barry Lloyd had us playing the worst football in memory, and when McGhee (post Leon Knight) had us playing even worse. Both times I thought sod it, life is too short, and went back to playing Brighton Saturday league park footy. Which is what I'll continue to do until Falmer is built.
Couple that with having young kids & not masses of money (no way could I afford to take the whole family to Withdean), I don't think it's fickle at all. It's just life.
I disagree that we'd fill Withdean if we were top of League One or Two. We did before but that's bacause we were a club reborn, back playing in Brighton under Mickey Adams and had Bobby Zamora!
If we got to the top this year (unlikely I know) I still don't expect gates to get above 7000.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

what is a worry to me is the argus 100 FREE tickets stand was empty on staurday.

But that stand isn't just for the Argus - it actually holds about 300.

I'm not sure they sell any tickets for it though. There are free schools tickets and some given via the council to kids from deprived families and kids in foster care.

If anybody doesn't want their Argus tickets for Sunday I'll give £15 to the REMF so me and the oldest can go.

 

[BensGrandad]

It is a fact that we never,not even for the first home game against Arsenal, had a complete sell out at The Goldstone whilst we were in the then 1st Division.

 

[seven stands]

But that stand isn't just for the Argus - it actually holds about 300.

I'm not sure they sell any tickets for it though. There are free schools tickets and some given via the council to kids from deprived families and kids in foster care.

If anybody doesn't want their Argus tickets for Sunday I'll give £15 to the REMF so me and the oldest can go.

oh i thought you got two tickets each which makes 200 which I took a stab at being the amount of seats in there me wrong, still didnt look 100 people in that stand on saturday

 

[British Bulldog]

Because the oldest is under ten, it is actually only £23.50 plus £1 for us [but £14 for one more]. If the total were under £30 I would take them both.

Maybe thats something the club needs to look at? A few extra quid in the club coffers is better than an empty seat.

 

[seven stands]

give free tickets to kids but make it a condition that parents buy them a shirt, hot dog, programe, portionn of chips and a drink

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I had 2 tickets last Saturday and could not give them away. I tried to sell them on NSC and would have taken £ 30 ( £ 45 face value ), not 1 bid. Offered them to friends who have watched Albion before, no interested, then offered them to 2 people for free and they did not want them for free. Ended up giving them to the next door neighbour for free at 1.45 pm Saturday.

People do not want to watch bloody awful near bottom div 3 football with a 20 minute queue for a burger, a 10 minute queue for a piss in a portakabin, get soaking wet and watch us lose with a wimper.

If we did not have the L&G stand we would be getting 4500.

The club has a SERIOUS problem. On hindsight if I could rewind 5 months I would not renew this season.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

oh i thought you got two tickets each which makes 200 which I took a stab at being the amount of seats in there me wrong, still didnt look 100 people in that stand on saturday

The argus give away 100 tickets [50 x 2]. 100 people don't look like many spread out.

We are all pretty quick to give the Argus a hard time, but the 100 club thing is brilliant. I don't know how much [if at all] they actually paid the club for the tickets, but I have been twice [despite never actually winning myself!] and it is an encouraging experience.

Clearly the majority of the people winning have not seen the Albion recently, as they don't know the players and are looking around as though it is all new to them.

If they are lucky enough to see a good game, and the last one certainly was, then their kids will be pestering them to take them again. That was certainly the case against Orient, where I heard lots of such comments.

I took it upon myself to spell out the kids for a quid and family stand pricing to them all, so they would know it can be done fairly reasonably. If 2 in a hundred of those ticket winners get hooked, then that 40 new fans over the course of the season.

 

[Hannibal smith]

what is a worry to me is the argus 100 FREE tickets stand was empty on staurday.

Have you ever sat in the crap stand? The view is absolutely awful and far from encouraging people probably puts then off. I'd rather not go if I couldn't sit in the South or North

Besides which anyone with any sense moves at half time to empty seats in the South Stand so they can actually see the game.