Also very mixed. Think back to School and how many of the kids in your class who followed football and glory hunted instead of supporting a local team. Completely different in the North East where loyalty to the local club is king and also in Manchester and Liverpool of course.
As I’ve said before look back to the 2006/07 season in league 2. There was an attendance of 6, 745 v Wycombe in October.
That was early on in the season in a league lower than this one! The sort you’d be expecting now given the very good start but it will probably be 2k less at least v Accy,
The tipping point always seemed to me selling Dan and Fox in January 2008. The home attendances decreased from pretty much that moment.
I think you might be right Bath. There will be a lot of people doing a “Stanley, Salop, Bristol (a) calculation versus funds” sum and deciding what gives. To the points me and Geordie were making above, in 1988 doing all three would have been £9.70 (2 home games at £2 plus £3.20 for the bus to Bristol plus £2.50 entrance at Bristol)
£9.70 in 1988 would be £24.70 now (Bank of England inflation calculator) which is less than a single pay on the day ticket for the middle/Upper Homeserve against Shrewsbury (£25.50).
It’s that in a nutshell. If anybody from the club suggests next Saturday’s attendance is “disappointing” the answer is here. And we’re more than disappointed by the price of watching Walsall FC and to be honest beyond disappointed that we’re trying to screw a few more quid out by making the Salop game a “category A” game. Whatever the arbitrary ■■■■ a “category A game” is.
Completely agree and an issue I have previously raised with Dan Mole but to no avail. Perhaps you could try.
Dear Dan,
Following a conversation with my Uncle today, we both couldn’t understand why Walsall don’t offer a student concession.
The u18 £2 back season ticket I used to have was a fantastic venture; yet there is nothing to bridge the gap for a University student who is only at home sporadically; I.e over the Easter / Christmas break.
It seems odd that you wouldn’t have considered a reduced match day admission price for students and would be keen to hear the rationale behind the decision; it is easy for someone away from home for 3+ years at University to lose touch and eventually have their nose put out of joint if there isn’t an affordable ticket for the matches they are at home for.
Thanks for your consideration : Up The Saddlers !
DM: Thank you for your email.
It is something we have discussed but, in order to offset free football for all under-18’s, plus the bridging season ticket for Saddlers Crew members before paying adult, and to keep adult prices at a very competitive rate that works out at £11 per game on Early Bird, we do not offer student concessions at present. It is something I am happy to discuss moving forward but feel our price point for adults currently makes attending fixtures here at the Banks’s affordable for all.
Kind Regards
Daniel Mole
Director & Club Secretary
Me:
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your swift reply; I do indeed acknowledge the good value and the bridging season ticket, however, as a student in Liverpool a season ticket isn’t viable; a reduced match day admission would see me attend when returning home to Stafford for breaks, however the cost of petrol/ the train and then £21.50 to get in puts me off.
After reading a number of comments above I can’t help but feel people are overthinking it.
For me the damage that Bonser and the board have done over these last few years has become irreversible. The club has a reputation just ask a neutral what their opinions of club are and all will become clear.
This was certainly true for a lot of fans Saddler, me included.
I have supported the Saddlers since 1962/63 season, very rarely missing a game until the Dann and Fox disgrace.
This was the tipping point for me and knocked all of the stuffing out of me, a lifelong passion for Walsall FC demolished at a single action and i thought what is the point? Why should i keep turning up, giving unstinting support again and again without hesitation or question in the freezing wet cold with hopes and dreams that in reality we all knew would never happen and the club repays me like this?
My anger and disgust at how this happened has never gone away and i know many others who still feel the same.
I have been to just a few games over the last 10 years but you know, it just isnt the same, my passion and enthusiasm for my club, my one and only club has gone. I guess i am what would be described as a stayaway but that is not true for me and many others. WE HAVE GONE, for good, found other things to do, and this is what happens when you do not value the people who are the very fibre, the lifeblood in many more ways than just money, of any small football club. This was a shameful, self inflicted disastrous day for Walsall FC when pure naked greed was put before the club and its fans, and for me the club continues to suffer from the fallout following that action to this day.
I think pricing is a problem. I sit either in the OAP or middle/upper tier depending on the weather. Paying over £20 per match means none of my Villa/Wolves/WBA supporting friends will attend any odd matches, as they think this is far too much to watch Walsall, unless it’s against a big team in the cup (I always get asked then!)
I remember when we were in the Championship I used to buy an under 16’s ticket in the lower tier for not much more than £10. I think something more needs to be done to attract the casual fan.
Lincoln City have managed to increase their gates from 2500 to 8500 in just three years. Their attendance history confirms they are a much smaller club than us with no obvious latent support to tap into. Their manager puts the increase down to an ‘emotional connection’ between the city and its club. Add a few more away fans and they have a support capable of competing in the Champ. Not sure how long these newbies will stick around when the inevitable dip comes but for the time being they are on a huge roll.
You need a catalyst. Lincoln had that with their Conference win and probably moreso their FA Cup Run.
We’ve had those opportunities too during the Bescot era but we somehow blew them. Promotion waves, Cardiff, Wembley and initially the act of moving ground itself could have all provided the rocket fuel other clubs have enjoyed.
We failed to get lift off from these for a variety of reasons. Comparative cost and the Bonser narrative (whether accurate or not) are two things that stop once in a blue moon fans becoming regulars.
I agree about the lack of boost of moving to a new ground as compared to other clubs. In their last 25 years of playing at Saltergate, Chesterfield only had an average attendance more than 4,500 seven times and they never once broke 5,000. Their last year there (2009-10) was under 4,000. In the last seven years at Saltergate they averaged 4,273 … in the first seven years at the new ground they averaged 6,122. Considering their current dire straits and some of the shenanigans behind the scenes there, this seems quite impressive.
They had a couple of promotions in that timeframe and indeed were in league one play offs as recently as 14/15 before the total collapse.
Better example imo would be Doncaster. Another surprise package so they’re regularly pulling in 6-7k but they were actually doing that last season aswell when they were in the bottom half alongside Walsall.
I can understand that in the championship when they have derbies v the Sheffield clubs and Leeds but that impressed me last year considering their biggest game was Rotherham and they’re between those Yorkshire giants.
Would be interested if they do some imaginative ticket price deals or it’s more pride from people from the town to follow their local team.
And that lack of investment in player’s and alway’s selling the good one’s is why we will never increase our gate’s because we are known as the selling club , the club that has no ambition
99/00- Yes relegated but took the fight to last day and also beat Wolves, WBA and Blues all in one season, imagine that happening nowadays.
00/01- Promoted back to divison one.
01/02- Stayed up.
02/03- Stayed up again.
There was also a really good cup run in one of those seasons. I remember it was a home game v Fulham which Sky had on, think that was fifth round.
So that was the period to make the regular 7-8k stick but it then all went wrong the next few years.
In recent times probably getting to Wembley which got many excited and then following it up with a promotion challenge the next season is as close to sustained success but of course plenty of damage already done in previous years so attendances didn’t go much above 6k.
I think your post proves that it is possible to grow the fan base on the back of success. 2000-03 7-8k is what roughly a 70% increase on attendances which would be huge for the club.
But as pointed out thess clowns on the board are not capable of running the club in such a fashion.
I think what Geordie says above, back in the day it didn’t seem like a lot of money to watch football generally, or Walsall specifically. Now it’s £20 and upwards, and it seems like big money to me. I know inflation has affected things, but it just seems a lot.
I can understand those fans who pick and choose, or those who lapsed and then boggle at how expensive it has become.
I used to go to other, local games sometimes a few times a season, but no longer, I can visit the cinema more than once for £20, can see plenty of good bands at The Robin or Slade Rooms for less than £20.
I still go the home games, the habit hasn’t been broken, but find it easy to understand why some might struggle to justify the amount asked for.
Plus, our Club have been rubbish at the whole PR thingy for years, and the relationship between customers/Club has long been too adversarial.
The club do not help themselves at all. I was collecting my ticket yesterday and overheard one of the women at the ticket window refuse to serve a man a family ticket so his little brother could attend as he wasn’t his ‘Dad, uncle or grandfather’. She proceeded to state that even though he was family, he still couldn’t buy a family ticket and would instead have to buy a full price adult and junior.
This is another move which I don’t agree with as I for years was allowed to buy a family ticket when I took my little brother with no questions asked - and I’m sure that casual fan may think twice before coming again and bringing others with him.