But the question remains what did he do in that period to warrant presenting himself as the club’s saviour?Sell Rimmer? Get a loan off the council? These are things anyone could have done. What did he do which justifies the reverence he still expects as a result of his doings in that period?
Don’t know why you waste your time nothing will change under bonser he as full controll of the club he will just tell you if you don’t like the club is run just keep away if you lot keep buying season tickets he his happy he will have his rent out of it first
Well I can name you 6 people from my close family who would attend again. They’ve openly stated they won’t return until he’s gone. I’m sure it’s the same for many.
Well he doesn’t get much reverence does he? Does he really expect it? He is a business man and Walsall Fc is a business and should be viewed as such. He did very well for the Club for a spell but that time has long gone. He should go and leave a legacy for the supporters and the Town.
Good …I am pleased to hear that. Lets hope there are many more out there like your family.
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I honestly think there are.
You can’t treat your supporters, sorry customers, the way they do and not suffer! Not only this they do nothing (that works anyway) to attract new faces or attract floating fans.
If Bonser and his model went I think you would see a huge spike in the interest in Walsall FC. 6 of Scotts family, 3 of mine; thats just 2 people.
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And lets not forget that those 9 from our families may bring others. It’s a massive ripple effect.
There you go Phil.
I have taken average TIER 3 attendances as a comparison to show the trend at our “normal” league level. I could include Tier 2 and 4 for the seasons we were in those divisions, but it would throw the trend line out.
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So his justification for staying in post,for separating the freehold,doesn’t depend in part to what he was supposed to have done then?He might not get much reverence on here ,but the local media still buy into his story.
Conclusive proof that our natural level has moved on and left us behind on Bonser’s watch.
Forget the good times, his ultimate legacy will be to leave behind a club that can longer function at the level where it has spent most of his existence.
It’s amazing we’re still in the third tier really.
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It also shows that in our 4 most recent seasons in the 2nd tier we were pretty much on a par with averages for the league below us!!
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There’s 5 family members who have stopped going and won’t return due to JB. Seems to be more and more saying they’ve stopped or plan to. I’m sure not all would return but there would be a definite increase which all helps finance, atmosphere etc.
Under the guidance (footballing wise) of Sir Ray, my small group consisted of 7 people, six of whom were STH
Now there’s 2 of us and we’ve both pretty much had enough and missed half of this seasons games
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Yes, very interesting.
@SuperGabor, I would like to know why the Tier 3 line starts at the exact same point as WFC attendances? Is this because we were bang on average in 1984, or have you done it to normalise the data?
Thanks SG that tells the story far better than my rambling.
Our four years in the second tier meant we kept up with third tier crowds at the turn of the millennium but as soon as we came down it is clear that we have fallen behind the teams we would have previously seen either as peers or actually smaller than us.
We also need to bare in mind that our geography means that we probably attract more Away supporters so I would guess that whilst our current home crowds if ranked across all football would put us 23rd in the third tier that if it were “home fans” only we would now be in the fourth tier. Which is kind of where I think the whole club is heading.
The conclusion is that despite some comparatively decent times on the pitch over the last 30 years, Walsall FC has failed to galvanise its local community to anywhere near the degree of its peers. This is a failure that manifests in our inability to compete in the transfer market and will soon result in us playing at our new “natural level” which is the fourth tier. Similar and ongoing failure could ultimately end in League Football being beyond the means of our football club.
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They are all based on actuals: in the 1983-84 season (the first I have done the stats for), our average was 5,017 and the Div 3 average was 5,008, almost identical.
I took our figures from: WFC averages
And I took Division averages from: Division averages
I am assuming they are accurate!
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One last chart, my apologies:
If we look back to the 2004-05 season, after we dropped down to our “normal level” - here’s a comparison between our averages and the 3rd and 4th tier.
We are the blue line. 4th tier is in grey and 3rd tier is in orange.
For the past 10 seasons we have been pretty much in line with the bottom division!!
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Great work Super Gabor.
Proof that even though our attendances haven’t really changed all that much, our relative position in the football pyramid certainly has.
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Well, as far as I’m concerned nobody can argue with what you have provided here @SuperGabor
There is no case for the defence
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The damage of the Merson era and the Dann/Fox sales really the final nail in our coffin of League 1 attendances. It’s clear at that moment the club made it clear it had no ambition beyond League 1
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