Harrogate Town (A) Dec 21st, 3pm

Match Centre 24/25
401

Well they’re not “Walsall folk” are they? They’re wolves and Villa fans. Would you just randomly start supporting another club? I doubt it and I doubt anyone else here would either.

In 2024 those clubs just have a much bigger fan base than us, and will do for a long long time. You’re not going to entice those fans. Trivela talked big about increasing attendances and building a community, then whacked the prices up and said they don’t mind the lower attendances because it’s covered in the price increases. That’s just fact. We can’t complain that attendances are low when that is the truth of the matter.

3 Likes
402

I just don’t know how our prices compare with other teams in the division, if they are higher than yes that would be a factor in explaining why we get lower crowds.

Regarding your other point if I couldn’t get a ticket to watch Walsall I would consider watching another team. Perhaps I am different there.

403

They were already towards the top end, and our early bird, discount prices, are comparable to West Brom fans in the championship from the same region. Just like no Wolves fan is going to randomly start supporting us because there’s no queue for tickets, no Walsall fan is going to start supporting another club because the prices are comparable. It’s irrelevant, the stadium was nowhere near half full, pre price increase. It’s not really a mystery.

1 Like
404

Sky highlights

2 Likes
405

What I would say is, Harrogate complained about the first yellow, but (and you can’t really tell from that) if he’s done Allen there at the throat it’s a straight red anyway :man_shrugging:

The lino was close enough and seemed pretty convinced

406

Doesn’t matter how well we’re doing, the walk up prices being what they are it’ll be limited to mainly season ticket holders given how easy it is to watch the games from the comfort of your living room this season.

If the season tickets were sold in the knowledge that we would be doing as well as we are then we would no doubt have a far bigger home attendance. No one saw it coming, 5 years of mid table obscurity you can’t expect a rapid rise in attendances overnight.

If and still an if we do go up, I’d hope for a rise in attendances next season given the club don’t do something silly like a big price rise.

2 Likes
407

Totally agree. Not sure if it’s been posted already but I’m certain Belshaw (their Keeper) was given man of the match.

408

fairly sure he was here as a youth player, name rings a bell

409

He was, James Belshaw :+1:t3:

2 Likes
410

Do we think Josh March and Taylor Allen weren’t best of friends when they were at FGR together?

1 Like
411

In 2009, left us to play for Duke Blue Devils in America.

1 Like
412

Josh March that helmet who moved to Stevenage a couple of years ago and scored against us down there? He was giving it the big one that day too.

413

6 points clear and a game in hand at Christmas, I’d have taken that to be fair. Absolutely brilliant.

At no point today did we look like losing, and with the amount of chances we create, we were always bound to bag one or two.

Awful game to watch, and I think we had a bit of luck in that we had the “bad” end re the conditions in the first half, given that the conditions appeared to deteriorate in the 2nd half…but nevertheless we just keep on going. Tight at the back and prolific up top, threats on the left, threats on the right - a real balanced side.

I just hope we can keep going cos it could be an historic season. I have to keep reminding myself this evening that we are on 43 points, AT CHRISTMAS.

26 games left, and even if we lose Lowe, we should be able to secure 30-35 points youd think? Thats 10 wins or so, and puts us bang in comfortable playoff territory. 40-45 points (12/13 more wins plus a few draws) probably sees us challenging for the title.

I do fear losing Lowe, he’s the difference in a lot of the tight games, and weve given Clearly no minutes to speak of to see if he’s any kind of suitable replacement. I’ll nail my colours to the mast, I can’t see Lowe staying, he’s a better player (and scored more) than Draper was, better than DJ was - the only thing going for us is that he’s on loan from the championship, and that might have some sway in where Stoke think he should be playing over the next 6 months. Irrespective of whether Stoke think he’s developing well here, I doubt they’d turn their noses up at 500k offered by Blues for example to take him for the rest of the season. He’s in form, he’s fit - there’s no way other clubs aren’t sniffing around. Let’s just hope the club have a replacement lined up and we don’t derail ourselves like we have more times than I care to remember, because blowing this one would top the lot - worse than Money losing Dann, Fox, and was it Ricketts (?) in 2008, worse than losing Dean Smith in 2015, worse than losing DJ, and worse than losing Draper.

I feel like that bloke who falls in love with a stripper once a year only to find out they’re happily married :joy:

9 Likes
414

They dont join the queue they watch it on the telly with the advent of the dodgy box.

Its easy to pick one of those clubs in recent years because we have been terrible while the midlands clubs had a resurgence until recently. Sad but true.

We have to be honest its been very difficult to advertise anyone to come to Walsall even since before we got relegated. Crap football crap pies and all that

3 Likes
415

McEntee improves our midfield. Strong in the tackle and able beat a man and pass creatively.

416

Lol, lazy trolling. Can do better than that.

7 Likes
417

NEWS FLASH… other clubs charge to get in their grounds as well.

I’m sure other clubs charge within 2-£4 of the price we charge, and all clubs have concessions. We virtually gave the tickets away for some of our games this season and we struggled to get 6,000 home fans.

I think the fact that we’ve struggled really badly for a lot of the last decade has stopped a lot of established fans from coming and a good percentage of them from ever coming back.
I was one of them,I very nearly cut all ties with the cub after being an ever present since I was 5yrs old.

Then there are all the youngsters who have been put off from even beginning their journey even though that is being addressed now with the advantage of being top of the league to maybe help keep more of them.

There have been numerous attempts over the years to encourage youngsters with the free tickets for schools schemes, albeit faced with absolutely dismal, excruciatingly bad football when they got here.

I think 2-3 of good progressive football is the answer,along with the special offers. It’s not a quick fix,it will probably take 3yrs to take our average home fans numbers to nearer 6,000.

3 Likes
418

He did indeed. Fit as a butchers dog.

419

Not sure ticket prices are the driving factor behind low attendances at Walsall.

Long term lack of success, an aging stadium, poor transport connections, a selection of relatively more successful clubs nearby to support, demographics of Walsall itself and a hitherto lack of ambition to break the mould just gives anyone without a direct connection to Walsall a reason not to bother.

5 Likes
420

Spot on SID. We need at least 2 seasons of success to increase the numbers substantially in my view. Prices are a factor but if we can go up this year and compete well in the League above our gates will start to climb.

2 Likes