Apparently the club are struggling to cater for 4,500 home fans as far as queue’s for food and drink go,to say nothing of toilet facilities,surely with an extra 500 fans things would just get worse.Just a thought,what if they trained some of the stewards to serve in the bars and food outlets during the halftime break,there’s plenty of them,and lets face it,they only stand there looking like jobsworths.
Is this for real. No quality, no enjoyment, no goals and no wins and more fans expected to turn up.
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I’ve been thinking about starting a thread along the lines of ‘Emporers new clothes’ based on where we are. I have no intention of being negative, i really want DC and LP to succeed - lets face it if they do then Saturdays become a much more enjoyable day of the week. Having said that, apart from a change in names, everything is still the same. Bonser is still there, the standard of football is shocking and we dont appear to have any identity (its hard to push the ‘hard to beat’ line when we are regularly shipping three goals). Money has come into the club via transfer fees again, and i assume that the wage bill has reduced unless we are paying Guthrie, Clarke and Sinclair way over the odds.
As per the numerous posts above, results will bring the punters in - the initial bow wave of the new men at the top has worn off and the selection/formation/substitutions are incomprehensible!
I really hope they get it right soon, without it they will never get anywhere near 5k any time soon
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Nice to know I’m not the only one who has this problem.
Does the row letter refer to the row it appears alongside or the row it is painted on? No matter which I plump for, it’s wrong!
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Should there be a re-engagement of the “Walsall Supporters for Change” group? I thought that was a really positive bit of proactive engagement from our fans - maybe the board need to see more regularity of this voice/platform?
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Ridiculous, isn’t it?
You’re most definitely not the only one. We sit on the end of a row, and we are often having to do the stewards job of directing people to their seats, or sometimes, out of ours.
Really simply stuff, but does add to whether someone feels welcome or not.
If new fans are going to book in advance it would be nice if they can find their seat easily on their first visit. Being turfed out by a ST holder does not add to the match day experience.
Also the half time ‘entertainment’ relys on some poor sap making a tit of himself trying to kick the ball into the goal from increasing distances. The prizes aren’t accumalitive so the contestant feels pressured to carry on regardless until he misses and trudges off empty handed. Let them at least go away with a signed ball ffs.
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For a club of our size and location. Achieving 5,000 home fans every week strikes me as a realistic aim.
But as others have said it’s up to the club to attract those people, not just sit back and lament the fact they don’t turn up, something the previous owner was quite good at.
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Walsall FC average league attendances:
2012/2013 - 4,234, 10 home wins, 9th in League One
2013/2014 - 4,807, 7 home wins, 13th in League One
2014/2015 - 4,391, 8 home wins, 14th in League One
2015/2016 - 5,537, 11 home wins, 3rd in League One
2016/2017 - 5,072, 11 home wins, 14th in League One
2017/2018 - 4,769, 9 home wins, 19th League One
2018/2019 - 4,927, 7 home wins, 22nd in League One
*Figures will be skewed a bit for seasons with some more of the so called big clubs being in League One
If our current home form continues as it is now we’ll be looking at 4-5 home wins all season. Couple that with ■■■■■ facilities, ■■■■■ matchday staff and ■■■■■ football then 5,000 attendances are a complete fantasy.
One thing I can’t fault is our away following, the awayday experience as a Walsall fan is far more pleasurable, not only do we seem to win more games away but the general atmosphere amongst the supporters is far more jovial and makes for a good day out.
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I’m the same. As others have asked, how much in the way of tangible change has there been since he took over-on or off the pitch? He would no doubt argue that these things take time. Fine,but he doesn’t seem to want to apply the same criteria for occasional/potential supporters. It takes time ( and evidence) for attitudes to change, particularly when people have been watching dross on the pitch for a good while, and been treated like ■■■■ for much longer. Sauce for the goose…
I don’t see it as a demand more as a just an encouragement to get more down there and why wouldn’t he want to encourage that and give himself a bigger budget to play with
He’s a successful businessman who wants the best for our club but doesn’t have the personal wealth to carry out what he wants to so I just see his comments as a subtle hint that 5k would help him do that
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Very true. Obviously my circumstances are different to many being an exiled supporter but ever since Dosh went i’ve done about 5 times as many away games to home and that’s entirely down to the value for money/enjoyment factor. If like me you’ve got limited time and funds its a choice of enjoying the trip and if the football’s good and we win its a bonus, I would love someone to explain how that’s possible at Bescot, especially since the demise of the Saddlers Club, which wasn’t even that good! Surely the whole wider Bescot site is crying out for some kind of drink outlets? Northampton isn’t one of my favourite trips, but at least on their out of town thing there was a fair choice of bars and they had a fanzone. Oldham, again one of the worst there is for pubs near the ground now the old social club and the Grey Horse have gone, but at least something else has sprung up in the form of the Premier Inn pub. Literally everywhere you go (apart from Salford) there’s somewhere to meet up and have a pint within 2-5 minutes walk
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Nothing has really improved in the matchday experience, so all the points we were making during the Bonser regime are still relevant now.
If he wants more fans he needs to make walk up easier, improve atmosphere etc etc - some small improvements have been made but to curate an extra 5k needs a lot of community outreach work by a dedicated, motivated team over many years - alongside all the obvious improvements!
Any changes that cost money are out straight away cos that ■■■■■■ Bonser is still charging the club rent.
As someone who also has to pick and choose games down to circumstances, I can agree with this. I’d much rather go to an away game where there’s pubs/bars local and allow you to make a day of the football. Must be frustrating for away fans visiting the Bescot with no pubs too near, the Saddlers Club no longer running and no alcohol served to them in the away end
Pomlett: I’d like 5000 fans please.
Me: I’d like 11 players please.
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But we need 5000 before you get that 
I felt the same reading his programme notes asking for 5k attendances in a bar (without a drink) that can’t cope with current levels of attendance. I’m fairly easy going but crap customer care gets right up my nose when it comes to spending my hard earned.
The only home game i’ve been to this season was Forest Green, spent 45 minutes waiting to get a round in, that’s a right chunk of your pre-match social time just gone and I certainly wouldn’t be doing it again anytime soon.
Northampton away, 5 minutes to get served in The Walter Tull, Morecambe 2 minutes in the pub right next to the ground, When I go to Newcastle its instant service before the game and about 5 minutes wait at half-time, Blyth clubhouse which is always packed to the rafters its 2-5 minutes with numerous committee men helping out pouring pints while the bar staff take orders and cash. That’s three levels of football I regularly attend plus all the years 2nd and 3rd tiers and only at Bescot is there a problem, and has been for years, its an absolute ball-ache.Some of the innovations you see at other grounds are so simple and effective, like the machine at Forest that pours 8 pints at a time, dedicated bottle bars (what’s the point in standing behind dozens of people that want draught pints if youre happy with a quick bottle??), beer tents at Villa, Sunderland and many other places. You would have thought the demise of the Saddlers Club would have been seen as a great money making opportunity where pre-match quaffery was concerned, instead its turned into mission impossible.
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Continuing on the non footballing matters:
There can’t be many football grounds in England where the pre-match / walk-up “experience” is as non-existent and soul-less as it is at the Banks’s.
Park up, walk to the ground, watch the game, go home or go somewhere else.
No nearby pubs (don’t think we can count the Park Inn’s bar), nowhere to eat aside from a MaccyD and nothing really going on to generate a pre-match atmosphere.
I may have been spoilt growing up with FA Cup runs, going to bigger clubs where burger vans, traders (official ones of course!!) selling scarves, badges, programmes and paraphernalia all added to the excitement of the walk to the ground. Not just the big clubs, this was the norm and possibly still is at many grounds.
I have in more recent times been to sporting occasions in other countries who make the most of having a variety of street vendors, drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic), official merchandise stands and even local bands playing / entertaining punters for a good hour before the main event.
I appreciate that WFC want food and drink to be consumed WITHIN the ground to maximise profit, but many also consider the kiosks serving bang average fare and it’s often in short supply (allied with the queue issues raised above) so, how about a trial whereby 4 or 5 local independent food and drink traders are allowed a pitch up on a match day and a % of trade agreed goes to the club?
One doing beers, one doing hot drinks, a couple doing street food (even healthy options 
) and another doing something sweet. Food and drinks fairs are big business these days and there must be folk around Walsall in this line of work who’d welcome the opportunity.
Just a thought.
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You could always sample the delights of the Fryatt Hotel for a match day experience without parallel.
Around £4.50 a pint, served in a plastic glass, supplemented by frequent glances from bar staff who appear to be expecting you to thrash the place any minute.
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