Reads the threads 
But as a starter for 10
B O N S E R
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Iām a ālapsedā supporter,Iāve been 3 or 4 times in the past 5yrsā¦they could halve the prices,give me a seat with a cushion,or have bonser bring me burger and chips on a silver tray at halftime,and I still wouldnāt come while they are playing ā ā ā ā football.
Even when we played good football under Smith and almost got promoted, you werenāt tempted?
You may be an outlier, Sid but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the regime at the club is s major factor.
It will take more than a run of 10 games without a defeat to get me backā¦there have been plenty of false dawns over the past 5 yrs.Once youāve made the decision to stop going (I watched them for over 50yrs before I stopped going) Itās very hard to get the enthusiasm to start going again.
124 to Gillingham is poor, but weāve never really taken good numbers to Kent. I remember seeing Jeff Peron make his debut at the start of 1997/8 and the away following was 204, again on a Saturday and in August (second away match). Okay we started the season poorly under BFJ and our home support was a bit smaller than it is now, but itās not that different. The following season opener, at the start of the Graydon era, must have been 350-400 at most. I canāt remember a bigger following than that to the Preistfield Stadium in the last 20 years or more, but stand to be corrected. Perhaps we took a few more for Colin Leeās last game in 2004, but Iāve not seen a figure for this one.
We never seem to take many to the south east generally and Gillingham is probably quite typical for us.
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So basically a glory hunter
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Youād need to look very hard to find any glory at Walsall over the past 5yrsā¦
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The club are doing their level best to put us back near the top of this tableā¦by reducing the home gates
When Iāve emailed and questioned price reductions, etc the club have always used fairness to season ticket holders and making it viable as an excuse. No risk strategy. However no pain, no gain. Theyāre just not interested in growing. They either think itāll be fruitless or canāt be bothered.
Unable to attend tonight but Iām hopeful, from what Iāve read, that the issue will be brought up again.
Youāve just lost the live football bug I think. As you say once you stop going every week and ditch a season ticket for odd games here and there, itās rare to return to getting a season ticket a few years later.
Problem is believe it or not but theyāll be long winless runs and s*** football under a new regime one day aswell. Short of Sir Ray Graydon being tempted back anyway.
Went to my first away game at Crewe on a Friday night in 69 we took 6 coaches and there end.Next season we couldnāt fill a coach at Luton for a Saturday night game on cup final day no rose tinted glasses from me.
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There have been lots of losing streaks over the years,but it was like water of a ducks back in those days.The time that finished me off was Paul Mersonā¦the next 4-5yrs just went down hill for meā¦I started missing games until I was missing more than I was attending,and suddenly WFC became just a club like Man utd whoās results I look out for.It will take a lot to get me back to Bescot on a regular basis.My eldest and youngest sons are in same boat,that just leaves my middle son (Gavin77) and his kids who go regularly.
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You still post, Sid, so you still care.
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I must doā¦
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106 Saddlers at Plymouth tonight.
Credit to all - but Iām sorry those that even attempt to say our followings arenāt haemorrhaging have their heads in the sand. Distance, weather blah blah - all the same factors that would have affected any other season.
I was looking at some programmes from 97/98 (BFJ) onwards and the lowest was 250 at Southend in that season - I was there. And that was a ā ā ā ā poor seasonā¦
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Funk do you have any other figures from that season? Would be good to compare.
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Bare in mind this was a long time before football became a boom business and our form in the league was dog ā ā ā ā lol! Going to look like a right statto here - unravelled the page in the programme which has seen better days - here goesā¦
Chesterfield 1080
Gillingham 244
Exeter City (CCC Rd1) 162 (midweek)
Bristol Rovers 287 (midweek)
Preston North End 280
Nottingham Forest (CCC Rd 2) 1735 (midweek)
Plymouth Argyle 219 - just spotted this one
Brentford 386
Burnley 307
Wycombe Wanderers 230 (midweek)
West Ham United (CCC Rd 3) 1935 (midweek)
Thats as far as my programme goes, I remember some great cup followings at Macclesfield, Peterborough, Man United and a sell-out league following to Northampton. I have plenty of programmes from the following seasons but they would offer unfair comparisons as thatās when Graydon was working his magic.
As an aside, nearly all of our rivals from 97/98 that are still around us have gone on to substantially increase their average attendances. Guess where we areā¦around the same!
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Ok Funk thanks for that. The relatively low followings in 97/98 are still about double what we take now. Yet more evidence our support is tanking.
At risk of being a bit of a nerd my programme that season says:
Chesterfield 1010 rather than 1080
Gillingham 204 rather than 244
Bristol Rovers 187 rather than 287
Our home average that season was 4,062, so as a percentage our away support would have been higher, but overall still pretty poor when you take out the away cup followings (8,486 at Old Trafford).
Some of the cup followings were tremendous and probably had a negative impact on the league - both form and followings.
I stand corrected, my programme is literally hanging on to life by a thread lol! But yes, even if you consider our FA Cup following to Bolton this season, in comparison to the cups that year itās pretty poor.
Certainly our away followings never used to threaten going into double figures as they have done the last few seasons (82 at Peterborough last season - but there were other factors). The only club we always travelled in poor numbers to was Millwall - can never remember a good following there.