by ferrarilover » 26 Aug 2012, 02:59
Parry, yes, t'would be delightful, in exactly the same way that it would be delightful if we had a 25,000 all seater stadium which was sold out every week. Unfortunately, down here in God's waiting room, we have a populous with neither the resources nor the inclination to attend. Yeah, cheap deal, brilliant, but if people haven't got £60 for football, they haven't got £48 (a 20% discount, representing the absolute limit that anyone could possibly ask the club to swallow). It's not like we can make it a fiver for a family of four to get in, because we'd go broke inside a week.That said, apathy is what really costs us, not the money. Friday, I paid more to get into Plymouth Aquarium than I did to watch yesterday's match (as a concession season ticket holder, I think I pay something in the order of £9/match). The place was packed, largely with disinterested parents lugging their disinterested kids around somewhere "fun". It's not a lack of money. You pay more to get into the zoo or the aquarium or for a coffee and a muffin at Starbucks than you do to watch Torquay. People don't turn up because they don't care. I've got a mate, from down here, of course, who is an Arsenal "fan", watches all the games on the interweb, refuses to watch Man Utd or Tottenham on MOTD, throws his toys out of the pram if they lose, all the usual armchair fan bollocks. Will he come to Plainmoor? Will he heck as like (one for you there, Andy), because he just doesn't care. He thinks it'll be 22 amateurs hacking aimless balls around a muddy field with jumpers for goalposts. I try to tell him, but he is one of the millions brainwashed (if that isn't a bit "tin foil hat") by the Premier League's relentless campaign to get everyone to believe that only it can provide anything like quality football and that everything else is a waste of time.
I stand with the same little gang of people that I've been standing with for 8 years now (some come and go, mainly to the bathroom in Troj's case). As you would expect with Torquay, one of our number is a hotelier (there are, in fact, a number of hoteliers, but this one is relevant to the story). He often brings along guests from his hotel to matches and they love it, we've even had foreigners standing with us. One chap he brings along is a fella called Chris. Chris is indecently well off, through a combination of exceptionally hard work and a winning smile. He is now a fan to the point where, despite being all over the world on business for the majority of the season (he missed the Rochdale game for the sake of having been called to Japan on very short notice), he is a ST holder. He buys 50:50 tickets in batches of 10, drinks like a pro in the Gull's Nest and recently sponsored the Leeds PSF. All this income from just one 'off the cuff' (pressganging) visit. Sadly, it is nigh on impossible to get new fans through the door in this manner, since the overwhelming majority haven't two dimes to rub together, nor the inclination to try something new and unfamiliar.
Dutch, similar applies. You and I know that proper football is what we go to watch every week. Sadly, trying to convince the Premier League generation that this is the case is akin to persuading the same people that Fosters lager is not a proper drink, they simply won't have it.
Matt.
Parry, yes, t'would be delightful, in exactly the same way that it would be delightful if we had a 25,000 all seater stadium which was sold out every week. Unfortunately, down here in God's waiting room, we have a populous with neither the resources nor the inclination to attend. Yeah, cheap deal, brilliant, but if people haven't got £60 for football, they haven't got £48 (a 20% discount, representing the absolute limit that anyone could possibly ask the club to swallow). It's not like we can make it a fiver for a family of four to get in, because we'd go broke inside a week.That said, apathy is what really costs us, not the money. Friday, I paid more to get into Plymouth Aquarium than I did to watch yesterday's match (as a concession season ticket holder, I think I pay something in the order of £9/match). The place was packed, largely with disinterested parents lugging their disinterested kids around somewhere "fun". It's not a lack of money. You pay more to get into the zoo or the aquarium or for a coffee and a muffin at Starbucks than you do to watch Torquay. People don't turn up because they don't care. I've got a mate, from down here, of course, who is an Arsenal "fan", watches all the games on the interweb, refuses to watch Man Utd or Tottenham on MOTD, throws his toys out of the pram if they lose, all the usual armchair fan bollocks. Will he come to Plainmoor? Will he heck as like (one for you there, Andy), because he just doesn't care. He thinks it'll be 22 amateurs hacking aimless balls around a muddy field with jumpers for goalposts. I try to tell him, but he is one of the millions brainwashed (if that isn't a bit "tin foil hat") by the Premier League's relentless campaign to get everyone to believe that only it can provide anything like quality football and that everything else is a waste of time.
I stand with the same little gang of people that I've been standing with for 8 years now (some come and go, mainly to the bathroom in Troj's case). As you would expect with Torquay, one of our number is a hotelier (there are, in fact, a number of hoteliers, but this one is relevant to the story). He often brings along guests from his hotel to matches and they love it, we've even had foreigners standing with us. One chap he brings along is a fella called Chris. Chris is indecently well off, through a combination of exceptionally hard work and a winning smile. He is now a fan to the point where, despite being all over the world on business for the majority of the season (he missed the Rochdale game for the sake of having been called to Japan on very short notice), he is a ST holder. He buys 50:50 tickets in batches of 10, drinks like a pro in the Gull's Nest and recently sponsored the Leeds PSF. All this income from just one 'off the cuff' (pressganging) visit. Sadly, it is nigh on impossible to get new fans through the door in this manner, since the overwhelming majority haven't two dimes to rub together, nor the inclination to try something new and unfamiliar.
Dutch, similar applies. You and I know that proper football is what we go to watch every week. Sadly, trying to convince the Premier League generation that this is the case is akin to persuading the same people that Fosters lager is not a proper drink, they simply won't have it.
Matt.
