The crowd this evening

[Mattywerewolf]

Anyone who was sat watching that last night, and complaining about it, doesn't really like football very much. That was the best game I've seen in months.

This! We absolutely bossed the game and but for Marshall would have won 3-1 or 4-1. He was MoM by a mile. Last night was not about poor strikers but an inspired keeper.

 

[clippedgull]

T Last night was not about poor strikers but an inspired keeper.

Wrong and right!

Strikers were poor as all the saves came from other departments. Right..the goalie.

 

[Blue and White Tiger]

I'm a 300 mile round trip season ticket holder, and so are my 3 sons. I've been a fan since 1975 and have done 81 of the 92 grounds as an away fan.

I'm sorry to say Barber has done what every CEO in this position (new stadium, wave of euphoria) would have done - put up the cost of the package far more than the value of what is being delivered. Look at our attendance profile since August 2011 and it is not dissimilar to any of the new stadia of the last 10 years. The Club just got too greedy too quickly, mis-read how much stretch was left in the pockets of the man on the street, and then no doubt seems surprised when things fall further than they would have expected.

For us, the cost of long distance transport, the cost of the season tickets themselves (we are no longer one of the lowest), and the cost of stadium catering (eye watering for such crap delivery) are the problem. I have not spent a single penny on stadium food and drink this season because it has just gone too far, it's ridiculous. We use the Evening Star, the Lansdowne in Lewes, and last night for the first time ever the Swan in Falmer.

Still, we remain loyal, our door-to-door matchday time is 11 hours on a Saturday and 9.5 hours for evening matches, and nothing will stop us coming.

Interestingly, much better atmosphere last night, because we played well and had 26 attempts on goal.

Wedgee

I too am a long distance season ticket holder. 340 mile round trip for me. Can't do many midweek due to work.

I too think the club has become very greedy very quickly. For me the first thing i want to do after a 170 mile trip is to have a bit of food and a drink, but i now find myself stopping elsewhere before the game. The prices are ridiculous.

 

[Mattywerewolf]

Wrong and right!

Strikers were poor as all the saves came from other departments. Right..the goalie.

Fair point, although have to say that i thought COG looked good when he came on. Looks like he will get a bit more airtime given CMS's tweak and Baldock's niggle.

 

[Bozza]

Last night was a FANTASTIC game which I really enjoyed despite the frustration of us not getting a much-deserved win due to Marshall's heroics.

But, as someone who has to commute to London more often than not, I did find myself wondering if I will bother for run-of-the-mill midweek league fixtures in future. I left the house at 6:30 yesterday morning and got back to my car a little after 10:30, and that was due to dashing off at about the 86 minute mark (which I absolutely hate doing) in order to try and get back across towards Worthing on the trains quickly.

As I parked my car this morning, in the same spot I'd picked it up from eight hours earlier, I did wonder if it was all worth it. We've seemingly now entered an era where almost every game will be available by dodgy online stream and the sofa with a cider in hand has more appeal than my WSU seat.

I appreciate not everyone has commuting joys/woes to contend with, but a lot of people have varying circumstances that make midweek games a pain in the arse, and I can well understand why many thousands of season ticket holders give a lot of them a miss.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Last night was a FANTASTIC game which I really enjoyed despite the frustration of us not getting a much-deserved win due to Marshall's heroics.

But, as someone who has to commute to London more often than not, I did find myself wondering if I will bother for run-of-the-mill midweek league fixtures in future. I left the house at 6:30 yesterday morning and got back to my car a little after 10:30, and that was due to dashing off at about the 86 minute mark (which I absolutely hate doing) in order to try and get back across towards Worthing on the trains quickly.

As I parked my car this morning, in the same spot I'd picked it up from eight hours earlier, I did wonder if it was all worth it. We've seemingly now entered an era where almost every game will be available by dodgy online stream and the sofa with a cider in hand has more appeal than my WSU seat.

I appreciate not everyone has commuting joys/woes to contend with, but a lot of people have varying circumstances that make midweek games a pain in the arse, and I can well understand why many thousands of season ticket holders give a lot of them a miss.

I think the time is right for a Saturday only ticket,this would appeal to the season ticket holders with young families and who knows we might sell even more of the Saturday tickets?

 

[Stat Brother]

What I don't understand is with a crowd of 23,000+ people, how come there must have been around 24,000+ people, in the Bridge car park?

 

[crodonilson]

23,000+ is still a fantastic audience. Wolves could go top of the league tonight with a win and there will probably only be 18,000 or so there.

I don't think anyone would have believed 5 years ago we'd be here now worried abbout audiences of only 23,000.

 

[Return of the Rev]

23,000+ is still a fantastic audience. Wolves could go top of the league tonight with a win and there will probably only be 18,000 or so there.

I don't think anyone would have believed 5 years ago we'd be here now worried abbout audiences of only 23,000.

Are you not worried that we were losing money with 27,000 averages a short while ago?

 

[Moshe Gariani]

The fall in attendances is due to the fact that going to watch at The Amex has not been a very pleasurable experience on the whole for the past 18 months or so.

Lots of frustrating draws and defeats in low-scoring matches and often boring keep-ball with our best attacking players watching from the bench until the 70th minute...

Sami has changed all of that and if the goals and results start to follow then the crowds will quickly return to 26K+.

The atmosphere and amount of singing was great last night until Stockdale unfortunately stuck a pin in it (loved Mullers' candour at half-time BTW). If we had gone on to score a second and third then the place would have been rocking last night. I know it is a big "IF", but you are allowed to score two or three goals at home...

 

[Return of the Rev]

What I don't understand is with a crowd of 23,000+ people, how come there must have been around 24,000+ people, in the Bridge car park?

The extra 1,000 were staff and stewards

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Looks like it was the Brighton/West Sussex fans who were missing, the Brighton train queue was gone by 10pm but the eastbound queue was still well over the bridge

Probably more to do with the fact that there was at least one well-filled 8 carriage train (21:45) going straight into Brighton whereas first train for the poor devils on the opposite platform was advertised as a crummy 3 carriage job. The queues on the bridge looked horrendous. Eastbound fans might actually do better getting a Brighton-bound train then doubling back. No wonder people are staying away from midweek matches.

 

[Simster]

23,000+ is still a fantastic audience. Wolves could go top of the league tonight with a win and there will probably only be 18,000 or so there.

I don't think anyone would have believed 5 years ago we'd be here now worried abbout audiences of only 23,000.

I have to agree - . Wolves will have far more than 18,000 there tonight though.

 

[Gazwag]

Probably more to do with the fact that there was at least one well-filled 8 carriage train (21:45) going straight into Brighton whereas first train for the poor devils on the opposite platform was advertised as a crummy 3 carriage job. The queues on the bridge looked horrendous. Eastbound fans might actually do better getting a Brighton-bound train then doubling back. No wonder people are staying away from midweek matches.

Its the same with the east bound trains every evening game, but the Brighton side cleared a lot quicker than it usually does, still got home just after 11pm which has been the norm for the last three and a bit seasons, I find it perfectly acceptable to be home in under 90 minutes after full time which is probably about 15 minutes longer than a weekend match.

 

[Captain Sensible]

I also just don't understand the not going because of form, as a fan of football it amazes me. Last night I wanted to watch a game of footie at our incredible stadium and have a beer with mates. I get frustrated at times but it wouldn't stop me going back. Do we really have some 6-7000 fans that think in this way?..

It's not just on the pitch. The whole match day experience is very very poor. High prices, idiotic service, stewards that stop the atmosphere. You start to think why should I bother? The club are roughly getting 1500 quid a year off me. I don't feel the club is holding up their side of the bargain. Everything is paid on the cheap and it shows.

 

[Let's Have A Winner!]

In my opinion it's simply just too expensive! Whilst my season ticket is ok value (although personally I'm close to the limit of what I will pay), match by match tickets are just too much hence they are currently selling very few. For example as my missus season ticket was going spare last night due to having no babysitter, I looked up how much our seat would have been before selling it on to a mate. It was £40, outrageous! Now I like my view but it's not a plum seat by any means...West Lower near the back about level with the 18 yard box towards the away end. I know many people who are really keen to take in a game...until they find out the price. How did we let this happen to our game?! I accept that supply and demand helps dictate prices (as well as ridiculous player wages of course) but whilst there are thousands of empty seats for every game at the moment perhaps they should look at abandoning the match categories...or at least make every game Cat C no matter who we're playing? And for the argument that you would pay £40 to go to the theatre or a concert...yes, but that is usually a one off, you don't go every couple of weeks. Or if you do, then you also get paid too much ;-)

Anyway, just my tuppence...carry on...

 

[SAC]

Where have they sharply been increased this year ? All u18s tickets were frozen. And other tickets went up by on average 3%. ie: close to inflation. Match day ticket prices have also been frozen.

Inflation is around 1.5% so 3% is double and some ST prices went up by 5%. £465 for the cheapest adult ST is too expensive for Championship football, even if it does include some travel. If fans think that there wont be a problem getting match day tickets, they will pick and choose games rather than paying for a ST.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Probably more to do with the fact that there was at least one well-filled 8 carriage train (21:45) going straight into Brighton whereas first train for the poor devils on the opposite platform was advertised as a crummy 3 carriage job. The queues on the bridge looked horrendous. Eastbound fans might actually do better getting a Brighton-bound train then doubling back. No wonder people are staying away from midweek matches.

The queue was huge, and I was pretty much stood above the fans waiting for the Brighton the trains. However I was on the third Lewes bound train, got on the train at 22.15 (In Lewes by 22.25) and there was no-one really left on the ramp way as far as I could see.

The biggest problem last night was the second train came in and was 8 carriages and when that train left there was plenty of space on the last 2 carriages, the people controlling the queues are pushing everyone down to the far end of the platform to get on the front of the train and leaving the back pretty empty. One of two things is happening, either they are causing massive over crowding towards the front of the train, or they are not paying attention to how many carriages the next train has and not bringing enough people onto the platform. I know the first 6 carriages only open at Lewes but they could manage the ushering of people down to the far end of the platform a lot better.

A half hour wait isn't the end of the world, I could have stayed at the ground and had a pint and walked down and still got the same train had I been so inclined.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Where have they sharply been increased this year ? All u18s tickets were frozen. And other tickets went up by on average 3%. ie: close to inflation. Match day ticket prices have also been frozen.

You missed the 'every element' part of my post. But even by your own admission 'other tickets' have risen once again this season. And this overlooks the past few seasons where all non-1901 tickets they have gone up. Also food and drink has rocketed over the past 3 years, as have parking and transport costs (some people have to pay extra for buses which were previously free) for some. Add on booking fees etc and the cost has risen quite a lot for the match-experience over the past 3 years.

 

[westy]

Last night was a FANTASTIC game which I really enjoyed despite the frustration of us not getting a much-deserved win due to Marshall's heroics.

But, as someone who has to commute to London more often than not, I did find myself wondering if I will bother for run-of-the-mill midweek league fixtures in future. I left the house at 6:30 yesterday morning and got back to my car a little after 10:30, and that was due to dashing off at about the 86 minute mark (which I absolutely hate doing) in order to try and get back across towards Worthing on the trains quickly.

As I parked my car this morning, in the same spot I'd picked it up from eight hours earlier, I did wonder if it was all worth it. We've seemingly now entered an era where almost every game will be available by dodgy online stream and the sofa with a cider in hand has more appeal than my WSU seat.

I appreciate not everyone has commuting joys/woes to contend with, but a lot of people have varying circumstances that make midweek games a pain in the arse, and I can well understand why many thousands of season ticket holders give a lot of them a miss.

I can certainly relate to this. My brother and I come down from London for every home game but last night after a pretty stressful day at work I couldn't face it.
Call me what you like, but if we were flying and scoring for fun I would have dragged myself down. With the probability of another low scoring game and a stream available online I made my choice and I feel it was the right one. Today im not ruined at work and I didnt miss a classic. Im sure there are plenty more that dont live in or around Brighton that made the same call looking at the attendance.