PG's rant

West Wilts Bee

West Wilts Bee

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PG's rant

Forgive me if a thread has already been started but I have not seen it. If it has not I am amazed that it has not been put on this forum. Last season I went to the bees v daggers Tue evening match. it was a poor gate, and having live champions league matches on tv to my mind never helped.
In saturdays match day programme Peter Gilham rightly highlighted clubs in the football leagues ever decreasing attendances due to playing their games on the same nights as these televised games. The powers that be in the football league must do something about this and arrange these games outside of euro games Maybe this cannotbe done, I hope something can be done to help the smaller clubs. It could be done by sending circulars to the clubs, and arranging petitions for their fans to sign.
 

PG's rant

Surely by now you must no what the F A stands for, outside the prem they dont give F A
 

PG's rant

bees52 bomber said:
Surely by now you must no what the F A stands for, outside the prem they dont give F A
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Don't the Football League do the Fixtures,The FA is the governing body.
The Football League should be thinking about it's members i agree.
The fa only care about the Prem Lge. & England team.
 

PG's rant

Attendances for midweek games have always been lower than those of Saturdays, I agree that having it the same night as 'The Battle of Britain' didn't help. A lot of leagues in Europe don't schdule league games for midweeks, admittedly they don't play as many games, one way round it would be to extend the season by say a month and playing those games that would have been played midweek then.

Also how about playing all Premier League games on a Sunday, again most of Europe play their games on a Sunday, this would hopefully encourage more people to come to their localFootball League side.

Having said all this I also agree that the FA care FA about the Football League clubs.
 

PG's rant

Also a bit of common sense in the evening fixtures. The distances travelled must be taken into account. The fans can't get home from some of the games by public transport and the clubs are suffering with lower attendances.
 

PG's rant

YorkshireBeeAng said:
Also a bit of common sense in the evening fixtures. The distances travelled must be taken into account. The fans can't get home from some of the games by public transport and the clubs are suffering with lower attendances.
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Agreed but since when has common sense been used?
 

PG's rant

Later in the season we have Morecambe on a Tuesday night away!!...Whats the point of that? :shrug:...not to mention Grimsby :rolleyes:

No puns about it sounds fishy please :nono:
 

PG's rant

Markybee said:
Later in the season we have Morecambe on a Tuesday night away!!...Whats the point of that? :shrug:
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Trying to even things up. :rolleyes:

When I was a regular away traveller I used to quite like the long midweek away trips to Darlo Hartlepool and Carlisle.
 

PG's rant

TW3Bee said:
Attendances for midweek games have always been lower than those of Saturdays, .......
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I would disagree with that. Going back a while - certainly pre-Premiership days - when finances were a little more even in the 4 divisions, evening games at GP were absolutely bouncing. On Saturday afternoons there was always the threat of losing the casual supporter to Chelsea, Fulham or QPR (no Sunday games in those heady pre-sky days), but under the lights on a damp Tuesday in November and the whole place was buzzing. Those were really the days.
 

PG's rant

longdistancebee said:
I would disagree with that. Going back a while - certainly pre-Premiership days - when finances were a little more even in the 4 divisions, evening games at GP were absolutely bouncing. On Saturday afternoons there was always the threat of losing the casual supporter to Chelsea, Fulham or QPR (no Sunday games in those heady pre-sky days), but under the lights on a damp Tuesday in November and the whole place was buzzing. Those were really the days.
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That's what I thought. Night matches were buzzing most of the time in those days, I can remember I really looked forward to evening games.
 

PG's rant

There is something about evening games at GP when it's full but when there is only 3,000 in the ground.....
 

PG's rant

This problem of live European TV football clashing with lower league football and reducing attendances can't be unique to British Football. Does anyone have any idea how they cope with this elsewhere in Europe ? Or isn't it a problem on the Continent ?

Like many, I always used to believe that playing under floodlights on a Tuesday night made the game more attractive and added to the atmosphere. However, with only 3,000 in the ground, there is no atmosphere at all !

If the FA (or whoever?) are going to continue to allow European matches to be televised live, this problem will only get worse, unless there is a mechanism to distribute the profits made from live European TV football to lower league clubs - and I can't see that happening !
 

PG's rant

It would be simpler if we just had all Champions League games on the Tuesday, UEFA Cup or Football League on the Wednesday. Then there's no fixture congestion that leads to problems such as low gates and only one top flight 3pm Saturday kick off. But oh no, it's all about television coverage, etc.
 

PG's rant

Ambrose_1889 said:
It would be simpler if we just had all Champions League games on the Tuesday, UEFA Cup or Football League on the Wednesday. Then there's no fixture congestion that leads to problems such as low gates and only one top flight 3pm Saturday kick off. But oh no, it's all about television coverage, etc.
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I really don't think that TV coverage has much to do with low gates. It's easier to get to games for most people on the weekends and travelling to/from/across London in the evening is a pain. A lot kids have bedtimes, school homework and after school activities so that would also discourage their parent from making the trip without them IMO. Then if you combine the cost in money and time then you have the real and everyday issues. There is always a reason not to go to football if you want it and I feel that night games have more reasons on offer.
 

PG's rant

Won't be able to make the FA Cup match v Havant, there's a game on TV i'd like to watch !

PG's rant in the morecambe (i think it was anyway) was good, re the Express and the reporters total lack of knowledge. Well done PG. I wonder if you got an apology on behalf of BFC !
 

PG's rant

longdistancebee said:
I would disagree with that. Going back a while - certainly pre-Premiership days - when finances were a little more even in the 4 divisions, evening games at GP were absolutely bouncing.
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You are right in the atmosphere stakes but since the early 1970s, it is proven that attendances are lower for midweek games. There are several factors for this, not least the ones NorthamptonBee mentions.

We play too much football but extra games means extra revenue. A simple catch 22.
 

PG's rant

markbfc said:
You are right in the atmosphere stakes but since the early 1970s, it is proven that attendances are lower for midweek games. There are several factors for this, not least the ones NorthamptonBee mentions.

We play too much football but extra games means extra revenue. A simple catch 22.
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And, I would add, these memories stretch back to the old, untouched, Royal Oak end back in the late 60s and early 70s. Bloody hell - those were good evenings!!
 

PG's rant

I think it's a little too easy to blame the Champions League games. Maybe when it gets to the quarter final stages etc it may be a factor but during the group games I wouldnt have thought so.

More relevant is when we have 2,3 or 4 home games on the trot. At £20 a pop that all adds up, especially when you consider the current 'credit crunch' hysteria. People are just being a bit more selective about which games they go to. Add to that the fact that we're still in the bottom division and there's a lot of extremely unattractive fixtures and it's no surprise that a game like Morecambe on a tues night attracts a small crowd. More of a measure was the Sat attendance which was a lot healthier..

Maybe the club should consider further incentives for midweek games like they would do with televised games? Vouchers for FA cup matches for example.... :fishing::sneakoff:
 
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