Seat Counters 25/26

johnnytapia said:
When was the last time you went to Palace midweek?
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The last time we played a midweek game there, which if memory serves me correctly, was a frustrating 0-0 draw in 2022.

I've also not missed a game in all comps this season, so if this is supposed to be some sort of "Gotcha" moment, then it's not going to work.

My point stands, the self proclaimed 'best support in the league', brought less supporters than what Stockport took to AFC Wimbledon on a Wednesday night last month.
 
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
 
There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
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I don’t think it’s about fair weather fans. I think a lot of absentees are the old core support who have become tired of the complexity of just getting a ticket to get into a match compared to how it used to be. Treatment of match going fans by the club, tv broadcasters, EPL schedulers et al has been cumulatively disenfranchising. VAR has disembowled much of the match enjoyment too.
 
There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
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I think you're right to be worried, although I remain hopeful that the introduction of this new pricing tier for these unattractive midweek fixtures will help get more locals in the ground last minute for these types of games.
 
under the turnstile said:
I don’t think it’s about fair weather fans. I think a lot of absentees are the old core support who have become tired of the complexity of just getting a ticket to get into a match compared to how it used to be. Treatment of match going fans by the club, tv broadcasters, EPL schedulers et al has been cumulatively disenfranchising. VAR has disembowled much of the match enjoyment too.
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Is it so difficult though? I'd guess it's the same procedure for any game if not an ST holder.
 
There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
Click to expand...
for me by far the biggest discouragement for midweek is the transport shambles. Even coming from Macc midweeks are a real pain. Cant easily drive because cant park. Trains unreliable and late ones are chronically overcrowded. Tram unreliable and chronically overcrowded. Matchday bus is a good option for getting home but we prefer to go into town for a beer before game. None of these things are absolute showstoppers but they erode the enjoyment. We were there last night as usual, but i rarely look forward to night games nowadays.
 
There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
Click to expand...
We’ve been shafted by the way the fixtures have fallen in the second half of the season. Of our nine home PL games since Christmas, four have been midweek with another played at 8pm on Saturday and one at 5:30pm on a Sunday. Additionally we’ve had midweek home games in both the Carabao Cup and CL.

I’m fortunate enough to be able get to all of them but it’s not so easy for lots of others. It becomes a grind for plenty of otherwise loyal fans.
 
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There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
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You’re overthinking it, we’re all paying for more games because we are so successful and when games clash with other responsibilities it’s going to mean people have to give some games a miss. Secondly all teams have occasional drops in attendance especially for weekday night games. Thirdly, it shouldn’t really matter. Fans of other teams will say our support isn’t as good as theirs, and they probably believe it, but it’s not true. There’s plenty of evidence that we are pretty decent.
 
shnaghaicityfish said:
for me by far the biggest discouragement for midweek is the transport shambles. Even coming from Macc midweeks are a real pain. Cant easily drive because cant park. Trains unreliable and late ones are chronically overcrowded. Tram unreliable and chronically overcrowded. Matchday bus is a good option for getting home but we prefer to go into town for a beer before game. None of these things are absolute showstoppers but they erode the enjoyment. We were there last night as usual, but i rarely look forward to night games nowadays.
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Correct.
1 tram stop, parking restrictions and a shit load of traffic puts a lot of people off.
 
Man-chester copperpot said:
Correct.
1 tram stop, parking restrictions and a shit load of traffic puts a lot of people off.
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The parking fiasco has killed many, i now use the Matchday bus which is good but still i have an onward connection.I walked through the door at 2335 last night, i am retired so no rush today.
No wonder we have people leaving on 80mins and earlier!
 
Citizen of Legoland said:
You’re overthinking it, we’re all paying for more games because we are so successful and when games clash with other responsibilities it’s going to mean people have to give some games a miss. Secondly all teams have occasional drops in attendance especially for weekday night games. Thirdly, it shouldn’t really matter. Fans of other teams will say our support isn’t as good as theirs, and they probably believe it, but it’s not true. There’s plenty of evidence that we are pretty decent.
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Every club suffers dropped attendances for midweek games Gone are the times when games kicked off at 7.30 and were finished by 9.10. Now kick off at 8 and no idea what time game is going to finish. Where I sit a family in front of me don't all attend due to kids being at school the following day . Also with success comes cost im having a guess at your fans have paid out about £300 each time they have been down to Wembley twice in the last month with ticket and travel. As much as supporters want to be at every match it is just not always financially viable so you are always going to have a certain amount who are going to be selective.
 
There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
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Its at this point where it becomes blindingly obvious that the clubs policy of treating their local match going fanbase with absolute disdain for a number of years seems rather foolish. Ticket Pricing, attendance registers, restrictions on ticket transfers for seasoncard holders, parking restrictions all over the place - many people are pissed off with it and fan apathy when youre increase seating at the ground itself are not compatible.
 
There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
Click to expand...
Speaking as someone who's been to basically all league home games this season, I swerved last night partly because it is a fucking ballache trying to get to and from City for a midweek game these days, and honestly the weather factors in as well. That Forest game earlier in the season was a total arse to get to and we missed kick-off by a good 15 mins. I go to games with my mum and have done since just before we left Maine Road. She used to drive me, now I drive her. We used to get the train to every game but she's not as good with walking as she used to be (overweight, COPD not far off, bad knees) so we tend to drive more often now. We get the train occasionally - we'll probably get the train to the Villa game - but the car's just easier.

I've got a friend who (luckily) lives in Miles Platting and we tend to park up on her drive, which is about a 15-20 minute walk (at my mum's speeds) from the ground. That means last night we'll have needed to be on my friend's drive for 7.30pm. We live out in Stockport but we tend to avoid the A6/A57 route, we tend to go round the M60 up to J22 at Oldham and then drive down Oldham Road. The whole journey takes about 45 minutes, door to door. On a bad night it can take an hour, so we would need to leave by 6.30. We're both coeliac so we have to get something to eat at home, which would take about 30-45 mins to prepare and eat. So we'd need to be home from work by 5.30pm. We both finish work at 5pm, sometimes later, which means we end up cutting it incredibly fine if we want to make kick-off.

Then after the game it takes 15-20 minutes to get back to the car, another 10 minutes to get out onto Alan Turing Way, and from there about 30 minutes to get home (thanks to a load of shortcuts we've worked out over the years). I've got to drop her off first and then get home myself. It's gone 11pm by the time I'm coming through the door and we're both up in the morning for work. We were gonna get the train last night to avoid the traffic but if it's pissing it down (which it was) we know we're gonna end up soaked and freezing for the 90 minutes, unable to eat anything at the ground to warm up, unable to take an umbrella because they won't let you in the ground with one, and then there's the possibility of getting piss wet through again on the walk back to Piccadilly. It's such a faff getting there and then there are all sorts of restrictions and rules once you're at the ground and over the years it's just not been worth it.

Now take all that rigmarole and apply it to someone who doesn't even have a season ticket and then apply it to a game that was arranged with two weeks notice, the cheapest tickets for which were £43 a pop. It's not just City, it's everywhere that isn't London. Games are hard to get to midweek in a way that fans of London clubs just don't understand. If you can hop on the tube, go 5-6 stops in 15 minutes, then walk onto the ground, going to a night game would be like a piece of piss. Getting home would maybe take about 30 minutes instead of 15 on account of the queues at the tube stations, but you'd pay about £3-5 for your entire travel that night and you wouldn't break a sweat. What do we have at City, one Metrolink stop that has about one tram every 10-15 minutes in either direction - it's either that, fight with traffic, or, in the case of last night, get rained on consistently for 30 minutes to and from Piccadilly. If we could take umbrellas and our own food into the ground we'd be laughing, but the club have banned them both. So we watched it on TV instead.
 
There is a Light said:
I worry about our attendances at midweek matches next season with the increased capacity in the ground.

For whatever reason our attendances really do suffer when domestic matches aren’t on a weekend.

It’s not as obvious for Champions League matches, as more tourists take up the slack, but our core support has a lot of fair weather fans that result in no shows for what ever reason.
Click to expand...
Those tickets being sold for £50+ last night will be all £25 next season according to the club. The £30 tickets last night all sold out so the demand for cheaper tickets is there.

I doubt we will see 60k+ crowds for most midweek games but I can see us getting a lot more than last night if it’s £25 for adults.
 
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