Leaving the game early

[pride in battle]

I'm sure some will blame it on the club, or the buses, or the traffic, or the weather, or an early rise in the morning. Pretty sure most of those things were around at Maine Road, though I didn't see too many leaving early around me in the Kippax back in the day.

It's the clubs fault...just repeating what's said on here.

 

[stadiumcat]

I go to about 5 or 6 games a year as I live outside Manchester and I see this wherever I sit. There's those who turn up 5 mins after KO, shake hands with all their regulars, chat about anything except what's on the pitch for a while, get up to beat the queues at HT, then leave on 80 mins.

You are describing The Football "Gold-Butterfish", A cross between the social butterfly with the memory of a Goldfish. There are three sometimes four who are seen in the lower Eaststand, very weather dependent on if you will see them, but you have to be quick to catch a glimpse.
PS they don't often come out in poor weather.

 

[Roachy]

Is it a transport thing?

I had season tickets at Maine Road and Etihad. I can’t remember people leaving as early as 75 - 80 mins at Maine Road. That’s when we were absolutely shit, too.

At the Etihad it’s always happened, be it when we were shit or now, when we are awesome.

I don’t pay my money to go anymore so it’s not for me to criticise either way, but is transport the reason?

It is a factor no doubt. It just seems a real pain in the arse to get away from our ground, but then surely a lot of other stadiums must suffer from this. At Maine Rd it was about 85 mins when the first fans started drifting off but now it's much earlier and in greater numbers. Last night was pretty bad for early leavers though.

 

[give it to gordon]

Its a shame it happens, looks treble on the TV.
Its been happening for decades my granddad always left 5 mins earlier

 

[Prophet of Doom]

It wouldn’t matter if there was a travelator direct to Picadilly outside every exit.

It’s been allowed to fester over a number of years and now there is nothing the club can do to change it as it’s an ingrained habit. 25k leave before the final whistle and it gets a little worse every game.

My toes curl after a great performance where the players go to thank supporters and there is hardly anybody left in the stadium.

There are loads on here that think it doesn’t matter - but I do wonder what the players were thinking last night seeing all the empty seats in the south stand throughout the game and then the usual exodus with 10 mins to go.

If we can’t applaud the team off during the best era in our history then a dread to think what happens when we eventually turn shit.

 

[Franny 1234]

Don't usually care about late arrivals and early leavers much, but last night really took the piss.

An entire family of five about two rows in front of me turned up 25 minutes late. They then took a good minute trying to find their seats, dilly dallying in the aisle, getting up and sitting down again, until someone behind me shouted "Jesus Christ are you lot coming or going or what?"

They then all got up for half-time dead on 40 minutes, all slowly making their way to the aisle again. After half-time they all came back on 50 minutes, again, taking their sweet time. Then they all left on 85 minutes, standing in the aisle and turning round whenever the crowd made a noise.

They saw precisely 50 minutes of a 90-minute game and affected everyone else's enjoyment with their constant twitchy feet. If I know I'm gonna be even 10 minutes late for a game I just give my ticket to someone else and don't bother going. Think they need to start shutting the doors after a certain time tbh - if you're not in by 15 mins, sorry.

Have you any idea how many fans were late last night due to the failures of out ticket system. I was 6 mins late and seen loads of fans getting turned away from turnstiles then joining ques at ticket office. No excuses for the family of five you refer to though. CTID

 

[Bozo]

If you leave a football game early without a decent excuse, football isn't for you.

 

[LangleyBlue1970]

It is a factor no doubt. It just seems a real pain in the arse to get away from our ground, but then surely a lot of other stadiums must suffer from this. At Maine Rd it was about 85 mins when the first fans started drifting off but now it's much earlier and in greater numbers. Last night was pretty bad for early leavers though.

We always used to stay, knowing there would be an extended afternoon/night of beers and a curry after. Usually after getting beat.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I was thinking about this on Sunday when roughly 80 minutes after the Final Whistle our coach had only travelled around 2-3 miles from Anfield. (even longer at Villa and Tottenham last season)

Too many stadiums have increased their capacity with hardly any thought whatsoever about improving the transport infrastructure. Consequently, it just becomes ingrained in peoples minds that the only way to beat the traffic (or have a realistic chance of catching an early tram) is to leave before the end.

I'm neither criticising nor defending, but I don't even think it's anything to do with the kick off time, as it tends to be the same people every week.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

The irony is I stayed and clapped the lads
off and was back home a good 20 mins earlier than usual

I agree there is always a reason to leave early but I can’t think of any other social event where you spend so much for a ticket and leave at 80% completion, especially en masse

The benefit after a night game especially this time of year is there's no shoppers going home traffic.

The motorways to Fleetwood-by-the-Sea were wet but lovely and quiet.