Villa return some of their 1700 allocation - on OS now

[Skashion]

They'll probably also make more noise than our 40-odd thousand that'll be in attendance too ;)

Bollocks. No-one boos louder than us.

 

[M18CTID]

Its just common sense and very understandable that you would be more willing to fork out £40 at an away game you've got more chance of winning. Paying £40+ to watch us get humped at Oid Trafford every season isn't my idea of fun.

Don't forget we've been in the Premier League since it started aswell, visiting the same grounds every season and paying £40+ for the privilege is tedious now. There's only so many times I'm willing to pay that to watch us lose at Old Trafford or Anfield, and I've passed my limit.

I agree to an extent, but that line of thinking isn't applicable to all fans. My own deciding factors where away games are concerned are varied but probability of winning the match doesn't really come into it - if it did, I'd have stopped watching us at Old Trafford years ago! For me it's:

Cost

Logistics - if the game is at a weekend, I'm more likely to attend it than if it was a midweek night match that required me to take time off work.

How good a day out it is - for example, Everton away tends to be a shit all-round experience, whereas Villa away is always a good laugh regardless of the result.

I agree with you. The day out factor is why we always have 4000+ at Fulham every season whether it's on a sunday or on Sky, yet we only take 1800 to Spurs. The simple fact of that one is our fans know Fulham is always a good day out and we take over the place. That's where picking and choosing games comes into it again, if I could only afford one of Fulham or Spurs I would pick Fulham everytime and a lot of our fans would do the same hence our big numbers there every year.

Yeah, I don't like Tottenham away either yet Fulham is a just an altogether more pleasant day out. Another good comparison to make is Villa and Birmingham - you can drink freely in the pubs around Villa Park (except home fans only pubs of course) and mix freely with the locals but you need eyes in the back of your head when it comes to playing Birmingham.

 

[Deleted member 52846]

TBF to Villa when times are tight like this many will have to pick and choose away games and given the choice i reckon most will opt to go to a game they have a chance of getting something from (i know they won against you in the league cup but not counting that) rather than an almost certain defeat.

That's spot on. £25-30 is about how much a football match should cost. £40 is expensive and there are cheaper games to go to. Fans can't afford to go to all games these days (look at our four home games in a row this month - Real Madrid sold out, none of the others have done).

If 1300 come to the Etihad on Saturday, they're the 1300 of their usual core of away fans (of what 1800-3000?) who can justify paying that. Others may be aiming for other upcoming games to spend their money on.

 

[Marvin]

Birmingham City are without doubt the worst supported club in the country - given the size of their host City. And I'm not saying that because Villa are visiting. It's always something I've never understood. Historically their support at City has been tiny - accept when the Zulus made their anniversary visit.

 

[alexavfc]

Hello all, A Villa fan in peace.

Agree with many of the comments on here it is a shame, poor that we don’t sell out a 1800 allocation (nevermind a 2800 with the upper) but as others have said for me it would cost £40 plus parking, petrol from WS13 postcode, a burger and a coke, and unless you’re the more hardened supporter or slightly more well off (I am neither) then it is a big ask, but granted your guys will fill the away section at our place, as we probably would of done in years gone by (Also agree £42 is too much at our place, but then that shows as we have large gaps of empty seats every week, I find it hard to justify my £590 Season card with the constant dross we churn out)

We have QPR, (£42) Chelsea (£55 in Shed Upper) all before Christmas so fans pick and choose, as do I. I've seen us this season take 3000+ to Fulham, Southampton, West Ham and Swindon, this season, yet barely take over 1000 to Spurs and Newcastle, our support is hit and miss. Myself included, I’ve been to 4 away games this season but won’t be at City or UTD this season as I can’t be bothered to pay all that money to see us get humped whilst sticking 10 men behind the ball, especially when our local shows all the games, I only went MU last season as my friend who is a MU fan wanted to go and I had the pleasure of sitting in that top tier which bears similarities to watching football out of a letter box.

As for a big club, one poster had it spot on, bags of potential, but only really a big club these days in name only and history, as of today quite frankly we are rubbish and very lucky to still be in this league after the dross served up under McClueless last term.

I will say though, I’ve seen empty seats in both your champions league games, and V Spuds last week, not knocking it, just saying were not alone
Oh and I apologise as others have pointed out for the usual garbage a chunk of our away support belts out, a firm favourite of mine is the “empty seats my lord” when we haven't taken a full away allocation

All the best for the rest of the season, your boys keep the many “local” MU fans by me very quiet (and theres many of them here in the Midlands)
UTV

 

[Dexter Morgan]

Hello all, A Villa fan in peace.

Agree with many of the comments on here it is a shame, poor that we don’t sell out a 1800 allocation (nevermind a 2800 with the upper) but as others have said for me it would cost £40 plus parking, petrol from WS13 postcode, a burger and a coke, and unless you’re the more hardened supporter or slightly more well off (I am neither) then it is a big ask, but granted your guys will fill the away section at our place, as we probably would of done in years gone by (Also agree £42 is too much at our place, but then that shows as we have large gaps of empty seats every week, I find it hard to justify my £590 Season card with the constant dross we churn out)

We have QPR, (£42) Chelsea (£55 in Shed Upper) all before Christmas so fans pick and choose, as do I. I've seen us this season take 3000+ to Fulham, Southampton, West Ham and Swindon, this season, yet barely take over 1000 to Spurs and Newcastle, our support is hit and miss. Myself included, I’ve been to 4 away games this season but won’t be at City or UTD this season as I can’t be bothered to pay all that money to see us get humped whilst sticking 10 men behind the ball, especially when our local shows all the games, I only went MU last season as my friend who is a MU fan wanted to go and I had the pleasure of sitting in that top tier which bears similarities to watching football out of a letter box.

As for a big club, one poster had it spot on, bags of potential, but only really a big club these days in name only and history, as of today quite frankly we are rubbish and very lucky to still be in this league after the dross served up under McClueless last term.

I will say though, I’ve seen empty seats in both your champions league games, and V Spuds last week, not knocking it, just saying were not alone
Oh and I apologise as others have pointed out for the usual garbage a chunk of our away support belts out, a firm favourite of mine is the “empty seats my lord” when we haven't taken a full away allocation

All the best for the rest of the season, your boys keep the many “local” MU fans by me very quiet (and theres many of them here in the Midlands)
UTV

Its a strange one that although TOTTENHAM game was a sell out for home fans and the gate was 47200, there did appear to be empty seats dotted about. The CL games havent sold out yet the R. Madrid game soon has, yet i bet there will be more empty seats to be seen.Anyway you Villa fans have made me nervous now your saying youve no chance on saturday! Anything can happen. Good luck after sat.

 

[Marvin]

There were a few at Kick off. 20 mins in it looked pretty full to me

 

[RACHACE]

The overall cost of football has been a joke for years, all games should be capped at £35 and there should be none of this "it's London prices" shit.

Can anyone confirm how much Derby away was when Sven was in charge. I'm sure it was over £40 and it was on a Tuesday night!!!

It won't change anytime soon, football is more popular than ever and is fashionable. I don't think the away fan will die off completely but numbers will dwindle. That won't matter to the more successful clubs though as those seats will be easily filled by your casual/fair weather fan.

Clubs get so much money from tv that you would think they'd be all for reasonable pricing for those that want to attend. The tv season ticket is where it's going for the majority.

 

[Maldeika]

The train ticket included in the match normally just means transport in the regional area. Here were I live - the Rhein-Main-Area it just includes the region in which the RMV (the traffic agency for the Rhein-Main-Area - there is a lot companies that have busses, trains etc. in this area and in this region the RMV-tickets can be used for the Deutsche Bahn, too) tickets are valid.

If you take the match tickets for the Frankfurt Eintracht. The RMV-zone e.g. ends about 30 km further in the East were the Bavarian border is whereas in other directions it goes a slightly longer distance.

The inclusion into the match ticket is just a calculation thing. I could tell you that, when my company had a special agreement with the RMV I only paid 40 EUR a month for my 158 EUR month ticket - and that was just a calculation thing, too.

Let me try to explain it to you with 100 visitors.

50 go by car and do not need a ticket for the bus.
20 already have a ticket as they travel in and around Frankfurt every day because of their jobs.
5 would be free as they go with friends who use options like take your partner or friend or whatsever with you on your job ticket on weekends...
5 take a "Schönes-Wochende-Ticket" - Nice Weekend-ticket of the Bundesbahn for 28 EUR
10 just need to take a ticket from the Hauptbahnhof to the stadium or for travel inside the city for about 5 EUR each - makes 50 EUR (could be cheaper as it is not in peak hours)
10 need a ticket between 7 EUR and 26 EUR - let us take 15 EUR - makes 150 EUR

The travel agency would have earned 28 EUR + 50 EUR + 150 EUR=228 EUR for this 100 travellers if those that need one would have bought it regulary. That's 2,28 EUR per person on the basis of 100 people.

The football club then gets something like a group discount and only pays 2 EUR for each ticket to include the price for the travelling in the regional area and with the regional transport system into the match ticket.

But - as you can see in the above calculation there is only a few of the visitors that really have an advantage through it - a lot pay for it without having that. And there is the hope that more persons use public transport on match days because of the traffic and parking situation and pollution.

Bayern Munich e.g. does not have regional travelling included. There visitors come from all over Germany and the most have to go further than the borders of the MVV (Munich transport agency).

To compare Germany and Great Britain...
If you live in areas where the Bundesliga clubs are pretty close - like Dortmund/Schalke/Düsseldorf/Cologne or Mainz/Frankfurt - they are in the same regions where you have regional transport agencies with special tickets - then that helps you at away matches. That is comparable to maybe Manchester and Liverpool. But not for all of the other matches. The match tickets just include regional travel - not all travel.

The regular train ticket from Frankfurt to Munich costs 190 EUR. The cities are about 240 miles away from each other. To Dortmund you have to pay between 150 and 180 EUR, to Hamburg about 220 EUR. There might be booking specials like early booking, you have a travel card or you get a group discount - but travelling to away matches with public transport is not cheap in Germany either if it is not in local areas.

Well thank you for explaining all that. It must have taken you a while so it is genuinely appreciated. How do they work out all those numbers, do you know?

I thought you said earlier that the 28 Euro group ticket covered long distance travel? What is long-distance travel in that context?

Anyhoo, Germany may not be as cheap as I thought but it is still far better than rip-off Britain: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097089/Britains-railways-expensive-comfortable-efficient-Europe.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... urope.html</a>

I do not know what they compare here. Yes, Strausberg to Berlin might be 21 miles and cost 705 GBP a year - but e.g. it is about the same distance from my hometown to Frankfurt and the yearly ticket costs 1580 EUR - about 1270 GBP ( we are the last station were it costs this prize - it even costs the same for a town only 14-15 miles from Frankfurt). It has a lot to do with the regional structures and I think you cannot compare the prices in a city like London with Berlin - Berlin is the capital city but it is in the East of Germany and therefore not the most expensive city in Germany...

If they used the distance from Strausberg to Berlin to tell that it only costs 8p per kilometre in Germany - and they then take a special route in the London capital for Britain it certainly is not a very reliable statistics. It is more a statistics that is made to fulfil the prophecy... - to tell people that the British railway is so much more expensive. It might be more expansive - but not to this extend...

That 28-EUR-ticket. I have to look if it still costs 28-EUR as their is different tickets for all of Bavaria and Hessen, too. That are tickets that are valid only on Saturday and Sunday from the morning into the night for up to 5 travellers - or like the Bavarian ticket from 9 a.m. until 3 in the morning next day - and only in the slow trains. I have not used it lately - but I often used that to travel to Munich or into the mountains. Then it takes 9 hours to travel to somewhere instead of 4 or 5 - but you always found others on the train that went a longer distance with you and it was fun to get to know them or even to play cards etc. with them. For shorter distances that is just something if you use it as a group - but for longer distances you can use it as a single person, too. It just takes ages...

 

[Deleted member 52846]

Hello all, A Villa fan in peace.

Agree with many of the comments on here it is a shame, poor that we don’t sell out a 1800 allocation (nevermind a 2800 with the upper) but as others have said for me it would cost £40 plus parking, petrol from WS13 postcode, a burger and a coke, and unless you’re the more hardened supporter or slightly more well off (I am neither) then it is a big ask, but granted your guys will fill the away section at our place, as we probably would of done in years gone by (Also agree £42 is too much at our place, but then that shows as we have large gaps of empty seats every week, I find it hard to justify my £590 Season card with the constant dross we churn out)

We have QPR, (£42) Chelsea (£55 in Shed Upper) all before Christmas so fans pick and choose, as do I. I've seen us this season take 3000+ to Fulham, Southampton, West Ham and Swindon, this season, yet barely take over 1000 to Spurs and Newcastle, our support is hit and miss. Myself included, I’ve been to 4 away games this season but won’t be at City or UTD this season as I can’t be bothered to pay all that money to see us get humped whilst sticking 10 men behind the ball, especially when our local shows all the games, I only went MU last season as my friend who is a MU fan wanted to go and I had the pleasure of sitting in that top tier which bears similarities to watching football out of a letter box.

As for a big club, one poster had it spot on, bags of potential, but only really a big club these days in name only and history, as of today quite frankly we are rubbish and very lucky to still be in this league after the dross served up under McClueless last term.

I will say though, I’ve seen empty seats in both your champions league games, and V Spuds last week, not knocking it, just saying were not alone
Oh and I apologise as others have pointed out for the usual garbage a chunk of our away support belts out, a firm favourite of mine is the “empty seats my lord” when we haven't taken a full away allocation

All the best for the rest of the season, your boys keep the many “local” MU fans by me very quiet (and theres many of them here in the Midlands)
UTV

There have been empty spaces at all of our home games this season. They are noticable; in chunks of three, four, seven, three, six... all over the ground. It doesn't bother me that much - even though i do like to see a full stadium, and the club often say that games are a sell-out and then we see these empty seats - but it's really only important who is there.

I agree with you about picking and choosing. I can just about justify going to one away game a month. I actually prefer away games but it's just too expensive. There can be four away games in a month sometimes so i'm missing a lot of games but there's not much i can do.

I don't look down on fans who only bring xxx amount to the Etihad because i know if football was priced properly in England (which it really isn't) then every ground would be full every week, home and away stands.