Wolves (H) - Post-Match Thread

[moomba]

it's remarkable that you committed more fouls given the possession.

It certainly is.

 

[salford blue 62]

Totally agree. If you come on any opposition forum as an away fan, you need to treat it like you are in their house, and you have to treat the homeowners with total respect and civility.

Wolves fans are just wind-up merchants as a whole, I shake my head in disbelief when we sang that, or when we sang "sign on" to the scousers. I have talked about songs like that to my fellow Wolves mates and said "why?" - don't you realise it makes us look like plankton. It's as if their IQ drops a further 20 points at football matches. The response I generally get is that "it's just banter". I do think there is something in their Black Country make up, at first I thought what a bunch of twats but they are diamonds underneath. Like most of us to be fair. Look at the way they applauded the moments rememberance before the match on Saturday - it was more than just warm applause - it was with absolute heart and sole.

I do wonder whether this posturing demeanour largely stems from Wolves principally being shit on the pitch for most of their lives, and trying to compensate in some desperate but false way.

Those same fans, away from a game (and as the other Wolves fan on here confirmed) actually generally like City a lot and like their fans a lot, a polar-opposite to their feelings towards Salford and Liverpool fans who they despise, especially out of towners like that bloody blogger Flex on SSN. I have just dropped Sky because I am entirely sick of London-based Manure muppetts taking it over, also I will never use DHL for postal services - both stand for everything most of us detest about football. But City are class ( Iam genuinely not arse licking) and if I was born in the north-west I would easily fall for City.

The scum are NOT based in fucking Salford.

 

[FantasyIreland]

The scum are NOT based in fucking Salford.

Well said,such a fucking lazy and ignorant association.

 

[Crewelad]

The scum are NOT based in fucking Salford.

I realise that, perhaps I should have put a smiley.
Its close enough tho, hence the loose association.

 

[salford blue 62]

I realise that, perhaps I should have put a smiley.
Its close enough tho, hence the loose association.

Fair enough mate,but not being close makes no difference,the twats are not in Salford.

 

[Crewelad]

Fair enough mate,but not being close makes no difference,the twats are not in Salford.

Sorry, I realise that you are from there and must get sick of that association.
No offence meant.

 

[salford blue 62]

Sorry, I realise that you are from there and must get sick of that association.
No offence meant.

No problem mate.

 

[Gray]

The scum are NOT based in fucking Salford.

The borough of Trafford who have their own coat of arms, yet those Rag bastards keep putting the Manchester coat of arms on their club jackets,

Very rude and disrespectful to their council.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

To be fair (and I am bound to try to partly justify it), Wolves absolute decline coincided totally with the Thatcher years and massive economic decline. Like elsewhere, Wolverhampton was decimated, especially its steel industry and its mining nearby (Cannock coalfield). People tend to think its always the north, but Wolverhampton is always right up there with Liverpool and Hull for very high unemployment rates, it stood at 37% in St Peters Ward (Molineux) in 1983. Just last week it was named yet again as the city/town with the highest youth unemployment in the UK, and 2 of its 3 constituencies being 2nd and 3rd worst in the UK regards the % of young people with no educational qualifications (Wolverhampton NE 36%, Wolverhampton SE 33% - with only a constituency in Birmingham being higher at 37%). This won't surprise you based on the originality of our fans songbook (:_. BTW, I know Manchester knows all about hardship - so no lessons intended.

But the worst of it was that the economic decline in the 1980s coincided with our decline and that was critical - our owners The Bhatti's just vanished, they were somewhere in Saudi but just deserted their responsiblities, to the point that no season tickets were printed...........the old joke was that even the milk bill went unpaid. That was the year no one could buy any season tickets, though I doubt many would have been sold, but that is why we got 4000 gates in 1986. You had 2 choices, pay on the turnstile to go in the 'crumbling' South Bank, or the Steve Bull stand that was 200 metres from the pitch. We tumbled from the top flight to bottom of Division 3 in consecutive seasons, and that last season is when we got 4000 crowds. But that is over 30 years ago and many Wolves fans today weren't even born then or were too young to influence those gates. Incidentally, when we got new owners in division 4 in 1988 we averaged 9855 and our highest gate in Division 4 that season was 19962. City were in Division 2 that year and averaged 19472 which is very credible for the time period. City fans have stuck with their team. But when City went through their real dip down to Division 3 in the late 90s the recession was well and truly over and gates everywhere had recovered.

So it is difficult to compare apples and pairs - gates everywhere were dreadful in the mid-late 1980s..........Villa average in the Division One 15000 in 1986, Chelsea average Division Two 12000 1983, Leeds average division Two 1986 13000, Leicester average Division Two 12000 1983, Newcastle average Division Two 16000 1982, Sheff Utd average 1987 Division Two 9000, Sunderland average 1987 Division Two 13000, WBA average 1987 Divsion Two 9000, West Ham average Division One 18000 1985, Spurs average Divsion One 1986 20,000 etc etc. But none went from Division One to Division 4 in consecutive seasons and I bet all those could buy Season Tickets.

But yes, I get that those gates will be held against us and the 1980s was a poor time to be in Wolverhampton - shit football team, no season tickets available, absolutely no jobs. We were nearly always a division 2 team in the 90s and averaged 22-28000. Since 2001 I think we sell out 95% of home games.

More recently when we did a double relegation to Division 3 just over six years ago gates held up quite well, we averaged 19800 in the 3rd tier with very few away fans. Now we average 30,000 (current capacity) so have attracted 7000 new home fans on average. Every club attracts new fans, I think we would average around 40,000 if we had the ground and input City have had, maybe more. All hypothetical of course, but that is a stark contrast with 4000 who kept on going during the dark days of the Bhatti's (and yes I have "I was at Chorley" t-shirt who duly beat us 3-0 in the Cup that dreadful year). It is a blot on our our history and we came within 6 minutes of liquidation that year.

I totally get that people remember our low gates and say 'abandoned' their team, but I just wanted to give it full context because the circumstances were extreme, though I understand it will be of little interest to most City fansand so I apologise for that.

It is interesting because it’s true. Attendances were hit due to what you have alluded to and the hooliganism that was rife back then. I have never been a fan of comparing attendances to be honest. I think we can be touchy on this subject because of the “where were you” songs etc. We have always been well supported but fans are not interested in that. We are all plastics now apparently but the truth is the majority have been going since the 70’s and 80’s and their kids have kept it going.