I don’t mind these games and am fairly pro free tickets to fill the Valley. I am a ST holder and am not upset by the effect on its value BUT
We are getting people in to watch utter tripe.
Long ball up to missing forwards, gets headed by the oppo to start a move. We intercept and pass it back to the keeper and so it goes on until they score.
Any set pieces in the attacking half are played sideways and backwards.
It’s unwatchable.
I know some private footy statisticians - who use an “ooh and ah” analysis to work out real goal chances.
Because of the other inconveniences associated with going to the football now, parking restrictions and other transport issues, the cold weather, crap overpriced food and drink, not to mention the piss poor performances and team, I think they would have to pay much more than £5 a game to get people to go.
A few games ago two guys and their kids from the same football club were given free tickets with the same seat numbers on them. There was utter confusion. I was sure one of them had the wrong row so they showed me the tickets.
It is certainly diluting buying a season ticket. I decided not to renew this season and just pick my games and pay per ticket, glad I did now with the amount of offers and freebies flying about.
Whoever is in charge of commercial/ticketing needs to remember a very important lesson: Season ticket holders are the lifeblood of the club. They are the ones who commit to going week in, week out. They are the ones who pay their money up front. They are the ones paying full price. They are the ones who keep going when the going gets tough.
Of course every club needs to attract new support and it's admirable that the club are a least trying. But there are (at least) two major problems with continuing to dump cheap tickets for sub-standard football:
Nobody who comes along to see this team in its current state will be encouraged to come back. Imagine you were a first time visitor to The Valley last Tuesday. You would have witnessed an insipid display in a half empty stadium where the only atmosphere came from the away fans who were clearly having far more fun than anyone in the home end. Next time you were asked about going to Charlton, it would almost certainly coincide with a night you were washing your hair. And what when our first time visitor gets to work or school the next day? Whatever they tell their mates about their trip to Charlton is almost certain to put others off in the future.
As many have said above, no-one begrudges someone else getting a bargain now and again but when the bargains, by their very nature, are not available to the most important group of supporters people are bound to start questioning their loyalty. A free drinks voucher and a discount in the club shop are one thing, but they do not translate into anything like equality with the mass discounting of match day ticket prices. The club's behaviour risks seriously undermining next season's sales.
If we're serious about getting people to come to The Valley there are three things that need to be addressed, now and in the future for as long as this club exists, these need to always be our focus of attention:
That every player in every team that is ever selected works their socks off for the team. No-one should ever feel that they've come away from The Valley having watched players that didn't try.
That the football should be entertaining. Sure there are times when we have to grind out results, I think everyone understands that, but on the whole the football should be lively and skilful.
No matter what division we are in, we should expect that we have a reasonable chance of winning any game. And in the third tier, it's not unreasonable to expect that we should win more than we lose.
So rather than dumping more cheap tickets, let's see the focus of attention improving the quality of the football that season ticket holders pay good money to see. And if that seems too difficult with the current bunch of players, how about sorting out some of the 'hygiene factors' that make a trip to The Valley rather less inspiring than it ought to be? Like the beer that tastes like cleaning fluid, the piss poor quality of the toilet facilities and the guano on the seats.
Full marks for effort. Zero marks for thinking things through.
The lowest attendance for a football for a fiver game at the Valley
Given the gate, the £5 offer probably had zero impact on attracting fans to go yesterday.
Loads of new faces around me in L block of the covered end yesterday. What's alarming is how many of the regular ST holders who I haven't seen for weeks.
Let's just hope they've given up on this season and not given up completely
I didn't go yesterday as I played golf instead. I'm a season ticket holder in the AC stand. The last three games I have taken my nephews to the game. Unbenown to me one of them made his own way to the valley yesterday with a school mate from Maidstone. The fact that it was a fiver made it affordable for him as a 16 year old. So maybe at least one youngster has got the Charlton bug as the result of my indoctrination and cheap tickets!
I didn't go yesterday as I played golf instead. I'm a season ticket holder in the AC stand. The last three games I have taken my nephews to the game. Unbenown to me one of them made his own way to the valley yesterday with a school mate from Maidstone. The fact that it was a fiver made it affordable for him as a 16 year old. So maybe at least one youngster has got the Charlton bug as the result of my indoctrination and cheap tickets!
The lowest attendance for a football for a fiver game at the Valley
Given the gate, the £5 offer probably had zero impact on attracting fans to go yesterday.
Loads of new faces around me in L block of the covered end yesterday. What's alarming is how many of the regular ST holders who I haven't seen for weeks.
Let's just hope they've given up on this season and not given up completely
I realised yesterday that I've not been since Feb 5th and April 2nd/15th will be my next and final games. Given the amount I've bothered this season and the amount of offers that have been available.. I won't be getting a ST next year. Il probably just pick a game every 6 or so weeks and do that instead.
Hopefully freebies go to the database next season and not to randoms. If they can email you to see why you've not attended, they can find a way to send ex ST holders a pair of tickets twice a year.
I had football for a fiver fans in front of me, to the right of me and behind me. I have just been pinged to say one of them had Covid.... I wasn't near anyone else for 15 minutes that day.
Comments
We are getting people in to watch utter tripe.
I was sure one of them had the wrong row so they showed me the tickets.
Of course every club needs to attract new support and it's admirable that the club are a least trying. But there are (at least) two major problems with continuing to dump cheap tickets for sub-standard football:
- Nobody who comes along to see this team in its current state will be encouraged to come back. Imagine you were a first time visitor to The Valley last Tuesday. You would have witnessed an insipid display in a half empty stadium where the only atmosphere came from the away fans who were clearly having far more fun than anyone in the home end. Next time you were asked about going to Charlton, it would almost certainly coincide with a night you were washing your hair. And what when our first time visitor gets to work or school the next day? Whatever they tell their mates about their trip to Charlton is almost certain to put others off in the future.
- As many have said above, no-one begrudges someone else getting a bargain now and again but when the bargains, by their very nature, are not available to the most important group of supporters people are bound to start questioning their loyalty. A free drinks voucher and a discount in the club shop are one thing, but they do not translate into anything like equality with the mass discounting of match day ticket prices. The club's behaviour risks seriously undermining next season's sales.
If we're serious about getting people to come to The Valley there are three things that need to be addressed, now and in the future for as long as this club exists, these need to always be our focus of attention:- That every player in every team that is ever selected works their socks off for the team. No-one should ever feel that they've come away from The Valley having watched players that didn't try.
- That the football should be entertaining. Sure there are times when we have to grind out results, I think everyone understands that, but on the whole the football should be lively and skilful.
- No matter what division we are in, we should expect that we have a reasonable chance of winning any game. And in the third tier, it's not unreasonable to expect that we should win more than we lose.
So rather than dumping more cheap tickets, let's see the focus of attention improving the quality of the football that season ticket holders pay good money to see. And if that seems too difficult with the current bunch of players, how about sorting out some of the 'hygiene factors' that make a trip to The Valley rather less inspiring than it ought to be? Like the beer that tastes like cleaning fluid, the piss poor quality of the toilet facilities and the guano on the seats.Full marks for effort. Zero marks for thinking things through.
Let's just hope they've given up on this season and not given up completely
Hopefully freebies go to the database next season and not to randoms. If they can email you to see why you've not attended, they can find a way to send ex ST holders a pair of tickets twice a year.
I have just been pinged to say one of them had Covid....
I wasn't near anyone else for 15 minutes that day.