Quote:
Originally posted by Rob1981:
to be honest, you're pretty naive if you really think that. go and watch Barnet, and see how many Arsenal shirts are in the crowd. Those people go to watch Barnet because they can't get tickets for Arsenal, or because Arsenal are playing on a different day. Likewise, how many fans of Stockport or Altrincham, for instance, are actually displaced fans of Man Utd or Citeh? And a lot of people would simply stay at home or stay in the pub if they coould watch a big game in the warmth, whoever it was that was playing.
Look at the fixtures for next weekend when England v Estonia is off at 3pm Saturday, and see how many lower league games have been switched to Friday night or Sunday, or pulled forward to lunchtime. I'd bet at least 50%. It's because the clubs know that a lot of fans simply won't come if they can watch a big game on TV at the same time.
Chesterfield, for instance, now play their night games on a Wednesday, not a Tuesday. Why? Because they felt that their midweek attendances were suffering because of the Champions League football on ITV.
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For your first point, there's not many Premier League clubs where you can't get a ticket if you don't want one. The vast majority of grounds have empty seats in them. And what did Barnet do for fans 10 years ago when all matches were on a Saturday and Arsenal had plenty of space?
But most of what you say is valid though and perhaps my footballing ideology is slightly different to many as I started watching football before all this Sky TV came along and when you could get in to Newcastle matches for £3 and we had more people standing than sitting.
So maybe I *am* naive, I still think you should support your local team (No matter who they are) through thick and thin no matter what and follow their games no matter where you are, but it seems that these days people just watch whatever's on and follow teams at the other end of the country located in cities they have no affinity with. And although having these plastic fans is a necessary evil if you want your team to do well financially, it still annoys me intently.
I guess I've never really thought about what it would take to stop people doing this, and I suppose the answer is to return to a time of less media coverage of the top teams (Which will never happen, I know). The more accessible Man U / Chelsea games etc are, the more impressionable kids will grow up claiming to support them when they should be going along to watch their local team.
So I guess the long and short of it is that sadly you're pretty much right. Unfortunately I tend to overestimate the mentality of the population as a whole and that leads me to expect too much of them.
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