@OxfordBlue: No. What you describe in the Vere is very special. Although I was on my feet chatting there for a couple of hours after the Fleetwood game, I do like to sit down before (and during) games but the Woodland can’t match the atmosphere of the Vere.
Just in passing and as a bit of a counter to the market-driven argument (I know it is but it is depressing!) the following is a fairly interesting link that explains another way of doing it.
Especially around Bucks, where there is a huge disparity between extremely wealthy and those on the povety line. I'm pretty sure that the love of football and Wycombe Wanderers in particular is probably the only times these different social classes need under one roof. Hopefully Andy Holt's rants spark an unstoppable surge to reclaim the game for the people and there communities and away from greedy corporates. But I believe this will have to be a Europe wide philosphy .
@OxfordBlue It's an interesting point about where those individuals would be on a Saturday without the club.
Just to add to this point, where would those individuals be if they were priced out of the club?
In my opinion Wycombe should be for everyone who wants to participate. One of the things I've noticed that has polarised the club over the last year is the constant debate around success versus sustainability.
I've no problem with Wycombe wanting to get on a even footing with other clubs through further investment. However, if that means the ratcheting up of ticket prices which in turn alienates a vulnerable/low income proportion of our fan base then I have a problem with that.
A lot of people want investment because they simply want to play in a higher league and cheer on a successful team on the pitch. Again I have zero problem with this.
If it comes at the cost of alienating certain supporters financially then it becomes more of a problem.
In the time since I have started watching Wycombe, salaries have stayed fairly stagnant in the UK but prices for leisure activities have probably grown ahead of this. Average home attendances have declined since I started watching Wycombe in 2000, so the sweet spot between on the pitch success and pricing the match day experience has not quite been found.
There are many characters from those early days who I wouldn't have seen at the match for years, and I would certainly trade in a few 10th place league one finishes to see Wycombe packing in 7,000 - 8,000 per week and really starting to engage the community and it's needs more closely. Punching above your weight in football is what really draws a crowd in my opinion.
I do feel that WWFC have recognised that it is the young that we need to engage with & encourage, rather than us old dinosaurs that will eventually die away. Just a few short years ago I was standing on the terrace at the "Horse punchers" and looking at the demograph of our support, I couldn't see how we were going to survive. Just lately, I can't help but feel the club are slowly turning the average age of the supporters in the right direction. I've been watching the team since 03/04 season and was thinking about the generation above me, that I used to sit with in the Vere suite and chat to before every home game. Not one of them are alive now sadly. They really were, "The Old Bucks Boys" and often it was entertaining just listening to their "banter" about the furniture factories & allotments. It really is crucial to the long term survival of the football club that all ages mix socially, with the football club being at hub.
I don’t disagree with your basic thinking @Wheresthechips but I’m a little dubious about your reasoning in our case. On a rough calculation I think our average attendance may be 10% higher than 1999/2000 and our pricing is, I believe, relatively competitive these days. Be interesting to compare with 20 years ago.
Personally I think you tend to get step changes in support, especially from kids, when a club becomes successful. It suddenly attracts interests and talk at school and becomes a fun place to go.
At clubs like ours that new influx that becomes hooked on the excitement gradually wanes during the fallow years and numbers tail off until the next period of success brings in a new wave of young supporters.
We’ve been lucky compared with some clubs over the years, late 50’s early-mid 70s, early 90s the 2000/2001 cup run have all brought new supporters a lot of whom were unable to fully wean themselves off and stuck (and will always) stick with the club when it’s hard work watching at times.
What we haven’t really managed recently is to create that buzz in the town that makes us a must-watch.
I think we’ve priced things well for kids recently and there have been enough great games (think Doncaster at home this year) where you get that addictive rush that you will spend the rest of your life seeking which will keep a steady stream growing up with us.
But we won’t get massive increases I don’t think until we can create that atmosphere in the town again.
Away from football, it will be interesting to see how the Vue cinema experiment in halving ticket prices across the board plays out. Now there is a business where the price of entertainment probably means less to the company than the money they fleece the customers for to pay for their crisps.
@bookertease you speak a lot of sense on here but when you say you don't think we can create that atmosphere/buzz in the town again my heart sinks. We have to at least try
Talking about crisps (as we undoubtedly will be over the next couple of months), I would like to put in a word for Morrisons’ Steak, Ale and Caramelised Onion Hand Cooked (really?) Ridged Potato Crisps. I’m not at all fond of yer standard crisps - oversalted and insubstantial as they tend to be - but the ridged variety present a genuine challenge to the teeth that I paid several hundred quid for a couple of decades ago. And the Steak and Ale flavour seems to me to be pretty authentic.
At the other extreme, I recently chanced upon the “Irresistible” Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Chardonnay Wine Vinegar Crisps purveyed by our local Co-op Food Store.
Grossly over-salted, insubstantial and totally resistible in my humble opinion!
Sorry @peterparrotface I don’t think that’s what I said (or certainly meant to say). Poor punctuation on my part. Should have read:
But we won’t get massive increases, I don’t think, until we can create that atmosphere in the town again.
I’m pretty sure we will at some stage, just not sure when but I think we came fairly close to a tipping point last season with all of those 3-2s and comeback wins.
@micra - I need to try those when I am next over - my Crisp Connoisseur magazine has not reviewed them yet. British crisps are so much better than those over here!
@bookertease no not at all that was me completely missing the word until! Apologies.
As an aside, I think there has been an attitude from some before that the only way to create that buzz is to win every week, and that is only part of it for me.
Just reread my post of earlier, I definitely am a dinosaur. I omitted 10 years of my support. It was 93/94 I started watching! No wonder all of that generation above me are gone, it was 25 years ago. Time flies when you are having fun and WWFC have had many highs in that 1/4 of a century. ?
@EwanHoosaami said:
Just reread my post of earlier, I definitely am a dinosaur. I omitted 10 years of my support. It was 93/94 I started watching! No wonder all of that generation above me are gone, it was 25 years ago. Time flies when you are having fun and WWFC have had many highs in that 1/4 of a century. ?
Yeah that had me confused as i definitely came with you and your wife back when i was a teen!
And i wasn't a teen in the early 2000s!
Since I don’t know how to start a new thread, forgive me for going off topic, but having just watched Sunderland get through against Portsmouth, I wonder if those Sunderland fans who were so critical of Wycombe are still so offended by players wasting time and rolling around ‘injured’?
I am really not impressed with Sunderland this year, but I almost want them to go up just to be rid of them. Also, if O'Nien developed further in a tier above, there would be a chance (albeit slim) of a sell-on fee somewhere down the road.
difficult to word this in a politically correct way, but some fans in that section last night looked as though they might find rational thought a bit of a struggle
there were certainly some in that section down to our right when we played down there this season that were acting very oddly
Just an all round top guy, but it's good the captain, who we perceive as a bit of an arse is standing up for him.
Whether O Nien's laughing it off or not, the twat in question needs some sort of ban or more.
Otherwise the next time it'll be a more serious incident.
Comments
@OxfordBlue: No. What you describe in the Vere is very special. Although I was on my feet chatting there for a couple of hours after the Fleetwood game, I do like to sit down before (and during) games but the Woodland can’t match the atmosphere of the Vere.
Just in passing and as a bit of a counter to the market-driven argument (I know it is but it is depressing!) the following is a fairly interesting link that explains another way of doing it.
https://supporters-direct.org/articles/german-model-explained
I wonder whether our infamous power group has the desirable range of skills it recommends for supporter owned clubs in the UK....
Especially around Bucks, where there is a huge disparity between extremely wealthy and those on the povety line. I'm pretty sure that the love of football and Wycombe Wanderers in particular is probably the only times these different social classes need under one roof. Hopefully Andy Holt's rants spark an unstoppable surge to reclaim the game for the people and there communities and away from greedy corporates. But I believe this will have to be a Europe wide philosphy .
@OxfordBlue It's an interesting point about where those individuals would be on a Saturday without the club.
Just to add to this point, where would those individuals be if they were priced out of the club?
In my opinion Wycombe should be for everyone who wants to participate. One of the things I've noticed that has polarised the club over the last year is the constant debate around success versus sustainability.
I've no problem with Wycombe wanting to get on a even footing with other clubs through further investment. However, if that means the ratcheting up of ticket prices which in turn alienates a vulnerable/low income proportion of our fan base then I have a problem with that.
A lot of people want investment because they simply want to play in a higher league and cheer on a successful team on the pitch. Again I have zero problem with this.
If it comes at the cost of alienating certain supporters financially then it becomes more of a problem.
In the time since I have started watching Wycombe, salaries have stayed fairly stagnant in the UK but prices for leisure activities have probably grown ahead of this. Average home attendances have declined since I started watching Wycombe in 2000, so the sweet spot between on the pitch success and pricing the match day experience has not quite been found.
There are many characters from those early days who I wouldn't have seen at the match for years, and I would certainly trade in a few 10th place league one finishes to see Wycombe packing in 7,000 - 8,000 per week and really starting to engage the community and it's needs more closely. Punching above your weight in football is what really draws a crowd in my opinion.
I do feel that WWFC have recognised that it is the young that we need to engage with & encourage, rather than us old dinosaurs that will eventually die away. Just a few short years ago I was standing on the terrace at the "Horse punchers" and looking at the demograph of our support, I couldn't see how we were going to survive. Just lately, I can't help but feel the club are slowly turning the average age of the supporters in the right direction. I've been watching the team since 03/04 season and was thinking about the generation above me, that I used to sit with in the Vere suite and chat to before every home game. Not one of them are alive now sadly. They really were, "The Old Bucks Boys" and often it was entertaining just listening to their "banter" about the furniture factories & allotments. It really is crucial to the long term survival of the football club that all ages mix socially, with the football club being at hub.
I really hope the trust are reading these posts.
I don’t disagree with your basic thinking @Wheresthechips but I’m a little dubious about your reasoning in our case. On a rough calculation I think our average attendance may be 10% higher than 1999/2000 and our pricing is, I believe, relatively competitive these days. Be interesting to compare with 20 years ago.
Personally I think you tend to get step changes in support, especially from kids, when a club becomes successful. It suddenly attracts interests and talk at school and becomes a fun place to go.
At clubs like ours that new influx that becomes hooked on the excitement gradually wanes during the fallow years and numbers tail off until the next period of success brings in a new wave of young supporters.
We’ve been lucky compared with some clubs over the years, late 50’s early-mid 70s, early 90s the 2000/2001 cup run have all brought new supporters a lot of whom were unable to fully wean themselves off and stuck (and will always) stick with the club when it’s hard work watching at times.
What we haven’t really managed recently is to create that buzz in the town that makes us a must-watch.
I think we’ve priced things well for kids recently and there have been enough great games (think Doncaster at home this year) where you get that addictive rush that you will spend the rest of your life seeking which will keep a steady stream growing up with us.
But we won’t get massive increases I don’t think until we can create that atmosphere in the town again.
Away from football, it will be interesting to see how the Vue cinema experiment in halving ticket prices across the board plays out. Now there is a business where the price of entertainment probably means less to the company than the money they fleece the customers for to pay for their crisps.
@bookertease you speak a lot of sense on here but when you say you don't think we can create that atmosphere/buzz in the town again my heart sinks. We have to at least try
Talking about crisps (as we undoubtedly will be over the next couple of months), I would like to put in a word for Morrisons’ Steak, Ale and Caramelised Onion Hand Cooked (really?) Ridged Potato Crisps. I’m not at all fond of yer standard crisps - oversalted and insubstantial as they tend to be - but the ridged variety present a genuine challenge to the teeth that I paid several hundred quid for a couple of decades ago. And the Steak and Ale flavour seems to me to be pretty authentic.
At the other extreme, I recently chanced upon the “Irresistible” Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Chardonnay Wine Vinegar Crisps purveyed by our local Co-op Food Store.
Grossly over-salted, insubstantial and totally resistible in my humble opinion!
I shall not be carrying out any further research.
Sorry @peterparrotface I don’t think that’s what I said (or certainly meant to say). Poor punctuation on my part. Should have read:
But we won’t get massive increases, I don’t think, until we can create that atmosphere in the town again.
I’m pretty sure we will at some stage, just not sure when but I think we came fairly close to a tipping point last season with all of those 3-2s and comeback wins.
@micra - I need to try those when I am next over - my Crisp Connoisseur magazine has not reviewed them yet. British crisps are so much better than those over here!
@bookertease no not at all that was me completely missing the word until! Apologies.
As an aside, I think there has been an attitude from some before that the only way to create that buzz is to win every week, and that is only part of it for me.
Just reread my post of earlier, I definitely am a dinosaur. I omitted 10 years of my support. It was 93/94 I started watching! No wonder all of that generation above me are gone, it was 25 years ago. Time flies when you are having fun and WWFC have had many highs in that 1/4 of a century. ?
Can't agree more with @OxfordBlue the Saturday afternoon in the Vere is great, I love it. It's my spa day.
Does @LX1 ever get in there with his wonderfully obscure (and sometimes unfathomable) one liners?
Yeah that had me confused as i definitely came with you and your wife back when i was a teen!
And i wasn't a teen in the early 2000s!
That's a worry, as my memory is fading as well.
Since I don’t know how to start a new thread, forgive me for going off topic, but having just watched Sunderland get through against Portsmouth, I wonder if those Sunderland fans who were so critical of Wycombe are still so offended by players wasting time and rolling around ‘injured’?
We taught them well! Only kidding @glasshalffull, I thought the same myself and couldn't agree with you more.
Looking on live updates, Onien booked "probably for time wasting!!! As @glasshalffull says, are those Sunderland fans outraged by such antics?
I am really not impressed with Sunderland this year, but I almost want them to go up just to be rid of them. Also, if O'Nien developed further in a tier above, there would be a chance (albeit slim) of a sell-on fee somewhere down the road.
Not good seeing a Pompey fan give Luke a kick after he had fallen over the hoarding. Hope he gets suitably punished for it.
Scary level of anger there.
Football does generate a worrying level of hatred from those who have so little going on in life that they need a cause, any cause.
difficult to word this in a politically correct way, but some fans in that section last night looked as though they might find rational thought a bit of a struggle
there were certainly some in that section down to our right when we played down there this season that were acting very oddly
Gotta love Luke, 'My little cousin hits harder'.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48299909
Just an all round top guy, but it's good the captain, who we perceive as a bit of an arse is standing up for him.
Whether O Nien's laughing it off or not, the twat in question needs some sort of ban or more.
Otherwise the next time it'll be a more serious incident.
I agree with you there @Malone, my earlier comments on another thread may have been construed as the incident wasn't serious in it's own right.
@micra Perhaps the most famous liner, The Titanic, rests at around 2200 fathoms deep
Ten days, it only took ten days! Took a while to sink in perhaps.