To be honest, in general I have felt somewhat jaded with no real idea what to do about it for about six years...so I actually find the football a welcome release. I try to avoid the worst of the noise around it (and everything else in life it seems) as much as I can though. I have not noticed that much of a change in atmosphere...but I am in the Beechdean where I am not sure there ever has been any.😊
I live about 90 minutes away in the Brighton area and due to lots of weekend working I rarely get the chance to visit.
This weekend was one game I could actually have made - however i decided not to for the following reasons.
1. Cost - as a terrace man for 30 years,i think entry is now around £21 , add that to petrol costs which for me are around £30 . So that's £50 without any food.or drink or parking.
2 . Atmosphere - not wanting to sound like Russ Abbott ( ! ) , i love an atmosphere , despite being 50 I'm still all up for crazy scenes on the terrace - however my last couple of visits saw arguments between home fans, petty bickering about the drummer chap who at least tries to make an atmosphere ( i appreciate the pros and cons with this scenario ) , and horriffic bad language - the use of the "c word" by men women and children was just so over the top - the humour that used to be there seemed to have dissappeared, to be replaced by bitterness, anger and a general feeling of entitlement.
3. A general feeling that i have of possibly falling out of love with football - too much money - same clubs winning year after year - as i dont have sky, i hardly get to watch any football on tv so feel very distanced from todays game.
4. Saturday lunchtime traffic on m25 is bad, and as Adams Park is out of town, the eating options for my day are not great.
5. Being a family man, i love spending a rare Saturday off with my children.
Adding those together, then it's a big Time and financial commitment to head on over.
There is not 1 magical cure for me - however, admittedly, if we were say playing a Sheffield Wednesday or a Sunderland then i would have made the effort as it would have been a crackling atmosphere - maybe that is the magical cure then, a great atmosphere !!!!
It may just be my over-developed deja vu but as with 'Why no new players?' and 'He'll be off in January/Summer...' I feel we have the 'What a small crowd for such an important game' debate most seasons.
2 . Atmosphere - not wanting to sound like Russ Abbott ( ! ) , i love an atmosphere , despite being 50 I'm still all up for crazy scenes on the terrace - however my last couple of visits saw arguments between home fans, petty bickering about the drummer chap who at least tries to make an atmosphere ( i appreciate the pros and cons with this scenario ) , and horriffic bad language - the use of the "c word" by men women and children was just so over the top - the humour that used to be there seemed to have dissappeared, to be replaced by bitterness, anger and a general feeling of entitlement.
This is the main thing for me. The terrace feels very fractured.
I've never been part of an established group of supporters, so the terrace politics mostly go over my head and seem very petty. But its obvious there is an ongoing schism between fans,. As a result, we've had the drum banned which has been a constant fixture for nearly two decades, and the singing groups have split into two or more factions, which has dampened the spirits and caused disunity.
We need a drummer again, but one who is a competent. Being the drummer is not a right, it is a privilege. No disrespect to Tom, but the position must be reserved for someone who can unify the crowd, read the mood of when to stop and start, and most importantly keep their rhythm in time.
The web stuff has to be a massive factor, the pandemic got us into the habit of stopping needless long journeys for work, so an hour and a half to AP does seem a long way for me too, when I can watch at home on a big telly and by adding the tenner to my season ticket I don't feel the club is missing out.. The dog awful state of the railways and public transport in general only adds to this. Have been away recently somewhere where a general national strike means you might only get 3 out of four trains but all of those are cheap, comfortable and on time.
The Couhigs have to be allowed to charge what things cost but that might be a bit more palatable if we were nearer not further away than ever from breaking even.
The removal of the 3pm TV blackout is inevitable under heavy lobbying from Prem and foreign football payees, unfortunately can only see this making things worse. Your die hards will go they say but the attendance on any random Saturday is probably only 50% hardcore regulars and this won't help retain and recruit new ones.
We've had a few key setbacks recently and we need a fair few more wins to inspire anyone to jump on a playoffs related bandwagon.
I wasn't taking into account people's propensity for cheating the system and possibly cheating the club out of a tenner. Being an expat I subscribe to Derby's own TV Channel and get all the games via my "online season ticket". All legal and above board. I am aware that there are ways of cheating the system but, taking into account the level of disdain Wycombe fans have for cheating, I never thought any of you would stoop to that level ;)
I'm not sure there are many dodgy streams of League One games knocking about. I (and many others) turn my VPN on, pay my tenner and off I go. The club have actively (albeit not explicitly) encouraged this.
Most of the illegal firesticks have every Champ, L1 and L2 game streamed each week. Quite mad really, I can't imagine Accrington vs Morecambe is worth it for them, but a friend showed me this is indeed happening.
I doubt there are many, if any, WWFC fans who would not pay the £10 to watch from Vipienne if they can't make the trip to Charlton but still want to support the club. Many will do other things of course.
It's true that many occasional attendees at Adams Park might have access to illegal free streaming services and therefore not pay. But to be truthful will they be watching Charlton v Wycombe on Saturday rather than doing whatever it is they normally do?
The club really need to sort out the drum issue and get it reinstated for next season. Without it the atmosphere is significantly affected for the worse.
As someone prevented by health issues from attending matches, I have left a gap in the front row of block Q but apparently random individuals occupy that seat most of the time and, I hope, enjoy the humour and general camaraderie of the people nearby (especially those in the row behind).
I watched some of the Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday match on TV yesterday evening and my mind kept skipping between the sight and sound of the packed crowd at Oakwell and an image of the “main” stand and the sound of sporadic uncoordinated chants at Adams Park.
It made me feel both sad and a little envious but I’m very much in the @Wendoverman camp in terms of trying to ignore all the ancillary stuff and focusing on the football. Of course, in my circumstances, that is much easier to do.
I take it you mean the "IPTV" merchants. 40 notes outlay and a service that costs between 50 and 60 notes a year. Totally agree with you. I can, to an extent, sympathise with expats who use it to watch content unavailable in their country but those who could put money into their club's coffers (as I, an expat, do) shouldn't use IP for watching their club. Cough up the 20 notes a month for the international service. Help your club.
Premier league, no problem - it's on 100s of different places, the big clubs don't need it.
Small club, where you're specifically paying for such a work round doesn't feel quite right.
Although £10 for 1 game is shocking value really.
There was outrage when prem teams were trying to charge £15 for pay per view, but they'd clearly based that on needing to be higher than £10. Yet there's oddly no outrage at £10 for lower tier football.
I'm perfectly happy with the £20 a month I fork out for RamsTV. Gives me all 46 League games plus all the interviews etc. Good value. STH until the 84/85 season when I emigrated. Back to as many as I can afford since then. Next one for me is Good Friday at FGR where we're doing hospitality. Those I can't afford to attend I watch through RamsTV.
As I have posted many times before, the collapse of the community scheme means we have lost a generation of young folk, when Dave Evans and Nas Bashir ran the scheme every school in the area had contact with WWFC. Pre match entertainment, penalty shoot outs, match day experiences. I ran sessions with 70 kids on a Saturday morning, half in the blue quarters, at least 10 going to the game in the afternoon, another 10 would go if they could get there. All the kids went to at least 3 games a season. I still get tapped on the shoulder by 30 year olds telling me how much they loved the penalties.
I am unsure why the change of policy happened, I argued against it and lost, I was spoken to about helping, but nothing came of it. I am due to retire from my day job next week, and went into the club to offer my services over a month ago, as yet no response.
On a side note, did you see the singing section of Burton fans? All secondry school age. They made a good noise and go to the majority of home games despite bigger clubs being very close by. We have missed a whole generation. We cannot fix it over night, but I think it is a relatively simple process to at least try to resolve.
I think one issue is that WWFC marketing is very poor.
Just about every company I've bought stuff from in the past 5 years sends me regular email updates, including the likes of Cotton Traders, Hargreaves Lansdown, the Open University, and so on. I even get them from Saracens, after making the mistake of buying a ticket for a rugby match from their website and not Wasps.
In recent months, I have joined the WW Trust, and registered on the My Quarter section of the website. But, apart from the initial confirmation of membership, I never get any emails flagging up forthcoming matches, with links to buy tickets. If you stopped 100 people in the High Street, what % of them would be able to name 2 regular Wycombe players? Very few, I suggest.
The club really needs to address this if they want to get bums on seats.
@Fit2drop I remember we regularly used to get stories on the club website about players visiting local schools and stuff, was this part of the same scheme?
Comments
Our average attendance this season is actually 168 higher than 21/22, even with the cost of living crisis.
I’d say that’s quite impressive.
To be honest, in general I have felt somewhat jaded with no real idea what to do about it for about six years...so I actually find the football a welcome release. I try to avoid the worst of the noise around it (and everything else in life it seems) as much as I can though. I have not noticed that much of a change in atmosphere...but I am in the Beechdean where I am not sure there ever has been any.😊
I live about 90 minutes away in the Brighton area and due to lots of weekend working I rarely get the chance to visit.
This weekend was one game I could actually have made - however i decided not to for the following reasons.
1. Cost - as a terrace man for 30 years,i think entry is now around £21 , add that to petrol costs which for me are around £30 . So that's £50 without any food.or drink or parking.
2 . Atmosphere - not wanting to sound like Russ Abbott ( ! ) , i love an atmosphere , despite being 50 I'm still all up for crazy scenes on the terrace - however my last couple of visits saw arguments between home fans, petty bickering about the drummer chap who at least tries to make an atmosphere ( i appreciate the pros and cons with this scenario ) , and horriffic bad language - the use of the "c word" by men women and children was just so over the top - the humour that used to be there seemed to have dissappeared, to be replaced by bitterness, anger and a general feeling of entitlement.
3. A general feeling that i have of possibly falling out of love with football - too much money - same clubs winning year after year - as i dont have sky, i hardly get to watch any football on tv so feel very distanced from todays game.
4. Saturday lunchtime traffic on m25 is bad, and as Adams Park is out of town, the eating options for my day are not great.
5. Being a family man, i love spending a rare Saturday off with my children.
Adding those together, then it's a big Time and financial commitment to head on over.
There is not 1 magical cure for me - however, admittedly, if we were say playing a Sheffield Wednesday or a Sunderland then i would have made the effort as it would have been a crackling atmosphere - maybe that is the magical cure then, a great atmosphere !!!!
Not quite sure why my previous post came out in that format !!!
Sorry !!!!
No disrespect but if that's your IT understanding I'm surprised you found this website ;)
It may just be my over-developed deja vu but as with 'Why no new players?' and 'He'll be off in January/Summer...' I feel we have the 'What a small crowd for such an important game' debate most seasons.
Sometimes on my phone...big gaps are created for no good reason.
Personally I blame @railwaysteve whose initial crowd prediction of 6700 set our collective expectations too high!
Just under 5200 was always going to be closer to the mark, 😁.
I know what you mean, sometimes i get so sick of 'football culture,' i forget how much i like the actual games.
2 . Atmosphere - not wanting to sound like Russ Abbott ( ! ) , i love an atmosphere , despite being 50 I'm still all up for crazy scenes on the terrace - however my last couple of visits saw arguments between home fans, petty bickering about the drummer chap who at least tries to make an atmosphere ( i appreciate the pros and cons with this scenario ) , and horriffic bad language - the use of the "c word" by men women and children was just so over the top - the humour that used to be there seemed to have dissappeared, to be replaced by bitterness, anger and a general feeling of entitlement.
This is the main thing for me. The terrace feels very fractured.
I've never been part of an established group of supporters, so the terrace politics mostly go over my head and seem very petty. But its obvious there is an ongoing schism between fans,. As a result, we've had the drum banned which has been a constant fixture for nearly two decades, and the singing groups have split into two or more factions, which has dampened the spirits and caused disunity.
We need a drummer again, but one who is a competent. Being the drummer is not a right, it is a privilege. No disrespect to Tom, but the position must be reserved for someone who can unify the crowd, read the mood of when to stop and start, and most importantly keep their rhythm in time.
Time to organise an X Factor type competition to appoint the Club drummer?
Only if the X in the logo is two drum sticks
The web stuff has to be a massive factor, the pandemic got us into the habit of stopping needless long journeys for work, so an hour and a half to AP does seem a long way for me too, when I can watch at home on a big telly and by adding the tenner to my season ticket I don't feel the club is missing out.. The dog awful state of the railways and public transport in general only adds to this. Have been away recently somewhere where a general national strike means you might only get 3 out of four trains but all of those are cheap, comfortable and on time.
The Couhigs have to be allowed to charge what things cost but that might be a bit more palatable if we were nearer not further away than ever from breaking even.
The removal of the 3pm TV blackout is inevitable under heavy lobbying from Prem and foreign football payees, unfortunately can only see this making things worse. Your die hards will go they say but the attendance on any random Saturday is probably only 50% hardcore regulars and this won't help retain and recruit new ones.
We've had a few key setbacks recently and we need a fair few more wins to inspire anyone to jump on a playoffs related bandwagon.
I wasn't taking into account people's propensity for cheating the system and possibly cheating the club out of a tenner. Being an expat I subscribe to Derby's own TV Channel and get all the games via my "online season ticket". All legal and above board. I am aware that there are ways of cheating the system but, taking into account the level of disdain Wycombe fans have for cheating, I never thought any of you would stoop to that level ;)
I'm not sure there are many dodgy streams of League One games knocking about. I (and many others) turn my VPN on, pay my tenner and off I go. The club have actively (albeit not explicitly) encouraged this.
Most of the illegal firesticks have every Champ, L1 and L2 game streamed each week. Quite mad really, I can't imagine Accrington vs Morecambe is worth it for them, but a friend showed me this is indeed happening.
Mad indeed, but we are a worldwide phenomenon. Or were...
I doubt there are many, if any, WWFC fans who would not pay the £10 to watch from Vipienne if they can't make the trip to Charlton but still want to support the club. Many will do other things of course.
It's true that many occasional attendees at Adams Park might have access to illegal free streaming services and therefore not pay. But to be truthful will they be watching Charlton v Wycombe on Saturday rather than doing whatever it is they normally do?
The club really need to sort out the drum issue and get it reinstated for next season. Without it the atmosphere is significantly affected for the worse.
@Raminpeace we can't afford to cheat WW out of money...we need hot water in the loos.
Using a vpn bypasses the system but actually gets the club a tenner per game that they wouldn't have anyway.
This is massively different from people using another well known route to pay a tenner a month or less, for all games.
Huge difference between the 2 and I hope all of the vpn crew use the former not the latter.
As someone prevented by health issues from attending matches, I have left a gap in the front row of block Q but apparently random individuals occupy that seat most of the time and, I hope, enjoy the humour and general camaraderie of the people nearby (especially those in the row behind).
I watched some of the Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday match on TV yesterday evening and my mind kept skipping between the sight and sound of the packed crowd at Oakwell and an image of the “main” stand and the sound of sporadic uncoordinated chants at Adams Park.
It made me feel both sad and a little envious but I’m very much in the @Wendoverman camp in terms of trying to ignore all the ancillary stuff and focusing on the football. Of course, in my circumstances, that is much easier to do.
I take it you mean the "IPTV" merchants. 40 notes outlay and a service that costs between 50 and 60 notes a year. Totally agree with you. I can, to an extent, sympathise with expats who use it to watch content unavailable in their country but those who could put money into their club's coffers (as I, an expat, do) shouldn't use IP for watching their club. Cough up the 20 notes a month for the international service. Help your club.
Yep definitely.
Premier league, no problem - it's on 100s of different places, the big clubs don't need it.
Small club, where you're specifically paying for such a work round doesn't feel quite right.
Although £10 for 1 game is shocking value really.
There was outrage when prem teams were trying to charge £15 for pay per view, but they'd clearly based that on needing to be higher than £10. Yet there's oddly no outrage at £10 for lower tier football.
I'm perfectly happy with the £20 a month I fork out for RamsTV. Gives me all 46 League games plus all the interviews etc. Good value. STH until the 84/85 season when I emigrated. Back to as many as I can afford since then. Next one for me is Good Friday at FGR where we're doing hospitality. Those I can't afford to attend I watch through RamsTV.
As I have posted many times before, the collapse of the community scheme means we have lost a generation of young folk, when Dave Evans and Nas Bashir ran the scheme every school in the area had contact with WWFC. Pre match entertainment, penalty shoot outs, match day experiences. I ran sessions with 70 kids on a Saturday morning, half in the blue quarters, at least 10 going to the game in the afternoon, another 10 would go if they could get there. All the kids went to at least 3 games a season. I still get tapped on the shoulder by 30 year olds telling me how much they loved the penalties.
I am unsure why the change of policy happened, I argued against it and lost, I was spoken to about helping, but nothing came of it. I am due to retire from my day job next week, and went into the club to offer my services over a month ago, as yet no response.
On a side note, did you see the singing section of Burton fans? All secondry school age. They made a good noise and go to the majority of home games despite bigger clubs being very close by. We have missed a whole generation. We cannot fix it over night, but I think it is a relatively simple process to at least try to resolve.
@Fit2drop maybe try The Trust? I know new board member Ben Dunlop is keen to rev up community engagement.
As someone in the age demographic you describe, who took penalties, went to a few games, got hooked, and has now had a season ticket for 10+ years …..
You hit the nail on the head. There is a whole generation of lost fans because of the end of that scheme.
I think one issue is that WWFC marketing is very poor.
Just about every company I've bought stuff from in the past 5 years sends me regular email updates, including the likes of Cotton Traders, Hargreaves Lansdown, the Open University, and so on. I even get them from Saracens, after making the mistake of buying a ticket for a rugby match from their website and not Wasps.
In recent months, I have joined the WW Trust, and registered on the My Quarter section of the website. But, apart from the initial confirmation of membership, I never get any emails flagging up forthcoming matches, with links to buy tickets. If you stopped 100 people in the High Street, what % of them would be able to name 2 regular Wycombe players? Very few, I suggest.
The club really needs to address this if they want to get bums on seats.
@Fit2drop I remember we regularly used to get stories on the club website about players visiting local schools and stuff, was this part of the same scheme?