I feel a lot more detached this season if I'm honest, and find I have to drag myself down there sometimes, but I'm fine when I get there. If I didn't have a season ticket I'd have probably missed quite a few this season
In a way I feel the club has become rudderless. The Couhigs rarely come over now and most of "the Generals" have left. Bayo gave so much to the club in terms of personality and excitement even when he was on the bench or simply around Adams Park. Even Gareth doesn't seem his usual chirpy self, perhaps he is regretting turning down previous job offers (assuming of course he received them)
The owners are running the club at a loss and yet performances, and to a degree results, are dissapointing. The matchday experience has declined, certainly for me. We will lose Mehmeti next month, albeit hopefully the fee will alleviate some of this years losses.
Hopefully it is the weather that is bringing on my doom and gloom.
Rob Couhig was at the last home game against Portsmouth and Phil Alexander is a full time acting CEO. As for results, our record in the last 10 games is W5 D3 L2, a return of almost two points per game.
There's potential for them to have increased the take a little through higher prices and shop profit a lot through managing stock and buying to order, although they are at times prone to the sort of exaggeration that probably belongs on here. The absolute drop off in purchasing some talk of doesn't seem to be reflected in the queues.
It's not a massive stretch to imagine we were buying lots of stuff in order to have a range but having to give lots of it away cheap months later, or that the mark up and commercial agreements were a bit amateur in the past , I'm waiting for this to filter through into profits.
Interesting about the CEO @glasshalffull hadn't heard that, or much from him recently.
I get that Alan, but there does appear to be, (maybe on the surface) a certain separation of fan from the club. I can't put my finger on it yet. Even my son, (I buy 3 season tickets), isn't bothered if he has to work on a home match. When I was his age & still today, it was football first then every thing else after. Like many, I used to arrive at the club circa 13.15, buy a pint or two, a plate of chips & a chicken baltie pie, read the programme, study the team sheets before giving the linos & refs the benefit of my advice for 90 minutes +. Now I am often attending on my own, don't bother with the limited expensive foods, might buy one pint if at all, watch the match and trudge home. 🤷♂️
I’m not in the best position to judge of course, but it’s hard for me to understand how anyone who stuck with it when we were in the bottom half of L2 and being used as a pawn in a scheme to get Wasps a new stadium can feel more disconnected from the club now.
We’ve been spoiled over the last five years, two promotions, one near miss, staying in L1 and almost staying in the Championship. Maybe the malaise is a consequence of this season feeling a bit more normal.
Regardless, we’ve got six months to enjoy some of the best players we’ve ever had. I wouldn’t want to miss that because a coat I don’t need is too expensive, or because our CFO has decided to live in the same country as his own family.
I also get what you are saying and it is reflected in many posts on here. As I rarely eat at games I can’t comment on the price or quality of food at Adams Park but I understand that people think it is expensive. However, everyday items have become more expensive and on a recent visit to the cinema at Handy Cross I couldn’t believe how much they were charging for a simple hot dog. The Couhigs (inevitably) have approached football from an American perspective where the match day ‘experience’ seems to be more important than the actual game and whilst I think priorities are very different in this country, they have at least improved a lot of things at Adams Park. They haven’t got everything right, but they credit where it’s due.
I've found this season a massive struggle but can remember plenty of other years feeling fairly similar at different points but that was normally due to the poor football on the pitch but at least I had all the social side to fall back on.
It's also now gone rapidly downhill off the pitch, for a 2nd consecutive season. Not all of this is the clubs fault!
I feel there is a lack of atmosphere before and after the game in the Vere Suite, something is missing. I used to love getting a big bowl of chips, waiting for the teamsheets, watching the lunch time game, read the program and discussing with friends everything Wycombe and beyond. I also used to really enjoy the player interviews after the game, if felt like a family. It's just never got back to pre-covid atmosphere and it has had a massive impact on my "matchday experience." (It's also annoying they will no longer put the cricket on one screen on the odd occasion it's on!)
To compound that further, this season has been really difficult because most of the people I spent time with week in week out are no longer attending regularly. (I hate paying for parking so get to the free parking around 1300 so as not to miss out). In the past, there would be around 10-12 of us arriving around that time. This season, my son and I have pretty much been on our own for those two hours before kick off.
Out of our group there were 6 season ticket holders and now it's just me and my son. The non season ticket holders would come reasonably regularly but they've also stayed away from most games so far. I hope that will improve 2nd half of the season. There were other people we've met over last few seasons who are also not comign along for a variety of reasons.
Whilst my son (15) and I get on well, it's just not the same for either of us to find something to talk about for two hours with each other at home games. We put up with each other for away games but it's far more interesting for both of us, as I take him around the 92.
With the fairly boring offerings both on and off the pitch, I'm seriously considering not getting STs next season (for the first time since 1999).
I'm really hoping the second half of the season picks up!
The price of tickets and merchandise are a direct reflection of the financial forecasting of the club.
If a club announces a £3m loss, then prices are going to go up. I have no issue with prices going up if that money is falling in to the hands of people with a clear and sustainable view of the clubs future.
I don't want prices increasing short-term because the contract of x,y or z player is up for renewal and nobody knows where the agents fee is going to land
Can't help but thinking all games being available on TV (internet) contributes to the loss of engagement, that genie isn't going back in the bottle any time soon but I think it is an external factor. Weirdly so is the tightening of the transfer rules, while they make some sense financially and competitively you know what you are getting for a while now with no prospect of a new signing plugging gaps.
Don't think the owner has done himself any favours PR wise in recent weeks but that's not the only factor.
Does anyone else feel they have become a customer rather than a fan. The rhetoric of engagement, match day experience and other metrics of success do seem to be banded around more and more and so it sinks in through your skin. Having a player in the bar after a game interviewed by JT or Matt to cheers was a great thing. It kept fans closer to the squad and was a return to the days of MoN when Paul Hyde often was in the bar before I could get from the terrace. The players were closer to us. Now we seem to have stepped back from that, not as bad as the Smith Players Bar era but a step back. Sure Covid protocol forbids a player from coming into the bar afterwards and greeting the unwashed but Covid protocol doesn't stop that player going on a night out to a club, restaurant, concert, cinema, supermarket etc etc.
Cinemas are, like my suggestion of food at Wycombe also have the demi-captive market. It’s always been about eleven million pounds for a medium popcorn and coke. But for £1 more you can get a large.
i don’t actually criticise the club for trying to sell £10 burgers. I’m of the opinion you can get people to buy a burger for £10 if the quality is high enough And with the American style bbq you could get that. I’m talking a couple of patties, pulled pork or brisket, some slaw/gerkins/what have you, American style cheese etc.
The problem is they are selling £3 burgers for £10.
or, as this thread originally stated a £55 coat for £106.
I agree that the Couhigs have got more right than wrong and there are many things that have improved. I think the main problem appears to be that clash of idea’s between “match day experience “ and a winning football team. The latter is the main priority for the British punter, the former for our American owners. I remember saying a few years ago that plenty of European owners have tried to regurgitate the same ideas with similar results so maybe an American owner would bring fresh ideas? It would appear that somewhere in the middle will be the answer, maybe us old timers are too romantic and will eventually die out and become extinct leaving the young ones to reap the benefit? BTW it was good to meet you at the Shell garage just now.🤫
The thing that's most worrying to me, is how some sections of the club are so dismissive of fans' concerns. There's people in this thread saying they're unlikely to renew their season tickets and being told "but look at the wifi", or people asking why a badge costs over £50 and being told "don't buy it then". It's true, the Couhigs have done some good things, but how useful are any of those going to be in an empty stadium?
To be fair the the couhigs they have always said their priority was to turn the club into a profitable club and I am sure we are all pretty well aware they aren’t going to that on ticket prices alone.
In many respects they have the advantage of a manager that knows how to run the on field stuff so their focus will always be the match day experience. I do not have an issue with that focus or priority.
I do think, however, that after getting many things right in the first 18 months or so of ownership something has changed somewhere and they’ve starting to get things wrong and the honesty and openness they came to us with is slowly getting eroded and changed.
As a comparison of food/drink pricing I noticed, when in town on Sunday, that a bratwurst hot dog was £7 and a cup of mulled wine £5 from the stalls outside the library/M&S.
They smelt quite appealing, but not enough to part me from my money.
It’s good to put a face to a nom de plume. I agree about the cultural differences between ourselves and the US, I’ve been to baseball, ice hockey, basketball etc in the States and many spectators seem more interested in buying burgers and beers that watching the action!
I agree we have achieved 18 points in the last 10 games. However when you extend it to our last 13 games we still only have 18 points. Facts, like statistics can be framed in such a way to advance an argument.
Do you consider 29 points from our first 21 games represents a reasonable return for the quality of players we have?
Although it's long been debated whether people actually mean the one opposite the Old Turnpike, or the ones across from the High School when they say Booker.
Comments
I feel a lot more detached this season if I'm honest, and find I have to drag myself down there sometimes, but I'm fine when I get there. If I didn't have a season ticket I'd have probably missed quite a few this season
In a way I feel the club has become rudderless. The Couhigs rarely come over now and most of "the Generals" have left. Bayo gave so much to the club in terms of personality and excitement even when he was on the bench or simply around Adams Park. Even Gareth doesn't seem his usual chirpy self, perhaps he is regretting turning down previous job offers (assuming of course he received them)
The owners are running the club at a loss and yet performances, and to a degree results, are dissapointing. The matchday experience has declined, certainly for me. We will lose Mehmeti next month, albeit hopefully the fee will alleviate some of this years losses.
Hopefully it is the weather that is bringing on my doom and gloom.
You'll hate the owners vision for Adams Park in 2035
Relocating the club to Florida?
Rob Couhig was at the last home game against Portsmouth and Phil Alexander is a full time acting CEO. As for results, our record in the last 10 games is W5 D3 L2, a return of almost two points per game.
There's potential for them to have increased the take a little through higher prices and shop profit a lot through managing stock and buying to order, although they are at times prone to the sort of exaggeration that probably belongs on here. The absolute drop off in purchasing some talk of doesn't seem to be reflected in the queues.
It's not a massive stretch to imagine we were buying lots of stuff in order to have a range but having to give lots of it away cheap months later, or that the mark up and commercial agreements were a bit amateur in the past , I'm waiting for this to filter through into profits.
Interesting about the CEO @glasshalffull hadn't heard that, or much from him recently.
I get that Alan, but there does appear to be, (maybe on the surface) a certain separation of fan from the club. I can't put my finger on it yet. Even my son, (I buy 3 season tickets), isn't bothered if he has to work on a home match. When I was his age & still today, it was football first then every thing else after. Like many, I used to arrive at the club circa 13.15, buy a pint or two, a plate of chips & a chicken baltie pie, read the programme, study the team sheets before giving the linos & refs the benefit of my advice for 90 minutes +. Now I am often attending on my own, don't bother with the limited expensive foods, might buy one pint if at all, watch the match and trudge home. 🤷♂️
I’m not in the best position to judge of course, but it’s hard for me to understand how anyone who stuck with it when we were in the bottom half of L2 and being used as a pawn in a scheme to get Wasps a new stadium can feel more disconnected from the club now.
We’ve been spoiled over the last five years, two promotions, one near miss, staying in L1 and almost staying in the Championship. Maybe the malaise is a consequence of this season feeling a bit more normal.
Regardless, we’ve got six months to enjoy some of the best players we’ve ever had. I wouldn’t want to miss that because a coat I don’t need is too expensive, or because our CFO has decided to live in the same country as his own family.
I also get what you are saying and it is reflected in many posts on here. As I rarely eat at games I can’t comment on the price or quality of food at Adams Park but I understand that people think it is expensive. However, everyday items have become more expensive and on a recent visit to the cinema at Handy Cross I couldn’t believe how much they were charging for a simple hot dog. The Couhigs (inevitably) have approached football from an American perspective where the match day ‘experience’ seems to be more important than the actual game and whilst I think priorities are very different in this country, they have at least improved a lot of things at Adams Park. They haven’t got everything right, but they credit where it’s due.
I've found this season a massive struggle but can remember plenty of other years feeling fairly similar at different points but that was normally due to the poor football on the pitch but at least I had all the social side to fall back on.
It's also now gone rapidly downhill off the pitch, for a 2nd consecutive season. Not all of this is the clubs fault!
I feel there is a lack of atmosphere before and after the game in the Vere Suite, something is missing. I used to love getting a big bowl of chips, waiting for the teamsheets, watching the lunch time game, read the program and discussing with friends everything Wycombe and beyond. I also used to really enjoy the player interviews after the game, if felt like a family. It's just never got back to pre-covid atmosphere and it has had a massive impact on my "matchday experience." (It's also annoying they will no longer put the cricket on one screen on the odd occasion it's on!)
To compound that further, this season has been really difficult because most of the people I spent time with week in week out are no longer attending regularly. (I hate paying for parking so get to the free parking around 1300 so as not to miss out). In the past, there would be around 10-12 of us arriving around that time. This season, my son and I have pretty much been on our own for those two hours before kick off.
Out of our group there were 6 season ticket holders and now it's just me and my son. The non season ticket holders would come reasonably regularly but they've also stayed away from most games so far. I hope that will improve 2nd half of the season. There were other people we've met over last few seasons who are also not comign along for a variety of reasons.
Whilst my son (15) and I get on well, it's just not the same for either of us to find something to talk about for two hours with each other at home games. We put up with each other for away games but it's far more interesting for both of us, as I take him around the 92.
With the fairly boring offerings both on and off the pitch, I'm seriously considering not getting STs next season (for the first time since 1999).
I'm really hoping the second half of the season picks up!
The price of tickets and merchandise are a direct reflection of the financial forecasting of the club.
If a club announces a £3m loss, then prices are going to go up. I have no issue with prices going up if that money is falling in to the hands of people with a clear and sustainable view of the clubs future.
I don't want prices increasing short-term because the contract of x,y or z player is up for renewal and nobody knows where the agents fee is going to land
Can't help but thinking all games being available on TV (internet) contributes to the loss of engagement, that genie isn't going back in the bottle any time soon but I think it is an external factor. Weirdly so is the tightening of the transfer rules, while they make some sense financially and competitively you know what you are getting for a while now with no prospect of a new signing plugging gaps.
Don't think the owner has done himself any favours PR wise in recent weeks but that's not the only factor.
Does anyone else feel they have become a customer rather than a fan. The rhetoric of engagement, match day experience and other metrics of success do seem to be banded around more and more and so it sinks in through your skin. Having a player in the bar after a game interviewed by JT or Matt to cheers was a great thing. It kept fans closer to the squad and was a return to the days of MoN when Paul Hyde often was in the bar before I could get from the terrace. The players were closer to us. Now we seem to have stepped back from that, not as bad as the Smith Players Bar era but a step back. Sure Covid protocol forbids a player from coming into the bar afterwards and greeting the unwashed but Covid protocol doesn't stop that player going on a night out to a club, restaurant, concert, cinema, supermarket etc etc.
Cinemas are, like my suggestion of food at Wycombe also have the demi-captive market. It’s always been about eleven million pounds for a medium popcorn and coke. But for £1 more you can get a large.
i don’t actually criticise the club for trying to sell £10 burgers. I’m of the opinion you can get people to buy a burger for £10 if the quality is high enough And with the American style bbq you could get that. I’m talking a couple of patties, pulled pork or brisket, some slaw/gerkins/what have you, American style cheese etc.
The problem is they are selling £3 burgers for £10.
or, as this thread originally stated a £55 coat for £106.
that’s a £51 badge they are selling us.
They’re mugging us off.
Agree with you.
But my "matchday experience" is turnup near to kick off, watch the game, go home. And that still suits me great.
A lot of people have the game as seemingly quite a small part of their actual routine.
Sorry for posting an opinion contrary to yours!!
I agree that the Couhigs have got more right than wrong and there are many things that have improved. I think the main problem appears to be that clash of idea’s between “match day experience “ and a winning football team. The latter is the main priority for the British punter, the former for our American owners. I remember saying a few years ago that plenty of European owners have tried to regurgitate the same ideas with similar results so maybe an American owner would bring fresh ideas? It would appear that somewhere in the middle will be the answer, maybe us old timers are too romantic and will eventually die out and become extinct leaving the young ones to reap the benefit? BTW it was good to meet you at the Shell garage just now.🤫
The thing that's most worrying to me, is how some sections of the club are so dismissive of fans' concerns. There's people in this thread saying they're unlikely to renew their season tickets and being told "but look at the wifi", or people asking why a badge costs over £50 and being told "don't buy it then". It's true, the Couhigs have done some good things, but how useful are any of those going to be in an empty stadium?
To be fair the the couhigs they have always said their priority was to turn the club into a profitable club and I am sure we are all pretty well aware they aren’t going to that on ticket prices alone.
In many respects they have the advantage of a manager that knows how to run the on field stuff so their focus will always be the match day experience. I do not have an issue with that focus or priority.
I do think, however, that after getting many things right in the first 18 months or so of ownership something has changed somewhere and they’ve starting to get things wrong and the honesty and openness they came to us with is slowly getting eroded and changed.
Where did I post an opinion? All I stated were facts, unlike your original post.
As a comparison of food/drink pricing I noticed, when in town on Sunday, that a bratwurst hot dog was £7 and a cup of mulled wine £5 from the stalls outside the library/M&S.
They smelt quite appealing, but not enough to part me from my money.
It’s good to put a face to a nom de plume. I agree about the cultural differences between ourselves and the US, I’ve been to baseball, ice hockey, basketball etc in the States and many spectators seem more interested in buying burgers and beers that watching the action!
This must be a gasroom first? Meeting another poster in person at a petrol station halfway through a thread
If this was America, we could rename the forum the Gas Station
It wasn't the Cressex Petrol Station, was it?
If so, budgets are looking increasingly tight if this is the standard of our new signings.
I agree we have achieved 18 points in the last 10 games. However when you extend it to our last 13 games we still only have 18 points. Facts, like statistics can be framed in such a way to advance an argument.
Do you consider 29 points from our first 21 games represents a reasonable return for the quality of players we have?
And there was no sign of Mehmeti or a queue of club managers waving cheques 😀
Hopefully it was the Pedestal - cheapest in Wycombe I’m lead to believe!
Careful there. I know a few who have gone in and paid and been charged more than the amount advertised outside!
Thought it's Booker petrol station.
Although it's long been debated whether people actually mean the one opposite the Old Turnpike, or the ones across from the High School when they say Booker.