Stop the Split for Derby
It's a lovely well made video with good intentions, but if some areas are nearly sold out with a week to go before the Sheffield Wednesday game then some Wycombe fans or possible Wycombe fans are going to be more than a bit inconvenienced.
We should be encouraging young fans for the future and we should be providing the best support possible for the team, especially for critical games against play off rivals.
@username123 had an excellent idea of providing cheaper tickets for families in the less popular blocks of the Frank Adams. Lets take up that idea for the Derby game rather than split the big stand.
A team that gets results boosts attendance. If we can continue the run of form we showed over Christmas against a series of difficult sides I think it absolutely certain that if we split the Family Stand and the Frank Adams for the game against Derby we would be replacing Wycombe fans with Derby fans inside "Our House".
A good atmosphere boosts attendance and the away crowd at Peterborough was fantastic, "12th man level" to use a quote. I can't see a reason why we can't produce that sort of atmosphere at home for a big game.
I am sure the Trust and the Club will consider any other ideas posted on here for boosting our home crowd for the home game against Derby. I promise that if there are further good ideas on here to raise the attendance for the Derby game then I will raise them with the Club and the Trust.
I am sure the Club will be very carefully considering whether or not to split the Family Stand and the Frank Adams for the Derby game on 11th February. If the decision is not already made I am sure that the home attendance for the game against Sheffield Wednesday will be one of the factors. If it is more than 6000 it will start to make a clear argument against any purely financial case for splitting the big stand for the Derby game and the emotional arguments against I think are already won.
Comments
It would be absolutely mad to do it for the Derby game !
I would be concerned about safety irrelevant of the Woodlands being split.
I’m sure the club will be highly sensitised to the Derby situation. As a, perhaps pertinent, aside, Ben in ticketing is a Derby fan and will no doubt have full reconnaissance to ensure a smooth match day experience for all.
Can we not have away fans openly wearing their shirts in the home sections please? Was very open at the Ipswich game and the stewards did nothing.
Why is that a problem?
Once they've decided certain blocks are for away fans you can't really then dictate what they wear really.
What they obviously need to do is properly demarcate their area and stop their fans moving into more central blocks mixing in with home fans. That's not on.
We are not prepared as a club to allow a split with Derby.
We have proved this down the years against clubs with, how can I say, a more aggressive following that we cannot deal with. And the Derby fans have a grudge.
It will hopefully attract new and fickle fans and if they have a bad experience we will lose them.
I can recall a game v Millwall where away fans blatantly sat in our area / and seats. When we asked them to move we were abused, when the steward asked them to move he was abused, when the steward supervisor asked he was abused. So we were told to move. They then say they’re f’ing and jeffing at all and sundry with impunity. It will be the same with Derby.
Sell tickets to Wycombe fans. Give them to locals. Whatever.
This is always a problem. I remember a Forest Green fan with a native American headdress in FGR colours (yes, really), fully going at it in the Beechdean during the League cup game with them a few years back. But I'm sure the stewards get a raw enough deal as it is without having to deal with that crap.
Being with your 'tribe' is part of what makes football so great. Let's not turn it into rugby,
There were loads of Ipswich fans sat around us in the FA stand.
They were being openly derogatory about Wycombe and it got worse as the game went on as we held on to the lead.
Those who disagree, do you not think the atmosphere would suffer badly if all fans were mixed? It's got nothing to do with 'not being able to resist fighting each other' or whatever. I enjoy myself at games by being in amongst 'my people'; you can mix with oppo fans before and after the game.
You've made your point well, and of course that is what you already have.
I've just never understood this blind rage fully grown adults will fly into if they spot an away fan in the home stand. It's basically throwing a tantrum because someone is wearing a different coloured t-shirt.
As for your point about atmosphere, I just hope that the normally fearsome atmosphere whipped up by the Woodlands Stand wasn't ruined by the odd fan here and there with an Ipswich scarf.
Anyway, don't worry about it. Football isn't about to go back to unsegregated crowds. I just find it embarrassing that it's needed to prevent widespread violence, which it is
Is there really that much of a grudge between the two sets of fans? I know there has been a lot of rubbish thrown around on twitter etc, but what's new, that's where the lunatic fringe get a voice and probably don't go to games anyway. I doubt any Derby supporters travelling down will be thinking 'let's have a pop at Wycombe fans.'
Weren't some of them openly talking about trashing the away end?
They were absolutely fine up there for the away game earlier in the season
Where, on twitter?
I'm sure someone posted a link to their forum on here. I mean, they wouldn't be the first to try and take some souvenirs.
We've already got replacement seats on order!
I saw that on there tbf... there were some openly talking about causing trouble when they came to us, rather than when we went up there. But as has been said, probably a minority. But I think it would be foolish to say they like us, and I'd guess this, along with Oxford is probably the game for more Police presence
Making short term money will always be the priority, it what it is.
Perhaps Rob could visit the Away Fan Zone bar pre match to see how the Rams are soaking up the pre game atmosphere? A bit of qualitative research re ‘match day experience’ could be useful.
Presumably the club have to get police approval for any extension of away allocation, so presumably this is a complete non-starter given the sensitivity of the situation?
I think segregation is a good thing, but because I want to punch someone for the crime of not supporting Wycombe Wanderers, but because misery loves company.
Fair enough, but that isn't why football fans are segregated
Unfortunate typo!
Ha, it is! Those unlucky enough not to support Wycombe are much more likely to invoke my pity.
With less than a week to go we've sold only half of the home tickets in the FA upper blocks. Obviously more will be sold in the next 6 days but it'll be no where near a sell out, and the same will be very likely be true for the visit of Derby. Also, I suspect the idea of selling 'premium' tickets at knocked down prices to Wycombe based families rather than at full price to Derby fans would be unthinkable to our American owners. Why give away revenue?
I know this has been said before but it's hard not to see this criticism of choosing to sell tickets to away fans rather than leave them empty as blatant hypocrisy after the slagging off MK got for taking the opposite approach at the end of last season. You can't have it both ways.
I don’t have a problem with the increased away allocation.
We aren’t going to sell those tickets so makes sense to fill the ground a bit more and bank the £25k.
If we ever get to the championship again, and the ground improvements happen, this could be the standard away allocation which would still leave circa 10k for home fans.
Presumably, next season, especially if we did manage to go up, they would make the decision not to accept renewals in certain blocks in the Frank Adams?
Rather than have the pain of cheesing people off on a match by match basis.
Did they do something similar in the Main Stand a few years ago? Stopped accepting renewals in the end blocks?
The thing is we will sell a lot of those tickets.
The Family Stand is normally always sold out for big games on a Saturday, if they do have tickets left its less than 100 and lots of singles with about 20/30 left in the two half end blocks. The club now take away around 500 of those 1700 seats in the Family Stand.
The Family Stand should not be split forcing 100's of Wycombe families to pay a lot more to sit upstairs or they just don't go. If you have a family of four with a 13 year old and a 10 year old and are forced to sit upstairs its going to cost £85 for your tickets instead of £56 in the Family Stand. Shit show.