ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

Michael Kenrick

Personally, I'm gratified that I did not pay out 20 or 30 quid plus all the additional expenses to watch such poor-quality football. So I hope the stay-aways are making the same statement: that the quality simply must improve or the punters will not come.

But the truth is it was live on Sky. No other explanation is needed IMHO.

Steve Ferns
1 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:27:54

I agree Michael. I gave up my season ticket so I could pick and choose my games. £550 for a season ticket, behind a post, watching mildly entertaining games and still hvaing to fork out £25 for the pre-match pint, taxi fare and a pint after. My better half worked out that I was spending well over £1,000 a season going the games and that I was always in a bad mood becuase it was rare I was satisfied with what I saw.

I think plenty of season ticket holders have had enough in the last few years. It's better to pick the odd game, particularly with mid-week European games, and you enjoy the game more, even when it's the usual dross.

A good result today, but not a good performance. The quality must improve. Football is all about entertainment in the Sky era, but Everton?s football is rarely entertaining.

Colin Malone
2 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:28:27

I agree with Michael, ugly football, The central midfielders pass it square, back or hoof it forward. When we break and we are in need of someone getting the scraps on the edge of the box, who,s there? no one, Carsley had to make way even though he,s done nothing wrong. Amagin if we had some one like Elano, The massive difference it would make. In my view i think we need a midfield coach, Someone like Joe Royle. look what he done to Barry Horne and Joe Parkinson.

MICKMAC
3 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:39:26

Well I was there today and I was glad I was there today. I was able to take in the atmosphere and also shout on the lads. But thats big of you Michael commentating on match you saw on the TV. Well Well bit sad really I wonder if you plagerised some comments off the air. respecyt is a funny thing. CAnt respect an armchair sipporters point of veiw really

Steve Ferns
4 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:46:59

Mickmak, are you saying that we should have to prove our loyalty and show are ticket stubbs or season ticket before being able to comment on a game that was on tv?

mickmac
5 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:50:13

Stev what I am saying is that support is all about supporting your club. Yes sometimes it is frustrating and yes you can have an opinion. I am saying however that I have an opinion as well and I dont respect anyone who slags off my team with out supporting the cause

mickmac
6 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:55:58

By the way Colin. Thts an interesting thought, midfeild coach.

Steve Ferns
7 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:57:58

So after years of not missing a home game. Making many trips to away games, and buying 2 kits a year and a selection of everton ties to wear for work and load of other worthless rubbish. Becuase I now go to a handful of games a year instead of 19, i am not supporting the cause?

Should you not be wondering what Everton are doing wrong to lose such dedicated followers such as myself. I’m not alone. There was once 6 of us in the bullens and over the years 9 have part of our group. However, the last of us let the ticket go at the end of the season. There are plenty of us on this website saying similar things. The games are short on quality. Everton will lose more fans until they do something about it.

Mark Griffiths
8 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:57:24

Well, 3 points, a pretty crap performance and Yakubu 12m????? What a joke, i would not pay more then 5m tops for him, cannot hold the ball up as well as Victor, is crap in the air and looks like a lost sheep out there!!

Just shows without arteta we struggle so much and we need at least another 2 creative arteta types in the team.

Piennar looks like he will be a good squad player but nothing more to be honest.

I was at the game today, but to make a point just because you watch the game on the TV does not mean you are not a true fan, i cannot go all the time because of family/work/money commitments, so stop slagging fans off just cos they do not go every game, we care just as much!!!!!

On the bright side yes we got a clean sheet and 3 points and played some of the worst shite football i have ever witnessd as a fan (usually the sign of a good team)!!!

Anthony Jaras
9 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:55:16

I kinda agree with you all on here.

I had a season ticket from 1992-2005 in the Lower Gwladys Street Stand.

I saw the dark days under Howard before he left, the darker days under Mike Walker, then the even darker days under Kendall again before finally seeing what I regard as the lowest of the low under Walter Smith.

Yet I still made all the games, regardless of the state of the team, even when my mate moved to London I still went on my own.

I do not make games now due to work & family comittments (Kids).

Not only is it expensive, but it also takes up a large portion of time to get to every match as I used to, home and away.

I am lucky that my little girl, 3, is just starting to take an interest in Everton (Maybe it’s all the kits I make her wear and the tattoo I got her on her leg, Joke), so that from next year I am going to take her a few games.

Anyhow, the point I am going to make is that we all know what armchair fans are. They are the ones that ’know-it-all’ all of the time and will not listen to other peoples opinions, even though they have only been to a handful of games, if any.

Also, there are groups of supporters who used to go, or go when they can, who know just as much about players and performances as the season ticket holders because of the televised games, internet newspapers and MOTD.

The fact that people do not attend every game does not make them less knowledgable in any way, in fact, these days, the home viewer sees far more than the people in the stand, due to modern technology (HD, Super slow-mo replays etc).

One other point I would like to make though is that Michael says that he hopes people that ’Stay Away’ do so due to the quality of football on offer, and that he hopes this gives a message to the club so that things inprove.

I do not like this!

I feel that supporters should support thier club regardless of the quality of football on offer and that Evertonians love, support and are addicted to Everton first and foremost and the sport of football a distant second.

Alan Humphreys
10 Posted 30/09/2007 at 21:52:47

Steve I too was like you, I gave up my season ticket 3/4 years ago - football was shit and we’d just had our first child - the money (and more sadly) the inclination (sitting looking at a pillar)wasn’t there anymore. I still love this club and I still have an opinion on the club I’ve supported all my life.

I miss the match day atmosphere and pre-match excitement but on the plus side at least I no longer have the trek to the game through the dog shit alleys and back again to discover my car’s been damaged.

Despite this, dare I say I still harbour the thought of taking my lad to a new stadium but I guess we’ll have been well and truly priced out of it by then - so Sky it is then - until we’re priced out of that too...

Ray Robinson
11 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:08:04

I’m still puzzled because, ugly though our football might be, some 4,000 made a midweek trek to Sheffield when it was an incremental cost. We took 3,000 to Fulham and Charlton last year when the kick off was 12.45 and the games ere on TV but we cannot fill Goodison when games are on TV.

Why is the away following holding up when the home attendances struggling?

Mark Griffiths
12 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:10:50

I think there is a lot of shit against the football we are playing so much anger towards it becuase we love the club so much, it?s like with your kids we get so angry of they are not making the most of their potential and we want tem to have the best and be the best and we often drill that in to them, we have a go so much because wee love the club.

Anthony Jaras
13 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:14:52

Away games are some of the best days of your life.

Away games have so much more appeal, the coach, the banter, the beer, the strange new ground, the crack with the locals.

So much more on offer than a trip to Goodison with it’s matchday ’experience’ and the 2 hour wait to get out of the car park.

Ray Robinson
14 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:18:12

Anthony, I now what you mean but have you never had to wait 2 hours to get out of London after we’ve lost - AND still have a 4 hour journey back?

My point is the away following is getting more fanatical, the home support is waning. I don’t really understand it.

Kieran Kinsella
15 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:21:02

If you look at the stats for the last 20 years or so our average attendance in 87 when we won the league was much lower than our average the years we were almost relegated. I think we all like to moan so when we are "OK but not great" it doesn’t interest us as much as when we are really really crap and may get relegated.

Steve Ferns
16 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:16:30

Ray, do not forget the facto of the exiled fans. There are tens of thousands of scousers in london who can’t get up to goodison but are desperate to go to one of the away london games. I suppose we will also have a load in or around sheffield (students etc). I know when i was at uni I went to all the away games around the local sides (as well as commuting home for every home game!)

Ray Robinson
17 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:24:38

I refuse to compare current attendances with those figures in the ?80s as a) they were (allegedly) fiddled b) there was a recession on c)the hooliganism problem was still there.

But I do take your point, maybe we only come out en masse when it really matters.

Ray Robinson
18 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:28:11

Steve, point taken, but unless you have a season ticket, you often cannot get a ticket for an away game. I know that some games do go on general sale, but not all of them

Steve Ferns
19 Posted 30/09/2007 at 22:34:32

I have always been able to get a ticket without any diffictulty, I had a season ticket and got down to the ground early on the first day of sale. However, my mates have always done the same (without season tickets) and never had many problems. Also the cockney scousers never seem to have trouble getting tickets, unless Everton London Supporters Association have some kind of priority.

Roy coyne
20 Posted 01/10/2007 at 00:04:29

I was there today and the guy that sits next to me brings his two kids with him now as he lives down south I fully understand him not coming to televised games incidentally he has season tickets for the kids as well as him self so hes paid but saved on the journey and I dont blame him as much as I love the club the standard of football played is not really inspiring people to come each week I seem to question our leaders tactics

Brian Waring
21 Posted 01/10/2007 at 00:31:31

MICMAC,what atmosphere?I was there today,and there was a few half-hearted attempts at a few chants.The problem is that you just can’t get excited watching poor football.

dave t
22 Posted 01/10/2007 at 10:09:05

jesus christ lads
we are 5th in the league
we got through a tricky cup game
and we are still in with a shot of progressin in europe

why so much doom and gloom?
its a completely new team this year and some of our best players aren’t fit.
you can’t expect a team to gel straight away.
every signing we’ve made excites me this year which is a first
it will take them a few wins before they realise they belong at a club as big as everton, thats all
we are playing a few yards out of position so it looks like we have no midfield
neville will go to right back when cahill and graveson are fit.
then we’ll have a better shape

Ian
23 Posted 01/10/2007 at 10:15:41

’Poor football’??!!

You lot on this site are a disgrace. All you ever do is moan. We are fifth in the leage after winning 2 nil at home and we are going into a Eurpopean week actually competing for a change. Sort it out, get behind the club instead of slagging them off all the time.

Chris
24 Posted 01/10/2007 at 11:03:19

All this talk of dwindling attendances and yet the powers that be want to shift us to a bigger stadium.

Someone once said "if you build it they will come"...thats bollox...we should be concentrating on getting it right on the pitch...then they will come (back)

Brian Waring
25 Posted 01/10/2007 at 12:31:41

I was wondering what a 32,000 attendance would have looked like in a 50-55,000 seater stadium?

Ian
26 Posted 01/10/2007 at 12:38:08

Well if we don’t move then you’ll soon see what a 20,000 attendance looks like in a 40,000 seater stadium playing in the Championship.

Moan, Moan, Moan... change the record will you

Lee Spargo
27 Posted 01/10/2007 at 13:00:33

If you want a full house then the reality is that the away team has to bring their full allocation. They didnt.

The game was on a Sunday afternoon, live on Sky, and, lets be honest here, Everton v Boro is hardly a glamour match is it?I’m not suprised that there was only 32,000 there.

Brian, instead of picking up on a negative, why not imagine what a full 50,000 seater will look like on derby day?

Brian Waring
28 Posted 01/10/2007 at 13:07:08

Ian,why,if we don’t move,(funny how we have been one of the longest serving clubs in the top flight,but suddenly,if we don’t move we will be relegated) will we end up in the championship?What I asked was a genuine question.We are told that if we move to a 50-55,000 seater stadium we should have no problem filling it,because from somewhere this extra 10-15,000 fans will suddenly appear.The problem for me is that We couldn’t even get anywhere near our average attendance(and I bet it won’t be the first time this season) yesterday.So,I was wondering if you knew how we would fill a stadium that holds 50,000+ for the likes of yesterdays game?

Brian Waring
29 Posted 01/10/2007 at 13:21:57

Lee, yeah it would be awesome on derby day in a full 50’000 seater stadium,I agree.Problem for me would be,on how many ocassions would we fill it?And look lads,I am not trying to turn this into an anti-Kirkby dig.It’s just a genuine question.

dave t
30 Posted 01/10/2007 at 13:30:05

its not the extra 15000 that gives the biggest boost in profits
its the 20-30 more exec boxes that bring in the most money
clubs can’t compete without the extra income
the new stadium allows for better sponsors boards and all sorts of other things aswell
don’t be so short sighted

Bastian Blue
31 Posted 01/10/2007 at 13:11:42

Good away attendances are easy to explain. Everton have a great national following. I played footy in a works team in South London in an obscure league and at one point we had 4 Evertonions playing who had no previous connection - just a coincidence. I think a lot of blues down here snap up tickets not taken up by season ticket holders from the club when Everton are playing down South. However, in recent years it’s been more difficult getting hold of them so we sometimes have to sit with the home supporters and take the stick when our cover is blown - jumping for joy when we get a corner etc..

Brian Waring
32 Posted 01/10/2007 at 13:37:35

Dave T,so it wouldn’t matter playing in front of 32,000 fans as long as the exec boxes were full,and we had better sponsor boards?

Ian
33 Posted 01/10/2007 at 13:41:08

Brian, the game is changing fast and we are in danger of being left behind if we don’t move. Goodison can’t generate the money needed to sustain a top flight club so that’s why a move is neccessary.
The move will provide us with revenue streams that are simply not attainable at Goodison and that are vital if we are to become a force again. If this happens, believe me, the fans will return.

Also, why not lower prices to attract fans? The Metalist game proved that a bargain entrance fee attracts fans. Better to have 50,000 paying £20 each than 30,000 paying £35.

Paul gladwell
34 Posted 01/10/2007 at 14:04:27

People quoting the need for executive boxes, have you seen how empty the few we have been this season most notably the metalist game which was actually a joke to see in a full house , except these areas which also dont have posts in the way, It has been said enough times that we have one of the poorest fanbases in the counntry so where these thousands of rich blues will come from to fill these boxes in our new farmland stadium only christ knows and it certainly wont come with the negative football our manager likes to play.
I can undrestand people saying why are you moaning ,but I walked out yesterday like we had been beaten, just once in a while I would like to see us go for the jugular and tonk someone but when has it happened under Moyes? every time we go two up he sits on it by throwing a defender on inviting our opponents to attack and yesterday there was no need for this as boro were shite.

Ian
35 Posted 01/10/2007 at 14:25:22

Am I missing something here, didn’t we win yesterday? Aren’t we 5th in the league?

Yesterdays subs were all about protecting a 2 goal lead with Thursday in mind.

I can’t understand all the negativity.

I was there when we beat Boro 5-0 under Walter Smith. Let’s go back to those days shall we?

Get off Moyes’s back for once will you, he’s done a great job and taken us from relegation fodder to a well respected side.

James Daly
36 Posted 01/10/2007 at 15:29:01

Ian, don’t understand your math :-50,000 x 20 = 1,000,000
30,000 x 35 = 1,050,000
Multiply that by 19 home games = 950,000 more in gate reciepts.

dave t
37 Posted 01/10/2007 at 15:45:08

brian, of course I’D think it was better if the stadium was full.
in terms of revenue for the club though they’d definately prefer 32000 adn all the exec boxes full and more sponsorship
thats a stupid question
every exec box costs roughly 50k per year ish, and that will prob go up if we move
if we get 10 more boxes in the new stadium then that brings 500k per season more revenue
plus we’d have electric sponsors boards (the ones that change every 5 mins) which would mean that we could more than treble the amount of match day sponsors we have.
the figures speak for themselves
how many season tickets would it take to generate 500k?

Ian
38 Posted 01/10/2007 at 16:01:27

James, my point is that by reducing the ticket prices you get more people in.

Would you rather the club generated £1m per game from 30,000 people in a half empty stadium or £1m per game from 50,000 people in a full house every week.

Plus, those extra people are buying programmes, drinks etc which is all profit at the end of the day.

Gavin Ramejkis
39 Posted 01/10/2007 at 19:57:36

A mixture of the current ticket prices and the ability to watch the poor football on display on Sky/Setanta or whatever and even free on the internet in conjunction with the large proportion of our traditional fanbase being priced out of the game is having the obvious effect on attendance. Yet if we started winning trophies and competing week in week out, even those that can only select what games they can afford to attend would be queuing up to get tickets. Sell the tickets cheaper and you get more bums on seats and if you do it right the reduced prices wont affect the balance books with the increased attendance.

Ray Robinson
40 Posted 01/10/2007 at 22:22:27

Agreed, but we’ll still sell out at Derby despite the £38 per ticket. The away support is holding up better than the home support, in my opinion.