The Mail Bag
Angels on a Pinhead
Comments (13)
Some hundreds of years ago, wise men, learned in the law, debated how many angels would fit on the head of a pin. As they were purely creatures of spirit, would the number be infinite? Or might Almighty God defy his own laws to limit their number?
Until this evening, I had thought that such insane conjecture had traipsed into the history books, then I read a series of comments on the problems and expense of designing a stadium whose foundations are sufficently deep to add a third or even fourth tier to accomodate the flocking tens of thousands who will beat at the doors of DrearyDrome to watch Franchise Everton.
I imagine that these correspondents are talking of fans in the spiritual sense: without physical form, invisible to the naked eye? Because if ? and, Oh! Dear God, please let it not be true ? they believe that any move is going to increase crowds, they have less than minimal knowledge of the club's attendance history and still less knowledge of what attacts the uncommitted to a match.
Everton are the Church of England of Merseyside soccer. A lot of people give it vocal support and think it's a jolly good thing ... but simply don't bother turning up for Divine Service unless there's a significant family event ... such as a derby.
Even Dixie was far more used to crowds of thirty-plus thousand at home games than this fabled number some of our present-day friends talk about in such casual fashion. Friends, there is no infinite number of angels waiting to fill seats.
Mike McLean, Posted 28/06/2008 at 20:20:55
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2 Posted 29/06/2008 at 00:04:34
WTF?
3 Posted 29/06/2008 at 05:11:09
I too read the article you refer to and wondered why they bothered debating having a 70,000+ capacity for the future when we could not fill it with living folk - even if we redeveloped Goodison.
4 Posted 29/06/2008 at 06:55:19
5 Posted 29/06/2008 at 10:09:28
So what do we do about it?
Attempt to cram 10000 more into the same footprint with 1000’s fewer car parking spaces than last season and limited space to offer people paying thousands per match wanting to entertain a dozen guests? I suppose Liverpool might hire out their new facilities?
Existing fans will follow the club moving 4 miles - it is what football fans do and what Everton fans do more than most - witness the fact we still have 36000 attendance after 20 years of mediocrity.
We desperately need to have the facilities to offer new fans gradually drawn by the progress of Moyes’ team.
Premiership is big business that is only going to get bigger. We need to join in as soon as possible.
6 Posted 29/06/2008 at 12:13:47
All these metaphors are confusing the fook out of me!
Nicely written piece but essentially exactly the same as the previous 100 posts against Kirkby.
7 Posted 29/06/2008 at 13:01:07
All these metaphors are confusing the fook out of me!’’
Lol thanks for the laugh I needed it with the attitude on here today.
8 Posted 29/06/2008 at 12:52:35
You may be referring to an article that I submitted. I questioned that if the board really did think that the new stadium was the answer then why did they not allow it to one day reach the size of our immediate competitors?
I later went on to say that a quality design would allow for options for expansion. Options should include an additional tier on each stand. To only have provisions to fill in the corners is a joke.
Considering that the only selling point of the design was that it had four individual stands and that it could expand slightly, then that should be admitting in their own eyes that if it ever was to expand, then the only decent feature has gone, and we are therefore left with a rubbish stadium.
It is a thoughtless design, even if we try to look at it from the yes voters point of view.
If they had put more thought into it, then they could have used the additional tier argument as an excuse to why the outside of the stadium looks rather bland and uniconic. As an additional tier would requred a new outside shell to the stadium, so the iconic features could have been added then.
9 Posted 30/06/2008 at 09:10:09
lets not forget other people of different faiths! we are the peoples club remeber.
Angels on needles, is the world still be held up by a elephant ontop of a tortoise?
Your spot on about the divine even / derby and i highlt doubt attendances will increase with moving to kirkby.
i think it’s time our voices were made louf and clear inside the ground. Especially with opening day of the season.
10 Posted 30/06/2008 at 11:24:17
11 Posted 30/06/2008 at 12:27:10
Your reference to the attendance figures are rather misleading - "Even Dixie was far more used to crowds of 30,000..." I wonder have you ever heard of the "Great Depression" of the late 1920s - mid-1930s ? There was mass unemployment at that time ? little wonder that the Evertonians of that period were not able to fill Goodison every week.
Our current average of 36,000 or so isn?t bad for a 40,000 capacity ? and given the cost and the fact that many games are switched to Sky may lead to some attendances being lower than expected.
Personally, a move/ redevelopment of Goodison to increase the capacity would I believe lead to bigger attendances. I am sure that lots of people don?t bother trying for tickets for some "big" matches as they know they have little chance of getting a ticket.
12 Posted 30/06/2008 at 14:45:00
Sings "I could have told you Michael....this world was never meant for one as beauuuuuutiful as you"
13 Posted 02/07/2008 at 13:54:12
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1 Posted 28/06/2008 at 23:16:45
If you had saved this article and published it in four or so days time it would exactly in the middle of close season.