Friday night

[FinchleyBlade]

Still plenty of seats left in BLUT & Kop.
Where are our fans ?
Top of the league , big opposition & fanatic away following.
Electric atmosphere - not one to watch on the telly.
Be there or be square.
Cum on feel the noise.
This ought to be sold out by now.
If not , the ground expansion lobby can forget their campaign

Have you seen the ticket prices? You are aware it's nearly Christmas?

Tone deaf post.

 

[JJBlade]

Plenty of seats 2 together. You could even get almost a row with 17 together in the BLUT. Kop also have quite a few 2's.

Not the point I was making.
There could be 11 million seats altogether, but trying to sell them one ticket only per person is not going to work.
It hasn't worked for years despite having three seasons in the Premier League.

For those extra 5,000 seats to be sold the club is having to entice fans who don't currently go to the games, it's not very enticing to anybody to only be able to buy a ticket for yourself and sit on your own in a place where you don't go, or haven't been to very often.

It's also to blame for the shit atmosphere, who's going to start shouting and making noise when they're sat on their own with a bunch of strangers who are also sat on their own?

 

[Keen Blade]

This game and Albion will tell us just where we are heading this season . Not going to be easy adding any new faces into this well organised team . Cover for injuries I guess . Nice problem to have

I agree these games will be significant but I don't think they will determine the final outcome.
Much like losing to Leeds & Boro doesn't mean we'll end up third.
But beating Sunderland and getting something at Hawthorns will be extremely encouraging.

Unfortunately our really challenging run of games occurs before the window.
I agree with Wilder that he does need 2 or 3 in January but the difficulty will not be adding new faces.
It will be persuading good players to come on loan without the promise of getting straight into the team.
That's the problem with loan players , their clubs want them to get game time , not warm the bench.

Losing another first team member to long-term injury would be a problem.
Imo our biggest unmanaged risk is losing Souza , but we are unlikely to be able to bring in that quality.
Next after that is losing either Anel or Souttar , coz Robbo is not at their level despite his commitment - we'll see how he stands up to Friday's test and I might have to eat my words.

Then it's a striker. It's looking like it will never happen for Brewster and Moore is not prolific (although contributes well in other ways). Oneh is young , but Campbell has the goal touch. So a proven scorer would be nice but hard to find on loan.

The two biggest factors on achieving autos seem to be luck with injuries and what 2/3 players can be found as decent cover in January for the most "at risk" positions .

 

[Blade for Sale]

Their entire left side is missing (Mundle and Cirkin), so good news for JRS

Mundle & Cirkin sounds like a shop in Diagon Alley.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

This is a game where the fans are needed. Make it loud and hostile Bladesman. We’re good enough, especially at home, to beat these.

Have to say, the crowd was pathetic last night.

Hopefully the ref makes a couple of bad decisions early on, it's the only thing that fires our lot up.

 

[Tuns25]

Not the point I was making.
There could be 11 million seats altogether, but trying to sell them one ticket only per person is not going to work.
It hasn't worked for years despite having three seasons in the Premier League.

For those extra 5,000 seats to be sold the club is having to entice fans who don't currently go to the games, it's not very enticing to anybody to only be able to buy a ticket for yourself and sit on your own in a place where you don't go, or haven't been to very often.

It's also to blame for the shit atmosphere, who's going to start shouting and making noise when they're sat on their own with a bunch of strangers who are also sat on their own?

Bang on. we just don't seem arsed about encouraging support and making it easy. It's take it or leave it lads and lasses. If you want to come you'll come regardless of prices, jumping through hoops, having to sit on your own and it being on telly. Who needs bloody part timers anyway?

These are the games you attract new fans, returning fans, next season's ST holders. Just make it easy. We should also have had a cracking offer on last night. Two home games in three days, one against unattractive opposition on a Tuesday night - obvious we could and should have done something signifcant last night

 

[FinchleyBlade]

Bang on. we just don't seem arsed about encouraging support and making it easy. It's take it or leave it lads and lasses. If you want to come you'll come regardless of prices, jumping through hoops, having to sit on your own and it being on telly. Who needs bloody part timers anyway?

These are the games you attract new fans, returning fans, next season's ST holders. Just make it easy. We should also have had a cracking offer on last night. Two home games in three days, one against unattractive opposition on a Tuesday night - obvious we could and should have done something signifcant last night

The other week it was 38 quid at home to watch Derby County. Including the booking fee that is basically 40 pounds to watch a game of division 1 football against a side who haven't been in the Prem in 15 years.

It's absolutely absurd. The 25k last night were basically all ST holders and away fans. The pay on the day casual fan is being priced out which is obviously what they want. Having ST money upfront is preferable from a financial standpoint.

 

[Tarqs]

This game and Albion will tell us just where we are heading this season . Not going to be easy adding any new faces into this well organised team . Cover for injuries I guess . Nice problem to have

To be honest, the Leeds and Boro games were also telling us where we were heading before we played them.

Lost em both...

Still find ourselves top

 

[Sheffsteel]

Always thought Newcastle were the bigger team in Sunderland anyway. Much bigger away followings and you can always have decent banter with the geordie magpies.

Sorry, just trying to get a mention on their 'A Pre-match View From....'

I used to work with a big Sunderland fan and he always used to say
"People think Newcastle are a lot bigger than Sunderland and there's a big media bias in favour of Newcastle"
"However do some research, check the stats.....and you'll see that there's isn't much separating Newcastle and Sunderland".

He's correct.....Newcastle just slightly edge Sunderland in almost every big club stat...but's it's pretty similar.

Similar to us and Sheff Wed. Check all the historical big club stats and Wednesday just edge it
but unknown to some (especially Wednesday fans) there's not much separating Sheff Utd and Sheff Wed regards club size.

However this century (from 2000) then of course United are factually bigger than Wednesday comparing all the stats.

 

[relish]

The pay on the day casual fan is being priced out which is obviously what they want. Having ST money upfront is preferable from a financial standpoint.

If this is true, it is an interesting contrast to the "top 6" in the Prem who want the opposite (i.e. they want to reduce Season Ticket numbers in favour of tourists who will pay more for a ticket and spend more in the club shop etc).

 

[Iceybabey]

This is a game where the fans are needed. Make it loud and hostile Bladesman. We’re good enough, especially at home, to beat these.

This

 

[S64 Blade]

The other week it was 38 quid at home to watch Derby County. Including the booking fee that is basically 40 pounds to watch a game of division 1 football against a side who haven't been in the Prem in 15 years.

It's absolutely absurd. The 25k last night were basically all ST holders and away fans. The pay on the day casual fan is being priced out which is obviously what they want. Having ST money upfront is preferable from a financial standpoint.

True, however that’s a bit short sighted.

Once the season tickets are sold/cut off date has passed to purchase. The sole focus should be on shifting the remaining 5k or whatever it is, as much as possible. If the club sold the majority of these, for each home game it’d bring in far more money than 5k season tickets would.

It’d also increase the chances of more people buying a season ticket the following year and getting that money up front.

The complexity and barriers to buying a ticket is not helpful for a casual fan/newbie. If you think about modern life, everything we consume now is ridiculously easy to buy; Amazon on your phone, buy a film on Disney or wherever, Deliveroo, Uber, pay by Apple Pay. We’ve gone the opposite direction in making it easy for the consumer to buy.

 

[JJBlade]

I agree these games will be significant but I don't think they will determine the final outcome.
Much like losing to Leeds & Boro doesn't mean we'll end up third.
But beating Sunderland and getting something at Hawthorns will be extremely encouraging.

Unfortunately our really challenging run of games occurs before the window.
I agree with Wilder that he does need 2 or 3 in January but the difficulty will not be adding new faces.
It will be persuading good players to come on loan without the promise of getting straight into the team.
That's the problem with loan players , their clubs want them to get game time , not warm the bench.

Losing another first team member to long-term injury would be a problem.
Imo our biggest unmanaged risk is losing Souza , but we are unlikely to be able to bring in that quality.
Next after that is losing either Anel or Souttar , coz Robbo is not at their level despite his commitment - we'll see how he stands up to Friday's test and I might have to eat my words.

Then it's a striker. It's looking like it will never happen for Brewster and Moore is not prolific (although contributes well in other ways). Oneh is young , but Campbell has the goal touch. So a proven scorer would be nice but hard to find on loan.

The two biggest factors on achieving autos seem to be luck with injuries and what 2/3 players can be found as decent cover in January for the most "at risk" positions .

It doesn't mean we will finish third.
But you know how the media works, a loss to Sunderland will mean that whenever we've played genuine title challengers we've lost so therefore we'll be written off, slagged off and ridiculed

 

[JJBlade]

The other week it was 38 quid at home to watch Derby County. Including the booking fee that is basically 40 pounds to watch a game of division 1 football against a side who haven't been in the Prem in 15 years.

It's absolutely absurd. The 25k last night were basically all ST holders and away fans. The pay on the day casual fan is being priced out which is obviously what they want. Having ST money upfront is preferable from a financial standpoint.

They should target more season tickets then
And leave just one section of the stadium empty for "pay on the dayers" and allow them to buy three, four, five or however many they want, anything to get them sold.

Random one seats scattered all over the stadium are unlikely to be sold, so the club should calculate the expected season ticket sales and distribute them in three quarters of the stadium only.

And season ticket holders need to be more flexible as well. The club should say no same seat renewals, here are the sections where you can buy your season tickets and first come first served and sell them in sections until full.

Then leave the two sections left of the kop and a section in Bramall Lane Upper for example for pay on the dayers

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

My concern is Leeds, Middlesbrough and Coventry both caused us problems getting at our defenders instead of letting them pass around the back and could up the play. If Sunderland do that it might be a tricky game.

 

[ThatJa]

Sunderland starting to drop off now as I'm sure everyone expected them to.

No wins in 5? Drawing alot, too.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

Top 10 Blades performance in my lifetime, against a much fancied Sunderland side. A display like this would be nice.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Top 10 Blades performance in my lifetime, against a much fancied Sunderland side. A display like this would be nice.

What a side that was......quality and grit throughout, exactly what we appear to have in abundance.

More of the same please.

 

[vas borbokis]

To be honest, the Leeds and Boro games were also telling us where we were heading before we played them.

Lost em both...

Still find ourselves top

We really shouldn't underestimate the effect Baldock's passing had on the club at that time.
Neither Leeds nor Boro blew us away and I imagine our prep for those games was seriously impacted.
RIP GB.

 

[Keen Blade]

They should target more season tickets then
And leave just one section of the stadium empty for "pay on the dayers" and allow them to buy three, four, five or however many they want, anything to get them sold.

Random one seats scattered all over the stadium are unlikely to be sold, so the club should calculate the expected season ticket sales and distribute them in three quarters of the stadium only.

And season ticket holders need to be more flexible as well. The club should say no same seat renewals, here are the sections where you can buy your season tickets and first come first served and sell them in sections until full.

Then leave the two sections left of the kop and a section in Bramall Lane Upper for example for pay on the dayers

ST holder is entitled to renew their seat - club would never change this as it saves organising the sale of 23k seats every summer.
BLUT has no STs at all.

 

[FinchleyBlade]

Top 10 Blades performance in my lifetime, against a much fancied Sunderland side. A display like this would be nice.

Have we ever played better on an opening day game? I don't remember us bettering that game. I think Wilders L1 and Championship promotion teams with the 5-3-2 just about edged that side for the quality of football but it's a close run thing.

Interesting how all our best football in recent decades has come playing 5-3-2 with wingback though.

 

[Tickhill Blade]

I sympathise but I don't know what more the club can do - they will have researched their pricing formulae.

One idea which strikes me is for them to hold back the restricted view seats until the day of the game and then put them on sale for half price ?

The 'pricing formula research' seems to extend as far as - make season tickets attractive and fuck everyone else, especially if you fancy bringing kids with you

 

[ancientblade]

Can imagine a fair few are waiting for payday before purchasing tickets.

yes payday tomorrow for most so should be an upturn in ticket sales but friday night doesnt help either think if it was a saturday 3pm game it would have been a near sellout

 

[ancientblade]

The 'pricing formula research' seems to extend as far as - make season tickets attractive and fuck everyone else, especially if you fancy bringing kids with you

thats exactly the situation fantastic value season tickets but anybody who cant afford one or any other reason is being victimised by outrageous potd prices

 

[ghandi]

Plenty of seats 2 together. You could even get almost a row with 17 together in the BLUT. Kop also have quite a few 2's.

But you need 500 loyalty points.

 

[SouthStandGBlock]

Not the point I was making.
There could be 11 million seats altogether, but trying to sell them one ticket only per person is not going to work.
It hasn't worked for years despite having three seasons in the Premier League.

For those extra 5,000 seats to be sold the club is having to entice fans who don't currently go to the games, it's not very enticing to anybody to only be able to buy a ticket for yourself and sit on your own in a place where you don't go, or haven't been to very often.

It's also to blame for the shit atmosphere, who's going to start shouting and making noise when they're sat on their own with a bunch of strangers who are also sat on their own?

Spot on - watching football alone (unless you're at home in front of the TV) is no fun at all. It's a shared experience.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

I have a pub pal who is a mackam, sensible bloke, he said the other night he would rip our arm off for a point, difficult one to call but we are at home so I reckon a very tight 2-1 home win.

Same here I good mate of mine is to & said he’d snatch our hands off with a point . Think it will be a tight game 1 goal either way .. hopefully ours

 

[JJBlade]

But you need 500 loyalty points.

Exactly
Where are fans of the future with zero loyalty points going to come from?

There not going to build any loyalty points when their options are to go to the pub with their mates, or sit in a stadium on your own in a shit seat that nobody else wants surrounded by dickheads who allegedly support the same team as you slag you off because they know you're a part timer because nobody was sat in that particular seat last week

 

[ml1997]

Expecting loss, we don’t look very good at the moment (and haven’t really all season). Fatigue and injuries will really hit from now on I feel. We’re at least two good players away from a full squad.

 

[jt64]

thats exactly the situation fantastic value season tickets but anybody who cant afford one or any other reason is being victimised by outrageous potd prices

We've had roughly 100% inflation since I first went to BL, and oddly enough the tickets now are around twice what they were then. Were people claiming prices were "outrageous" back in 2000?