How long before people don't bother?

[robwahlmann]

With the results we get at home how long will it take before most people don't bother to go? Today was as low as it can get and Neil doesn't seem able to make the group react at all! How long do the board dare to wait? I really can't see many managers make this lot playing like a decent team picking up a decent amount of points, but there must be a limit where the board gets desperate!?

[iamstokie]

I’ve not gone the last two games , mine and my nephews season tickets are sitting on the shelf and will probably be there for a while

[David Brent]

Last season

[pieofpeter]

I'll keep going but I'm having to force meself to go atm.

[DC1863]

It's already happened.

[crouchbot]

It’s already happening.

[svengaliinplatforms]

Last season was my last

[wakefieldstokie]

It’s well underway.

[hcstokie]

I didn’t bother today and haven’t done quite a few times this season. I’m certainly not renewing my season ticket.

[Milkie]

Stokes result is always the one I look for, but I stopped having a season ticket 2 years ago, I pick and choose my games now, and they are getting less and less, my lad is also not renewing after this season. I now fill my Saturday with non league football, my nephew plays for Coventry United who are a decent watch and I mix that with Tamworth, currently top of the central league and going well. Both are far more entertaining and less stressful that Stoke, they are going to have to seriously improve all elements of results, experience, marketing etc, to get me back as a regular, it’s just not enjoyable after 7 years of decline

[jontimmis]

Apathy… it’s started a long time ago. But you always hope, hope that kills you, but seriously I knew they’d score. The only thing that is good with stoke at the moment is you get surprisingly good odds on the away team.

[Stretfordpotterer]

Been threatening to take in a bit of non league as an alternative for a while and today I went to Trafford v Glossop North End instead. Happy with my choice.

[Deleted]

I first started feeling, not at one, with the club when they started doing this kneeling down malarkey.

Now Im pushing myself to the game for those feelings from seasons past, the bonding the togetherness of a match day experience.

Those players in red and white are not something I feel anything for, just a bunch of none descriptive men kicking a ball around and not making a good job of it.

[banksy1art]

This has happened to every club, good examples are Leeds and Wolves. The supporters will be back when we play well again

[BuckRogers]

Next home match. I'm on strike

[mcw]

Well down that road, when did we last win at home? As others have said it is the hope that keeps you going, but that hope is being extinguished at an ever quickening pace. We have been rancid at home since Neil has come in. Whilst he may say we didn’t deserve to lose the last two games (which on the balance of opportunities is correct) it is the manner of defeat that is sucking the blood out of the fan base. We are producing mind numbing, Rowettesque shite with no pattern of play and no entertainment at all. Layered onto 5 years of utter mediocrity at best I think we may be at the point of large sections of the fan base seriously considering if this worth it. I feel like this that. Utterly depressing

[dirtclod]

I can't recall seeing as many "I'm packing it in" posts before.
Not just "this is shit" but the number of posters who are stating they are stopping either 1) going 2) spending or 3) both is alarming.
And this from people who have been supportive for years.

Things are tight economically and it's NOT a good time for the club to be stumbling around and imitating dog crap on the pitch.

I think the OP is timely with this question.
Unfortunately.

[maninasuitcase]

I have genuinely thought about switching to non league football.
Low expectation, beer by the pitch, go home without feeling like my soul has been torn from my body.

[maninasuitcase]

Jan 2, 2023 18:11:48 GMT mcw said:

Well down that road, when did we last win at home? As others have said it is the hope that keeps you going, but that hope is being extinguished at an ever quickening pace. We have been rancid at home since Neil has come in. Whilst he may say we didn’t deserve to lose the last two games (which on the balance of opportunities is correct) it is the manner of defeat that is sucking the blood out of the fan base. We are producing mind numbing, Rowettesque shite with no pattern of play and no entertainment at all. Layered onto 5 years of utter mediocrity at best I think we may be at the point of large sections of the fan base seriously considering if this worth it. I feel like this that. Utterly depressing

Only won twice against Blackpool and luton.
And i missed luton.

[dutchstokie]

0-4 Watford at home…… the amount of ‘effort’ in that game was laughable and yet, we’re going backwards

I’ve said it umpteen times - fuck em.

I’ll still follow Stoke it’s what we’re wired to do, when these shithouses are long gone

[peepin]

Next home game is in another 19 days, I think I may have calmed down by then.

[hcstokie]

Jan 2, 2023 18:12:10 GMT dirtclod said:

I can't recall seeing as many "I'm packing it in" posts before.
Not just "this is shit" but the number of posters who are stating they are stopping either 1) going 2) spending or 3) both is alarming.
And this from people who have been supportive for years.

Things are tight economically and it's NOT a good time for the club to be stumbling around and imitating dog crap on the pitch.

I think the OP is timely with this question.
Unfortunately.

For me it’s not even a question of how much money it costs. The ‘product’ on offer is shit and has been for years. The ‘experience’ off the pitch is shit and has been for years.

For me, I can confidently say that I will enjoy my time a lot more doing other things on a Saturday afternoon. Spending time with my family, doing other hobbies that I actually enjoy, or just going to the pub for a couple are all more appealing now.

The last few years have sucked any enjoyment or enthusiasm that I used to feel out of me. It’s really sad as I’ve been a season ticket holder for 30 years. I feel completely disconnected from what’s happening on and off the pitch and even when we’ve had poor teams over the years I always had more time for the players representing me and my club.

The only enjoyment I get out of going to the game now is going to the pub before and managing to get on the first bus away from the ground.

[swinny]

I know a great deal of long time supporters that can't be bothered because we're so fucking dull and predictable. I've gone to Hanley Town the last 2 seasons far more than Stoke and my afternoons have been far more enjoyable.

[RonnieStokie]

I enjoy my 50 minute walk up and down the canal on a match day. That's all I enjoy. Think I'll walk to the turnstile and turn straight around next game.

[alexpenkhull]

As mentioned on another thread I've never felt less interested. I checked the final score and I was not even surprised or saddened.

The fans need something to shout about and be inspired by what they see on the pitch and off the pitch, sadly there is lack of quality in both aspects.

What would we need to see change in the next few weeks that could inspire fans to return and lend their voice again?

[SuperRickyFuller]

Completely understand if people don't want to go or have more enjoyable things to spend their money on.

For me, it's about the socialising before and after the game so I won't be stopping anytime soon.

[kidcrewbob]

I gave my STs up before lockdown after 35 years and I’ve not missed it one iota - sick of the club appointing predictable no-mark managers, the can’t-be-arsed players, the politics and virtue signalling that has infected the game generally - I still watch and have been waiting for something to make me reconsider but the ship has sailed for good I reckon - oh and a couple of grand a year better off……

[peterthornesboots]

Me and my old man have had season tickets (in the same seats) since the stadium was built.

But even we are beginning to wonder what we will do when the season ticket renewal push comes around in a couple of months.

It is blind loyalty and companionship that is keeping us going at the moment.

[dirtclod]

Jan 2, 2023 18:21:13 GMT hcstokie said:

Jan 2, 2023 18:12:10 GMT dirtclod said:

I can't recall seeing as many "I'm packing it in" posts before.
Not just "this is shit" but the number of posters who are stating they are stopping either 1) going 2) spending or 3) both is alarming.
And this from people who have been supportive for years.

Things are tight economically and it's NOT a good time for the club to be stumbling around and imitating dog crap on the pitch.

I think the OP is timely with this question.
Unfortunately.

For me it’s not even a question of how much money it costs. The ‘product’ on offer is shit and has been for years. The ‘experience’ off the pitch is shit and has been for years.

For me, I can confidently say that I will enjoy my time a lot more doing other things on a Saturday afternoon. Spending time with my family, doing other hobbies that I actually enjoy, or just going to the pub for a couple are all more appealing now.

The last few years have sucked any enjoyment or enthusiasm that I used to feel out of me. It’s really sad as I’ve been a season ticket holder for 30 years. I feel completely disconnected from what’s happening on and off the pitch and even when we’ve had poor teams over the years I always had more time for the players representing me and my club.

The only enjoyment I get out of going to the game now is going to the pub before and managing to get on the first bus away from the ground.

Sounds like you're preserving your mental health with common sense and family responsibilities. 
Good to see that you haven't fallen victim to that irresponsible behavior of skipping a pub.  We do have our drinking responsibilities after all.
But yeah from what I read, doesn't look like "the matchday experience" is drawing anyone in and these players are enough to make me want to rent an industrial tree-shredder.

[bubbleblower]

I’ve been a season ticket holder since 1984 although I’ve been going with my dad and brothers since 1974 ( I was five) and although there have been times when we have been a lot worse than we are at the minute I find myself falling out of love with football.
It’s hope that keeps you going the hope that at the start of each season your team will do something the hope before kick off that this is the day your team will turn it around and we will finally start playing well.
Our owners are very generous people but have not got a clue how to run a modern football club it’s a shambles if we sack yet another manager they will just pick another clueless prick there is no hope what so ever that they will hand the running of the club to someone who has a track record of running a modern football club.
I will not be renewing my season ticket I will still go to games but only if a fancy it and I’ve not got anything better to do.