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Post by ukcstokie on Feb 19, 2014 11:39:43 GMT
You think it's as easy as that? People lose the habit. They do other things. Once you stop going to away matches you start to look at the costs differently. Shopping with your Mrs.? Yes of course it's that simple. People have literally nothing else to do apart watch football and go shopping with their Mrs. Give me strength.
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Post by ukcstokie on Feb 19, 2014 11:51:09 GMT
But have a modicum of entertainment. That's why he left. That is why they are now rushing back on free transport. The club did everything they could to help get Hughes the support that he needed but results count. Results do count. Trying to get results counts too. The away followings won't pick up until results pick up (and then probably not by that much, because people just have got out of the habit). If we were playing away - consistently - like we did for the first 35 mins against Newcastle (cheers Atkinson), first 45 mins against Man U, and the last 60 mins against Sunderland, and picking up some points then I'd think we'd have a good chance of decent away followings.
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Post by ladyinred on Feb 19, 2014 11:58:25 GMT
My memories of The Etihad (I have been to all our previous matches there) - are all negative - except for the FA cup game. Standing in that awful lower tier, with the Cretin's to the right of us, rubbing in just how useless we were 'Let's pretend you had a shot' etc - IS NOT FUN. I like some banter - but there are not enough Stokies there to return any banter. 'Is that all you take away?' 'Your Support is F***ing S**T' etc - it is soul destroying, because they are correct. The joy of away matches is - going en-masse, we don't have that any more. In the past - even when we were not playing well away from home, the atmosphere was enough to make it still a good day out, all that has gone. Since promotion to the Prem the cost of away matches has increased and the probability of victory has decreased, this has lead to a decrease in the following, and hence the enjoyment and hence futher decreases in following. I feel that this season we are having 'more of a go' than in previous seasons - and I have had some enjoyable away matches this season - But I am not going to the Etihad on saturday - Why? because the New Years Day game last season was an utterly, utterly miserable experience - added to the previous visits to that blue plastic hell - I vowed that I would not be going again for quite a while. You know what though? If we had 3000 tickets and had already sold 2500 - I would probably change my mind and go, because us Stokies would be standing proud together, giving the Mancs some banter, even though we are getting beaten. How many more fans are like me? Put off going because the following is so poor? The only way the following will be better is if all us fans that feel that way actually go - but no one will until the followings improve. We are stuck in a cycle - and I don't see how it can be rectified. There were a number of empty seats at Newcastle and as well as we started the game - it turned pretty miserable. For me though, and my lads, the small group of Stokies at the back made it an absolute pisser - the only bit I didn't like like from them was when they said we were shit - which we are not - we were fucked over. Now, I understand that this may not be everyone's cup of tea but I've always lived by these rules...expect at home, expect nothing away. Denying a home team a win is enough for me. If that makes be a cowardly spunk monkey then I will live with it. If you are getting a tonking somewhere then you just have to suck it up. It's easy for me to say though as I barely go away these days....watching the streams is too easy. The odds are massively stacked against all teams at our level that travel away so the only way it will be rectified is if people get a sense of perspective about what we need to do our on travels which is essentially try and pick up at least 15 points. Like you say - you had fun, because the group of you were able to make it fun. With less groups of 'lads' going there is less atmosphere. As someone who travels with my partner - we will always join in with the singing around us - but we are not likely to start it - that is down to the 'groups'. One reason for less groups of lads is the streams - spend your money in the local boozer easier and cheaper than travelling.
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Post by mcf on Feb 19, 2014 12:22:07 GMT
when I said 'lads' - I meant my 8 and 13 years olds. Apologies if I misled you in thinking I'd taken a firm
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Post by 36dd on Feb 19, 2014 12:28:04 GMT
Not going as the wife is 39 wks pregnant. But reasons for the drop in the away following is purely down to the ease of getting the coverage via the internet or in the pub, as it's widely advertised on this message board!
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Post by mickstupp on Feb 19, 2014 13:43:11 GMT
If an upturn in results is needed to get the missing away support back, then I'm afraid it will never come back as long as we are in the Premier League.
Even going back to the 70's we were, and always have been, piss poor away from home at this level. Two to three always wins on the road, and 15 points tops every year is the best we can hope for.
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Post by mcf on Feb 19, 2014 13:53:16 GMT
If an upturn in results is needed to get the missing away support back, then I'm afraid it will never come back as long as we are in the Premier League. Even going back to the 70's we were, and always have been, piss poor away from home at this level. Two to three always wins on the road, and 15 points tops every year is the best we can hope for. I'd say 4-5 wins and 20 points but you are bob on with that being the reality of the Premier League as others have also alluded to
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Post by Gods on Feb 19, 2014 13:58:10 GMT
If an upturn in results is needed to get the missing away support back, then I'm afraid it will never come back as long as we are in the Premier League. Even going back to the 70's we were, and always have been, piss poor away from home at this level. Two to three always wins on the road, and 15 points tops every year is the best we can hope for. That's true mate. I was reading the other day about one of the seasons in the mid 70's when we finished 5th I think and one of the match reports from the time was saying that we were looking for our first away in 12 or something like that. Deja vu all over again or whatever they say! I suppoose another point to contemplate is are we shit away or are we just shit but we punch above our weight at home
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Post by ladyinred on Feb 19, 2014 14:04:19 GMT
I think most PL teams outside the top 6-8 have a decent home record and a poor away record. It is simply very difficult to win away games in the PL.
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Post by iglugluk on Feb 19, 2014 14:06:14 GMT
True we looked poor at Arsenal, but we did have more possession than them, if i remember correctly, which was highly unusual. So our ball retention wasn't that bad. Didn't make any difference to the result though, let's face it.....pity that!! I don't think we were that bad at Arsenal. Surely it was probably our best performance there so far?
We had more possession, scored, and were in the game until well into the second half.
Remind me when we've done better there.
You've got the wrong end of the stick!! I was referring to your comment that said we had poor ball retention at Arsenal..........in fact to quote you wrote " in between our appalling ball retention" in the post I was responding to. I therefore pointed out that we had better possession than them which is highly unusual. We haven't done better there since we have been promoted, I would agree ( sorry about that if you're looking for an argument but there it is )... .but we still let them win too easily imo.
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Post by TheWiseMaster on Feb 19, 2014 14:13:28 GMT
I will be at the Huddersfield v Sheff Wednesday game to watch a Yorkshire 'derby' !
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