It's been exciting but there has been a lot of stress and aggravation, for some at least, getting tickets and making arrangements for the two Doncaster games and the Wembley final.
But what if this was every year or even every week?
Demand outstripping supply for every away game, Wembley on a regular basis.
I can't speak for anyone but myself but I wish we did have this problem more often.
Sure we'd get use to it and find a way to cope, at a price, but the days of buying on the day, everyone can get a ticket and you recognise half the away support would be gone.
There seems to be a real shift in our support, which imho is great, but not everyone likes change.
I'd love to see us back in the premier league and reaching finals more than every two decades. Maybe we'd become blasé and not bother, I hope not.
Maybe we'd have to accept that not everyone could get a ticket, regardless of brownie points earned in the dark days.
Maybe it will never happen, maybe it will all collapse, which would, in my view be worse.
Surely better for the club to thrive even if some of us can't see it all happen live.
As our Chinese friends say, as a curse, "may you live in interesting times"
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We have had that this year and it has been a thoroughly enjoyable season.
If we dont suceed this year then we will have another go at it next year and that’s as it should be in football. Competitive with an aim.... that’s something the majority of Premier leagues clubs no longer have...., it’s all about coming 7th.
That in itself was some feat, so the Final where we sold coach tickets from a food outlet was a further challenge.
The subsequent season was indeed an even further challenge, working in tandem with the club to ensure tickets were made available to the die hards. I'd like to think that we achieved this but as I have alluded, technology is a tad different as is the organisation of infrastructure. Those days.are indeed long since gone, but at least the loyalty points scheme which I advocated for God knows how long seems to be finally bedding in. But if it all goes wrong Henry, I've still got the list of names. Yep, you're on there😊
Because the “big” clubs get lots of iffy decisions.
Some people go into mild panic mode complaining about how sales are phased over getting a ticket for Gillingham away.
We have about 8-10k who will "support" the club regardless of what's served up on the pitch, or what level we play at. They will mainly buy season tickets or attend most home games. As a side, it is from this group, that most, if not all, current boycotters come from.
We have another group, about the same size, who will pick and choose the games they go to. Based appon family, financial and other circumstances. They are probably less likely to "boycot" but more likely to choose not to go to a mid week home game against Rochdale when it's freezing cold or pissing it down. If demand for tickets started to get closer to the supply volume most of these would migrate to the first group as to guarantee a ticket.
Finally you have the biggest group, guessing at least the size of the other two combined? They either can't, like me, or don't want to go every week. They need a reason to go, rather than a reason not to. They plan it in and are very unlikely to randomly walk up on the day. A bit like going to a concert or the theater. The less "events" there are the more demand there is on the ones we have. For example we would have taken many more to Blackburn if we hadn't of had the "event" at forest before hand. When you have an "event" where demand is expected to be high these people are likely to plan it in as early as possible and will buy advance tickets this limits the supply and makes others do the same. The later they leave it the less likely they are to go. As soon as it appeared possible the Doncaster game would sell out these people bought tickets. Because this group is so big we can attract massive one off crowds but unless a season snow balls the effects on the average would be minimal.
I would guess we are far from unique in this as attendances for the smaller Premier league clubs tend to go down the longer they are in the prem but still spike for "events".
We could get promoted and contracts are signed and even if again Bowyer has no money to spend i'm sure the current feeling could continue even if we were in for a difficult season in The Championship.
But the big worry is if we lose on Sunday it could all collapse like a house of cards. Bowyer, JJ, Gallen, most of the squad could all be gone and then all the hard work over the last season would all be gone and we could be back on the downward spiral we've been on for the last 5 years with no progress made, in a worse position than this time last year, all returning fans lapse again and more likely to find ourselves in the bottom half of the table next season doing a Bradford after two failed play off attempts.
The comfort I will take if we lose is that RD hasn't actually destroyed the club and undone 27 years work since returning to The Valley, the last few months show we're alive and kicking ready for a new owner to see the momentum and energy amongst our huge fan base. The last few months can only be a good thing for the club to survive and even thrive in the modern game. It can't be any worse than declining crowds year on year in the third tier.
I think this is also also why the PL should face down the big teams. I dare them to leave. Would love to see the reaction on Arsenal or ManU fan’s faces when they suddenly are 12th in a super league with a 33% win rate. They and most other clubs would not tolerate that situation for long.
Which is nicer.... being in the PL and always worrying about relegation, living with constant 20-33% win rates... or winning 50-60% of matches and being a big fish in a smaller pond?
Get to the PL and away tickets will be like gold-dust, but things will settle down if we stay up for more than a couple of seasons, and people have "ticked" off some of the more distant grounds...
We are not a team that can live forever in The Premier League either, The Championship is our level with the odd spell in the Premier League when things are going well (Curbs) and the odd spell in League One when things are not going well (RD). Let's not accept the mediocrity served up by RD as the norm and acceptable. It's actually quite worrying the number of people who have liked AFKABartram's post saying they genuinely don't mind League One.
Much less of a problem in the leagues above, and the points system will make it as fair as it could be for the ‘big’ games.
I think the Championship is the best league we have because it is the most competitive. It also refreshes every year with clubs joining and leaving every season.
My son does not watch Premier league games as he says they are all quite predictable. Will always watch a championship game. He also watches the highlights of those games before MOTD and fast forwards the chat. His mates similar. If teenagers are losing interest in the package, it needs to change.
With TV money starting to drip into the Championship one can only hope that they share equally and keep the competition fresh.
I want to be involved in the football conversations properly with friends
my kids want to see Charlton panini stickers or cards or whatever they have
I want us to have a genuine chance in the fa or league cup therefore being in the Premiership is where I want us to be .
i mean the buzz of a charlton win against nobody fc is nothing compared to a 2-4 win at Highbury or a 3-3 draw at Anfield that I still think of and remember .
of course there’s a load of dull 0-2 and 0-4 defeats etc but look at palace just last season they’ll be talking about wins away at Man City and Arsenal forever .
of course we’ll remember the drama and atmosphere of Doncaster but this final will never mean as much to me as 1998 or 1987 when the prize was top flight football .
We can romance about the close feeling between support and players at League One but just like in the Prem if a better offer comes in they’ll be off like a shot .
if we stay down how many will be here next season