Franchise and football.

[Spencer_White]

What has Reading's attendance retention been like since they dropped out of the Premier League? With all the talk about people getting second half season tickets in their promotion year for the purpose of getting a season ticket in the prem and not going until then, it'd be interesting to know if attendance have dropped back down again much.

They didnt have that much of a drop off. Like I said, theyve had great attendances for home games for 7 or more years.

You can only notice the band wagon jumpers by the away supports. Reading, Charlton, Fulham, they all struggle to get 300 up to Anfield.

We had 3300 at Sheffield Wednesday in the Premier League. On a tuesday night. Bottom of the league!

[BletchleyDons]

I think Reg really did want to talk Railways

Football is developed in the UK and therefore doesn't need clubs to move from town-to-town in search of popularity. Personally I find it baffling that fans switched teams so easily!

I've long accepted that Franchise are a part of the Football League but I'll never recognise them as anything other than an ghastly franchise and even if/when they make 20/30 years I'd still feel the same. Nothing against the supporters, it's Winkelman and the Football Association that are to blame here

The "Americanisation" of football in England really isn't welcome and hopefully never will be again.

An intelligent post deserving of an attempt at an intelligent answer.

I had to walk away from my old side at the end of the 1999/2000 season after 25 years of active support (plus a few more of idolising pictures in Shoot as a youngster). It wasn't easy at all, and not a decision I made lightly. Obviously, the Milton Keynes situation hadn't really arisen at that stage, and I took comfort in watching non-league football for a few years until moving to Milton Keynes in late 2004.

Nobody ever comes rallying around to those of us who followed our teams when things were proper shit, with crowds of under 6000 in stadiums that now sell out every week simply because there was no point in bleating about it. We were nudged aside as the money men moved in and had no choice about our footballing futures as many Wimbledon fans had no choice in theirs.

Realistically speaking, if Swindon were ever to play top-flight football again, how many of their current fan base could swallow the hike in ticket pricing before being swallowed up by 'new' support?

The fact that people think fans of MKD arrived from nowhere shows how out of touch many really are. We'd already been robbed blind long before fans of Wimbledon got their chance to see how it felt.

[BletchleyDons]

Just don't interact with the cunts. Let them spout their shite to ears that don't listen. Don't encourage them ,even if it is to give them a gobful. Basically slag them off , call them whatever but don't interact with them. Don't try and legitimise them by engaging in debate. 

Er... Posting about ignoring us? That's interaction, isn't it?

[flammableBen]

They didnt have that much of a drop off. Like I said, theyve had great attendances for home games for 7 or more years.

You can only notice the band wagon jumpers by the away supports. Reading, Charlton, Fulham, they all struggle to get 300 up to Anfield.

We had 3300 at Sheffield Wednesday in the Premier League. On a tuesday night. Bottom of the league!

Sorry. Missed that.

You're right. That is a big red mark for the plastic fans. I was a bit slow on the uptake.

They should give the away side a relative fraction of the gate receipts for a league game. Didn't they used to do that? Would be a nice fan recognising leveller

[Spencer_White]

I thought it was 50 per cent up until the late 80's? It was the Football League's great leveller. I think they abolished it in an effort to stave off the breakaway league. Basically Man United were getting well pissed off that they couldnt win the league.

Bletchley I thought you said you were going to post an intelligent reply? None of that made any sense to me?

Other big red mark against plastic fans is the lemming wearing of team kits, by that I mean every home fan wearing kits. Thinking you have to wear the shirt to support the team. An even bigger one is fans worrying about wearing the right away kit when they change. Doing whatever stewards want you to do. Drums. No one standing up.

[BletchleyDons]

I thought it was 50 per cent up until the late 80's? It was the Football League's great leveller. I think they abolished it in an effort to stave off the breakaway league. Basically Man United were getting well pissed off that they couldnt win the league.

Bletchley I thought you said you were going to post an intelligent reply? None of that made any sense to me?

Other big red mark against plastic fans is the lemming wearing of team kits, by that I mean every home fan wearing kits. Thinking you have to wear the shirt to support the team. An even bigger one is fans worrying about wearing the right away kit when they change. Doing whatever stewards want you to do. Drums. No one standing up.

I said it was an attempt. I'm not the intellectual type, after all.

In fairness, I've seen Swindon visit MK three times since the relocation and they're possibly amongst the highest ratio of shirt wearers to overall support I've witnessed. It's not a critisism. Simply an observation that you possibly haven't seen the change in your own support over the years because you may be focused on other things.

Drums are a pain in the backside, but I tend to blame the England scene for much of it. As for stewarding, a meeting was held with Winkelman, head stewards and club staff earlier this season after two of our regulars were ejected for the most laughable claims of persistant standing I've seen in my life. The communication between the club and fans have seen an acceptable level of tolerance to the situation but my yardstick of loyalty doesn't neccessarily involve how long you can stand for before you get challenged, but what legths you're prepared to go to when it comes to following your team.

For many of us, bills go unpaid, partners go unloved and the kids go unfed so we can watch those overpaid twats at places like Grimsby on a freezing cold Friday night. We might not be 'proper' fans to many, but we do try our best to act like them on occasion.

[Samdy Gray]

I'm struggling to see your point about us having "shirt-wearing" fans. What is it, exactly?

[Spencer_White]

Im no fan of shirt wearers, and I do think it is a bit of a plastic indicator. But if you look at teams like Bristol Rovers or Wolves, their shirt wearers are often a bunch of absolute nutjobs who have been following for decades.

[Reg Smeeton]

 

 Yeah....look at this 0-6-0 shunter putting in a shift at Bletchley....

 They get a lick of paint, but some of those English Electrics are over 50 years old

 

 Driving that train, high on cocaine...

 

[BletchleyDons]

I'm struggling to see your point about us having "shirt-wearing" fans. What is it, exactly?

It's a response to SW's post regarding the lemming-like wearing of replica kits. My own point is that, unfortunately, it's an epidemic with pretty much every club at every level these days with very few exceptions.

Even Millwall had a fair few scarfers and shirters sat down with their dressers at the ND this season. It just looked totally fucking wrong!

[Bushey Boy]

I drove past about 6 chavs all in Franchise shirts yesterday on a dual carriagway, I nearly put 3 litres of engine through them, in hindsight I wish I had.  I really really feel bad about what those bastards did to the real Wimbledon.  It actually sickens me to the core.  I will be very proud when the real Dons return to the football league as I have the utmost respect for the way they handles what happened.

[Samdy Gray]

It's a response to SW's post regarding the lemming-like wearing of replica kits. My own point is that, unfortunately, it's an epidemic with pretty much every club at every level these days with very few exceptions.

Even Millwall had a fair few scarfers and shirters sat down with their dressers at the ND this season. It just looked totally fucking wrong!

So, we're just as plastic as your lot because we buy replica kits? That's a bit of a shit argument.

[BletchleyDons]

I drove past about 6 chavs all in Franchise shirts yesterday on a dual carriagway, I nearly put 3 litres of engine through them, in hindsight I wish I had.  I really really feel bad about what those bastards sis to the real Wimbledon.  It actually sickens me to the core.  I will be very proud when teh real Dons return to the football league as I have the utmost respect for the way they handles what happened.

How does a team only formed seven years ago intend to 'return' to the league?

Daft thing is that the AFCW followers I know are simply looking forward to gaining a league place one day in the future. It's everybody else that keeps the ball rolling, while those that actually matter seem to be happy in the success they've already acheived.

From my end, good luck to them. They had a decision to make and it felt it best to start a new side that they felt reflected what they wanted from a football side. Others made a different choice and followed their players and staff up to MK. It's the type of cock that wants to run down teenage supporters that need to be eradicated from football. Just my opinion, mind...

[BletchleyDons]

So, we're just as plastic as your lot because we buy replica kits? That's a bit of a shit argument.

Thankfully, my reply was directed at one of the more intelligent supporters on this forum that might see what my 'shit argument' is actually trying to say.

If you'd like me to involve you a bit more, I am prepared to grunt at occasional intervals and spill bargain-basement red wine down my shirt front to make you feel a part of things.

[Spencer_White]

Ben, Ive got a theory about fans, especially of yo yo clubs like ourselves. The are defined by the era in which their team was most successful.

Oxford and Luton were most successful in the early 80's when fans were just absolutely cuntish to each other. Which is why they are both a set of spite fuelled stabbing cunts.

Reading were most successful in this decade, which is why their fans are a bunch of middle class plastics not interested in the history of the game or tribal fan rivalries.

Rovers were most successful in the 1970's, which is why they are pretty much 95% men who love a beer and a scrap.  

Whereas we were most successful in English footballs golden period (in my view) of 1988 to 1993. Which is why weve got the best type of fans. Bit of everything. Or at least I thought we had. Our support has gone downhill in the last 12 months in my opinion.