02-27-2020, 02:17 PM
Reading the thread about Wigan tickets is the groundhog day on our ground and its 26,000 or so capacity.
This morning, yippee, I was probably the first caller at the ticket office at 9am on the dot, and I was told there were only a handful of seats together left- I've got two seats at the front of the East stand and will pray it is dry.
I can guarantee you many fans will have called today and there will be no room at the inn or a really crap choice, like some have said before: "Get two separate tickets so you can't sit besides the person you've gone to the game with!" Hardly ideal is it?
Two schools of thought exist. We can't sell out anyway so why bother, or build it and they will come, and my own experience already proves the holes in the former argument.
I'm firmly of the latter, with a forward thinking marketing strategy, because when we have 2 days before a game for Wigan and occasional fans cannot attend, those who rang after about 9-15, there will be many disappointed like I was trying to get to the Luton game.
I never get the snobbery some season ticket holders have for those who don't go all the time. I have always gone occasionally, some more than others, but still been a fan since 75 and have seen first hand the good, bad and ugly ranging from Valencia to Woking. However, we all have different priorities in life so respect that. Why should the Hawthorns be some clique for 20,000 or so, like a back street pub in Netherton, when there are, I have heard, a database of 35,000 plus who are occasional fans.
I wouldn't go to watch a film, a show etc, where I'm not able to sit with family or friends unless it is some kind of spectacular. i feel the same about football.
We are not playing Barcelona, Liverpool or Juventus on Saturday- it's Wigan FFS in a year when we are doing well.
We are an anomaly with our rigid capacity and why some think we are limited to about 21-23,000 die-hards is incredibly short-sighted.
There are at least 55,000 attending Albion fans of some kind - having a capacity that suits making more fans attend regularly makes sense. That would be about 32,000 by my estimates.
Of course, I know it won't happen under the current stewardship, but the point is to challenge attitude of the die hards on this board with views set in stone that we are a small club without hope of getting any bigger. All the evidence at Albion and with other clubs proves otherwise.
This morning, yippee, I was probably the first caller at the ticket office at 9am on the dot, and I was told there were only a handful of seats together left- I've got two seats at the front of the East stand and will pray it is dry.
I can guarantee you many fans will have called today and there will be no room at the inn or a really crap choice, like some have said before: "Get two separate tickets so you can't sit besides the person you've gone to the game with!" Hardly ideal is it?
Two schools of thought exist. We can't sell out anyway so why bother, or build it and they will come, and my own experience already proves the holes in the former argument.
I'm firmly of the latter, with a forward thinking marketing strategy, because when we have 2 days before a game for Wigan and occasional fans cannot attend, those who rang after about 9-15, there will be many disappointed like I was trying to get to the Luton game.
I never get the snobbery some season ticket holders have for those who don't go all the time. I have always gone occasionally, some more than others, but still been a fan since 75 and have seen first hand the good, bad and ugly ranging from Valencia to Woking. However, we all have different priorities in life so respect that. Why should the Hawthorns be some clique for 20,000 or so, like a back street pub in Netherton, when there are, I have heard, a database of 35,000 plus who are occasional fans.
I wouldn't go to watch a film, a show etc, where I'm not able to sit with family or friends unless it is some kind of spectacular. i feel the same about football.
We are not playing Barcelona, Liverpool or Juventus on Saturday- it's Wigan FFS in a year when we are doing well.
We are an anomaly with our rigid capacity and why some think we are limited to about 21-23,000 die-hards is incredibly short-sighted.
There are at least 55,000 attending Albion fans of some kind - having a capacity that suits making more fans attend regularly makes sense. That would be about 32,000 by my estimates.
Of course, I know it won't happen under the current stewardship, but the point is to challenge attitude of the die hards on this board with views set in stone that we are a small club without hope of getting any bigger. All the evidence at Albion and with other clubs proves otherwise.
Oh well still loads in the Smethwick...