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Cambridge v Us match day thread. FA CUP 1st rd.

Matt Russell

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I suspect it's a puzzle for all clubs. If I remember correctly from last season, your view was that lower prices were the key to maintaining supporter levels in FA Cup early rounds. Do you still hold that view?
 

Legohead

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I suspect it's a puzzle for all clubs. If I remember correctly from last season, your view was that lower prices were the key to maintaining supporter levels in FA Cup early rounds. Do you still hold that view?
Well it looks like the stats don't stack up Matt if the situation at Sunderland is anything to go by. My view about lower ticket prices in the early rounds was also about fairness to supporters and not just about trying to attract fans in. For example when we played Heybridge a few years ago at SJP I argued that because Heybridge were of a significantly lower standard of opposition than our usual league 2 adversaries then ticket prices should be lowered to reflect that. Just as ticket prices were significantly increased when we played Liverpool.

It doesn't look like cheaper ticket prices for this competition does have much of an effect it seems so i think i'll have to alter my view on that and go with the clubs and whatever they see fit to charge i guess. I do still think that Cambridge charging what they did yesterday put more people off attending than actually persuading them to attend but with the small numbers involved and the margins for clubs to not lose money then i think they are indeed faced with a puzzle and one that's not easy to solve to be both financially viable and fair to supporters.

As with regards the Sunderland example i am still struggling to understand the reason for such a massive rate of absenteeism, especially from a fanbase that prides itself on being hardcore. When you chuck in the price reduction too i'm struggling even more to find a reason why over 22,000 Sunderland fans chose not to go.

I do think the main issue is with a lot of season ticket holders who hold the view that they have paid for their season ticket therefore any other games that they have to shell out for they won't do it and don't go. Which i find weird as half of the lower league clubs will get knocked out in the first round anyway so it's not like they have to stump up for 5 or 6 rounds of the cup.
 
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Matt Russell

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Agreed.................why season ticket holders will support their club in league fixtures, but not the FA cup is a mystery to me.
 

Legohead

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Agreed.................why season ticket holders will support their club in league fixtures, but not the FA cup is a mystery to me.

I can understand it if it's a cost issue and there are people out there who will not be able to spare that pus travel costs etc fair enough but at a tenner a ticket for an adult, are there 20 odd thousand Sunderland fans who can't afford it? Seems bizarre.

If Exeter are playing in ANY cup (except the checktrade) in ANY round and it's a game I can get to and it's only a tenner then i'll be going. Obviously 20 odd thousand Sunderland fans don't share my enthusiasm...….o_O
 

Oldsmobile-88

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There is also not the interest in the FAC these days.
Its been messed about too much,clubs have gained from this in financial reimbursement(TV rescheduling of games today being a prime example) but the cost has been the dilution of intrest.

Going back a few years,I always looked forward to the FAC,I suspect many like me are not that fussed about the competition either way these days.
 

denzel

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Some extremely low crowds for the first round.

I am struggling to work out just why this is.

Take Sunderland for example. In their previous league game against Southend there was over 30,000 in the Stadium of Light. Yesterday for the FA Cup tie with Gillingham just under 8,000. This with tickets being a tenner for adults and a fiver for kids.

Just where did 22,000 people go to? I'm struggling to understand why 22,000 fans wouldn't want to go - even at those prices.

It's a Saturday. It's an important game and the ticket prices were low. Don't get it.
Season ticket holders have already paid for their league game, forking out extra for a Cup game isn't brilliant.
As for Sunderland, a first round game at home to a club in the same division that you would have no affinity with is not a great attraction when you won the thing in recent memory
 

Oldsmobile-88

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In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
I noticed that the Bolton v Plymouth game was £10 adult & £5 juvenile/OAP.
The crowd was just under 7,000,not sure what Bolton usually get at home.
 

Matt Russell

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Season ticket holders have already paid for their league game, forking out extra for a Cup game isn't brilliant.
As for Sunderland, a first round game at home to a club in the same division that you would have no affinity with is not a great attraction when you won the thing in recent memory
Difficult choices for any club.
Should season ticket prices rise to include possible FA cup matches that might not materialise in any given season, or should the clubs include them as "free" matches within the standard season ticket cost? If the second of these.................how many "free" rounds would you like ecfc to include?
 

Legohead

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Season ticket holders have already paid for their league game, forking out extra for a Cup game isn't brilliant.
As for Sunderland, a first round game at home to a club in the same division that you would have no affinity with is not a great attraction when you won the thing in recent memory
I did highlight this point Denzel and was saying that even if we took that into consideration, is the scale of the issue really that big that tens of thousands of season ticket holders potentially are prepared to miss their side play a competitive first team fixture on a Saturday at a tenner a piece because they don't want to pay it? I find that pretty weird.

Also what's even weirder is the fact that the crowd was only a hundred or so less than the FA Cup tie when Sunderland played Leicester U23's for a NIGHT game in the leasing.com trophy thingy the game previous.

I think I have no option but to conclude that the majority of Sunderland fans are either stark raving weirdo's or not as hardcore as they would have us believe.

Our game at Cambridge on the 19th of October for example was watched by a crowd of 3,816 whilst on Saturday there were less than 2,000 there.
 
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grecIAN Harris

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On to the more romantic side of the Cup, I see there were a couple of upsets today. Macclesfield were stuffed 4-0 at home by Kingstonian and Orient were done at home by Maldon and Tiptree. Dover beat Southend and Bromley held The Gas.
 
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