‘Don’t Miss The Most Anticipated Game of the Season … Under 3,000 Tickets Left … Many Stands Sold Out’. Many stands sold out? If Saturday’s game being promoted like a movie was not depressing enough, then the implied achievement of multiple stands (there are only four) selling out is surely enough to make you wonder how it ever came to this.
Clearly attendances have not fallen off a cliff this season, but there is a notable difference. The attendance at the Chelsea game was the lowest against the plastics since 2001, whilst the attendance at the Bolton game was the lowest against the hoofers since a freakishly low turnout in 2005 (though still far superior to anything you would ever see at the Reebok of course). Empty seats have become particularly apparent with big gaps at the top corners of the west stand.
Against a backdrop of rising unemployment and a slow recovery from recession, perhaps the only surprise is that crowds actually remain as high as they do. For the majority of fans it seems that this season’s price freeze was enough of a compromise on the club’s part to keep them coming.
West Ham’s most expensive season ticket is dearer than Liverpool’s, while cheaper season tickets can be found at Chelsea. Now that the biggest games are not even sell-outs, the argument of supply and demand starts to look flawed.
Last weekend Borussia Dortmund fans boycotted the big derby match at Schalke because ticket prices had gone up by 50%. Hitting the club in the pocket is the only way to effect change, but in England a protest seems to entail a couple of ‘sack the board’ chants and a green and yellow scarf.
Incredibly, the price rise at Schalke meant that fans visiting the Veltins Arena still only pay £19. The average attendance is just over 60,000. David Gold has spoken about a goal of bringing down prices. Surely a time of declining gates is as good a time as any to test the theory of price elasticity.
On the subject of empty seats, I am not sure that I have ever seen such a mad dash for the exit as at White Hart Lane on Tuesday night during extra time. For a moment I thought a fire alarm had gone off. Sadly it did not spare those of us watching from another tortuous rendition of ‘Oh when the Spurs go marching in’, possibly the least inspiring footy chant of all time.
No Hiding Place
I had one of those Likely Lads moments at the weekend when I tried to make it home from central London late afternoon without finding out the result. Having invested in a new box earlier this year, the novelty of being able to record TV still has not worn off despite the fact that until a few years ago I had a VCR which did exactly the same thing.
I am convinced that it is physically impossible to leave your house and avoid finding out the score of any given game. There is probably some sort of equation, such as x number of miles travelled multiplied by x number of hours travelled multiplied by population density = you’ve got no chance.
However, I naively thought I could survive a 20-minute train journey out of Cannon Street. I was doing ok until a moron entered the carriage and chose to share with everyone just how bad his bets for the day were going, with West Ham’s draw being a contributing factor. He had predicted a Stoke win but, undeterred, proceeded to share with his fellow passengers his belief that West Ham are destined for relegation.
The game itself was therefore a nice surprise as we put in a good performance and could easily have nicked all three points. Admittedly, Stoke hit the woodwork twice but unless I am mistaken one of those chances would have hit the back of the net were it not for a brilliant reflex save from the much-maligned Robert Green. In any case, after the bizarre deflected Chelsea goal two weeks ago, not to mention Kevin Davies’ unpunished assault on Matthew Upson, I don’t think the tiniest bit of good fortune is undue.
Sit down if you love West Ham
Knowing that I am going to be on holiday this coming week and will therefore miss the Tottenham game reminds me of how I feel about missing my Sunday league team’s games. A small, selfish part of me does not want them to win, since that would suggest they don’t really need me.
Clearly my presence at Upton Park does not affect the result (my lucky socks notwithstanding) but the possibility of having sat through endless dire performances over the last year, only to miss our first win over Tottenham for four years makes me feel a little sick.
Then again, I missed the same game last season for the same reason, and reading a text that said we had lost, even if it did mention that England had won the Ashes, was not a good feeling. I have found someone to use my season ticket so my seat will not be empty. Here’s hoping that can be said for the rest of the ground.
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