Disaffected West Ham fans...

[missunderstood]

To many clubs chasing to few supporters, substandard facilities in many grounds, bad language that puts off parents, unrealistic wage demands from players that clubs pay even though they cant afford to, a reluctance to cut costs by ground sharing, and Sky TV are whats killing non league football.

 

IMO a natural culling of the weaker clubs, plus a radical regionization programme to cut travelling costs, and a season long trial from a selected league looking at playing in the summer are things that could save football at our level.

[Eastside Urchin]

Substandard facilities???? Really?

It's football,what do you want,premier league ground standards at non league level.

The one major factor is live football all day Saturday,from noon till midnight,that's what's killing non league,ok other factors probably don't help but I believe they are a small part.

 

Maybe costs is another issue but the leagues determined this,not the clubs.i paid £12.50 to get in at Chelmsford the other week,I think some championship clubs have tickets this cheap.

 

I do agree with wage demands.i think there should be a cap on earnings in the non league game,to go back to an amateur game.

Maybe Conference south and above,you could increase a cap slightly to get those clubs acclimatised to league football if they should wish to get there.

[Garden City Fan]

But isn't the Premier League all ready soulless?All it attracts is the big money (not that some of the "big money" would not be welcome at our level) and no real passion...well, except from certain political factions be they the ultra PC left or the ultra right racist fascists. The current reality of the premier league (and it's European spin offs) is that amougnst it's worst elements, it actually mirrors the extremes in society.

 

And while it collectively pats itself on the back for being a representative of good (whatever your perception of either the left or right is as regards "good"), perpetuates a society of debt where it is okay to value a person in millions, whilst having a total disregard for the ordinary person trying to make a living when a club eventually relents and has to re-invent itself because it wishes to avoid paying these debts (and thus cheating the the national and local community from monies it owes).

 

And all this is under scored by a weak, and ineffective governing body who's veiw of the sport it over see's is unbalanced in favour of the larger and over bloated clubs and by consequence unsupportive of the realities and the dificulties that the grass roots clubs face. Actually, I could go further to say that really, our governing body doesn't care for grass roots football...I mean... where's the headlines...

 

More effort would be put in to assist a Premier League Club from going under than any number of struggling Non League clubs and when a Non League club goes, I think a peice of local "flavour" disapears. Where, in all honesty, does a Premier League club look towards it's geographical community? It doesn't. If it did, we would have a football pyramid that would be dependant on strong links between the top and the bottom and connect all points between, encouraging not only the local community socially and economically but also in the education and encouragement of local talent

 

Agree 100%

Can I re quote this on my main club forum?

[Krooner]

Its ok saying that but Sky and more importantly the fact that at 3pm on a Saturday,all the local pubs in any area can show their local Premier league teams games at that time.

West ham get 35'000 fans at home per game.Our club try to get our games played when they are away,doesn't always happen but it used to be that when we did,our crowds would be ok.Now when West Ham are away,our crowds are still low because everyone has gone to the 5/10 local pubs in the area to watch the game,or stayed indoors and watched it on their computer,how is this Non alegue footballs fault?? West ham my have 35000 loyal fans who go to the games but like 6/7 other london clubs,they probably have 500'000 to a million other fans in the nearby areas.

While Gazza does make a valid point re Sky,its a difficult one because Sky tv offer far more than Sport,although we all know that its probably their main financial responsibility.

For me,Non League Football and League Football are two different entities,this I believe should mean that they house treated as such and non league as an entity should be looking at maximising its potential,but with the help of the FA and Premier/football league.

Professional football or at least the top two I visions should be moved to Sundays,while the rest of the league systems should be Saturdays,lets face it,there are 4/5 premier league games most Saturdays,for me its the logical step forward,but will only happen if the FA actually do care about Non league football

 

EU my point was more about how non league rarely looks at itself as part of the problem and always blames everyone else. there are many problems caused by Sky/Premier League/Other things to do but non league needs to do more. Stop paying players money and invest it into trying to make our clubs more appealing, better pitches, play local players who actually care about the club, a decent youth set up with real chance of progression all the way through. There will be many more things as well and it is tough but we have to start doing them.

 

the best years I ever witnessed at Camberley were when we had virtually no budget and a gorup of local lads who got on and become part of the club including actually helping to paint the ground. Actually started to double our attendances as well. Stop chasing unrealistic dreams which many clubs do and continue to do depsite the very real pitfalls.

[Eastside Urchin]

I do agree with most mate.Living not 8 miles from a premier league club and less than 15 miles from 3 of the buggers we notice that the one thing which actually affects our gates constantly is bigger clubs around us being at home.Yes this has always been the case but its not always been the case that you can watch these premier league games so easily live on tv.

Our gates have dropped from the ESL of around 450 to around 330 despite us now being 3 leagues above and you started noticing it around 3 years ago when all the pubs started showing live football en masse at 3pm Saturdays.at the same time it was suddenly easy to watch these games on your pc.I know loads of ex fans who watch west ham this way.

 

As for pitches,most at conference south level are decent but a few like ours are not perfect but its not always easy to get a decent pitch.I believe ours is as good as it could be,think its the only one in the league that hasn't had a game postponed this season and its the flattest it's ever been

[nat]

....

Our gates have dropped from the ESL of around 450 to around 330 despite us now being 3 leagues above and you started noticing it around 3 years ago when all the pubs started showing live football en masse at 3pm Saturdays.at the same time it was suddenly easy to watch these games on your pc.I know loads of ex fans who watch west ham this way.

 

...

 

I think some perspective might be good here. I went to school in Upminster many years ago and Hornchuch were in the Isthmian league getting attendances of less than 100. I remember one bank holiday game when Billericay took 900 fans to Hornchurch, total attendance c. 1100 (days of Phil Whettel, Paul Blackaller etc.).

So, perhaps their current attendance is as much as could be expected. I don't know details of player wages at this level but do read about weekly budgets of £4000+. This seems to be the main problem concerning sustainability.

[Eastside Urchin]

Possibly true nat but in those days,and I hate saying it,the club wasn't necessarily run the best way,at least in terms of promoting the club and its fixtures.It had some good people there but I guess that they were happy plodding along,without paying vast sums of money,pretty much the same as most clubs in the area.Billericay obviously had the luxury of being a decent name once they had won the vase,therefor had something to go on with regards to reputation,therefore could draw more fans in,think the best we got was around the turn of the millennium when we had a decent run in the vase.

Since then the club has had its ups and downs but been in the spotlight for good and bad and gained a decent following in comparison to the 80's and 90's,but everyone connected with the club,knows that the average attendance could be much better and was until the easiness that live premier league games can be watched.

[GazzaBTFC]

Agree 100%

Can I re quote this on my main club forum?

 

If you wish... No worries

[Eastside Urchin]

You've made it gazza

[GazzaBTFC]

I know... I'll be quoted.

 

Nice to know someone likes it.

 

Actually, got to thank everyone on here. Morphed my notes about CE Jnr. into community, Sky TV, Premier League Football... blah, blah, blah....

 

Was sweating on something to write but now all done.

 

Thanks guys...gave me loads to think about. Pity I only have limited space.