Sky Bet EFL 2018/19

[Nelson]

2 minutes ago, Adam es Tranquilo said:

I really think it would. Plenty of floating fans with "second" teams who won't make as much effort to go to watch their local team because they can sit at home after a busy week and watch Chelsea v Watford instead.

The concept of the blackout is not out of date at all. It protects football below the top league where attendance revenue matters a lot more. If the move towards more streaming keeps going, football will look a lot more like that awful Croatia v England game from last week before long.

My point was that illegal streams are so easily accessible that I think ending the blackout wouldn't make much difference. I meant that if these illegal streams didn't exist then attendances at lower league football would probably be a bit higher now.

[FLiam]

4 minutes ago, Adam es Tranquilo said:

I really think it would. Plenty of floating fans with "second" teams who won't make as much effort to go to watch their local team because they can sit at home after a busy week and watch Chelsea v Watford instead.

The concept of the blackout is not out of date at all. It protects football below the top league where attendance revenue matters a lot more. If the move towards more streaming keeps going, football will look a lot more like that awful Croatia v England game from last week before long. 

That and the fact that English football tickets are quite frankly, pretty absurd. This is one of the reasons why many stadiums are devoid of atmosphere due to a lot of day-trippers and tourists catching a game.

Then again, maybe that is predominantly Arsenal as that is what I see when I go.

The away ticket price cap was a move in the right direction, they need to apply it to home tickets as well though. The same can be said for EFL tickets, they aren't cheap either and surely by dropping the prices by £5-10 or so, they can make up the shortfall by getting more people in the stadium, more people to buy programmes, more people to buy club merchandise, more people to buy refreshments in the ground.

Ticket prices in my opinion are the biggest factor in attendances at lower levels of football. If I recall, it costs £14 to get into my local side Eastbourne Boro, which is a lot for a mid-table National League South side. If it was £10 it would suddenly sound more appealing to be honest.

[Adam]

9 minutes ago, Nelson said:

My point was that illegal streams are so easily accessible that I think ending the blackout wouldn't make much difference. I meant that if these illegal streams didn't exist then attendances at lower league football would probably be a bit higher now.

Fair enough. I'd have to see some statistics, if they even exist, but surely the numbers of people who would watch on their nice HD tele on a subscription they pay for, would outweigh those willing to bang on a grainy stream on a dodgy website.

I have done it once or twice to stream Everton games in years past and its always a pretty shit viewing experience.

Liam, I totally agree that ticket prices are too high across the board. Top clubs do not need to charge such prices for admission anymore due to the astronomical tv deal. I'm sure I read clubs could in theory get away with letting people in for free, that's how insignificant ticket revenue is for them. Further down the pyramid though, there's not much incentive for clubs to lower their ticket prices because it is still a crucial revenue stream and people will pay it, by and large.

[Nelson]

10 minutes ago, Adam es Tranquilo said:

Fair enough. I'd have to see some statistics, if they even exist, but surely the numbers of people who would watch on their nice HD tele on a subscription they pay for, would outweigh those willing to bang on a grainy stream on a dodgy website.

I have done it once or twice to stream Everton games in years past and its always a pretty shit viewing experience.

Liam, I totally agree that ticket prices are too high across the board. Top clubs do not need to charge such prices for admission anymore due to the astronomical tv deal. I'm sure I read clubs could in theory get away with letting people in for free, that's how insignificant ticket revenue is for them. Further down the pyramid though, there's not much incentive for clubs to lower their ticket prices because it is still a crucial revenue stream and people will pay it, by and large.

If Premier League clubs did drop ticket prices, an unfortunate consequence could be for the lower league clubs are there are fans who follow their local club as they feel they've been priced out of the Premier League. In fact, clubs have formed for exactly that reason!

[Adam]

Just now, Nelson said:

If Premier League clubs did drop ticket prices, an unfortunate consequence could be for the lower league clubs are there are fans who follow their local club as they feel they've been priced out of the Premier League. In fact, clubs have formed for exactly that reason!

Negligible in my opinion, certainly compared to the ease of watching on TV. Many who now go to watch the likes of FC United instead would not suddenly stop going if Man Utd dropped their ticket prices because they've fostered that community and built it into something. Same goes across the country for many clubs who picked up fans because their big league neighbours started charging more.

You'd like to hope, anyway, that the number of people who solely go to lower league games because the prices at PL games are too high, and don't then develop a loyalty to the smaller club, is a very small amount overall.

[Nelson]

Just now, Adam es Tranquilo said:

Negligible in my opinion, certainly compared to the ease of watching on TV. Many who now go to watch the likes of FC United instead would not suddenly stop going if Man Utd dropped their ticket prices because they've fostered that community and built it into something. Same goes across the country for many clubs who picked up fans because their big league neighbours started charging more.

You'd like to hope, anyway, that the number of people who solely go to lower league games because the prices at PL games are too high, and don't then develop a loyalty to the smaller club, is a very small amount overall.

You'll know better than me so I'm glad that's not the case. I mean there can't be many countries where the 5th tier is 2/3 fully professional and has semi-regular TV coverage and I hope that continues and improves.

With the FC United example, I think they'd go to both. Some already do, just don't tell the hardcore FC fans!

[FLiam]

1 minute ago, Adam es Tranquilo said:

Negligible in my opinion, certainly compared to the ease of watching on TV. Many who now go to watch the likes of FC United instead would not suddenly stop going if Man Utd dropped their ticket prices because they've fostered that community and built it into something. Same goes across the country for many clubs who picked up fans because their big league neighbours started charging more.

You'd like to hope, anyway, that the number of people who solely go to lower league games because the prices at PL games are too high, and don't then develop a loyalty to the smaller club, is a very small amount overall.

I have a friend that's been going to watch FC United play since they were formed and hasn't been to a Manchester United game since. He has zero interest in buying a ticket to watch them whilst the Glazer's are in charge, and the majority of the other supporters he goes with are exactly the same so I completely agree with your first point.

I do often wonder if there should be more partnerships between local lower league clubs, taking Eastbourne Boro as an example and local schools to get more kids involved and wanting to go and watch football at that level. How it would work, I'm not entirely sure, I am just an idea sort of guy...

Then again, for as long as their is a shiny new FIFA game out every season, many youngsters don't really care about watching Sergio Torres dominating the midfield on a cold Saturday afternoon down Priory Lane.

[Matt]

4 hours ago, Adam es Tranquilo said:

Fair enough. I'd have to see some statistics, if they even exist, but surely the numbers of people who would watch on their nice HD tele on a subscription they pay for, would outweigh those willing to bang on a grainy stream on a dodgy website.

I have done it once or twice to stream Everton games in years past and its always a pretty shit viewing experience.

Liam, I totally agree that ticket prices are too high across the board. Top clubs do not need to charge such prices for admission anymore due to the astronomical tv deal. I'm sure I read clubs could in theory get away with letting people in for free, that's how insignificant ticket revenue is for them. Further down the pyramid though, there's not much incentive for clubs to lower their ticket prices because it is still a crucial revenue stream and people will pay it, by and large.

Man Utd could fill the ground for free for every game and give everyone a fiver as they went through the turnstiles and still make profit through tv money. 

[Just Joe]

Another good away win, didn't really play well. Being there made it all the better 😎

[Adam]

6 hours ago, Just Joe said:

Another good away win, didn't really play well. Being there made it all the better 😎

You're down at our place on Tuesday night, going to be an interesting one! We score and concede for fun at the minute.

[Matt]

Of fucking course. I assume there's a precedent for banning a player for making comments about a referee and that they haven't just pulled this out of their arse because it's a Leeds player

[hugobomb]

Birmingham up to 9th and only a point off the play offs!

 

Recent blues history suggests that we're about to sack our manager for no good reason then hire a failed manager who used to play for Chelsea.

[Colly]

6 minutes ago, hugobomb said:

Birmingham up to 9th and only a point off the play offs!

 

Recent blues history suggests that we're about to sack our manager for no good reason then hire a failed manager who used to play for Chelsea.

 

[Just Joe]

On 21/10/2018 at 01:48, Adam es Tranquilo said:

You're down at our place on Tuesday night, going to be an interesting one! We score and concede for fun at the minute.

Was hoping to go but had to settle for watching it on SAFSee, thought it was a decent match and we had just a little bit more than you on the night. Keeper saved us big time at the end of the first half

 

[Lineker]

 

[The Lusophone]

Has anyone seen the @SkyBetLeagueOne table, btw?#pafc

— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Only1Argyle) October 23, 2018

Not sure 24th to 23rd is worth bragging about but uh... yay I guess?

[Adam]

I went to click on that tweet then it reminded me that I have previously been blocked by Plymouth Argyle's official Twitter for taking the piss out of them a couple of seasons ago 

[Lineker]

Ipswich have sacked Paul Hurst.

[Matt]

7 hours ago, Lineker said:

Ipswich have sacked Paul Hurst.

Well I guess when you're only tactic is to put 11 men behind the ball and timewaste when you're already losing then you're going to struggle to keep your job for long

[Colly]

Rafa's doing alright with it.