tonyd
1st team Player
Posts: 1,494
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Post by tonyd on Dec 19, 2014 15:26:18 GMT
Yup. Let's not bother with promotion to a national division because it might involve travelling to somewhere that isn't down the road... "isn't down the road", eh? Gateshead to Bristol according to Google Maps is c. 300 miles with a journey time of c. 5 hours. Supporters have a choice, players and staff don't.
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Post by Stewart on Dec 19, 2014 17:04:29 GMT
I thought this thread was about the league arranging games on a Friday just to fit in with TV. Don't take Tonyd's thread title too literally.
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Post by Andy K on Dec 19, 2014 17:04:47 GMT
Well actually players and staff do have a choice. There's been many a player (including some we have picked up in recent years) who play at a lower level than Conference National because they cannot commit to the travel.
The conference level has existed as a national league for 35 years now. And even at the level below, think about how many miles Oxford/Worcester etc have to do. If you want to play/coach/manage/officiate at the highest level you have to make a concession to travel. The only thing that has really changed is in the 80s, almost all players at Conference level were part time. Now the majority are full time players.
My opinion is that if you (and you being a fan/club/player/official) don't want to be promoted and achieve the highest level you can because of travelling, then the latter is more important to you. Plus sometimes the fixture computer/weather comes into play. Do you think Truro were happy with playing us 2 years on the bounce on a Tuesday night? Or when Weston did the same for a couple of years a few seasons ago.
Everyone has their own commitments, whatever role they play in the club. In the same way that we miss out on some players due to our daytime training. But to put it in perspective, if it means that 20/30 supporters from Sutton will find it difficult to get to some further afield away games traded off by an extra 100/150 away supporters coming to GGL from clubs with bigger fan bases than ours, then do we, as a club, really lose out?
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Post by exiledsufc on Dec 19, 2014 17:39:06 GMT
i have to work evenings during the week,so if the game was changed to a Friday from a Saturday,i would be unable to attend,and not very pleased if i had planned to
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Post by sallycat on Dec 19, 2014 18:30:30 GMT
I think you've hit the nail on the head there. It would be the change in date and time that hit people harder, because we might not have time to make alternative arrangements.
Working hours wouldn't be so relevant for a journey like that because even if you only worked during the day you would probably need the whole afternoon to travel.
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Post by os on Dec 19, 2014 18:43:11 GMT
It would be a lot harder for me and many other fans to get to away games in the Conference, but I still want the club to progress. I think that the Conference / Div 2 should be split into North/South, I just think that would benefit everyone?
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Post by sallycat on Dec 19, 2014 20:09:02 GMT
Well there is already a conference north and south. We're in it.
I don't think I would support regionalisation at a higher level. You end up just playing the same opposition and there is a danger of stagnation. Plus, either the north or south side is likely to end up stronger and that's arguably unfair when it comes to promotion into the Football League.
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Post by localboy86 on Dec 19, 2014 23:42:52 GMT
I'm very much in the "for" camp for wanting to see us promoted but sadly it doesn't look likely as it stands at the moment. My first full season supporting Sutton was in fact our last season in the conference and I've always wanted us to get back there one day.
Certainly some increased travel and journeys in the Conf Prem but that would add to the fun of it perhaps.
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Post by os on Dec 19, 2014 23:45:06 GMT
Well there is already a conference north and south. We're in it. Yes but I was talking about a League 2 N/S, I believe that had that in the 50's and 60's but I am not old enough to remember
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tonyd
1st team Player
Posts: 1,494
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Post by tonyd on Dec 20, 2014 1:30:44 GMT
Can I just say I wasn't for a moment suggesting that we should not want promotion or should turn it down if we win the right to go up. I just think that a national league at level 5 is crazy, particularly when scheduled Saturday games are shifted to weekdays to suit TV.
I've just come back from the Millwall v Bolton game and the visiting supporters didn't fill one section of the top tier of the away end. This from a club whose home attendance this year has averaged 14,380.
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Post by sallycat on Dec 20, 2014 9:51:47 GMT
That might just have been because it was Bolton though, not because of the distance they had to travel. You'd have to look at all the away attendances to judge whether travel was a factor. And presumably, there aren't enough Friday games to make a valid comparison.
More likely though, the low away attendance was due to fans not travelling because this is the last shopping weekend before Christmas and they wanted to make an early start today or didn't have the money for a London hotel this close to Christmas.
So I'm afraid the away attendance is likely to be largely meaningless to this debate.
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tonyd
1st team Player
Posts: 1,494
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Post by tonyd on Dec 20, 2014 11:42:15 GMT
I'm not sure it can be largely meaningless as an indication of fans' willingness to travel long distances for evening games?
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Post by sallycat on Dec 20, 2014 12:49:27 GMT
Well yeah, if you're talking about evening games in general then I think it is, because this one is hardly going to be representative.
It's a bit like going to one of our excellent community days and then saying "Sutton get 4-figure crowds on Saturdays."
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Post by Andy K on Dec 20, 2014 13:55:59 GMT
Any evening game, home or away, will generally get a lower crowd that a Saturday game. Nature of the beast. Clubs do have a say if a fixture is moved and almost always there is a good reason for it. Unless you are Gosport and move a game from a Tuesday to a weds because England are playing and the Weds game gets called off by the weather.
Games get moved for Tv, cup games, weather and a couple other reasons. That's the way its been for ages. Sometimes you get lucky sometimes not. But if the club benefitted eg TV and it meant that I couldn't go then so be it.
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Post by Amber Aleman on Dec 20, 2014 18:54:40 GMT
After today's game, the literal answer to the question looks like no.
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