Really do have to wonder about Gareth and his mouth sometimes.If what is quoted in this morning paper is correct.So on the back of a crap season where your team finished with the wooden spoon and then a shitty start to the new season and despite some good recent results your team is still closer to the bottom than the top.You are disappointed with crowds and reckon more games could go away if people donrt start turning up.So before you have even managed to get some extra punters through the gates you put them off by saying there may be more away home games.Great tactic.
Also just dont understand how for supposed clever business men they seem to think a team in the A league is going to make money.There are better teams owned by more successful business men which dont make money.Did they not check things out before taking over and note how teams in this league struggle to break even.
I 100% supported this view until the weekend. That Auckland crowd seemed like a bit of a turning point for me. The Phoenix got 10 or 12k last year when they were crap and this year when they are playing well they get a big crowd - i.e. people there have responded to good form (personally I don't buy the "it's all marketing" angle, they promoted the hell out of last year's gamer and didn't get a big crowd). Why isn't the same thing happening in Wellington? I said a few pages back that it was getting harder to defend crowds in Wgtn (i.e. previous issues of cost, form, playing style have all been improved). So what's keeping people away? Yes it's a one off game but 18k people still turned up and in the past Wellington has been capable of bigger crowds for one off matches (start and end of season etc). This year, there's a pretty solid 7k and apart from that almost no one off interest.
Although I do predict a biggish crowd next home game - Wellingtonians hate being shown up by Auckland!
I dunno if Auckland would get consistently big crowds even with a bigger population. A lot of people don't go to the Nix in Wellington because it's a "been there, done that" situation. I can name about 6 people who would go 4-5 times a season in the first 3 seasons but have not been back since, or only go during the play offs. Why would Auckland be any different? I don't think poor attendance to live sporting events is just a Wellington thing.
What makes you think the cost of going has improved? Prices have steadily risen season by season and if you throw in a lean economy people just don't have the sort of disposable income they did in 2007.
I'm glad that there is some dialogue between the club and the stadium though, if they can make the stadium a bit more affordable and user-friendly then it can only help. I've had a shocking season for attendance due to work and sickness, but what I've seen it is slowly heading the right way.
