Yeah but surely Sunderland and Cardiff were more likely to catch the imagination that Cheltenham or Yeovil?? I mean you simply can't make every game an occasion of that magnitude. The people who are armchair viewers on a Tuesday night are simply that, if they won't shell 20 quid out they won't shell 200 out, the commitment is too much for them.

It's just the same this season, we'll have great attendances for Forest and Leeds, but where's the glamour in playing Northampton?? As you said yourself, people will pay for an occasion but a season ticket treats every game the same. To the waverer they AREN'T all the same.

I'd take issue with the stagnating attendances as well. Saying 3500-4500 is saying a 25% variation. As long as that's upwards, who can complain??

We get about 5% of the towns population at any given time, that's not far off the National average and over a third of the crowd are season ticket holders. I'd say that IOR are doing the best thing they possibly could in the circumstances and that's underwriting a better quality game for the fans and providing better facilities. Unfortunately they need a contribution to the costs.

But we don't sell out.

We've almost sold out just a few times, mainly Darlo games and when we've actually done it, what's it been for??

Play off semi's. Which have been on the telly anyway.

I think at some stage you and Chip will just have to consider that in the main, most people don't really care about Pools, or indeed football in general and those who do, may not want to slavishly attend every game but are content to dabble a bit now and again. Pricing a couple of quid either way will not alter that apart from in a very very few cases. You two are looking at the cost of a season, most people look at the cost of a game. IOR look at the cost of running a club. They are three very very different viewpoints.

But Mr Dibble has it on very good authority that IOR regret doing away with season ticket discounts.......

Pop in Silks on a saturday afternoon when pools are at home. I have lost count the number of times ( i'm usually one of the 1st in silks after the game) i've been asked what the game was like, they already know the score because they have sky sports on!!!

People will not pay £12, £14, £18 or £20 to watch a footy match, not in this town anyway, only the die hards are prepared to do this. We have probably 2000 adult die hards, i'd guess the rest are kids i.e. under 16's.

Fooook knows what we have to do to increase attendances.

Are people too tight, not able to afford or would they rather spend their money on other things (like an afternoon in silks).
I'd guess it comes into all the above categories and we can sit here in 30 years time and nothing will have changed.