Firstly a good effort to bring over 600 up to the stadium of Lamp yesterday but also this chant has to be complimented;

"they're here they're there, they're f**king everywhere, empty seats, empty seats"

Is this child cruelty?



Fancy making him go to see the Loids at that age.

And this one.



They've glued her teeth together.

She opted to sit eating a bowl of cold baked beans rather than watch the shiit that was being served up on the pitch

Sad

what, starting the season with a home draw against a pub team in front of six people ?

fooking tragic, more like

Your crowd yesterday in L1 - 3,831. No room to talk pal.

Just out of interest, and not going to use it as a fighting tool, but how much was that down on last seasons first home game?

Ours was down by 849.

Thats odd, we sold out 3 days before the match last time I was there, but I digress...

Getting back to the serious question, you got 3,831 yesterday with 211 away fans so 3,620 home fans. Against Doncaster what was the crowd minus the (950?) away fans?

Its alright, I'll find the answer myself you useless damned bounders.

5,544 - 901 Donny fans = 4,643 home fans. So you're 1,000 down.

Credit crunch + prices up? + lack of enthusiasm about this season, I presume. Same as Darlo.

But... We are in League 1.. trot on

Useless bounders...

I very much doubt the past ten or so Loid managers are reading this board right now

Have you ever had a MRI scan Talbot ?

No I havent you bumming 'lovely lovely person'

Perhaps you should get one, you after all, think the the 'Loids are a decent team

Our crowd was pathetic yesterday, indefensible. The prices on a match day the same (£20 to sit £18 to stand) but season tickets are in some cases are £140 cheaper. I doubt we had many paying customers at all most being season ticket holders.

It's one of a few things;

a) People being annoyed with the season ticket offer and not going as a protest
b) Apathy towards the lack of transfer activity and the manager still being in charge after all the rumours about him being sacked
c) People being skint and not being able to afford a season ticket or the admission price individually, in the current climate £20 is outrageous to watch third tier football. I'm not having a go at Pools they have to compete with other clubs it's footballs problem.
d) The town being full of tossers

I don't thinks it d) we have built up a bigger fan base over the last few years and people respond when we are doing well, I think it's a combination of a, b, and c. One things for sure if the performances are as good as by all accounts yesterday was the crowds will be back above 5,000 every week. Unlike Darlington we know that sort of regular crowd is out there if we are doing well. The people of Darlington didn't repsond to you being in the top three last season, the people of Hartlepool would have.

9/10

Dick. This is not about what League we are both in. I was just interested to find out if you had the same reduction in crowd that we had because I was fooking bouncing at our pathetic crowd.

Thats funny that. I said the same about Darlington! In fact I've been saying it week in week out for a couple of seasons now.

A lot of people in this town have lost jobs in last few months (especially tradesmen at some of the big building firms in town) has this had an effect?

£20 entrance or £300 for a season ticket is a big commitment if you don't have a job. Pools and Darlo have both lost around 1,000 from last seasons first gate, is this 'credit crunch' hitting the North East harder than everywhere else? Look at Newcastle and Sunderland recent pre season crowds the Skunks had an unheard of 13,000 against PSV and the Mackems only 19,000 vs Ajax.

Is it down to money?

I wonder what the attendance will be tomorrow night then? even with the slight discount,we will be lucky to get 2,000.

how did Pools get on?
Does anyone know what the score was?

I thought the season ticket offer was magnificent. Obviously I can only speak for myself but last season I forked out £ 997 for our three tickets. This season I have saved over £400.
I live one hundred miles from Hartlepool but within days of the offer being announced I had found two people to share. Even without sharing I would have saved £120 due to the loyalty discount.
On Saturday I bought three new shirts. I consider them to be free, which leaves me just under £300 in my savings kitty. I will use that to offset the extra cost in petrol this season.
The bottom line is that, thanks to the season ticket offer, it will cost me less to support Pools this season. Try as I might I cannot find anything wrong with that.
On Saturday I think all of us who showed up were pleasantly surprised at the display on show.
It is safe to say that, although we all wished for a performance like that, we didn't expect it.
I think we are under scrutiny this season with regard to our support for the club. If IOR get fed up the stayaways and the whingers really will have something to moan about when we are being asked to pay around £13/£14 (or more) for conference football. Think about it.

You could think about the consequences of IOR getting fed up.

How do you know the season ticket offer was a failure? Compared to what? How many season ticket holders are there? Where are the official figures?

Oh and don't talk to me about preaching..........you are the self styled leader in that field.

What I stated were facts relating to me personally, and an observation that should IOR get fed up..................

Sadly not everyone appreciates good, local football. A lot of (gullible) people are taken in by the premiership marketing and would rather "support" the likes of Newcastle from their armchair than come to watch proper football and the likes of Hartlepool and Darlington suffer. But we have been over this a thousand times before, ad nauseum.

Personally speaking, I haven't enjoyed a match as much as Saturday's for a good few years. It was great entertainment - football how it should be played. Far better than anything I have watched on the box. I just hope word gets out and attendances start rising again.

From a distance I'd say that everyone's feeling the pinch a bit. My guess is that a fair few exiles from near or far can't afford the petrol/diesel to follow Pools every week now. I used to spend 40 quid a game on fuel but I'm sure now it'd be nearer 60 or maybe even more. Plus whatever you spend on your ticket/beer/grub/programme/souvenirs/prostitutes etc makes it a 100 quid day out if you live over eighty miles away. Probably only knocks a couple of hundred off the gate but they all count eh??

Brown out.

I agree with ADG here, there just isn't the money about! I got a season ticket & saved a few bob - but I won't be there tomorrow night 'cos I can't afford it - does that stop me being a loyal fan? I live & work in the town, but still manage to spend 30quid a week on petrol! Bad times

I've just read the thread and it's too depressing to participate.

I was disappointed with the attendance on Saturday like many others but am not going to lose any sleep over it. Times may be getting tighter but if people wanted to go badly they'd make that sacrifice - in the pub, the corner shop, the supermarket, the garage - they'd cut back.

I know a couple of supporters who - not for rising prices reason - are having tight times and still make sacrifices to ensure that they get there.

As well as the general apathy in the area re the team at the moment the problem people will be encountering with price rises could well be the speed of these rises on every product/in every area, we're used to gradual discreet rises and nothing resembling what we've encountered of late.

It's far from the worst financial period in history but it's hyped up as such in the press.

Anyway there's another reason people will have stayed away on Saturday - it was ferkin freezing and pished down best part of morning.

The financial situation will account for some people not going but I think the general apathy is a mixture of a lack of signings etc and the level of expectation. If we'd made five great signings in the Summer and Neale Cooper was back in charge, there'd have been 5500-6000 there.

People just aren't prepared to throw 20 quid at something that is unlikely to be very exciting. Saturday wasn't meant to be exciting; no-one thought we'd play like that. If we play like that a couple more times then the crowds will come back but until people are guaranteed some kind of return on their 20 quid then we'll be unlikely to get over 4.5k

Sssshhhhut that man up.

He's telling the truth!

This is no place for the truth!

Some people think that everybody is obliged to attend even when they're skint and we're playing shite.

I still think you're a poof for taking the missus to a carnival than going to a football match with your mates so don't think I'm on your side!!!