At least we've won something in League 1-the rare honour of the worst away crowds in the division and the Football league, caught the tail end of this on BBC Tees on the way home.
Boro have the lowest away crowds in the Championship.

In our case £25 away tickets are not putting backsides on seats, hopefully away fans will now buy in advance for £20.

Not just the cost of the ticket, long way up here for most teams, petrol pricing and sundries also take the piss, you need 60 bar for a day out and times they are getting harder

If distance was the issue would Carlisle by default have the worst record? Hopefully us winning games again will boost crowds-lots of northern teams in L2.

So we have the lowest away attendances at the Vic not just in League One, but the entire football league and they still think £25 is the way to go as a pay on the day price.

I can seriously see the likes of Accrington and Dagenham bringing 14 fans between them next season.

I'd seriously love to know the logic behind the price hike two years ago. If it was to increase revenue from away supporters is clearly hasn't worked.

Surely it would be better to lower prices and actually encourage visiting fans to come here? Even the pay in advance £20 is too much for League Two football, but at least it's more realistic.

Like clockwork pj as always

This is a great day for me, it's confirmation that all of this wasn't for nothing.

I know I may have said it before but I was right.

[quote="monkeybutt]

Not just the cost of the ticket, long way up here for most teams, petrol pricing and sundries also take the piss, you need 60 bar for a day out and times they are getting harder [/quote]

Plus the idea that Hartlepool is several light years away. I know loads of Forest and Notts fans who made the arduous journey north and were surprised to be back home by half seven. Quicker than a trip to Bristol or most of the southeastern teams, yet somehow we are perceived as being close to the border.

Monkey butt makes a fair point. With regards to Carlisle, and this a genuine question as I don't drive so I'm normally reading a newspaper going to away games or asleep coming back.

Is Carlisle better served by motorways than we are. for a lot teams Like I said it a genuine question. If it is then that could be a deciding factor.

I do think the price is also a factor

Hartlepool is perceived as by a lot of people as remote and far away so the last thing we need to do is give people an excuse to give us a miss. The most expensive ticket in the League for let's be honest a poor view and moderate facilities is exactly that excuse.

Even if you're a fan of one of the north west teams (Oldham, Rochdale, Tranmere etc) then a boule up the M6 to Carlisle doesn't seem like a chore. Although Pools doesn't take much longer, for whatever reason some folk think we are a stone's throw from Berwick.

Before we had kids our lass used to come to lots of away games with me. We stopped in Torquay one weekend. Her accent is unmistakenly Glaswegian but lots of ignorant doyles down there really had it in their minds that she was Hartlepudlian, and that we are obviously way beyond the navigable.

We could charge a fiver for away fans and I don't think it would make much difference to loads of teams.

Thread is wrong!!!

We wernt the lowest in the football league just our division although we were very close to the bottom.

Some have mentioned (again) about the cost yet the season before last was higher than the years previous to that. This year was down though. Reasons.......

The main reason for me is the size of the away end. We are compared with Carlilse yet they can hold more than us so in the big games they attract more. Also playing Pompey on a Tuesday night didnt help as they were the 2nd strongest travellers in the league. We have never, even when £18 or whatever price the ranters want attracted large numbers up here. We are well out of the way and that's the downside. If it was a tenner to get in you wouldn't see much difference.

If I want to go to an away game I never look at the price I just go. A few quid here and there on a day out is irrelevant. The overall day will even itself out. Look at beer prices up here compared to down south. If we're being honest you would end up spending more going down there than they would coming up here.

The price was exactly the same the season before last £25 adults, £13 for concessions.

As a recent example the size of the away end isn't why Brentford brought 300, I know the game was on TV but they basically only needed a win to set up automatic promotion. Did anyone even fill the Rink End last season? The size of the end is not why the likes of Yeovil and Colchester have brought unheard of lows until the last two years of 40 and 50. People don't like being ripped off, our fans didn't at Elland Road a few years ago, and without doubt £25 to sit in the Rink End is a piss take.

Just because you don't factor admission price doesn't mean that applies to everyone else. People have different away days, not everyone goes to get blaked. A Dad and his two kids for example, £51 to get in, a family of four £76. But price isn't a factor......

We also were the lowest in the Football League.

In terms of league one we averaged 50 per game less than second bottom Carlisle and 150 less per game than third bottom Swindon.

The thread is wrong though.

I certainly wouldnt travel to our ground as an away fan and pay £25. Hopefully addressed for the season after next.

People will pay a high price if there's a day out involved. Blind town pride aside, why on earth would anyone want to come to Hartlepool?

Hopefully we'll be able to improve our away followings this season, there's a lot of Northern clubs so a good start would give us some good away followings.

Hmmm We're missing out on 50 a game and Carlisle charge £16 so their to stand thus making their cash take less, not really that much of a financial disaster is it? Maybe the fact that we are in the frozen North stops them travelling rather than our extortionate entry fee

£25 for an obstructed view? If I was an away fan there is no way I'd come to the Vic. It's a total piss take.

Once we're into our 15-game winning streak, even fewer will want to come to Pools because it's no fun going to watch certain defeat.

Obstructed view?? Where from .. I'm sure you'd find place to sit without bad view as the away end is always empty

They have probably only counted the league attendances but Carlisle had thousands of spurs fans turn up for a cup game

and in English?

And if by some magic I do understand your point then what about all the extra food/drinks/programmes these 50 spend?

im going to rochdale first game of the season, i couldnt even tell you what they charge, it could be £25 it could be £20, i'll still be going.

Will you pay me in then?

Regardless of whether crowds are slightly up or down on one, two or three years, and regardless of what the price was then, and is now, £25 to watch a fourth division match in the current economic climate is an utter pisstake.

Anyone too dumb to realise this should be sectioned.

Oh, and the home match day pricing is stupid too. HTH........whatever that means.

High Tax Hartlepool.

HTH

and what is that?

A forum full of wankers.

Is this similar to when you pretend not to know the real name of Facebook?

It means you are a dog noncing puff who knows fuck all about football.

HTH

Dont you dare say I know nowt about football.

I must do, I played at a reasonable level.

Unlike you, and the other non players on here.

As for the rest of your post

What's your point?

I've never been in the Rink End but I can't see where you'd sit without having your view obstructed

I have to agree with a couple of points on here £25.00 is a lot to ask away fans to pay. However I agree would a fiver make a difference?

I can only go from my own experience going to away matches and did a lot with Pubey, Mampi etc in the past. Now a fiver difference wouldnt make a blind bit of difference either your going or your not its that simple. As mentioned I would pay that difference in inflated beer prices that ADG wouldn't pay in his right mind as thats the flip of the coin. If you are a supporter who goes regularly to away games this all evens its self out.

The price doesnt make much difference.

I thought it was pretty obvious.

What if it was £78.63 to get in?

If you go on our away a average three seasons ago the last time it was £20 the average was 320. A very basic way to look at it I know but 320 x £20 is £6,400. Last year the average was 260, 260 x £25 is £6,500.

So it could be argued our revenue if you take into account bars and food is down from before the price hike. The only thing £25 for away fans is achieving is having opposition fans slag our club off every week, showing the club in a bad light. I dread to think what some of the turnouts will be next year.

Last season I'd have gladly paid extra for an obstructed view!

The reality is that we set the price at £25 for the Rink End when we had the possibility of large away followings from Leeds, Sheff Utd even Carlisle.

That's not going to happen in Div 2 so we should go back to a more reasonable price.

It's pretty irrelevant though. You've clearly selected going to Rochdale as its the first game of the season when the weather is decent and its a reasonable distance away.

The majority of people will be coming to the Vic in much different circumstances and price becomes more of a factor

£25 is in my opinion to much but do you think Pools fans will be paying vastly reduced admission prices to away games this coming season.

Here's some prices that League 2 clubs (that Pools will play this season) were charging last season. Yes there are cheaper prices all I'm doing is pointing out that they were charging not much less than we were last season a division below us. The most expensive ticket for some grounds were

AFC Wimbledon £22
Bristol Rovers £26
Chesterfield £22
Exeter City £25
Morecambe £24
Oxford £23
Rotherham £22
Wycombe £25

There were others in the £20bracket and some cheaper than that, like RB said in some cases you'll be talking of a few quid difference. If some put up prices then Pool fans could be paying more than fans coming to the Vic. Of course some of the prices I've highlighted will be cheaper for Pools fans. Where for example we'll be standing and home fans seating. The prices shown are most expensive that could been home fans price.

Lets look at it from both sides yes we overcharge (IMHO) for away fans. 23 clubs do the same.

Being in the Rink end on a miserable Saturday in November, or and used as those who saw the start of our unbeaten run of 23 games will remember the day and more to the point the weather the away end at Accrington Stanley on a miserable Saturday in November, I know which I'd take any time

I think there was an element of Leeds and Forest are taking the piss out of us, especially Bates classifying Pools as a Cat A game, so lets be having a bit back. The trouble is that it backfired.

As the obese estimator says; £25 to watch Div 4 is just daft.

I didnt realise Ripper had posted.

But what were Carlisle charging ? If a lot less than us then we could still have generated more revenue with less fans
Plus you have to take capacity into account- a large team filling our away end is around 1000 people, other clubs away capacity s are 3 or 4 times that.
Would be good if the club factored everything in then priced accordingly to get the maximum revenue