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Where Are We Going - part two
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Thinking makes it worse.
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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01/04/2010
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I didn't really want to write this, as I'm wary that everything on this site for the last few months has been a depressingly morbid read. Unfortunately that's just where we are at the moment. We are going absolutely nowhere and I do not see where in the future this will start to pick up.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I do not know where this club is going and some time to think on it has made it even worse. I have stuck with this club through thick and thin, gone to some games where it defies any sort of normal persons' logic to attend but now I just can't be bothered. A friend of mine said to me yesterday that this was the lowest point he had experienced as a Barnet fan, and he's been going for 25 years. I'm just short of a decade and I feel the same. Even following Peter Shreeves' terrible team in 02/03 was more enjoyable than this. And when your hardcore have a mentality like that, it's time to sit up and do something about it Barnet Football Club. Because if you are losing your hardcore, how on earth do you expect to get the casual floating fan to come and watch your team play?
The official site reported that eleven people went on a minibus to Accrington on Tuesday. I can't imagine many more made their own way there. I remember when the coach used to be full, even to the daftest of places. But then the coach prices had to go up because of sliding attendances away from home, which was caused by lack of performance on the pitch. The tariff is now a horrendously inflated price. The SA don't want to make a huge loss, so they have to curtail it somehow. When was the last time more than one coach went to an away game? It was once a regular occurence, but now it appears that even coach travel is down to its last legs.
Where are our next generation of fans coming from? If you're not attracting the casual floating supporters with their families because of the dire football on show, as well as the degree in rocket science required to understand our pre-match ticket purchasing policy, then what exactly are we doing? Yes we give away free tickets to schools, and the Football In The Community project is an admirable one but whatever happened to a kid being bought along to the football on a Saturday by his Dad and gradually getting hooked to come again and again and again. I just don't see it as much as I should do.
How about one big offer? Kids for a Quid. They can just turn up on the day, put £1 down and get in. None of this purchase 24 hours before kick off if you hand in a voucher from the local paper and stand one foot reciting the times table rubbish. I can't think of many clubs that haven't done some sort of offer to put a significant number of extras on the gate, except ours. So you'll get some people abusing it, but for the sake of getting a few more bums on seats, it's got to be worth a go hasn't it? Just an idea, just something to drive up a smidgen of interest in this football club. Rubbish it if you like, but it appears to be more than the club is doing.
As you can see, this time I'm going for more off the pitch issues than on the pitch. We all know about the shortcomings on field this season, and the last one, and the one before that, and the one before that, etc. Going to the football used to be something of an event. Now it seems like a chore. I only go out of habit. A lot of my friends, who I made through this football club, just don't go as much, if at all. Even my level of attendance is beginning to waver. I'll have missed seven games by the end of the season, all away. This is unheard of for me. Before this season I could count the games I've missed in the last six years on my own two hands but I've well and truly lost the buzz. Going to football has become very nearly exclusively about seeing my mates on a Saturday rather than watching a ball be kicked around. I'm looking forward to Dagenham because it's a half day in London with my friends, not because we're playing Dagenham. I look forward to Grimsby because there will be plenty of us on the train, not because we're playing at Grimsby. How many of us are actually interested in the football remaining this season? How many of us believe we're going to do well next year? No interest, no belief, it's a sad state of affairs.
So it's down to you Barnet Football Club. It's upto you to rejuvenate my interest and the interest of so many regulars who just do not care anymore. It's upto you to get more floating supporters into the ground and build a fanbase for our future. There is nothing we, as supporters can do to build a team that can bring us some success, it's upto you. This club is not moving forwards, it's upto you to do so. Otherwise, if you don't, the consequences for this club are grim. Not only will things like revenue and even league status be lost, but the people who care about you the most will start to fade away, and when you lose that, you're doomed. The ball is in your court.
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