St Albans 0 - 2 Bath City.

0-1 Ryan Brunt 10'
0-2 Adam Mann 34'

Dominant win in front of a big traveling support. 2 first half clinical finishes from Brunt and Mann was sufficient. St.Albans barely created a chance and City could have added to the score. Impressive performance in front of over 1400 on Non league day, most paying top dollar as standard prices werent reduced, a gamble that has backfired on the home team.

City fans thronged the pubs of st.albans before and after the game as the weather played its part with a warm sunny day to witness a great City performance.

Cracking performance from the city this afternoon. As you say Luton Roman, 2 chances in the first half clinically taken. For some reason second half we kept giving the ball away in midfield, I think that’s why Tom smith was taken off but against better form teams we will get punished! If Raynes had scored his effort I think I’d have been in dreamland! The professional attitude of the squad really shone through for me today. Dealt with St Albans’ early threat and took our chances when they came!

A word on St Albans. They looked lively at the start but then when we got our first goal their heads dropped and never looked like threatening. Clarke was brilliant today, I don’t recall him having to make a save but his catching was top draw and his headed clearance....wow he even managed a sprint too!

£15 entry are you taking the p**s?

As far as I can remember City have been charging £13 since 2012. It is laudable but is it economic sense? Should we not have put our prices up this season?

I know a fair few new attenders who are shocked by how high it is presently. However, as it is now a community club, you can offer any such suggestions to the 1000BC fan development group who are trying - and, increasingly, succeeding - to raise attendances.

Stale buns put us under a lot of pressure in the second half, but the dominance of our midfield and forwards in the first half was matched by the defence after the break. Such was our control on the game that they barely mustered a chance, despite the amount of possession they enjoyed. It was an excellent tonic after the underwhelming performance against Welling.

Marc Monitor wrote:I know a fair few new attenders who are shocked by how high it is presently. However, as it is now a community club, you can offer any such suggestions to the 1000BC fan development group who are trying - and, increasingly, succeeding - to raise attendances.

I'd like to see the club do what some other community owned ones do, and put the ticket and season ticket prices out to a vote by community shareholders every year.

It's usually done by offering 3 options, with an explanation re the likely impact of each one e.g.

- Increase tickets by £1 for next season : This will give us £xxxxx more to invest in the team.

- Keep ticket prices the same as last season : This will blah blah blah.

- Reduce ticket prices by £1 for next season : This will reduce the sum available to spend on the team.

Contrary to what people may think, fans in these sort of voting exercises have rarely (if ever?) gone for reductions.

In my view this should be the only way that community clubs change their prices - with the support of their memebrs.

Very convincing win yesterday achieved by an all-round team performance.

Certain irony that some people were complaining about the cost of admission at St Albans whilst drinking in the most expensive pub on the Conference South circuit.

Agree about the irony but in defence of The Mermaid it has been consistently good for many years. And my excellent meal cost far less than the eyewatering bill I was given at the Banbury pub (yes, different league). So nice to have a great pub so close to  Clarence Park.

Re the admission prices, interesting thread on the St Albans forum. I think they've got a point...

http://saintschat.proboards.com/thread/3252/non-league-day

SteveBradley wrote:

Marc Monitor wrote:I know a fair few new attenders who are shocked by how high it is presently. However, as it is now a community club, you can offer any such suggestions to the 1000BC fan development group who are trying - and, increasingly, succeeding - to raise attendances.

I'd like to see the club do what some other community owned ones do, and put the ticket and season ticket prices out to a vote by community shareholders every year.

It's usually done by offering 3 options, with an explanation re the likely impact of each one e.g.

- Increase tickets by £1 for next season : This will give us £xxxxx more to invest in the team.

- Keep ticket prices the same as last season : This will blah blah blah.

- Reduce ticket prices by £1 for next season : This will reduce the sum available to spend on the team.

Contrary to what people may think, fans in these sort of voting exercises have rarely (if ever?) gone for reductions.

In my view this should be the only way that community clubs change their prices - with the support of their memebrs.  

This could be put forward as a motion at the AGM but the research would have to be done by the proposer.

Crowd of over 1400 yesterday only marginally below last years where admission was reduced, so I guess owners vindicated. But how many local fans will return after their showing on the pitch is a different story.

Encouraging and retaining casual fans is a perennial problem. Unlike hardcore fans, the casual fan is more likely to be put off by a less than scintillating performance. If you attract a big crowd and the game is flat it may well be more difficult to get those fans back at all.
It is actually better to build crowds slowly.
I can understand St Albans looking to make a quick buck out of PL fans. They are not likely to come back but after yesterday's loss nor would casual fans.

To me it's not all about the game itself.

I could list stacks of examples. One notable one was 2014, I saw Southampton draw 0-0 with West Brom in an absolutely turgid game, it was so bad I'm surprised Match of the Day bothered to show any of it rather than putting it on last.

But everything else was good. Stadium, albeit identikit with many others nowadays, was excellent, my seat was reasonably priced, the pre-match build-up, programme and half-time stuff was engaging and entertaining without being annoying, and the people were welcoming. Stewards probably too lenient, most people around me stood for 90% of the game, which for someone my height wasn't ideal. Was easy to get to the ground from the station and so on.

The matchday experience this season at Twerton is so much better. There's more atmosphere, kids with flags by the tunnel, plenty of notice about things like food and drink on offer etc. It's such an effort for these people to organise and it pays off massively. I don't mind admitting that in years gone by we get to February and we're playing Basingstoke, Bishop's Stortford or whoever, and it's hard to feel motivated by it. It's not exactly a case of dragging myself along, I love my matchday role whether we were playing Bishops Lydeard or Barcelona, but it just felt like same-old at times. The crowds this season are proving that things are going in the right direction. Even over 600 for Lewes, when 3rd Qualifying Round ties aren't always well populated, was good. Think back nearly four years, I think we had under 900 for an FA Trophy Quarter Final midweek replay. If we reached that stage now I'd expect 1500 at least. Seriously.

I 100% agree with Mark. That Dover game was the second season I’d been following City. At that time it was the biggest crowd I’d seen at TP and really noticed the difference compared with league games which were much lower at that time. I would be shocked if we didn’t get 1500 for that game now too....I seem to remember we had about 1700 for the semi-final first leg that year....we would easily break the 2K barrier if we had a similar run this year. Massive credit to the BCFC volunteers.

Yes, I agree with Mark and we have been here before. If football was just about, well, football, we wouldn't be able to get crowds at all as, often, the 'entertainment' that you pay for is disappointing (in terms of results at least). If any other entertainment media - restaurants, cinema etc - ended up disappointing in terms of results so often, they would go out of business straight away. Football and, indeed, most post isn't about this. It is a bout, as Mark says, the whole match day experience but, perhaps even more so, the social aspect. It is about meeting up with and often travelling with your mates. It is hard to explain to people how enjoyable a weekend I had in Amsterdam watching Wales (captained by Vinnie Jones!) lose 7-1 to Holland in the pouring rain. No, it wasn't to do with the red light district but the social aspect of going over there with long-term regular travelling partners. I had a similar experience going to North Ferriby so it doesn't matter who or what teams are playing.

I do agree that it is disappointing that, when we had 1500 people comprising of many new and younger attenders, the game was not only lost but so dismally but I still expect that many if not all will have enjoyed the experience and we will get returners from that day.

comrade powell wrote:Agree about the irony but in defence of The Mermaid it has been consistently good for many years. And my excellent meal cost far less than the eyewatering bill I was given at the Banbury pub (yes, different league). So nice to have a great pub so close to  Clarence Park.

Re the admission prices, interesting thread on the St Albans forum. I think they've got a point...

http://saintschat.proboards.com/thread/3252/non-league-day

Agree Martin - and assuming that the pub reputed to be the most expensive on the NLS circuit was The Mermaid, I must refute this. There is a pub at Hampton and Richmond (The World's End I think it is called) where a pint of real ale was £4-30, whereas it was £3-80 at The Mermaid. I can only comment on the real ales though.
On the down side this year - whilst we have previously enjoyed good fast service from behind the bar, this time there were only two bar staff (and one of them was trying to provide meals too) - and they had been tipped off that we would be coming in numbers. I hope that does not reoccur - oh silly me - of course it won't - we will be in a higher division next year!

Could go back to St Albans his year in the Trophy of course.
The other pub at Hampton, the Gilly Coopers (sic), is very expensive. £4.50 for Summer Lightning, but tis a great beer, and after 'saving money's earlier in the Surbiton Spoons it all balanced out.
Personally, I love going to the Mermaid. You just have to accept that St Albans is a very expensive place for everything.
And of course both those trips resulted in great wins, so Happy Daze.

With respect. I would count you all as hardcore non league fans.

kermit wrote:Could go back to St Albans his year in the Trophy of course.
The other pub at Hampton, the Gilly Coopers (sic), is very expensive. £4.50 for Summer Lightning, but tis a great beer, and after 'saving money's earlier in the Surbiton Spoons it all balanced out.
Personally, I love going to the Mermaid. You just have to accept that St Albans is a very expensive place for everything.
And of course both those trips resulted in great wins, so Happy Daze.

In fairness, any St. Albans fans visiting for the return game and choosing to partake of a pint in the centre of Bath might find some eye-watering prices here as well. Discreetly naming no names of course, but the two I most have in mind are run by the same London brewing outfit and are on either side of Abbey Green!

Of course, if they go to the Royal Oak, anything brewed in the micro-brewery at the back only just tips £3.

Corstonian wrote:

kermit wrote:Could go back to St Albans his year in the Trophy of course.
The other pub at Hampton, the Gilly Coopers (sic), is very expensive. £4.50 for Summer Lightning, but tis a great beer, and after 'saving money's earlier in the Surbiton Spoons it all balanced out.
Personally, I love going to the Mermaid. You just have to accept that St Albans is a very expensive place for everything.
And of course both those trips resulted in great wins, so Happy Daze.

In fairness, any St. Albans fans visiting for the return game and choosing to partake of a pint in the centre of Bath might find some eye-watering prices here as well. Discreetly naming no names of course, but the two I most have in mind are run by the same London brewing outfit and are on either side of Abbey Green!

I think the words London brewing outfit explain that!