v Basingstoke

I still think that the PR is fine, involving the Preece being released thing. It was the management that is at fault plain and simple. Also did the board know about this happening? My guess is no as someone would have stepped in and stopped it as the likes of Paul Williams, Andy Weeks, Phil Weaver, Shane Morgan, Geoff Todd and Andrew Pierce aren't stupid, they would be able to foresee this reaction to the situation.

The fans wanted a response to why he has been released and got one less than 24 hours since the event happened, at a non league club with no one dedicated to PR, Marketing, Media etc that's pretty good going to have a sound bite to listen to on the Chronicle website.

People may not agree with the decision, I certainly don't, but this time I'm not going to knock the club in their PR response to the incident.

Now what would be interesting is if the Chronicle have the notion to follow up the story with Mark Preece himself and get the player's point of view and what went on. I'd be very interested to hear that, and if Mark want's to put his view across and the Chronicle won't print it then I'd be more than happy for him to get in touch and i'll put the interview on my blog site.

I'm surprised a few people still seem to think we have a chance of making the playoffs. We are certainly in a false position in the league when the number of games other teams have in hand are taken into account. For example Bishop Stortford are only 2 pts behind us and have played 7 games less. When these games unravel i would expect about 6 teams to overtake us. To make the playoffs we need to get something like 28 pts from our remaining 12 games which is league winning form. The way we are playing we will be lucky to get half that number and i expect we will finish mid table.

“Given that we don't have a midweek game this week, it’s a situation where we thought we had to make some improvements between now and the end of the season”.

I'm surprised no one has commented on this.

In what context? I expect Wednesday to be full of Development Squad and Academy players

2weirdtown wrote:
The attitude of those saying "don't expect entertainment" goes some way to explaining the seemingly never ending decline of a club like City. Football clubs survived in the past simply because there was little alternative entertainment and excitement.
This is far from the case now. For better or worse, the top clubs realised this in the 1990s, invented the premiership and put it firmly at the heart of the entertainment industry.
Yes, City may be pulling in bigger crowds than others in our league, but 500 average represents the bottom of a depressingly long trend.
Clubs cannot rely on the traditional working class fan base any more as it has simply disappeared in most of the UK.
While I personally would be happy watching us grind out results, I accept that new fans will only be attracted by seeing a Craig Davidge having a right go.

Disagree strongly.. I am not sure how you conclude that the attitude of loyal fans who stick with their club not expecting entertainment are contributing to the "never ending decline of the club". A quite extraordinary comment.

If it was an 'entertainment business' then we would almost definitely cease to exist. We are not an entertainment business. Bath City vs Basingstoke isn't competing with X-box, Blu-ray or Facebook... even with Craig Davidge in the lineup.

It is the unconditional support of our hardcore following that is the life's blood of the club. Not the odd entertaining player.

I believe there is a danger we will not exist (certainly in the present format) and we must see ourselves in the entertainment business in order to try and prevent this happening and attract new fans. The 'hardcore' you refer to is declining all the time, we have an ageing supporter base and to put it bluntly over recent years a number have died or are in such poor health they cannot come to games. I just do not see new support coming through that will support the club unconditionally week in week out over a period of years.

I am taking sides here and 2weirdtown is correct. (Sorry Pete)

Mediocre performances or mid table obscurity do not enthuse football loving people to think "I must go and watch Bath City" and anyone can see we are unlikely to be challenging for the play-offs no matter what management say, so no feel good factor, just disappointment; whereas Larkhall with their success give people a nice feeling.  The Twittersphere was full of postings from Larkhall fans on Saturday, far more than we had.

So with other distractions / commitments people stay away AND the costs of attending don't help...  

I am not saying management don't care, I know they do, but it is a very difficult task to be at the top with the constraints we are under. As I have constantly said it is about making the match day experience a pleasurable one...the game itself needs to be only part of the package so that other attractions can compensate for a poor performance.

My guess is that the Chelmsford game will attract a big crowd as people will say, a cheap day out, might be fun.  Bath Rugby are in London, Bristol Rovers play Friday night and Bristol City are away;  hope we get good weather on the 22nd.   

This would be all well and good apart from the fact that no football club is in the "entertainment business" short of maybe Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man UTD, Chelsea et al. That is just not how football works. If it was, there would not be 92 clubs in the league and other in the Conference. I mean, you know, Stoke are still in business. It's just not about the same things as other leisure activities.

Bath City, like many clubs, are about a social activity, a feeling of community, the enjoyment of all that runs up to and goes after a match and, occasionally, what goes on in the match. Often, and this is the elephant in the room, football supporters love to have a good old moan about a team, a chance to have a go at the ref and criticise the players or manager. Personally, I never felt like a proper City supporter until I cared enough to really moan about what was going on on the pitch, at the club or whatever.

Peteboa wrote:It is the unconditional support of our hardcore following that is the life's blood of the club. Not the odd entertaining player.

marc monitor - Personally, I never felt like a proper City supporter until I cared enough to really moan about what was going on on the pitch, at the club or whatever.

A couple of interesting posts.

Pete - if you are right what do we , the hard core, get out of it.

Marc - yes agree that is vital to becoming a fan but does it sustain a fan?

I think you cannot look at the existing fan base. You need to question why the other thousands are not coming. I think there are people who want to be entertained for their money and they are especially those people who don't come.

And if we don't get more fans then those that only need moaning to sustain them will have plenty of material to work with.

stillmanjunior wrote:In what context? I expect Wednesday to be full of Development Squad and Academy players

In the context that Bath City Football Club senior squad have a game on Wednesday. The management may decide to fill the team with kids, and they may hand over the reins to Billy Clark but that is an entirely different matter. Personally I would have prefered the kids to run out on Saturday.

You'd rather we concentrated more on beating Cheddar than Basingstoke?

BenE wrote:

Peteboa wrote:It is the unconditional support of our hardcore following that is the life's blood of the club. Not the odd entertaining player.

Marc - yes agree that is vital to becoming a fan but does it sustain a fan?

I think you cannot look at the existing fan base. You need to question why the other thousands are not coming. I think there are people who want to be entertained for their money and they are especially those people who don't come.

And if we don't get more fans then those that only need moaning to sustain them will have plenty of material to work with.

I have been mulling over this off and on over the last couple of months on here. One thing is that whatever holds supporters (rather than 'fans') ot a club is very rarely entertainment. I have said that we have a hardcore of 500. I can't see much being done to improve on that in the short-term apart form making sure that that 500 is maintained. Let's face it, if entertainment was part of that hardocore's reason for coming, they would have given up for years ago.

I have said before that, in order to add to that hardcore (especially amongst the young who will boost the attendances in the long-term), you have to make it easier for them to attend. A lot of that is already in place - low(ish) ticket prices, being able to buy on the day, close proximity to most etc. Others really need to be worked on - letting people know and reminding them when fixtures are on regularly (as I keep banging on about - Facebook, Twitter etc), having ticket prices clear on the website etc. Also, other income streams, publicity and profile raising would help - making it easy for local companies, pubs etc to advertise and sponsor, making it easy for people to buy merchandise, making sure it is off good quality etc.

As I say, the hardcore of 500 are going to search out this information, the waverers (who may just have moved here, may have another club but they are priced out of attending or are too far away) will need it fed on a plate to them.

stillmanjunior wrote:You'd rather we concentrated more on beating Cheddar than Basingstoke?

that made me smile. I didn't see much evidence of concentrating on beating Basingstoke on Saturday.

I think we have a better chance of getting a trophy in the Somerset cup than any other competition we have been in this season.

But apparently football is not about winning things or providing entertainment. It is about giving people something to moan about. So a successful season then.

BenE wrote:

stillmanjunior wrote:You'd rather we concentrated more on beating Cheddar than Basingstoke?

that made me smile. I didn't see much evidence of concentrating on beating Basingstoke on Saturday.

I think we have a better chance of getting a trophy in the Somerset cup than any other competition we have been in this season.

But apparently football is not about winning things or providing entertainment. It is about giving people something to moan about. So a successful season then.

Ah now. No-one is saying they don't enjoy games being won or entertaining football. It is just that those aren't intrinsic to football's attraction. Luckily. As it happens, I think that Bath City would win more games by playing the sort of attractive football that they were playing up until halfway through the relegation season. Not only that but I think we have the players to play and win playing that sort of football as opposed to the lumping it in the air that we saw in Saturday.

If football was about merely about winning games in an entertaining fashion, then I would still be supporting Cardiff City. Well, up until this season anyway.

BenE wrote:

stillmanjunior wrote:You'd rather we concentrated more on beating Cheddar than Basingstoke?

that made me smile. I didn't see much evidence of concentrating on beating Basingstoke on Saturday.

I think we have a better chance of getting a trophy in the Somerset cup than any other competition we have been in this season.

But apparently football is not about winning things or providing entertainment. It is about giving people something to moan about. So a successful season then.

If we won the Somerset Premier Cup no-one would bat an eyelid. In fact I'd be amazed if half our fans even realise the following season that we're the current holders.

Tomorrow is one of those rare occasions when I can be totally relaxed as a City fan. If we win then that's nice, winning is always nice. If we lose I'll be about as worked up as I am when I realise I've burnt a piece of toast or forgotten to put the recycling out.

Wholeheartedly agree with Marc Monitor's posts. I think its naive to turn up expecting to be entertained. It should be ingrained into the psyche of non league supporters to expect at least a handful of sh*t games over the course of a season. The trick is to always ensure the day is enjoyable. For me, meeting pals, supping a few ales in cracking taverns, devouring a greasy pea fritter and other such perks will easily compensate for a dour 90 minutes.

If everyone had this lazy, consumerist attitude of expecting "value for money entertainment" we simply wouldn't exist. And those who do, sadly are, to quote shed seven, chasing rainbows.

Peteboa wrote:Wholeheartedly agree with Marc Monitor's posts. I think its naive to turn up expecting to be entertained. It should be ingrained into the psyche of non league supporters to expect at least a handful of sh*t games over the course of a season. The trick is to always ensure the day is enjoyable. For me, meeting pals, supping a few ales in cracking taverns, devouring a greasy pea fritter and other such perks will easily compensate for a dour 90 minutes.

If everyone had this lazy, consumerist attitude of expecting "value for money entertainment" we simply wouldn't exist.  And those who do, sadly are, to quote shed seven, chasing rainbows.

Indeed. Many is the time I've had a cracking day out only spolit by the 90 minutes in the middle of the day!

It seems clear that a lot of fans make an event of matchday. I personally just turn up for the game. People like me get absolutely nothing from a 'sh*t' game. ie anyone new to or returning to the club or doesn't want it to be a social event.

The logical conclusion of denying this 'consumerist attitude' is that the club ends up being a small band of like-minded people who will follow under any circumstances - and no one else. Something a bit like what we have got in fact.

you're spot on, benny! sorry to bore people with this analogy again, but i equate those occasional/lapsed supporters who our club should be trying to attract to matches with myself. i live 2 minutes walk from a southern league club and, as someone who is very interested in the game, should be a prime target for whoever is responsible for attracting new fans. as far as i can tell, this club makes absolutely no effort to entice me to a game - they even fail to advertise their upcoming matches outside the ground. despite this, i have very occasionally ventured to a game - eg a cup tie with salisbury, derby with chippenham. on each occasion i have been appalled by what i witnessed - a standard of football which wouldn't be out of place at lansdown, the most filthy language coming from the dug outs and the lager brigade outside the clubhouse, continuous disputing by the home players of virtually every decision made by the officials. and this club is presently charging £10 for the privilege. now if you are one of the 200 odd who make up the average attendance, i suppose the result is the major factor in their enjoyment, but for someone who wanders along when i've nothing better to do, i'm going to want a lot more before i'm enticed to return on a more regular basis.

perhaps my local club is happy with its weekly attendance of die hards, but i'll chase my rainbows elsewhere. agreed, bath city may not exist if all of our die hards voted with their feet, but it's a very lazy club who assume they will always be there.

Of course, we should always aim to play an attractive style of football. But there are always going to be times (particularly in step 6 football!) where it's not possible to play aesthetically pleasing football. I was appalled by our hoof ball tactics early in the season but this was because I saw it as completely illogical given the personnel we have and the skillful players who were being bypassed in midfield, it wasn't because I felt i had the right to be entertained. I thought this ugly consumerist mentality was reserved for the Premier League but sadly it seems infectious and is spreading   

Whilst some parrallels can be made between 'The entertianment industry' and 'Skrll South Football' (even sounds laughable) The undeniable truth is if all our fans had this attitude we would not exist. Thankfully they don't and we have a nucleus of fantastic support which is underpinned by an emotional bond and characterised by loyalty, faith and good humour and not an "I want my moneys worth" attitude.

I'm guessing that the fans who travelled up to Gateshead a couple of years back on a tuesday night with all its expenditures weren't expecting value for money entertainment! Were they stupid to go? Because to me that is basically what being a true fan is all about.

i think you're misunderstanding the views others you don't agree with are making. yes, many of us will turn up whatever has gone before. if that wasn't the case, our next home gate would be zero following saturday's offering. i fully appreciate your point that being the supporter of a club is down to more than just entertainment. but hand on heart, are you happy with the small crowds we attract? do you think the reason might just be that many of our previous regulars don't think a trip to TP is value for money. You're in the fortunate position (and so am I) that you can afford to 'make a day' of going to the game. many are not and when they are watching the poor quality game after game plus the dreadful home record I quoted elsewhere, I'm not surprised their money goes elsewhere.

maybe I'm being selfish here but what I would like to see is gates of 1000 people every game. The reason for this is that it so much more enjoyable and atmospheric watching football in a crowd.

MP..nope neither am I and fair play to them for doing so. I just think if you see football as a product and are going to leave disgruntled if not suitably entertained then I would recommend staying away from most conference south games probably football in general.   I fully appreciate why people don't want to part with £12 to watch some of the tripe that is served up at TP but surely,  if the fixture is Bath City vs Gosport Borough you must have an inkling that you aren't guaranteed a festival of ole football?  I feel pretty lucky actually to see players as talented as Stearn and Watkins in a city shirt and feel that we have a more entertaining team than the previous couple of seasons. Heads up