Not sure if it's the general pace of life but there certainly seems to be a big malaise around our night games at home.

Just over 10k actually through the door last night and it's not been much higher all season.

Has everyone just gone soft? 

 

Nearly everyone got dodgy feed… it’s so easy to get home from work and think fuck it I’ll watch on tv. 

It’s hard work. Traffic is shit and road closures can mean I don’t get home until 1 am. 
 

last night I left at 18:20 and it’s the quickest to get to the ground I’ve had for ages but I could only do it as it’s an 20:00 kick off. 
 

 Coming home is a race to beat the closures 

 

hard to justify when it’s on tv (iFollow) .

 

mrs e doesn’t bother due to being up at 6 Wednesday for the office 

 

6 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Not sure if it's the general pace of life but there certainly seems to be a big malaise around our night games at home.

Just over 10k actually through the door last night and it's not been much higher all season.

Has everyone just gone soft? 

 

Mmmm, how many night games have you been to this season?

You’re a bit farther away than me in Preston so I’m aware of the logistical issues.

It’s a pain in the arse getting to the M61 after any game - regularly takes an hour.

It really takes away the enjoyment of home games and it seems to be getting worse. I would never leave before the end of the game once but I don’t mind saying that I’ve left on 90 minutes, just as extra time is being announced, a few times this season.

It’s all relative I suppose. I did an 18 hour round trip last Saturday and had a fucking ball. 🤪

 

never done  night game in 2 Seasons 

give AndyD  my ticket for all night games 

22 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Not sure if it's the general pace of life but there certainly seems to be a big malaise around our night games at home.

Just over 10k actually through the door last night and it's not been much higher all season.

Has everyone just gone soft? 

 

I think so

19 minutes ago, Steejay said:

Mmmm, how many night games have you been to this season?

You’re a bit farther away than me in Preston so I’m aware of the logistical issues.

It’s a pain in the arse getting to the M61 after any game - regularly takes an hour.

It really takes away the enjoyment of home games and it seems to be getting worse. I would never leave before the end of the game once but I don’t mind saying that I’ve left on 90 minutes, just as extra time is being announced, a few times this season.

It’s all relative I suppose. I did an 18 hour round trip last Saturday and had a fucking ball. 🤪

 

Some of us work long hours😀

Crowd looked abysmal last night.

Do we really have THAT many fans who come from further afield?

Not a chance I’d be watching on telly - or, worse still, a dodgy feed that runs behind play - if I was in any position whatsoever to get to the game.

I know people might have to try and get an early dart from work or sort the kids out etc but I really don’t remember the difference ever being quite so stark between midweek and weekend games. 

Flog cheap tickets folk can be picky 

3 minutes ago, radcliffe white said:

Some of us work long hours😀

Some of us worked long hours for 40 fucking years without whining about it.

Just now, Steejay said:

Some of us worked long hours for 60 fucking years without whining about it.

 

23 minutes ago, Steejay said:

Mmmm, how many night games have you been to this season?

You’re a bit farther away than me in Preston so I’m aware of the logistical issues.

It’s a pain in the arse getting to the M61 after any game - regularly takes an hour.

It really takes away the enjoyment of home games and it seems to be getting worse. I would never leave before the end of the game once but I don’t mind saying that I’ve left on 90 minutes, just as extra time is being announced, a few times this season.

It’s all relative I suppose. I did an 18 hour round trip last Saturday and had a fucking ball. 🤪

 

Not one mate. (Did Wigan away and that was enough to put me off for life)

The aggro for me to get to a night is just not worth it when I can watch on telly and we are all in bed for 10.

As a kid we never missed a single night game.

So I'm answering my own question here.

We've all gone soft

 

1 minute ago, radcliffe white said:

Flog cheap tickets folk can be picky 

Agree

But I don’t think it’s a bad thing. 

13/14k home fans at night games ain’t bad.

A lot of the folk missing with the cheap tickets will be kids/OAPs. But for the cheap tickets they probably wouldn’t be there at weekends when we get 19/20k on.

I regularly have 2 missing on night games. Eldest won’t come back from Uni and my dad (83) won’t turn out at night. But the cheap tickets get them there on a Saturday.

I think it's because of location and TV availability (dodgy or legit).

Obviously, for those travelling from out of town it's swings and roundabouts, but for many, a central location (Burnden) meant a short drive, a walk or bus.

Depending which part of town you lived, you could still park a short walk away and be able to be home quite quickly.

Huge car park now, but ages to get away.

Parking elsewhere involves a bit of a longer walk and still heavy traffic.

Apart from those living locally, the commute is a ball ache.

Season tickets are good value, but the idea that they're cheap enough to enable folk to miss doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

If they were higher priced, then some wouldn't go at all. Certainly wouldn't be any more on.

 

Pain in the arse are night games, usually home around 11ish, up at 5.30 so knackered by the time I do get to sleep.

Not missing home games because of it though. Away games, generally speaking can gtf but I usually do 1 mid week longhaul a season and stay over. Shame it was the midweek swim in Cambridge this season

It is something I have mentioned before but the club have been shit over car park this season. 
 

We use the official car park because of travelling never sure when we will arrive but this season there are 0 stewards on the car park and people park wherever they want including blocking the road. As the do not run the car park sure they will argue not their problem but it takes ages to get away. 
 

Add in the mess on m61 leaving yesterday we were not back till midnight. Youth is out of house before half 7. We left before 6 so 6 hours out of the house to watch something that was on telly. When you think about it, mad to be going !

Then today 'real fans' are slagging folk off who leave early. 

The games being shown on the dodgy stick is far and away the biggest reason for folk not turning up.

I don't know how big an impact the change of kick off time has had

Probably not very much but you never know

 

3 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I don't know how big an impact the change of kick off time has had

Probably not very much but you never know

 

Game doesn’t even finish until ten. That’s got to impact on those with school-age kids.

9 minutes ago, desperado said:

Agree

But I don’t think it’s a bad thing. 

13/14k home fans at night games ain’t bad.

A lot of the folk missing with the cheap tickets will be kids/OAPs. But for the cheap tickets they probably wouldn’t be there at weekends when we get 19/20k on.

I regularly have 2 missing on night games. Eldest won’t come back from Uni and my dad (83) won’t turn out at night. But the cheap tickets get them there on a Saturday.

Good points , I have a few neighbours with ST ‘s who only do the early season night matches .Sometimes they piss me off because it seems they take the easy option but ultimately they buy in so who am I to castigate them ?
 

In any case , it’s more less a function of getting older . I used to prefer night matches when I was younger , there seemed to be a better atmosphere than Saturday matches , now less so .

I don’t think the absentees in the main affect the atmosphere much , last night it was good , a little flat later when we were five up & a lot of ‘older’ folk thinking about getting off the car park !
 

6 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I don't know how big an impact the change of kick off time has had

Probably not very much but you never know

 

If travelling the 8 o'clock kick is significant for us
 

Roadworks seem to go down at 10 so the 7:45 start means we have a chance to get over on the M62 before traffic is backed up in any lane closures, then can easily be 3 on any night. 
 

Mentioned on other thread that the m61 was chaos last night. 

28 minutes ago, desperado said:

 

13/14k home fans at night games ain’t bad.

.

Think it's been a while since we had that many through the actual door on a night game.

Edited March 13, 20242 yr by gonzo

37 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Crowd looked abysmal last night.

Do we really have THAT many fans who come from further afield?

Not a chance I’d be watching on telly - or, worse still, a dodgy feed that runs behind play - if I was in any position whatsoever to get to the game.

I know people might have to try and get an early dart from work or sort the kids out etc but I really don’t remember the difference ever being quite so stark between midweek and weekend games. 

True but you are a dullard who also watches Atherton and have a Wigan landline 

30 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

I think it's because of location and TV availability (dodgy or legit).

Obviously, for those travelling from out of town it's swings and roundabouts, but for many, a central location (Burnden) meant a short drive, a walk or bus.

Depending which part of town you lived, you could still park a short walk away and be able to be home quite quickly.

Huge car park now, but ages to get away.

Parking elsewhere involves a bit of a longer walk and still heavy traffic.

Apart from those living locally, the commute is a ball ache.

Do people actually live in Bolton ? I don’t think I know many who do. Most are bury, Manchester, Wigan etc 

1 minute ago, Take Hunt Off said:

Good points , I have a few neighbours with ST ‘s who only do the early season night matches .Sometimes they piss me off because it seems they take the easy option but ultimately they buy in so who am I to castigate them ?
 

In any case , it’s more less a function of getting older . I used to prefer night matches when I was younger , there seemed to be a better atmosphere than Saturday matches , now less so .

I don’t think the absentees in the main affect the atmosphere much , last night it was good , a little flat later when we were five up & a lot of ‘older’ folk thinking about getting off the car park !
 

Good reply.

The atmosphere was better than I thought it was going to be. Obviously the 5 goals helped 🤣.

It’s a good talking point, but I’m fairly sympathetic to everybody’s point of view on this and nobody's decision to not go or leave early upsets my viewing or enjoyment. 

Last night the expectation to win, after a poor 2nd half Saturday and not quite in the final throws of the run-in, was never going to sway those on the fence.

Our last Tuesday night home game v Shrewsbury, while similar to Oxford may attract a few more as I feel it will have a bit more jeopardy and nearer that end of season excitement