The Heart The Head and The New Season

[David Gwilliam]

Well I am back for yet another season. I spent most of last season convinced that it would be my last at the King PowerBL. Getting to evening matches was fine but walking from the ground just before ten was an unpleasant struggle. . There were too many times when I was lending my ticket to friends. . My head told me that this season I would follow my beloved Leicester City through the voice of Mr Stringer and Sky Sports at my local pub

Foolishly perhaps I have followed my heart. I spend much of my time trying to see both sides- Rome& Carthage, York & Lancaster, Roundhead & Cavalier. I will see no need to see Wolves point of view. I will be happy to accept a win through a refereeing mistake or some unfortunate Wolves player making a terrible mistake, Like most supporters my commitment to ny team is total.

As I approach the ground I feel a frisson of excitement. There is a pleasure in seeing the beautiful stadium, the immaculate pitch the fox on the screen and the post horn gallop. There is a very pleasant group where I sit. I have no reason to believe they share my other interests but I feel a real affection for them as I believe they do for me. .

The Premier League has its faults but I believe the football is much better than the first Division Stanley Matthews and Bobby Charlton played in mud with a horrible ball against defenders who were quite brutal. I cannot agree with tokse whoocomplainabout the standard of Premier League

Above all we are living through a golden age of Leicester City. Perhaps the most iconic team was that a Jimmy Bloomfield. really believe yjsy only two of that team would get in the Leicester team of the past four years - Keith Weller and Peter Shilton (the vest Leicester oplayer I gave seen)and Weller. I think Jamie Vardy gives more to the team than Frankie Wortho (and for that matter Gary Lineker).

The first turning point in my decision to renew was the aftermath of the helicopter crash It was a reminder of how well run the club was. It is inconceujvable to imagine Susan Whelan banning Top from wriing in the programme as happened with fhe Chief Executive and Chairman in the Pierrepoint-£Elsom feud's. I doubt if there is a better run club in Britain. The second turning point was the appointment of Brendan Rodgers to replsced Claude Puel

 

[David Gwilliam]

I somehow missed out the ;ast paragraph

So it around 9.45 you are delayed by a Pickwickian figure walking slow and breathing hard please be patient and perhaps give a slight nod of recognition.

 

[Brown Nose]

Welcome back for another season Mr. G. You may be increasingly dilapidated, but as long as the fire still burns . . .

Your post does raise an issue that has started to concern me. The ageing crowd at City.

With season tickets sold out every year, 90% of us are now 17 years older than we were when we picked out our seats in the new stadium. We've renewed through the good times and the bad. But we're effectively preventing the next generation from coming to games like we did. Tickets are virtually impossible to acquire if you're a young person without an already ensconced elder. It is noticeable how much younger the crowd is at a League Cup or Friendly game for example.

The club would point to the whole Family Stand thing as their investment in the future but I just see too young kids that don't really want to be there, pre-bought empty seats, and kids dragged along by parents. That's not the group I'm talking about. I'm thinking about teenagers really. Which is when most of us would have properly caught the 'City bug'.

The obvious answer is to expand the stadium. However, the silence is deafening and there is a generation now that has already been missed out. Many that call themselves City supporters are no more 'real' City fans than the 'plastics' we dismiss that own a shirt from their chosen side but have never been there.

Naturally, mobility is often the thing that stops people from coming and a fortunate few do get season tickets each year through a lottery of sorts following the departure of a small number of existing supporters via whatever circumstance. It's not something that gets talked about but we are a stagnating, and increasingly doddery, crowd.

So, when your body does prevent you from coming any longer, I really hope that you are replaced by a young fan who has been previously unable to get a ticket.

 

[fitz]

I'd love to have a season ticket again. Feels like I'm waiting for ground expansion for that to happen. I've got memberships for me and my daughter for this season but also season tickets at Gateshead.

 

[pork pie fox]

I'd love to have a season ticket again. Feels like I'm waiting for ground expansion for that to happen. I've got memberships for me and my daughter for this season but also season tickets at Gateshead.

Have Gateshead managed to get themselves sorted out then?

 

[fitz]

Have Gateshead managed to get themselves sorted out then?

Got demoted as a punishment for the directors test being a crock of shit. Hung out to dry because the men in suits allowed them to be bought by someone banned from owning a football club....

Now fan owned and really pushing as a community club, reckon they'll be stronger than ever in time. They've been making sure to be seen in and around Gateshead which has always been lacking, many locals wouldn't know the club exists.

 

[pork pie fox]

Got demoted as a punishment for the directors test being a crock of shit. Hung out to dry because the men in suits allowed them to be bought by someone banned from owning a football club....

Now fan owned and really pushing as a community club, reckon they'll be stronger than ever in time. They've been making sure to be seen in and around Gateshead which has always been lacking, many locals wouldn't know the club exists.

I’d read a while ago about them being in trouble, but didn’t know what had happened since.

 

[spionfox]

We've renewed through the good times and the bad.

I'd like to praise you....

 

[Micky]

I don't attend anymore mainly due to living north of Manchester and the cost. I used to attend all home games in the mid to late eighties / early nineties. I witnessed some grim times and also the start of our more successful era.

Where I live I am surrounded by lots of City and United fans, interspersed with the odd Burnley fan.

 

[David Gwilliam]

Welcome back for another season Mr. G. You may be increasingly dilapidated, but as long as the fire still burns . . .

Your post does raise an issue that has started to concern me. The ageing crowd at City.



So, when your body does prevent you from coming any longer, I really hope that you are replaced by a young fan who has been previously unable to get a ticket.

Thank you for the good wishes BN. You make a very good point. I must admit that even when I cannot get to the match my ticket goes to older people - it is a senior citizen's ticket

I took it for granted that when I arrived in Leicester I would go to the ground and become a Leicester City supporter. I grew up going to watch Worcester City but in the early 1950s my father and I would travel to watch Wolves. There was no problem paying at the turnstile This is impossible these days. I would also point out that the cost of a season ticket must put off a lot of younger people..

 

[SJN-Fox]

It’s still cheaper to buy a season ticket by direct debit than it is to pay for individual games. Not that either are easy to get hold of these days.