Big Sam From The Rams

was reading one of the books the other day and he made a point about many of our so called fans letting down the club , especially the loads who wanted tickets for the FA cup, then vanished again

and hes right

even when sam hammam was running things a lot of our floating support just didnt bother

I remember a few weeks before the start of our first championship season after the QPR play off game

it was just as the season tickets went on sale

I was down at ninian park in the line waiting to buy season tickets with a few mates

big sam was in front of us and we were going on about how now we were in the championship we would be getting sell outs week in week out .....sam said to us lets keep our feet on the ground , a lot of people talk the talk , lets build up things slowly and be realistic....but we were not having any of it......we were saying first game will be a sell out, we will average 20000 gates

anyway , he was right, the fans didnt show up like we said they would

despite us getting back to this level for the first time in 17 years , yet again south wales let down the club...not us lot, we will always be there...but the so called city fans who even though we needed big gates , simply didnt bother

even at that first home game we didnt hit 17000 !!....within a few weeks we had crowds of 15000...and finished the season with an average of around 15500.....only a few thousand higher than the average we had the season before !!

whilst sam is no longer a part fo the club and I dont want him back, there is no doubt that many football fans in south wales failed to back the club in big numbers...of course we would still have had big debts...but lopking back on some of the crowds and big sam was right

our crowds increased but not in big enough numbers for all this sleeping giant talk to be used

we all love city I just wish some of the so called football fans in south wales supported the club in bigger numbers back then, who knows things might have turned out different

Sludge
it will take many years for the club to build a big support unless we hit the premiership anytime soon
all the kids these days are man utd liverpool chelsea etc and that wont change for another generation yet
all us old bastards can do is keep encouraging our kids and our grand kids to support their local team

I have a feeling we can compare ourselves with Hull. A new ground and I have no doubt that Hull is also afflicted with plastic fans, even more so given their close (closer) proximity to the clubs they associate themselves with. But they are getting sell-outs, or close to sell-outs, every week. I think we will too, if and when we make it

I agree, I see us as a similar sized club to hull

the potential of cardiff city has been talked about for years but until we are getting 25000 gates on a regular basis then its all talk

its great that our support is far better than it was but we have a long way to go and I am afraid whilst we all love city, there are far too many " big game " sports fans in south wales who are happy to go and see city v newcastle or turn up for the boxing day games but vanish again

good post Sludge and this will be a very important season...we currently have record season ticket holders, I really can't see us maintaining those numbers unless one of two things happens.
a) Promotion
b) complete takeover of the club by wealthy investors


There is a recession on and fans are finding it harder than ever to justify going to the football and it will need something big to happen to convince fans to fork out or to convince the current stay aways to start following the club.

When we did a survey of the people who live near the stadium and asked them what would attract them to go to more games...just about all of them said Premier league football.

I think we need new faces at the club , its stale

considering we have moved to a new stadium, the running of the ticket office , commercial side of the club , advertising, community links is very poor

its like people are treading water and in the comfort zone

time for a new brush to sweep things through

the playing side of things looks good, we are doing well

but behind the scenes a big shake up is needed

even if we dont make it up , the club could and should be doing much more

I see an advert for the kop shop in newport selling liverpool bloody scarves and mugs every other week in the echo !!

sometimes its as if cardiff city football club doesnt exist

There are different types of fans. There are the fans who will turn up no matter what. There are the fans who will turn up provided they can afford it. There are the fans who will only turn up if the standard of football is worth it (be it due to financial strains or their own opinion). There are the fans who will only come if the opposition is of a certain standard.

Until we have all of those fans we will never fulfill our potential. We need to make sure we're playing at a level that will attract the fans. I am not stupid enough to assume all stayaway fans are just plastic fairweathers. I knew a fair few Cardiff fans who just can't afford the Cardiff games week in and week out but wanted to witness the FA Cup Final because they still support us, be it from afar.

I have always done my best to make sure I have enough money for my Cardiff season ticket but this year I am really struggling. However, my support will not wane. Even if I can't afford a season ticket I will still make as many games as I can afford. I hope this financial noose won't make me be seen as any less of a supporter.

On the flip side, I am fully aware we have a lot of fans who wouldn't be turning up to support us, they'd be turning up to watch the opposition. How can we change that? I don't know if we can. It would be nice if we could though because then we could be one of the biggest teams in British football.

I would love us to be one of the biggest names in british football

but its never going to happen

names like arsenal, spurs, liverpool, united, newcastle , man city, everton etc are huge clubs with a rich football history

below them are the derby, wolves and forests of this world

the people of south wales simply dont support the team in big enough numbers for us to ever be considered a big club

breaks my heart

but those of us that have stuck by city through all these years are every bit as passionate and loyal

Top post Sludge and I agree with a lot of what you say, but before Sam came our fan base was to say the least poor. The 80's and 90's were by and large a terrible time for the club and it will probably take a long time for us to fully recover from that period. Looking on the positive side, if anyone had said to me when we were averaging barely 3000 for league games that less than 20 years later we would average over 20,000 in a brand new stadium I would have laughed in their face.
It will take time Sludge, but I genuinely believe that if the club gets to the Premiership we can become a massive regional club, we got a massive catchment area, which is largely untapped, with investment and the right people at the club to move it to the next level, I believe we will have great times ahead to look forward to and our club will be a club which most of South Wales will be proud of.

it would be fantastic wouldnt it ?

and as far as I am concerned the more new fans the better

once a bluebird , always a bluebird

was reading one of the books the other day and he made a point about many of our so called fans letting down the club , especially the loads who wanted tickets for the FA cup, then vanished again

and hes right

even when sam hammam was running things a lot of our floating support just didnt bother

I remember a few weeks before the start of our first championship season after the QPR play off game

it was just as the season tickets went on sale

I was down at ninian park in the line waiting to buy season tickets with a few mates

big sam was in front of us and we were going on about how now we were in the championship we would be getting sell outs week in week out .....sam said to us lets keep our feet on the ground , a lot of people talk the talk , lets build up things slowly and be realistic....but we were not having any of it......we were saying first game will be a sell out, we will average 20000 gates

anyway , he was right, the fans didnt show up like we said they would

despite us getting back to this level for the first time in 17 years , yet again south wales let down the club...not us lot, we will always be there...but the so called city fans who even though we needed big gates , simply didnt bother

even at that first home game we didnt hit 17000 !!....within a few weeks we had crowds of 15000...and finished the season with an average of around 15500.....only a few thousand higher than the average we had the season before !!

whilst sam is no longer a part fo the club and I dont want him back, there is no doubt that many football fans in south wales failed to back the club in big numbers...of course we would still have had big debts...but lopking back on some of the crowds and big sam was right

our crowds increased but not in big enough numbers for all this sleeping giant talk to be used

we all love city I just wish some of the so called football fans in south wales supported the club in bigger numbers back then, who knows things might have turned out different

Sludge I totally agree we have to many floating fans and if they had turned out more when Sam was here we prob would never have got in to so much finnacial trouble.

was reading one of the books the other day and he made a point about many of our so called fans letting down the club , especially the loads who wanted tickets for the FA cup, then vanished again

and hes right

even when sam hammam was running things a lot of our floating support just didnt bother

I remember a few weeks before the start of our first championship season after the QPR play off game

it was just as the season tickets went on sale

I was down at ninian park in the line waiting to buy season tickets with a few mates

big sam was in front of us and we were going on about how now we were in the championship we would be getting sell outs week in week out .....sam said to us lets keep our feet on the ground , a lot of people talk the talk , lets build up things slowly and be realistic....but we were not having any of it......we were saying first game will be a sell out, we will average 20000 gates

anyway , he was right, the fans didnt show up like we said they would

despite us getting back to this level for the first time in 17 years , yet again south wales let down the club...not us lot, we will always be there...but the so called city fans who even though we needed big gates , simply didnt bother

even at that first home game we didnt hit 17000 !!....within a few weeks we had crowds of 15000...and finished the season with an average of around 15500.....only a few thousand higher than the average we had the season before !!

whilst sam is no longer a part fo the club and I dont want him back, there is no doubt that many football fans in south wales failed to back the club in big numbers...of course we would still have had big debts...but lopking back on some of the crowds and big sam was right

our crowds increased but not in big enough numbers for all this sleeping giant talk to be used

we all love city I just wish some of the so called football fans in south wales supported the club in bigger numbers back then, who knows things might have turned out different

Sludge I totally agree we have to many floating fans and if they had turned out more when Sam was here we prob would never have got in to so much finnacial trouble.

annis with more of a turnover would sam spent/borrowed more again???


thats the norm you borrow to the max. the debt could have been bigger

Baz, If we could of averaged an extra 3,000 fans on every game when Sam was here I reckon we would of been in the Prem, Sams last words to me on the day he left was I wish could of had just £2 Million, I would of bought Koumas and he would of shot us to the Prem,We were 6pts clear at the top when Sam left.

I get a feeling we are similar to Portsmouth.

Baz, If we could of averaged an extra 3,000 fans on every game when Sam was here I reckon we would of been in the Prem, Sams last words to me on the day he left was I wish could of had just £2 Million, I would of bought Koumas and he would of shot us to the Prem,We were 6pts clear at the top when Sam left.

so close yet so far, its a shame, there is so much distrust of the board and PR at moment its affectin ST sales

i am still undecided on what to do, we should not be in this state

Baz, If we could of averaged an extra 3,000 fans on every game when Sam was here I reckon we would of been in the Prem, Sams last words to me on the day he left was I wish could of had just £2 Million, I would of bought Koumas and he would of shot us to the Prem,We were 6pts clear at the top when Sam left.

so close yet so far, its a shame, there is so much distrust of the board and PR at moment its affectin ST sales

i am still undecided on what to do, we should not be in this state

Baz, Dont listen to me or any one else mate, you do what your heart tells you and when your ready to buy it you will.

I get a feeling we are similar to Portsmouth.

In many many ways my friend, we are similar fans, we create the same type of atmosphere as them, we get the same average and we are always in trouble on and off the pitch

annis financially for me theres no problem, but thousands of fans are very nervous of purchasing because of all the financial problems, nobody has come out and reassured us 100%

its a really strange time at the moment, no trust from us supporters

annis financially for me theres no problem, but thousands of fans are very nervous of purchasing because of all the financial problems, nobody has come out and reassured us 100%

its a really strange time at the moment, no trust from us supporters

i wont buy mine until the club are open and honest to much bloody spin and our own supporters club are in on the spin .