" What's the big problem at Cardiff City? "

What's the big problem at Cardiff City?

Sports World

Thurs 23rd Oct 2014

by Richard Oses


If you live in Wales and tuned into Capital FM Wales over the weekend you will no doubt have at some point heard Cardiff City‘s advert on the radio for Tuesday night’s game against Ipswich.

It was billed as a vital promotion clash, one for the whole family to behold, an unmissable event that will leave you reeling with football delight (or something along those lines, it isn’t a direct quote). Tickets were priced at a reasonable rate with £40 for a family pass, making it quite an affordable trip.

What really stands out from all this? Surely such an exciting promotion clash between two massive teams would not need to be advertised, it would have been sold out weeks ago, right? Why are they struggling to fill the stadium for such an important game? Is it the fact that it is a mid-week game, and perhaps after work people would prefer to relax at home and watch it from there rather than make their way to a football stadium in the cold and dark?

This is not the first advert for Cardiff City tickets on the radio and it will not be the last either, and they are not the only club doing so. There have been a few ex-Premiership clubs that have had to advertise in the local press and media to try and sell tickets.

Fulham for example, regularly plugging ties in the Evening Standard and the Metro that they cannot seem to sell out since their drop from the top flight.

What is it about relegation that puts fans off attending games? The Championship is a very exciting league indeed, and the football on offer is of a very high and competitive standard. Ticket prices are on the whole a lot lower than those in the Premiership, less games are shown on television therefore make it more of an urgency to go and see the team live as your options to do it from home are limited. So surely there should be even more people buying tickets and the stadium would sell out quicker than average.

Could it be that the likes of Cardiff only sold out their stadium last season due to so called glory hunting fans who wanted to see the ‘bigger boys’ of football and find that their team is not worth supporting against ‘lesser’ opposition? It could be argued that some Cardiff fans still have a bad taste in their mouth thanks to owner Vincent Tan’s silly antics in changing the club’s colours, his flamboyance in the transfer market and his poor management of his managers. Then again they had a chance to do that last season while they were in the Premiership and they didn’t stay away then.

Are Fulham fans protesting against how quickly they have slipped from the top flight to struggling to even stay in the Championship? Is it a protest against the really poor football on display at Craven Cottage these days? True fans follow their team regardless of how good or poor their fortunes are, or what league they are in.

Yes, football is becoming less and less affordable lately for fans – especially in top flight football – but in the Championship, even though prices are still quite high, following your team is a lot more affordable than it is in the top tier of English football. It just does not make any sense and the only viable explanation based on evidence points to ‘plastic fans’ or ‘glory hunters’ who only seem to really care when the team is doing well.

Tbh annis it was only 10 years ago we were getting 8 k crowds we've come along way in that time ,I'm sure if we start wining a few we will start to get a lot of disillusioned fans back on side

I'd love to blame the rebrand, but on the whole, attendances across the league on Tuesday night weren't great.

Ewood Park (ATT 12,852)
Bloomfield Road (ATT 11,036)
Goldsands Stadium (ATT 8,899)
Griffin Park (ATT 10,826)
Cardiff City Stadium (ATT 20,191)
The Valley (ATT 13,433)
The John Smith's Stadium (ATT 11,000)
Carrow Road (ATT 26,565)
New York Stadium (ATT 8,981)
Vicarage Road (ATT 16,095)
DW Stadium (ATT 10,201)
Molineux Stadium (ATT 18,391)

Tbh annis it was only 10 years ago we were getting 8 k crowds we've come along way in that time ,I'm sure if we start wining a few we will start to get a lot of disillusioned fans back on side

Wez, I think your right, win a few more games and a few more thousand will return, of course there are some who will never return due to the rebrand,but a successful side will eventually fill the stadium again

I'd love to blame the rebrand, but on the whole, attendances across the league on Tuesday night weren't great.

Ewood Park (ATT 12,852)
Bloomfield Road (ATT 11,036)
Goldsands Stadium (ATT 8,899)
Griffin Park (ATT 10,826)
Cardiff City Stadium (ATT 20,191)
The Valley (ATT 13,433)
The John Smith's Stadium (ATT 11,000)
Carrow Road (ATT 26,565)
New York Stadium (ATT 8,981)
Vicarage Road (ATT 16,095)
DW Stadium (ATT 10,201)
Molineux Stadium (ATT 18,391)

I saw them crowds as well and it then makes ours look good,but there is actually only about 16,000 City fans going in to the stadium. We do need promotion this season as about 10,000 City fans price freeze finish this season and many won't renew at the current new prices if were still in the Championship.

It's very hard to put 1 thing that affects the crowd and attendances at football matches in Cardiff.
I blame stewards, rebrand, no standing, ticket cost, food and drinks cost, midweek transport to get home. Sunday game transport to get home, no end next to away fans to generate atmosphere. Shite football for a few seasons.

In general, sky TV has killed the game. People can stream games, so if it's a midweek or a cold wet day/night, they won't turn up. You have to give the stadium a match day experience. Not just for kids but for all.
You also have to have something decent to watch.

Hopefully, the men on the pitch will put in the desire and the passion that our fans can identify with (aka superkev etc)

I had ticket Tuesday but couldn't make it. Finished work meeting at 5 past 8.
Work and cost of living is a factor too nowadays.

I'd love to blame the rebrand, but on the whole, attendances across the league on Tuesday night weren't great.

Ewood Park (ATT 12,852)
Bloomfield Road (ATT 11,036)
Goldsands Stadium (ATT 8,899)
Griffin Park (ATT 10,826)
Cardiff City Stadium (ATT 20,191)
The Valley (ATT 13,433)
The John Smith's Stadium (ATT 11,000)
Carrow Road (ATT 26,565)
New York Stadium (ATT 8,981)
Vicarage Road (ATT 16,095)
DW Stadium (ATT 10,201)
Molineux Stadium (ATT 18,391)

I saw them crowds as well and it then makes ours look good,but there is actually only about 16,000 City fans going in to the stadium. We do need promotion this season as about 10,000 City fans price freeze finish this season and many won't renew at the current new prices if were still in the Championship.

Yes, but every club counts their crowds in the same way,so if we only have, so if we only gave 80% of our reported attendance turn up I.e 16k of 20k then surely so does everyone else??

I'd love to blame the rebrand, but on the whole, attendances across the league on Tuesday night weren't great.

Ewood Park (ATT 12,852)
Bloomfield Road (ATT 11,036)
Goldsands Stadium (ATT 8,899)
Griffin Park (ATT 10,826)
Cardiff City Stadium (ATT 20,191)
The Valley (ATT 13,433)
The John Smith's Stadium (ATT 11,000)
Carrow Road (ATT 26,565)
New York Stadium (ATT 8,981)
Vicarage Road (ATT 16,095)
DW Stadium (ATT 10,201)
Molineux Stadium (ATT 18,391)

I saw them crowds as well and it then makes ours look good,but there is actually only about 16,000 City fans going in to the stadium. We do need promotion this season as about 10,000 City fans price freeze finish this season and many won't renew at the current new prices if were still in the Championship.

Yes, but every club counts their crowds in the same way,so if we only have, so if we only gave 80% of our reported attendance turn up I.e 16k of 20k then surely so does everyone else??

We have a lot more missing fans due to all what's been going on in the last few years .

It's very hard to put 1 thing that affects the crowd and attendances at football matches in Cardiff.
I blame stewards, rebrand, no standing, ticket cost, food and drinks cost, midweek transport to get home. Sunday game transport to get home, no end next to away fans to generate atmosphere. Shite football for a few seasons.

In general, sky TV has killed the game. People can stream games, so if it's a midweek or a cold wet day/night, they won't turn up. You have to give the stadium a match day experience. Not just for kids but for all.
You also have to have something decent to watch.

Hopefully, the men on the pitch will put in the desire and the passion that our fans can identify with (aka superkev etc)

I had ticket Tuesday but couldn't make it. Finished work meeting at 5 past 8.
Work and cost of living is a factor too nowadays.

The rebrand has def had an impact,atmosphere does not help and of course relegation the glory hunters go.

I'm a ST holder and have moved to the new stand. My concern is when the price freeze finishes, if they then advertise at the inflated price, I will NOT be renewing for my 2 ST's as I have not got a bottomless pit of money.. I don't think I'll be alone on that one

I'm actually annoyed that this article has suggested that football is affordable in the championship!! £25-£35 is not value for money for 90 minutes of football in my honest opinion. I know we had a special offer for this game (if you new a ST holder) but still to suggest a football fan is getting value for money at championship level is really frustrating.

Put it this way, if I did not have a season ticket (which I save money over the year to pay for it) then I don't think I would be able to make half of the home games. In September we had 3 home games, with an average cost of £25 a game, that would cost £75 before transport and a pint. I would not be able to afford that if I had not bought a season ticket.

Sorry for the rant but it pisses me off when fans are being ripped off and someone thinks the pricing is reasonable

We play in the wrong colour, that's what's wrong

Lower the prices for next season. In this league you see a lot of clubs offering junior prices at £5 and adults at £10-15. Not sure what our 16-21 prices are like though?

I was recently speaking to the parents of the kids at my football club, just before the wales fixtures. I asked them why they didn't take their kids to watch football at Cardiff and 9 times out of 10 their reply was "Didn't know there was a game".

Many of the kids currently with us, wear Cardiff City shirts with their favourite player on the back, but would go to watch Swansea City instead. Years ago The Afan Valley was blue, I remember talking to Annis about it 3 years back. Recently the kids seem to be getting more interactive with Swansea, as club officials visit their schools and hand out tickets for as little as £5.

Football clubs do not make money from tickets, that's been proven by German clubs, so why charge so much?

Shock, horror! Relegated side gets lower crowds than they did in the higher division. Never happened before.

I'm actually annoyed that this article has suggested that football is affordable in the championship!! £25-£35 is not value for money for 90 minutes of football in my honest opinion. I know we had a special offer for this game (if you new a ST holder) but still to suggest a football fan is getting value for money at championship level is really frustrating.

Put it this way, if I did not have a season ticket (which I save money over the year to pay for it) then I don't think I would be able to make half of the home games. In September we had 3 home games, with an average cost of £25 a game, that would cost £75 before transport and a pint. I would not be able to afford that if I had not bought a season ticket.

Sorry for the rant but it pisses me off when fans are being ripped off and someone thinks the pricing is reasonable

Totally agree with you. Its 22 quid to watch Hibernian in the Scottish Chanpionship playing Alloa, Cowdenbeath etc!! Now thats not value at all. I just got my ticket for the Edinburgh derby which was 28 quid (cat A game). Nearly 30 quid to watch scottish championship football. Its crazy, football simply isnt value for money these days.

I'm actually annoyed that this article has suggested that football is affordable in the championship!! £25-£35 is not value for money for 90 minutes of football in my honest opinion. I know we had a special offer for this game (if you new a ST holder) but still to suggest a football fan is getting value for money at championship level is really frustrating.

Put it this way, if I did not have a season ticket (which I save money over the year to pay for it) then I don't think I would be able to make half of the home games. In September we had 3 home games, with an average cost of £25 a game, that would cost £75 before transport and a pint. I would not be able to afford that if I had not bought a season ticket.

Sorry for the rant but it pisses me off when fans are being ripped off and someone thinks the pricing is reasonable

Totally agree with you. Its 22 quid to watch Hibernian in the Scottish Chanpionship playing Alloa, Cowdenbeath etc!! Now thats not value at all. I just got my ticket for the Edinburgh derby which was 28 quid (cat A game). Nearly 30 quid to watch scottish championship football. Its crazy, football simply isnt value for money these days.

It's shocking!! I couldnt believe it's £20 to watch Newport in league 2!!!! Like another poster has said, clubs in the UK need to follow the german way of pricing. Fill the stadiums with cheap tickets, put competitive prices on beer and food etc.. to get the fans into the ground early and try and get the atmosphere going!!

In my opinion the biggest problem we have is that we are not in the Premiership.

Every supporter has something he likes or dislikes about the club, and I am not going to get into the politics of that, but WHEN we are back in the Premiership everything becomes far more affordable.

- Better Football
- Bigger Crowds
- Sponsorship
- Being in the same league as Swansea
- Quality of Welsh Football
- Improved Academy
- Better Players
- Ok Glory Hunters - (But Glory Hunters are the supporters of the future)
- I become a glory hunter when we got promoted from Div3 to Div2 with Hereford in 1973!!!

How many missing fans are like me need to travel to home games? For Me & son cost £100 inc of everything tues night! That's not sustainable in any league.

I think that the club have realised their mistake in overpricing for this season and this will be acknowledged in the pricing for next season. I don't think that prices will match this season unless we are promoted to the Premier League.

As pointed out, many fans have left due to the rebrand and a huge number will have the price freeze expire after this season. The club must know unless prices are competitive many more thousands will abandon their trips to the stadium.

Over recent weeks it is evident how many ticket deals are out there for City games. E.G. Bring a friend for £10, Hospitality for £15, adverts via the press and also Amazon. The club do not want empty seats but the overprice has not helped coupled with the average start to the season.

Now results are picking up there may be more people thinking of coming to games. With all these special offers though what about the 18K season ticket holders? Why aren't they rewarded as well as the persons benefiting from £10 tickets? I suggest that the club have to address this issue come the end of the season in that season ticket prices are made sensible. £689 for a Zone 1 season ticket this season is very expensive for the Championship.

I'd love to blame the rebrand, but on the whole, attendances across the league on Tuesday night weren't great.

Ewood Park (ATT 12,852)
Bloomfield Road (ATT 11,036)
Goldsands Stadium (ATT 8,899)
Griffin Park (ATT 10,826)
Cardiff City Stadium (ATT 20,191)
The Valley (ATT 13,433)
The John Smith's Stadium (ATT 11,000)
Carrow Road (ATT 26,565)
New York Stadium (ATT 8,981)
Vicarage Road (ATT 16,095)
DW Stadium (ATT 10,201)
Molineux Stadium (ATT 18,391)

I saw them crowds as well and it then makes ours look good,but there is actually only about 16,000 City fans going in to the stadium. We do need promotion this season as about 10,000 City fans price freeze finish this season and many won't renew at the current new prices if were still in the Championship.

Yes, but every club counts their crowds in the same way,so if we only have, so if we only gave 80% of our reported attendance turn up I.e 16k of 20k then surely so does everyone else??

We have a lot more missing fans due to all what's been going on in the last few years .

But your making out that we are unusual as a club in that only 80% of our supporters are actually turning up, you reckon that we are missing 4000 on the reported 20,000 attendance? Surely who ever has bought a season ticket for this season is fully aware of all the shit at the club and would have stopped going by now and not bought another season ticket last year? as what your saying is that at least 4000 ST holders are not turning up? That doesn't make any sense, especially considering that the club are in one of the poorest areas of the country, so seems bizarre that people would be willing to shell out their hard earned cash and then not bother to go

I'd love to blame the rebrand, but on the whole, attendances across the league on Tuesday night weren't great.

Ewood Park (ATT 12,852)
Bloomfield Road (ATT 11,036)
Goldsands Stadium (ATT 8,899)
Griffin Park (ATT 10,826)
Cardiff City Stadium (ATT 20,191)
The Valley (ATT 13,433)
The John Smith's Stadium (ATT 11,000)
Carrow Road (ATT 26,565)
New York Stadium (ATT 8,981)
Vicarage Road (ATT 16,095)
DW Stadium (ATT 10,201)
Molineux Stadium (ATT 18,391)

I saw them crowds as well and it then makes ours look good,but there is actually only about 16,000 City fans going in to the stadium. We do need promotion this season as about 10,000 City fans price freeze finish this season and many won't renew at the current new prices if were still in the Championship.

Yes, but every club counts their crowds in the same way,so if we only have, so if we only gave 80% of our reported attendance turn up I.e 16k of 20k then surely so does everyone else??

We have a lot more missing fans due to all what's been going on in the last few years .

But your making out that we are unusual as a club in that only 80% of our supporters are actually turning up, you reckon that we are missing 4000 on the reported 20,000 attendance? Surely who ever has bought a season ticket for this season is fully aware of all the shit at the club and would have stopped going by now and not bought another season ticket last year? as what your saying is that at least 4000 ST holders are not turning up? That doesn't make any sense, especially considering that the club are in one of the poorest areas of the country, so seems bizarre that people would be willing to shell out their hard earned cash and then not bother to go

I think having 20% of the crowd missing week after weeks after buying the tickets,says there is a problem.
The rebrand has also lost a few thousand season ticket holders in the last 2 years.

I've no doubt at all that there were some 'fans' who bought season tickets last season just to watch the Premiership. However, these weren't a significant number. If we're in the play-off places a lot will return.

I recall Blackpool coming down after just one season in the premier and holding onto their attendances. They sold out for when we gave them a visit.

All the factors mentioned above have affected our attendances, the rebrand, relegation and prices. Which one is responsibility for the majority of it I can't be arsed to try and find out. I certainly believe the rebrand has lost us die hard fans and that number is in the thousand, perhaps thousand with an s on the end.

Twice gone to buy tickets with a mate and they have been £28 each which I don't really want to spend and neither did my mate to watch Wigan.

Nothing to do with the rebrand, I have a red shirt. But I feel tickets in the champ should be around £18 a game.

A lot is also to do with what in the US they call the "Big Mo" or big momentum. If the results are going well and the team is playing attractive football as per the last two games, then the fans expectations are raised. They show up to witness a third win on the trot. If the team loses and plays badly then the "Big Mo" is lost, causing apathy again. It is back to square one and the momentum has to begin again.

On another subject, I can't wait for the Rotherham game. I get to make my annual visit back to Wales from the US and I, for one, will be getting a ticket to see the game. Missed seeing them last year as I couldn't get a ticket when we were in the Premiership (my visit coincided with Arsenal's visit).

It was an important game. It's a bit early to be talking about promotion clashes though.