Atrocious

[Guest]

What was that last night against Dover! it did not look like a side that had meet before let alone played together. It was a disgrace I felt cheated out of the money that I paid.

Who chose the side? Trevor Bonnywell.

A run out for Rob Howarth would not gone amiss, the guy needs a bit of confidence boosting in front of the goal which he may have got, but on reflection of that statement, with the dreadful crossing and passing he may not have even seen the ball. I suppose we will get the statement 'we are not interested in this type of fixture' well we should be, a defeat at home from a team from a lower league reflects on the gate for the next game from the fickle local support.

Andy its time for a clear out, you saw what we have in reserve and face it it's not much.

I am sorry to complain but we as supporters deserve much more than that rubbish we had to endure last night.

[Jeff]

Totally agree. After the second goal went in, it looked like they simply weren't interested.

We should have hammered them in the first twenty minutes or so when we had all the possession and territory but did nothing with it.

Should have had a penalty and Abbey should have scored instead of dwelling on his shot after taking it round the keeper.

Dover's first goal was good but all three should have been avoided.

I'm dead annoyed that I went, paid a tenner and stood in the cold to watch that rubbish.

That said, we really shouldn't chant for the opposition although it was quite funny!

[Unrecognized Genius]

When you don't operate as a unit everyone looks bad, so I don't know that we can say everyone who isn't a first team regular & played last night should be ditched. Must admit, it was my first reaction, though when I thought about it, some proven players looked pretty anonymous too.

 

What worried me most was that nothing was gained from the affair. So we went out the KSC, no big deal, but I can't see anything useful was learned. It wasn't even helpful as a training game. We had no engine room last night. No ball winners in midfield after the first 20 minutes & when you don't have that you can't get moving at all. In the end we were hoiking long ball up to 2 forwards only slightly taller than my avatar.

 

This only served to alienate people, who quite rightly feel they shouldn't have been asked £10 for what was on offer. It's no good saying, well that's the standard charge. I don't remember Charlton applying that logic when we played at the Valley a few years back & a certain Lee Bowyer ran amok.

 

There were quite loud voices proclaiming they wouldn't be coming back as I walked behind the Northfleet End afterwards. I just hope that was the initial frustration talking, otherwise we'll have lost something, not just failed to gain anything, of value out of the evening.

 

I've always gone to all 1st team home games, cup & league. However, I've made a New Year's Resolution to forget the KSC in future, certainly all the time we're expected to fork out full price admission.

 

EC

 

[Slartibartfast]

I took my son and my mother in law to last nights game which cost me £20.

If it had been a league game, my mother in law and myself both have season tickets and my son is a junior fleet member so I would have paid £3.00, If it had been classed as a reserve match ( which it was ) the admission should be £2 for an adult and £1 for concessions and so I would have paid £4.

I can't help feeling I've been ripped off....and not just because of the money. Various comments on this board have said that the KSC is a nothing competition but it is the one competition that we stood a realistic chance of winning. We only need to beat three teams to pick up the trophy and while it may not be the most prestigous trophy in the world it is still a cup and it makes a good day out for the fans at the end of the season.

I will never forget the day at Margate two years ago, parading the league trophy before the game, stuffing Margate 5:0 on their own ground and picking up another trophy at the end of the game. It doesn't get much better than that.

So next year, before we stick out a reserve team and throw our best chance of a trophy at the first hurdle why not give some thought to the fans who pay at the gate and like to watch us win occasionally.

 

P.S. Are we putting out the first team for Weston on Saturday because I don't want to watch the reserves twice in a week.

[Alan W (GNFC)]

Slarti - being pedantic it is 4 games to win the KSC and we've gone out at the second hurdle - we beat Sittingbourne in round 1 dont forget? (mind you, they were so poor, we couldnt fail to win that one).

 

I agree with the overall thoughts though regarding a wasted opportunity of a trophy ( and some cash, albeit a relatively small amount).

[behindthegoal]

How about an official comment from someone at the club about the virtual total unhappiness at the events on Tuesday night? If no one will comment on here I hope someone puts something in the programme.

[kmj]

On reflection, it appeared that most of our players treated last night's game as a friendly while Dover treated it as a proper cup competition that they wanted to win. A few seaons ago we would have been the underdogs in this fixture and I cannot believe that we would have approached the game then as we did last night. Nor that Dover would have done so either when they were in the Conference. Just because we are now in the Conference shouldn't mean that we have to adopt a couldn't be bothered attitude to a competition that we were very successful in before we got promotion. Why should our elevated status make any difference, particularly as we now play fewer games in a season than we did in the Ryman? Also, while I do not object to the club making as much money as it can from a fixture, I agree that £10 for adults and £5 for concessions for last night's match was a bit excessive and is an example of the occasional exploitation of the goodwill of fans. Another recent example was charging £2.50 ( rather than the usual £2 ) for the poor content of the programme at the Notts County game. I only hope that the approach to the Trophy game will be completely different to the performance we witnessed last night and that we maintain our recent league form.

[jc]

Quote:

Slartibartfast said:I can't help feeling I've been ripped off....and not just because of the money. Various comments on this board have said that the KSC is a nothing competition but it is the one competition that we stood a realistic chance of winning. We only need to beat three teams to pick up the trophy and while it may not be the most prestigous trophy in the world it is still a cup and it makes a good day out for the fans at the end of the season.

Spot on, Slarti.

For the last two seasons we have been disappointing in the KSC, yet in the three previous years, when not in the Conference, we won it each time. It seems as though a step-up in the pyramid has made us disregard the KSC somewhat (I must confess that I couldn't make the game last night, but going on all of the comments about the game on here, it does seem as though effort was lacking), and this is a great shame.

[true fleet]

i feel also very strongly that us fleet fans were ripped off on tuesday night. i am a junior fleet and my dad is a season ticket holder and i feel that this should mean that we should ever not off had to pay the full price or even got in for nothing. this is how the gnfc board treat there loyal supporters. i feel very disappointed over tuesday night i would not of minded as much if the football being played had been ok but it was not.

lets hope we see a good game on saturday

up the fleet

[David Holden]

And your dad will have to pay again on Saturday.

 

Season tickets NEVER include cup matches because the proceeds have to be split between the clubs.

 

OK so Tuesday's match was pants just live with it.

[Alan W (GNFC)]

Given that the proceeds of the tie are split between the 2 teams, and the Kent FA, I doubt that we would be allowed to let season ticket holders in for nothing (and I even doubt that preferential treatment for season ticket holders would be allowed). I also suspect that there must be a minimum pricing structure that is set in stone by the Kent FA (although I stand to be corrected if this is not so).

 

Yes, it was extremely disappointing to see the performance we did, but lets put the cost of £10 (or £5 for concessions) into perspective here.

 

The extra cost, as a percentage of the amount most of those present last night, will spend over the course of the season, on their beloved Fleet, will be small - if we had all been charged £170 rather than £160 for a season ticket, for example, most would not have changed their decision on whether to purchase the season ticket.

 

When you enter the ground for any game, you dont know whether you will witness your team wipe the floor with the opposition with a crushing victory, or whether you will witness the sort of lacklustre performance we all did last night - as the saying goes, "You pays your money and takes your chance".

 

Stop griping everyone - when we next see us perform outstandingly well, will you all come on here and say "That was worth twice the money we paid"?? I dont think its very likely.

 

 

[Gordon T]

I thought that we got in for cheaper last season. I was a child season ticket holder (now adult) but i got in for just £2. Although I may be mistaken as i did got to a few reserve games last season. On the subject of reserves when is the next fixture and when is the reserve cup? I want another penalty shootout like against Cray wanderers last season, that was good value for money!!

[Stu M]

Quote:

true fleet said:
this is how the gnfc board treat there loyal supporters. i feel very disappointed over tuesday night i would not of minded as much if the football being played had been ok but it was not.

Let's get this straight - you wouldn't have minded paying the tenner if the football had been better? So how does that incriminate the Fleet board who had zero control over how the team played?

Yeah, it was a waste of a tenner, an utterly crap performance. But let's not begrudge the club a tenner, particularly as we knew the team would be a weak one, the atmosphere poor and the game in all likelihood not up to scratch - yet we chose to go. I wish I hadn't, but I did, my decision, knowing the risks, so no-one's fault but mine I wasted £10.

I'll gladly have a performance like that in the KSC every season if our Xmas league form is as good as it has been.

[Riverview Supporter]

The club charge £10 for a first team game.

 

This was not a first team. It was a run out for a few and a trial for this new guy.

 

Treated by The Fleet as a Friendly.

 

It is for the same reason , that I WILL NOT go and see England in a friendly as the pricing is for a first team and the performance is a friendly.

 

Maybe the intensions of the club should have been made more public. I dont mean in the terms of the team to play , but in the form of a statement along the lines of "Andy Ford will use the KSC to give a run out to A.N. OTHER and a trial to A. NEWBIE"

 

I for one would not have gone last night to watch knowing the club were not taking it serious.

 

Cost to me £10 entry, £1.40 Tea, £1 for petrol/wear and tear on car. Money I would rather have spent on a few video rentals/kids to cinema or similar.

 

Respect your fans and they will respect you.

 

 

[Hirsty]

Regretfully....could not make the KSC game on Tuesday owing to other duties. But.....if other duties had not been scheduled for this week, then I would have been there !!! ...and:-

 

a)Paid my £10

b)Probably moaned about the performance ( based on other comments of the game).

c)Had 4 or 5 beers in the bar.

d)Gone home ( via local !) & gone to bed.

e)Woke up next morning bemoaning the fact that I had to go to work !

 

But that's football isn't it ? Even Arsenal can't win all the time !!

 

Reality !!

 

Cheers,

[American FLEET FAN No1]

Doen't the KFA set the prices like the FA do for cup matches??

[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

Quote:

But that's football isn't it ? Even Arsenal can't win all the time !!

 

But at Arsenal, FA cup and Champions league games are included in the season ticket price, and the Carling Cup has reduced ticket prices from the normal league games.

 

But saying that I don't begrudge the club the extra tenner, but it hardly helps with the PR does it.

 

[Hirsty]

Fair point Wobs.

 

Cheers,

 

 

[behindthegoal]

...just to coment further I hope our Trust "representative" on the board will raise this issue with the club. I agree we would all have been happier with paying a tenner if the performance had been better but the club new what side we were going to play and still decided to charge full price. Where was the common sense to consider the regular loyal fans and make a token reduction in recognition of the fayre being offered?

Support for the club is a 2 way thing and if you treat you core supporter base with contempt don't be surprised if at some stage you reap what you sow.

 

 

[David Holden]

It was a first team fixture and under the KCFA Rules (and I have the relevent page in front of me)

 

Kent Senior Cup Rule 16

 

.............. NB Clubs must charge the normal admission charge for a Home First Team match.