Neutral end and our loss of form

[BedsFFC]

I was entirely in favour of the neutral end idea. A brave decision by the club, often ridiculed by others.
The idea was to create a place for occasional shoppers to experience live premiership football. Obviously the hope was that some would get hooked. It's worked. I believe last season was the first where we allocated the first two as home areas. I'm sure this is a mix of new, occasional and older fans who maybe have moved away.
This still leaves a big chunk of neutral....right behind the goal.

Now, I remember a couple of years ago seeing lots of ads for the club. Radio, posters etc. I hadn't seen these for a while. In that time, we usually sell out.
I really noticed these have started to come back. The west ham game is constantly being pushed.
A visit on twitter shows loads of hammers talking about snapping these up.

I think this shows me two things; sadly, we are still not ready do away with the neutral end and secondly, how a dip in performance can really affect our attendance. I'm sure with the ad push that the game will be full but I wonder if this dip of form has given management second thoughts about the new stand and increased capacity.

When we were all set to step up, these last 3 months performances couldn't have come at a worse time

[Roberty]

Why sad - don't you think it is a good thing that occasional visitors to London can get to see Premier League football without having to use the black market? They might not be true supporters but they pay and it is a good source of money to help finance the club we all love.

We have always had special offers for the less popular matches, this is usually where the number of away fans is not expected to be enough to help fill the neutral end. Without having special offers can you see us selling out against West Ham for a midweek evening kick off? Fortunately for us there are enough clubs with good traveling support to fill up our ground, without having to discount, for the majority of the games and when the new stand is built the neutral end will have more seat put in to replace the hospitality tower.

The neutral end might not be full of people who will be cheering us on but having them there will help to pay the bills and in the event that the clubs support does grow over time there will be space to house them.

[Deanothefulhamfan]

On this point, has anyone seen any trouble in the neutral end between different sets of fans

[Berserker]

I cheer us on in the neutral end and no I haven't seen any trouble.

[Matt]

We have officially advised West Ham that supporters that didn't get tickets in the away end can buy through our website for the same stand. Neutral end my a*se.

[Rhys Lightning 63]

On this point, has anyone seen any trouble in the neutral end between different sets of fans

I have often sat in the neutral end when bringing a friend who supports the opposition (Newcastle 3 times, Liverpool twice, Wolves twice and Man Utd once), always wearing my Fulham shirt, I have never experienced any issues. I was even in the 'official' away end for the first Wolves game I went to, still in my shirt, didn't get in any trouble.

Although I am listing clubs who don't really have any feelings towards us, I'm sure if it were Chelsea or Q.P.R (in which case I wouldn't even be there), it might be a different story

[Roberty]

We have officially advised West Ham that supporters that didn't get tickets in the away end can buy through our website for the same stand. Neutral end my a*se.

That has always been the case - when you look from the Hammersmith end you can see that the dividing line for away fans moves according to how many the visiting team has. If it is not designated as a neutral end there would have to be a block of seat taken out of use to divide the home and away fans. Can we really afford to have so many unsold seats?
It is a business and like it or not b*ms on seats pay the bills.

An alternative to that would be to have even more black market tickets being sold in the home end with the stewards throwing them out if they can identify them.

[earlbeatty]

I was slightly surprised to get an email from the Club saying that Season Ticket holders could buy up to 6 tickets for the Chelsea & QPR games - don't remember (I could be wrong) ever being allowed to buy that many extra tickets for such big games.....

I can't understand why the club are doing this - is it in the hope that tickets will remain in Fulham supporters hands rather going to the oppo??

EB

[Joe McDonald]

I was in the neutral end for the Sunderland game, with some mates who are Sunderland fans.  The only time I've seen any issue was during the first half, but it was two of their fans having a pop at each other, one bloody nose later and the stewards and police did their job.

[Senior Supporter]

I was in P5 of the neutral area (left a friend to get the tickets) for the game 2/3 seasons ago when we beat West Ham 3-2, and it was all Hammers fans except us. I made a point of cheering our boys at every opportunity, on the basis I had as much right to be there as them, and even tried to pull their bl**dy flag down when it was passed overhead. In the process I lost my FFC cap, but a couple of minutes later the guy behind tapped me on the shoulder and said "here you are mate". I probably wouldn't have been as bold if I was a youngster, but banked on the fact that I am so obviously a pensioner, and they were all fine.   092.gif

[tomcolemanfry]

I hate the neutral end and would love us to get rid of it. Brings in more away fans than we should have, and at times the whole 6,000 behind the goal is full of away fans. That can't be fun to shoot towards surely?

In my opinion, we should use the Johnny Haynes like we did in the Europa ties and give away teams the shittest views and shittest seats in the ground. That way we're always shooting towards our own fans, and the away fans are to an extent out of the way.

I went to the West Ham game last weekend as a neutral, and the programme said 'Fulham have advised us tickets are still available in blocks P1 and P5 and supporters should register on the following link'. I honestly find that ridiculous! We only get 1,500 - 3,00 everywhere else, why should we offer AWAY teams more?!

[Roberty]

Maybe because we need the money?

[tomcolemanfry]

I understand the money aspect, but you'd rather have 6,000 away fans making a better atmosphere than the home team? I just think there's other way to make money and you'd still be able to sell those seats to home fans. We get enough neutrals in the home ends as it is anyway.

Another thing; why have we complained to United about ticket prices for Saturday over their member discount, when we're selling 2 for £10 against Stoke and their fans are paying £30 a piece? Bit hypocritical, no?

[Roberty]

"Can of worms moment" - Is the booing of the home fans greater motivation for our team than the prospect of ruining a day-out for the cheering away fans, who become silent and leave early if their team go behind?
I wonder which is going to motivate them more?

If there was demand to be met from the home fans the club would sell them the tickets instead. The fact is that there is not so the club uses special offers to try to broaden it's fan base and they also give free tickets to schools to get the next generation to support our club to the matches that would not other wise sell out.

Not at all hypocritical at all - the FA Cup match will sell out any way and at FA Cup games the away team get a share of the gate - money again!

Without the special offer the Stoke match will not and the club is using it to try to get people in the door in the hope of converting them to regular supporters. There will not be two for a tenner at the MU home game because the away fans will take up the slack.

For the avoidance of doubt - an empty seat at the cottage does not make any profit - selling the seat for £5 gives a £5 profit (the booking fee takes care of the cost of issuing the ticket) because there are no additional marginal costs. Over time these fivers add up to a considerable sum and there is also the opopportunity to add to out fan base.