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Walsall chief urges fans to return
Friday 18th September 2009, 11:00AM BST.
Walsall chief executive Roy Whalley has urged stayaway fans to return to the Banks’s Stadium for the Swindon match and help boost manager Chris Hutchings’ transfer budget.
And the Saddlers supremo warned they won’t be able to sign players if crowds don’t improve, starting tomorrow.
Their last home League One outing against Gillingham three weeks ago, saw a crowd of just 3,331 – the lowest league attendance at the Banks’s for 11 years.
The club have other areas of income, but Whalley insists the fans need to help boost their transfer budget.
He said: “If the crowd is down then we have to downscale our ambitions. The town has to decide whether they want a club or not. The answer is in their hands.
“You can’t divorce the two and have to accept the financial reality, but we will not let this club slide into financial oblivion.
“How far Walsall can progress will depend on how many people come through the turnstiles.
“There are a lot of Football League clubs who are struggling for survival and it’s difficult, but we have to be realistic.”
Whalley conceded fans are unhappy with the club under chairman Jeff Bonser, but admitted there were no offers on the table.
He said: “The board will not gamble with the club’s future, although that may not be what the fans want to hear.
“The chairman has made it clear he would sell the club, for the right reasons. He would sell to a group or an individual, preferably local, but there are no offers.”
But Whalley is still confident of a successful season under Hutchings, insisting the infrastructure of the club is there.
He said: “There are really good things happening and it will be an exciting season.
“We have transformed the club over the last 20 years and all the bits and pieces are in place.
“We’ve got a good youth development programme and the club has every right to aspire to get back to the Championship.”
Fans can buy tickets for tomorrow’s game and the next home match against Huddersfield on Tuesday September 29 in unison, saving up to £10.
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down scale our ambitions ? dont make me laugth. thats why they dont turn up we havn`t got ambition.the town does want a football club but not jeff bonsers.
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Another rousing rally cry from Roy. Load of rubbish.
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Has Roy considered that the Town may have decided that they want a football club – but without Jeff Bonser?
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one reason why JEFF BONSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!If we had 10,000 every week we still would’nt buy anyone, who are you kidding.Has he ever heard of the saying speculate to accumulate i think NOT.
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Never posetd on here before but couldnt resist this time – “downscale ambitions” ha ha thats the best yet…
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cant say this hasnt been coming there no resorting to blackmail to win back fans ive said it before you reap what you sow nice to see things not working out for you mr bonser
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It’s a fair point and it needed saying but no-one’s going to listen.
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The town does want a Club, what it doesn’t want it the clowns at the top that run it at the moment.
A quick way for the manager’s budget to be increased would be for the Chairman’s pension fund to not charge rent at £350,000pa. It takes nearly 1,000 fans per home game just to pay that.
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Ever wondered why the fans have deserted Whalley? Of course it’s nothing to do with the boards slow strangulation of the club is it? Surely it can’t be the disgusting way fans are treated?
If YOU want the missing thousands to return then it’s YOU that needs to start the change. That is not by using the press for pathetic emotional blackmail attempts. Engage with the fans, make them feel valued and appreciated, not like the necessary evil you view us as currently.
It’s your call.
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You’ve got a nerve Whalley, you and your cronies have been downscaling the fan’s hopes for years and years.
The town does want a football club(preferably with a ground to call its own, it just doesn’t want you lot running it.
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Fair do’s. 19 years on and they’ve finally realised that they need the fans!
Also there’s no need to hire a comic for the next boxing night as Roy is obviously chock-a-block full of punch lines.
God, you’ve gorra love ‘em.
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How about Roy, the club put some money they received for fox dann or gerrard back into the team. If the fans see no ambition from the club then why should they keep comming. I’m not saying all the money should be spent even if it was a small amount then more supporters would return and would make them feel they were not being ripped off all the time.
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Tell Mr NO AMBITION Bonser to stop taking the £250,000 per year he has for rent and explain to supports why we owned Fellows Park and now have to pay him rent??? What happened to the transfer money from Fox,Dann and gerrard don’t forget the sell on cash aswell no wonder supporters are staying away
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I doubt anyone will want to buy a struggling League 1 club that has significant debts, when they’d then still have to pay £1k/day just for the right to use the stadium.
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Ah the great we are club transformed quote.
If it means lower gates, the ones who do go disillusioned and no atmosphere then we really must be transformed
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I agree with Chad no-one will listen if we carry on playing like Sunday league players. Ok we did well last Saturday but lets face it the opposition where rough!!!! We need to start playing with ambition and the will to win to be able to attract the missing 000′s
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What percentage of our revenues come from tickets? Answer: normally a small percentage. Now we are in a downturn the club can’t get its usual money from the Bonser suite and so is looking to the fans. Unfortunately, they became disillusioned a long time ago and high prices (yes I noticed the offer but why not knock off a fiver for each game?) during a recession will not tempt them back. Roy should admit he has made a series of mistakes in dealing with the fans and announce a new initiative to tackle this including fan forums, cheaper tickets and improvements to the stadium atmosphere.
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When you and Bonser leave, me and my dad will come back.
Go figure.
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I will return, and buy a season ticket when Mr Bonser stops charging ground rent.
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The only way you’ve transformed the club in the last 20 years Roy is that the club no longer owns its ground, and pays rent instead. Attendances are roughly the same, we’re in the same league.
The one difference is the we are worse off financially.
Thanks for transforming OUR club roy. Give yourself a pat on the back.
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Get Bonser out and I will go back like a shot
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Transformed?
If you call £2m in debt ‘transformed’ then you’re divorced from financial reality Roy.
You and Jeff, Go and live the rest of your life somewhere a long, long way away.
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I will return to Bescot the minute Bonser has gone. I refuse to give that leech another penny of my money!!
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shame its come to this but the gulf between the many stayaway supporters and the club is just too big to bridge with rhetoric…… jeff bonser has overseen the clubs financial stability and has in the process knocked the fans ambition and love for the club….. it wont change until the club is under new ownership…… those of us who continue to support will see the crowds dwindle until a new era re-invigurates the fans.
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I have heard and read all the arguments but I still dont see what staying away from games achieves. There are not many people buying football clubs our size.
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what about the money from the selling of the best
talent year in year out.55 years a fan even travelling to matches from down here, not anymore
until we have some ambition which as never been the case under bonser.
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was having a very interesting conversation today. Doug Ellis approached Jeef Bonser to sell the club in the summer and buy it for his son. But Ellis’s first approach was rejected as Mr Bonser wanted to keep the freehold.
There wont be no club if Mr Bonser carries on his way.
He’s killing the club he saved!
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so the attendance is based on the transfer money we can spend.
so what really happened to the money we got off fox, dann and gerrard. then the sell on fees also.
can anyone else see where all that money went on transfers
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Jim Davis – hitting the nail square on the head.
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You lot really are moaners. If nobody will buy the club, how can it be sold? Get down to the ground and cheer the players on! You will moan exactly the same when the next bloke takes charge. Football is about enjoyment – go and enjoy the games at face value and stop analyzing everything all the time. Otherwise go and support another club because I’m sick of this negativity.
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Twenty years of unanswered questions. Twenty years of growing distrust and suspicion between the club and it’s fanbase. Twenty years of insularity and of contempt for those people who don’t buy into The Gospel According To Bonser – and as usual it’s the fans who are to blame!!
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No.25. Jim- Its about doing something other than supporting the status quo. Less income means the urge to sell gets greater, also when the only thing for sale is the fan base because eerythig else isn’t making hte money they said it did.
“We don’t need gate money to survive” remember that? Yes people did, they thought, “Right then, stuff yers”.
What remains though is that it would be better if the stayaways actually went somewhere else, WIllenhall, Rushall, Pelsall or Darlaston because then the actual numbers could be monitored.
As far as I am concerned the club told me (not explicitly) that Leeds fans money was more important than mine, despite 25 years of support home and away. So until they have lsot the same amount of income they gained I am not buying, pies, programmes, shirts, teas, or indeed attending unless Rushall are away in the middle of nowhere.
It’s not my club, there is no sense of belonging, someone is getting richer and the club is getting poorer in every way.
Do my actions help? Well probably not in the short term, but this club has been lsoing fans for years but they have also been quite good in attracting new ones. THese new ones are now stopping going as they learn what goes on (the rent was an issue 10 years ago) and no-one is coming to replace them.
With no thanks for support over the years other than shrugs of indifference and abuse to those that try and represent the fans they are now beginning to reap what they have sowed over the years.
And do they use the big sign to say “Family ticket – professional football in safe surroundings £20″ No. They say come and hold your next event here. And they wonder why no one turns up. They act like they deserve the support, and they don’t. My god, this lot don’t.
Does it make me feel good? No. Am I happy? No.
Am I supporting the status quo by saying nothing and still handing over my money? No.
Jim, ask yourself are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
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I hope my numbers come up on the lottery tonight, but I wonder if Jeff really would sell. If it wasn’t for miracle workers like Sir Ray, Colin Lee and dicky dosh this club would be nowhere. Bonser has made some great managerial appointments, but has then tied both hands behind there backs
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the fans need to see transparency in the running of the club Mr Whalley and Mr bonser only then will you see a get positive reaction from Walsall FC Fans and customers
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A typical arrogant and condesending outburst. Years of contempt for supporters are coming home to roost. Transformed our club…………. yawn. Change the record Roy and tell our “biggest fan” to give us our freehold back
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Walsall FC are a well run club and a model for other leagues clubs. If the fans that are staying away don’t like it they can go and support someone else like Rotherham, Bournmouth and Luton.
All in all I am very happy to be a life long fan of my pension club, Walsall of Bescot Banks To Go F.C.
ps. I think the club shop are missing a trick by not marketing Walsall inscribed toilet handle, I’d buy one
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Walsall Trust, what are you talking about!
In any other business, politics or any walk of life, for someone to come out with a statement such as Mr Whalley’s they would be fired, asked to resign or hounded out.
I don’t know what amazes me more, WFC board not seeing why the fans don’t like the present regime when statements such as these are released or, that some fans still come out in defense of Mr Whalley and JB.
I love my club, but over 25 years it is now impossible to separate that love from the contempt for the people in charge. Congratulations JB and Co, you’ve won your battle, do what you will, the clubs yours.
Whalley by name, wally by nature.
I don’t know what amazes me more, WFC board not seeing why the fans don’t like the present regime when statements such as these are released or, that some fans still come out in defense of Mr Whalley and Bonsor.
I love my club, over 25 years it is now impossible to seperate that love from the contempt for the people in charge. Congratulations JB and Co, you’ve won your battle, do what you will, the clubs yours.
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Whalley you are a clown, and are just Bonsers puppett. Resign NOW!! and take our illustrious money grabber with you!!
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if bonser went tommorow.i would go straight to the club shop and get a season ticket
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If Mr Bonser gave back the 3 million in rent he has taken from WFC and returned the freehold to the club then the club would be financially secure and the fans would come back.
Everyone wins apart from Mr Bonser, since the club is just an income stream for him though it will never happen.
Shame.
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A positive step, black mail is positive? To come out and support such as statement is ridiculous. “The town has to decide whether they want a club or not. The answer is in their hands.” Their hands? I thought the town and the club were one and the same, we should be in this together, but apparently the fans are a necassary evil, which for the last few years, if you have listened to club statements, an evil that aren’t very necessary, how things seem to change.
There are two ways to end this, either JB moves on or the club answer the questions that have festered for decades and local press seems unwilling or uninterested to ask. A major charm offensive is needed, but yet again, we are served this.
Supporters Trust? We need open debate and transparency, not ultimatums from a school teacher. For a trust supposedly for the supporter to condone such an inflammatory statement is deplorable.
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SP Trust
So, you hope the negative posters on here will “see sense” do you? well, As a fan who attended almost every game, home and away, week in week out for over 30 years, bunking off work early midweek and turning down Saturday overtime so i could see my beloved team play, friendlies and worthless tin pot trophy games included, then, witnessing season after season a lack of ambition and utter contempt for the supporters under J.B, I FINALLY saw the sense thank you and will not be going to another game until the current regime are gone – However long it takes!!
Am i happy to stay away? NO!
Are Jeff and Roy be likely to come round my house and beg me to come back? NO! Of course not! But, at least i won’t have to hand over one more penny of my hard earned cash to JB’s personal pension fund.
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