Express & Star

Blog: Pinning colours to the Wolves mast

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To renew or not to renew, that is the question, writes Wolves blogger Tim Spiers.

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Or to perhaps put it more pertinently, to voluntarily shell out a few hundred smackers and ask to be mentally tortured for nine months, or not, that is the real question.

Yes the early bird at Wolves catches not so much the worm, but a severe case of depression, two empty pockets and an overbearing sense that you really could be doing something more productive and wholesome with your Saturday afternoons.

However, despite how insane it may seem on the surface, thousands of us will still renew our season tickets for 2013-14 by next Monday's deadline.

This will happen even with the prospect of Wolves playing League One football against Scunthorpe and Yeovil next year being a very realistic possibility.

A rumour I heard that just 2,000 season tickets have been snapped up so far is probably - hopefully, for the sake of Jez's health - off the mark, but numbers will almost certainly be considerably lower this year than last.

Recent attendances have dipped to the 20,000 mark - and dropped even lower to 18,000 for the Watford game, albeit for a televised Friday night match.

That's because the appetite for watching Wolves is waning by the week, with people simply sick and tired of the continued mismanagement of our club.

And, to be honest, going to Molineux just isn't an enjoyable experience anymore. The football has been dire, results even worse and the atmosphere pretty awful too.

It's been the case for the past two seasons and there comes a point when you have to consider whether it's worth the time, effort and money to keep going week after week.

For some people, the die-hards, this decision is a no brainer - supporting Wolves is their life and their whole week revolves around match day, home and away.

You know the type - they have got a tattoo of Bully on their backside, they got married in their replica Wolves shirt and their son is called Sylvan. You also know what stand they sit in.

Others will dip in and out, maybe buy a season ticket if we are in the Premier League but, when the going gets rough, they are out of there and will limit themselves to 10 games a season or so.

For the vast majority, like myself, supporting Wolves is just second nature, it's been part of our lives for many years and going to Molinux every second week is routine.

We are not obsessives - we pay our money, we look forward to going every fortnight, we have a good moan when things go wrong and chat about the game with everyone at work on a Monday morning.

It's this band of supporters that Morgan and Moxey need to seriously worry about, because I fear many of them will not be renewing again this year.

And, once they step out of that age-old routine, they're unlikely to get back into again.

We saw it in the Glenn Hoddle years when many simply gave up and never returned and what's happening now - mass apathy - is reminiscent of that time.

The club is trying all it can behind the scenes to placate supporters and urge them to renew. Phonecalls, letters, emails, advertisements - we are being bombarded with reminders.

And, as was revealed in last week's rather stirring parliament meeting, Early Bird renewers will get a few quid back if we are relegated.

However, the club also set a dangerous precedent last year by opening up the Early Bird prices once again in the summer.

Many supporters will wonder why they should bother with renewing now - especially as they don't know what division we will be in - if the prices could just be the same in the summer anyway.

In short, the club is in a bit of trouble here and, with the financial ramifications of relegation also laid bare during the parliament meeting, there is a whiff of disaster on the horizon.

As for me, well I'll be back next year, fool that I am, even if it's purely out of routine and almost a sense of duty.

I think I'd still be there if we were in League Two, the Blue Square Premier, even the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League.

It doesn't really matter about the opposition, supporting Wolves is just something that's in my blood and, after 22 years, that doesn't really change.

But I tell you what, I will be there despite - not because of - the patronising, condescending, tactless, crass and thoughtless advertising campaign doing the rounds at the moment.

You may have seen it - "tough times don't last - tough people do" is its infuriatingly cheap slogan.

The campaign comes complete with a cringe-worthy video showing clips of fans looking sad, then happy - sad face, smiley face - as fans are told there is no one tougher than them and that Wolves need us now "more than ever."

Honestly, whose idea was this? And what makes them think that supporters being told they're a tough person in tough times will drive them to renew their season ticket?

I've been mostly apathetic about our dreadful season but this video and the continuing advertising campaign makes me angry. How dare they try and play on our emotions just to get our £400 off us.

It's certainly not the first embarrassing PR blunder Wolves have made and it won't be the last. Unfortunately, it's just another example of the club not being able to connect with its fanbase.

What we need now is not flashy slogans or ticket offers being tarted up with incentives. We just need honesty - like that showed by owner Steve Morgan last week - and a winning team.

If we have that, everything else will fall into place.