In today's Guardian

[derby1884]

http://www.theguardian.com/foo.....cket-stubs

Attending matches was not always so expensive – as shown by this selection of your old ticket stubs from through the years
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[littlewiggy]

Yes I saw that yesterday, love looking at old tickets, no matter what the club.

My first thought on browsing them though was ... wow ...

£2-50 to watch the FA Cup Final in 1981
£50-00 to watch a Non League P/off Final in 2013

[JJPROGRAMMES]

littlewiggy wrote:

£50-00 to watch a Non League P/off Final in 2013

Vanerama (The Conference sponsors) are doing a deal on the tickets this season!!

http://www.footballconference.co.uk/news/details.php?news_id=14417

I do believe if you buy a ticket now you can get in for £10.00 (I havent read the small print as yet though!).

[littlewiggy]

Yeah but you've got till the end of February to buy your £10 "voucher," with no idea of your club actually being there in the final.

So basically, this "fantastic offer" is in reality another cunning cash-cow scam to fleece gullible fans into buying tickets for a game they wouldn't attend anyway if their club misses out.

Honestly, the greed of the modern game never ceases to amaze me, whilst them disguising it as "a fantastic opportunity" is nothing short of a bloody disgrace.

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

littlewiggy wrote:

Yeah but you've got till the end of February to buy your £10 "voucher," with no idea of your club actually being there in the final. So basically, this "fantastic offer" is in reality another cunning cash-cow scam to fleece gullible fans into buying tickets for a game they wouldn't attend anyway if their club misses out. Honestly, the greed of the modern game never ceases to amaze me, whilst them disguising it as "a fantastic opportunity" is nothing short of a bloody disgrace.

Spot on, Wig.

[derby1884]

littlewiggy wrote:

Yeah but you've got till the end of February to buy your £10 "voucher," with no idea of your club actually being there in the final. So basically, this "fantastic offer" is in reality another cunning cash-cow scam to fleece gullible fans into buying tickets for a game they wouldn't attend anyway if their club misses out. Honestly, the greed of the modern game never ceases to amaze me, whilst them disguising it as "a fantastic opportunity" is nothing short of a bloody disgrace.

I totally agree - anyway, I still say that play-offs are an artificial way of stimulating interest.
If two go up from the Conference, why shouldn't it be the top two at the end of a long 46 game season?

Ditto any league you care to name.
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[littlewiggy]

Whilst I fully agree with your point in theory Steve, I can't help but lean also towards the fact that the play-offs keep the season alive for an additional six to ten clubs in every division from February onwards, when in the past those clubs would be playing dead rubber games which are of little interest to their supporters.

Not that it makes it morally right mind, when a club get 100 points in the Conference and still don't go up because somebody else who finished fifth on 78 points triumphs over 90 minutes.

Anti play-off voices say the team finishing second (or third) over 46 games have earned the absolute right to go up - and they'd be right.

Pro play-off voices say that everybody knows the score when we start in August, so can hardly complain when a system that benefits the majority unfortunately affects their club - they too would be right.

I guess the bottom line is that we not longer follow football mate, it's 'moneyball' we watch these days.

Despite being a traditionalist, I think I lean more towards the pro play-off camp.
Just like the back-pass to the keeper rule, it's something that has improved the game and added to the excitement.

Don't get me wrong, I loathe the modern game with a passion, but I'm willing to admit too that certain changes have been for the better.

That feeling of absolute ecstasy when we won the National Conference Wembley play-off final against rivals Wrexham with two very late goals far, far eclipsed the feeling I experienced three years earlier when County romped Conf South breaking every record standing.

We knew in December that year we were up, indeed we had something ridiculous like a thirty point lead in Jan, so it all felt like a bit of an anticlimax when it was confirmed in late Feb / early March.

I said at the time, you can't fully appreciate or enjoy promotion / success without first having endured the horrible fear of losing out.

[derby1884]

littlewiggy wrote:

I said at the time, you can't fully appreciate or enjoy promotion / success without first having endured the horrible fear of losing out.

I've always felt that supporters of clubs such as Celtic, Liverpool, Man Utd etc are missing out on much of what being a supporter has to offer in that they rarely, if ever, experience the - ahem - thrill of a relegation battle.

Even if it ends in failure, it always means new grounds to go to the next season. 85/6 was genuine fun following Derby in the 3rd division (yes, I used to head down to games back then).

As regards the play-offs, I take on board your points and can't really argue with them.
However - a caveat.......in this country, we adapt so much of what America does to our own game. And they're talking about expanding the play-offs in the NFL to involve more teams than the dozen at present.

I'd hate to think we'd follow suit and end up with clubs as low as, say, 10th in the final table taking part.

But, hey, if it earns money, then it'll happen.
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