Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Only 2 fixtures this side of Xmas.

Wrexham 28 Sept
Blackpool 9 Nov

4 months (122 days), with only 2 traditional fixture times. Getting to the point where purchasing a season card has no value at all to some. However, little choice but to renew thanks to the cap. I can live with the ups and downs of supporting the club but ripping the heart out of the tradition of a footy Saturday is ridiculous if the stadium is meant to be a centre of entertainment.

Welcome to modern football.

It amazes me that the 3pm blackout was introduced to protect attendances at lower league football as there are concerns that people would sooner watch a televised Premier League game over going to watch a game further down the pyramid. But they've decided to do the same in League 1 and 2 where by moving games has made it not possible for some to attend and therefore pushing people to watch on TV.

I really don't see why the couldn't just get rid of the blackout for league 1 and 2.

Actually 4 at moment, Huddersfield 12th Oct and Mansfield 16th November

Story of O wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 10:50 am Actually 4 at moment, Huddersfield 12th Oct and Mansfield 16th November

Both international weekends. Huddersfield almost certainly will be moved.

It is a con job where the ‘proper’ fan has been mugged off again and again in favour of the armchair supporter.

I hate the use the cliche but, I sadly agree that modern football is rubbish now. Rotten to the core and a million miles away from the game I fell in love with as a small boy.

And the way we're playing at the moment I'm not looking forward to any of them .

Obviously I can only judge from the outside but all this pursuit of higher revenue seems a little futile. I can’t see many clubs making any or certainly significant profits. The only group doing well from all of this are the players. So why do the clubs sign up for deals like this?

I only hope it doesn’t all end in tears.

DrWindy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 12:01 pm Obviously I can only judge from the outside but all this pursuit of higher revenue seems a little futile. I can’t see many clubs making any or certainly significant profits. The only group doing well from all of this are the players. So why do the clubs sign up for deals like this?

I only hope it doesn’t all end in tears.

This was my point when Travis was lauding the £300k (he's now saying it's more than that) the EFL clubs sold their soul to Sky for when they signed away the streaming rights. Any increase in revenue goes straight into increased player wage demands and the fans bear the brunt of the changes.

It’s a slippery slope and I think the clubs and fans will look back on now, especially the commercial side with regrets. The club and football as a whole have made a big part of supporting lower league clubs quite depressing. (More than usual).

Rich Tea Wellin wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 12:12 pm It’s a slippery slope and I think the clubs and fans will look back on now, especially the commercial side with regrets. The club and football as a whole have made a big part of supporting lower league clubs quite depressing. (More than usual).

What's so laughable is keeping the 3pm blackout "to protect attendances" meanwhile you have fans saying the early / late KOs are preventing them attending games. Only the EFL could come up with such nonsense

gshaw wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 12:07 pm

DrWindy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 12:01 pm Obviously I can only judge from the outside but all this pursuit of higher revenue seems a little futile. I can’t see many clubs making any or certainly significant profits. The only group doing well from all of this are the players. So why do the clubs sign up for deals like this?

I only hope it doesn’t all end in tears.

This was my point when Travis was lauding the £300k (he's now saying it's more than that) the EFL clubs sold their soul to Sky for when they signed away the streaming rights. Any increase in revenue goes straight into increased player wage demands and the fans bear the brunt of the changes.

Yep. £300k is chicken feed in this context. Don’t forget the loss of streaming revenue as well. Brissie Rd is a great Sat destination for away fans. Peterborough/Huddersfield/ Mansfield attendances will hugely suffer (as we know). Burton @ 12:30 just encourages fans to stay away and watch on the stream. Plus 12:30 ko are so unattractive regardless.

And this is the season where Orient have increased ticket prices beyond the means of some fans.
I believe it was £35 to sit in the East stand last week, yet at Reading next week a season card holder can get a seat for £24.
TV seem to be dictating when we play and the fans seem to be the last people to be considered.
NT has already said that the Huddersfield game is likely to be postponed, so a possible 2 or 3 games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday between now and Christmas.
I think more fans will consider whether it’s worth buying a season ticket or not.

Exactly. If you’re not local then why bother as the travel expense and inconvenience of an early start disappears if you just stay in doors. The club then suffer financially.

It’s not a huge problem for me as I’m local but mid-week matches are flat and early kick offs on Saturday you feel sluggish too. Attendances will continue to plummet and the match day experience becomes more sterile with huge banks of empty seats.

When I move away from E10 (in the next 5 years) I suspect I’ll do only 2-3 matches a season (picking the 15:00s on a Saturday only).

Should scrap any idea of a stadium move. If we think we’ll do a Brentford then we won’t. IMO (anecdotally) over the generations Bees fans as a base have not scattered from London to same degree as Os ones.

gshaw wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 12:39 pm

Rich Tea Wellin wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 12:12 pm It’s a slippery slope and I think the clubs and fans will look back on now, especially the commercial side with regrets. The club and football as a whole have made a big part of supporting lower league clubs quite depressing. (More than usual).

What's so laughable is keeping the 3pm blackout "to protect attendances" meanwhile you have fans saying the early / late KOs are preventing them attending games. Only the EFL could come up with such nonsense

Yeah I don’t really get it. Seemingly happy to televise loads of games and risking losing fans but somehow think televising 3pm games will affect attendance?

If you want to show all these games just lift the 3pm blackout and everyone’s happy. No games moved and still on tv for those who want it

And ironically anyone can watch the 3pm games anyway thanks to our sponsors Nord.

Just 14 Saturday 3.00pm home games currently remaining in the current 24/25 season.
Living 2 hours away by train (if running) or 2 1/2 -3 hours by car, early or late ko’s are not very convenient for people living outside of the M25 particularly if to the South or West.

Yes I might be able re sell my seat in the Gallery when I can’t attend but the club expects me to be happy when I am restricted to attending under 70% of home games?
I love this club but increasingly the demands of tv are doing now what the Premiership did when it was started, ruining the lower league clubs.

Dare I say it but maybe we’d be better off in League 2 or even the National League. Football would possibly be more enjoyable and we should be able to have near capacity crowds if we win the majority of home games.

I don’t want this but until the clowns at the EFL listen to the fans and put them first football, as we know it, is dying.

We have called off the Peterborough at home game because we will have one less player to choose from than Peterborough do.
And as stands no home game for 5 weeks.

Orient Punxx wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 1:32 pm Should scrap any idea of a stadium move. If we think we’ll do a Brentford then we won’t. IMO (anecdotally) over the generations Bees fans as a base have not scattered from London to same degree as Os ones.

Well, we may need a stadium move but not necessarily to a bigger one if we only have a limited number of Saturday 3pm kick offs. There is also the Hospitality restaurant on the 3rd floor where Lucy and her team do a great job, and has apparently been extended this season.
Yes, I’m sure it sell out for the Wrexham game, but I reckon they will struggle for all the Tuesday night games.

Increased ticket prices, TV rescheduling games, International week ends ( Games cancelled ) ……….Fans will only put up with so much……..Many will say “ Fcuk it, I’ll become an armchair fan “

Yep happy to give the club a £1k a year but they’ve totally lost the plot here. Love to see everyone boycott the Burton game. For me can’t even do the obligatory curry at that time.

Is a truly awful situation.

Orient Punxx wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 1:32 pm Should scrap any idea of a stadium move. If we think we’ll do a Brentford then we won’t. IMO (anecdotally) over the generations Bees fans as a base have not scattered from London to same degree as Os ones.

No need to move if you're already in the suburbs.

Without a high degree of certainty regarding typical match days and kick off times, it's hard to see how season tickets will remain viable for many fans.

Orient Punxx wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2024 10:11 am Only 2 fixtures this side of Xmas.

Wrexham 28 Sept
Blackpool 9 Nov

4 months (122 days), with only 2 traditional fixture times. Getting to the point where purchasing a season card has no value at all to some. However, little choice but to renew thanks to the cap. I can live with the ups and downs of supporting the club but ripping the heart out of the tradition of a footy Saturday is ridiculous if the stadium is meant to be a centre of entertainment.

Wrexham 28/9
Hudds 12/10
Blackpool 9/11
Mansfield 16/11

There is only one game - Burton 14/12 - which has been moved to a different time as port of the tv deal.

What the heck are you moaning about?

Between 1st September and January last season, we only had 6 home 3pm Saturday kick offs and as HA points out above, we still currently have 4 scheduled (if they're called off, that's due to international windows, not the new Sky arrangements). I think the TV deal is a step in the wrong direction and obviously some people are more affected than others - personally don't mind the extra midweek games - but there's a bit of an overreaction.

That's a reduction of one third. That's hardly immaterial.