There’s so much to gripe about at Valley Parade these days.
Omar Daley, no promotion, food’s not hot enough, can’t beat Barnet, Daley again, why’s the beer queue so long, flamin’ noisy drum, when’s that Daley going to get a cross in … the list of complaints is endless.
A glance at the comments on the club’s own website reveals regular arguments between fellow fans, most of them moaning about whether the moaners should have the right to moan.
C’mon City, get it right!
So what must the outside football world think of such an obvious hotbed of discord? Err, quite a lot as a matter of fact.
That’s why the Football League handed over a national fans’ award for City’s vision in slashing season-ticket prices to the bone and nearly doubling their crowds.
And that’s why Port Vale have just followed the club’s example with their prices for next term.
Vale are the first team to bite the financial bullet and follow City’s ground-breaking example. They sent chairman Bill Bratt and commercial manager Mike Aldridge to see Julian Rhodes in February and find out exactly how the ticket scheme worked.
This week they unveiled an initiative modelled on City’s, although the £183 adult ticket for League Two football next term is still £53 more than the Bantams faithful are expected to cough up.
“I saw this happen with great success at Bradford last year and I was in admiration of their board,” said an impressed Aldridge.
“Bradford had the guts to be the first club to try something like that, so it was a big risk. I was delighted it worked for them last year and I thought it was really positive for the whole world of football.
“Their results have illuminated a light bulb for a lot of football clubs. People have thought ‘can we have a go at this?’”
What’s all this? City “illuminating a light bulb” for the rest of the game?
But I thought, judging by the message-board misery, they didn’t even possess the necessary nous to change one, let alone light it up.
Vale, like City did 12 months ago, have set a pledge target before the scheme gets underway. Aldridge admits the aim for 5,000 “sounds a bit scary” because they haven’t had a 5,000 crowd for a long time.
I’m sure it will happen. Just like it happened at Valley Parade.
I seem to remember plenty of whingeing this time last year, saying that City had no hope of reaching their target either. But as we know, football attracts plenty of folk who are only happy when they can complain.
It never takes them long to find something else to beef about.