Chesham away.

I've just heard from Brockmoor that coach tickets for adults to this match are £12,i find that very disappointing.

I really do hope that the club have a re-think on this,other club's seem much more progressive when it comes to offering cut price travel to away games and the occasional free coach especially to important games such as this one and the final league match at Hitchin.

Maybe it's because i've alway's worked in the "cut throat" commercial world that i see ways of maximising the potential from these sort of situations.

The Totton match is "Community Day" i believe with cut price admission which is good but why not give half price coach travel to Chesham for anyone who attend's the Totton match AND who book's a coach ticket on the day.

The same could be done with the Banbury game on Easter Monday.

I appreciate it may involve the club subsidising both coaches to the tune of around £400 but some of that shortfall would be made up perhaps by increased attendances at both home games and surely it would be a nice gesture to the fan's considering the excellent support our away following has given the club this season.

I'll be taking a car full down to Chesham and i'm sure TRM and a good few other's will do the same,i just think that with a bit of extra thought the lad's could be running out to the cheer's of 150+ follower's at both games ( or maybe more! ) if we could be more generous with away travel pricing.

IF we reach the play off's i do think they really have to come up with a better plan to ensure we follow in large numbers.

I couldn't agree more Devil.....I do believe I've voiced my opinion on this sort of thing before.

Stourbridge football club is becoming more and more a money orientated club.

Its 100% wrong. But let's be honest, did anyone expect any different?   

I don't know who has the final say on things like this, bit I really doubt they appreciate how big these 2 games away from home will be. As far as I'm concerned, if we don't get promoted this year we won't for a good few years. This year and last year were our window IMO. We don't get promoted this year can you honestly see the squad stopping together? Brackley wanted Ben last year. Luton were watching Sean at Stevenage and Benbow could easily play a few levels above, this is a massive few months for the Club and they are then charging £12!! Why would you pay that if you could easily just go down Kiddy for less? The fans that will always be there, will always go, so they're not trying to pull them in. You want to be attracting the floaters, I've already asked friends about Hitchin, are they going to go with prices like that? Of course not! I did 1 year of Business in Year 9, its basic basic rules of business, if you want to attract more people, you need to price correctly. They're not doing this! Now, the most irritating thing about this is, let's be honest, financially we are comfortable. We do pride ourselves on not flashing money on players, but how much did we make this year from the Cup Run? I also highly doubt we've spent all the money from 2011 either! I'm return what have we got? A brand new fence and some seats for directors. Lovely!

I just don't get it. I really don't, when the team need our support and we are charging £12, it isn't going to attract fans to come. So we'll just have the hardcore. Great. Really, really bad move Stour, sort it out!

Jack wrote:Its 100% wrong. But let's be honest, did anyone expect any different?   

It's not "100 wrong" at all,it's a business decision that i don't agree with Jack.

As far as Sean is concerned Luton were not watching him at Stevanage,It was Northampton who showed interest.

I heard Brackley sniffed around Benbow,Billingham's name has never been mentioned to me in term's of Brackley interest.

As for it being "This year or never",i don't agree with that,we have many new player's who are just starting to gel,loyal player's like Ben,Leon,Nathan and a good few other's with a few good year's left in them and as far as Luke is concerned,he loves it at Stour and as long as we look after him i believe he'll stick around unless a big move is on for him.

Anyway,back to the travel issue.

A coach is around £800 for a 55 seater for a trip such as Chesham or Hitchin.

If seats were charged at £6 ( as i believe they should've been ) then the club ( or someone ) has to make up the £500 gap.

Personally i would like to have seen the club reward the fan's with some cheap travel and i've said that to Andy P today.

Running a football club is never going to see a chairman do right in the eyes of all of the supporter's but i do feel that a properly advertised promotion telling fan's they could book an away coach ticket for £5-£6 whilst attending the Totton and Banbury matches would've increased the attendance at those matches anyway which would in itself have helped the club subsidise those two away games.

IF we reach the play off's and have to travel to play a semi and hopefully a final we'd want to ensure as many traveller's as possible.

Come on Stour………..show some initiative with this please.

I'm confused Devil, I was agreeing with you? I said the price was wrong.

A fence that doesn't appear to do very much and that will need taking down when the season finishes.

Jack wrote:I'm confused Devil, I was agreeing with you? I said the price was wrong.

I wasn't saying the price was "wrong" Jack,i said i found it "disappointing" and that i thought the club were being a bit shortsighted.


I hope they have a re-think like i believe they did with Stevanage in the cup.

If they won't play ball then perhaps everyone going by car can take 4 passengers to lighten everyone's cost's.

During the game on the Stevenage forum there was a fan saying Luton were there for Sean.
At Solihull, both myself and Tricky were told about Ben and Brackley.

You take those 3 out of the team is it good enough to get promoted? No chance. Luke may well love it here, but as you say if a team comes in for him, there's every chance he would go-quite rightly too!

OK then, I'll change it. I believe that price is wrong. Not short sighted or anything, I just thing the've missed a trick.

I remember thinking at the time at Solihull that if we don't get promoted Ben would be off.

Tricky Tree wrote:I remember thinking at the time at Solihull that if we don't get promoted Ben would be off.

I'll bet you and Jack a small wager of any value that Ben will be with us next season Tricky.


He's a local lad,he loves it at the club and i don't think he drives ( i may be wrong )


I think he'll be a Stour player for pretty much as long as we want him,he's nearly 27 now,if he were only 19-20 any playing at his present level then i could understand club's piling in for him but he'll be 30 before he know's it ( like Leon ) and suddenly everyone will be referring to him as "veteran,stalwart,loyal servant" etc.

As for Sean,i know his father-in-law quite well now and i can assure you it was Northampton who showed interest.

Their manager at that time was Ady Bothroyd.Ady still lives locally following his stint at Albion in youth development and his lad play's sunday football in Hagley with my brother's lad.My brother is a friend of Gary's so it wouldn't surprise me if Ady and Gary know each other quite well which may have resulted in Northampton's interest at that time.

Ben is nearly 25

Bitterly disappointed with the stance of the club on this once more.

There have been a handful of occasions in the past few seasons where fans have asked the club to consider a reduction in coach price for important games. Once again this has fallen on deaf ears.

I believe this is one of many reasons why the 'Supporters Club' should be re-started. Im of the understanding that we do have a supporters club although its not active. Im aware that monies from raffles & half time cards etc or paid in to the supporters club accounts weekly which makes a size-able amount each season.

Maybe the supporters club should now become more active, with additional fund raising which would allow us to subsidize coach prices for big games like mentioned for fans. The funds would be there to do this on a few occasions every season. Im sure a supporters club could pay for 2-3 coaches per season at least at a cost of £500 each with coach travellers paying a fiver to travel?

The club seem unwilling to help fans (which would help the club with vocal support/numbers) in this area, maybe a supporters active club could be the answer?

PS Ben Billingham is 25 on 9th April.  

lyelad wrote:Ben is nearly 25

At a recent match Ben's own mum commented that he was 26.

I heard this with my own ear's and expected that she would know more than anyone else on the planet.

If she was wrong then i apologise for getting it wrong.

So what's happened to the money that's meant to have gone into the supporters club account..... surely over the last couple/few seasons this must amount to a fair few quid??.....I'd hate to think it would just have "disappeared".
I wonder if this issue will ever be addressed or just ANOTHER thing brushed under the carpet.

Devil's Advocate wrote:

lyelad wrote:Ben is nearly 25

At a recent match Ben's own mum commented that he was 26.

I heard this with my own ear's and expected that she would know more than anyone else on the planet.

If she was wrong then i apologise for getting it wrong.

I think she said " If that Mick reckons he can still pass for being in his 50's then my Ben is 26"......Turn that hearing aid up old timer.

Tricky Tree wrote:

Devil's Advocate wrote:

lyelad wrote:Ben is nearly 25

At a recent match Ben's own mum commented that he was 26.

I heard this with my own ear's and expected that she would know more than anyone else on the planet.

If she was wrong then i apologise for getting it wrong.

I think she said " If that Mick reckons he can still pass for being in his 50's then my Ben is 26"......Turn that hearing aid up old timer.

Evidence seems to be mounting up that Ben is approaching his 25th birthday but his mum is losing it,she said…"now that he's 26 i can't tell him a bloody thing"…!!

I'm looking forward to the fan's match ( at some stage ) Tricky,we'll play up front together,don't worry son,i'll do your running for you and the chasing back,you just loiter around that 6 yard box waving your hand's and moaning at everyone else :-))

Tricky Tree wrote:

Devil's Advocate wrote:

lyelad wrote:Ben is nearly 25

At a recent match Ben's own mum commented that he was 26.

I heard this with my own ear's and expected that she would know more than anyone else on the planet.

If she was wrong then i apologise for getting it wrong.

I think she said " If that Mick reckons he can still pass for being in his 50's then my Ben is 26"......Turn that hearing aid up old timer.

i can confirm as being bens brother that he is 24 and 25 tommorow, his mom was probs busy with keeping bens son occupied.

Ploptops wrote:

Tricky Tree wrote:

Devil's Advocate wrote:

lyelad wrote:Ben is nearly 25

At a recent match Ben's own mum commented that he was 26.

I heard this with my own ear's and expected that she would know more than anyone else on the planet.

If she was wrong then i apologise for getting it wrong.

I think she said " If that Mick reckons he can still pass for being in his 50's then my Ben is 26"......Turn that hearing aid up old timer.

i can confirm as being bens brother that he is 24 and 25 tommorow, his mom was probs busy with keeping bens son occupied.

Funny you should mention his son……yep,she had her hand's full with the little fella at the time :-))


Delighted to hear Ben's now only 25,that means he has even more time left to turn on his magic for Stour.


In my opinion he's our most talented player,i love watching him when he's turning defenders inside out!


As it's now the 9th of April and Ben is now 25 i wish him a happy birthday and hope he's playing in the Conference North for Stour next season.

Back to the price of the coach. Yes it would have been nice if they had reduced the price, but as I will already be in London it doesn't really bother me. All I've got to do is jump on the tube and walk from the station in Chesham  

Confirmed as 12 pound Adults and 10 pound for myself .

[quote="Devil's Advocate"]

Tricky Tree wrote:I remember thinking at the time at Solihull that if we don't get promoted Ben would be off.

I'll bet you and Jack a small wager of any value that Ben will be with us next season Tricky.


He's a local lad,he loves it at the club and i don't think he drives ( i may be wrong )


There you go Jack,i told you Ben wouldn't go :-))


I was delighted at the news when i heard it last night.

As am I. However, I would still say let's see what the summer brings. After all, a contract does only mean we get a fee. Fwiw, this isnt me questioning Ben's loyalty,i don't know him personally to do so, however from the skeptics POV contracts don't mean a fat lot now. Of course, I do hope I'm proved wrong.

Already looking forward to the trip to Chesham on Saturday but boy,what a run of form they are on.

They have won their last 12 league games and 14 out of the last 15 so it's a big ask to go there and win but like TRM mentioned all good run's have to end at some point.

When we played them at the start of the season at Redditch they blew us away in the fist half and romped into a 3 goal lead but once we got at them they didn't like it and in the end they were lucky not to lose as we had plenty of chances after getting it back to 2-3.

Sooner or later we are surely due to get the "rub of the green" and win one of these massive matches.

We're gunna win this. Poole away will knock the stuffing out of em.