I started going to watch football in 1973. You couldn't get a ticket for most grounds (including Anfield) but my Dad had a season ticket. If Liverpool had checked they'd have noticed that the actual season ticket holder would've been 103 years old and was affectionately known as Great Uncle Willy. My Dad had been on the season ticket waiting list for 20 years. Then in the 80s crowds dipped. I walked up to Anfield in 1986 and got a season ticket 10 yards from the centre circle half way back in the Main Stand. Fans were treated like cattle and it didn't matter as they always came. Until they stopped. More and more leisure pursuits became available. Clubs weren't looking after their customers (though I appreciate that the lunatic hooligan fringe didn't help matters either). Prices went up above the rate of inflation year on year. Sound familiar?
Then in the early 90s it all changed. The Premier League came in. Grounds became more welcoming. Unsurprisingly fan behaviour then improved. Sky threw money at it. Martin Tyler kept shouting "AND IT'S LIVE". Everyone said that having all the matches on tv would stop people going but it didn't, it actually increased demand for the live event. It's probably harder to get tickets for matches now than it's ever been, certainly at the top teams. Yeah, there were some issues- it was very blokey on tv at the start and Sky's "Misogynist Radar" was clearly malfunctioning, but now the analysis is second to none. So you can have external money AND still support the live product. They are not mutually exclusive.
But in racing it appears they are. As I've said before we have this dichotomy of being reliant on off course money from a sector that doesn't really want to bet on racing but just harvest punters into online casinos. The extended betting windows on Saturdays and Sundays (to the detriment of the race going punter) are proof of this. I get that it may be a necessary evil in this case but there are so many things racing can do to improve the live offering which doesn't conflict with the needs of the off course industry. But they're not.
Let's look at the Cheltenham situation. There was ample notice of issues with the attendance drop last year, but it appears those early signs were either ignored or not taken seriously. Now we read that ticket sales are down again and the latest advertising push suggests people buy their tickets via instalments. There are no words. The cash cow can only be milked for so long if you continue to push prices up and get people to queue up to pour their own pints and watch the best horses steer each other and jog round at 1/4 in a procession only seen in the Royal carriages at Ascot. The ill fated move to 5 days was, thankfully, aborted so there is still hope. Though my mate was in Dublin a week or two ago. Anecdotally many punters told him they're missing Cheltenham this year for the first time in living memory due to cost. Ireland seems to be growing their big events by not squeezing out the last drop while we are contracting. We can't continue to sleepwalk into ignoring everything about the sport other than the levy. I don't want to just pick on Cheltenham as, personally, I love betting there, as there are many other examples, it's just that this is the biggest one at the moment.
On to Newcastle. The business, particularly in the first 2 races, was absolutely dire. Everything going for it as well. A beautiful day and Newcastle away from home and not playing until 8 o'clock. But it was deathly quiet. Worrying times.
We are also not averse to our own incompetence. It was the Dumb and Dumber show as we set up our first pick in the wrong pitch (though, in our defence, we can point our finger at our good on course friends for giving us a bum steer there), shuffled the kit to the right pitch in a manner Great Uncle Willy on his zimmer frame would've been proud of then realised we had the kit on the wrong side. Kit duly switched, leads plugged into wrong sockets and heads scratched as to why we couldn't get a tune out of the LED board.
Pick 2 was even worse. Nobody being able to work out why the frame wouldn't go on until realising the tower was back to front. Full disassemble and reassemble followed by the hod top being wrongly housed, full disassemble then another reassemble. I moaned. Loudly. Still, on the plus side, it didn't cost us any business. Primarily because there wasn't any...
1) Big John Wayne the only horse in town. If you're a bloke with a beer you're going to back it aren't you? And they did. I kept telling them they had a big leggy with every bet. Most of them looked at me like I was from Mars. Or Sunderland. It would've won as well without the mistake at the last and favourite backers breathed a sigh of relief as Moon Chime was left on its own. Small win instead of max loss but you don't like to see them fall. Me and next door idly speculated on who sang "John Wayne is Big Leggy" and I plumped for either Haysi Fantayzee or Strawberry Switchblade. A quick Google this morning confirms I at least got something right. Lost on the forecast. Playing a 0-0
2) Couldn't keep them off Netywell, won by a mile. Half max loss. Laid the forecast as well. I couldn't even gloat to Steve about that. Small hole being dug.
3) For the first time in a few years we didn't have a runner who'd jogged round 2 milers all year to win by half the length of the track when it came to the marathon Eider. And how the race benefitted. Absolute cracker. Flower of Scotland the least surprising max of the day along with Fenland Tiger who was backed into favouritism. Both appeared to be going well until Flower jumped left as another runner jumped right and all momentum was lost, Fenland weakened out and it was left to original favourite, Anglers Crag, and the CairnBet skinner Prince Des Fichaux to duke it out (see what I did there, seamlessly sneaking in another John Wayne reference?) and our hearts were broken as Prince couldn't hang on. A win of the modest kind and no partying like it's... Places were fantastic though and we were edging towards expenses with 4 to go.
4) Two horses bet. Two horses miles clear. Choose your liability. We chose the worst one as it turned out. Profit wiped.
5) Our Scottish lads backed The Edgar Wallace like it was his better known brother "William" and we stood it for the max. Cheddleton always seemed to be cruising but we'd seen this film before and, when it stopped closing, we feared another heartbreaker. We cried it in though and it stormed past to give us the best result of the day. Hope sprang eternal that we may yet get some wages.
6) It's the hope that kills you. Or, in this case, the Cape. Horn Cape bet consistently, a loser for nearly the max and the winner miles out. Wages looked impossible now and we needed the last to stem the bleeding.
7) Which became a gaping wound. Chumlee backed into favouritism from about 5s to 3s. Soft lead. Was 5/4 in running after 50 yards. Rest of field heavily restrained. Rest of field finished like a train but didn't get up. Max loss. Though that wasn't important when I heard that Silver Vision was fatally injured at the last. Thoughts, as always, with connections.
So, effectively, 6 favourites out of 7 and a losing day. Business disappointing and the whole enterprise rather dispiriting to be honest. Kelso on Saturday for our next outing. We'll be sure to get there early to pick up the card with the results in it. Until then...