I don’t doubt people's frustration and agree that the club may have dropped the ball on ticketing the Man Utd game (it will all come out in the wash) but I’ve been constantly hearing about these “real fans” and am struck by what a meaningless term that is, and how do we know that it’s not “real fans” who have snapped up these tickets, or had them snapped up on the their behalf? (By means fair or slightly foul).

It does seem odd that we have suddenly acquired 3-4,000 extra “real fans” in the past week or so in truth very few of whom were at the Oldham, Barnet or Eastleigh home games in the earlier rounds of the FA cup-exiled fans fair enough but the others who haven’t gone to any of the previous rounds home games can’t now lay claim to being that “real”.

I’ve nothing against those who have suddenly had a damascene conversion to becoming a Newport County fan - the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned but for those people to claim they are “real fans” is somewhat rich.

I posted this a reply to someone on ticket gripe thread but felt it was worth posting as a standalone.

Like every club, we have a lot of people who consider themselves real fans but only ever go to the big games.

The problem with this way of thinking is that we assume it's the same 3,500 people who had been attending all home games, when it isn't.

Many people work weekends, play football themselves, have family to take care of which limits their attendance to once a month, and so on.

I'd say our core support is probably about 7,000 but they don't all attend at the same time. However, for a big game like this they will take time off or move things around to try and attend.

We then probably have a part-time support of about 3,000 who come occasionally, and will consider themselves fans, but can take it or leave it generally.

Then you have everyone else who aren't really bothered one way or the other, but will definitely tap up their mates for a ticket when Man Utd are in town.

Amberexile wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 10:37 am Like every club, we have a lot of people who consider themselves real fans but only ever go to the big games.

And ask "how did the County get on?" when you walk over Newport Bridge at five o'clock.

excessbee wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 12:01 pm

Amberexile wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 10:37 am Like every club, we have a lot of people who consider themselves real fans but only ever go to the big games.

And ask "how did the County get on?" when you walk over Newport Bridge at five o'clock.

Yep, they're the ones!

rncfc wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 12:14 pm

excessbee wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 12:01 pm

Amberexile wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 10:37 am Like every club, we have a lot of people who consider themselves real fans but only ever go to the big games.

And ask "how did the County get on?" when you walk over Newport Bridge at five o'clock.

Yep, they're the ones!

Those people who ask 'how did the County get on' as we walk over Newport bridge. Do we want to encourage them to go and watch County or do we wish to maintain our keeper of the flame superiority over them?

Something we often forget on this board is that we're all on the extreme. Most people who watch or may watch County are nowhere near as fanatical as us. But when they do go, their £20 or so is just as important as ours.

A real fan is someone who has a spare ticket and passed it on for no more than face value.
People selling a ticket for personal gain like the punter buying it are very low in the turd scale

excessbee wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 12:01 pm

Amberexile wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 10:37 am Like every club, we have a lot of people who consider themselves real fans but only ever go to the big games.

And ask "how did the County get on?" when you walk over Newport Bridge at five o'clock.

Ha! Had that few weeks back

Hiya mate how did the county get on ?

I replied we won 2 all

His reply oh good news

Real fans will have a ST or be a Trust member others may think they are but have found that real fans generally if wanted have tickets.

County ranger wrote: January 22nd, 2024, 12:49 pm Real fans will have a ST or be a Trust member others may think they are but have found that real fans generally if wanted have tickets.

Imagine you have a family on a very limited income. Dad two teenage kids. I'm think for them even the cheapest Trust membership for all three becomes a real cost. And for those who are on benefits or zero hours contracts that is not an uncommon situation. For them perhaps seeing County two or three times a season might be the limit. And if they all join the Trust maybe they don't get to see County at all.

And even if you don't see just how selfish your attitude is, get this. Somehow lots of Trust members didn't get tickets for the Manchester United game anyway. Imagine if you were such a fanatical fan as even though it hurt financially you were a Trust member and still didn't get a ticket.

I am impressed by the great majority of County supporters who on this board and elsewhere are trying to help each other. And that includes one or two who in the past I've argued with.

As for the small minority of those who don't get what a f@ck up this has been, I don't know whether you are stupid, or whether it is that you are selfish, or whether you are both. In any event it is depressing.

As opposed to unreal fans? For me all this "Who's the biggest fan" competition really is abhorrent! It's like cliques that you get everywhere in life. You're either IN or you're OUT, & all those that are IN, or think they are based on some criteria made up to justify it, get great pleasure in telling the world why they're IN & why the OUTS are to be made fun of. Pathetic! There are plenty of Real Fans who can never go to games, mostly ex Newportonians living far away, but the most obvious are our disabled or sick fans. Try saying to them "you're not a real fan". How do you think they would reply to your entitled jibe? I hope they would reply politely but vigorously to let you know that being a believer (Real Fan) is just like religion. It's who you are & what you believe in, not that you worship at Dave Parade regularly. BTW I'm lucky enough to not be sick or disabled.