Nowt so odd as folk

Simon Wright raises the question of the missing supporters at Edgar Street last night:

"Where are you?"

So famously demanded Delia Smith at the top of her voice. The same question may be asked of the missing supporters at Edgar Street last night. Before I progress further, I hasten to add that I accept 100% Hereford's statement that the game was sold out bar several hundred unsold tickets from Leeds.

That in itself raises another an issue – just why were the visiting club sent so many tickets? Their followers had three long-distance away games in 6 days, all of which were new or nearly-new grounds. Of the three, the toughest was arguably the near 400 mile round trip on a Friday for a live Cup fixture (you'll find out all about the challenging midweek distance for the replay). That just over 1,000 LUFC people made the effort to see a weakened side is actually to their credit. Normal practice on these occasions is to agree a smaller allocation and if those are sold quickly, to send more. I fear a trick may have been missed.

I thought it might be fun to speculate what happened to those people who bought tickets but who didn't turn up. Could it be that:

Being fairweathers, they couldn't actually remember where the ground was?

Or HMRC were doing another spot check on the legitimacy of red diesel users?

Perhaps they'd be tipped off about Leeds United Wimbledon-style route one football and feared for their neck muscles?

Or similarly, the fireworks outside were more attractive that the visitors long ball game?

Could it be that the Sky vehicles were mistaken for support trucks for a fair and so hundreds were scouring the town centre for the fairground attractions?

They couldn't get an appointment at the hairdressers so couldn’t be seen on TV?

Were paranoid about queuing for toilets?

Are collectors of complete tickets?

Dennis Wise wasn't on the touchline?

These odd situations do happen elsewhere. I recall a 1995 FA Cup replay between WBA and Coventry. The club were quite clear that every ticket was sold yet the attendance was 2,000 below capacity. Albion had the issue sussed though. "They couldn't get here because of the traffic." An interesting observation given that the Hawthorns is arguably the most accessible ground in the country. Traffic was heavy but no more so than any other sell-out match.

Nowt so odd as folk.

---