The issue is one of frustration. If you notice, very few fans leave when we're winning (not often recently I know). The majority of early leavers do so after a poor attacking corner of free-kick. It's not so much a case of leaving early to avoid traffic, etc but a knee jerk reaction often accompanied with a '**** this for a lark' comment. Grace in defeat is not a common trait of a football fan.
People were leaving early in droves when we beat Liverpool for the first time in our history and when we were losing 3-2 to Man Utd. Why do fans leave early instead of roaring the team on to equalise or get a winner if drawing? Or to hang onto to a lead? When you read people complaining they have to stand and that people behind them then moan when they do in the East Stand, the area of our supposedly fervent support, then you realise why the atmosphere is so crap. We seem to have a larger proportion of fans who leave early no matter what the state of the game and who think they should remain firmly rooted to their seats than other teams.
There's some fella on my row who is consistently 5-10 minutes late for kick off. He leaves his seat generally on 40 minutes to do whatever he does. He then get's back up for the second half 5 minutes late and he leaves on 85 minutes. He misses 20-25 minutes of playing time per game!! This doesn't even include injury time. It has always amused me, he has followed this routine since we moved to the KC. He either gets the ST as a gift and doesn't enjoy it much, or he's happy missing a large proportion of the match.
i cba regularly going again till theres standing it's just zzz tbh plus if we get a bruce banner.. i couldn't stand holding that ****
I left early v Sheffield Wednesday years ago. The game was about 4 mins old and I got thrown out Grrrrr. It annoys me people leaving early. BUT if there's a reason such as having to Catch last train or bus home etc to me that's fine. I'm hoping we can grab a couple of late goals one week to piss those off who leave early for no reason . Sad to say I can't go tomorrow but I will be at Sunderland ...The juniors are still going tomorrow though with there grandad..
Here in Canada when at a hockey game you have to wait until there is a stop in play before going or leaving your seat, I know there are more breaks in play and longer ones in hockey due to TV but you still get enough to interment something like that!
I am in the "pay your money leave when you want" brigade but if leaving early is such a constant debating issue then what about those that arrive after kick off and miss some of the game to go/return to refreshments/bog at half time? surely that is as much of an issue! Sometimes there are good reasons for ppl leaving early, my brother used to work shifts and often had to leave 10 minutes early in order to get to work to clock on in time
lol technically that IS leaving early Filey but its not quite the same... We do score goals late on, we did in the semi at Wembley. I even said at the time my missus was baffled by folks leaving early then "well they'll have missed that goal then" and then "Oh and that goal as well" finished off with "now they're not paying their respects to the players and manager". They remind me of the pro commuters tbh. First on, first off, closest seat to the door, door closest to the exit, cars parked for a quick get away etc. Life shouldn't be such a rush.
That's a good point, the people who arrive at 5 to then expect to be quickly hurried in and not miss a minute of the game, who instead are 10-15 mins late and end up shuffling past me are frigging annoying.
Just because individuals leave their seats a few minutes early does not mean they are leaving the ground. We invariably vacate our high up seats a few minutes early for empty ones near the exit but never leave the game before the final whistle. Just as annoying as early leavers are the characters that clear off to the bar five minutes before half time and return five minutes after the break.
Surely if they paid (good money might I add) to go and see a football match, they'd want to stick it out to the end? It's only 90 minutes of football and what... 60 if that more if chatting to other people. It's just a bit daft really to leave early and possibly miss your team scoring (then again, or cocking it right up like City have a few times down the years).
