So why is it that our club is just so keen to bend over backwards to turn Field Mill into a 'home' game for the visiting team?
The only explanation has to be money, pure greed, simple as. This weekend will see the 3rd such time that Field Mill will be turned into an away fixture for the Stags supporters. Half the Ground has now been designated to Carlisle supporters.
I have a big problem with this, would Carlisle do the same for us, had the situation be reveresed ? I doubt it.
Let's look at two away fixtures we have had in the FA Cup, Leicester and Newcastle. On both occasions we would have took more than the ticket allocation. Leicester for example gave us 3,500 tickets and said 'no more', even though double that number were expected to go, and the result was, yes a half empty stadium.
Newcastle again, we would have took 8000+, yet some 10,000 empty seats were in St James Park that day with 5,500 Stags supporters who were lucky enough to get a ticket.
It just seems to me that the club are quick to look after visiting supporters, yet when it comes to their own, sod em!
Are we even sure Carlisle are going to bring that many ? Last time they came to field mill, they needed to win to stay in the league, just as important as going up, yet they didn't even bring a thousand.
I also remember another time they were due to be promoted, albeit on a Friday night, they brought 800, even though all the talk beforehand was of 2000+ coming down.
Why couldn't the club make it all ticket for visiting supporters at say an allocation of 2,500 and say 'no more'. Afterall we've had it done to us a few times.
Saturday will more than likely be a repeat of the County and Spiriete debacle and to be quite honest, i don't to be a part of the big sell out!
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The views expressed in this article is of the writer and not neccasarily the views of stagsmad.co.uk