Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Bob. Thank you for your letter.
I did feel that this issue would inevitably crop up again at some stage, and after by far the worst performance of Régis Le Bris’ time in charge, with the Lads 0-4 down at half time and performing way, way below the standards we expect, it wasn’t a surprise to see a mass exodus from the Stadium of Light long before Friday’s game was over.
As always, my view of this is very simple: swathes of rapidly-emptying seats never look great in person or on the TV, but as much as we’ve invested so much into the “Til The End” philosophy, perhaps Friday’s loss and the witless nature of it was just too dispiriting for some fans to deal with — rightly or wrongly.
This will doubtless be discussed after every home loss and/or sub-par performance. It’s not new but as I’ve written in previous replies, if there’s a workable solution to fans leaving early, I’d love to know what it is, because I’m not convinced that one exists, sadly.
