I was going to invite my mate from next door.Went like this
Me To Wife: There's a ticket offer today fiver for a friend
Wife: I,ll come...

Doh

Big change for me is I mainly used to go and meet mates there; now the wife and three kids like to go and this equals ££s. Hard to justify the expense especially when the game is televised.

I find the same thing, but for different reasons. The expense of driving home and then back to the NE for a game is continually rising. I have to pick my matches these days and had to save up for Manchester.

Similar to you Teesside, plus as you'll know the actual time for travelling is a bind too, sometimes i don't actually have the 7 hours (combined) to dedicate.

To have a "big one" like Wigan have, it has to be a big team, and alot of our big games are now shifted to a Friday night and its a push with people working and travelling etc...

Maybe if the clubs got together with sky and put some of these big games on a Sat or even Sun the clubs could then offer more to get folk down,entertainment wise too, the main area outside the ground could have things on pre match

Mine tends to be an overnight stay, but not everyone is fortunate to be able to do that.
I think that the general consensus seems to be that the club is actually doing rather well to have a small increase in crowds in what are hard financial times.