You're stuck in the eighties though Sludge, just like I was stuck in the early seventies when I used to say we'd average 25,000 in the old First Division. The difference between us is that while I'm prepared to recognise my mistake, you aren't. To be fair, a reason you can't is that you do not have the precedent to draw on that I do - I was proved wrong when we averaged 30,000 plus while getting relegated in 18/19 and there were some games where the gates could have been higher if the ground was big enough. We've not played in the lower divisions for twenty one years and so it's hard to know for sure what attendances would be, but precedents from the time you like to refer to show that our gates increased in the third tier after a relegation.
For example, we averaged 9,143 in getting relegated from the old Second Division in 74/75 and 11,702 in being promoted from the third tier a year later. In 81/82, we went down to Division Three with average crowds of 5,574 and were promoted twelve months later averaging 7,036. Of course, when our relegation from the second division was followed by another one to the Fourth like it was in 84/85 and 85/86 crowds fell by a third, but they rose by more when we were promoted to the third tier in 87/88 - in fact, our average when being relegated from the second tier in 84/85 (4,363) was twenty seven fewer than we averaged in getting promoted from Division Four in 87/88.
The overwhelming conclusion to be drawn from this is that in the era your opinions are based on, crowds increased following relegations if they were quickly followed by better results and, inevitably, more enjoyable football. I see no reason to believe this has changed in an era where football is much better attended than it was then and an increase in gate size of around twenty five per cent following a season when a club has been relegated is to be expected if they are doing well at the lower level.
Your opinions were formed at the time when gates were, generally speaking, as low as they've ever been in my lifetime - it's different now, for a start you get far more women and families going now than you did forty years ago when you had a Government and media that despised and demonised those who went to football matches.
https://www.european-football-statis...nengleague.htm
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
You're stuck in the eighties though Sludge, just like I was stuck in the early seventies when I used to say we'd average 25,000 in the old First Division. The difference between us is that while I'm prepared to recognise my mistake, you aren't. To be fair, a reason you can't is that you do not have the precedent to draw on that I do - I was proved wrong when we averaged 30,000 plus while getting relegated in 18/19 and there were some games where the gates could have been higher if the ground was big enough. We've not played in the lower divisions for twenty one years and so it's hard to know for sure what attendances would be, but precedents from the time you like to refer to show that our gates increased in the third tier after a relegation.
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