Have our home crowds been disappointing?

[Dave St]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

The atmosphere is embarrasing. The grandstand do nothing, i sat in there tuesday night. it's like a graveyard full of coiffin dodgers!

[JamesWales]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

I'm pretty sure that declaring attendances to include season ticket holders who don't show up has been a thing for a long time now. I don't think it's a recent development.

This is purely speculation on my part, but I believe that there are a far higher percentage of season ticket holders at most clubs these days due to the disparity between season ticket prices and match day prices. I could be wrong, it's just a guess, but that's my impression.

Yeah it may not be wholly new, but I think it's something that's more obvious now with higher numbers of season ticket holders and all seater stadia that means an empty space can be clearly seen.

Something has changed mind. If you went back to say 2004, 2008 or whatever then Upton Park, Highbury, White Hart Lane etc would always be full and the attendance would always match. Now the grounds aren't always full (Arsenal is this season) but the stated attendance don't match that reality.

In essence, I think a lot more of the newer season ticket holders pick and choose games a bit more than they used to. Probably not helped by games being moved at short notice and the difficulty of passing a ticket on.

You are right on there now being a much greater disparity between match tickets and season tickets.

[NYCBlue]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

Not sure exactly what you mean with your question, but the highest and lowest League One attendances of three clubs concerned this season are as follows:

Bolton

Highest: 26,473 v Bradford (Sat)
Lowest: 18,820 v Burton (Tues)

Bradford

Highest: 24,075 v Huddersfield (Sat)
Lowest: 18,187 v Rotherham (Tues)

Cardiff

Highest: 27,280 v Lincoln (Sat)
Lowest: 15,814 v Burton (Tues)

As you can see, all of the highest attendances were on Saturdays, while all of the lowest were on Tuesdays, which is not surprising.

To me this suggests that our average attendance could be significantly affected by the fact that our catchment area is so large. It's not hard to imagine that someone living north of Pontypridd, where we have a significant number of fans, to either be forced or prefer to give a Tuesday night game a miss.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

Something has changed mind. If you went back to say 2004, 2008 or whatever then Upton Park, Highbury, White Hart Lane etc would always be full and the attendance would always match. Now the grounds aren't always full (Arsenal is this season) but the stated attendance don't match that reality.

An obvious factor is that some of the new grounds are much larger than the old ones. For instance, Upton Park had a capacity of around 35,000, while the London Stadium has a capacity of 62,500.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

To me this suggests that our average attendance could be significantly affected by the fact that our catchment area is so large. It's not hard to imagine that someone living north of Pontypridd, where we have a significant number of fans, to either be forced or prefer to give a Tuesday night game a miss.

Indeed, but our biggest crowd of the season in any competition was on a Tuesday night when Chelsea came to town (33,027).

So, our biggest attendance in any competition was on a Tuesday night, while our biggest League One attendance was for a game that kicked off at 12:30 on a Saturday (and both were live on TV).

[goats]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

That was back in August 2001 (the start of the second season of Sam Hammam's reign). 25 years ago. Different era altogether (and a different stadium). Many members of the current fanbase weren't even born then. In truth, crowds from 2001 are about as relevant now as the club's crowds in the Fifties, Sixties or Seventies. Ancient history, although it doesn't seem that long ago to many of us old farts.

:hehe:

It’s scary to think that was 25 years ago….i don’t think we were seen as a big club at all back then just rocking around the lower two divisions for 20 odd years yet we still pulled a bigger crowd then than we did last Tuesday in our shitty old ground too.
We are definitely good at pulling big crowds and then losing them just as quick, I guess we’ve never had any sustained success in 60 years though…..

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

It’s scary to think that was 25 years ago….i don’t think we were seen as a big club at all back then just rocking around the lower two divisions for 20 odd years yet we still pulled a bigger crowd then than we did last Tuesday in our shitty old ground too.
We are definitely good at pulling big crowds and then losing them just as quick, I guess we’ve never had any sustained success in 60 years though…..

We won that one as well, Danny Gabbidon scored the goal. The starting line-up included Michael Simpkins, Des Hamilton and Gavin Gordon. The glory days.

:hehe:

[Dave Blue]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

IÂ’d say the attendances have been pretty good considering some shocking recent years and tv games etc. It is a shame we produced a relatively poor display for Lincoln and followed up with another defeat on Tuesday. ThatÂ’s not going to get walk ups in until THE day, when it will be packed with one-offs again.

[Hilts]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

The atmosphere is embarrasing. The grandstand do nothing, i sat in there tuesday night. it's like a graveyard full of coiffin dodgers!

🤣🤣🤣 Bit harsh.

Ive watched a lot of games in there this season (Family Stand Side)

I dont think there's much of a difference age wise between there and the Ninian.

Saying that Ive no idea why a ST would be more expensive there than the Ninian.

[JamesWales]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

An obvious factor is that some of the new grounds are much larger than the old ones. For instance, Upton Park had a capacity of around 35,000, while the London Stadium has a capacity of 62,500.

Absolutely 👍

[PontBlue]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

We won that one as well, Danny Gabbidon scored the goal. The starting line-up included Michael Simpkins, Des Hamilton and Gavin Gordon. The glory days.

:hehe:

Gavin Gordon was covering the Lincoln game for their local BBC radio station

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

Gavin Gordon was covering the Lincoln game for their local BBC radio station

I wonder how many of us were there for GG's five-goal star turn against Rushden & Diamonds in the Auto Windscreens Trophy or whatever it was called back then? I was. The crowd was just 2,052 and the final score was 7-1. Those were the days when I used to go to every home game in every competition and most away games too. I was cured eventually.

:hehe:

[poc]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

I wonder how many of us were there for GG's five-goal star turn against Rushden & Diamonds in the Auto Windscreens Trophy or whatever it was called back then? I was. The crowd was just 2,052 and the final score was 7-1. Those were the days when I used to go to every home game in every competition and most away games too. I was cured eventually.

:hehe:

i was:thumbup:

[NYCBlue]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

Indeed, but our biggest crowd of the season in any competition was on a Tuesday night when Chelsea came to town (33,027).

So, our biggest attendance in any competition was on a Tuesday night, while our biggest League One attendance was for a game that kicked off at 12:30 on a Saturday (and both were live on TV).

Is the Chelsea game relevant in this conversation? It's a pretty obvious anomaly.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Have our home crowds been disappointing?

Is the Chelsea game relevant in this conversation? It's a pretty obvious anomaly.

You can decide what’s relevant.

I think it’s interesting that the two biggest crowds so far this season (by a distance) came for games that were live on TV on a Tuesday night (in mid-December, no less) and on a Saturday lunchtime.

To me, that demonstrates people can and will turn out in large numbers if they consider the game to be attractive enough regardless of any alleged barriers to doing so.