Attendances

[heysham_mfc]

it was good t see 1900 turn ip to the game on Saturday I was expecting something a bit lower with our recent run of results it shows that people are still interested it coming even when we are not doing so well

[cultured]

It is not in the slightest bit concerning that we appear to have wiped around 500 fans off the home game per game inside 12 months, you're right.

[Howe Magic]

Yes i totally agree the crowd of 1900 was a decent effort taking into consideration who we were playing (there away form and distance travelled) - also thought the atmosphere was excellent too....yes it would be nice to get a few more through the gate but if you see how the daggers have been playing this season and they only attracted 1400 on saturday we must still be doing something right.... well done to everyone keep up the support as we all know the players really really appreciate it

[wonder shrimp]

i've just had a quick look at tonykempster's site http://www.tonykempster.co.uk/

last season in conf (when we were winning plenty of matches) ave gate 1600 min gate 1165!
last season, first in league, we averaged 2800, and had a minimum of 1650
so far this season we have an average of 2100, with a minimum of 1571

obviously poor results on the pitch and lack of novelty of being new in the league (for home and aways fans!) has seen out attendances slip from last year, but still a healthy improvement on the year before that.

[shrimper]

It IS a concern of course. But I suppose if you reckon that a lot of the 'new' fans we got last season were ones attracted by the fact we had made it into the League, it's no massive surprise that they drop off again when we're doing badly.

There's also the economic situation to take into consideration.

A run of good performances at home should see numbers increase again with the 'floating 500' attracted back again.

[Howe Magic]

there are quite a few teams struggling for decent gates this season - macclesfield v gillingham on saturday 1600 chester v brentford last week 1300 (If a team are not doing that well the crowds will always suffer take carlisle for example down to 5000 also blackpool down to 7500 last season lots of crowds over 9000......as was previously mentioned there is also the novelty factor too new league and new grounds etc - if we win a few games the crowds will come back also if you take the bradford game where we will get over 3000 that will also boost the average crowd up too....

[campdave]

Pretty much up until the last two matches (2nd half against Dagenham excepted), we've been playing pretty dull unattractive football. in the absence of good results, that will also switch people off.

it's a problem , but it's a problem for all football clubs. There's interest in football for sure - every other house on Lancaster Road as I was home after a match seems to have Sky Sports News on the telly, but they don't seem to be willing to walk five minutes down the road to watch what's going on locally. Maybe a leaflet drop through doors with a voucher to get in half-price or something to try and entice these people along?

[marky No.1]

It IS a concern of course. But I suppose if you reckon that a lot of the 'new' fans we got last season were ones attracted by the fact we had made it into the League, it's no massive surprise that they drop off again when we're doing badly.

There's also the economic situation to take into consideration.

A run of good performances at home should see numbers increase again with the 'floating 500' attracted back again.

Yeah bring back the floaters thats what I say (there's a song there somewhere)

The concern will be that we originally budgeted for 2500. 400 people at £13(ish) is £5000 a game short and over a season thats a £115,000 shortfall or 16,000 Christie Cat mugs

[campdave]

The concern will be that we originally budgeted for 2500.

Did we?

[wonder shrimp]

to be fair i would guess that we also budgeted for no cup runs (which would be sensible)

winning a couple of rounds in the JPT, and hopefully winning on sat (worth 20k) will all help make up the shortfall.

[Mark S]

My concern is for the people of Lancaster Rd and campdave peering in through the windows. Maybe the leaflet we send them should have a warning of some kind?

A good run of results, a good cup run and one or two of the bigger clubs like Bradford and we wont be too far off. We were never going to get the same as last year.

I remember us saying we would never get over 1,000 when we got promotion to The Conference.

[Howe Magic]

just an idea for the home game against darlington in early december (With only about 3 weeks to go before xmas why not adults £10 and kids £5).....darlo are top of the league and will certainly bring 500 plus to the game so some sort of special offer for this game could be a good idea especially after the abandonment of last years game after 20 minutes...also a nice gesture from the club towards home fans just before christmas

[John L]

just an idea for the home game against darlington in early december (With only about 3 weeks to go before xmas why not adults £10 and kids £5).....

Nice idea but kids already get into the North Stand and Car Wash Terrace for just £4! I think our child admission is already cheap enough, especially compared to most other clubs in this division.

[Martin]

Pretty much up until the last two matches (2nd half against Dagenham excepted), we've been playing pretty dull unattractive football. in the absence of good results, that will also switch people off.

I think that pretty much hits the nail on the head. It's not only the poor results, but the poor quality matches that have put off the less dedicated supporters. A good run with attractive football would see at least some of them drift back through the turnstiles.

[marky No.1]

The concern will be that we originally budgeted for 2500.

Did we?

That was the figure banded around from above and below last season, maybe they have lowered their expectations for the second season for the reasons already given.

Maybe also the word "budget" is a bit strong and I should have said "fiscally planned for"

[sandgrown]

I'd like to see us try a Sunday home fixture, I'm sure it would give us a big boost in attendance.

I know other div.2 teams have had them with good gates.

[pompeyred]

What about a home friday night fixture too? I know Hartlepool had success with this. How much say do we have in our fixtures though?

[nobbyshrimp]

I think you'll find that the attendancies are for league games only and cup games are to be added to them subsequently we average this season so far 2091 (+ cup games) and Macclesfield average 1778, which is less than Accrington

[shrimper]

What about a home friday night fixture too? I know Hartlepool had success with this. How much say do we have in our fixtures though?

They were trying to attract a few locals who would normally go to watch Newcastle or Sunderland.
For a while they changed kick-off times to 7pm so supporters could get home in time for 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet'.

[Wild Bill]

Thought the attendance against Accy was fairly respectable. If we can pick-up a bit of form then I am sure a few more will turn up.

Interesting to see what the crowd will be like for Saturday. I recon 1800ish with 300 from Grimsby.

[heysham_mfc]

I think 1700-1900 on saturday

[Howe Magic]

difficult to say what the turn out will be on saturday but personally anything over 1500 will be a bonus....both teams struggling for form and both teams near the bottom of league two so not the most attractive draw for neutral fans....a win will be great though whatever the turn out

[sgt major]

I think our problem with early round cup games is the fact season ticket holders have to pay to get in. Perhaps the season ticket could include a stub for the 1st round of each competition we play in. (providing we get a home draw)

However if they were true fans they would come anyway!

[Why no t]

What's a true fan?

[Keith]

What's a true fan?

One who buys a life season ticket?