Where have all the fans gone?

Its a mixture of things, as always. Of the five of us who were season ticket holders in 1991, two have passed away, one has emigrated and one has fallen on hard times and cannot afford it any more. I am the only one left.
We despirately need to keep the kids coming along, as they are the future.
What is the average age of a Town fan? Around me in the Lower it seems as we are all reaching or have reached retirement age.
Another thing, there seems to be more women now then 25 years ago.

In September 1996 4089 attended our Championship clash with Swindon.

I'm guessing a fair proportion  of those people still go.

Quoted from cardiffmariner

It's not money, it's success.  Fans of this club have been beaten into the ground over the last 12 years. Far worse than it ever got in the late 80s. Given time, success and good football (ala Buckley's time) you would see crowds like 91 again - ground permitting.

Well most of the 90s were very successful (admittedly not challenging for promotion most of the time) but we were struggling to get 5000 home supporters for most of them. We probably have a pool of maybe 10,000 supporters but no matter how well we do they are never going to come to every game.

Quoted from GrimRob

Well most of the 90s were very successful (admittedly not challenging for promotion most of the time) but we were struggling to get 5000 home supporters for most of them. We probably have a pool of maybe 10,000 supporters but no matter how well we do they are never going to come to every game.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting for one minute that we're capable of ever getting 14,000 on a regular basis, but with some sustained success at a higher level, there's no reason an Exeter type game could  not attract a full house.  My point is that by and large the crowd (however big/small) is dictated more by what happens on the pitch than what's in someone's wallet.

10,000 seems a rather arbitrary figure for our 'pool' of fans.  We've shown we can take anywhere between 15-30,000 for a 'major' final yet average 3-5,000 for most games regardless of what league we are in.

Im sure we had packed games against Stoke and Bradford during 89-90 season.

Interesting attendance stats here

[url]http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/grit.htm[/url]

So before 1960 attendances exceeded 10k & early 80s were also avg 10k.  Some good attendances during 91 we avg 7k.  Successive relegations has certainly forced people away probably not hard core fans.  I know a few people who attend a small amount of games but state if a new stadium was built they would buy a ST.

Quoted from WappingMariner

If I had more time (i.e less time in the pub tonight) to do the relevant research, I'd already have come to a conclusion. I would like to know where those 14,225 fans who watched Grimsby beat Exeter in 1991 at Blundell Park have gone? Twenty-four years later we have an average gate of 3/4k and that only swells when we play in a local derby (Lincoln or Scunthorpe).

Is the reason the cost of going nowadays? Have those who were at the game in 1991 lost interest? Have people found better things to do with their time?

Personally, I can't think of doing anything other than watching Town on a Saturday. Is that the general consensus?

Up until this season i couldnt either, but i have chosen not to go to a few home games this season largely due to the largely unattractive football being served by either side, uninspiring words of the manager, fear of suffocation in the zero atmosphere and just succumbing to the general apathy that has risen due to our continued position at this level.
I think if you went through the history books i would wager that crowd fluctuations follow the same pattern, a rise when doing well, flatlining when finding a level and falling with continued stability at any level. Sounds obvious really when put like that but we are now in 5th (?) season of this league and rarely in the modern era have we spent that long in any division.
Its boring and people dont want to waste at least £20 (inc matchday purchases) to be bored for a couple of hours do they?
Taking out the Alfreton game...how many games have actually been exciting, thrilling or engaging to watch?

You only have to look up the road at Doncaster they are down to  6/7 k in their pretty new ground . I think we do very well to get what we do with littler or no away support .
The big problem GTFC had in the championship was the away support , our away end went from holding 5k to 1.8k after going all seater . That is alot of lost revenue when the big teams come to visit .

How did Scunny get away with not being all seater ??? the spent 3 seasons in there !! However i know for a fact that Scunny lost alot of money because the away end was all seater .

If it ever happens and we get the 14k all seater then i could see gtfc being out supported when  the big teams come , if we let them have the tickets .

Quoted from moosey_club

Up until this season i couldnt either, but i have chosen not to go to a few home games this season largely due to the largely unattractive football being served by either side, uninspiring words of the manager, fear of suffocation in the zero atmosphere and just succumbing to the general apathy that has risen due to our continued position at this level.
I think if you went through the history books i would wager that crowd fluctuations follow the same pattern, a rise when doing well, flatlining when finding a level and falling with continued stability at any level. Sounds obvious really when put like that but we are now in 5th (?) season of this league and rarely in the modern era have we spent that long in any division.
Its boring and people dont want to waste at least £20 (inc matchday purchases) to be bored for a couple of hours do they?
Taking out the Alfreton game...how many games have actually been exciting, thrilling or engaging to watch?

Obviously following town is not enough and the standard or type of opposition seems to play a big part.  

Quoted from Meza

Interesting attendance stats here

[url]http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/grit.htm[/url]

Juxtapose that with the English averages

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm

1991 was almost a nadir for English attendances straight after Heysel and pre-Taylor. Football was not fashionable then like it is now. Since then attendances have risen by over 50% and yet we have headed in the opposite direction. We have also dropped down the leagues partly because a lot of other teams have caught up with us and passed us financially, rather than it being exclusively down to mismanagement and poor leadership on our part, as is often asserted.

I would say four things have really damanged us during this time.

1. All-seaster stadia. It costs more to stand and that's priced some people out of regularly attending, although they might come along to the odd big game.
2, Bosman. We used to make money by selling players, sadly we can't do that hardly ever now. We also used to hang on to players for much longer. Because of our geographical position it's hard to attract players and this is more of a factor when you have to recruit lots of players every season, rather than one or two as used to happen in the "old days".
3, ITV Digital. This happened at the worst possible time for us when we were in the Championship and it took several years to recover from, during which we dropped down the leagues. Although this was a one-off event it probably was more important than 1 and 2 for a few years.
4. Blundell Park. Could we average 5000 in a new stadium? I'd like to think so. BP is ok for the diehards but we really need to attract those "floating" fans who can afford to go, or people who don't go at all now but might do in a more modern family-friendly arena.