Attendances at BP

Many have posted about crowds being low and sat in near silence at BP but todays article on Cod Almighty is at least thought provoking.


http://www.codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?article=5324

That is a really interesting comparison. Genuinely shocked by it.

Were there any mitigating circumstances for such a shocking gate that night?

I cant rememebr us dipping that low but one thing I will say is that the Championship is a different league now.
I suspect if you checked everyones attendances from back in the early 90s they was all low around that time

This is quite interesting, especially when you look at the average gates for seasons when we had great teams and success.

http://european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/grit.htm

In 1994-95 the average attendance in the 2nd tier was just under 11000 when more recent seasons see around 16/17k.

Clubs in the 2nd tier at that time included Town, Port Vale, Burnley, Charlton Southend, Swindon & Tranmere, non of which could really be described as big and contributed to the lower average attendances

It doesn't surprise me at all. When you look at our average gates from the last spell at Championship level then they were hardly enormous. 2000/2001 there was an average of 5646 and that will include away supporters as well. I think some of our fans look upon our past gates with rose-tinted specs and don't realise the realities.

Quoted from psgmariner

That is a really interesting comparison. Genuinely shocked by it.

Were there any mitigating circumstances for such a shocking gate that night?

Not as far as I can see. There was no England game that night and although it was a UEFA Cup night, the only English teams playing were Blackburn and Newcastle and I don't know if either was live on TV that night.

This is a full list of games played that night.

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/results/1994-09-13

Fulham beaten at home by Scarborough in the bottom tier is one result that sticks out that evening, with Lincoln beating Wigan that night too.

Youre right Rancido
I remember going to gamesin that period when we were getting less than 4k. Port Vale always seemed to be one of the worst attended games of the season. Even when teams like Oldham turned up we would get less than 4k, even though they were a premiership team only a couple of years before.
There just isn't enough town fans. Lots of football fans who will turn up for the big games but not enough buying season tickets. Even with the stadium I think we'd struggle to get 10000 against the big teams in the championship. The Sheffield teams and Leeds would probably get around 10k. Alot less than the likes of Rotherham I think?

Around that time was probably the low point for attendances throughout the leagues not just our own in fact whilst Hull City were in league 2 they struggled to attract more than 2000 and I remember Doncaster under 2000. Nowadays crowds have increased and with a new stadium you have the potential of local rivals such as the Sheffield clubs ,Leeds etc easily bringing 4000 then factor in the attraction of a new stadium and decent facilities with a decent side and you could be surprised at what we attract in modern times. It would certainly lead me into buying a season ticket for the first time ever .

Quoted from nightrider

Youre right Rancido
I remember going to gamesin that period when we were getting less than 4k. Port Vale always seemed to be one of the worst attended games of the season. Even when teams like Oldham turned up we would get less than 4k, even though they were a premiership team only a couple of years before.
There just isn't enough town fans. Lots of football fans who will turn up for the big games but not enough buying season tickets. Even with the stadium I think we'd struggle to get 10000 against the big teams in the championship. The Sheffield teams and Leeds would probably get around 10k. Alot less than the likes of Rotherham I think?

I hope that I get the chance to see you proved wrong!  

I'd love to be going and watching us with 10k.
If we can get 10k +, why aren't we building a stadium with potential for 20k.

In the 2000/01 season the home game against Bolton on September 12th attracted a gate of 3732. The highest gate that season was 8706 on May 6th against Fulham ( last home game of the season ) and that would have been swelled by a lot of away support as they finished Champions. Despite what some fans think the fact is the support for this club isn't as large as they like to think. These kind of gates for the second tier of the football pyramid wouldn't financially support a club at that level. If we ever do or want to compete at this level then it is imperative that we have other income sources and that could only be achieved with a new stadium.

The thing with having additional income sources is that other clubs have them in place too? We wouldn't gain an advantage by having these additional streams of income, it lessens our disadvantage.

Getting the additional income is absolutely essential but not to compete, to survive!

I don't pay much attention to the 'additional income streams' argument, mainly because I don't have a clue about it.
What I do know is, regardless of the attendance, we could do with a new ground as the one we have is old! Everything about it needs updating. I'm just undecided as to whether it should be in town or out of town.  There should be no question whether the town needs one, more where we need one and how much is it likely to cost.

We would attract more nowadays as attendances have risen by a fair amount through all divisions as stated earlier and a lot depends on a winning side and the facilities provided which is the same all over. We may not have the catchment of Hull City but we will allways attract more than Lincoln and Scunny and possibly match Doncaster,Rotherham etc etc when/if  the new stadium gets built.

You have to make access to a new stadium easy to reach within footfall for many which is why an out of town is a definite no go for me as a fair few would be put off with the location which has been done to death .

Quoted from rancido

In the 2000/01 season the home game against Bolton on September 12th attracted a gate of 3732. The highest gate that season was 8706 on May 6th against Fulham ( last home game of the season ) and that would have been swelled by a lot of away support as they finished Champions.

It was also a game that we needed to win to guarantee Championship/First Division survival so I think it was almost certainly a home sell out too.

Quoted from Quagmire

It was also a game that we needed to win to guarantee Championship/First Division survival so I think it was almost certainly a home sell out too.

And reading the earlier link about the board reshuffle a short while afterwards, a pivotal game that if we had lost and then been relegated, would have seen us in to administration?  

Quoted from Grim up north

You have to make access to a new stadium easy to reach within footfall for many which is why an out of town is a definite no go for me as a fair few would be put off with the location which has been done to death .

Totally agree. I understand that a significant % of current season ticket holders live within 1.5 miles of the proposed ground where that % at BP is single figures. I bet it would have been lower still for Great Coates. Accessibility is key IMO

I know I bang on about it but the only way we will compete going forward is if we can genuinely become a community club. That needs seriously effort to engage with ALL age groups from kids to pensioners. Swansea are a great example of this

Could be a bit of rose tinted specs remember many a time going to BP in the old forth division with barely a thousand fans,

Quoted from nightrider

I'd love to be going and watching us with 10k.
If we can get 10k +, why aren't we building a stadium with potential for 20k.

I think 14,000 is plenty big enough for 95% of the games we will play even in the championship.

The new stadium will only need to be enlarged if we get to the Prem,

BUT

That will not be in my life time.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

Could be a bit of rose tinted specs remember many a time going to BP in the old forth division with barely a thousand fans,

Our lowest ever attendance for a league game was 1833 against Brentford in 1969 and that's our only home league attendance less than 2000 post-war.

Our Lowest attendance was 1800, I recall in 1969, I remember it well, I was there, in those days you could walk around the ground, if my memory is not deserting me, Matt Tees  signed about 10 days later,  and we had four and half thousand for the next game.  Good od days ?

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

Could be a bit of rose tinted specs remember many a time going to BP in the old forth division with barely a thousand fans,

You must have been a Scunny or Lincoln fan back then  

Sorry,  good old days ? ,   For those banging on about Blundell Park now, they should have tried it in the early sixties, my god have thing changed. I've said for a long time, town should have  one of the best pitches in the country, we've had enough shite on it over the years.  

Quoted from BS baffles brains

Our Lowest attendance was 1800, I recall in 1969, I remember it well, I was there, in those days you could walk around the ground, if my memory is not deserting me, Matt Tees  signed about 10 days later,  and we had four and half thousand for the next game.  Good od days ?

I think you're getting a bit mixed up. The game when we got 1833 was the last but one home game of 1968/69, the last game was against Donny and the attendance was 5310. Donny went up as champions that season and we needed to win to avoid re-election so I'm sure there would have been quite a few Donny fans there that day. Donny won 3-1 and won the league, whereas we were re-elected.

Matt Tees didn't resign until a season and a half later in November 1970.His first game against Cambridge attracted over 7000 fans wheres the previous game had attracted only 4000.

Quoted from diehardmariner

The thing with having additional income sources is that other clubs have them in place too? We wouldn't gain an advantage by having these additional streams of income, it lessens our disadvantage.

Getting the additional income is absolutely essential but not to compete, to survive!

But surely it is better to have them and reduce our disadvantage than not have them and fail to not only compete but survive! The way that the formation of the Premiersh*t has upset the whole financial balance of football in this country makes it imperative for clubs like ours to have as many ways of generating income as possible because we cannot depend on gate money alone.

Quoted from BIGChris

Totally agree. I understand that a significant % of current season ticket holders live within 1.5 miles of the proposed ground where that % at BP is single figures. I bet it would have been lower still for Great Coates. Accessibility is key IMO

I know I bang on about it but the only way we will compete going forward is if we can genuinely become a community club. That needs seriously effort to engage with ALL age groups from kids to pensioners. Swansea are a great example of this

Probably because half of that radius is in the Humber. Which strengthens the argument for a move.

Totally agree about the community thing. There has to be a wider sense of it being "our" club because if it isn't there is no good reason why many people would bother.

The amount of houses that need to be built, an out of town development would probably be 'n town' in 20 years time

Quoted from Les Brechin

Our lowest ever attendance for a league game was 1833 against Brentford in 1969 and that's our only home league attendance less than 2000 post-war.

I was at this game, I remember that it was a re-arranged fixture due to a postponement a few weeks earlier, the club re-used the original programme and, I seem to remember it was after the season should have finished. The gate was hit by the live televising of the Home Internationals that year, at a time when live matches on tv were rare I'm sure a lot of fans preferred to stay at home and watch Wales 3 Scotland 5 !!!! I wished I had !

Quoted from rancido

In the 2000/01 season the home game against Bolton on September 12th attracted a gate of 3732.

No idea why I remember this (to link to the other thread!) but that was when that fuel strike was on.

Quoted from Abdul19

No idea why I remember this (to link to the other thread!) but that was when that fuel strike was on.

Beat me to it. Remember missing kick off due to a 'go slow' on the A180. That will have knocked a few off that attendance.

Interesting interview with Tim Sherwood about Aston Villa today in the Mail. Among other things he said this.

"‘Playing for a big club comes with pressure. Anyone can do it for a lesser team — but you have to have b******s to play for Aston Villa. This is a big club.
‘The fans think they support a big club. They come here, they don’t want to be in the relegation zone. They’ve got the hump. It’s up to the players to spark them into life.
‘People say the fans have got to get behind the team. Hold on, why must they cheer? You make them cheer. They’re the only loyal people in the game. Make the difference for them, get them on your side.'"

He might not have much managerial experience but I like his philosophy.

Spot on

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Interesting interview with Tim Sherwood about Aston Villa today in the Mail. Among other things he said this.

"‘Playing for a big club comes with pressure. Anyone can do it for a lesser team — but you have to have b******s to play for Aston Villa. This is a big club.
‘The fans think they support a big club. They come here, they don’t want to be in the relegation zone. They’ve got the hump. It’s up to the players to spark them into life.
‘People say the fans have got to get behind the team. Hold on, why must they cheer? You make them cheer. They’re the only loyal people in the game. Make the difference for them, get them on your side.'"

He might not have much managerial experience but I like his philosophy.

Tell it to John Fenty and Paul Hurst.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Interesting interview with Tim Sherwood about Aston Villa today in the Mail. Among other things he said this.

"‘Playing for a big club comes with pressure. Anyone can do it for a lesser team — but you have to have b******s to play for Aston Villa. This is a big club.
‘The fans think they support a big club. They come here, they don’t want to be in the relegation zone. They’ve got the hump. It’s up to the players to spark them into life.
‘People say the fans have got to get behind the team. Hold on, why must they cheer? You make them cheer. They’re the only loyal people in the game. Make the difference for them, get them on your side.'"

He might not have much managerial experience but I like his philosophy.

Been saying the same for years, yet some on here still blame the fans.

Quoted from BIGChris

Many have posted about crowds being low and sat in near silence at BP but todays article on Cod Almighty is at least thought provoking.


http://www.codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?article=5324

I referred to this game in another recent thread. As I recall the game came on the back of some indecisive performances with Buckley getting criticism for "tippy-tappy" football with little end product.Town were an established second tier side and the fans had designs on the next step up As  now, people voted with their feet due to the lack of entertainment. I wonder what would be said now if we were in the Championship. I suspect the feelings would be pretty much as they were then.