Ground Improvements - Well done GTFC

If you mirrored the layout of the Main Stand, extending it up to the Pontoon, you’d get just under another 1100 seats in there, give or take a row or two.

Like we’ve said before though, there’s no point extending the stand with the same design as it currently has as the roof pitch and all the supporting posts means you’ve got probably 10-15% of seats with a restricted view.

Not sure if Archibald Leitch posts on here but if you’re doing the work you might as well stick a different roof on. Can this be done with a 100-year-old structure? Who knows. An architect probably.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

If you filled the corners in, you would just need to plan segregations accordingly, as telling STHs in the Main Stand they have to move behind the goal if they want to attend Man Utd at home isn't going to generate a positive reaction.

Could you realistically take BP above 12k anyway? I doubt we could increase the Main Stand height and I suspect any extension of the Findus wouldn't be at the same height.

Realistically would we ever need that much more than that ?

Attendance wise i see us as a club who could probably get 10-12k regularly if doing well but not sure if much more than that ; similiar to Stockport, Rotherham , Luton and Lincoln really not a small club attendance wise  but not a big one we are sort of stuck in between aren't we - when people say we are 'massive ' or Colchester Utd & Newport fans/manager put is in a lower or similiar category to them it's quite laughable though as in terms of crowds we are far bigger and have more potential .

You would think our natural level if you go on crowds alone is around slap bang in the middle of league one , if we improved BP and increased capacity - when you think about it we have spent 30 years with over achieving for 10 and then underachieving for 20 really,really badly with not much in between - it would be nice to play at what i think is our natural level for a bit , much like it's nice our neighbours have finally reached their's .  


If we went through the leagues and the amount you need to be competitive ,crowds are basically irrelevant as Luton , Bounemouth and Brentford prove - player trading , TV money and commercial dwarf any gate receipts hence the none greedy selling tickets for cheaper or on par with lower league clubs .

Mappers, I sort of agree with you, but to double the number of sth when we are not far off our lowest ebb is startling.and all the chat is we could potentially do far more if the capacity, 'experience' ,facilities n ticketing is improved further
Likewise the away support now is probably the highest , the most committed n the most fervent I've seen in 50+ years of supporting town.
The other thing to factor in is that 1878 have only just scratched the surface in terms of commercial opportunities trying to attract new fans  ,re energizing lapsed fans, mobilise exiles, n maybe with the new documentary series attracting a new wave of fans

I'm honestly not sure what the expectation should be or what our natural ceiling is today.

Historical comparison isn't valid.  We're getting more at this level than we were 30 years ago in the second tier.  The game is more popular now, probably a result of many things but none more so than the taboo that was associated with football in the late 80's/early 90's and then the knock-on years from that.  More exposure to the overall game, arguably even that knock-on of over saturation at the top which potentially has seen greater interest in local teams...bigger brains than mine to look at that.  Either way, the game is more popular.

We've also got a excrement position in which we can't say what the actual demand is for good seats.  Anecdotally we know that some people aren't getting to games because seats aren't available that they want (good views or not available in pairs, three's etc). But we've no data to back this up.  Equally so there's that cluster of sold tickets but never used, which are arguably eating into the demand piece of the pie.

I'm a big believer in both building it and they'll come and aiming as high as possible.  I'm not suggesting we build a 25,000 seater like Darlington. But I don't think we need to confine ourselves to a capacity of 10-12,000.

Ultimately people want to be entertained and they want to be entertained in good surroundings.  Entertainment wise we've actually done little of it on our own turf in recent years, most of it has come on the road.  Our surroundings are awful.  Yet we've still significantly increased the number of tickets we're selling, I don't think it's a flash in the pan. This will be 3 seasons on the spin now where we've got very good numbers compared to the last 20 odd years.

If we were entertaining and the surroundings were nicer, what numbers would we be pulling in?  Our nearest professional rival is about to go belly-up, rightly or wrongly there's a generation or two of future fans that we might well be nabbing off them.  Whilst we are constrained geographically and population wise in the sense that the north and east are water, the south and west are pretty much a free-for-all for a good 15-20 miles.  Just like there's floating fans in NE Lincs, it's the same in North Lincs, East Lindsey, the northern parts of West Lindsey etc.  Caistor, Louth, Market Rasen, Brigg, Mablethorpe, Skegness....all places were we've traditionally drawn decent numbers from are all areas for potential fans to be drawn in from.  The more successful we are, the better the surroundings are and the more entertained people are the more those people will be interested and want to be involved.  

I'm with forza on this one, I think 1878 are only just starting with this.  It's not a criticism, far from it, but so far they've done very little.  They've made simple changes that should have already happened and have had a bit of relative luck in terms of we've had instant success via the play-offs and a cup run. What happens when they start really getting under the bonnet of it?

Quoted from forza ivano

Mappers, I sort of agree with you, but to double the number of sth when we are not far off our lowest ebb is startling.and all the chat is we could potentially do far more if the capacity, 'experience' ,facilities n ticketing is improved further
Likewise the away support now is probably the highest , the most committed n the most fervent I've seen in 50+ years of supporting town.
The other thing to factor in is that 1878 have only just scratched the surface in terms of commercial opportunities trying to attract new fans  ,re energizing lapsed fans, mobilise exiles, n maybe with the new documentary series attracting a new wave of fans

Don't disagree with you either mate

It's just my opinion , the truth is none of us know what the true potential is/isn't until we suitably upgrade the experience ,facilities and actually have a consistent spell of winning .

The away support is great , seriously worried for the Notts game ; although I have signed up to their ticket site and bought a ticket for their friendly as someone suggested on here ,so it might be the home end .Not missing that one .

Quoted from diehardmariner

I'm honestly not sure what the expectation should be or what our natural ceiling is today.

Historical comparison isn't valid.  We're getting more at this level than we were 30 years ago in the second tier.  The game is more popular now, probably a result of many things but none more so than the taboo that was associated with football in the late 80's/early 90's and then the knock-on years from that.  More exposure to the overall game, arguably even that knock-on of over saturation at the top which potentially has seen greater interest in local teams...bigger brains than mine to look at that.  Either way, the game is more popular.

We've also got a excrement position in which we can't say what the actual demand is for good seats.  Anecdotally we know that some people aren't getting to games because seats aren't available that they want (good views or not available in pairs, three's etc). But we've no data to back this up.  Equally so there's that cluster of sold tickets but never used, which are arguably eating into the demand piece of the pie.

I'm a big believer in both building it and they'll come and aiming as high as possible.  I'm not suggesting we build a 25,000 seater like Darlington. But I don't think we need to confine ourselves to a capacity of 10-12,000.

Ultimately people want to be entertained and they want to be entertained in good surroundings.  Entertainment wise we've actually done little of it on our own turf in recent years, most of it has come on the road.  Our surroundings are awful.  Yet we've still significantly increased the number of tickets we're selling, I don't think it's a flash in the pan. This will be 3 seasons on the spin now where we've got very good numbers compared to the last 20 odd years.

If we were entertaining and the surroundings were nicer, what numbers would we be pulling in?  Our nearest professional rival is about to go belly-up, rightly or wrongly there's a generation or two of future fans that we might well be nabbing off them.  Whilst we are constrained geographically and population wise in the sense that the north and east are water, the south and west are pretty much a free-for-all for a good 15-20 miles.  Just like there's floating fans in NE Lincs, it's the same in North Lincs, East Lindsey, the northern parts of West Lindsey etc.  Caistor, Louth, Market Rasen, Brigg, Mablethorpe, Skegness....all places were we've traditionally drawn decent numbers from are all areas for potential fans to be drawn in from.  The more successful we are, the better the surroundings are and the more entertained people are the more those people will be interested and want to be involved.  

I'm with forza on this one, I think 1878 are only just starting with this.  It's not a criticism, far from it, but so far they've done very little.  They've made simple changes that should have already happened and have had a bit of relative luck in terms of we've had instant success via the play-offs and a cup run. What happens when they start really getting under the bonnet of it?

Good post mate

Well the first half of this season will give an indication of potential support levels. We will have 7,900 home tickets available for all but 2 games. If we have a good start we’d need to be selling that out on Saturdays to give confidence on extending the Main

Quoted from Mappers

Don't disagree with you either mate

It's just my opinion , the truth is none of us know what the true potential is/isn't until we suitably upgrade the experience ,facilities and actually have a consistent spell of winning .

The away support is great , seriously worried for the Notts game ; although I have signed up to their ticket site and bought a ticket for their friendly as someone suggested on here ,so it might be the home end .Not missing that one .

Hopefully Jason Herbert doesn't start supporting Notts if Scunny fold before then. He will want to see their ticket system so he can filter out people like you; again.

I think it was when Furneaux was in charge there were plans and possibly a scale model of BP with a roof joining the pontoon to the mainstand as well as covering the two other corners so effectively a roof all round the ground.

Quoted from arryarryarry

I think it was when Furneaux was in charge there were plans and possibly a scale model of BP with a roof joining the pontoon to the mainstand as well as covering the two other corners so effectively a roof all round the ground.

I can’t recall this