Todays attendance

The club definitely needs to increase the capacity. We need to look at tickets sold, not attendances.

If yesterday was a sell-out, and sell-outs are becoming more and more frequent (which they are) then they must have a plan in place otherwise they’re not capitalising on the interest a new generation of fans are showing, and that could damage us long term.

I’d say it’s more likely that they do have a plan, but are keeping things close to their chest. I’d be very disappointed if nothing is done about increasing BP’s capacity over the next season or two.

We've had a long discussion about this before. The club always gives the attendance as ' bums' on seats. This does not include the ST's holders who have not turned up but the club have received money for.

So taking an approx full house at 8,800 less the 1,200 away allocation it looks as if the gate yesterday of 7,412 was pretty good especially when you factor in the ST's who didn't turn up.

I seem to recall JS saying something like the break-even point, last year, was going to be in the region of 6,500, so he should be happy on that figure of 7,412.

To me, they are doing a good job at BP considering the state it was in when they inherited from the previous regime. It's far from perfect but a total rebuild will be out of the question for financial reasons, however, they are doing it 'piecemeal'. I look forward to seeing what is going to happen to the main stand and Omond stand next year.

UTM

Quoted from Mappers

Dean ' have the increased attendances made you think about a new stadium in the future ?'

Stockwood 'Not really '

And then he went on to say about all the work that needs doing at bp  , next summer there will be major works on The Main and Osmond . He also said there is lot's more to do and the possibility of filling in the corners at BP if we filll it regularly.No real progress with the training ground.

I think we probably are staying at BP at least in the medium term , and will be ploughing a lot of money into it - hopefully a new PA system and disabled facilities is quite high on their 'list'.

Right well that’s different to ‘clearly never’ isn’t it. Seems that they see our foreseeable future at BP, but I think everybody can agree that a new stadium would be hugely beneficial and probably required in the medium to long term.

Quoted from Humbercod

They’ve not even delivered a new training ground they said we would have, so no chance of seeing a new ground in many of our lifetimes.

You can Red Cross this guy all you want, but his frustration is probably justified.

Some clarity from the owners would be a good start, but I don’t think we’d like the true answer - “we priced up the new training ground and it’d be £7m of dead money we’ll never see back, and the only way we’ll get a ground is if someone else pays for it, because we haven’t got £50m and a loan of such an amount would make the club go bust”. I think that’s about the sum of it. It pains me to say, but we missed the boat with a new stadium, and it wasn’t Jason or Andrew’s fault as they came in too late, I’ll give them that.

Regards the training ground, I believe that the preferred site is identified but is tied up with wider council issues and also possibly Sport England or some government initiative on green spaces and funding.

Quoted from Mappers

Herve you would not be happy if you heard the Stockwood interview ?

No interest in capacity increase atm ,saying we are only getting 6k fans so it's not required .

When I was born Grantham had a cinema with 1 screen that was built in the late 70s. They added a second screen in the late 1980s. The seats were horrible in both and it wasn't a pleasant experience to go there. We used to go to Showcase in either Nottingham or Peterborough (both around 40 minutes drive) every time we went to the cinema.

About 5 years ago the cinema was bulldozed and a 5 screen cinema was built over the site and a small adjacent council staff car park. The seats are much comfier and the experience much nice than the previous cinema.

As a result more people go to Grantham Cinema than used to go.

Build it and they will come.

I can't imagine for one minute that Stockwood with his successful career doesn't fully understand that.

If the facilities at our home ground were better (seats, no posts, nicer toilets, better catering, more spacious concourse area, better PA system etc...) then more people will come.

There are very few decent view seats left in BP for the casual fan and none at all if you want more than 1 ticket..

If the experience of attending Grimsby Town home matches was better then the attendances would rise. You only have to look at the attendance boosts that clubs who have moved from grotty old dumps to new stadiums have gained.

I appreciate JS & AP have a policy of not talking about things until they reach the point where they will become public (i.e.planning permission stage), but that policy shouldn't extend to telling blatant lies and making out BP is big enough because it was cater for all the fans that want to attend a home match against someone like Morecambe.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

When I was born Grantham had a cinema with 1 screen that was built in the late 70s. They added a second screen in the late 1980s. The seats were horrible in both and it wasn't a pleasant experience to go there. We used to go to Showcase in either Nottingham or Peterborough (both around 40 minutes drive) every time we went to the cinema.

About 5 years ago the cinema was bulldozed and a 5 screen cinema was built over the site and a small adjacent council staff car park. The seats are much comfier and the experience much nice than the previous cinema.

As a result more people go to Grantham Cinema than used to go.

Build it and they will come.

I can't imagine for one minute that Stockwood with his successful career doesn't fully understand that.

If the facilities at our home ground were better (seats, no posts, nicer toilets, better catering, more spacious concourse area, better PA system etc...) then more people will come.

There are very few decent view seats left in BP for the casual fan and none at all if you want more than 1 ticket..

If the experience of attending Grimsby Town home matches was better then the attendances would rise. You only have to look at the attendance boosts that clubs who have moved from grotty old dumps to new stadiums have gained.

I appreciate JS & AP have a policy of not talking about things until they reach the point where they will become public (i.e.planning permission stage), but that policy shouldn't extend to telling blatant lies and making out BP is big enough because it was cater for all the fans that want to attend a home match against someone like Morecambe.

Agree Golly with all.

I use to use a similar analogy with the cinema down freemo. People use to travel to dull or scunny rather than freemo.
Then they built a new cinema down meggies and then they stopped travelling to use it.
New up to date facilities will attract more fans, but how many is debatable, not to mention the cost of relocating.

Quoted from Mappers

Agree Golly with all.

"Build it and they will come"  I like that phrase .
We are all in agreement the club is in a better place, well clear of "Fentygate" era .
When Where and how much is now in the hands of 1878 the future of the club.
We wait and see .
I fear patience is the key on this one plus any other issues that niggles your average fan.
At my age in life what happens to the old girl BP, memories last forever.
UTM2023--24

Quoted from grimsby pete

I think knocking the police box down and extending the main stand round to the pontoon is the first thing to do.

The other corners can be done later but if we have a successful season the call for extending the main stand will only get louder and louder.

This is not a moan at Jason or Andrew I think they are doing all they can but there is so many other things they have to do because of the previous owner's neglect.

All things that need doing at the park will be done its just going to take time and a lot of money.

We have a great set of owners and board now all working for one goal a better environment for all and most importantly a listening ear for all fans.

Onwards and upwards together.

Any money spent isn’t going to make BP that much better Pete. People in power have talked so much about how the area needs to be improved, surely a multi purpose, community facility funded partly by the club in conjunction with various levelling up funds and on disused land would encourage more people to watch GTFC. Most away fans sing  ‘Grimsby’ a shithole’ and they’re not wrong.