| Worth a read 14:09 - Mar 21 with 776 views | Leadbelly |
"Borrowed" from the official board. Makes somewhat depressing reading in my opinion. Also interesting to note the comments, presumably from someone with no Col U axe to grind, about 10 years of decline. A grain of truth in that.
www.somersetlive.co.uk/sport/football/24-league-two-clubs-ranked-1363632 |  |
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| Worth a read on 23:09 - Mar 21 with 713 views | noah4x4 |
Interesting, but I feel it is too simplistic.
I used to live near Forest Green. Name another football league club in North Somerset or Gloucestershire? They have no competition except for the Bristol Clubs and local affinity isn't with "Brissol".
Clubs like Lincoln have little true competition. OK, Scunny is also in Lincolnshire, but it's not remotely like having Ipswich and West Ham less than 30 minutes distant and a population where huge numbers have rail season tickets so their match day travel is cheaper than a shuttle bus to WHCS.
It's not surprising that the worst ratios are clubs that are overloaded with higher league competition in close proximity, like Notts County; Colchester or with clubs that have gone through ground and identity problems like Coventry. If you apply the same ratio rules to (say) Bradford City, Portsmouth, Plymouth etc, they should have vastly greater crowds. Now look how Brighton's fortunes have changed since they moved closer to Horsham and Dorking. Name another football league club in Sussex?
It is true that the U's have been in apparent decline. But the biggest impact IMHO has been the lack of away support. Division Two is now very northern centric. We play few clubs South of the Watford, so we don't enjoy the boost to our average gates from local away fans like Southend, Millwall etc. Gone are the days when we could guarantee a sell out to Leeds, Southampton or Norwich. Looking back over our previous long tenures in Division Two average gates were rarely above 3,500. You have to go back to before 1980 to see any more, hence to days when there was little other Saturday afternoon competition except TV wrestling. Social factors also matter. I am fortunate my wife prefers to shop alone so I can go to footie and pub.
I believe that our season ticket numbers have stayed the same, and the number of paying home fans the same (ignore the kids that get in free) . OK, we have lost many from an older generation, but they have been replaced by new blood. They say there are statistics and lies. I spent a lucrative career spin doctoring statistics. [Post edited 21 Mar 2018 23:19]
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| Worth a read on 18:28 - Mar 22 with 660 views | durham_exile |
| Worth a read on 23:09 - Mar 21 by noah4x4 |
Interesting, but I feel it is too simplistic.
I used to live near Forest Green. Name another football league club in North Somerset or Gloucestershire? They have no competition except for the Bristol Clubs and local affinity isn't with "Brissol".
Clubs like Lincoln have little true competition. OK, Scunny is also in Lincolnshire, but it's not remotely like having Ipswich and West Ham less than 30 minutes distant and a population where huge numbers have rail season tickets so their match day travel is cheaper than a shuttle bus to WHCS.
It's not surprising that the worst ratios are clubs that are overloaded with higher league competition in close proximity, like Notts County; Colchester or with clubs that have gone through ground and identity problems like Coventry. If you apply the same ratio rules to (say) Bradford City, Portsmouth, Plymouth etc, they should have vastly greater crowds. Now look how Brighton's fortunes have changed since they moved closer to Horsham and Dorking. Name another football league club in Sussex?
It is true that the U's have been in apparent decline. But the biggest impact IMHO has been the lack of away support. Division Two is now very northern centric. We play few clubs South of the Watford, so we don't enjoy the boost to our average gates from local away fans like Southend, Millwall etc. Gone are the days when we could guarantee a sell out to Leeds, Southampton or Norwich. Looking back over our previous long tenures in Division Two average gates were rarely above 3,500. You have to go back to before 1980 to see any more, hence to days when there was little other Saturday afternoon competition except TV wrestling. Social factors also matter. I am fortunate my wife prefers to shop alone so I can go to footie and pub.
I believe that our season ticket numbers have stayed the same, and the number of paying home fans the same (ignore the kids that get in free) . OK, we have lost many from an older generation, but they have been replaced by new blood. They say there are statistics and lies. I spent a lucrative career spin doctoring statistics. [Post edited 21 Mar 2018 23:19]
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Totally agree with Noah on this one. Meaningless stats.
I am concerned however about the loss of the home faithful. We need every supporter that we can get.
Up the U's |  |
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| Worth a read on 22:28 - Mar 22 with 638 views | wessex_exile |
Although it may be unpalatable reading, apart from the pre- and post-war boom across the country (world?) our regular support for most of my time following the U's has always been around 3.5k, sometimes lower, sometimes higher. We might see this now as a failing of the current management, and particularly the marketing department, but this has always been the case. Our support goes up when we're doing well, and goes down when we're not, but always reverts back to the faithful core. What really interests me is that over this period supporters from the core have either left the U's or died, only to be replaced by the same numbers of new and/or younger supporters, but never really changing that core level of support. What's more, even though there are currently a few notable exceptions, I really don't think we're any different from loads of other 'traditional' lower league clubs? |  |
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