2018/19 L2 Play-Off Semi-Final: Tranmere Rovers v Forest Green Rovers

[birkenhead tranny]

We're a small club and it's a Friday night, 330+ mile round trip. 4-500 would be a decent turnout for us.

We had 6-700 at Swindon and just under 900 at Cheltenham. Does anyone honestly expect us to bring 1k all the way up to Tranmere?

well i would have thought free travel and match ticket would have done the trick ? and our world renowned beer tent and big game atmosphere ! , are you bottling it now , swa swa

 

[birkenhead tranny]

Been an FGR fan since I was a kid mate, why would I change clubs?

Occasionally going along with mates who were Gasheads when we were away hardly made me a fan lol.

are the gas boys going to boost your numbers friday ? swa swa

 

[Si Robin]

Don't take this the wrong way, but why do you type swa swa at the end of your posts?

Seems a bit of hassle considering it's clear you're a Tranmere fan.

 

[Chris FGR]

well i would have thought free travel and match ticket would have done the trick ? and our world renowned beer tent and big game atmosphere ! , are you bottling it now , swa swa

No free travel. Or tickets. Beer tent is awesome tbf, looking forward to that if I can get up there in time. Friday night is fucking stupid time, should have been Saturday but there you go. Are you coming down here Monday night?

Who's bottling? All our hardcore fans are coming, we just don't have a very big hardcore. Bwa bwa

 

[Chris FGR]

Err... Yes!

Well you're deluded then. How many clubs take nearly 50% of their home gate to an away game 170 miles away, on a Friday night?

 

[birkenhead tranny]

No free travel. Or tickets. Beer tent is awesome tbf, looking forward to that if I can get up there in time. Friday night is fucking stupid time, should have been Saturday but there you go. Are you coming down here Monday night?

Who's bottling? All our hardcore fans are coming, we just don't have a very big hardcore. Bwa bwa

cant you get the day off from selling the big issue in town ?, if i can get tickets will come down tempted to come anyhow and try and get in is it possible to get tickets at the ground can you pay in even other parts of ground ? swa swa

 

[birkenhead tranny]

Well you're deluded then. How many clubs take nearly 50% of their home gate to an away game 170 miles away, on a Friday night?

we would swa swa

 

[Chris FGR]

cant you get the day off from selling the big issue in town ?, if i can get tickets will come down tempted to come anyhow and try and get in is it possible to get tickets at the ground can you pay in even other parts of ground ? swa swa

No it's all ticket mate West terrace only. You get 1200 allocation.

 

[Chris FGR]

we would swa swa

Bullocks would you. 3000? On a weekday night 170 miles away.

 

[localhero]

we would swa swa

Give it a rest. We didn't even sell out our allocation for the Aldershot playoff semi final a couple of seasons ago!

 

[Posh Harry]

for the attention of the five forest green lads going to match friday , opposite car park , beer tent there is a giant painting on the side of a house worth a look its on the birkenhead heritage trail ! swa swa

Birkenhead heritage trail. Brilliant stuff. Nearly spat my tea out.

 

[Chris FGR]

You mean this?

 

[Reremnart]

your biggest game of the season.........really?

They only had about 2 and half thousand at Wembley for the biggest game in their history. TBH I`d be impressed if there were 400 of them on Friday night. Based on their usual home crowds the distance involved and it being a night game that`s a good effort especially given they only had 170 there on Good Friday

 

[The Jovial Forester]

It's quality not quantity anyhow, and since I'll be there we've already won on that score

 

[Chris FGR]

We had 4000 at Wembley, but yeah other then that I agree. Funny cos back in 99 we had double that for the Trophy final, seems a Wembley trip has less appeal to neutrals/floating fans in Glos these days. Plus you won't get many Cheltenham or Gloucester fans coming these days either, Vince isn't universally popular.

4-500 would be more then most clubs of our size would bring on a Friday

 

[Si Robin]

It's ok though, because I've been told on here not long after I signed up that FGR are going to nab all the floating fans from North Gloucestershire to Bristol once your new stadiums built...

Seriously though, I have been surprised at how low some of the FGR attendances have been at times (less than 2,000 home fans in their first season in the Football League on more than one occasion) but the simple fact is that League 2 isn't as glamorous as 20 years ago when we first won promotion. We hoovered up the majority of the floaters then and, but for parents being dragged by their kids with free tickets (and every club at our level does this) then I honestly don't see what more FGR can do to attract a bigger fanbase. Certainly not one full of glory supporters who'll abandon the club the minute they have a bad season.

 

[Chris FGR]

Tbf our average gates have grown, 2700 this season is up around 1000 from 3 years ago, with our average home fans around the 2000 mark. Last season the support held up pretty well despite us being down near the bottom all season. Comparisons with Cheltenham are a bit unfair given the size/location of the two clubs. Would the likes of Cirencester or Yate get 2000 if they got into league 2? I very much doubt it. Let alone the likes of Shortwood, Brimscombe, Bishops Cleeve etc.

Given our location and catchment area that's pretty good going I would say. If you'd have said 5 years ago we would be above a few teams in the league 2 attendance table I'd have been very surprised.

 

[Reremnart]

We had 4000 at Wembley

Maybe against Grimsby the year before but not against us you didn`t. Admittedly you had more than Boreham Wood who`s fans couldn`t be bothered travelling the entire 9 miles to Wembley despite an hilarious comment in their local paper than the entire town was behind them and their fans could outsing any other fans in the VNL.

 

[Chris FGR]

Maybe against Grimsby the year before but not against us you didn`t. Admittedly you had more than Boreham Wood who`s fans couldn`t be bothered travelling the entire 9 miles to Wembley despite an hilarious comment in their local paper than the entire town was behind them and their fans could outsing any other fans in the VNL.

Yeah you're right it was 4K v Grimsby.

I wouldn't expect us to bring more then that if we get there this season tbh. But why that would be a surprise to anyone is beyond me.
Take the piss all you want but I would say the size of our support is actually decent given our circumstances.

 

[Reremnart]

Not taking the piss. I was just telling the Vale fan . Didn`t expect many more to be honest. You`re only a village team after all. Boreham Wood which is a much bigger town 9 miles away from Wembley had less than you did. That I did take the piss out of.

 

[FGR-Star]

They only had about 2 and half thousand at Wembley for the biggest game in their history. TBH I`d be impressed if there were 400 of them on Friday night. Based on their usual home crowds the distance involved and it being a night game that`s a good effort especially given they only had 170 there on Good Friday

Thank you for the sort of complement! Few inaccuracies in your post though.

There were 5,000 tickets sold by FGR at Wembley the last time, a poor amount granted, but tickets were 45quid with a weeks notice.

 

[FGR-Star]

Maybe against Grimsby the year before but not against us you didn`t. Admittedly you had more than Boreham Wood who`s fans couldn`t be bothered travelling the entire 9 miles to Wembley despite an hilarious comment in their local paper than the entire town was behind them and their fans could outsing any other fans in the VNL.

You are right.


We didn't have 4,000 against you, we had 5,000 officially.

We are a small club, so why Tranmere fans like yourself need to lie about our attendances to give yourself a boner is a strange one!

Just state 5,000 is a pathetic amount if you want, it's not great but lying just makes you look like a bitter idiot.

 

[FGR-Star]

It's ok though, because I've been told on here not long after I signed up that FGR are going to nab all the floating fans from North Gloucestershire to Bristol once your new stadiums built...

Seriously though, I have been surprised at how low some of the FGR attendances have been at times (less than 2,000 home fans in their first season in the Football League on more than one occasion) but the simple fact is that League 2 isn't as glamorous as 20 years ago when we first won promotion. We hoovered up the majority of the floaters then and, but for parents being dragged by their kids with free tickets (and every club at our level does this) then I honestly don't see what more FGR can do to attract a bigger fanbase. Certainly not one full of glory supporters who'll abandon the club the minute they have a bad season.

Our support is fine, far better than Cheltenham ratio-wise, which is a Town of 120,000 people!!

Hence FGR are at the top of support per catchment area and Chektenham pretty much at the bottom.

The less than 2,000 home fans was on a cold November Tuesday night remember.

 

[Reremnart]

You are right.


We didn't have 4,000 against you, we had 5,000 officially.

We are a small club, so why Tranmere fans like yourself need to lie about our attendances to give yourself a boner is a strange one!

Just state 5,000 is a pathetic amount if you want, it's not great but lying just makes you look like a bitter idiot.

5 thousand!!! You are having a laugh now lad. I`m sorry but if you think you had 5 thousand fans at that game you are deluded. There is only one person here lying about the number of people you had at Wembley mate and thats you!!!

 

[RLC]

There is no way FGR had five thousand fans at Wembley in 2017.

 

[FGR-Star]

There is no way FGR had five thousand fans at Wembley in 2017.

Take it up with Wembley.

I don't really care, but that was the official attendance.

Anyway why do you care, Tranmere is a much much bigger club than FGR and we all at my club know that.

 

[Boz]

The impression I'm getting is there may be fewer at this game than there were at the Good Friday league fixture, even allowing for the anticipated greater turnout for Forest Green fans.

John Busby is the first leg referee. Failed to send Dale Bennett off for a cynical challenge on Jake Kirby when he was already on a yellow in the NL 1-1 at Prenton Park a few years ago. Suspect not strong enough to clamp down on the visitor's use of the dark arts if Forest Green adopt a similar strategy to the last game.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Take it up with Wembley.

I don't really care, but that was the official attendance.

Anyway why do you care, Tranmere is a much much bigger club than FGR and we all at my club know that.

I'm sorry Star to disagree with you but Ash in the Stroud News & Journal writes:
"Noble lifted the National League gong in front of 3,000 ecstatic fans from Gloucestershire."
Lady Magpie, our historian offers no FGR attendance figures but total attendance at Wembley was 18,801.
But no matter, the FGR choir out-sang Tranmere as we did last month at Prenton Park and will do so again in both upcoming matches against this other Rovers team.

 

[RLC]

Take it up with Wembley.

I don't really care, but that was the official attendance.

Anyway why do you care, Tranmere is a much much bigger club than FGR and we all at my club know that.

I don't need to take it up with Wembley. I saw the attendance figures that were released at the time and yours are wrong.

 

[Buxton Vale]

this is ramping up nicely. I hope the game is just as good.