Plummeting Attendances

[Luke Imp]

Is there a general website where you can check average attendances?

Ours peaked at around 5,700 when in L1 a few years back and we’ve generally averaged around 4,000 since being back in L2, which I guess isn’t too bad considering we get far fewer good away followings in this division. It’s even more remarkable considering our dire home form between 2012 and 2016.

Back in the mid 80s, before my time, I believe our crowds took a massive nose dive and we had plenty of sub 2000 crowds so we’ve certainly managed to tempt back the casual fan over the last 20-30 years.

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

 

[Luke Imp]

Yeah, it makes a massive difference. We’ve never got massive crowds for games where we’ve done offers in the past generally because we’ve done them to try and revive flagging crowds when the team is bad. Generally they don’t work because people don’t want to watch a bad team and those who do come inevitably don’t want to come back.

Hardy seems to be piling different kinds of offers on whilst we’re doing so well in a bid to get people back again quickly who liked what they saw last time. We’ll see if it has any long term impact on, for instance, season ticket sales next season.

The club seem to be suggesting that they think they can get close to selling out for the Crewe game. I can’t see it myself, but more than the 13,200 we got for the ‘community day’ against Forest Green should be possible.

It’ll be a good indicator of what our potential fan base is actually because everyone is going to come to a game that’s two quid to get in when you’re battling for promotion.

We seemingly gave up on one-off pricing for games ages ago. Not done reduced ticket prices, bring a friend, free tickets or any of that for 3 or 4 years now.

 

[Baratheon]

Hahaha pathetic..go back to non league!

You just can't help yourself can you?

 

[MrGloverLover]

Not a great deal, although the club do try. There's no real bar, but they open up the concourse behind the goal at lunchtime so you could watch the football on tele and have a drink, but then nobody really wants to stand in a cold, grey concourse as an alternative to going into a pub/bar. There's often a live band playing outside too but, again, apart from the start and end of the season when the weather is nicer you don't really want to be stood outside. Of course it also seems a bit better when there's a bigger crowd, so there's more of a general matchday buzz of people milling around but, in the main, when it's only a third full for the likes of Mansfield (no offence!) it is very dead.

There used to be a room near the offices where kids could go and the mascot would be in there with a few games and so on, and there's often a penalty/hardest shot style area from the Football in the Community people outside one of the corners. But no, not a huge amount really apart from a few select games a season where it will be a nominated 'Family Day' type thing and there's a lot more going on.

The area around the ground is slowly starting to develop now so give it another few years and there will be places to eat and drink etc nearby but until then it's a pretty horrible matchday experience to be fair.

This sounds incredibly similar to our ground. When it was built in 1990 we were still in the Conference and the club had (still do in many ways) a non-league mentality. The lack of forward-thinking in the design was staggering. No social club or really even a proper supporters bar (we now have the marquee...) very little in the way of off the pitch revenue streams, nothing to do on matchdays. There aren't concourses in any of the stands just a small area with a tea bar and toilets. Nothing to do at half time or before the game.

 

[AdamStag]

Hahaha pathetic..go back to non league!

Attendances don't mean much, it was great there being 9,000 at Lincoln for that 1-0 win earlier in the season

 

[AdamStag]

As opposed to promotion chasing Mansfield, who brought a huge following of 160 to RP for a Saturday afternoon fixture in October! Precisely two more than we took to Mansfield in February when we had Westley as manager, were about 103 points adrift at the bottom and hadn't won for about two years!

But my point in my post stands, which was the point in the first place

 

[AdamStag]

Right direction definitely, but lets be honest those Stags home attendances are pretty p!ss poor however you decide to slice in dice it. Especially when compared to other local historically sized teams! The Haslam effect has never been reversed not even close tbh. I always thought Mansfield, Chesterfield and Rotherham were all very similar, clearly I was wrong.

Totally, agree with the Notts poster, you have to take advantage of offers and promotions to the fans and local community during good/positive times, not the usual depressing times when this action often occurs. Our chairman, clearly has a commercial mind and is in touch with the fans/community and realises this.

Good times

RC has covered most of it, but we're doing FA to bring in children, which you're doing so well.

We need to be doing this ASAP but JR is just bizarrely backward on this front.

I posted on Stagsnet that we need to be putting some offers on - the performance by and large against Cardiff on Tuesday was brilliant - no team in this league would come and beat us at Field Mill with us playing like we did - and that we've only lost 1 at home in the league all season.

 

[Enzo Scifo's Right Foot]

"Attendance's don't mean much at all"???? Try telling any L2 clubs chairman, chief exec and Finance officer that!!! Lol

Unless you get lucky with a Televised cup draw or big player sale , home Attendances are vital for sustainability make no mistake about it.

Trust a MTFC supporter to not care about home attendance's lol , at least you will bring a huge away following when you win at Meadow Lane later this season. Nice chunk of cash that for Mr Hardy that

 

[Conker]

"Attendance's don't mean much at all"???? Try telling any L2 clubs chairman, chief exec and Finance officer that!!! Lol

Unless you get lucky with a Televised cup draw or big player sale , home Attendances are vital for sustainability make no mistake about it.

Trust a MTFC supporter to not care about home attendance's lol , at least you will bring a huge away following when you win at Meadow Lane later this season. Nice chunk of cash that for Mr Hardy that

He will need it considering he’s struggling to fill that 1.6 Million shortfall.

 

[dedwardp]

This sounds incredibly similar to our ground. When it was built in 1990 we were still in the Conference and the club had (still do in many ways) a non-league mentality. The lack of forward-thinking in the design was staggering. No social club or really even a proper supporters bar (we now have the marquee...) very little in the way of off the pitch revenue streams, nothing to do on matchdays. There aren't concourses in any of the stands just a small area with a tea bar and toilets. Nothing to do at half time or before the game.

I think the main problem that we had was that the ground was part of a much bigger development, but we rushed the ground through early when we made it to the Championship - it was built four or five years earlier than it probably would have been otherwise I think. Then the recession then hit, the other developments stalled and we were left with a bland ground in the middle of nowhere. The ground itself is an excellent facility for off the field revenue, there's all sorts of events and conferencing etc going on seven days a week - it's only the football side that gets rubbish attendances.

However a few years ago the junction off the A12 was finally built which makes it really accessible, the Park and Ride opened a year or two ago which provides some extra cheap parking and the rest of the developments have started/permissions have been granted to start building work etc. There is also loads of housing developments nearby that have been built/are being built so it's slowly becoming less in the middle of nowhere and more part of that area of town. It's just taking a long time to get that way!

 

[AdamStag]

"Attendance's don't mean much at all"???? Try telling any L2 clubs chairman, chief exec and Finance officer that!!! Lol

Unless you get lucky with a Televised cup draw or big player sale , home Attendances are vital for sustainability make no mistake about it.

Trust a MTFC supporter to not care about home attendance's lol , at least you will bring a huge away following when you win at Meadow Lane later this season. Nice chunk of cash that for Mr Hardy that

Trust a Notts fan to bang on about Mansfield attendances, like a broken record .

 

[Impish]

Attendances don't mean much, it was great there being 9,000 at Lincoln for that 1-0 win earlier in the season

Smallfry little old Mansfield. Yeah great seeing a crowd I bet. That win took you top didn't it, bookies favourites?

 

[County1]

But my point in my post stands, which was the point in the first place

Sadly, post Spurs etc, we may struggle to muster more than 125 to Mansfield on a Tuesday night this winter so I tend to agree

 

[AdamStag]

Smallfry little old Mansfield. Yeah great seeing a crowd I bet. That win took you top didn't it, bookies favourites?

Oh dear

 

[darren gregory]

If you think this is bad wait till you encounter FIRTHY in League one , a Bradford fan, good grief that lad lords it up on the attendance thread.

 

[ccfctommy]

Yes John Fry is still there (sadly), 22 years and counting. Trust me none of us like him either and the TV vote was not something the fans agreed with at all.

He never wanted us to reach the Championship as the thought of the money he'd have to spend shit him right up. Because of this when it did happen he stuck his head in the ground and didn't spend any.

Our recent stagnation have been a factor in falling attendances but there are others as I previously mentioned. The club's refusal to listen to what the fans want, the lack of stability and quality in the squad due to an unwillingness to spend any money on players and management, a ground unfit for league football with a matchday experience that Evo-Stik League clubs would be ashamed of... There's very little reason to go to a Yeovil match anymore unless you are a hardcore fan.

Apart from the away open terrace, what is wrong with your ground?

 

[Davidimp]

Sadly, post Spurs etc, we may struggle to muster more than 125 to Mansfield on a Tuesday night this winter so I tend to agree

Well certainly aren't expecting many of you at Lincoln on the Tuesday after the Spurs game as you'll be in one half the Bridge McFarland Stand and the little stand next to it. Still room for around 400 away fans mind.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Apart from the away open terrace, what is wrong with your ground?

No social club or a proper supporters bar (we have a marquee...) very little in the way of off the pitch revenue streams, nothing to do on matchdays. There aren't concourses in any of the stands just a very small area with a tea bar and toilets. Most of the tea bars run out of food either before the game or before half time. Nothing else to do at half time or before the game.

 

[AdamStag]

I've never understood why clubs don't build pubs close to their grounds whether they've decent catering facilities or not.

So much potential could be made from them done properly - pubs in and around Field Mill will make lot of money, and I (like anyone reading this) would prefer the money to go to their club than a chain.

 

[County1]

Well certainly aren't expecting many of you at Lincoln on the Tuesday after the Spurs game as you'll be in one half the Bridge McFarland Stand and the little stand next to it. Still room for around 400 away fans mind.

Won’t be many. Three home games in a week, including Spurs, it’ll be a bit of an after thought. Saying that, should we beat Crawley tonight and Morecambe on Tuesday (not counting any chickens yet!), it could be a really important game!

 

[shoddycollins]

Our attendances have fallen so far, we haven't even been able to rustle up someone to respond to this thread till the third page.

Sad times

We seem to have about ninety squillion people currently boycotting us too. I think when things stagnate, people are more likely to find some reason they can take the moral high ground rather than just admitting they can't be bothered anymore.

 

[PUSBCCFC]

We've gone from 20,000 in 2008 and are now average 7500 in 2018.

 

[Enzo Scifo's Right Foot]

Remember folks "attendances don't mean much at all" the fountain of footballing knowledge said so.

Thank the lord we have so many OAP aged fans at Notts to at least keep out attendance's respectable most of the time along with a significant increase in kids\youngsters of late.

 

[northstandexile]

We've gone from 20,000 in 2008 and are now average 7500 in 2018.

That’s nothing a Notts fan will come on in a bit and say their average was 35176 in 1950.

 

[AdamStag]

Remember folks "attendances don't mean much at all" the fountain of footballing knowledge said so.

Thank the lord we have so many OAP aged fans at Notts to at least keep out attendance's respectable most of the time along with a significant increase in kids\youngsters of late.

Try telling that to a Portsmouth fan, average much more than Bournemouth, or a Lincoln fan who average much more than Burton.

Who would you chose. Yeah fountain of knowledge alright.

 

[Moomin]

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

Thanks very much. Amazing to see that we had an average of around 9-10 thousand in the 50s and then 1900 in 1986!

 

[Enzo Scifo's Right Foot]

That’s nothing a Notts fan will come on in a bit and say their average was 35176 in 1950.

Think it was actually a touch higher.
Still not sure why Stags fans are on this thread, it concerns plummeting crowds!

Is it even possible to plummet from 5207?

Forget a pub, build a hotel I say

 

[SkyBluesRose]

Well I think part of the reason for the decline in attendance is that back in the day we haven't moved to all-seater stadiums yet, which means that we could fit more fans into our stadiums.

 

[AdamStag]

Another small crowd to see Mansfield win at home, again.

Interesting that sides with many more fans lost at home today.

 

[SkyBluesRose]

Interesting that sides with many more fans lost at home today.

Er...