Plummeting Attendances

[Luke Imp]

Macclesfield's a good one. They've managed to squeeze 6 stands in!

 

[MrGloverLover]

2330 for our home game tonight. 2nd lowest attendance in the football league and nearly 5000 less 'home' fans than at the last game. Fuckers.

 

[GTFCfish]

2330 for our home game tonight. 2nd lowest attendance in the football league and nearly 5000 less 'home' fans than at the last game. Fuckers.

I can't understand why we are not a big pull what with our all out attack policy.

Did you get a view of our players fighting with each other and if so what caused it?

 

[MrGloverLover]

I can't understand why we are not a big pull what with our all out attack policy.

Did you get a view of our players fighting with each other and if so what caused it?

I wasn't at the game last night, i'm sunning myself in Malta. Players fighting each other is usually the final straw for a manager's position in my experience.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Now the dust has settled the final figures are in and they make grim reading for us.

Our final average attendance ended at 2,941 - the first time it has dipped below 3,000 since the 2001-02 season.

2017-18 crowds were down by 17.5 percent on the previous season, whilst the drop-off in the last two years has seen nearly 1,000 fewer fans attending games - a fall of 25.3 percent during that time.

In total, sixteen of Huish Park's twenty lowest Football League attendances came during the 2017-18 season, with the other four coming during the previous 2016-17 season.

 

[shoddycollins]

Now the dust has settled the final figures are in and they make grim reading for us.

Our final average attendance ended at 2,941 - the first time it has dipped below 3,000 since the 2001-02 season.

2017-18 crowds were down by 17.5 percent on the previous season, whilst the drop-off in the last two years has seen nearly 1,000 fewer fans attending games - a fall of 25.3 percent during that time.

In total, sixteen of Huish Park's twenty lowest Football League attendances came during the 2017-18 season, with the other four coming during the previous 2016-17 season.

Just seen your post in the season ticket prices thread, and I think I can help zero in on your problem.

 

[T.A]

Looking at your season ticket prices this season I'm not surprised you are losing fans. What have you match day prices been like?

 

[MrGloverLover]

Just seen your post in the season ticket prices thread, and I think I can help zero in on your problem.

Our Chairman has been banging on for years about us having to get 4000 crowds to break even but he won't invest in a decent team or manager so people don't want to watch the dross that's served up so he raises the prices. At least next year's stay the same or go down.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Looking at your season ticket prices this season I'm not surprised you are losing fans. What have you match day prices been like?

Home terrace is £17 online, £18 advance from the club or £20 on the day. The two seated stands are £21-£24 and £22-£25.

 

[shoddycollins]

Our Chairman has been banging on for years about us having to get 4000 crowds to break even but he won't invest in a decent team or manager so people don't want to watch the dross that's served up so he raises the prices. At least next year's stay the same or go down.

Sounds like a vicious circle.

 

[UTS]

We must be the only club in the country who’s crowds get better as we get worse??

Our crowds are the least flexible in the country... as shown...

Since the turn of the millennium:

1999/00: 4,026
2000/01: 3,444
2001/02: 3,923
2002/03: 3,226
2003/04: 2,892
2004/05: 3,082
2005/06: 2,594
2006/07: 2,588
2007/08: 2,601
2008/09: 3,342
2009/10: 3,029
2010/11: 3,313
2011/12: 3,552
2012/13: 2,749
2013/14: 3,139
2014/15: 3,774
2015/16: 3,751
2016/17: 3,845
2017/18: 3,931

Fairly consistent barring 2012/13 which was the season we almost went bust again and could only name 2 subs most weeks.

2005-08 crowds were awful.

Mean crowd from 1999/00 to 2017/18 is 3,320... which seems on the low side but it’s around what I’d expect us to get next season.

EDIT:

Going even further back, crowds still look very similar to today...

1988/89: 3,367
1989/90: 3,449
1990/91: 3,572
1991/92: 2,901
1992/93: 2,715
1993/94: 2,597
1994/95: 3,273
1995/96: 3,261
1996/97: 4,500
1997/98: 6,179
1998/99: 5,475

So... last 28 seasons tend to be very similar barring the odd period of decline.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Sounds like a vicious circle.

Exactly.

 

[Luke Imp]

Unsurprisingly, ours are up. Highest average since the late 50's of 8,800 or so.

 

[CFC91]

Unsuprisingly ours have finished lower than they ever have been at the new ground.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Similar for those Stylish Magpies. This season has seen the highest average attendance at Meadow Lane for 25 years! Back then we were legitimately a good side operating in the 2nd tier.

Although massively helped by some huge followings this season’s (as we were back in the early/mid 90s). Huge credit must go to the chairman, office staff and manager as home support is up significantly and the atmosphere around the club (bar the incredible but false single Munto season) is the best I can remember it since the turn of the century. Very engaged, enthusiastic, great media/social interaction. Not sure about ticketing and food at half time, but you can’t have everything as a fan.

Obviously this can all so easily change and turnaround but so far, so good under the new ownership. The change has been dramatic and very positive.

 

[AdamStag]

1 Coventry City 212.863 23 9.255
2 Lincoln City 201.981 23 8.782
3 Luton Town 199.557 23 8.676
4 Notts County 181.942 23 7.911
5 Swindon Town 146.742 23 6.380
6 Chesterfield FC 123.152 23 5.354
7 Wycombe Wanderers 108.216 23 4.705
8 Grimsby Town 107.123 23 4.658
9 Carlisle United 105.997 23 4.609
10 Port Vale FC 105.401 23 4.583
11 Cambridge United 104.025 23 4.523
12 Mansfield Town 99.096 23 4.309
13 Exeter City 92.117 23 4.005
14 Crewe Alexandra 89.154 23 3.876
15 Newport County 80.254 23 3.489
16 Colchester United 76.372 23 3.321
17 Cheltenham Town 72.946 23 3.172
18 Yeovil Town 67.651 23 2.941
19 Forest Green Rovers 63.748 23 2.772
20 Stevenage FC 60.046 23 2.611
21 Crawley Town 52.169 23 2.268
22 Barnet FC 48.603 23 2.113
23 Accrington Stanley 45.513 23 1.979
24 Morecambe FC 34.327 23 1.492

Sorry to the bottom 4 for not having their badge - i could only apparently include 20 images!

 

[AdamStag]

2014/15 3,021
2015/16 3,439
2016/17 3,774
2017/18 4,309

As for us, slowly moving in right direction attendance wise - though this has been assisted a little by decent away followings

 

[MrGloverLover]

 

[Habbinalan]

Two seasons of Derry Ball killed the feelgood effect of promotion and ManUre but optimism has returned, along with a major tightening of the purse strings and reintroduction of earlybird discounts on season tickets to aid cashflow. I can see numbers recovering next season and we might even sell more season tickets, especially youngsters, because of a creative pricing structure.

2014/15 Av. 5,108
2015/16 Av. 5,274
2016/17 Av. 4,737
2017/18 Av. 4,523

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

2014/15 3,021
2015/16 3,439
2016/17 3,774
2017/18 4,309

As for us, slowly moving in right direction attendance wise - though this has been assisted a little by decent away followings

Definitely in the right direction Adam

 

[AdamStag]

Two seasons of Derry Ball killed the feelgood effect of promotion and ManUre but optimism has returned, along with a major tightening of the purse strings and reintroduction of earlybird discounts on season tickets to aid cashflow. I can see numbers recovering next season and we might even sell more season tickets, especially youngsters, because of a creative pricing structure.

2014/15 Av. 5,108
2015/16 Av. 5,274
2016/17 Av. 4,737
2017/18 Av. 4,523

Seems like quite an innovative approach tbh

 

[Simpo]

Ours has been a lot more stable than I thought:

Spoiler: Rest of our L1 tenure under here

97/98 - 5588
98/99 - 5628
99/00 - 5391
00/01 - 4972
01/02 - 5800
02/03 - 6699 (playoffs)
03/04 - 6566
04/05 - 6462
05/06 - 5796
06/07 - 6334 (playoffs)
07/08 - 5326

08/09 - 5636 (Last time we finished top half)
09/10 - 4630
10/11 - 4392
11/12 - 4433
12/13 - 4129
13/14 - 4415
14/15 - 4349
15/16 - 4361
16/17 - 4514
17/18 - 4442

 

[Posh Red]

So ours dropped by around 650 this year, although almost 200 of that was a reduction in the number of away fans

We averaged just under 6,000 home fans per game, compared to 6,390 last year

 

[shoddycollins]

1 Coventry City 212.863 23 9.255
2 Lincoln City 201.981 23 8.782
3 Luton Town 199.557 23 8.676
4 Notts County 181.942 23 7.911
5 Swindon Town 146.742 23 6.380
6 Chesterfield FC 123.152 23 5.354
7 Wycombe Wanderers 108.216 23 4.705
8 Grimsby Town 107.123 23 4.658
9 Carlisle United 105.997 23 4.609
10 Port Vale FC 105.401 23 4.583
11 Cambridge United 104.025 23 4.523
12 Mansfield Town 99.096 23 4.309
13 Exeter City 92.117 23 4.005
14 Crewe Alexandra 89.154 23 3.876
15 Newport County 80.254 23 3.489
16 Colchester United 76.372 23 3.321
17 Cheltenham Town 72.946 23 3.172
18 Yeovil Town 67.651 23 2.941
19 Forest Green Rovers 63.748 23 2.772
20 Stevenage FC 60.046 23 2.611
21 Crawley Town 52.169 23 2.268
22 Barnet FC 48.603 23 2.113
23 Accrington Stanley 45.513 23 1.979
24 Morecambe FC 34.327 23 1.492

Sorry to the bottom 4 for not having their badge - i could only apparently include 20 images!

If you can't get 2,500 to your home game, you don't deserve to have a badge.

 

[shoddycollins]

View attachment 8324

Your attendances in league One look a lot like ours. Increasing slightly year on year as you progress up the divisions, but then dropping quite quickly once you become stable in a division.

 

[shoddycollins]

1 Coventry City 212.863 23 9.255
2 Lincoln City 201.981 23 8.782
3 Luton Town 199.557 23 8.676
4 Notts County 181.942 23 7.911
5 Swindon Town 146.742 23 6.380
6 Chesterfield FC 123.152 23 5.354
7 Wycombe Wanderers 108.216 23 4.705
8 Grimsby Town 107.123 23 4.658
9 Carlisle United 105.997 23 4.609
10 Port Vale FC 105.401 23 4.583
11 Cambridge United 104.025 23 4.523
12 Mansfield Town 99.096 23 4.309
13 Exeter City 92.117 23 4.005
14 Crewe Alexandra 89.154 23 3.876
15 Newport County 80.254 23 3.489
16 Colchester United 76.372 23 3.321
17 Cheltenham Town 72.946 23 3.172
18 Yeovil Town 67.651 23 2.941
19 Forest Green Rovers 63.748 23 2.772
20 Stevenage FC 60.046 23 2.611
21 Crawley Town 52.169 23 2.268
22 Barnet FC 48.603 23 2.113
23 Accrington Stanley 45.513 23 1.979
24 Morecambe FC 34.327 23 1.492

Sorry to the bottom 4 for not having their badge - i could only apparently include 20 images!

Of course, Luton are the best supported team in the division.

 

[AdamStag]

Your attendances in league One look a lot like ours. Increasing slightly year on year as you progress up the divisions, but then dropping quite quickly once you become stable in a division.

We’re joint longest in league 2 and our attendances are going up lol

 

[denzel ecfc]

4005 doesn't look brilliant for a team fourth in the league but that's currently over 2/3rds our capacity. I'd like to think that would have been at least an extra 500 had we had all four sides.

 

[Agombar stool]

So ours dropped by around 650 this year, although almost 200 of that was a reduction in the number of away fans

We averaged just under 6,000 home fans per game, compared to 6,390 last year

I was about to refer to a post on our forum about our crowd - are you the same posh red on that forum as well?

We seem to have only lost around 400 home fans last year, given the drivel we served up at home, that could have been a whole lot worse!

 

[MrGloverLover]

Your attendances in league One look a lot like ours. Increasing slightly year on year as you progress up the divisions, but then dropping quite quickly once you become stable in a division.

People get bored very quickly. Fans want to watch winning football, regardless of the level it's at. This year's average was only 162 more than when we won the ICIS League in 97.