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General Category => Altrincham FC First Team => Topic started by: Ukrainian Alty on January 04, 2020, 11:23:00 PM
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Great support today by travelling Robins supporters. 200+ helped Leamington achieve their highest gate of the season so far.
COYR
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About 1/3 of the gate was Alty?
Top turnout.
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Our away following is outstanding - both in numbers and in noise. We take a lot more away now with average crowds of just over a thousand, than we ever did in the 'glory years' of late 70s and early 80s. It augurs well for the future- our core support is as high as it has been since the 80s, and we regularly take 200 plus away. These are signs of a club that, with a bit of success, is ready to take off - mark my words
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I agree that away support is growing, fantastic, I get to the one's I can. Real feeling again of people getting behind the team home and away. Long may it continue.
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Last home game in previous seasons v Curzon would have been 8-900 max, yet we had a gate of 1184. That would around 25pc increase. That is down to the management and team and faith from the fans. The fan-base is there for this team, we just need to carry on with what we are doing.
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Being able to have a beer helps the casual fan its a fairly recent thing
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you've taken the words right out of my mouth. moss lane is a really sociable place to go on a saturday afternoon. not that bothered about football? come along anyway and we can have a beer and a chat. and then some of those that enjoy the experience are probably finding their way to away games as well.
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Plenty of people have thankfully started attending games again since the chairman signalled an intention to stand down before the end of the season. And more will follow next season when a new chairman is in place.
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Yawn.
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Yawn.
I've seen two or three who've not been regulars since the Stalybridge walkout return recently.
I think the beer is the major factor.
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I look forward to coming and having my beer from Libero - great atmosphere and it seems like the fanbase has recycled with a really strong young contingent coming through.
Those that have sadly departed over the last few years will be proud I'm sure.
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Being able to drink on the terraces is key, especially over the festive period.
Judge a growing core support on games like tonight's.
Away support was fantastic on Saturday.
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Judge a growing core support on games like tonight's.
Tonight will be an excellent indicator of our core support. With the Derby on telly, and very few visiting fans making a 350 mile return journey, the gate should be a totally accurate pointer.
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Judge a growing core support on games like tonight's.
Tonight will be an excellent indicator of our core support. With the Derby on telly, and very few visiting fans making a 350 mile return journey, the gate should be a totally accurate pointer.
Absolutely. The definition of what a 'core' match-going support is will range from person to person, for me it's people who attend the vast majority of home games and make an effort to support Alty away when they can. I reckon ours is around the 600 mark? I'd expect the attendance to be around that. We're then propped up by floating fans and away turnouts, both of which will be non existent tonight. Hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised this evening and it would certainly be an indicator of a growing fan base.
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The only caveat is missing season ticket holders, who will be counted. Realistically, though, these people are core support anyway.
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Yes it will be a poor show tonight I’d imagine especially as tickets for old Trafford are still on open sale. I’ve seen a good few who’ve returned since the news of a new chairman. Most of my match going pals that are staying away will be there on the opening day of next season.
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Our away following is outstanding - both in numbers and in noise. We take a lot more away now with average crowds of just over a thousand, than we ever did in the 'glory years' of late 70s and early 80s. It augurs well for the future- our core support is as high as it has been since the 80s, and we regularly take 200 plus away. These are signs of a club that, with a bit of success, is ready to take off - mark my words
Whilst I appreciate your point, I do think that it's worth injecting a bit of perspective in that from August 1979 onwards and right throughout the 1980s, we were playing in a national division rather than the regional feeder league in which we currently find ourselves.
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Judge a growing core support on games like tonight's.
Tonight will be an excellent indicator of our core support. With the Derby on telly, and very few visiting fans making a 350 mile return journey, the gate should be a totally accurate pointer.
Absolutely. The definition of what a 'core' match-going support is will range from person to person, for me it's people who attend the vast majority of home games and make an effort to support Alty away when they can. I reckon ours is around the 600 mark? I'd expect the attendance to be around that. We're then propped up by floating fans and away turnouts, both of which will be non existent tonight. Hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised this evening and it would certainly be an indicator of a growing fan base.
I think you’re setting the bar too low. We had nearly 800 at the previous Tuesday evening league home game against Gateshead, and managed in excess of 500 for a late-notice FA Trophy First Round replay the week before Christmas. Not discounting it’s the second week of January, or that there’s football on the telly, I’d be very disappointed with a crowd in the 600s tonight given our recent form.
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I guess you're disappointed then. 614 wasn't far below my expectations.
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Judge a growing core support on games like tonight's.
Tonight will be an excellent indicator of our core support. With the Derby on telly, and very few visiting fans making a 350 mile return journey, the gate should be a totally accurate pointer.
Absolutely. The definition of what a 'core' match-going support is will range from person to person, for me it's people who attend the vast majority of home games and make an effort to support Alty away when they can. I reckon ours is around the 600 mark? I'd expect the attendance to be around that. We're then propped up by floating fans and away turnouts, both of which will be non existent tonight. Hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised this evening and it would certainly be an indicator of a growing fan base.
I think you’re setting the bar too low. We had nearly 800 at the previous Tuesday evening league home game against Gateshead, and managed in excess of 500 for a late-notice FA Trophy First Round replay the week before Christmas. Not discounting it’s the second week of January, or that there’s football on the telly, I’d be very disappointed with a crowd in the 600s tonight given our recent form.
There are a couple of factors that are likely to skew this evening’s attendance that I offer for consideration. Firstly, among our younger supporter base, those studying in Years 11 and 13 are likely to be taking their mock GCSE or A levels and, as such, will have found it difficult to persuade their parents to let them go to this evening’s fixture. Secondly, there have been a lot of fixtures recently and post-Xmas financial prudence may have played a part. Finally, of the cohort I stand with which included until recently, Royton Mike, one lives too far away to make midweek and the other prefers not to attend evening fixtures, so the normal 5 was actually only 2 this evening. That said, I was also a bit disappointed that there aren’t more there this eve.
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Judge a growing core support on games like tonight's.
Tonight will be an excellent indicator of our core support. With the Derby on telly, and very few visiting fans making a 350 mile return journey, the gate should be a totally accurate pointer.
Absolutely. The definition of what a 'core' match-going support is will range from person to person, for me it's people who attend the vast majority of home games and make an effort to support Alty away when they can. I reckon ours is around the 600 mark? I'd expect the attendance to be around that. We're then propped up by floating fans and away turnouts, both of which will be non existent tonight. Hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised this evening and it would certainly be an indicator of a growing fan base.
I think you’re setting the bar too low. We had nearly 800 at the previous Tuesday evening league home game against Gateshead, and managed in excess of 500 for a late-notice FA Trophy First Round replay the week before Christmas. Not discounting it’s the second week of January, or that there’s football on the telly, I’d be very disappointed with a crowd in the 600s tonight given our recent form.
There are a couple of factors that are likely to skew this evening’s attendance that I offer for consideration. Firstly, among our younger supporter base, those studying in Years 11 and 13 are likely to be taking their mock GCSE or A levels and, as such, will have found it difficult to persuade their parents to let them go to this evening’s fixture. Secondly, there have been a lot of fixtures recently and post-Xmas financial prudence may have played a part. Finally, of the cohort I stand with which included until recently, Royton Mike, one lives too far away to make midweek and the other prefers not to attend evening fixtures, so the normal 5 was actually only 2 this evening. That said, I was also a bit disappointed that there aren’t more there this eve.
Fair play, looks like the bar wasn’t set too low at all!
All valid mitigating factors above, but it’s still a poor crowd. I’m not expecting 1,200 turning up on a Tuesday evening in January or anything daft like that, but the 800 that turned up for the Gateshead Tuesday night game a couple of months ago seems a realistic target.
Maybe I’m expecting too much, or perhaps underestimating how long these things take, but I thought/hoped a few more of the new fans we’ve picked up over the past few seasons would have moved past the stage of just turning up on a Saturday for a pint and a chat by now.
If, as suggested previously on this thread, Tuesday is anything to go by, then our hardcore support doesn’t appear to have grown at all.
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Every season throws up one of two outlier attendances either way - whether its the 3400 plus against Stockport on Boxing day or 600 against Blyth on a Tuesday night in January when the Manchester Derby is going on 5 miles down the road and is live on telly.
Disappointing though the attendance was, it is indicative of anything other than a set of factors which cumulatively dragged the attendance right down.
The attendance at Guiseley yesterday - 1243 - is a much more reliable indicator, and, with maybe 100 Guiseley fans attending at most, it was a great crowd.
When we were in Conference North 2011 to 2014, our average attendance was generally 850 to 900. Our first season in Conference North 2004/05 saw an average of 665, and our 4 years in the Unibond saw average attendances drop to barely 600.
Last season we averaged 1244, with the Stockport game, and 1137 without. This season sees out average home gate thus far this season at 1028. If we stay in or around the play offs for the rest of the season, it seems likely that average will increase - our lower average this season is almost certainly due to a lacklustre first couple of months.
So, the clear evidence here is that home attendances have significantly increased in the short, medium and longer term - 25% up on last time we were in Conference North, and double what they were 15 to 20 years ago. Our core support has increased markedly, despite or perhaps because of our dreadful successive relegations, followed by our resurgence under Phil P and co. What we are seeing at Alty is unprecedented since the 1970s - we have caught the imagination of the town again, the good times are coming back, and we can look realistically at a future which could sustain league football if attendances keep pushing up as they have been. We just have to keep on getting it right on the pitch, and professionalise more off the pitch
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We are also a very entertaining team to watch in the style of football we play. If we carry on like this the fans will return and we will gain new ones. I have noticed this amongst the 13-20 age group very recently as we have had more support from this age group, possibly because the the schools initiative.
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I'm sure some stats fiend will correctly but my memory tells me that the next home game after the last trip to Tottenham was a home game to Telford that barely scraped 900. Things are on the up. Although we mustn't overlook than many are only here for the beer.
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14th Jan 1995 Altrincham 1 Yeovil Town 3 Attendance: 808
Our remaining attendances for that season were 1040 (Runcorn), 807, 702, 733, 670, 812, 703; mostly Saturdays. Our average home league attendance that season was 1002
The atmosphere on the Golf Road amazes me these days. The youth, the energy, the noise. Our future!
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To follow on from Bill's point, we spent most of the 1994/95 season in the top three of the Conference, with a real chance of promotion. At the end of that season Maunders pulled out on the club, and we were hours away from folding. That season, the 20 year old dream of league football died, and simply surviving became the priority.
At that time, arguably league football was not realistic on crowds of 800 to 900 or less even in a successful season.
I believe we are in a position to start dreaming again - as a medium term goal, and the support base justifies this. If all people want is a few beers on a Saturday afternoon, they can go anywhere - they are not just coming to Moss Lane for the beer, it is the exciting football and the overall experience that is drawing more and more people in, and I for one am loving it. Our time is coming, any day, don't worry about us now - special prize to the first person who correctly guesses which band and song I am not quite quoting ;D
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The attendance v Guiseley was good - but having just two turnstiles open on the Golf Road end? This needs looking at. Three people selling programmes and two people on the gate?
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Is it Rush?
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To follow on from Bill's point, we spent most of the 1994/95 season in the top three of the Conference, with a real chance of promotion. At the end of that season Maunders pulled out on the club, and we were hours away from folding. That season, the 20 year old dream of league football died, and simply surviving became the priority.
At that time, arguably league football was not realistic on crowds of 800 to 900 or less even in a successful season.
I believe we are in a position to start dreaming again - as a medium term goal, and the support base justifies this. If all people want is a few beers on a Saturday afternoon, they can go anywhere - they are not just coming to Moss Lane for the beer, it is the exciting football and the overall experience that is drawing more and more people in, and I for one am loving it. Our time is coming, any day, don't worry about us now - special prize to the first person who correctly guesses which band and song I am not quite quoting ;D
Good lord, we've now gone from Rush to the Grateful Dead!
Estimated Prophet?
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Every season throws up one of two outlier attendances either way - whether its the 3400 plus against Stockport on Boxing day or 600 against Blyth on a Tuesday night in January when the Manchester Derby is going on 5 miles down the road and is live on telly.
Disappointing though the attendance was, it is indicative of anything other than a set of factors which cumulatively dragged the attendance right down.
The attendance at Guiseley yesterday - 1243 - is a much more reliable indicator, and, with maybe 100 Guiseley fans attending at most, it was a great crowd.
When we were in Conference North 2011 to 2014, our average attendance was generally 850 to 900. Our first season in Conference North 2004/05 saw an average of 665, and our 4 years in the Unibond saw average attendances drop to barely 600.
Last season we averaged 1244, with the Stockport game, and 1137 without. This season sees out average home gate thus far this season at 1028. If we stay in or around the play offs for the rest of the season, it seems likely that average will increase - our lower average this season is almost certainly due to a lacklustre first couple of months.
So, the clear evidence here is that home attendances have significantly increased in the short, medium and longer term - 25% up on last time we were in Conference North, and double what they were 15 to 20 years ago. Our core support has increased markedly, despite or perhaps because of our dreadful successive relegations, followed by our resurgence under Phil P and co. What we are seeing at Alty is unprecedented since the 1970s - we have caught the imagination of the town again, the good times are coming back, and we can look realistically at a future which could sustain league football if attendances keep pushing up as they have been. We just have to keep on getting it right on the pitch, and professionalise more off the pitch
I think the Saturday crowds are very healthy. The club has done an impressive job over the past couple of seasons in cashing in on the growing popularity of non-league football, with a number of successful match day initiatives and awareness drives. And I thought Saturday’s turnout was excellent.
It’s more the Saturday to Tuesday home fan conversion that I don’t think has kept pace. The past 7 days being a prime example.
And if you honestly believe Saturday is a “more reliable indicator” of the current core support level than last Tuesday was, then fair enough, but I think we’ll have to accept we each have very different understandings of the words ‘core support’.
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The attendance v Guiseley was good - but having just two turnstiles open on the Golf Road end? This needs looking at. Three people selling programmes and two people on the gate?
I went in the far side of the main stand with two e-tickets on my phone and no queue at all & inside the ground in 30 seconds. Think as take up of that improves it may draw people away from Golf Road entrance. Think getting people to turn up earlier (and there by spend more cash in the ground) would be a big thing in reducing those late queues too. On the support more widely if we got four figures for a Saturday home game in the NPL in the late 90s/early noughties that was a serious achievement, now it’s routine and indeed expected. The next step is how do we maintain that and then push up to more like 1500 home average.
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The attendance v Guiseley was good - but having just two turnstiles open on the Golf Road end? This needs looking at. Three people selling programmes and two people on the gate?
I went in the far side of the main stand with two e-tickets on my phone and no queue at all & inside the ground in 30 seconds. Think as take up of that improves it may draw people away from Golf Road entrance. Think getting people to turn up earlier (and there by spend more cash in the ground) would be a big thing in reducing those late queues too. On the support more widely if we got four figures for a Saturday home game in the NPL in the late 90s/early noughties that was a serious achievement, now it’s routine and indeed expected. The next step is how do we maintain that and then push up to more like 1500 home average.
I bumped in to an old mate who hasn't been for years and is going to come thsi season with having a beer being the deciding factor,of course if we go up crowds may not increase as no alcohol in league above ?
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Every season throws up one of two outlier attendances either way - whether its the 3400 plus against Stockport on Boxing day or 600 against Blyth on a Tuesday night in January when the Manchester Derby is going on 5 miles down the road and is live on telly.
Disappointing though the attendance was, it is indicative of anything other than a set of factors which cumulatively dragged the attendance right down.
The attendance at Guiseley yesterday - 1243 - is a much more reliable indicator, and, with maybe 100 Guiseley fans attending at most, it was a great crowd.
When we were in Conference North 2011 to 2014, our average attendance was generally 850 to 900. Our first season in Conference North 2004/05 saw an average of 665, and our 4 years in the Unibond saw average attendances drop to barely 600.
Last season we averaged 1244, with the Stockport game, and 1137 without. This season sees out average home gate thus far this season at 1028. If we stay in or around the play offs for the rest of the season, it seems likely that average will increase - our lower average this season is almost certainly due to a lacklustre first couple of months.
So, the clear evidence here is that home attendances have significantly increased in the short, medium and longer term - 25% up on last time we were in Conference North, and double what they were 15 to 20 years ago. Our core support has increased markedly, despite or perhaps because of our dreadful successive relegations, followed by our resurgence under Phil P and co. What we are seeing at Alty is unprecedented since the 1970s - we have caught the imagination of the town again, the good times are coming back, and we can look realistically at a future which could sustain league football if attendances keep pushing up as they have been. We just have to keep on getting it right on the pitch, and professionalise more off the pitch
I think the Saturday crowds are very healthy. The club has done an impressive job over the past couple of seasons in cashing in on the growing popularity of non-league football, with a number of successful match day initiatives and awareness drives. And I thought Saturday’s turnout was excellent.
It’s more the Saturday to Tuesday home fan conversion that I don’t think has kept pace. The past 7 days being a prime example.
And if you honestly believe Saturday is a “more reliable indicator” of the current core support level than last Tuesday was, then fair enough, but I think we’ll have to accept we each have very different understandings of the words ‘core support’.
Fair point Matt re the definition of 'core' - I am being deliberately over optimistic I guess.
However, a lot of people who consider themselves to be 'core' supporters struggle to get to mid-week matches - myself for example from Leeds - we have a high proportion of exiles who travel from all over the place for the Saturday matches, but for whom midweek matches are difficult. The core support is probably about half way between the 600 home fans against Blyth and the 1140 against Guiseley - so maybe 870. It still represents a big jump, and the fact is we are regularly getting over 1000, so the core is growing - except on Tuesdays in January perhaps!
Perhaps we need to start thinking about initiatives that get people to the night matches - focused more on the local community - how about reducing prices as a one off experiment. I think the prices are pretty good - but the £11 concession price is a bit steep and may be putting off pensioners, students, unemployed (I guess that is what concessions covers).
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really made a mess of cutting and pasting for last comment - still haven't got the hang of it - apologies all.
I did want to add totally agree with comments re lack of turnstile operators. It is getting embarrassing seeing the queues at every home game, and hearing the growing and completely understandable disgruntlement in the queues.
I did the turnstiles myself for about 3 years from 2012 to 2015 and only stopped because i had nowhere to stay for midweek games due to close family bereavements. Back then, George Heslop organised the turnstiles, and there were never less than 7 or 8 gates open - including 1 or 2 at least at the away end.
I am really happy to help again in whatever way i can - i just need to know who organises the turnstiles these days - but the club needs to put something on the website or in the next programme seeking volunteers, as it is becoming a real problem on match days. We didn't have any away turnstiles open last Saturday, and we wouldn't expect any problems with Guiseley fans, who are a good bunch, but we are tempting fate every home match, and we cannot wait until there is an incident before dealing with this.
As for getting people to turn up earlier, totally agree, but in 40 odd years supporting the club this has never changed!
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The attendance v Guiseley was good - but having just two turnstiles open on the Golf Road end? This needs looking at. Three people selling programmes and two people on the gate?
I went in the far side of the main stand with two e-tickets on my phone and no queue at all & inside the ground in 30 seconds. Think as take up of that improves it may draw people away from Golf Road entrance. Think getting people to turn up earlier (and there by spend more cash in the ground) would be a big thing in reducing those late queues too. On the support more widely if we got four figures for a Saturday home game in the NPL in the late 90s/early noughties that was a serious achievement, now it’s routine and indeed expected. The next step is how do we maintain that and then push up to more like 1500 home average.
I bumped in to an old mate who hasn't been for years and is going to come thsi season with having a beer being the deciding factor,of course if we go up crowds may not increase as no alcohol in league above ?
Why would there be no alcohol in the league above?
At Pompey in FL1 we have the Victory Bar underneath the Fratton End which can and often does accommodate 500 people.
We're about to apply for planning permission for the new Milton End where lots of you sat last year. One of the stated aims of this is that it will end the ban on selling away supporters alcohol.
https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/siteassets/pdfs/201920/miltonenddevelopment.pdf
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You can certainly drink in the bar, but I'm not sure that it's the same for those of us who drink at the ground side in stadia where standing is still the norm. We certainly weren't able to do it when we were last in Conference National.
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That's the issue Paul. At our level you can drink on the terraces whilst watching the match!
We've got a craft bar similar to the one outside your ground and it does good business during the game.
My understanding is that if we get promoted the bar will stay but a screen will be erected so you can't see the pitch. It's the best that can be done and stay within the law.
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Pompey Paul,
It is good to see you still paying an interest in our great little club. Does this mean that we have become your 'other' team. My guess is that you are following our results quite fervently and probably keeping up to speed with happenings via the club website(s). Perhaps you might even consider attending a game at Alty if you ever find yourself within the environs? I am sure a warm welcome would greet you.
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That's the issue Paul. At our level you can drink on the terraces whilst watching the match!
We've got a craft bar similar to the one outside your ground and it does good business during the game.
My understanding is that if we get promoted the bar will stay but a screen will be erected so you can't see the pitch. It's the best that can be done and stay within the law.
Ah, I see. I am old enough to have been brought up in the pens of the Old Fratton End. We were standing and I don't think that anyone would have stopped you taking a pint in in those days, however it definitely wouldn't have stayed in your hands when it became emotional!
Interestingly at Milton Keynes Dons, a supposedly state of the art stadium they designed the bars facing the pitch and the regulations are met by putting up a load of old builders tarpaulins in the away end.
Pompey Paul,
It is good to see you still paying an interest in our great little club. Does this mean that we have become your 'other' team. My guess is that you are following our results quite fervently and probably keeping up to speed with happenings via the club website(s). Perhaps you might even consider attending a game at Alty if you ever find yourself within the environs? I am sure a warm welcome would greet you.
Ha, I still look in from time to time but I could never support a club with a strip like that! (too close to those who can't be named for my liking).
However I do like doing grounds and if the chance came up of doing it in conjunction with a Pompey Away Match Id be game.
As it happens you may see Blue shirts (including mine) passing close by tomorrow. 2000 of us are heading for Bolton.