43,401 was the attendance for this weekendâs league 1 play off final, between a London team and a supposedly well supported team from South Yorkshire just up the M1! We took that many on our own to the Wigan final where the attendance was about 53,000 with Wigan bringing about 10,000. Our league 2 final had over 53,000 as well, though the share was more even at that one, and letâs not forget that the record attendance for a league 1 final was the 77,000 for our match with City split pretty much 50/50. I would have thought that the 2 sides this weekend would have sold more than they did, or maybe there is more latent support for the Gills than appears to be the case by our ânormalâ attendances, but it does make you wonder if we did have a bigger stadium and more success could we attract bigger crowds on a regular basis?
This club has a lot more potential than it gives itself credit for and I can't help but feel a new stadium would take us to that next level! I hate it when I see people say that we should stay in league one as it's our level, with that sort of resigned attitude is it any wonder we've only ever had five years in the second tier in our entire history! Before Dave Whelan come in with his money Wigan were a smaller club than us, they've now had many seasons in the championship, several in the premier league and an FA cup to their name! A new stadium and some investment and there's absolutely NO reason why we could not do this! People say that we don't fill Priestfield, that's probably because Priestfield is dull, it's not exciting to youngsters who have been brought up and chose to support Man United rather than Gillingham! An exciting new stadium with a 20,000 capacity would be ideal for us in my opinion, the population of Kent is something like 1.7 million and we're the biggest club in it! I'm not saying we should be bankrolled at all or follow an unsustainable model like Fleetwood, all I'm saying is we should attempt to be a bit more ambitious! I don't want us to see us spend season after season after season in the bottom two divisions personally!
Ties in with the unrealistic ambition thread really well, looking at the League 2 final today clocking in at 14,007 people which is very poor, not trying to have a go at those fans who went (including a good friend of mine who supports burton) but when you compare those figures to ours it is apparent that we have the potential to be a bigger club than we currently are, the potential of The Gills has never been in doubt (I imagine every fan says that about there club but oh well) we take great support to wembley and we always will we just need to focus on getting there again next season!
To be fair both Fleetwood and Burton are both growing clubs,and are currently small clubs.Add in they had to travel 150-200+ miles to get to Wembley it is no surprise the attendance was small.It would be interesting to see how many we would take to the Etihad,or Old Trafford I reckon about 15,000.
All these facts tell us one thing. Fleetwood, Burton and Wigan are clubs which will slide down the leagues in years to come. Wigan will fade just as soon as Dave Whelan passes away.
I wonder if colchester's fans had that vision too? what was their average crown this season? less than 4k i think.
Would Colchester take 35,000 fans to Wembley though? I highly doubt it, that's one of a few bad examples, Darlington and Coventry being others. Brighton are of course a good example, whilst arguably not having as good a catchment area as them, I think ours is a whole lot better than Colchester what with Essex probably being dominated with West Ham fans for example! I wouldn't of questioned our ambition if we hadn't have took 35k to Wembley!
I do have to admire your optimism but a new stadium is not always the way forward it may be nice to go to places like Brighton and Rotherham and think we could do with one of these but they are often not the god send they are believed to be. Darlington basically destroyed their club by building one, Coventry are having to play at Northampton so they aren't really a garenteed success. Colchester are a great example of what happens after a few years of it being open, the crowds drop after a few years as the novelty dies away and your left with a often soulless bowl and crushing debt as whichever way you spin it, they cost a fortune to build. So it would be nice to move but Priestfield is home and if we could actually build a stand for away fans and tinker with Gordon road a little bit to spruce it up we would have a lovely 12-15 thousand seater stadium that is right in the centre of the town that still has character. The grass isn't always greener on the other side
exactly! unless the new ground is accompanied with substantial investment on the pitch ( like rotherham and brighton) it will backfire. as an aside also i quite like priestfield , on its day its delivers a great atmosphere.
I do see the other side of the argument but I can't say I agree, if we had a detailed and clear plan I think it'd be a success!
liamgfc - i love your enthusiasm and assumption would be that you are many decades younger than me. I had that same enthusiasm once and used to wonder why all those old codgers use to accept lower league and moan about the Gills fortunes. The sad reality is i'm now one of those old codgers whose experiences have taught him the wisdom that this is as good has it gets. You won't see it now but in another 30 years you can say to yourself that brb was right...either that or come and tell me that your foresight was proven right. Either way i'll probably be dead by then and certainly don't expect to be watching the Gills in the EPL over the next decade. But having said that i hope your dreams come true, but sadly for me i'm stuck in the past and to much of a traditionalist, happy for the club to remain at Priestfield and realism, rather than risk a sterile empty big white elephant that we will rarely fill and bankruptcy due to nothing more than average 8k attendances if we are lucky. I wonder which one of us will be proven right?
I am with GFC and Belfast on this one. In my opinion there is no point of having a 20,000 seater stadium with no chance of filling it and with no money for a decent team to ply its trade. At our best....and with a bl**dy good side (Taylor / Asaba / et al) we were struggling to get 10,000. IF....we improved the stadium we have got, and invested in a team to get us into the Championship then things would (hopefully) logically follow. Rotherham have done well.......but they do not, at present, have a team that can compete in the Championship. When we got there we did have......but the investment dried up and the team aged together hence the decline. In short.......crowds turn up to watch decent football......not sit in half empty mausoleums. So lets get that sorted first..........please.
82 years in the football league. 5 years at level 2 (championship) 20 Years at level 4 (league 2) 57 years at level 3 (league 1) Above is the reason many people see league 1 as our natural home.
I know it would probably cost a fair whack, but have the club ever thought about a 2 tiered stand replacing the BMS? Making the GRS taller is not an option I think because the houses behind will always veto the plans. But no houses overlook the BMS do they? It's only the 'sides' of the end-of-terrace. So maybe planning permission would be easier. That way they could possibly increase the overall capacity to, maybe, 15k which I think would be ideal. Can then make the stand 1/2 and 1/2 home/away fans, or all of it for away fans when they bring heaps. Just a thought. If only Medway Council would back the club like lots of other councils seem to do with their sporting teams...
