Was just wondering if anyone reckons our fanbase is increasing ? I see that for the WBA game yet again any Tickets available to the general public have been sold out , just the members area mainly in the upper loft ( still only 200 left with overs two weeks before the game ). If this was to be a sell out also that would mean 4 on the spin. I'm a season ticket holder and wanted to take my son to the Man Utd game but could not get a ticket, i know this game is an exception but these are good signs as a club . So back to my orginal question , with current regime and ticket prices do people reckon we could fill 20k / 25k at present, with better facilities and more appealing to even more fans . I'm starting to think that this could now be a real possibility , 4 months ago i would have said no chance.
Definately....People will always be interested in seeing a better product and now we are by far a better product than last year. And to be honest i can only see our fan base getting bigger if we continue being more succesful and attracting better players.
Some of the increase is in fans that come more often because we're in the prem. Some is because visiting Premier League clubs have a bigger regular fanbase and by default a bigger travelling fanbase. Some are gonna be plastics.
I dont know mate but i think comparing attendances from 70's could be a bit misleading as i think all attendences where a lot higher then.
What you also need to take into account is the amount of terracing at LR pre Hillsborough, I believe capacity was about 26,000 in 84? Again I might be wrong but I seem to remember attendances would be about 13 to 16000 for the visit of West Brom say in the mid eighties.
Should be an increase - PL, better product, better players. LT should be sold out for all PL home games with 18 thousand capacity. As I recall we got over 20 thouand when we had a reallly good team mid Seventies and up at 29 thousand for the final Leeds game in runners up year, but I need to check my record book to be sure. Away support looks good too - I'm coming over for a week and as a member got a QPR ticket for Stoke, but only just, they were sold out that day or the next I think. Wanted a QPR ticket for Norwich too but they were sold out before my loyalty points were reached.
Highest average attendance was 23,422 in 75-76, highest attendance that season was 31,002 v Leeds. Record attendance 35,353 v Leeds in 73-74. Record attendance other than Loftus Road 41,097 FA Cup 3rd round v Leeds (yet again) at White City in 31-32.
The thing is you cannot make a comparison on this , our gates from 40 years ago have no reflection on our current fanbase. half of the people at those games are probably dead. The point i suppose i'm trying to make is now the right time to get a new stadium to facilitate the fans that are not getting in and encoraging the club to grow. I know people love LR but i do feel that maybe some stay away as facilities are not great . We need to encourage more families and more kids to grow the club.
It's absoluetly essential that the club get a stadium with a bigger capacity if we are to survive at this level. I reckon we could easily fill at 25k stadium, in fact I think we could and should aim to go above that. Look at Fulham. Back in 98 their average gate was barely over 9k, now as an established Premier League club, with greatly improved facilities they pull in about 25k.
I prefer to think of us having quality fans rather than quantity! Sure a few seasons in the PL would mean we can easily sell out up to 30,000 or so. As long as its a stadium that is a little different and not identikit ala Cardiffs, Swanseas, Southamptons etc, but what say would we/do we have in something like this?
Thanks for helping me out here Superhoop! I think the fan base of 30/40 years ago does have a bearing on today too, because there is a big tradition factor in football suport. Support gets passed down in families and friends. We do need to be looking for a larger stadium - I'd prefer that to be an expansion of Loftus Road, but if that cannot be done then we should and I think are looking for a bigger home.
ideally we would have a capacity for 30000 but would have to resemble Loftus road so we kept the atmosphere,if we had a new modern open stadium,games where the capacity was not met would feel hollow and empty.
i totally agree with that and reckon 30k is a good number to aim at. I feel for west ham fans at the moment , going to get a new hitec ground that will be half empty and half mile from the pitch , that will be awful.
Thanks Sooperhoop, is there any possibility that the capacity of Loftus Road could be increased to 25k?
In the 80s we had around 12 - 14000 and we were playing some good football at that time too. This is a different time though and I guess we could fill around 25000 but not much more I guess.
