I'm trying to remember what my last game was. Think is was a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea ~2014/15. Was at the front of the North Stand on my own thinking the atmosphere was a bit odd. Then as they scored everyone around me jumped up cheering - ie they'd just let a load of Chelsea fans in to take over. I think that was the moment I lost the will - my Dad had passed away a few months earlier and the club clearly did not give a **** about their fans and supporting the team. But I can relate to your story - Boxing Day 2013 when we threw away a 2-0 lead agains Man Utd I was sat next to a really nice old bloke in the West Stand. Frail, probably well into his 90s, and yet he was the passionate one picking me up and encouraging me to support the team as we surrendered the lead. Moments like that I will never forget!
Beer Gardens half-empty, queues at food places like chippies are pretty nonexistent and there’s little queue for buses on Spring Bank and Chants Ave.
This is the sort of thing football owners around the country need to hear. A real fan's view. Am sorry about the loss of your dad, pal
Thanks mate - it will actually be five years ago this Wednesday since he passed, (and he was briefly a poster on this forum). That was the time football died for me though. Allam had announced the name change plans just a few weeks earlier and I started to lose all motivation and enthusiasm. The FA Cup run that season was great, beating Liverpool that December was great and as a middle-aged bloke I will freely admit to being in tears at all those games. However it just could not cover up how the spirit of the club was being torn apart. Nowadays I just like watching the recordings and DVDs I have of matches from the last 10-12 years or so - enjoying the nostalgia and memories.
How can a businessman have allowed petty mindedness to get ahead of finance? Because this particular 'businessman' is even more concerned about being spiteful and vindictive than he is about finance. Sure he is taking everything that is left out of the club but the Allams could certainly have made more money for themselves by engaging with the fans rather than declaring war on them. Sadly the petty mindedness and spitefulness are his prime concern.
more complicated than that. ipswich is much further away than derby. ipswich are struggling, derby aren't. some teams have traditionally higher away followings, etc, etc.
How would they have made more money for themselves by engaging with the fans? Good will yes but money??
Well before the Allams and on the back on the feel good factor of moving to the KC and back to back promotions the crowds at this time of the year during the first promotion to the Premier League season were down to below 15,000. That's 10,000 stopping away from coming to see a winning team in the same stadium in the two leagues below the Championship. So what was the excuse then ? Didn't like Phil Brown ? Didn't like the owners ? Dress it up which ever way you like but we 'lost' 10,000 then because we weren't winning every week. Six months later during the same season they were queuing all night around the stadium for tickets.
I don't think we dipped below 15000 that season Phil. Season before we did a few times. But Adam did used to bump up the figures and give a fair few tickets away. Think that season we lost 4000 season pass holders though. From 14000 to 10000.
We did v Coventry, the HDM did a feature on it 'Has the KC bubble burst' or similar. Just looked it up, 14,822 v Coventry. And you say AP used to exaggerate the attendances somewhat.
Losing the support isn't just measured in attendance figures. Has anyone else noticed how we have lost the support from the local vocabulary? During our heydays general conversations about City followed a 'We' this and 'We' that even with none attending locals. 'We' had finally won over the hearts and minds. This has completely reverted to 'They', how did 'They' do, 'They' need to do this and that.
We averaged over 18,000 in the promotion season and picking out the attendance at one freezing night game in January is indicative of nothing.
Is indicative of how easily people stop away when the team are not winning every week. The 2007/08 season didn't really kick into gear until after that Coventry game when Folan came on as sub and scored the last minute winner. Some of the biggest City crowds I've been in have been in the depths of winter with ice and snow on the ground. When a team is winning no-one notices the weather.
I get your point but surely Olm is correct a better judge of a seasons attendances is the average for the full season rather than a one off match? Or ar least then compare the drop off other times night matches on winter compared to ours. Picking one games attendance without an analysis isn't proof of anything.
I'd be interested to know of the roughly 9-10000 how many are members and how many pay for a match day ticket.
If we'd have lost that game and subsequently not gone on a roll which eventually pushed us into the Play Off's do you think the crowds would have increased from there on or dropped dramatically ? I quote the 70/71 season. Kicked off in front of 21,000, new manager, new expectations. Peaked at 25,000, and saw a 40,000 gate in the FA Cup, then the promotion push faltered and we finished off at home on May 1st in front of 11,000. Where did the other 10,000 disappear too ?
