Having watched the Swans since 1976 the next game at the Liberty certainly looks the most mouth watering home fixture since those glorious seasons with Toshack at the helm. Manchester Utd, the giants of world football roll into town and Swansea is alive and alight with expectation. If the Liberty stadium could seat 35000 then we all know it would be full and on sat 19th November. The Jackarmy would sit on the roof if they could sneak a view of this fixture. Five to seven thousand Swans fans would travel regularly away (if the tickets were there ) and Swansea City appears to be attracting supporters nationally and abroad. But this is the fixture at the Liberty where people will perhaps realise that this club Swansea city has opened the door to a brighter future and onto a more solid Swans future. The Liberty has been a home sell out for all these premier league games and this sustained, consistently high Liberty support will ensure the club does seriously build and compete at this level in future. The groundswell of support for the Swans and the special , strong supporter/club bond at the club brilliantly nurtured by the board and successive management will hopefully see us have many more seasons full of special footballing occasions in Swansea.
Please do not take offence but are you sure about this bit? Five to seven thousand Swans fans would travel regularly away? Had you said perhaps a figure nearer 2500 - 4000 I would be inclined to agree. I will stand by to get slaughtered by now
I would agree with you Thai, you may get that amount going to THE BIG teams, but not to the lesser teams
That was my thinking We have a slightly higher fan base than the Swans and we rarely take more than 4000 unless it's a real big game (and tickets are made available)
i think we took approx 1800 to your place and that was the longest travelling that we would have this year i think, i think newcastle is further but easier to get to via train etc. if we did have 30000 + id be able to get tickets every game i am home seeing i am working in essex couldnt get a season ticket
I was surprised at that, I was expecting all 2500 tickets to have been snapped up, but yes it is a long way and a bloody miserable journey. In addition to what I said above, this season is a honeymoon period for both our clubs. Even if Norwich & Wigan both stay up we will not take 4000 there like we did in August, so it is probably unrealistic to assume that a big following this season means it will be repeated next season. Many travelling fans this season will be going to 'new' grounds for them as it has been a long time since we were in the top league (both our teams)
Hi ThaiCanary - Agree with most of what you are saying, however, would like to know where you "Larger Fan Base" bit from?? Is that from how many at your home games and if so is that because you have a larger capacity stadium? i.e Stadium size does not equal fab base. cheers
I accept your point about stadium capacity and I am keen to not get drawn in to, or start an argument about the size of the fan base or who the bigger club is. What I am basing it on it attendances, and I am not referring to just this season or last although certainly last season would be a good starting point and indeed the season before in when we were in League 1. Last season, unless your capacity significantly increased in the summer? Your average attendance was 5000 below capacity, nearly the same as the previous season. We filled our larger stadium week in/week out barring a 100 or so empty seats dividing the home fans and away fans. Now I also accept that you could get more people in to the Liberty if it was bigger this season, as would we if Carrow Road was bigger but I suspect the statistics would support the claim that a good 20% of your fans this season are 'There for the PL' (Don't want to use the word plastics). That would suggest to me Norwich have a larger fans base then Swansea - in general terms. If you argue Swansea have a larger fan base I would then argue they are not as loyal, even in a promotion winning season. Apologies of it appears contradictory, it's not meant to be
Thai Norwich, not intended to be Swans v Norwich comparison thread but just that the ingredients are in place for the Swans to grow and keep our fanbase. Oh, Oct 15th Swans v Norwich at Carrow Road clashed with Wales v France in the World Cup. We like a bit of egg chasing down this neck o the woods. Great fans and stadium at Norwich btw.
I didn't want that either but thought Swansman deserved a response I have little or no time for the "We are bigger you" rubbish that appears on various boards throughout every season. The ingredients are in place for the Swans to grow and keep our fanbase. You are absolutely right in every other respect in your OP, the foundations are indeed in place and providing those responsible for club & ground development do not run before they are walking properly there is no reason why the Swans cannot grow. Of course there are two other factors that could throw a spanner in the works - Relegation (Hopefully will not happen this season for either of our clubs) and/or football stops being fashionable, as it was in the early - mid 80's. Great fans and stadium at Norwich btw Away fans get a really good seat in the shiny new stand - it is nice. Been in it a couple of times myself. Carrow Road is about the only thing I miss now I live over here
I'd say there are around 5-8,000 who'd watch regardless of what division we were in. Probably get gates of 15-18k in the Championship and around 23-25k in the premiership if we had the capacity. In that regard a stadium the size of Carrow Road would probably be perfect for us this season for the majority of matches. I'd rather a packed, vocal 20k every game than spend the money on new seats and in a few years have 15k attendance in a 25k Stadium in the Championship (or worse). 5,000 seats at £35 a pop works out at around £3m a season if all seats sold. Not chicken feed but nothing compared to the TV money. Agree that it's a bit of a honeymoon period still, if we do stay up then next season there'll be less interest in the likes of Sunderland and Bolton as the novelty for those kind of games will have worn off for some. That said I think there is huge potential for the club to cash in on non-matchday revenue if they learn to take marketing seriously which I don't think they've done as yet but hopefully that'll change.
I see that MK Dons are now planning a stadium expansion to 32,000 from 22,000 to be completed by the start of next season. This is funded by a new £56m retail development on the site. This is obviouly not based on cuurent seating requirements as their average attendance is only 8,000 this season. Their agenda is to have a ground for other events e.g. Northampton Saints have played Heineken Cup games there with 20,000 crowd and they are after a UEFA classification so they can hold games like England under 21 games there. So it will be another stadium lacking in atmosphere with only 25% of seats taken for most if not all League 1 games.
Now that really is running the club as a business and not in the interests of the football team! God bless Peter Winkleman
Thai a couple of things, a football club is a business first and foremost, and I assure you winkleman has the interests of the club at heart. Also I wished the swans could have built a stadium such as that one, the guy has vision and hopes the club will go forward. I wish them all the very best, had a great bit of banter with them in the cup when we played.
Agree Jager he has got vison and the design has been well though through as I understand that if MK's stadium goes to 32,000 he can still add an additional 10,000 again. Its obviously in a area to get good crowds if the team are successful with the nearest clubs being Coventry and Leicester to the north and north west and Luton to the south with no club between them and Norwich to the east. But having said that playing League 1 games in a largish stadium which is only 25% full is a bit soul destroying - but good luck to them.
Milton Keynes is a good location it is fair to say but I am not convinced they would ever attract enough 'home' following to get anywhere near filling such a large stadium (32000 - 42000 as mentioned) for football matches. While they are not really near any other 'big' teams they have got Luton just a little south who could barely muster 15,000 when they were in the top flight. I know that was a good few years ago and crowds in general have increased since then but still not convinced. Jager - of course it is a business and one of the reasons he ripped the heart and soul out of Wimbledon in the first place. My belief, mostly for the above reasoning, is that any increase in capacity is for other events and not for the football club as such. The football club would benefit to some extent of course and I know PW is fond of MK Dons but it is mainly about himself, just my opinion
I am not convinced that we'd be lucky to have crowds of 25k going forward - many compare gates to the 80s and the 1st division, premier league is a completely different stage therefore If we keep going forward then to progress I believe we need a bigger stadium.. As for seat money - yes >3M but it also brings other revenues.....
I think if we stay up and we had a 30,000 seater stadium, we'd see attendances over 25,000 regularly. SOME ST holders this year might not renew this year but most will... on top of that there's a waiting list (I believe?) and there's tons of people like myself who want one but aren't on said list. Couple that with matchday sales and a few months more exposure on TV etc... maybe a big name signing at some point...the demand for tickets has shown there is sufficient support to warrant a little expansion if nothing else.
