Whilst your was an incredibly stupid question the answers from OLM or anyone else would be sensible and profound in comparison.
You're telling me it's an incredibly stupid question but no-one's come up with a proper answer yet! In every Premier league club there will be fans who will watch their team at every level & those that only watch at the top level. We had average gates of about 16,000 in the Championship (not great but not bad). Add on about 5,000 "Premier League only" fans & we've got minimum gates every home game of a minimum of 21,000. Nothing wrong with that!
Over the past three seasons, our core support has been gradually eroded to a point where, during a promotion season (to the Premier League no less) our support dropped to the lowest ever average attendance at the KC. Lower than we managed in the fourth tier. You might think that's 'not bad', but the more intelligent among us think it's ****. Next season, things will get worse as even more long term fans with kids, or OAP's, or simply those who've had enough will also **** off. We've sold 6,000 memberships, against 9,500 passes at this time last year, despite us looking good for promotion to the Premier League. Due to the fact that we have been promoted, those disastrous sales will now be temporarily disguised by thousands of fans who only come and watch us when we're in the Premier League. When we get relegated, those fans disappear, leaving only the more passionate fans, only now they've disappeared as well. Significantly reducing attendances by alienating fans during the most successful period in a football clubs history is really quite some achievement. For that alone I agree with you that we have to say Thank You Mr Allam.
OK, I'll bite The present administration is slowly losing fans because it is UNBELIEVABLY unpopular This, DESPITE success on the field. The cash in the Premier League is almost independent of the gates The cash in the Championship is not If/When the club finds itself back in the Championship, very low gates will ensure there are no funds to buy players to go back. When you lose fans, its difficult to get them back OK?
As I said, the answers would appear profound in comparison to the question. Although that is in the realms of damning with faint praise.
Thanks for that OLM. Whilst I agree that there is some truth in what you say I think you are being far too pessimistic with your views on the drop in support. We are about 1500 supporters down on our normal D2 attendance since arriving at the KC Stadium. We are about 10,000 above the average when we were in the second tier in the 80's! You say that next season things will get "even worse" - there we disagree completely. I think the withdrawal of concessions to youngsters is a mistake, but, as an OAP, I have no problem with paying the full amount (although I'd prefer not to, obviously!!). There will be many capacity crowd games next season - especially if the club can attract a "big name" star to Hull (although that has rarely happened since the 1950's) and the average attendance will be well over 20,000. What constitutes "core" and "non-core" supporters is a whole new debate.
This seasons attendance is 1,793 down on our average 2nd tier attendance at the KC, we'll see how far down next seasons attendance is in due course.
Yes - and nearly 7,000 UP on our average attendance in the 11 year spell in the 2nd tier at Boothferry Park. In my view attendances won't be down at all next year but back to and exceeding our average in the Premier League.There is no definite figure for what our "Core Support" is. Look at attendances over the last 55 years and you will see that attendances are up and down like a yo-yo - the only relevant factor being success!
As I said, we'll see in due course. Some Hull City fans who have followed the club for decades are not planning to attend next season and are falling out of love with the club following three years of ****e from the owner. The number we took to Wembley was below our average attendance last season, if that doesn't concern you, then you're kidding yourself.
We only had half a Boothferry Park during that spell you talk about Waggy, due to Kempton being out of action...it took the heart out of the ground just when it looked like we could finally get to Div1. If you look at similar sized clubs in similar positions at the time (Portsmouth, Boro, Plymouth) you will see that their averages then are also well down on their current attendances, despite the fact that 2 of them are now in the old Div 4. Even Newcastle, Sunderland et al were similarly down- it was football at the time, not just City. On Saturday I turned up at Wembley to meet what turned out to be a group of 8- even when it was the FA Cup semi, and many fans were saving their cash for an assumed final, there were over 20 of us. All of these guys were hardcore types from the 80's, now in their 40's. Among the 8, only 2 have renewed with a membership. Everyone blamed the Allams for driving them away, even those who are financially benefitting from the membership scheme. I'm sorry but if you are happy that we can lose that kind of committed support then you are just being a complacent apologist.
Virtually ALL City fans who have followed the club for decades WILL continue to attend next year - a handful might not. As for the Wembley attendance it was not unexpected that we would not sell all our tickets - it was disappointing that we did not sell more, but if you are claiming that the shortfall was ALL down to anti-Allam sentiment then you're kidding yourself.
Sorry Waggy, but it is more than a handful of our hardcore support who will not be there next season, and plenty of those who do renew will be doing so holding their nose. If not for promotion we could have been looking at 12,000 home supporters next season- absolutely ridiculous for a club of our size during the successful period on the pitch in it's history. On the other hand, if the Allams sell up and certain decisions are reversed, then the place should be bouncing
I didn't say it was all down to the Allams, but the membership scheme will be the biggest cause of loss of fans we've seen to date. Sales are already 3,500 down ffs. Without promotion we'd have been looking at average attendances well below 15k.
