I was surprised we didn’t get more than 5,000 home fans last night. Is it unrealistic to expect 6-7,000 when we are doing exceptionally well? I remember when Ramsden got us promoted to the old 2nd division in 1988 I think the first attendance was about 6,000. The average for that season was 5,500 ish and that was with some big teams like , Chelsea & Man City, Birmingham, Albion, Sunderland etc. I think we should accept that 5,000 is about our best average for home games.
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We only won 5 games that season, and lost 15 or 16 games in a row, I don’t think you can really use that as a good example.
Football has changed a lot since then and is more accessible to families. You can’t just have 12 games of doing a bit better and expect us to be getting 8000 though, it is going to take time and continued improvement in all areas.
I don’t see why 7000 isn’t realistic within the next 5 to 10 years.
Edit
Liverpool wouldn’t have been part of the average either, as it was a cup game.
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Our top attendance was about 9,000 I think,so that would help level the attendance averages out. As I said,5,000 is our ceiling.
Not really because you are talking about something that happened almost 40 years ago.
We have since then had several seasons that have averaged well over 6000, and one season where we pushed 8000, and football is far more popular now that it was at the time.
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I think the TV deal is having a bigger effect than some folk realise. It will be interesting to see the gates for “normal” Saturday matches. I don’t think we should think we cannot get more than 5,000.If the current form continues I think our attendances will improve overall but slowly.
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That is and will continue to be the biggest hurdle, it will only get worse for us and clubs like us.
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Would be interesting to know the reasons why more folk don’t attend
Possible factors
- Cost
- Accessibility
- Lack of time
- Lack of facilities
- Perception (‘Smalsall am Rubbish’ etc)
Once you know why folk aren’t coming you can address the specific issue.
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I do agree, but I think there’s also an opportunity. The club needs to highlight how much better it is to see a match in person rather than on tv.
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I’d reckon the ability to watch at home, and also the Vile playing in the CL would have had an effect last night, unfortunately.
It’ll definitely grow if we’re in this position come Feb/March though.
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We did take over 30k to Wembley. I know that was a special occasion, but it shows there is potential.
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Postponing Saturday International weekend games isn’t doing us any favours either. You can knock about 1000 off the attendance for the rearranged Tuesday match.
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Not attending games can easily become a habit, and it will take time for attendance to improve. However, if the team continues to deliver success, it will create lasting memories for fans and build stronger connections, encouraging them to keep attending in the future. I believe we can surpass 5,000 if we keep winning over a consistent period of time.
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I think that’s a key point. People who’ve never been assume it’s not that much different to watching on a screen. You have to go to appreciate how much bigger the whole event is live.
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For years I harped on about how we were going backwards, and during this time all other football clubs were riding the crest of footballs wave. Meanwhile we had Bonser, Mole & Gamble driving us into the dirt. @P.T posted the average attendances of both league 1 and 2 recently, and I was quite shocked how far down the list we were. It was an excellent post that really showed how football was pulling in one direction and we were heading in the other
I can’t count on both hands and feet the number of clubs that in the 90s were either on par with our attendances, or lower, and as of now comfortably attract substantially more fans that we do. There’s no doubt that sometimes its simply a case of money, but sometimes its years of clever community work and marketing.
I remember going to ramshackle old grounds at Doncaster, Wigan, Wrexham, Mansfield, Lincoln, Colchester, Gillingham, and there were barely 2k home fans there, in some cases just over 1k! Some of these clubs, and other clubs have found 2, 3, 4k more fans one average. Meanwhile, the takeover of Pomlett added a few hundred on to our average, but we are now seeing the result of years of negligence. If I wasn’t for the bank rolling of some non league minnows, we would be even further down that list of averages.
I recall identifying when Birmingham City were charging less for a young adult to go and watch Championship football than we were in League 1. Trivela have done well, but you cant just reverse 10-15 years of zero nouse, creativity and downright pig headedness in pulling new fans in. And as some have mentioned there are other challenges now.
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Since the whole Covid thing we have managed to push our average gates over 5000, this is no small thing if you take a look back at past gates, even at Fellows Park in the 80s they were very low.
This is during a time when we have been absolutely abysmal on the pitch, if not the worst in our history, the worst in living memory for a lot of us.
Let’s see how it goes when the younger fans have actually had something to shout about. 5000 Isn’t the ceiling in my opinion, we have only just got there, I am sure we could break that in time. I’m not saying we will but it isn’t impossible.
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I thought 5k home for a midweek match still early in the season was a great turnout considering the other matches happening in the Midlands last night.
Few years ago this attendance would’ve barely been above 4k. Tuesday 25th October was 3-1 win over Harrogate and attendance was 4.3k so even with hardly any away support that’s pretty much only 4k home games.
The attendances will rise over the season if the form continues and pretty sure it will get to 7-8k by March.
When I first started going in 2008 3.5k attendances for midweek home games were pretty common. Just looked at Orient at home in March 2011 when the great escape was starting to bubble and it was 3, 019! I presume Orient brough about 200 that night so under 3k Walsall fans in for midweek fixture in that era.
The final game of that season, 2-0 home win over Charlton was 5,088 so last night nearly matched it with similar away followings.
Yes I get the disenchantment with Bonser in those times and boycotts but it was still a division higher than now with a promotion in recent memory so I think getting 5k for a midweek game with other big attendance games in the Midlands bodes very well indeed.
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Interesting topic
So how would you go about enticing the missing supporters back ?
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Absolutely not no, the real issue is the last decade had essentially been rubbish.
The club has a lot of work to do to reverse the reputation it’s built for itself. If we’re top 5 at Christmas I think we will see the crowds increase.
Key is getting a sustained period of success, and fans will turn up in numbers. It’s happened at clubs a similar size to us.
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No 5,000 is not the ceiling but it will take a lot of work from Trivela, Ben Sadler and us Walsall fans to spread the word and get people intrested enough to want to come. We suffered many many years of neglect under Bonser where the only ambition was to keep the club going so he could get his rent. This was followed by some very tough years on the pitch and off the pitch (covid) meant that all but our loyalist fans lost their passion for W.F.C. We should take insperation from a club like Stockport who traditionaly lived in the shadow of bigger neighbours and rarely got more than 5,000. These days they sell out most home games this is not just due to success on the pitch but ambitious owners and an understanding of what their supporters want.
We are in good hands with Trivela and Ben Sadler i expect the crowds to grow significantly in the next 3-5 years.
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We are wedged in-between some big clubs this is the main factor why our attendance growth will be limited. I honestly believe you could give the tickets away we would still only see a slight improvement in attendance.
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