The story of regular attendees stopping going at the back end of the noughties is a familiar one. January 2008, the resignation of Dosh and the appointment of Mullen was cataclismic. For the most part average crowds in the mid 00’s were over 5 and a half k, we went from 5.6k in 2008 to 4.5 in 09 and by 2011 it was under 4k, in other words pre-Graydon levels. Considering we were playing at the same level that’s an “off a cliff” drop, entirely down to Bonser and his cronies actions, and against a backdrop of attendances rising elsewhere. Absolutely criminal stewardship, and equally criminal lack of scrutiny by the media who continued to peddle the “well run club” narrative in the face of all the evidence to the contrary.
Trivela seem to have put about 700-1000 back on the gate which along with previous rises basically takes us back to pre-2008 levels, but in the division below. However we’ve dropped from 62 to 76 in the “attendance table” since our last promotion season at this level - the equal lowest we’ve ever been in a 4 tier football league along with the aforementioned 2011 .
Despite that I still think its a positive trajectory, if we could get up to 6k average by the end of this season that would break new ground at this level, and at the end of the day we can’t control what other clubs get relative to us, and that’s not stopping us wiping the floor with many that have higher gates so far this season.
Control what we can, be our “best selves” and don’t worry about anyone else is what I like to see, and I think that taps nicely into our DNA as a club.
I’ve commented on our attendances a few times. Walsall have been nothing short of abysmal since that Play-Off season…losing all of our best players (mainly for nothing apart from Rico) and falling into League 1 relegation fodder.
When the inevitable relegation happened, we drifted into a lower midtable League 2 side, with the ‘bulls*it’ of Pomlett trying to give us (false) hope. Plus Covid.
Many fans lost the habit and hope, in that time.
Although, through history, we have always struggled to regularly attract 7/8/9k crowds, I believe there are ‘floating’ fans out there but we need some ambitious ideas to bring them back/find them.
Trivela and Sadler will have far better ideas than the last regime, but of course, winning helps
Great context from Geordie, puts it all in perspective. Our attendances in ‘Division 4’ are the best they have been in my lifetime, comfortably beating previous spells at this level (79/80, 90-95, 06/07). Attendances have gone up elsewhere, but crowds are currently averaging much higher than 2015/16 when we were one division higher and battling for promotion to the Championship.
All that said, I can’t help but be disappointed by the prospect of another sub 6,000 gate tomorrow. Winning
8 in a row I expected 6,500.
Arr, look at the bottom half of the table. It’s not the league we used to think we had a right to belong in. Hopefully Trivela can get us back to that position, but it’ll take money and it’ll take support from the town.
If we maintain the status quo of attendance and typical following / finance as a result our new ‘belonging’ is lower league one at best…
What Dean Smith fought for in 2015 is now probably our modern equivalent of the premiership back then. That makes league one our Championship.
I hope our current owners don’t get buyers remorse and thin out in 5 years feeling like it was all hopeless. Move onto a club with more potential like Truro or Worcester city.
I may be wrong here, but I didn’t think the owners were around for the long term anyway? I don’t think they put any timeline on it but my understanding was they weren’t going to be around forever.
Definitely enjoy while it lasts then. Don’t see much reason why anyone with money would buy us if we can’t show any quicker potential. We’re going to be the least profitable element of the group once the other clubs start smashing in Europa conference starts.
The club doing well improves their exit windfall prospects, but the return on investment here for Trivela is the loan repayment every month, like a fixed interest bond rather than a speculative penny share.
Is there anything we can learn from the Germans? How are they getting such fantastic crowds for a league which with the greatest respect, isn’t the most high profile league?
It is interesting that maybe we are lowish in the home attendance however our away following is superb. Several reasons for that just a shame the other team gets most of the rewards
It varies, but yes, cheaper than our Premier League.
I’ve paid 15 Euros for the away terrace at Schalke, 40 Euros at Frankfurt and between 40-50 at Cologne but these were the only seats available at the time for non members.
Marketing and publicity is so important in spreading the word and building the interest. I stopped watching terrestrial TV years ago, so wondered what sort of coverage (if any) do we get on local TV? Do we?
