[Archived] Increase In Attendances

[tomphil]

If we can't get 20k plus on for Boxing day including a likely huge away support then we might as well shut up shop

[old darwen blue]

23000 I reckon

[Iceman]

Nice video there of Olive well done to the club for that

[47er]

If we can't get 20k plus on for Boxing day including a likely huge away support then we might as well shut up shop

Success will bring bigger crowds on a sustained basis and only success.

But Boxing Day is a bit special!

[Paul]

My wife will be with us which as far as I can recall is the first time since 22nd February 2002!!!

I am struggling to see how the gate will pass 20,000 though. We seem to be averaging 12,000 home supporters. If Boro bring 5,000 we still need a 25% increase in the home support to hit 20,000.

It would be great to do it but I'll be surprised. On a similar note I got Bolton tickets 10 minutes after they went on sale - no phone queue. That surprised me as well.

[BlueMonday]

The Boxing Day gate will be a good barometer of progress so far, as long as the weather isn't a factor. 2 home wins and I can see a 20K + gate. But as others have said. The rebuilding process needs to be viewed in the long term.

I'll be making the trip from Scotland, for my 1st home game in 3Years, and I'm sure others will be tempted out.

[Mattyblue]

My wife will be with us which as far as I can recall is the first time since 22nd February 2002!!!

I am struggling to see how the gate will pass 20,000 though. We seem to be averaging 12,000 home supporters. If Boro bring 5,000 we still need a 25% increase in the home support to hit 20,000.

It would be great to do it but I'll be surprised. On a similar note I got Bolton tickets 10 minutes after they went on sale - no phone queue. That surprised me as well.

Boro have been given just under 7k, so if they sell out plus our usual 12000 home we are at 19k, a few extra Boxing Day atendees and hey presto!

But I do hope they are not tomphil's famous last words!

[JHRover]

In my opinion if we are giving the away team 7,000 (which they will almost certainly sell out) and we still can't break the 20,000 barrier for a home game on Boxing Day then there is something seriously wrong with this club and the mentality of the people who follow it.

I'm not one to criticise supporters but if we can't get past 13,000 on Boxing Day after all the recent good news then we have serious problems. There's not much more the club can really do.

[JBiz]

In my opinion if we are giving the away team 7,000 (which they will almost certainly sell out) and we still can't break the 20,000 barrier for a home game on Boxing Day then there is something seriously wrong with this club and the mentality of the people who follow it.

I'm not one to criticise supporters but if we can't get past 13,000 on Boxing Day after all the recent good news then we have serious problems. There's not much more the club can really do.

Are we playing United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Burnley?

If the answers no, we won't get 20k+ till we are back in the top division. That's not to show that theirs something wrong with the fans, that's just the average persons mentality towards football.

It's not just at Ewood, it's everywhere. Fans will flock in their thousands to big away days but if your average Saturday is against Rotherham, Bristol etc, lots of "supporters" aren't assed. Even after singing "*insert club name* till I die" for 90 minutes.

[K-Hod]

I don't know, Boxing Day is traditionally a good football day for attendances.

I think JH's rationale is bang on to be fair, if we've 12k home fans, and then 7k from 'Boro, surely getting 20k on isn't too out of the question?

[JBiz]

Sure, but he said something seriously wrong with the mentality of fans when we already know how poor a lot of fans are in terms of showing up for standard league games.

It's endemic in football due to the amount of games on TV and the amount of plastic fans up and down the country.

[K-Hod]

The fanbase is there, the Liverpool game last season showed that. It's just some want more bang for their buck, (a good chance of) winning football will always get more bums on seats.

To be fair, you can hardly blame fans for staying away after what we've been through the last 5 and a half years. Doesn't make them poor fans in my book, they've been the hardcore previously, they're just worn down and they will be hard to win back.

[Mattyblue]

The problem Rovers have in comparison to a lot of other clubs is our fanbase is very season ticket centric.

I.e. out of the 12000 regular home fans, 10000 of them will be season ticket holders. So, it is vital we keep hold of them as our average crowd usually rises or falls in correlation to the rise or fall in ST sales that season- that's why I wasn't surprised that the Sheff Wed game didn't see too many new/returning fans.

Here's hoping that half STs sell well.

[JBiz]

Again... That is the AVERAGE fan for any club, the point is that we wouldn't sell more than around 15 thousand seats for a normal league game at this level last 5 years or not. That's not indicative of "we have serious problems"

There are a lot of fans who just don't bother if we aren't top flight. How do you change that? Get promoted.

[RevidgeBlue]

Are we playing United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Burnley?

If the answers no, we won't get 20k+ till we are back in the top division. That's not to show that theirs something wrong with the fans, that's just the average persons mentality towards football.

It's not just at Ewood, it's everywhere. Fans will flock in their thousands to big away days but if your average Saturday is against Rotherham, Bristol etc, lots of "supporters" aren't assed. Even after singing "*insert club name* till I die" for 90 minutes.

I couldn't disagree more with that post really, I don't go down to Ewood to watch the opposition I go down to watch us win whether the opposition is Barnsley or Barcelona.

The sad fact of the matter is that for a lot of the fans who have dropped off, no matter how much they proclaim to be supporters of the Club, they will never be back, they will have found other things to do with their time. There will be however a separate category of fan who are wavering on whether or not to return and to be frank I expected Lambert's return to generate a much greater interest and take up with these type of fans than actually occurred against Sheffield Wednesday.

[JBiz]

Don't get me wrong JHR, I've been all through the last 5 years and will be there on Friday night against Rotherham. I can't abide by the mentality of some fans priorities- you can probably blame Sky for that.

[the original david brent]

I predict a similar crowd to the corresponding fixture last season over the festive period, which was 22,300.

I predict boro will sell 7k again.

Whilst we have less full season ticket holders this time around, half season ticket sales were presumably non existent last season?! Hopefully an increase in half season ticket sales this season will result in a similar amount of overall season ticket sales to last season.

Plus we had a dreadful result at Bolton last season on Boxing Day and we were merely drifting along.

[Mattyblue]

I predict a similar crowd to the corresponding fixture last season over the festive period, which was 22,300.

I predict boro will sell 7k again.

Whilst we have less full season ticket holders this time around, half season ticket sales were presumably non existent last season?! Hopefully an increase in half season ticket sales this season will result in a similar amount of overall season ticket sales to last season.

Plus we had a dreadful result at Bolton last season on Boxing Day and we were merely drifting along.

Half STs actually sold quite well last year, we were actually in decent form in in the run up to Xmas, just outside the playoffs. It was Boxing Days onwards when the wheels fell off.

[the original david brent]

Half STs actually sold quite well last year, we were actually in decent form in in the run up to Xmas, just outside the playoffs. It was Boxing Days onwards when the wheels fell off.

Fair enough if half season tickets sold well, I stand corrected.

I just remember us stretching our unbeaten run at boro away at the end of November, before back to back defeats against against sheff weds and brentford during December dampened things

[only2garners]

481 to be precise. Doesn't sound a lot but actually higher than for many a year.

[Mattyblue]

Any news on how they are selling this time O2G?

[only2garners]

Not a clue - usually only find out after the event.

[47er]

Sure, but he said something seriously wrong with the mentality of fans when we already know how poor a lot of fans are in terms of showing up for standard league games.

It's endemic in football due to the amount of games on TV and the amount of plastic fans up and down the country.

There is no specific "mentality" that makes our fans different than anyone else's.

Its all about circumstances---family, finances, health, employment and ,above all, how people relate to the Club.

That is THE area where we can claim to be truly unique. No-one else has had the downfall we have had in just 5 years.

Many former die-hard fans are and remain so hurt and angry that it will take much more than has happened recently to lure them back.

Indeed, many will never come back, such has been the devastation wrought by Venkys, Ke*n, Anderson.

Football attendance is not compulsory by the way and fans will return as and when they choose.

You say that the Club really can't do anymore. That isn't remotely true is it?

They could have top-class executives in place from whom more improvements would result. They could do an overhaul of the scouting system. They could appoint staff who specialise in fitness and injury prevention. They could have a functioning Board of Directors which includes local identities who love the Club and in whom the fans would have confidence.They could open up a dialogue with representatives of the fans and give a Trust member a seat on the Board. All these things are possible and desirable if the Club is truly to overcome the disaster which has overtaken us. I'm sure we could come up with many more ideas if we ever had any incentive and saw any point in it.

In summary. The owners will have to do MUCH more to build strongly on their recent good performance to come even close to healing the hurt of the last few years.

But you carry on blaming the fans for low attendances and continue to be surprised when they don't come back.

[philipl]

I think it is the first true Boxing Day home fixture against a reasonably local side which has a huge amount to play for coming to Rovers for quite some time.

I can think of two or three instances in the recent past when we have had an exciting uptic in results but gates stubbornly didn't move then Boxing Day brought a bumper attendance.

If Boro bring 6k+ then 12k ST with 4k+ walk ons (Old Darwen Blue's 23k number) is well within reach.

[only2garners]

I think it is the first true Boxing Day home fixture against a reasonably local side which has a huge amount to play for coming to Rovers for quite some time.

Well since this time last year when Middlesborough came to Ewood riding high in the league. We had 22,340 on that day.