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Originally Posted by JEFF
Most of the population of Accrington brag about Accrington Stanley when they are asked where they come from, but they cannot be bothered supporting the team unless there is something at stake. A big draw in the FA Cup would have attracted more 'supporters' just in case Stanley won then they could say 'I was there'. If we are top towards the end of the season these 'supporters' will come just to say 'I was there'. When we got promotion from Unibond first division - 2468 for the last match, the first home game the season after attracted just over 500 as far as I can remember. It's not the toilets, it's not the lack of roof, it's not the £12, it's just the 'can't be bothered' attitude of the population of Accrington. If we win the Conference there will be a full house at IES, the first home game next season will have a full house, but after that ??????????????
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Geez! There are some depressing points of view around here. Anyone would think this is the 1998-99 season all over again and we're about to be relegated, not on the verge of making history!
"Accrington Stanley, the club that refused to die" ... sounds like it's on a ventilator by some of the comments here.
Maybe all those clever people on the confguide forum are right and we will only go bankrupt again if we get promoted to the Football League because the Accrington people are so apathetic
I've been through too many seasons, since before Shurm first put on a Stanley shirt, to not notice the tremendous progress this club has made and particularly under Coley and Eric. We have shown with the attendances that have been mentioned already in this thread what can be achieved and particularly the attendances that we sustained in the first Conference season.
Jeff is right to say that people from Accrington like to identify themselves with Stanley when talking to people from elsewhere. That is a legacy of our history, how many other Conference clubs can claim the same? Morecambe? Alty? Southport? Grays? And it is that attachment to the club, however passive, that shows that we can survive and prosper at a higher level. We may not turn everyone into hard-core committed fans, but there is a very large market out there for Accrington Stanley, the club.
Do we truly believe that we have reached as far as we can in terms of support? If so, and promotion is at best, pointless, and at worst, dangerous, what is the point of carrying on paying £12 to watch home games and spending a lot more on away games. What is football without ambition? And what a kick in the teeth is such an attitude to the likes of Jase who do so much to 'drum' up support!
Yes, Wynonie Harris, attendances have fallen in the last few games, but there is a very clear reason for this as outlined in my first post. Are attendances abnormally low for home games in Accrington in late November to mid-December? No!
2003-04
Sat 29th Nov, home vs Barnet, won 2-0, 1120 people watched
Sat 13th Dec, home vs Aldershot, won 4-2, 1407 people watched
2004-05
Sat 27th Nov, home vs Canvey Island, won 1-0, 1249 people watched
Sat 18th Dec, home vs Dagenham & Redbridge, lost 3-0, 1131 people watched
2004-05
Sat 26th Nov, home vs Southport, won 2-0, 1630 people watched
Sat 3rd Dec, home vs Atrincham, won 1-0, 1436 people watched
Sat 10th Dec, home vs Kidderminster, won 2-0, 1336 people watched
In my first post, I tried to show how
compared to previous seasons, we are attracting as many people as normally do to home matches
at this stage of the year, and if anything, we are bringing more people to the ground than previously.
The psychological factor of the £12 admission has been mentioned and I'd also say it's a factor, but certainly no more than the conditions that people encounter once they've paid their money, or even beforehand in terms of the conditions underfoot outside the ground.
Some simple facts. In the 1988/89 season, there was a total attendance of 18.5 million across all league games; last season the figure was 30 million.
Sky has played its part in attracting newer fans to the game of football, but the rapid rise in ticket prices has put just as many people off. The difference post-1988/89 season was the Taylor Report following the Hillsborough disaster and clubs were forced to spend money on renovating their stadiums and making the whole experience of watching a football game much more enjoyable.
The Club has made a lot of progress in that respect since I started coming to games, but there is generalised unhappiness about the conditions at the ground. As the club has progressed, we have come to expect more; as newer people have come to watch the team, they have come to expect more.
I can live without a Clayton End roof and clean toilets and stand in the rain in my mud-coated shoes so long as the money is going into the team and the dream of returning to the League becomes a reality. And with success on the pitch, more and more people from Accy will come to watch and say that they were there when we made history. We have shown that a very large number of people from Accy will come and watch us.
If 2,468 turned up for a Unibond Premier League game, how many do you think will turn up when we are about to return to the Football League?
The potential market is there, I have no doubt about that, but we will only keep a large number of them if we make a significant investment in the facilities at the club to make it more comfortable for them. The Club has announced grand designs for renovating the ground
if we achieve promotion; they are long overdue IMO.