The apathy argument isn’t completely valid. I put together a few stats when there was the debate about crowds last season.
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<TABLE class=MsoTableGrid style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 480; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-border-insideh: .5pt solid #999999; mso-border-insidev: .5pt solid #999999" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=1><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #999999 1pt solid; WIDTH: 132.8pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=177>
Team</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
Borough</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 67.65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=90>
Population</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
Ave. gate</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 32.45pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=43>
%</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #999999 1pt solid; WIDTH: 132.8pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=177>
Brentford</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
Hounslow</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 67.65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=90>
218,600</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
4,477</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 32.45pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=43>
2.1</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 2"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #999999 1pt solid; WIDTH: 132.8pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=177>
Barnet</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
Barnet</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 67.65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=90>
328,600</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
2,076</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 32.45pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=43>
0.6</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 3"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #999999 1pt solid; WIDTH: 132.8pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=177>
Dagenham & Redbridge</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
Barking</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 67.65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=90>
165,700</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
1,915</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 32.45pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=43>
1.2</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 4"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #999999 1pt solid; WIDTH: 132.8pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=177>
Hayes & Yeading</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
Hillingdon</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 67.65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=90>
250,000</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
241</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 32.45pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=43>
0.1</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 5; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #999999 1pt solid; WIDTH: 132.8pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=177>
Stanley</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
Hyndburn</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 67.65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=90>
71,224</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 65pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=87>
1,631</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #e0dfe3; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #e0dfe3; WIDTH: 32.45pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #999999 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #999999 .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #999999 .5pt" vAlign=top width=43>
2.3</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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Living in a metropolis offers a different perspective. Here are the London clubs in League 2 and below, with their borough populations, average attendance so far this season both numerically and as a percentage of the area population. In all these cases, including Hayes & Yeading, the teams are the most senior in their borough. The most senior team in the borough I live, Ealing, is Hanwell Town, a tiny semi-pro club that attract a couple of hundred in a borough of over 300,000 people that has no Football League representation.
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I guess the main thing to get across when we’re beating ourselves up about gates is to realise just how small Accrington is compared to some of these places. At our level of football, the vast majority of our support is going to come from the locality, yet if Barnet attracted the same proportion of their local population as us, then their average gate would be over 9,000. The proportion of Hyndburn’s population who come to Stanley regularly is actually more akin to League 1 levels, such as Leyton Orient, whose average of 5,300 works out at 2.4% of Waltham Forest’s population. And we have just the same problems as these London clubs in that there is Premiership and Championship football available close by.
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I’m not arguing that we should be happy with our current gates, for we are clearly on the edges of Football League sustainability, but this does offer some perspective and suggests that Accrington is not exactly apathy-central. I agree with much of what Rob says, especially about establishing a more visual presence in the town, but the club is in an impossible situation trying to undercut Blackburn Rovers’ admission prices. They are being vastly subsidised by Sky. Even Burnley will be in receipt of around £1.2 million of Sky money this season. In the face of this quite unlevel playing field, it’s quite a risk to drop your prices when we are barely subsisting as we are. One potential downside with a £10 admission offer is that the club would have no choice but to revert to the full prices if the initiative fails to attract the numbers to make it pay, and this would undoubtedly cause more discontent. Perhaps one way round this is to try the initiative for the final few games, or to have a donation facility, so that £10 gets you on the ground, but you can then donate a few quid more if you want to. There have been some excellent ideas put forward on this thread; let’s hope that the club, or the OSC, can see some of through to fruition.
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Phil