Tonights Gate
 

Coley has just been on Sky slagging off the people of Accrington for not attending tonights game. The attendance was given as 2667 when I and lots of others around me heard that we laughed as it was clear there was a lot more than that. In my opinion if we continue to give the attendance figure lower and I mean a lot lower than the actual number the tax man is going to notice and in the eyes of the away fans we become a laughing stock for having such a poor support.

Even for allowing for the Eric factor I was expecting a few more on tonight, where's the roof!!!

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We're losing so many potential punters on nights like this (weather-wise) with the lack of a roof & seats.
There was easy over 3000 on tonight though with at least a third from Darlo I reck.
Does anyone know what was going on with the floodlights? Could hardly make out the names on the shirts after 60/70 mins.

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There were a few gaps around the mid terrace tonight, I also felt that the turnout was little disappointing for whatever reason I had expected more. Maybe when the lads settle down a little and start winning the gate will rise a little.

A roo (there’s no f in roof) would have been nice tonight, I’ll be taking a hat at the weekend.

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Don't know about the floodlights but that spotlight on level with the half way line was a pain, I'm surprised their goalkeeper never complained to the ref who had a top name Mr A.R.Hall

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Getting a roof maybe a start, especially after tonight certainly a drenching & winter ain't even upon us!!

Lol Bagpuss yeh that light was bright, what was it on for?

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[quote=Doug]There were a few gaps around the mid terrace tonight, I also felt that the turnout was little disappointing for whatever reason I had expected more. Maybe when the lads settle down a little and start winning the gate will rise a little.

What worried me was where the extra 3000 we could have fitted in would have gone - there wasn't a seat to be had & the away end looked pretty full until all the tough north easteners went & hid under the terrace roof when the rain started.

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Hehehehehehe that was so funny we were waiting for how long they would run & hide under shelter - so maybe not so tough after all LOL:D

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I feel that I have to complain over the way the supporters under the shed were treated. First they were told you can have all the full length of the whinney Hill Terrace, then after the rain started, the supporters who were at the coppice end of the terrace were shunted along to the clayton end. What with these extra bodies, and the people taking shelter from the Clayton end, you just could not move, it was all getting a little dangerous. My Grandsons wanted to go to the Loo, and they had one hell of a job to get out.Half a Terrace that is supposedly to hold approx 450 people, had now become shelter for about 1200, bodies. something has to be done about this situation because it's going to happen a lot more, with the increase in away supporters, and the bad weather to come. if there is no covering behind the goals people will stop attending, when it's raining. Regarding the attendance figure given, I would have thought well over 4000,the stand was full, even allowing for Directors ect, ther would have been over 1100 sat down, I also think that Darlington brought more like 1100 than 700 odd. yes I agree that consistently knocking the gate down by so many will lead not only to trouble for the Club, but will give stanley a bad name , and laughing stock, amongst League 2 clubs. So come on Eric get that Covering on at least the Clayton end, please.

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Yeah it looked very squished at that end Tommy certainly pathetic to have segregation then break it at whinney end or whats the point of having it - plus could cause a lot of trouble & safety issues, though there was a safety officer over there. I braved the rain rather than brave the squishing, but it is a cause for concern to which i hope the club will take note of, as problems come to light.

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the numbers coming into the ground through all turnstiles are monitored electronically and the real time attendance is displayed on at least five monitors around the ground. our systems for counting spectators into the ground cost nearly £10,000 and have been approved by all bodies that we are answerable to, including the county council and the footall league.

the post makes very serious allegations against the club, it is at best uneducated and could cause all kinds of trouble, if anyone is in any doubt as to the suitability of our monitoring equipment then please raise your concerns with me and i will be happy to show you our system.

rob

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Perhaps that one was especially bright to make up for the middle light on the stand side which has had a bulb out for two years?

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Ok, does the new system count all bodies coming through the turnstiles or just paying supporters. The attendance figure given does it include everyone in the ground, season ticket holders, sponsers etc. Does the system tell you if a certain area of the ground is full because if it does then it doesn't work very good as you found out last night when too many people where admitted to the seating area and you had to offer them their money back or go and stand in the rain.

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I also heard JC's rant on SKY last night and was dismayed to hear him taking out his frustratons about a mediocre performance (apart from the first 30 mins) by criticising the attendance. Especially silly was his suggestion that lack of interest was the reason for the club's disappearance in 1962.

I actually think a crowd of 2700 on a cold, wet tues night was quite respectable, especially when compared with the 'crowds' we were getting 10, 5, or even 2 years ago.

Just because we're in the football league doesn't necessarily mean that we're suddenly going to be drawing in weekly crowds of 4-5000. A huge problem is that most of the people in Accy already support much larger, more established teams, eg BFC, BRFC, MUFC, It'll take years for us to regularly attract 5000 fans (not that theres any guarantee we will - think of mid 90s Wimbledon!). This can only be done by establishing ouselves as a decent football league side. We're heading in the right direction, so if we all keep united and get behind the team as much as poss, i'm sure this will happen

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Spot on fella, there are only so many football fans in Accrington & many have other allegiances. When entrance fees were less, floating fans could have there fix of 2 teams. Now we are probably a real rival to our near neighbours. Expect to see less & less BFC & BRFC fans as we climb the leagues.

Standing on the Clayton Terrace you could tell there were only 2600 on it was empty!!!!

Good NEws though Macclesfield had 1800 on !

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"I would have thought well over 4000,the stand was full, even allowing for Directors ect, ther would have been over 1100 sat down, I also think that Darlington brought more like 1100 than 700 odd"

What is it with you people? We have never had anything like a full house on here. Rovers v. Burnley cup tie in 1960 with 56,000 on - now that was a full house - I only saw the ball when it was hoofed in the air! Last night on the Clayton end we were moaning about what a poor gate it was - 2600 was obviously about right. I don't think the weather was an excuse, as it was perfectly OK about the time most people would have been setting off for the ground - plenty of lovely wet T-shirts to be seen later though. The Accy public will NOT turn out in big numbers unless we are riding high in the league, or on a good cup run, and comparisons with the fold-up 44 years ago are completely valid. It hurt like hell to see the poor turn out for such a momentous occasion, but it's no good beating ourselves up about it. The lack of a roof IS a factor and if we don't speculate on a roof very soon things will only get worse. C'mon Eric, swallow your pride and get some investment in please.<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- edit note -->

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Don't really see your point about a full house. Surely the size of the 'house' will dictate when it's full? A bungalow will be a full house sooner than a mansion?
I also don't see how leaguie position is linked to high attendances. We were top of the Conference for nearly 5 months, but never drew in enormous crowds. ;)

I do agree, however, that a roof is essential. I firmly believe that cover and shelter would have a positive impact on Winter attendances.

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spot on redraine

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Sounds good to me. :)

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I'm up for that I'm really interested on how the crowd figure is counted as I still don't believe it was the one announced last night.:p

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Sponsor a game between you.. you then get full guided tour.... I think?


Away support numbers where true because before it rained they where all on coppice end and the half of cow shed was empty (proper half from half way line totally empty...coppice wasnt full and cowshed half empty so 700+ is about right

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Posh room? I was talking about a home game tha knows :)

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Right........you mean the room with no roof......:)

I'd prefer the clayton end, even in the rain. but I would like to have a good look round. perhaps meet a few souls.

What about an open day? Beer, booze and a bag of chips. Tour of the ground and a open forum chat with the men behind the club. :)

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An open day.. thats an excellent idea.. people can just drop in anytime and also tell school who can bring down parties of kids to look around..

I think thats a spot on idea doug.... mail the club...

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Great idea, chaps! I'd be up for that!

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[quote=Tin Monkey]Don't really see your point about a full house. Surely the size of the 'house' will dictate when it's full? A bungalow will be a full house sooner than a mansion?
I also don't see how leaguie position is linked to high attendances. We were top of the Conference for nearly 5 months, but never drew in enormous crowds. ;)


I was just pointing out that even our relatively small ground was nowhere near full by any standards - I realise that many of our present spectators have never experienced a swaying, surging, jam packed mass of bodies and am not for one minute advocating going back to the old days of few or no safety measures.
True, our gates did not improve massively last season, but I'm sure they would have been a damn sight less if we had been struggling! Hopefully, when we find our feet in this league we can achieve a noticeable increase by the end of the season.

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Its a nice little room with racing on the telly and some butties and a sign which says Do not touch the pies, for players only. :rofl38: After being away from Accy for a few years that really made me feel at home.

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Being in the control tower I help monitor the capacity within the seregated areas via a computer program linked to sensors in all the turnstiles (including the old pass gate), this enabled us to redirect people last night away from the seating to the clayton end when the stand was indeed nearing capacity. And I can tell you the number of people who came through those turnstiles last night was exactly the same number as that of the announced attendance. Please don't cast asspertions on the club like this, it can cause a lot of serious problems, kinda like me accusing someone of embezzling from their workplace without any kind of evidence to prove it.

Not on people, just not on.

However I too would like to know where the othere 2,500 people would fit!!!!

I would also like to thank the Darlo fans for being absolutely no trouble at all, you were a credit to your club, and I wish you all the best in the coming season.

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Don't talk rubbish if this was the case then the system is not working correctly, I and I have other witnesses saw and heard people who had paid for a seat being offered their money back or a refund and entry to the Clayton end because they had gone through the turnstiles when there where no seats left, stop trying to bully me.:mad:

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I'm not trying to bully you!!! There were a few single seats left, I know I was the one trying to seat everyone in that stand. Some people are just bloody minded though, like you and will not accept that if you come in a party of 2 or more at 2 minutes to kick off you may not get to sit together. Also I believe I was involved in the conversation you are refering to and the person in question had a disability where they actually could not sit down, this took a while to sort as the disability was not adequately explained or easily visible to the steward in the first instance, we had a lot of people trying to swing the lead last night because they came in through the wrong turnstiles for the clayton end terrace, even though it's been in every local paper. This was initially thought to be one of those cases and after further discussion and an adequate explanation, it was easily sorted. In fact we had a laugh and a joke about it in the bar after the game with the person involved.

I have noticed in recent weeks that a lot of people on this messageboard have decided to have a go at the club at every available opportunity and you Bagpuss are one of those people. I'll repeat what kipax has said (not verbatim) so it's clear for you

THIS IS A LEARNING CURVE AND EVERYONE IS GOING TO HAVE TO BE A LITTLE PATIENT.

Accept it the club is going forward whether you like it or not, just make sure you go through the right turnstiles for where you want to be. WE ARE FOOTBALL LEAGUE NOW.

All I wanted to do was explain it a little further to you and I get called a bully. How am I a bully? I was bullied all the way through school, I know what bullies are.

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1st home game 2002 v Runcorn - attendance 602

1st home game 2006 v Darlo - attendance 2667

That's an increase of over 400%!!! In 4 years!!! Yes, the attendance was slightly dissapointing but remember how far we've come in such a short space of time!!!

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Just seen this post, very disappointing comments from JC for me its as simple as this.

first game back in the league at home, every1 knows its gonna be busy so the seats will all be taken.

WHY GO THE GAME TO GET SOAKED???

Yes for the die hards its a must see game, but the club needs to be encouraging the armchair fans and that im afraid means 1 thing.....


A ROOF FOR GODS SAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Unfortunately people

Unless anyone has a spare £100,000 then a roof will be only a pipedream. Now if the gods could just see it for a decent cup run :D :D

Fanbases come with time, history, tradition.... in real terms we've been in the league for 2 games out of 44 years. It'll take ten years in the league to generate a new generation of red men (& ladies)

KEEP THE FAITH & enjoy the ride
If people stay away then its there loss:D

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Which takes me back to the first line of this thread - "Coley has just been on Sky slagging off the people of Accrington for not attending tonights game."
You stick to what you do best John and the people will come.

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[quote=Willie Miller
Unless anyone has a spare £100,000 then a roof will be only a pipedream. Now if the gods could just see it for a decent cup run :D :D

Does anyone know if it has been costed? $100,000 (damn this American keyboard) seems excessive for a simple structure - any ideas?

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Good idea Doug but please forget the chips, I had the misfortune of tasting one of those last night at the match - never again i'll tell you :eek:

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[quote=Willie Miller
Unless anyone has a spare £100,000 then a roof will be only a pipedream. Now if the gods could just see it for a decent cup run :D :D ]

Starting with Forest on the 21st and including all the money from Sky T.V. (Don't know what the fees are) would be a start.

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Slagging off fans is no way to get them to come to games. People will come if they want, and stay at home if they want. Slagging off just gets people more likely to stay at home. Perhaps many were still on holiday ?

I personally think 2.7k is not bad for a small town the size of Accy. Expect this to be the average for the season. Not going to get much bigger for run of the mill games.

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if perhaps somebody had a spare 100k would the club accept the money and build a roof? Would it fit in with their plans?


If you are reading this and have 100k spare then please spare a thought for the poor wet people of Accrington and remember that dry and warm Ultras sing louder than cold and wet Ultras.

Anybody?

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All in all, I would've hoped with a town population of 33,000(ish) that at least 1 in 10 would want to see the first home league game of the club in 44 years.
Not only for football purposes, but for something to be proud of in Accy - I mean come on - what else is there?! Bricks?!

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:engsmil:The Accrington Pals. :engsmil:

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Just a thought - are season ticket holders counted amongst the gate?

Because surely the money paid for season tickets was paid, declared and taxed weeks ago, so would not be counted on top of 2600 paying guests.

Or are the turnstiles there to merely count ins and outs?

And we do have quite a lot of staff and sponsors and various other freeloaders who make the main stand appear more packed than it is.

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I asked the same question earlier in the thread thats when Rob got on his high horse.