Saints attendances this season

[Thedelldays]

Just been reading the uglies page and Nick I, has been having a right old pop at the attendance figures lately..

 

I do agree with Nick I. alot but I think he is has gone mad on this one..

 

he reckons that we should be getting bigger crowds as we sold out every week in the prem and we got 31k against exeter..

 

now, I can see his point in a black and white way of thinking..but to be honest, the crowds we get in div 3 (our lowest for 50 years) are very good imo...saints are NO DIFFERENT from nearly every other club in the country in that, the higher up the leagues/more successful you are the bigger crowds, the lower you are etc etc etc..

 

bit of an odd arguement IMO

Edited 10 January, 2010 by Thedelldays

[Saint_clark]

He's been taking a high and mighty stance all season on how he's a better fan than all those who don't go.

[Ponty]

Who cares what he thinks, tbh? Lower crowds are normal in lower leagues and we do better than most.

[Minty]

Agree with TDD. It's not a black and white argument, there are different fans who have different priorities and for some the league we play in and opponents we face ARE important unfortunately.

 

Money obviously comes into it... for example I used to go to every game a few years ago but simply can't afford to at present, but I will be getting back there later this year as things improve (new job, gradually sorting things out).

 

Personally I think we're showing good crowds considering where we are and what we've been through and I am quite proud of our following overall.

[Thedelldays]

agree minty...to me paying £20-odd quid for a ticket to travel up from plymouth for a div 3 game is not a great deal for my money..where as I did so most weekends in the prem..and more so in the CCC etc

 

I wont hide saying it

[fatpix2003]

Nick illingsworth is a t.I.t fullstop

[Bearsy]

He's got the right idea, if he guilts a few more more people into making the effort then that can only be good for the club.

 

Big crowds would be as likely to help our playoff push as big signings imo.

[Minty]

Nick is entitled to his opinion and we're entitled to disagree with it. Having an opinion doesn't make him a tit... or if it did, we're ALL tits.

[Toadhall Saint]

I think Nick just wants to stimulate a debate about what the attendances should be. I'm not saying I agree with him on this one in particular but its a reasonable debate.

 

Oh and can people stop playing the man instead how about debating the points.

[Thedelldays]

Nick illingsworth is a t.I.t fullstop

I dont think he is...says what he thinks..that is all

 

mostly I agree with him..sometimes I dont...that is about it

[sfcuk fan]

I have'nt been to st marys yet this season

 

Not because we're not in the premiership or anything like that but simply because I am self employed in construction in a recession and I simply cannot afford it

 

I suspect many of the missing crowd are in the same boat.

 

.

[View From The Top]

Apart from a few anorak types who really cares?

 

We had people moaning about a big crowd against Exeter as there were too many kids/families and it diluted the atmosphere.

 

I'm doing a 360 mile round trip my 7yo for all weekend home games simply because we are enjoying the football. If others choose not to why should it bother me?

[fatpix2003]

The reason I believe he is a tit is because when we were in Romania I had a conversation with the guy, and he basically said I wasn't a proper fan because I couldn't afford to go to every game home and away, even the chap who was with him called him a tit and said "you can't say that", so by calling him a tit i'm not even using my own words. So from my experience with him, I think I'm entitled to think the blokes a tit

[alpine_saint]

Just been reading the uglies page and Nick I, has been having a right old pop at the attendance figures lately..

 

I do agree with Nick I. alot but I think he is has gone mad on this one..

 

he reckons that we should be getting bigger crowds as we sold out every week in the prem and we got 31k against exeter..

 

now, I can see his point in a black and white way of thinking..but to be honest, the crowds we get in div 3 (our lowest for 50 years) are very good imo...saints are NO DIFFERENT from nearly every other club in the country in that, the higher up the leagues/more successful you are the bigger crowds, the lower you are etc etc etc..

 

bit of an odd arguement IMO

 

He's been taking the moral high ground on this for ages. Its a real bug-bear of his. His main argument is that it encourages the owner to dig deep an pay for players.

 

Dare I say it, but if we really coughed up £1.5m for Fonte and sign another player this week for £1m, it would seem ML is satisfied enough by the attendance, so it is time for Illingsworth to shut the f**k up.

[alpine_saint]

Nick is entitled to his opinion and we're entitled to disagree with it. Having an opinion doesn't make him a tit... or if it did, we're ALL tits.

 

No, but his "fan on the board" campaign makes him a tit.

[up and away]

Just been reading the uglies page and Nick I, has been having a right old pop at the attendance figures lately..

 

I do agree with Nick I. alot but I think he is has gone mad on this one..

 

he reckons that we should be getting bigger crowds as we sold out every week in the prem and we got 31k against exeter..

 

now, I can see his point in a black and white way of thinking..but to be honest, the crowds we get in div 3 (our lowest for 50 years) are very good imo...saints are NO DIFFERENT from nearly every other club in the country in that, the higher up the leagues/more successful you are the bigger crowds, the lower you are etc etc etc..

 

bit of an odd arguement IMO

 

I think most of this stems from all the previous comments about fans not going whilst Lowe was there. It has been clearly shown that this was all bollix and I thought Nicks take on this was spot on. Now with all the blaggers out the way you are left with reality and the premise no longer applies.

 

I don't think you can really argue with the crowds we are getting now, things have changed a lot in the last decade or two. Even if you are a fan, you have so much competition for your money over the week, it's only a top rate product that is going to consistently sell out.

 

I am not completely sure we would revert back to our previous full house if we returned to the Premier? That was driven by a very high number of season tickets and about 5000 coming for Premier football, although with a soft spot for Saints, more interested in the football. That left about 5000 for those that bought tickets on the day and extra "away" supports locally.

 

One of the main reasons we had so many season ticket holders before was because of the limited capacity of the Dell resulting in virtually 100% season tickets. That carried on when we moved to St Mary's and when you get such a high level of season ticket holders it has that add on effect. If we don't revert back to those high season ticket levels, it would not surprise me for our average attendances in the Premier to be a couple of thousand down on previous.

[View From The Top]

I think most of this stems from all the previous comments about fans not going whilst Lowe was there. It has been clearly shown that this was all bollix and I thought Nicks take on this was spot on. Now with all the blaggers out the way you are left with reality and the premise no longer applies.

 

Except of course gates are up 15% and plenty of boycotters, like myself and the others I sit with, now have season tickets despite going down a league.

[Jackie@home]

Up and Away, that will depend on how we do when we, eventually, get back in the Premiership. At present, we have absolutely no way of predicting what gates will be in a few years time. I can't see that there are that many more claims on your money than 10 or 20 years ago. Apart from my internet connection, which fits well with watching football, I'm still spending my spare money on the same things I did 10-20 years ago.

 

I don't think Illingsworth should be moaning about gates, though. There is a recession on, after all. There are plenty of people who just can't afford it at present. Also, all Premier League clubs attract spectators who just want to watch top flight football - there is no reason why we should be any different.

[Redbul]

One of the main reasons we had so many season ticket holders before was because of the limited capacity of the Dell resulting in virtually 100% season tickets. That carried on when we moved to St Mary's and when you get such a high level of season ticket holders it has that add on effect. If we don't revert back to those high season ticket levels, it would not surprise me for our average attendances in the Premier to be a couple of thousand down on previous.

 

That's pretty spot on. It used to be the only way you could get to see a game at the Dell.

 

Nick does have a point but everyone has their own priorities on what they lay out their cash on and there is a recession which makes it even harder for some.

 

For me, I am pleased at the numbers attending matches at SMS in Div 3, it could be far worse; look at some of the attendance figures for some clubs in the Prem, stadiums are getting less full all the time so I think we're doing okay.

[The9]

Except of course gates are up 15% and plenty of boycotters, like myself and the others I sit with, now have season tickets despite going down a league.

 

Except of course we're winning games rather than losing them, and we're not fielding most of the youth team every week, so crowds are bound to be higher.

 

If we get back to the Prem we'd get 30k plus for every game in the first season and average over 28k after that. The club has a massive catchment area and fans from all over who will come to see top level football regularly but Div 3 football a lot less often.

 

Exeter on Dec 26th proved the fanbase is still around.

[ringwood]

Well this season for the first time I bought season tickets, last season I was one of those that stayed away whilst Lowe was there.

 

I take in the occasional away game , so not quite sure where NI's debate puts me, I think the bigest problem is a lot of people have fallen out of the habit of going to games and it needs results to ignite the interest and provide the motivation to get along to SMS.

[Gorgiesaint]

I would say that the Exeter game on boxing day is not a good game to use in discussions about potential attendances. Boxing Day is traditionally a day which gets additional walk up support - I had not been to SMS this season until I was back in the area for Christmas so went to the Exeter game.

 

I, like many fans, just can't get back on a regular basis (after all I now live in Edinburgh and work on a Saturday), not sure what Nick I would make of that?!

[Huntingdon]

Who gives a toss what he thinks!

 

His whole life is dominated by feelings of self-importance, TDD has just stroked his ego even further by starting a thread on him

[StDunko]

I think most of this stems from all the previous comments about fans not going whilst Lowe was there. It has been clearly shown that this was all bollix and I thought Nicks take on this was spot on. Now with all the blaggers out the way you are left with reality and the premise no longer applies.

 

I was a Lowe boycotter and have been to most home games and 4 away games this season. Crowds are up 15% and also far more fans seem to be travelling away too.

 

If Lowe was still here with us in League 1, what do you think our average attendance would be?????

 

My guess would be around 12K max.

[smackalec]

Who gives a toss what he thinks!

 

His whole life is dominated by feelings of self-importance, TDD has just stroked his ego even further by starting a thread on him

 

bang on assessment

[Third Division South Days]

Apart from a few anorak types who really cares?

 

We had people moaning about a big crowd against Exeter as there were too many kids/families and it diluted the atmosphere.

 

I'm doing a 360 mile round trip my 7yo for all weekend home games simply because we are enjoying the football. If others choose not to why should it bother me?

 

Kids can be a pain at times as I'm sure I was. The club should be applauded for the pricing policy which encourages youngster in who hopefully become fans for life. The benefits of this policy ensures the future of the club long after ML and NC have moved on.

[fatpix2003]

Who gives a toss what he thinks!

 

His whole life is dominated by feelings of self-importance, TDD has just stroked his ego even further by starting a thread on him

 

Hear hear

[Saint-Fred]

IMO people like Nick I bring nothing to Southampton Football Club. His rantings are devisive and his only goal is to promote his own self importance.

In fact if Nick went to support another club tomorrow Southampton FC would be a better place...There are not many fans that you can say that about!

[VectisSaint]

Bigger crowds than last season and bigger crowds than some Prem and most Championship teams. Nick is entitled to his opinion but IMHO he is way off the mark on this one. In a recession when generally football crowds are down we are bucking the trend in spades. I think maybe there are other things to worry about, though I can't think of many these days as far as Saints are concerned.

[suewhistle]

I think they've been pretty good, all things considered (quality of the football, recession etc.) and a lot better than many clubs, especially if you look at the FA cup figures; some of which were appalling.

 

Let's face it, it's been depressing to be a Saints fan for a few years now. I get in 3/4 games a year at the start of the season and at Christmas when I'm back in the UK. Exeter was the first win I'd seen in 3+ years! I'm now even vaguely (don't want to be too optimistic) considering my options should it be necessary to get to any important games in May...

 

The signing of Fonte and possibly AN Other should also have a positive impact.

[oxfordshire_saint]

We're in an economic meltdown, up until this season the football's been garbage for the last few years and ticket prices haven't really came down that much and we're in the 3rd tier.

 

All of the above contribute to low attendances, it's the same for every club.

 

Fair play to season ticket holders, I applaud the commitment, but I switch off when they take the "I'm a better fan than you" approach.

 

Since I was able to afford to go to football regularly (2002) I've been to 15-20 games a season consistently, with at least 4 or 5 of those every year being away games, this is all I can afford to do with the time and money that I have. I know Saints fans who can only get to 3 or 4 games a season, I don't consider myself any better than them.

 

The only fans of any clubs I will ever rip on are the ones who constantly spout off about their club despite going to 0 games and only ever seeing them from the comfort of their armchair when their team is live on Sky.

 

Personally I think our attendances are bloody good at the moment and show we truly are a big club.

[Saint-Fred]

IMO people like Nick I bring nothing to Southampton Football Club. His rantings are devisive and his only goal is to promote his own self importance.

In fact if Nick went to support another club tomorrow Southampton FC would be a better place...There are not many fans that you can say that about!

 

Actually that's a bit strong and probably not really that fair so i take that back...However it is not right to be accusing one fan of being better than another simply through attendances.. Otherwise we only have a few real fans who go to everygame, every year (take the lowest attendance for an away game and that's your lot..As other said there are many demands on our time and money and as much as we dislike it, Saints cannot always be the number 1 priority for all of us.

[sperm_john]

correct me if i'm wrong :

 

southampton population circa 250 k

portsmouth population circa 90 k

bournemouth/poole population circa 300 k

 

the irony that bournemouth has the biggest surrounding population but only attracts approx 6 thousand a game???

 

nothing really to do with the attendance argument, for what its worth I think out attendances have been good this season, but can always be better, I think with 250 k circa population theres always room for growth in the future too when we finally become premiership again and improve our stadium

[ringwood]

bournemouth/poole circa 300k , yes well quite a few Saints fans in a town thats not interested in football infact name a seaside resort town that has a good following

 

for a lot of fans its more than the cost of a ticket its the cost of travel and the investment in time as well

[krissyboy31]

correct me if i'm wrong :

 

southampton population circa 250 k

portsmouth population circa 90 k

bournemouth/poole population circa 300 k

 

the irony that bournemouth has the biggest surrounding population but only attracts approx 6 thousand a game???

 

nothing really to do with the attendance argument, for what its worth I think out attendances have been good this season, but can always be better, I think with 250 k circa population theres always room for growth in the future too when we finally become premiership again and improve our stadium

 

Southampton's population is 235,000 and Portsmouth's 198,000. Greater Southampton, including the Borough of Eastleigh, Romsey and Waterside takes it up to around 480,000. Greater Portsmouth including Fareham, Havant etc. is approx 440,000.

[Jackie@home]

Sperm John, as anyone from Poole could tell you, Poole and Bournemouth are 2 separate towns; it does not follow that as you come from Poole you will support Bournemouth. My father has lived in Poole all his life but has never been to Dean Court - he watched Saints and Poole. There were quite a lot of people years back who moved from Southampton to Poole with their jobs in marine engineering and brought the tradition of supporting the Saints with them, both my grandads included.

[jam]

agree minty...to me paying £20-odd quid for a ticket to travel up from plymouth for a div 3 game is not a great deal for my money..where as I did so most weekends in the prem..and more so in the CCC etc

 

I wont hide saying it

 

I think that you've struck on a common thought in that people perceive us as paying pretty much the same as we did when we were in the prem. Having a quick look at ticket prices one can see that most prem clubs charge a good £10 or more higher than us for tickets.

 

As we've fallen down the league, our ticket prices haven't changed much. No doubt if we were still in the prem, tickets would be well above £30.

 

I'd assume most fans are unaware of how expensive tickets for prem games generally are now and so are also unaware that our tickets are comparatively cheaper, reflecting our league standing.

[SparkySaint]

He's been taking a high and mighty stance all season on how he's a better fan than all those who don't go.

 

I hope he went to Hartlepool

[david in sweden]

He's been taking the moral high ground on this for ages. Its a real bug-bear of his. His main argument is that it encourages the owner to dig deep an pay for players.

 

Dare I say it, but if we really coughed up £1.5m for Fonte and sign another player this week for £1m, it would seem ML is satisfied enough by the attendance, so it is time for Illingsworth to shut the f**k up.

 

 

Of course, there is a core of fans who come wind or high water, but every club has its following and every good run of wins add a few hundred more to the gate. I stood in 16,000 crowds at The Dell for several decades and as I recall the extra "fans" never seem to make much difference to the crowd noise.

 

Messers Liebherr/Cortese are business men.They know an enterprise needs investment (at their level - SMS and Saints were " a steal ".) Buying top class CCC players for £1mill. are also a steal.

Most clubs can only afford to breed them and then sell them on to other clubs who have money.

 

They also know that a new business generally makes zero profit in the first year. By the time we get up to the top end of CCC..the investment will grow bigger and 30,000 crowds will be more commonplace - its just a matter of time.

Edited 10 January, 2010 by david in sweden

[St Marco]

If you took a lot of the prem teams and bunged them in division three i doubt many would get the sort of attendances teams like us and Leeds have been getting. I for one am very proud of our attendances.

[up and away]

Up and Away, that will depend on how we do when we, eventually, get back in the Premiership. At present, we have absolutely no way of predicting what gates will be in a few years time. I can't see that there are that many more claims on your money than 10 or 20 years ago. Apart from my internet connection, which fits well with watching football, I'm still spending my spare money on the same things I did 10-20 years ago.

 

I don't think Illingsworth should be moaning about gates, though. There is a recession on, after all. There are plenty of people who just can't afford it at present. Also, all Premier League clubs attract spectators who just want to watch top flight football - there is no reason why we should be any different.

 

Yes, I can see that point, time will tell on that one. I do know from the last couple of seasons how much effects costs had on supporters sitting around me, in a depression with all the travel costs, etc. It is a very big lump out of the average wage earner. The costs are so much higher for the travelling supporter today, of which Saints have a large proportion.

 

The one thing I did notice from some fans who gave up their season tickets, was that the mind set was not necessarily fixated on every other Saturday. With other activities coming into the equation along with a whole host of other pressures, some just drifted away.

 

I think Nick had a point previously but that has long gone and is no longer valid. You have to get the buzz and excitement going again for fans to pay through the pain. Even last year we had a few very high crowds either down to ManU or the price being right to entice fans out.

 

As to the other questions regarding whether we would have similar crowds in this league now under Lowe, I don't think there would be much difference. But Lowe would have to have dropped season tickets to the current level and have been prepared to invest in the team the same as Liebherr. Our gates following Premier relegation were still good and we even managed some massive crowds last season.

[alpine_saint]

Of course, there is a core of fans who come wind or high water, but every club has its following and every good run of wins add a few hundred more to the gate. I stood in 16,000 crowds at The Dell for several decades and as I recall the extra "fans" never seem to make much difference to the crowd noise.

 

 

You are preaching to the converted, mate.

 

Whilst there were people on here screaming about SFC "cutting its cloth" and the "financial prudence" of getting high wage-earners off the bill being the answer to all our ills under Lowe, I was arguing that having a few good players on high wages would pay for itself because it would enable the team to deliver results that would pull fair-weather fans in to SMS.

 

Of course, I got called all the names under the sun for daring to say that Lowes "prudence" was self-defeating b*ll*cks.

[Neil]

I think the home attendances are pretty good, but we should still be trying to improve them whilst there are empty seats. The ST prices have to be right next season, this season they were a bit too high which has meant more empty seats than necessary. We could do with increasing our support from within the city of Southampton, getting fans back in the habit of Saturday afternoon football, a few beers with their mates etc.

 

The away attendances have also generally been good (Orient/H'pool/Carlisle), but we need to take more to the likes of Millwall/Brentford. Would be nice if a few of the ST holders got to a few more away games now and then, I think they'd actually enjoy it.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

correct me if i'm wrong :

 

southampton population circa 250 k

portsmouth population circa 90 k

bournemouth/poole population circa 300 k

 

the irony that bournemouth has the biggest surrounding population but only attracts approx 6 thousand a game???

 

nothing really to do with the attendance argument, for what its worth I think out attendances have been good this season, but can always be better, I think with 250 k circa population theres always room for growth in the future too when we finally become premiership again and improve our stadium

 

I can assure you Sir that Bournemouth & Poole are different towns with distinctly differing history's and I resent you lumping them together :mad: Furthermore I strongly suspect that there are as many (if not more) Saints fans in Poole than Bmth ones .

[RonManager]

Would be nice if a few of the ST holders got to a few more away games now and then, I think they'd actually enjoy it.

 

 

:confused:

[kpturner]

I think the home attendances are pretty good, but we should still be trying to improve them whilst there are empty seats. The ST prices have to be right next season, this season they were a bit too high which has meant more empty seats than necessary. We could do with increasing our support from within the city of Southampton, getting fans back in the habit of Saturday afternoon football, a few beers with their mates etc.

 

The away attendances have also generally been good (Orient/H'pool/Carlisle), but we need to take more to the likes of Millwall/Brentford. Would be nice if a few of the ST holders got to a few more away games now and then, I think they'd actually enjoy it.

What a daft post! The ST ticket prices this season were extremely reasonable IMHO and where does this assumption that ST holders don't go to away games come from? :confused:

 

 

 

Did I mentioned the fact that we got home from Carlisle in 3 hours 53 minutes by the way?

[RonManager]

Did I mentioned the fact that we got home from Carlisle in 3 hours 53 minutes by the way?

 

Yeessss - which considering you live in Penrith is billhooks, Sir.

[kpturner]

Yeessss - which considering you live in Penrith is billhooks, Sir.

Is there a Noorhani in Penrith?

[RonManager]

http://www.prideofsomerset.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=665%3Agates-at-mid-season&catid=1%3Alatest&Itemid=4

 

This may or may not be of interest to the thread (just popped upon NewsNow)

[JRM]

Actually that's a bit strong and probably not really that fair so i take that back...However it is not right to be accusing one fan of being better than another simply through attendances.. Otherwise we only have a few real fans who go to everygame, every year (take the lowest attendance for an away game and that's your lot..As other said there are many demands on our time and money and as much as we dislike it, Saints cannot always be the number 1 priority for all of us.

 

 

Well I think it would be fair to say those who make more of an effort to go to games are better fans actually.

If you choose not to go then fair enough.