Quote: jbuzza "Indeed, if you look at our average crowds during the whole SL era, the only thing that really stands out is actually hardly rocket science. This is simply that we tend to have had bigger gates when the team has performed better. (Points difference perhaps being a better overall indicator of performance than league position). While there is a hardcore of fans who will turn up whatever, a larger group are influenced by what boffins would refer to as the notion of basking in reflected glory (and the opposite of cutting off reflected failure). Put simply most people don't want to associate with the sort of poop being dished out currently at the Stoop.'"
SNAPSHOT.
2002 8th place finish 3,803 average
2003 5th Place finish 3,545 average (down 7%) First time in the play-offs....missed opportunity to market heavily in 2004
2004 10th Place finish 3,460
2005 6th place finish 3,918.
Not a lot can be read into these figures apart from 2005 we got a lot of press mid season when we were in the finncial mire, but even then, our crowds were worse at the end of the season
and the biggest gate for a game at Griffin Park was managed when the club actually MARKETED THE GAME!
I agree that we will attract more fans when we are winning, but the club don't have the luxury of time to wait for that to happen. Interesting that all 4 years at Griffin park had an average of 3,681....and the 5 year average at the stoop is.....3,625.....not much in it to be honest.
If anything, 7th, 9th, 9th 11th and last this year should have seen a bigger drift away.......but I think the stoop, the matchday experience (no matter how crap they are on the pitch) the bands etc...have managed to keep people coming back.
We stay at the stoop and we have a chance to kick on over the next 4 years and build a supporter base from pretty dsolid foundations.....we move and IMO we will colapse by 2014 with less fans than we have now.
