How wrong can you be?
This was a plan for 25 years ago.....this was a plan that was too late 5 years ago....this is a plan that will fail.

DH says this is not a project for today, it is a project for tomorrow. That is difficult to reconcile with his target for 5000 fans in 3 years which is a very aggressive (some would say unachievable) target that requires immediate action.

While this is the right target, it is agressive because crowds are starting from a such a diabolical base (less than 400 average) and have been trending down for the duration of DH's charge. The only recent positive was the doubling we saw in average for the 2019 season in SL.

Achieving 5000 in 3 years would require crowds to grow by more than the level they did when we returned to SL but for 3 consecutive years and without the realistic prospect of actually getting SL promotion (and the boost of away fans that brings). For example, if they were to treble to 1,200 for next season, double to 2,400 in 2023 and double again for 2024 we would get to 4,800 so pretty close to the target. Obviously that is not a level of growth that anyone sane could imagine by simply doing the things the club has done in the past.

DH's solution is asking for current season tickets holders to bring a friend. In reality, they are going to have to bring quite a few friends and those friends are going to have to keep coming back. Is any incentive being given for this ? Perhaps if someone was to introduce 4 new ST holders they should be getting their own for free !

DH wants lapsed fans to return but has moved the club (which always seems to have lost us fans) and assembled the least attractive squad since the SL era. I doubt that will be a winning formula for many although some may go and see a couple of games out of curiosity. A couple of free tickets should be offered to all lapsed fans for a game at the start of the season so they at least they have the incentive to check things out.

DH thinks Wimbledon gives us the best chance of hitting the target. Wimbledon are averaging around 7,500 in league games this season. That's not bad, so what percentage of those is DH expecting to attract to watch RL ? 10% in the first season would be pretty useful but it would have to grow from that since we are targetting getting to 2/3 of the size of the football crowd. The club should have data on how many Quins, Charlton, Brentford and Ealing fans we attracted over the years but, of course, it was no where near that many. How is the club planning to attract Dons fans in the sort of numbers required ?

So what does this all mean ? The club is going to have to put in a huge and creative effort to hit its crowd target when historically we lost fans..It is going to require a very different approach. In other words, it very much has to be a project for today. Tomorrow will be too late.

The only way he will get close to 5000 will be if we get promoted next year, so we have fans from Leeds \ pies \ wire etc making the journey down, plus Pies \ Leeds are a much bigger attraction than Leigh \ Fev (top champ attractions are). Even then I don't see 5k, although in SL I could see us hitting 3-3.5K on some games if marketed right.

But we have a squad more likely to facing WWR \ Skolars \ Cornwall \ Midlands in 2023 not Pies \ Wire \ Leeds. So I don't see how we get close to 2.4K mentioned above in 2023, in fact if we are averaging 1K by the end of this season I will be surprised. We will probably be between 1-1.5K first few games, but if the squad gets hammered more often than not (and lets be honest our squad is one of the weakest in the division), I don't see those attendances holding, they will shrink, once the novelty factor has worn off for the Dons fans.

Quote crashmon="crashmon"But we have a squad more likely to facing WWR \ Skolars \ Cornwall \ Midlands in 2023 not Pies \ Wire \ Leeds. So I don't see how we get close to 2.4K mentioned above in 2023, in fact if we are averaging 1K by the end of this season I will be surprised. We will probably be between 1-1.5K first few games, but if the squad gets hammered more often than not (and lets be honest our squad is one of the weakest in the division), I don't see those attendances holding, they will shrink, once the novelty factor has worn off for the Dons fans.'" Yep, my suggestions for crowds over next 3 seasons was more to illustrate the size of the task. I agree, the only way to get near the needed numbers is to be promoted to SL. That reqires major investment in the squad. Instead DH has invested in the facilities (now paying to use 3 of them) which probably has marginal (and perhaps negative) impact on crowds. His argument is that there is no future playing in a 2nd or 3rd tier rugby ground but neither is there in assembling a L1 squad. As pointed out in an earlier post, Ealing may not be a 2nd tier ground for long and had already been adequate for SL. The new training facilities look fantastic, especially compared to Rosslyn Park. www.ealingtrailfinders.com/news/ ... -opened-at

Quote crashmon="crashmon"But we have a squad more likely to facing WWR \ Skolars \ Cornwall \ Midlands in 2023 not Pies \ Wire \ Leeds. So I don't see how we get close to 2.4K mentioned above in 2023, in fact if we are averaging 1K by the end of this season I will be surprised. We will probably be between 1-1.5K first few games, but if the squad gets hammered more often than not (and lets be honest our squad is one of the weakest in the division), I don't see those attendances holding, they will shrink, once the novelty factor has worn off for the Dons fans.'" Yep, my suggestions for crowds over next 3 seasons was more to illustrate the size of the task. I agree, the only way to get near the needed numbers is to be promoted to SL. That reqires major investment in the squad. Instead DH has invested in the facilities (now paying to use 3 of them) which probably has marginal (and perhaps negative) impact on crowds. His argument is that there is no future playing in a 2nd or 3rd tier rugby ground but neither is there in assembling a L1 squad. As pointed out in an earlier post, Ealing may not be a 2nd tier ground for long and had already been adequate for SL. The new training facilities look fantastic, especially compared to Rosslyn Park. www.ealingtrailfinders.com/news/ ... -opened-at

Yet again it looks as if the move to Wimbledon is a mistake.
At Ealing the Academy, Women’s and Men’s team able to play on the same site on an all weather surface, no 5 back to back games on the road in the Summer.
.
And a new facility that we could no doubt use.

We seem to have a knack for parting company with clubs on the up, Quins, Brentford and Ealing.

The 5000 target is very tough if not almost impossible but in the medium term we don’t know about a reorganisation and what it will look like. Playing bottom end SL/top end Champ type clubs in a SL2 will surely result in higher crowds than Sheffield and Whitehaven. Not 5000 but decent.

As for 2022, I expect a significant boost to crowds due to the Plough Lane factor, ie superior location & facilities that Ealing simply cannot match. A winning/competitive side will help keep them but there’s no way on earth that squad is going up when Leigh & Featherstone are signing NRL players.

That said, I’m not sure the squad is as uncompetitive as it’s being made out to be. Yes it’s part-time but this is a part-time comp in the main. Besides, this year’s squad was full-time and it finished seventh. FT is not a guarantee of success and PT is not a guarantee of failure.

We've had poor side for the past few years but fitness has at times won us games. That edge that we had has just disappeared.

This season's side is considerably weaker still.

While some of the players we have signed may be promising not many have much in the way of Championship experience.
The coach is also untried at this level.

At least he's done well at a lower level.....oh hold on !!

I'm sorry but I honestly do not see how this obsession Dons fans have with PL will magically make thousands of broncos fans return. Looking as PL yes its better than Ealing and Barnet, but is it superior to the Stoop, I think not, and its much smaller than when we played at the Valley.

You might get up to 2000 for the widnes game (as widnes might bring 1K, and the Novelty factor for the Dons fans as its the first game),but that would be a one-off attendance, and I suspect you will be back around 1K for the Haven game. What brings in fans is a winning successful team, challenging top half of the table in the playoffs, aiming for SuperLeague in three years. I also expect more widnes fans than home fans in that first game.