The crowd against Peterborough was somewhat disapointing.

Before people start getting on their high horse about this being another of my rants about attendances and that I should be aware that there is a recession on etc etc, what I am doing here is comparing this attendance against a comparable from last season.

Funnily enough exactly a year today on Tuesday 2nd November 2010 Dagenham & Redbridge arrived at St Mary's for an evening fixture, in the preceeding month Saints had been at home 3 times and in the coming 4 weeks after the game there were already a further 3 home fixtures scheduled (it would turn out to be 4 with an extra FA Cup Game) So at this time last year it was just as busy as now in terms of people having to pay out for tickets, if not more so.

The crowd for the Daggers game was 20,161  of which 242 were away fans, leaving a net figure of 19,919 home fans in attendance, on Tuesday night the gate of 21,350 included 325 Peterborough fans meaning 21,025 Saints fans in the ground.

To save you getting out a calculator, last night there were only 1,106 more Saints fans at the game than for the fixture a year ago, I find that a little poor.

Yes of course we have had bigger gates this season, but in the main half of the increase on the average attendance has been from extra away supporters, its fine to turn out to watch West Ham but the key is turning up for the lesser fixtures.

I find it amazing that last nights gate should only be 1,000 or so more, as mentioned last term was in the middle of a lot of home games, we had also had a bad start, indeed we sat 9th going into the game and prior to the win at Notts County on the Saturday we had been 14th, Dagenham werent attractive visitors, the game was always going to be a low gate.

A year on and we sit top of the league with a side playing some of the best attacking football we have seen in years, message boards are full of fans shouting how great things are, indeed in Peterborough it was guaranteed to have a few goals, yet the grand total of extra fans was barely a thousand, indeed the gate was even 827 less than for the visit of Ppeterborough last November .

Im puzzled as to why with this big feel good factor around the club there werent more there last night.

Yes the support has been good and we sit near the top of the Champonship highest average attendances, but Im not comparing us to the rest of the division, Im comparing us to ourselves last year and the increase in our success on the field was not matched by bums on seats last night.

So what was the reason for this, why arent didnt the fans respond in droves last night or indeed in most games aparrt from the West Ham fixture, the gate for Middlesbrough was decent, but that was pretty much a one off the Hammers game excepted, I want to see flowing attacking football and i want to see the ground filled to capacity, surely there is nothing wrong with that !     

Photo: Action Images

geezershoong added 16:50 - Nov 2 I think most are pretty exhausted in trying to explain this to you. Your opening sentence signals your intentions, don't chum the water if you don't want to get bitten.
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SaintNick added 17:20 - Nov 2 and dont bother replying to stories unless you have got something relevant to say, I take it you cant explain to me why a top of the table team, playing its most attractive football in years can only attract an extra thousand spectators then
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bstokesaint added 17:25 - Nov 2 Nothing wrong with asking the question Nick. I thought the gate would be much bigger given the special offer with the Middlesbrough tickets. Our boys do deserve to be playing in front of 30k+ gates. If we're going to go to the next level we need to fill St. Marys week in week out.
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Del_Bianco added 17:50 - Nov 2 You are of course spot on Nick. Last nights crowd was very poor. Whilst the opposition wasn't that attractive, but i've always believe you go to watch Saints, not the opposition. A club of our size top of the league, playing great football and winning 17 odd games up front should get high 20's regularly.
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rjh added 18:08 - Nov 2 Totally agree Nick.
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sholingred added 18:38 - Nov 2 Ithink this was a good game to give 5000 tickets to schools in Hampshire,better than empty seats and maybe grab a few new fans,i live in the City and night games are hard when work and travel are involved,a lot of our fan base live outside the City,so i think that gate was ok,not a big draw like the hammers,we get better support than Leeds,and their supposed to be a giant club,we need to get people in the town to the games,then we would have massive support.

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slynch added 18:54 - Nov 2 I don't understand. This whole piece is pointless? You say not enough people turned up to an event that was put on by somebody else. In this democracy people will decide for themselves whether they want to go or not. So why whine on pointlessly about it? What you gonna do? Perhaps fine all the people who you think should have turned up, or, perhaps close the club down saying "ya bo sucks" or maybe a gang of like minded people could roam the streets seeking out people who didn't go and daub slogans on their doors so they can be publicly ridiculed… geezershoong for start should be banned as you suggest for airing his opinion; i didn't go last night, should I offer myself immediately for a public flogging? Sorry I'm bored, Keep up the good work x

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stmichael added 18:55 - Nov 2 Leeds had 20k against Cardiff and they are the biggest club in this league by far. The football bubble has burst nick. We are lucky in that we have been relatively successful in the last 2 years. We all wish for a full stadium but it's not going to happen. I was satisfied with the last 2 attendances. Not amazing but better than par.
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SaintJas added 18:59 - Nov 2 STEEEEEEEEEEVE!!!!
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SaintNick added 19:08 - Nov 2 As I said in the story, its not about comparing last nights crowd to the rest of the league, its about comparing it to the same week last year, the football bubble hasnt burst that much in 12 months, all this success yet only around a thousand more fans, it just doesnt add up
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hortonsaint added 19:48 - Nov 2 100% in agreement, as someone who like you attends the vast majority of our fixtures, I think it is natural to feel aggrieved when 8000 or so extra fans turn up for West Ham but 2 weeks later can't be bothered but undoutedly will turn up every week if we go up (despite the cost increase if we do this, sorry but the recession excuse is too easy-are we really saying crowds will not increase significantly if we go up?). The truth is we have a hardcore of 15000 who will attend league games pretty much whatever, 5-6000 who will generally be there for fixtures against anyone when things are going well and then a floating support of 10000+ who want the glamour/'I was there' fixtures-Walsall last game a classic example of this. I'm surrounded by so called fans at work who pick and choose a handful games but claim to be great supporters of the club and with 'expert' opinions of games they haven't watched. Yes as someone said this is a democracy and people can go to the games they want to but for those who go solely for the love of the club, the floating support can rile you. I don't know about others but for me a club's crowds are an important part of how it's viewed and I want to see our club admired for its support and I felt embarassed by last night's turn out given the football we are playing and the success we are enjoying.I guess the floating support don't care about that sort of thing though and would tell me to get a life!

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avonsaint added 19:50 - Nov 2 nick i too thought there might be a few more there on our way down we were thinking maybe 23000/24000 as i think that is about our hardcore support as some have said before it can be hard to get there for an evening game if you live out of town as a large amount of people do, we were 2 kids short last night due to school in the morning (we don't get home til gone 11 with a good run) also it is my feeling that as this recession go's on and on people r finding it even harder this year, the cost of living has gone up and a hell of a lot of peoples money has gone down even more, it costs us over £20 just to drive there and park and with all the games we have had lately people might well have to pick the games they go to and lets be honest who would u pick west ham or peterboro

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BLEEDRED added 19:57 - Nov 2 The football bubble has burst There are lots who would love to go but most have to pick and choose their games, this country is possibly facing meltdown with 1000's of jobs lost so the responsible father does not spend on luxury and for many going to football cannot be justified £25 to watch a game for many is to much when you add in other costs. A lot of our support travel a fair distance and two games in a week is expensive

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1teeminants added 20:30 - Nov 2 At othe end of the day Nick and ive said this many times saints have a hardcore of about 20,000 fans now who will go whatever. im afraid the 10,000 extra against west han or 6000 against boro arent really that bothered about saints they may pretend to be but they can take it or leave it, Every club has them and theres nothing you or anyone else can do to change that mentality amongst people.Some people just like to watch big games not the likes of peterbro and they dont see football as the be all and end all.

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saintBob added 20:34 - Nov 2 Nick, last season's average attendance was 22,161. So far this season it's 24,980. What's the problem? That's an extra 2,819 a game. All you've done is picked one game and compared it to another. Look at the whole picture.
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a_saint_abroad added 20:44 - Nov 2 Allow me to put in a point of view as a student-age Saints fan - I've followed the team since the late 90s (my first live match was a 3-1 win vs Wimbledon in December '98 - 2 goals for Ostenstad and 1 for Kachloul, still have my match programme and newspaper match report cutouts!) as I was too young to really be into football before then. In practical terms I've not been able to get to many Saints games for the last couple of years - I'm at uni in the North East, and furthermore I'm on a year abroad at the moment. Getting to St Marys from Germany isn't too easy! :D Absence has made the heart grow fonder though, I guess you could say, and I'm proud to support my team and tell anyone who'll listen that my Saints are on the up again! It's difficult to comment without speaking to lots of people 'on the ground', but I somehow sense that there's a connection between club and city which could be strengthened a bit. There's no doubt that the many less 'die-hard' fans want to see Saints taking on the big guns, and as others have said I'm sure the fans will be back in numbers if we can get back to the Prem any time soon. When I'm down South, I only live a few miles out of town, but getting to the ground is time-consuming and a bit of a pain - and it costs! And since student tickets outside of the Family Enclosure cost £22+ unless there's some offer on or it's a cup-tie - and more on the day - that sort of price means you really do have to pick and choose your games, even if you're down South more often than I am! Something can be done about the travel issue though, or at least the cost - let me give you an example of a system that works. I went to a VfB Stuttgart game a couple of months ago and not only was the ticket €25 (again about £22!) to see a very good Bundesliga game with 55,000 other fans, but my travel to and from the ground, using a frequent and effective bus/tram/subway network, was included in the price of the ticket. I was based about 45 minutes from the ground back then, so this was no small thing! What I'm saying is very much from a young fan's perspective - I can't comment for dads, families etc and there are others better placed than I am to do so! But as a student, I know how much I can buy with £25-30 - the cost of a ticket plus the travel costs, without even thinking about the programme or a half-time snack - and the answer is quite a lot of stuff. For me, that sort of money represents my weekly bill on food and drinks. I can only guess I'm not alone either! If I was still based in Southampton I'd try to get to a few games, but again, I couldn't get to more than maybe one or two games per month - I simply couldn't afford to! Or rather, I couldn't justify that expense - it's a hard thing to have to say but the ticket prices make it really difficult for people like me to make Saints games any more than an occasional treat...

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LostBoys added 05:14 - Nov 3 I agree - the performances warrant a better attendance. Without raising another topic I am very much in favour of the family initiatives for the Itchen even if I am a ST holder in the Kingsland.
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iwtwms added 06:07 - Nov 3 But it's already been pointed out that last season's average attendance was 22,161. So far this season it's 24,980!
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EmsworthSaint added 07:04 - Nov 3 Rather than casually dismiss the effects of the recession in your opening sentence perhaps you could do a little research into how it has impacted on an average family? There has been significant increases in domestic fuel, petrol & diesel, food which I think would affect just about every household. I can understand your frustration but comparing attendances to the same time last year, the year before or whenever without taking outside influences into account renders the comparison pointless.

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SaintNick added 09:42 - Nov 3 All Im seeing here is excuses why people did not turn up last night, not valid reasons, if 30k saints fans could turn up on a tuesday night two weeks ago then why didnt 8k of them turn up againt Pboro, their financial situation hadnt deterioated in a fortnight, nor can it be they can only afford one game a season. I wasnt talking about averages that is a completely different debate. I find it a little strange that those that spend most of their time telling us how great this team is then defend those or not turning up. The attendance reflects the belief in the team and the commitment of its fans, if we want promotion then the fans need to demonstrate that commitment week in week out not just for the big games. But the real question asked was why the gate went up only slightly from a year ago, no one has answered that yet. With regard to the point made by emswort and i appreciate im generalising, petrol etc is the same price as last year, as is food as the supermarkets have started a price war, domestic fuel bills are up about 20% which in the average household means abut £30 a month increase, but to counterbalance those with mortgages are paying a lot lot less. I dont understand why people froth at the mouth everytime a debate comes up that they dont agree with

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saintBob added 10:00 - Nov 3 This will go on and on but the West Ham game aside, there is a difference with people and their families being able to get to a game on a Saturday afternoon rather than a Tuesday night.
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saintBob added 10:07 - Nov 3 "their financial situation hadnt deterioated in a fortnight, nor can it be they can only afford one game a season." Think your just being blind Nick. You speak as if it's the same group of people who stay away each time. People's financial situation doesn't deteriorate in a fortnight, they budget their monthly income so perhaps they can only afford 2 matches a month? So many possibilities that I think that you're wasting your time and I don't know why I'm even bothering to write this anymore!!!

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geezershoong added 10:59 - Nov 3 If you don't like to be confronted then don't start the article in a confrontational manner. Yes, of course the team deserves the support, it winds me up when you say people are 'making excuses', anyone in their right mind who has to make a choice between football & having the funds to take care of themselves and their family is not making an excuse, they are making a hard choice in difficult economic times. Football is an expensive business!!! I've had to put myself in debt to get a season ticket this season. I don't regret it but there are some who won't do that, who can blame them? Here's another equation to consider: Prem league football - probably a full house most weeks CCC football - not so many FFS, if you fell off your high horse when you posted this you'd still be falling now. http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/D1/attend.html - could be better, could be a lot worse.

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SaintDavo added 11:19 - Nov 3 First of all, an interesting post that always gets both sides of the debate heated with their views. I understand both sides point of view and I cant afford to go week in week out as much as I would like to, it is inevitable some people will pick the more appealing games. I myself missed both boro games this week because I am going to coventry on saturday. Some people really do want to see more games but it just is not do-able unless you are loaded. But I also agree that 20K is very disappointing. When/if and hopefully when we get promoted there will be 30k plus every week and people like myself who watch 50/60% of games in league 1 and the championship will probably not be able to go anymore because the jcl and glory hunters will come out of the woodwork and grab season tickets that some just cant afford, thats the way it goes :(

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saintBob added 11:49 - Nov 3 Anyone who can't come to the Brighton game, can you get your mum to write Nick a note? Thanks.
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