No Excuses for Saints worst home FA Cup attendance since before World War 1
There have been many excuses put forward as to why the attendance was so poor for the visit of Cheltenham on Saturday including the cold, a run of home games in quick succession and Xmas looming, however it has to be said that up until this season all those factors were present yet the crowd didnt drop that low, not even last season when the visit of luton in similar circumstances drew over 18,000.
The two FA Cup attendances this season have both been over 5,000 under the previous lowest FA Cup crowd since we have been at SMS, so the giste must be that for a drop of 33% from that number its something other than the cold etc.
Some will say that this 9,276 is something to be proud of in that it was the biggest crowd of the round, that may well be but the facts are that it was also our lowest home attendance since 1912/13 season when 9,000 turned up to see us play Bury, given that attendances were more of an estimate back then its likely that the Bury game had more there it was also the first home FA Cup crowd to drop to below 10,000 since then, indeed its amongst our lowest FA Cup attendances since we moved to the Dell in 1898, so if people feel that having the biggest crowd of the round is something to shout about then more fool them, I personally see it as symptomatic of just how far we have fallen and the fact that we no longer seem to set ourselves the same standards as in the past.
As I have mentioned many times on the message board, there are many excuses why the crowd were so low, but only one real reason and that was the failure of the club to be pro active both in the way it treated its fans and how it marketed the game.
A few weeks back it was clear that the ticketing arrangements and the shutting of stands sent out the wrong message to supporters, it told them that this game was a nothing game and not worth the effort, the fans took their lead from the club and the result was a crowd that was 5,000 below the previous SMS FA Cup low. Whilst the Club could not set the prices any lower and therefore could not be blamed for this they did not learn the lessons from the Shrewsbury tie.
Firstly they repeated the closure of the Kingsland, whilst this could slightly be justified on a cost basis, last season for Luton the stand was opened on a block by block basis as it was in JPT games, this therefore negates the cost aspect, as to open one block has little cost and the more tickets sold the cost becomes less, this worked last season so surely it was folly to repeat an action that had already failed this season and not revert to one that had worked well last season and indeed in both the JPT andCarling Cup this season.
Secondly there was little marketing, games of this nature have to be well marketed, surely this was the opportunity to do some decent kids prices ie kids for a quid, suddenly a father and child can go for £16 which is good value.
Thirdly why, for a match that quite clearly was going to be poorly attended did the Club put on a £2 surcharge on tickets bought on the day, this levy was not there for the first round, so why given the poor turnout that day, was it added,
Fourthly all of these reasons all add up to perception, the fans will come if they perceive th game to be good value and worthwhile, to do that you have to get things right from the start and build up the excitement, this hasnt been done in any shape or form in the two FA Cup ties this year.
Going back to the excuses, if we look at them, they were all present last year, but the crowds still turned up in the Cup, so we have to assume that the reason that many didnt come was not because of those excuses, but for the latter which to be blunt are reasons and there is a big difference.
I dont make these points lightly, I dont say them merely to have a go at the Club or any individual, I point them out because i genuinely wanted a big crowd on Saturday, I wanted us to get 15,000 I wanted the attendance to be double that of every other club in the round and quite frankly i was disapointed when it wasnt, in the past I have helped the club to promote games like this on this website, OK it might not bring in 1000's but if it brings in one extra person its a bonus and its always been part of encouraging fans to go as part of a bigger picture, despite my documented issues with the club at present i would still do whatever i could to help get more people through the turnstiles.
Im sorry if you are one of those who considers that having the highest attendance in the FA Cup 2nd round a success, Im sorry,I dont measure us against Carlisle or Bury or other league 1 or 2 clubs we may find ourselves down there at present and i respect those clubs supporters, but we are made of different stuff and our standards should match our aspirations.
In lidfe there is a saying and it especially applies to football
"Success needs no excuses, Failure needs many"