The 1000 missing fans myth

[mrpotatohead]

A few of the moaners, one in paricular, keep harping on about the fact we have "lost 1000 fans" ...its not true , a quick check on our average attendances before and after moving to the globe tell a different story , in our good years 5, just before coming up into the FL , we were averaging less than 1800 , in fact on the year we came up it was actually less than 1600, the first couple of seasons in the new stadium saw us briefly achieve 2000 plus , but then went back down to the 1900ish mark, last season's average was 1700 or so, and this season's is looking like it will end up around 15 or 1600, so apart from the solitary year we moved into the globe and had an average of 2600, our average over the last 20 years is around 1700, the fact of the matter is we have always had around 1200 fans for donkeys years, plus away support.

[KenH]

So why do the club keep whingeing about lack of supporters if numbers are the same.

(But in reality, we know damn well that home supporter numbers are dropping each season - just looking at the Omega and PMG stands it's blatantly obvious - same with parking near the Globe, now much easier than a few years ago which suggests fewer people).

Maybe not a 1000 but certainly several hundred. In fact, I don't recall anyone claiming we'd lost 1000?

Just found these stats:

2009/10 2,262
2010/11 2,648
2011/12 2,141
2012/13 1,954
2013/14 1,936
2014/15 1,998
2015/16 1,572
2016/17 1,703
2017/18 1,442

You can play with the numbers how you want, but if you compare 10/11 with 15/16 the attendances were over 1,000 less. If you compare 12/13 with 17/15, more like 500 less. Of course, some of that will be dependent upon away attendances depending upon which clubs were in the same league. But however you look at it, attendances are way down.

[mrpotatohead]

I fully expected a reply with stats starting with our peak years and ending with an incomplete 17/18 figure , the reality is , over a 20 year average we are down a bit , but we never had that many fans anyhow, I the 1000 fans bit is usually spouted by PC.

After studying in depth our last 50 years of stats I have discovered some cast iron facts , by the time Jim's contract expires he will have kept us in the football league for over ten years and his average attendances over a ten year period will be the club's best decade ever, making him the most successful manager in our history

[The Marksman]

How about sharing the stats you're looking at? I'd be interested.

[mrpotatohead]

Look them up, it's easy enough .

[marky No.1]

Average attendances

1980 ..300
1981..247
1982..288
1983..284
1984..274
1985..240
1986..411
1987..371
1988..332
1989..351
1990..314
1991..343
1992..385
1993..451
1994..422
1995..743
1996..1128
1997..1045
1998..1534
1999..1150
2000..1494
2001..1198
2002..1288
2003..1464
2004..1783
2005..1752
2006..1781
2007..1598
2008..2677
2009..2153
2010..2262
2011..2648
2012..2144
2013..1954
2014..1939
2015..1998
2016.. 1571
2017...1703

Average for our League games up to date for this season is 1442, consisting of a low of 927 v Crewe and just once over 2000 against Accy when they brought 539 to top it up to 2059

[Lonesome Prawn]

When I was a lad in the early to mid 1960's and we played in a league called the Lancashire Combination, the crowds were around the 1500 mark from what I remember. This then went up slightly to around 2000 ish when we joined the Northern Premier League at its inception in the late 60's.
From then on the attendances declined slowly over the years as the club stagnated until the late 70's early 80's when I remember being amongst regular attendances of only about 250 people. This figure did not start to recover until the rot was reversed in the mid 80's by Joe Woj. and later Griff.
Attendances gradually increased during the Conference years back towards and past the 1000 mark, ending up at the levels reached on promotion to the Football League.
So overall, gates have fluctuated quite a lot over the last 50 years or so, and the present level seems about par for the course!

[marky No.1]

From those figures it is clear to see we have 1000 less than when we joined L2 10 years ago. I can only see Carlisle boosting this and maybe the last home game against Barnet

[Gone_Shrimping]

From those figures it is clear to see we have 1000 less than when we joined L2 10 years ago. I can only see Carlisle boosting this and maybe the last home game against Barnet

Barnet will be 1,200 as we will be in mid table mediocrity then on 53 points

[BerlinWaller]

Maybe they are all watching Burnley?

[marky No.1]

we will be in mid table mediocrity then on 53 points

Our form suggests we will end up on 46 points, to get 53 would mean winning 5 or 6 of our remaining games

[Ntini]

Over the last 10 years the average attendances for league football are as follows:

Prem = 35,678
CH = 17,757
L1 = 7,549
L2 = 4,401
NonL = 1,886
Morecambe = 2,105

Biggest negative movement (season on season):

Prem = -4% (2010/11)
CH = -7% (2008/9)
L1 = -18% (2011/12)
L2 = -8% (2010/11)
NonL = -7% (2013/14)
Morecambe = -21% (2016/17)

Cumulative movement in average attendances over last 10 seasons:

Prem = +5%
CH = +10%
L1 = +13%
L2 = +15%
NonL = +6%
Morecambe = -37%

This shows that as you move up a league, you generally get bigger average attendances. Therefore there's no reason why we shouldn't expect bigger crowds than we used to get in the conference.

It doesn't make pretty reading, but it's the facts. The reality is we've lost over a third of our crowd since joining the football league when the general movement has been a 10% increase in attendances. Sugar coat it all you want, we're losing ground when most others are gaining.

I think we've done remarkably well to keep in the FL for so long, and credit has to go to Jim (and Sammy before that) for keeping us up against the odds. I firmly believe we'll stay up this season, but we can't keep losing fans and think everything will be fine.

[George Dawes]

I feel it's as if the Town have a lack of respect for their own Football Club.

[bill ding]

Maybe they are all watching Burnley?

Their results are worse than ours recently , ITS STEPTOE TATIEHEAD he's a curse

[BerlinWaller]

Maybe they are all watching Burnley?

Their results are worse than ours recently , ITS STEPTOE TATIEHEAD he's a curse

Hold on, you can not be calling him names, the forum bully will get upset. I hope he gets more messages of support!

#prayforrMPH
#Notonyourown
#riseabovehate
#Burnleyfanstreatmebetterthanthis

[steve mfc]

we will be in mid table mediocrity then on 53 points

Our form suggests we will end up on 46 points, to get 53 would mean winning 5 or 6 of our remaining games

Yes and Hartlepool went down with 46 points last season so a point a game is unlikely to be enough.

[mrpotatohead]

Great debate this, at least we will be staying up ,with Jim at the helm and more good news on the way soon, but someone open a window , that smell is drifting back from the other side of the field lol:

[bill ding]

Great debate this, at least we will be staying up ,with Jim at the helm and more good news on the way soon, but someone open a window , that smell is drifting back from the other side of the field lol:

Steptoe feeding little snippets here from his pet chairman/ director or whatever he is

[Joel Ninety]

I can't find all the stats and local/national events I wanted to try to compare, but worth considering the economy with regard to money in pockets and desire to pay for a ticket every other Saturday. Seems you can't easily search The Visitor's website anymore to find information on company closures/council tax rises etc in Morecambe that could affect wages/disposable income.

Plus you've got the rise of social media, Soccer Saturday in the pub, gambling apps, FIFA games etc. People are spending their time engaging with football in other ways than being present in the stadium. Even the North Lancs Saturday league sounds like it's dying out through a mixture of player apathy and council pitch neglect.

2008 - Global financial crash.
2010 (June) - UK austerity programme begins.
2010 (August) - Globe Arena opens.
2010–11 - Finish 20th.
2011-12 - Finish 15th.
2012-13 - Finish 16th.
2013-14 - Finish 18th.
2014-15 - Finish 11th.
2015-16 - Finish 21st.

Some interesting figures here in this 2008 government report on economies of UK coastal towns. Rankings probably haven't changed all that much since then.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... etowns.pdf