pusbccfc
Well-Known Member
Why did only 17k turn up against Sheffield United only a while back ? Given the size of Coventry, hardcore support is not that good compared to Leicester, wolves, Derby or Forest. It never really has been . If we won promotion to the PL and struggled we would see gates drop off after the first season. We are up to around 20k now and I suspect we'd average around 24-25k absolute tops after 3 years hovering around the relegation zone in the PL. That's much higher than we'd get 20 years ago had Highfield Road been able to hold that many but no way would we sell out like our local rivals can. We will never shift over 20k season tickets unless we are looking at winning the PL or have an owner who really invests in the club and we see sustained improvement over 3-5 years once we are promoted.
The reason we only get 17-20k currently is that we've been one of the worst football clubs in England to support in the last 20 years.
During the time every other club has increased their attendances, we've struggled to maintain numbers due to playing all over the Midlands and dropping down the league's.
Most similar sized clubs have had a stint in the top flight and have developed their fan bases. We haven't. In fact, we've pushed fans away.
Very few clubs and certainly none in recent times have dropped attendances significantly in the PL.