Trouble in Swindon (13 Viewers)

[Mary_Mungo_Midge]

Sold out? You only brought just over 1000, our away allocation is up to 3300! We had larger followings from league 2 last season

The above is my point. Too many people thinking we're billy-big-bollocks and we're not.

There are clubs who have better population to attendance ratios than ours. And those without.

However, we're not that well supported. Accept that and that's fine. However, pretend we're something we are not, and haven't been for many years is plain embarrassing

 

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[theferret]

The above is my point. Too many people thinking we're billy-big-bollocks and we're not.

There are clubs who have better population to attendance ratios than ours. And those without.

However, we're not that well supported. Accept that and that's fine. However, pretend we're something we are not, and haven't been for many years is plain embarrassing

What is embarrassing is using this 'Coventry is one of the largest cities in the UK' piffle as a stick to beat ourselves around the head with simply in order to try and prove we are "poorly supported" (your words).

The population stats are meaningless. I could say that the Bournemouth urban conurbation has a population of 383,000 and ask why they are so poorly supported, Birkenhead has a similar population to Coventry so how does that explain Tranmere's relative lack of support, and what about Reading-Wokingham with 370,000? You can talk about City populations, urban areas, regions, counties, catchment areas - but it doesn't really mean anything because there are all sorts of other factors to take into account - other teams in the area, recent history of the club in question etc. Purely coincidentally, Coventry, which has the 20th largest urban area in the UK, also has the 20th highest all time average gate. Still pretty meaningless.

For what it is worth I feel our support is about right, but that is just a feeling. Pointless using ridiculous ratios to try and prove that point.

Coventry fans more than others will actually talk down the size of the club. You will meet Hull, Cardiff et al fans who are convinced they are massive. I've never heard that from City fans, so don't know where all this billy big bollocks stuff comes from.

 

[Astute]

Cov could be a lot bigger if we could have decent finishes to seasons. We end up losing kids to other clubs as we usualy finish near the bottom of the table.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Post of the month above, no doubt MMM will come back with plethora of phrases and complex words to force home a point that doesn't exist.

*sits tight*

If you mean patronising waffle, that's his forte.

 

[Mary_Mungo_Midge]

If you mean patronising waffle, that's his forte.

You obviously tried very hard with that post, so I shan't dissect it in the manner deserved.

Oh dear, irony too. Quite a day

 

[Mary_Mungo_Midge]

And I didn't start this thread with the objective of denigrating our support; just providing a context to those who goad opposition fans with the 'what's it like to see your away section filled', 'we're the biggest club in the league', etc. waffle.

If that's where your perception of our reality lies, then against that yardstick, the truth is we are poorly supported

 

[fernandopartridge]

You obviously tried very hard with that post, so I shan't dissect it in the manner deserved.

Oh dear, irony too. Quite a day

Zzzzzzz your opinions masquerading as facts were all demolished earlier in the thread and that's the best you've got.

 

[Mary_Mungo_Midge]

Zzzzzzz your opinions masquerading as facts were all demolished earlier in the thread and that's the best you've got.

No. Just that you're evidently struggling with the ancient witchcraft of 'reading words', and I can't help the ungrateful

 

[Grendel]

Zzzzzzz your opinions masquerading as facts were all demolished earlier in the thread and that's the best you've got.

Not really the fact is our support is relatively poor. Our first game against the biggest team in the division was a poor turnout however you look at it.

I always look at forest as a reference point. They are a similar sized city and very similar demographic. Their attendances have held up a lot better than ours over the last decade.

 

[tanchahal]

Not really the fact is our support is relatively poor. Our first game against the biggest team in the division was a poor turnout however you look at it.

I always look at forest as a reference point. They are a similar sized city and very similar demographic. Their attendances have held up a lot better than ours over the last decade.

Forest are clearly a bigger club than ours, 1 league title, 2 fa cups, 4 league cups and 2 European cups speak for themselves vs our solitary fa cup

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Not really the fact is our support is relatively poor. Our first game against the biggest team in the division was a poor turnout however you look at it.

I always look at forest as a reference point. They are a similar sized city and very similar demographic. Their attendances have held up a lot better than ours over the last decade.

Because they were managed by one of the best British managers ever over a lengthy period who won then European Cups and domestic titles.

 

[Grendel]

Because they were managed by one of the best British managers ever over a lengthy period who won then European Cups and domestic titles.

It has been almost 30 years since they were a force in football. Do you honestly think that we would attract that consistency of support almost 3 decades later? I don't. I see our club as very similar to the likes of Birmingham and Middlesborough. Sharp declines in lean years. Look at Leicester since the new ground - always high attendances and they have no trophy cabinet to boast of.

 

[fernandopartridge]

It has been almost 30 years since they were a force in football. Do you honestly think that we would attract that consistency of support almost 3 decades later? I don't. I see our club as very similar to the likes of Birmingham and Middlesborough. Sharp declines in lean years. Look at Leicester since the new ground - always high attendances and they have no trophy cabinet to boast of.

They finished 3rd in the Premier League in 1995. Have been promoted as Champions from Division 1 since then.

 

[Sky Blue M]

None of those teams are comparable coz of there success in the last 10 years. Leicester, forest, derby, Norwich and Southampton have all enjoyed promotions in that time. What have we had.... Finished 8th in one season

 

[theferret]

Not really the fact is our support is relatively poor. Our first game against the biggest team in the division was a poor turnout however you look at it.

I always look at forest as a reference point. They are a similar sized city and very similar demographic. Their attendances have held up a lot better than ours over the last decade.

Not a 'fact' at all. Forest as a comparison? What, the twice European Champions? 30 odd years ago or not, that era would have created a whole generation of fans we don't have. Comparative populations? In reality, Nottingham is twice the size of Coventry (it has stupidly tight city boundaries). Yes they have another team, but it also has a much bigger county population. And yet, historically at least, we have achieve a higher average gate than them.

MMM seems convinced people are saying we are 'goading' people by saying we are the biggest club in the league. Really? Where? Not heard that all season, apart from Micky Quinn on talksport. We are one of the bigger clubs in this division for sure, and our support holds up well enough all things considered. Poorly supported? Don't buy it. It just doesn't stand up to any sort of scrutiny. The population argument is just rubbish.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

It has been almost 30 years since they were a force in football. Do you honestly think that we would attract that consistency of support almost 3 decades later? I don't. I see our club as very similar to the likes of Birmingham and Middlesborough. Sharp declines in lean years. Look at Leicester since the new ground - always high attendances and they have no trophy cabinet to boast of.

All 3 of the East Midlands clubs are well supported-perhaps it's something ingrained in them from the great managers they've had in the past. Leicester have yo-yo'd between divisions quite a lot over the past decade which is much better for keeping attendances up than simply staying rooted in one division for a long period of time.

 

[WestEndAgro]

It has been almost 30 years since they were a force in football. Do you honestly think that we would attract that consistency of support almost 3 decades later? I don't. I see our club as very similar to the likes of Birmingham and Middlesborough. Sharp declines in lean years. Look at Leicester since the new ground - always high attendances and they have no trophy cabinet to boast of.

Villa fans are still "dining out" on their past glories, Every game they goad other teams with the song "Have you ever won a European Cup" mainly to the likes of Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea (up until last Season )
And I am certain that if we had the same success as Forest did all those years ago, we would have maintained a much higher fan base !

 

[Grendel]

Villa fans are still "dining out" on their past glories, Every game they goad other teams with the song "Have you ever won a European Cup" mainly to the likes of Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea (up until last Season )
And I am certain that if we had the same success as Forest did all those years ago, we would have maintained a much higher fan base !

If it was due to past glories then there would always have been a disparity. For 3 seasons 2006 - 08 our attendances matched theirs (exceeded them in one season). Their attendance is fairly static around 20 - 23,000 (went down to 17,000 one season). It is ours that has been in decline - we used to be on a par.