I moved away from cov in 1980 aged 11 and moved to the east coast,by 1984 my parents kept a pub.Watched Coventry whenever I could but it wasn't enough ,so started going to Norwich games with two
of my dad's regulars (must admit it made me feel dirty)not a great place.
Crowds were regularly under 10.000,all in all a very uninspiring experience so I didn't keep going 4 long.
A few years later my young nephew started to get free tickets through his youth team,my brother working
offshore asked me to take him,so I reluctantly agreed.
The tickets were completely free, but not many people were taking up the offer but they stuck with it,everything geared towards youth.
I witnessed many heated arguments between season ticket holders and guys they obviously hadn't seen up there for a long while .
But to their credit they stuck with the policy,crowds slowly but surely began to increase,more importantly
they were steering the kids away from the increasing onslaught of the big clubs via TV.
They continued with this policy for maybe 5 to7 years,and were then in a position where they didn't have
to anymore.Their crowds today are I feel a direct result of this,when you go there now the age of a large proportion of the fan base reflects this
I wish CCFC who were very similar to NCFC in the 1980s had the foresight to engage the fans in this way.
If you capture them young & get there interest you have a great chance of keeping them for life.
You ever been to Norfolk? Having spent some of my childhood there, there's not that much to do besides footy.
As with the previous post ^^^, I was given some free tickets from school or some sort of kids football thing and living 20 miles from Norwich at the time, we went, felt wrong even at that age but fair play to them they were doing the right thing. We also had to once write a letter to a championship team (which annoyed me because Cov were in the prem in the 90's and they refused to let me write to them, had to write to barnsley or burnley or something starting with a B) and ask for free stuff. The kid who wrote to Norwich got a shed load of free stuff from tickets to even a kit.
So it seems like they carried it on well into the 90's.
I'm not sure there being little else to do in Norwich is much of an explanation of why their attendances are great. I'd be surprised if the 5-6000 people that didn't come back for the next game after Burton had a pressing engagement at the symphony or a gallery opening.
The return of JLR manufacturing & supply chain to Whitley/Baginton may help. Give it 5 years.
* Note I am not referring to direct sponsorship but to a more indirect flow of cash to the City workforce which in turn will flow towards leisure activities e.g. Football