Spot on. I remember gates of 8k in the top flight. Families stopped going together. Some games you had to fight your way in and then out again. We did have the occasional full house. But it was because of a sea of red tops not sky blue. Those that never went in the 80's will have heard what it was like. But hearing about it and being there are two different things.
How about an away game? Drink in a pub together and it could get attacked. Have anything to do with your club on your car and it would get smashed up. Go on a train and you could get attacked by supporters of clubs you were not playing. You only got the ones you were playing as you got off. Go on a coach and watch the bricks come in.
Good idea. Lets compare the 80's crowds.
It was the same for everyone.
They would if they see something they can relate to on and off the pitch
Great point but Aren't they fan owned and got rid of their sharks? I believe so. If Cov was fan owned then the community of the city would instantly become more involved
All other clubs have supporters using their 80's attendances to show that they are badly supported?
We already know they will.
Full house for Crewe in a poxy cup and again for our Ricoh return.
Are you oblivious to the facts?
I think comparing city population is difficult. Pompey is an island. The population is less than that of the city of Coventry.Pompey had a season very similar to ours in the division below. They were favourites for promotion with the biggest budget in the division yet were getting drawn into a relegation battle leading to the sacking of their manager and eventually finishing 16th. They also had an embarrassing FA Cup exit to local non-league team (Aldershot).
Despite this they averaged over 15K at home and with season tickets £70 more expensive than ours are on course to sell over 10K.
Edit: Population of Pomey is 2/3 of the population of Cov.
No, because not all were. And I'm not saying we were badly supported, just that it could have been better for a city of this size.
All other clubs have supporters using their 80's attendances to show that they are badly supported?
One offs, its like saying Gillingham deserve to be in the premier league because they took loads to Wembley once. look at all the big clubs that have dropped down to this league. Charlton, Wolves, Norwich, Leicester, Leeds, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Southampton. All averaged 15k or more, all these clubs have better support than us. We're in the group of Milwall, Barnsely, Doncaster and Peterborough.
It could have been better. It should be better now. But we also shouldn't be seen as a lower club than Shrewsbury. But we are. I was born in the late 60's. We have never finished in the top 6 in all this time. Where is the excitement that keeps bringing us back?
Spot on. I remember gates of 8k in the top flight. Families stopped going together. Some games you had to fight your way in and then out again. We did have the occasional full house. But it was because of a sea of red tops not sky blue. Those that never went in the 80's will have heard what it was like. But hearing about it and being there are two different things.
How about an away game? Drink in a pub together and it could get attacked. Have anything to do with your club on your car and it would get smashed up. Go on a train and you could get attacked by supporters of clubs you were not playing. You only got the ones you were playing as you got off. Go on a coach and watch the bricks come in.
Good idea. Lets compare the 80's crowds.
I have made that very point on many occasions. Most clubs have periods of excitement to draw the crowds in but we have had nothing but mediocrity followed by rubbish followed by relegation for many years. Even the most die hard fan will struggle to stay engaged with that! Very little in the way of entertainment and ultimately very little reward.
Do people mention top 6 as we have finished in the top 7 in this time? If we'd have finished 6th would it be no top 5 finish?
In 85/86 we played Watford at home in the January after being knocked out of the cup by then the previous week I think the crowd was below 8,000 we lost and that was probably one of the worst teams we had in the top flight
They probably got or were near promotion every season they were in this league. We have been in this league 3 seasons (and the championship for 10) and haven't come to close to promotion at all. So I make that 13 seasons without doing anything to rebuild a fanbase.
You are right - good memory. Oddly it was 1986.
The next years fixture attracted only 11,000 as well
The following year it attracted 21,000 - I wonder why.
Leeds -15 point deduction, 24,000 first game
Sheffield Wednesday 2004 16th place finish 22,000 average, 2011 15th place finish 17,000 average
Charlton Athletic 2011, 13 place finish, 15,000 average
Southampton -10 points, first game 20,000, as and added thought during that season they didn't win any of there first 8 matches and remained rooted to the bottom on -5 points as of the 18th September. They won there first game on the 9th attempt in front of 19,000
Sheffield United, last year when they were in the relegation zone during Davie Weirs last match, 15k.
I get that we haven't had much if anything to cheer about it, but even all things considering its still pretty pathetic.
And we would swop our future with the majority of clubs in any leagueExactly. Our history is a lot better than a lot of other clubs. Our fans need to get a reality check. The majority of clubs in our league would swap our history straight away.
NORTHAMPTON against everyones wishes , and for whatLeeds -15 point deduction, 24,000 first game
Sheffield Wednesday 2004 16th place finish 22,000 average, 2011 15th place finish 17,000 average
Charlton Athletic 2011, 13 place finish, 15,000 average
Southampton -10 points, first game 20,000, as and added thought during that season they didn't win any of there first 8 matches and remained rooted to the bottom on -5 points as of the 18th September. They won there first game on the 9th attempt in front of 19,000
Sheffield United, last year when they were in the relegation zone during Davie Weirs last match, 15k.
I get that we haven't had much if anything to cheer about it, but even all things considering its still pretty pathetic.
Most of them clubs just have bigger core group than us, that's it.
Investment and ambition helps. If the board said 'right we've got £2m, we're going to build a team what's capable of winning this league and further behind. We're not going to mess about with this fantasy stadium anymore. The Ricoh is our home for the foreseeable future, we want you to join us in this exciting new era' then I'm sure more fans would get off their arses and get down to the shop.
But at the moment it looks like another season of mediocrity with no backing for the manager.
So why do people on here insist we are similar to clubs like Southampton, Norwich, Leicester when its clear these clubs have a much bigger core fan base than us. Why do people say we belong in the premier league club when attendances suggest we don't, there are far more clubs more deserving of top flight football than us.
Personally I'm very optimistic for the coming season, we have a top manager for the division and we will have a budget which will once be again be around the top 10 with this league. With a manager that knows what he's doing I think we can do something this year.
You could say the same about a lot of clubs in the football league, was only a few weeks ago I was having an argument with a Bristol City fan who thought they were massive because they brought 40k to Wembley and kept banging on about the size of the city and the potential. I told him to pipe down as Bristol City have achieved nothing significant in football over there history.They are similar to us IMO. Similar history apart from Leicester never winning a major trophy. We do have lower core fan bases but our potential fanbase is bigger or similar to those teams.
Just we'd never see that potential fanbase until we do something exciting sadly
Triple post but who cares.
You've got to question SISU here. What are there intentions? Surely the only way they can recoup some money back is by not lying to the fans and backing the manager but that isn't Vhappening anytime soon.
You could say the same about a lot of clubs in the football league, was only a few weeks ago I was having an argument with a Bristol City fan who thought they were massive because they brought 40k to Wembley and kept banging on about the size of the city and the potential.
Sadly our core fanbase isn't enough to actually sustain a push to do something exciting like those teams have.
Difficult to say, I know fans of Sheffield United and Preston etc. don't get that excited about the play offs because they've been there so many times before and failed. As we've been on such a low ebb our fans are willing to jump on any bandwagon no matter how small. Similar comparison I guess would be Southampton who had been on a downward spiral until the JPT and they sold 30k, they also had the league attendances to back it up though and get out of the mess.No team in this league and I doubt many in the Championship apart from us would be able to get 32,000 for a JPT semi final. That was the first bit of excitement we've had for ages and the city reacted with a sell out.
You may say Sheffield United would sell out but they only had 20,000 for the play offs.
I think we would agree that our support is OK but could be better.
Probably 11k-13k, then we'd probably sell out the promotion clincher game and we'd all claim we were massive.How many do you think we would get at home games if we had a Bristol City esque season? Say around Christmas we are top of the league and haven't lost at home yet
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