Today's Attendance

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

It was also Leigh Regatta yesterday, so may have dropped the crowd by a couple of hundred.

 

[Uncle Leo]

I've been a fan of 27 years through thick and thin and spent much of my hard earned cash on the club since I first had a paper-round to the present day.

Despite moving to Australia (done for the benefit of my family, one of the few things more important to me than Southend United) I will still continue to invest in the club through my subscription to Blues World and various shirts and merchandise purchased.

My conscious is perfectly clear on that front, don't worry.

:net:

Caught a whopper there YB :)

 

[Ron Manager]

:net:

Caught a whopper there YB :)

Yep - hands up. Caught hook, line and sinker!

Must have been these egg chasing codes I've been watching had the effect of a sense of humour bypass on me ;)

 

[Hooly]

Despite moving to Australia.....

And didn't you drag that out FFS. I thought you were never going! You kept threatening it'd be your last game & then turn up again! & again & again.......

As it happens there were 5 season ticket seats out of 6 that were unoccupied (including your old one Andrew) in front of me on Saturday for various reasons. To be honest that was only my 2nd match this season & th last time I felt such a lack of interest at the start of a campaign was at the start of the 96/97 season. When Phil Gridelet was still mincing round for us that August I reasoned there was only 1 conclusion. Relegation. And the rest was history.

 

[maninasuitcase]

Would you care to read the rest of the thread?

I thought not. I wish you'd bore off back to 606.

So you'd you'd happely say good bye to £250k over the season. You're not a real support are you

 

[* ORM *]

Let's be honest here. If we'd drawn in 8000 to watch us struggle to overcome dross the floating support may not have bothered next time around. The attendence reflected our league position and it is not that long ago that we'd have been looking at 4000 tops. We have come a long way in five seasons. Despite my criticisms of Saturday's performance I remain convinced that our immediate future is ensuring div 1 Footie until guaranteed investment in FF brings some loosening of the pursestrings. I'll take 6 in a 22K all seated but I tend to think 10 will be the mark assuming the crunch doesn't bite any more. RH I a bit like the old Wembley. For those turning up for the first time expecting comfort and reasonable quality refreshments the disappointment must be immense.

The credit crunch IS a factor. Even those of us that are lucky enough to have some spending power have started cutting back and being aware that household bills are outstripping inflation and pay reviews.

 

[steveo]

They were discussing this in relation to Newcastle on Talksport this morning and it is one of my concerns about Fossetts Farm. Because it will be easy to walk up and buy a ticket, less people will buy season tickets.
Then, if we are not doing very well,or finances are tight, people without season tickets, might miss the odd game here and there, which will make the average crowd even lower.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

I'm actually writing an article about the credit crunch vs supporter apathy issue. As I'm sure you've noticed, our crowds are back to League Two levels. Any thoughts on the matter (from a Southend on Southend perspective, as well as a Southend laughing at Orient perspective) appreciated.

 

[Pubey]

linked to the credit crunch or not... the really expensive trains have made getting to any games pretty much impossible for an exile like me. i still haven't seen the blues this season as i haven't been able to afford to get back home as often as i normally do

 

[Jam_Man]

I'm actually writing an article about the credit crunch vs supporter apathy issue. As I'm sure you've noticed, our crowds are back to League Two levels. Any thoughts on the matter (from a Southend on Southend perspective, as well as a Southend laughing at Orient perspective) appreciated.

Im sure finances do have an effect but I think for us its certainly a factor we have taken a couple of humpings (one against non-league opposition like Orient :) ) and are sitting in the bottom 3, against an unattractive side.

Personally whilst its disappointing Saturdays crowd was a good thousand off what Id hope we would get, but its still better than a few seasons ago when we had just been promoted from League Two and despite doing well were getting plenty of attendances below 6,000 up until Christmas.


If we get a little bit of form Im sure we will be getting 7,000+ but it wouldnt be a shocker if our crowds reduced as they are still fairly swollen from our CCC season.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

I'm actually writing an article about the credit crunch vs supporter apathy issue. As I'm sure you've noticed, our crowds are back to League Two levels. Any thoughts on the matter (from a Southend on Southend perspective, as well as a Southend laughing at Orient perspective) appreciated.

Trouble is as I'm sure you already know most of your support does not come from the local area & it must be quite an effort for people to make what is not always an easy journey to your ground. I think you notice it more at evening games when your crowds drop even lower. What would you say is the actual % of season ticket holders that live within 10 miles of Brisbaine Road?

Going back to an earlier point about Huddersfield they actually have approx 16,500 season ticket holders and already over 3,500 are not attending matches. Now as they were so cheap (£100) that was always going to be a problem. Can't be the cost of the tickets or the facilities so people must be put off by the poor performances on the pitch.

As for Southend games I'm not going to many away games this year. The price some clubs charge for Div 3 football has stopped me attending some away games. Will be going to a few more from January onwards though.

It would be interesting to know how many of our season ticket holders did not go against Hereford? Infact it would still be good to find out how many STH's we actually have and the breakdown per stand.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Not that I would like to see it, nor believe that it will happen.........but......if we continued the season in the bottom quarter of the table we would fall down to our core support which I would assess at 4500-5000. I don't believe that we would return to those awful days of around 2000 because we are now more commercially aware, with concessionary tickets an special offers.

 

[Jam_Man]

Not that I would like to see it, nor believe that it will happen.........but......if we continued the season in the bottom quarter of the table we would fall down to our core support which I would assess at 4500-5000. I don't believe that we would return to those awful days of around 2000 because we are now more commercially aware, with concessionary tickets an special offers.

Cant see us going that low as we have too many season ticket holders, plus you will always get on the day sales.

I think we will look back and see 6,000 is our lowest point, but who knows...

 

[Southend_Lady]

Come on people, it was Hereford at home. It was a bottom of the table clash - "glamour tie" it was not. With times being hard at the moment, I am not surprised given recent performances and league position, that people do not want to dig deeper for that £20 on this occasion. I could see why a non-STH would find it hard to justify spending £20 on this one.

It's a no brainer as far as I can . I don't think it gives us any reason for concern, it was just one of those things. A couple more wins and it might give people more of a reason to "find" that £20.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

As I said I don't think it will happen but IF we were playing badly and IF we remained in the relegation zone, there would certainly be some season ticket holders who would deem to find sometimes find something more interesting to do on a Saturday afternoon.
I find the experiment at Huddersfield quite an interesting one to watch.......three
home matches with dropping attendances 15,578.....13,189....12,128...If they continue to fare so badly on the pitch, how low can it go???

 

[ethical]

regarding the quantity of season ticket holders ,
I got mine a few weeks before the season started and i was shown a computer screen which showed a layout of the ground and all the seats in red was season ticket holders - to me it looked as thought about 70% were season ticket holders - as my choice for my two season tickets was very limited.

i blame the credit crunch - most can afford the 20 quid but its getting harder to justify paying that money with all the other bills going up.

 

[leeblue]

People are skint believe me, I work with the public all day and many complaining of the same things fuel bills, food prices etc etc low pay rises, imagine then the non hardcore supporter justifying 20+ quid on a ticket to see hereford...... I am a seaso btw and always will be but times are tricky at the mo for many a household and extra expense is not an option, also when leeds and leiscter come to town 8000+ will be back on the menu

 

[Farmer Fossett]

I personaly believe that Southend should set different prices per game I for example would pay more to watch Southend play Orient, Colchester, Leeds and Leicester than Hereford, Crewe and Stockport.

Southend should also price their games to reflect the current financial climate paying £20+ to watch a league 1 match is not value for money (considering you can watch Premier League games for less). I know this is difficult as many have purchased season tickets however unless this is considered I predict that average attandance will be 25% less than last year.

The credit crunch is having an adverse effect for the majority of clubs not just Southend most clubs have and will continue to see a drop in attandancies. Those that are proactive will be less effected than others.

 

[leeblue]

good shout FF why not have a flexible pricing policy, this would surely help boost attendances for the non glamour games

 

[Pubey]

good shout FF why not have a flexible pricing policy, this would surely help boost attendances for the non glamour games

as well as boost overall revenue