Crawley Football Club

[StonehamPark]

I don't think you can forget everything about Withdean. When we were writing letters and demanding a new stadium much was made of selling out Withdean, but we rarely did, if at all. Same with Crawley now I guess, if people aren't inspired by the venue, proposition and the team they won't come in their numbers. However, build a new stand, add some scoreboards, HT entertainment and a couple of big name (for Div 1) signings and they may see numbers increase, it'll take a few years but what have Horsham, Hayward's Heath, Burgess Hill, Crawley, Gatwick, Horley, Redhill got to offer?

My argument was based on Withdean attendances, specified in my opening sentence.
No one should base BHA's average attendances on Withdean or Priestfield - but should base it on The Goldstone and AMEX which provide accurate figures.

In the past 67 years, Crawley have not reached crowds of 6000.
I do not believe that there is anything that will draw a further 5000-9000+ supporters each week which would make Crawley FC sustainable in the higher divisions.

I've got nothing for/against the club, but it's just common sense

It's like operating a small independent shop, completely surrounded by giant supermarkets and shopping centers, all of which are more attractive and word-of-mouth attracting new customers every day.
I'm only going to attract a tiny amount of the market to my store.

 

[Mowgli37]

Out of interest who does Crawley see as their rivals?

A clash with Horsham would be pretty tasty, once they sort out the teeny issue of being mind-numbingly dreadful

 

[Neil]

You cant get a club in the championship with gates like that, It takes years and generations to increase support.
Look at Whitehawk, they were saying at the start of the season they wanted to get in the football league change their name to Brighton City. Their playing budget was better than some in Div 2 and Last night they played in front of 96 supporters and are 2 points off from relegation. They have sacked their manager and 3 of their top players have left when the purse strings have been tightened. How can you run a club on 96 supporters, you would be lucky to clear £1000 gate money with that

 

[StonehamPark]

Done deal.

Bet Crawley fans are DELIGHT-ed.

 

[The Wookiee]

Out of interest who does Crawley see as their rivals?

It was Dover

 

[Superphil]

Forget everything you know about Withdean attendances, they don't mean a thing.

We had 94 years to grow a fanbase with a HUGE catchment area and just about averaged 15k and hitting 30k+ on special occasions.
We're now at the Amex and as long as we stay in the Championship, we'll likely continue to hover between 18-25k.

Without digging too deep, the record attendance at Crawley's old place was 3.5k, Broadfield's record is 5880.
So in 67 years, Crawley haven't reached 5 figures.

Crawley has a large catchment area, but clearly people don't want to watch/support Crawley for whatever various reasons.

The average gate at the Goldstone over its history was just over 10k.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

From the BBC website:

Turkish businessman Eren recently said he hopes to take Crawley to the Championship within eight to 10 years.

In a statement issued to BBC Sussex, Eren described Crawley as a club with "a long history" and "huge potential".

"The prospect of making this club fulfil its potential is an exciting challenge," he said.

Eren, who is also involved in football in Turkey, added: "It has always been a desire to apply my football philosophy in England, the home of football.

"Over the past year, I have actively sought the right club. When we heard of the prospect of Crawley, I knew immediately it was the right choice

Nothing personal against Crawley. However the highlighted quote shows this guy has limited knowledge of Crawley FC and the English game. He's blowing the usual plaudits that have quoted so many times by new owners with big ideas that all end in tears. Many clubs have been there, done that, got the T Shirt. I hope I'm wrong but history would suggest Crawley and their fans should be wary.

Crawley Town FC, I suspect it will surprise you (and others on here) to know, are actually five years older than the Albion, having been founded in 1896. So yes, they do have a long history, albeit not necessarily an illustrious one.

I guess if Burton Albion can reach the Championship, as seems likely, on their relatively small crowds, then it must give hope to the likes of Crawley that the same level could be attained. I do know Crawley had plans to build a new stadium recently. Not sure what's happened to those.

 

[StonehamPark]

The average gate at the Goldstone over its history was just over 10k.

I knew some smart-ass would dig out that attendance stat out from the Wiki page.

Obviously crowds would be MUCH lower back between 1902-1950's as the population was approximately half of what it is now.
So averaging it out over 114 years isn't a fair representation.

What I do know, is that our average attendances at Home against Crystal Palace in the past 67 years is 20,250 (not inc. Withdean).
Therefore I would deem is fair to assume that our average attendances at The Goldstone in the past 67 years would be 15k+.
= Fair representation.

Crawley's highest attendance (no idea on average) in 67 years is under 6000.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I knew some smart-ass would dig out that attendance stat out from the Wiki page.

Obviously crowds would be MUCH lower back between 1902-1950's as the population was approximately half of what it is now.
So averaging it out over 114 years isn't a fair representation.

What I do know, is that our average attendances at Home against Crystal Palace in the past 67 years has been 20,250 (not inc. Withdean).
Therefore I would deem is fair to assume that our average attendances at The Goldstone in the past 67 years would be 15k+.
= Fair representation.

Crawley's highest attendance (no idea on average) in 67 years is under 6000.

What's the significance of 67 years?

 

[Eeyore]

I knew some smart-ass would dig out that attendance stat out from the Wiki page.

Obviously crowds would be MUCH lower back between 1902-1950's as the population was approximately half of what it is now.
So averaging it out over 114 years isn't a fair representation.

What I do know, is that our average attendances at Home against Crystal Palace in the past 67 years is 20,250 (not inc. Withdean).
Therefore I would deem is fair to assume that our average attendances at The Goldstone in the past 67 years would be 15k+.
= Fair representation.

Crawley's highest attendance (no idea on average) in 67 years is under 6000.

Yes, but don't forget those days in 90s, when we were in the Third Division as opposed to the Fourth, when crowds dropped below 6,000.

As for Crawley Town, I wish them well. I'd love to play them in a competitive match sometime.

 

[StonehamPark]

What's the significance of 67 years?

It's as far as I could be assed to go back regarding Crawley.

 

[StonehamPark]

Yes, but don't forget those days in 90s, when we were in the Third Division as opposed to the Fourth, when crowds dropped below 6,000.

As for Crawley Town, I wish them well. I'd love to play them in a competitive match sometime.

Correct, from 1986 to 2011, we never had a 5 figure attendance.

Edit: I'm a total bellend.

From 1986-2011, our average attendance per season never reached 5 figures.

And for anyone interested, this website has our average attendances every year from 1921.
Tomorrow I'll add it all up and figure out what our actual average.

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/bha.htm

---

**** it.

Average attendance from 1921 to present (including all stadiums) is 13,172.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Out of interest who does Crawley see as their rivals?

I seem to remember there being some beef between them and Wimbledon for a few years. I think they got promoted consecutively together - I may be wrong mind

 

[Superphil]

What's the significance of 67 years?

Sky have only been reinventing football statistics since 1992

 

[Milano]

Well if it means they kick ****ing Chelsea 'academy' out of the K2 leisure centre and half their schools then I wish them well...

 

[RM-Taylor]

Out of interest who does Crawley see as their rivals?

AFC Wimbledon apparently from their non-league days