Falmer(Amex)

[Gav1901]

It may sound stupid, but i've been thinking lately where another 10,000 fans are going to come from each week to even half fill our ground. I'm worried we will only average something like 10,000 a game. I hope i'm wrong though.

 

[Nappy thrower]

It may sound stupid, but i've been thinking lately where another 10,000 fans are going to come from each week to even half fill our ground. I'm worried we will only average something like 10,000 a game. I hope i'm wrong though.

I take it your about 18?

 

[Spanish Seagulls]

I take it your about 18?

It very much depends on what level we are playing at. Even at The Goldstone attendances weren't great when we were shit. I believe attendances will be more 15 - 18k if we are mid Championship & higher for big games obviously. If the plan to get into The Premiership within 5 years runs on track then we won't have a worry people will come.

 

[Stat Brother]

2 extra, here.

 

[Addiseagull]

It may sound stupid, but i've been thinking lately where another 10,000 fans are going to come from each week to even half fill our ground. I'm worried we will only average something like 10,000 a game. I hope i'm wrong though.

You and others need to calm down and just look at the path of similar sized clubs after they moved into new grounds. Look at Reading, Hull and even Swansea.

We'll be fine. If in Championship we'll have 15,000 STH's plus away and casual, if in L1 10,000 STH's plus away and casual.

It's going to be great.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

You and others need to calm down and just look at the path of similar sized clubs after they moved into new grounds. Look at Reading, Hull and even Swansea.

We'll be fine. If in Championship we'll have 15,000 STH's plus away and casual, if in L1 10,000 STH's plus away and casual.

It's going to be great.

 

[Steve Foster]

Being a seaside city there are always other attractions for the locals except football.
The only seaside holiday town in England, Blackpool are having their 5 minutes of fame but their crowds of 15,000 are hardly going to sustain football at the top level for long.
Those cities on the coast that tend to do better,
Newcastle, Middlesborough, Sunderland, Portsmouth, Hull, Southampton, Cardiff are hardly holiday destinations?

We are in the bracket of the Bournemouth's, Southend, Blackpool, Torquay. Nicer places to live in, however the populations are weighted to those who retire to the seaside & if there are football allegiances, then they are elsewhere.

I remember many games at the Goldstone when we played the likes of Stoke or Coventry in the top flight when our crowd was 14/15,000.

Don't forget whilst for many the Goldstone was walking distance from home/seafront/pubs almost everyone will have to make the physical effort to get to Falmer & we will be playing third or at best second tier football.

So how many will watch Rochdale, Walsall or Exeter on a blustery November midweek game once the novelty factor is over?

MK Dons have moved to a brand new stadium & their average gate was just shy of 10,000 last season.

Will we get 10,000 crowds for the Hartlepools, Dagenham or Colchester in two year's time if we are still in this league?

I suspect a 10,000 average crowd for League 1 will be more than acceptable to the Board in our second season at Falmer if we are still in League 1. 12,000 for the bigger teams & 8,000 for the smaller teams.

Such a crowd will put us within the top 6 in this league.

I hope the club Market tickets competitively & sell tickets in shops around the county to cast their net wide & far.

 

[beorhthelm]

the average at Millwall (a similar club yo-yo-ing between L1 and championship) is around 10-11k. Huddersfield and Charlton are about 15k. many clubs in the Chamioship struggle to get that, you have to be one of the regional county clubs, Ipswich, Coventry, Leicester, Notts Forrest, Leeds etc to rely on 20k+.

the board know this. they know full well they can expect a surge of interest next season before we revert to ~10k in this league and about ~15k if in the Championship.

It will be very easy to find another 3-8k, so many people dont go to Withdean because it is shit and difficult to get tickets (the card thing will hopfullly work well if we can topup in lots of places).

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

2 extra, here.

I know about 10 extra.

 

[Conkers]

Anyone who thinks we will only get 8,000 for a League One game at Falmer is a bit deluded. We were not too far off 7,000 on Saturday! Let's face it, in our 2nd season we will still have more than 8,000 STH's.....

 

[bhaexpress]

A lot more travelling fans will come I expect as most of them know that Withdean is a complete rip off.

 

[Steve Foster]

Anyone who thinks we will only get 8,000 for a League One game at Falmer is a bit deluded. We were not too far off 7,000 on Saturday! Let's face it, in our 2nd season we will still have more than 8,000 STH's.....

If our WORST league gates at Falmer are in the 8000-9000 range, then the Amex will be a success.

 

[strings]

When I moved to Wolverhampton (2003) Molineux was never really full, in spite of Premier League football at the time. With continued success, a lot of community work, getting students involved and a slow improvement under Mick McCarthy Wolves have now outgrown Molineux and are looking to tear it down and rebuild..

We aren't as big as Wolves (for the time being ), but I see no reason with a slow build up over 4 or 5 years for not being able to fill up the Amex.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I know people who've never been to Withdean who have told me they want to start going again at the Amex. Similarly, a work colleague was only asking me last week what season ticket prices were likely to be, as he used to go to the Goldstone during the late 80s & early 90s and wants to take his son along when he's old enough. He's a Liverpool fan...if he's thinking about Albion season tickets then it follows that others are.

Oh...wait a minute...according to SussexHoop he'll probably only come if we have stupid goal music. Well that's torn it

 

[webbyson]

I dont see why people worry if we will fill The Amex........so what if on occasions we only get 10k. The atmosphere will still be better, the bars nicer, you will not be sitting in the pissing rain, the away fans will marvel at our lovely new HOME and not complain about the joke of a view at Withdean. It will be a comfortable place to watch football...............................................................anyway for the record i do not think we will see less than 10k unless we get relegated to the bottom division. 10 -15k season tickets and near capacity for the first few games...........leveling off to an average of 15-18k for the first season in league one or more in The Championship.

 

[Giraffe]

It may sound stupid, but i've been thinking lately where another 10,000 fans are going to come from each week to even half fill our ground. I'm worried we will only average something like 10,000 a game. I hope i'm wrong though.

I will give you two classic examples, this morning a guy who I work with told me how his neighbour was looking to his young children to a football match for the first time on Saturday, they chose Portsmouth because they weren't sure they would get a ticket at Withdean and had heard it was a crap game.

If we were at Falmer they would have been coming along.
Another guy I no, who is a Man Utd fan, now has a son and wants to take him to the local league club. He plans to buy two season tickets, despite having never been to the seagulls. I also know at least a dozen people who occasionally went to games at the Goldstone but have never been to Withdean

Multiply that by thousands across the county and we will be averaging 15k week in week out I believe.

Oh and by the way the guy that went to Pompey said it was crap and won't be going again!!!

 

[webbyson]

I am getting a season ticket at The Amex and so is at least one of my mates. We have only been to a handful of away games in the last couple of years and not to the Withdean once last season. We used to go to The Goldstone, Gillingham blah nlah blah and we cant wait to fall in love with football again....i am sure there is thousands like us! (bad fans)

 

[upthealbion1970]

arent the club planning on putting a cap on st's and 1901 club/hospitality (suggesting that they are expecting a massive demand to start with) of around 15k or so? add the away end that should also pretty much sell out most games so that should be around 18k for most of the first season anyway. add in the fact that we should (hopefully) be carrying some sort of momentum into falmer and i honestly think tickets will be in as short a supply as they were in the "glory" withers years

 

[Simster]

Our fans are horribly fickle.

Falmer will sell out most of next season (even if we're in L1, IMO), because we'll have a new stadium and a decent side.

If we sustain success, our support won't tail off by much, but if the playing side turns to shit, we'll be down to 12-15k in a matter of 4 or 5 years. But this is all ifs and buts.

I just can't see the Albion averaging less than 18,000 next season.

 

[Napper]

The point that keeps coming up is "when the novelty wears off"

I don't really get this, how can going to football in a fantastic stadium with all the facilities be a novelty.

I can't see it ever wearing off for me