[Football] Reading FC

[Napper]

Here you go...

Tuesday 4th November, Albion v Wigan

"The council are not required to keep records on a match by match basis of attendance. We review safety management arrangements on a quarterly basis and at that time attendance figures are noted. The ground is an all seater stadium and as such has a limit to its capacity. The recent match that we reviewed which coincidentally was on the 4th November had an attendance of 16,133"

Looked empty also.

I reckon we'd be down to 10 - 15k if we have a few years of being awful.

Only have to look around the amex after a defeat to see that it doesnt really matter to alot of people.

 

[Weststander]

Madjeski’s cash turned them for a while from a small club to a something significantly bigger. Annoyingly for a while picking off our manager and we didn’t stand a chance with Sidwell.

Then they faded back to their original level.

Wokingham, Reading and Bracknell is a small population catchment compared to the wide area the Albion has to itself. I think our gates will always hold up well.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Hmmm. True, but that was before we'd drunk from the Premier League cup. Now we've sampled that heady brew would 22,000 (real figure, not pretendance) still turn up to see Peterborough on a Tuesday night in January? Especially given that, as expected, a large part of the fanbase now has a sense of entitlement and thinks that some/most/all of the players (especially the strikers) aren't good enough and that we should win more games. And certainly should win games in the Championship.

A successful Championship side, yeah maybe the attendances won't drop that much overall. A struggling Hypia-class one that's spent several season out of the PL (like Reading) and I think Icy's prediction will be more or less accurate. Let's hope we never find out!

I think I agree. I have a feeling that a large number of fans would consider Championship football an insufficient draw to make them want to battle the travel hassles of the Amex unless we were actually in the thick of a promotion race again. I'm actually quite impressed that the Biscuitmen got as large a crowd as they did to see a struggling side.

 

[Commander]

Here you go...

Tuesday 4th November, Albion v Wigan

"The council are not required to keep records on a match by match basis of attendance. We review safety management arrangements on a quarterly basis and at that time attendance figures are noted. The ground is an all seater stadium and as such has a limit to its capacity. The recent match that we reviewed which coincidentally was on the 4th November had an attendance of 16,133"

Interesting. But I still think too many new fans, and especially kids, are hooked on the Amex and we wouldn't lose too many. Plus the crowds would also come back as soon as we started playing well again- we'd have got 10,000-15,000 when we were walking League 1 under Poyet, if we could have fit that many in to Withdean.

 

[Stat Brother]

Hemed?

He's the only striker that fits the criteria.

 

[Weststander]

Looked empty also.

I reckon we'd be down to 10 - 15k if we have a few years of being awful.

Only have to look around the amex after a defeat to see that it doesnt really matter to alot of people.

The Amex during/after a win is half empty. Huge numbers exiting from 70 minutes onwards, I assume to avoid getting home even later. (Not criticising them, quite often I leave on 90).

 

[Icy Gull]

Very very different era generally and for the club.

Do you think that fans are going to feel any differently about going if we are shit than they were back then? I don’t as football is far more available on tv now. Depends just how many would be hard core from our increase from 7k to 30k would be.

I have always felt we have a hard core of 8k, no doubt that has increased since we came back to Brighton but I still think we’d struggle to get more than 12k who’d pay to watch a struggling team in the Championship or League 1.

If we got relegated and were competitive I doubt it would fall much at all as most fans love success

I don’t think we are much if any bigger than Reading, we are definitely not as tin pot though

 

[Gwylan]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but those 22,000 people had committed to season tickets when Garcia was still in charge and we were heading towards the play-offs.

Two or three seasons of dross is a different thing completely.

In our last season at the Goldstone, when were bottom of the entire football league (and after several seasons of complete dross), we were still pulling in 10,000 (and selling out too). People had gone to that Darlington game (where we lost to what looked like a pub team) and still turned up for more punishment.

 

[Horses Arse]

Do you think that fans are going to feel any differently about going if we are shit than they were back then? I don’t as football is far more available on tv now. Depends just how many would be hard core from our increase from 7k to 30k would be.

I have always felt we have a hard core of 8k, no doubt that has increased since we came back to Brighton but I still think we’d struggle to get more than 12k who’d pay to watch a struggling team in the Championship or League 1.

If we got relegated and were competitive I doubt it would fall much at all as most fans love success

I don’t think we are much if any bigger than Reading, we are definitely not as tin pot though

What I meant was that far fewer fans were going then generally, at all clubs and across all leagues. It is very different now. As for us being a larger, better established club with a far greater fanbase than Reading then absolutely 100% yes. They are on a totally different scale. More like Colchester than Brighton

 

[Icy Gull]

What I meant was that far fewer fans were going then generally, at all clubs and across all leagues. It is very different now. As for us being a larger, better established club with a far greater fanbase than Reading then absolutely 100% yes. They are on a totally different scale. More like Colchester than Brighton

Fingers crossed that it won’t be put to the test!

I do think we are as well prepared as we can be for a drop in division though so we should be a force in the Championship even if we do go down so crowds will stay high.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Good morning.

I was just having a little look around last night's Championship results for all the Albion connections there in.

Everything seems to be ticking along nicely, with the exception of our main summer striker target not getting off the bench v Massive.


Naturally in palace week my mind turned to Balogun, 3-0 away win at Reading, in front of:-

10,088 fans.

The Mad Stad with 1,500 more people than Withdean

I bet that was a joyous evening.







If at least 2 of the boxes aren't ticked on this thread, you have all let NSC down.

The MadStad is one of those eye sores on the M4, sorry I meant sights, that you see when you know you're escaping the magnetic draw of London town.
Its up there with that lonely wind turbine, the lovely potpourri smells of Slough, the medieval inbred chavs of Windsor and the M25 car park

 

[Weststander]

Do you think that fans are going to feel any differently about going if we are shit than they were back then? I don’t as football is far more available on tv now. Depends just how many would be hard core from our increase from 7k to 30k would be.

I have always felt we have a hard core of 8k, no doubt that has increased since we came back to Brighton but I still think we’d struggle to get more than 12k who’d pay to watch a struggling team in the Championship or League 1.

If we got relegated and were competitive I doubt it would fall much at all as most fans love success

I don’t think we are much if any bigger than Reading, we are definitely not as tin pot though

I get your argument. But imho as the years have passed by, we now have double or triple the number of regular faces to those of us who attended Withdean or the debt loaded years at the Goldstone. There are countless families/kids who now have the Albion bug for life. In the Graham/Wenger years I know so many folk (with zero London connections) who switched to Arsenal, many buying Emirates s/t’s. Now we have a proper stadium, even some of those have drifted back. We have an attractive club in our own backyard.

Sussex with a 1.7 million population can sustain more than decent support.

 

[schmunk]

I get your argument. But imho as the years have passed by, we now have double or triple the number of regular faces to those of us who attended Withdean or the debt loaded years at the Goldstone. There are countless families/kids who now have the Albion bug for life. In the Graham/Wenger years I know so many folk (with zero London connections) who switched to Arsenal, many buying Emirates s/t’s. Now we have a proper stadium, even some of those have drifted back. We have an attractive club in our own backyard.

Sussex with a 1.7 million population can sustain more than decent support.

Time to wheel out this infographic again!

 

[Braggfan]

In our last season at the Goldstone, when were bottom of the entire football league (and after several seasons of complete dross), we were still pulling in 10,000 (and selling out too). People had gone to that Darlington game (where we lost to what looked like a pub team) and still turned up for more punishment.

We've always had a core support around that number but I do wonder what impact the modern era would have on that. The cost of attending football and the Albion has sky rocketed since back then. If we had a couple of struggling seasons in the championship, I think cost alone would put a large amount of people off going. 10,000 does seem a bit too low, but I could see it dipping to 15,000 maybe 12/13

 

[Justice]

Always been 8-10k hardcore support, my mums neighbour for example takes his kids to the Amex to see the other PL sides and he’s probably not alone.

 

[Stat Brother]

Anyway, NSC seems to have rather rapidly lost sight of the reason for this thread.

Laughing at Reading.

&

Their Withdeanesque crowd.


We had a few Royals sniffing around here, pointing the finger, laughing and basking in their 'glory'.
Sure we haven't seen any for a while but they have still given us the opportunity to laugh at them, why aren't we taking it?

 

[Arthur]

Another thing to throw into the mix is all midweek championship games are shown on TV these days.

If we were in Reading's position I'm not sure I could be arsed with a dead rubber (for them) against Wigan on a cold February night when I could watch it on telly....not sure I'd even bother watching it on telly to be honest.

 

[crodonilson]

Another thing to throw into the mix is all midweek championship games are shown on TV these days.

If we were in Reading's position I'm not sure I could be arsed with a dead rubber (for them) against Wigan on a cold February night when I could watch it on telly....not sure I'd even bother watching it on telly to be honest.

If Reading were playing in my back garden, I'd draw the curtains.....and give Mrs Crodo a good pounding instead.

 

[Weststander]

Football and demographics evolve.

Up until 1960 Preston had average attendances for decades of 18,000 to 33,000, Blackburn in the decades up to 1964 peaked at 30,000. Whilst Brighton, Palace and Stains were usually far smaller, with the occasional renaissance.

Bigger stadia and/or a growth of interest in football in the 'soft south' have transformed the fortunes of some clubs.

Brighton's a hard one to gauge due to a history of debt/skint Boards, a crumbling ground and finally land larcenists in the 80's and 90's. Based on the last 9 years, the support base is exceptional.

 

[Stat Brother]

Another thing to throw into the mix is all midweek championship games are shown on TV these days.

If we were in Reading's position I'm not sure I could be arsed with a dead rubber (for them) against Wigan on a cold February night when I could watch it on telly....not sure I'd even bother watching it on telly to be honest.

Good point well made.

I hope the TV deal makes up for the shortfall!!!