Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

its good for once that everyone who have posted seem to all agree. lets get the new stand built get promotion and i,m sure the gates will go up from home as well as away fans. as lord stiffupperlip states someone may turn out for blackburn and other local sides but barnet on a rainy day hardly gets the juices flowing apart from the regulars.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Wouldn't do to have everyone agreeing unreservedly :D - I do hope you're right, but was there a great leap in home support, even when Bury and Rochdale first came to the Crown, on promotion to League 2? League 1 is very northern just now, so I'm sure visiting numbers would go up markedly :) - but if we had a losing season, I fear any upturn in our support would prove to be very temporary :(.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Chimer old boy, your such an optimist!!!!!!!!

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Sadly, i'd say more of a realist - the surge of support we had when we achieved promotion to the football league was brilliant but, as we all know it didn't last - maybe some of those who temporarily got caught up in Stanley finally realising & living the dream got bored once we got here, who knows??
Yes, if (nay, when) we make the next step up no doubt in the lead up to it we'll experience a similar surge once again & they'll be welcome but I have the feeling that most won't keep up their attendance once the celebrations settle down & we're back to the nitty gritty - hope I'm wrong :rolleyes:

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Probably spot on with your assumption there AM, that said though I do think that although not all will stay the course, there will definitely be a few loons (like the rest of us :)) who'll be hooked & turn to on a regular basis.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Regarding all this misty-eyed optimism about home support going up if we make league 1, I remember the same sentiments being aired, when we were pushing for promotion from the conference...lots of predictions that our gates would be up to 2-3,000 if we made the league. It never happened and for our whole time in the Football League, our gates have been either the lowest or the next to the lowest of the 92.

Promotion to league 1 will certainly mean bigger away numbers, but I doubt many more locals will turn up, because the vast majority of them simply couldn't care less. A sad, but true fact.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Have to disagree mate, 62 did the damage in the main, most people me included, went elsewhere, got wed etc and took our kids, the older uns like me dad are long gone, kids that "Never" even watched the reds are very unlikely to switch sides and many of them are wed now, fact, I thought many years ago and suggested to the club, the main chance as i see it are too attract the very young, a few owd farts like me, Keep the faith,and the late Jeff came back but most didn't.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

I think the "lost generations since 1962" argument is greatly exaggerated. Accrington in the 60's/70's/80's/90's was no different than any other non-league town - Crawley, Yeovil, Cheltenham, Wycombe, Fleetwood and many more. People in those towns went elsewhere to watch professional football. Yet since those towns have got into the league, the locals have responded by getting behind their local club in much greater numbers than ours. It's basically down to apathy.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Well please explain to me, why someone who has never watched us, and gone elsewhere for years, switch and watch us?:confused:

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Dunno, mate, but it must have happened with the other former non-league clubs I've quoted. How come they've gone from having typical non-league gates in the depths of the southern league or wherever to 3-4,000 gates now? It's a fact that when clubs enter the football league, their gates generally improve - apart from us (and possibly Morecambe.).

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

Aye but to me its the point we never had a town team for 6 yrs or so.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

We had no town team actually playing from Jan, 66 to Aug, 70, but to be honest, I don't think that made much difference. Our last gate was under 50, so most people had gone elsewhere long before then. The point I'm making is, if you went to a town like, say, Crawley in the 60's/70's, you'd find that the majority of football fans went elsewhere to support a club, yet now their gates are double ours. It's this that makes me deeply sceptical of the local public pitching up to support us in numbers, even if we do get promoted...and I sincerely hope I'm wrong!

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

I should imagine the majority of our supporters of today have never been to the old Peel Park our support will grow with the positive innovative input from our owner and the staff the plans for the new family stand on the Whinney Hill side if marketed right and priced properly will hopefully attract a new future generation of support, obviously results and promotion help but once hooked you follow through thick and thin.

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

What i don't understand is where the Ultras of 10 years ago have gone? and why has the whole thing been allowed to die a death.

They were magnificent at the game at Carlisle just after the floods with the Banners and the inflatables etc and were an absolute credit to both the club and the town.

And if teenagers had something like that to hook on to i.m pretty sure a lot more would be enticed to the cause.

Still, think Andy should seriously look at making it completely free for any resident of Hyndburn whos U16 as a way of getting the kids in short-term and getting them hooked to the point they.ll be willing to start paying once they hit 16.

I don't think the amount U16.s bring in during the season in on the day sales and season tickets would be that great and the national publicity and goodwill a company could get from sponsoring a groundbreaking scheme like that would be immense.

As Andy says a lot of 17 and 18-year-olds might suddenly claim to be 16 but with the right checks put in place i.m sure a system could be made to work

Re: V Barnet Guess The Gate
 

The Newcastle game happened, and the powers that be at the club didn't back their fans. A real shame, but it highlights how hard it is to bring back fans once they have found other things to do with their time.