We Happy Few

[Lord Stiffupperlip]

They say 'You never miss the water till the well runs dry!'
After almost 18 months of fan starvation, full capacity crowds were finally allowed back again on Saturday.
Supporters flooded back in droves to games across the country except, it seems, here in Accrington.
Of the 43 games in the FL, Stanley's attendance ranked 42, only one above Salford v Sutton (1460)
2077 fans for a L1 game is lamentable. Subtract the Ewe's fans and it's down to a pathetic 1754 home fans.
Following the recent ludicrously unfair fines imposed by the mob running the EFL, on top of recent (and continuing) investment in ground improvements, Mr Holt & the club must be wondering - 'Is it really worth it?'
No doubt success will increase gates. But if Stanley's season falters, can they survive with a mere 1700+ hard-core regulars?
It seems the people of Accrington are happy to pursue other interests on a Saturday, or perhaps they have no interest?
Apathy largely killed the last Accrington Stanley, it will be a sad day if it succeeds again.
Everyone agrees that Stanley are punching way above their weight, yet the ambition of the club and its fans is to go even higher.
All the blood, sweat, tears & money invested will have been in vain unless locals wake-up and realise how lucky they are to have a L1 football club.
Until that happens, I fear one day soon the well will finally run dry - for good!
Perhaps then they'll miss the water.

[cashman]

Look what i said about this- post 39 on sats match thread and weigh it up mate!

[The Red Darreners]

Couldn't agree more, your lordship. I have to say, notwithstanding the presence of the infantile inflatable protuberance, from my seat in the Jack Barrett stand the Clayton End looked full and made a fantastic racket throughout. But the stand opposite was all but empty: why? Summer holidays and Burnley at home may have had something to do with it but I suspect it's more to do with the residual social anxiety the pandemic has caused. The wife and i could never forego Stanley but we've been very reluctant to take part in other social events - possibly because we've had the bloody lurgy and despite being double vaxxed we're very wary of a repeat. It's certainly going to be a worry for folk older than us. I was however really reassured by the club's very visible approach to fan safety and hopefully over time this will filter through and persuade those wavering to turn up. I worry about the effect an empty stand has on the motivation of our newcomers, and then I remind myself how brilliantly a team brimming with newcomers did last season, in a completely empty stadium. And if the excellent Mr Pell was underwhelmed by the modest crowd on Saturday, it didn't come across in his terrific post match interview. Let's hope for his sake and that of our other newbies that the crowds improve, starting tomorrow. A good win will certainly help too.

[andyd]

This subject has been covered countless times on this forum different platforms chatting in the pub etc, I agree and said earlier season tickets sold at a bargain early bird price is disappointing but let's get some perspective certainly since Andy came in gates have improved. As he has stated just this week he overruled Coley on the Burgess transfer saying £3 million pounds have just been invested in facility,s and the training ground costs covered for the next 100 years. But the day to day running of the club exacerbated by Covid is losing money and he doesn't like losing money hence the sale. Let's be realistic gates have improved not so long ago we had a couple of hundred season ticket holders now we sell 1000+ progress. The difference now is we won't go bust but crowds especially with super new facilities and hopefully the away end improved then visiting fans will return instead of the one off and never going back to that dump which was regularly the case. We are punching probably 2 league,s above our weight but Coley and Co, want the Championship let's enjoy the ride it's never been has good. Full house,s in the Championship could happen but anyone thinking they will at this level every game are on cloud cuckoo land.

[Lord Stiffupperlip]

Originally Posted by cashman

Look what i said about this- post 39 on sats match thread and weigh it up mate!

Already read your post Cashy & it's factually spot on.
However, we've come a long way since those days.
We had better gates in our Conference years than Saturdays.
Yet here we are in our 3rd season in L1 with almost the lowest attendance in the country, it's embarrassing.
You can blame Covid, the holidays or a hundred other excuses but it doesn't seem to affect other clubs.
Must be frustrating for Mr Holt after all this investment.
The bottom line is our current gates are not viable to support a L2 club, let alone one in L1.

[andyd]

Originally Posted by Lord Stiffupperlip

Already read your post Cashy & it's factually spot on.
However, we've come a long way since those days.
We had better gates in our Conference years than Saturdays.
Yet here we are in our 3rd season in L1 with almost the lowest attendance in the country, it's embarrassing.
You can blame Covid, the holidays or a hundred other excuses but it doesn't seem to affect other clubs.
Must be frustrating for Mr Holt after all this investment.
The bottom line is our current gates are not viable to support a L2 club, let alone one in L1.

We will never get the support to compete at any league level what we need is enough to be self sufficient, not sure what this is but last average gate posted was 2862 I think possibly not far off , I should imagine 3000+ average would not be far off but unlike before Andy Holt took charge we don't owe any money to anyone so are probably better off than a majority of other clubs. We were lucky Andy came along and when he ultimately steps aside he will hopefully have left a lasting legacy, dream on about huge gates they will improve slightly I think unless we get in the Championship, without Andy,s involvement we would have gone under.

[StanleyJosh]

Good posts all, for what it’s worth from me…

Season ticket sales are great. Fantastic price, cash up front, win win.

However, 1000 season ticket holders (£9.85 a game) plus 700 walk ups (£20 each) = £23,850 a game.
1500 season ticket holders plus 200 walk ups = £18,775 a game.
£5,075 difference over 23 league games = £116,725 over a season.
Would imagine that secondary spend (programmes, merchandise, booze etc) probably slightly higher with walk up ‘customers’ too. (I know, fans).

[monkey hanger]

quicker the work on the jack barrett is completed the better. if you enter the ground from the livingstone rd end you have to trail all round the back of the stand to gain admission. with a low attendance there were bigger queues than normal. once you enter the ground then you have to trail all the way back to get your seat that could be at the far end of the stand. this needs to be repeated at the end of the game or if you need the toilet during the game. know the club cannot help this, but its hardly a plus point in attending. its not as if people sitting in this stand are our younger end of our fans. thats after the route march involved that i have previously mentioned if you do not arrive early.

[Tin Monkey]

There seems to be a lot of negativity on this thread and it's not as though it hasn't all been said before. As a club and a community we are very lucky to have someone like Andy Holt, as without him [and some others who came before him] we'd be in one hell of a mess.

While I don't disagree that it's very disappointing that crowds aren't swelling faster, but we should remember just how far we've come in such a relatively short period of time. It's within the last 10 years that that season ticket sales were around the 700 mark, so this season's sales are around 50% up on that figure. I know we're in a higher league, but as we've said in the past, you aren't going to convert Accringtonian supporters of other clubs to the Stanley cause overnight. It's going to take time and a step by step approach.

Due to a range of reasons, I haven't been on a home game for 3 seasons, but on Saturday I saw [among many I did recognise] a large number of faces I had never seen before . This included families and many young people that will form the basis of the future. Before the game I passed through the town and noticed quite a number of young people wearing Stanley shirts and colours. That would hardly ever have happened in the past.

The club is working hard within the community to build a larger fan base and initiatives such as the shirt giveaway to primary school children is the basis of a successful construction. Only a few years ago many children would be ashamed to say that they supported Stanley, as their mates would laugh at them. Now there's no shame and the kids I saw wearing Stanley shirts were obviously proud to do so.

I would love for Stanley to have 10000 fans on every week, but it's not going to happen overnight. I believe Andy Holt is investing his efforts in the right places and trying to reverse a tide that been flowing in the wrong direction for a long time. Whole generations of Accrington people have grown up as supporters of other clubs, be that on TV or at other more local grounds. Getting them to change en masse probably will never happen, but for the younger generations it's already beginning to happen.

Instead of focussing on what's wrong, let's try to focus more on what's going right. I'll be setting off to tonight's game in a minute and look forward to seeing young Stanly fans getting excited and absorbing the Stanly love into their adolescent bloodstreams. Once it's in there, it's unlikely to ever leave!

[monkey hanger]

thing is that if stanley increased their season ticket sales and fanbase by 10 per cent season on season it would take years to get 4,000 regular home fans. starting from a low figure does not help, but i think most clubs at div. 1 and 2 level would jump at a 10 per cent increase in the number of fans. the biggest thing is keeping what you have.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Well I’m happy to be a supporter of an ‘exclusive’ club that, thanks to the owner and management team, appears to be more solvent than many of its bigger competitors.
As to our absent fan base, as Shoeless Jackson said, “Build it, and he will come”.

[Lord Stiffupperlip]

Why oh why do some get so defensive when the legitimate subject of poor attendance is raised.
Is it any less important than some armchair experts droning on incessantly about which formation suits us best, or why all officials are useless?
There was no criticism of either the club or the hardcore fans who remain loyal in my 'We Happy Few' post - quite the opposite.
Rather it was a cry of despair that, after 15 years in the Football League - itself something of a miracle, attendances have remained at levels more often seen in non-league football.
Despite all our achievements - in reaching the heights of L1, of the cow-shed replaced by a brand new stand, improvements to toilet facilities, a new fanzone together with ongoing main stand development, it's sad that the people of Accrington remain largely apathetic.
Some quote historic reasons for this which are all valid. However, that was then & this is now.
When, after being denied access to football for 18 months, our gate is the second lowest of 43 games, we should all be concerned.
Yes! We have built it - but they still won't come!

[andyd]

Originally Posted by Lord Stiffupperlip

Why oh why do some get so defensive when the legitimate subject of poor attendance is raised.
Is it any less important than some armchair experts droning on incessantly about which formation suits us best, or why all officials are useless?
There was no criticism of either the club or the hardcore fans who remain loyal in my 'We Happy Few' post - quite the opposite.
Rather it was a cry of despair that, after 15 years in the Football League - itself something of a miracle, attendances have remained at levels more often seen in non-league football.
Despite all our achievements - in reaching the heights of L1, of the cow-shed replaced by a brand new stand, improvements to toilet facilities, a new fanzone together with ongoing main stand development, it's sad that the people of Accrington remain largely apathetic.
Some quote historic reasons for this which are all valid. However, that was then & this is now.
When, after being denied access to football for 18 months, our gate is the second lowest of 43 games, we should all be concerned.
Yes! We have built it - but they still won't come!

Even Andy Holt has touched on this subject on twitter and says it is an immense task to entice more fans what I would say has changed in all the years I have been going is the noticeable increase in woman, young lads and families in attendance this is down IMHO to the improvement in facilities moaning on here won't improve gates we have to live with the fact we will always be smaller than a lot of others. But in time we may get enough to be self sufficient and that in its self would be an excellent achievement.

[cashman]

i am near certain if andy stays at the helm we will become self sufficient.

[Outback Ozzy]

With regard to the Studio.co.uk stand, no season tickets were sold for that stand (unless you had one for previous seasons (2019-2020 & 2020-2021). This means they don't have to find too many seats for those they have to move when the likes of Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday come rolling in to town. That's when we should be looking at gates of over 4,000. It is purely business sense at this time, however, in the future, IF we can attract say 3,000 home supporters, then the numbers of big club fans will be cut accordingly