SOMETHING that seems to be a hot topic at the moment is the discussion on attendances at Marston Road – and quite rightly so, writes club commercial manager Stuart Maun.
I’m sure for the long serving fans amongst us, we all remember the time, not too long ago, when we would attract crowds of one thousand or more for league games.
Understandably, we were in a higher league in those days and you expect a larger following as they will tend to enjoy a higher standard of foot- ball.
But nowadays, even though our average league home gate is around 460 (one of the better ones in the league) we do find times when the num- bers through the turnstile are dramatically less.
Take last Tuesday night for example for our
game against Witton Albion. The game was only watched by 329 supporters of which 30-40 were perhaps Witton supporters.
Taking into consideration the other atten- dances on the night, this was remarkably good (Eastwood 98 and Nantwich 162) but it begs the question - where is everyone?
This season, unlike the last, our fortunes at Marston Road seem to have turned a little and we have a better record at home than we did in 2011/12. We’ve seen more excitement, more goals and what appears to be an attractive and promis- ing style of football. We’ve maintained a good position in the league and produced some hard fought results against some of the higher placed clubs in the league. Yet still it remains a challenge to attract bigger crowds.
We all know there is more live football on nor- mal TV nowadays. We also appreciate the cold weather will sometimes make the decision for some supporters. There have been lots of talking points in our games, yet the buzz with the fans still doesn’t appear to be there.
So let me know your thoughts. How can we attract them back to the club? Could you help? Is there someone you could bring to a game who hasn’t been for a while?
Just think if we could attract another 20, 50, or 100 people to the next game, what a difference this would have on the atmosphere around the ground, the atmosphere for the players, and not forgetting the club’s finances. Let’s give it a great big push now for the last few games of the sea- son. Thanks for you support. Up the Boro!
