Darlo Uncovered

Jason Ainsley: “If we don’t start getting more people through the door, then what will our chairman, Brad Groves, think? Just for the amount of time and effort that he’s put into the club, he deserves more support.”

When investors realise there is only debt and no return....

I'm of the opinion that we are fine with the fan-owned funded route and we should refrain from the temptation to think further success can only be achieved by a 'rich' benefactor. Those clubs can enjoy their success at the moment but it's all short-term in relative terms, ours is the longer-term view and guarantee of the club's future.

Why would Brad be bothered, as he doesn't put money in and they're self sustaining?

They have a crack commercial team that brings in shed loads of sponsorship money. Honest guv, it's all true.

Darlo-and-Back wrote:Jason Ainsley: “If we don’t start getting more people through the door, then what will our chairman, Brad Groves, think? Just for the amount of time and effort that he’s put into the club, he deserves more support.”

When investors realise there is only debt and no return....

For some reason crowds are down this year , they are having a good season.

The spelling is with a Y, its Spennymoor

poppyfield wrote:
The spelling is with a Y, its Spennymoor

No its Spendymore

The crowds are down as the locals will be at the stadium of light watching the machems. We'll be lucky if they bring 200 next week.

The crowds are down because north east football fans are a strange lot. Prefer to watch teams lower down the pyramid due to them haveing cheaper admission and winning most weeks, they love the vase or shall we say northern league knock out cup more than the trophy

shildonlad wrote:The crowds are down because north east football fans are a strange lot. Prefer to watch teams lower down the pyramid due to them haveing cheaper admission and winning most weeks, they love the vase or shall we say northern league knock out cup more than the trophy

spennymoor average is 850 blyth 731 gateshead 873.. it was a cold tuesday night spenny v kidd still 575 and £14 entry, how many clubs would like £14 entry and 575 on a tuesday night, having said that, if it was £12 entry, i think another 100 on gate would be possible

Spennymoor crowds aren't really down, they finished on an average of 834 last season in the league and are currently on 850. After 11 league games lasts season they were on 919 so maybe a drop from that.

Las season may have been higher if they didn't have 3 games played at Harrogate Town but it's safe to say they are around about where they were really. Also depending on how their seasons ends it may rise.

Spenny batting average is probably between 600/700 and higher for the bigger games where they get decent away support like Darlo, York and Blyth.

If those crowds aren't enough for Brad then not sure what they can do.

Their crowds are fine relative to the size of the town. They don't "deserve" more just because they have a chairman who decided to toss a load of vibes down a football club shaped wishing well.

God why are we obsessed with crowds at spenny they are a good team with a good manager good on them they have improved and we haven't..
Jealousy maybe???

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loan_star wrote:

poppyfield wrote:
The spelling is with a Y, its Spennymoor

No its Spendymore

It's Spendymore. Bankrolled by brad. Inspired by Viv Nicholson....spend spend spend!

One for the teenagers there.......

Thumped Sutton in the Trophy yesterday. Possibly their first victory over us next week?

Wonder what Brad made of the 500 home support last night coming hard on the heels after he cut admission prices and spent thousands and thousands on a brand new pitch cover system. He said a couple of weeks ago: "Like-for-like, this makes us one of the cheapest clubs in our league to support. Considering the standard of our facilities and the quality of football on display, I expect an increase in attendances."

Their fans first team were at home against Man City.

Their fans first team were at home against Man City.

Absolutely pathetic home support.

- Won 5 on the bounce.
- 3rd in the league.
- Doing well in the FA Trophy.
- 3 points of second and 7 points of top.

Struggle to get over 500 home fans

Wonder if Brad would bring his footy dosh South a bit

AndyPark wrote:Absolutely pathetic home support.

- Won 5 on the bounce.
- 3rd in the league.
- Doing well in the FA Trophy.
- 3 points of second and 7 points of top.

Struggle to get over 500 home fans

It's not really our concern. If Brad Groves wants to fund a football team from his personal wealth then good luck to him, he wouldn't be the first. He has a decent business that provides him a fair amount of wealth to do that. As they move up the leagues the levels of funding required become greater, so it's just a question of what he is willing to put in and for how long he's willing to do so. No different to Gateshead etc.

They'd all rather watch Newcastle in the pub.

H1987 wrote:They'd all rather watch Newcastle in the pub.

But Spennymoor are massive? Didn't you know that.. They have a Spennymoor Town 'Devon Branch' & 'London Branch' consisting of 1 member each

Perhaps our far flung fans should do the same and set up individual supporter branches around the country, from the Highlands to Lands End

AndyPark wrote:Absolutely pathetic home support.

- Won 5 on the bounce.
- 3rd in the league.
- Doing well in the FA Trophy.
- 3 points of second and 7 points of top.

Struggle to get over 500 home fans

Spent moor get a far bigger % of the town supporting them than Darlington do.

People in glass houses.....



A town with a population 6 times that of Spennymoor getting an average attendance approximately double that of Spennymoor are not really in a position to accuse anyone of having pathetic support.

Oh and I am sure you don't win trophies by having big support

Can someone pass me the keep net

JE93 wrote:

AndyPark wrote:Absolutely pathetic home support.

- Won 5 on the bounce.
- 3rd in the league.
- Doing well in the FA Trophy.
- 3 points of second and 7 points of top.

Struggle to get over 500 home fans

It's not really our concern. If Brad Groves wants to fund a football team from his personal wealth then good luck to him, he wouldn't be the first. He has a decent business that provides him a fair amount of wealth to do that. As they move up the leagues the levels of funding required become greater, so it's just a question of what he is willing to put in and for how long he's willing to do so. No different to Gateshead etc.

Got to agree with JE here as I think the green eyed monster makes its presence felt when it comes to Spenny.
It does make you wonder though to what extent Groves is bankrolling them.Take income tax and VAT off 500 through the door and it probably equates to about 350 paying punters which might cover the wages of 5/6 of the players.Add the rest of the squad,management,ground upkeep etc,etc and he must be putting many thousands a week into them.
Of course Polarbear will tell us it’s the new pub that funds the club

No it’s the sponsors...all of them sponsors.

Let’s be honest though our attendance relative to Spennymoor is actually poor. Spennymoor Football Club can’t magic up new residents or people with an emotional attachment to them so at 850 average that is quite a lot of the population who turn up.

Their attendances isn’t what we should laugh at. Their fans conviction that they are not bankrolled by Brad and that it’s just all the sponsors and club paying the players and that the players are on lower wages because of the vibes is what we can mock.

Especially when one of them lives on this board.

I see they won again last night, pity about the support they get.

I wish we had the same % of our population of Darlo to turn up as Spenny get.
Good luck to them they are doing well.

Really hope they do go up. Brad seems a decent bloke, and as a club they've helped us out in the past. If all you can crow about is relative crowd sizes, then it's a little pathetic.

yeah - we've been here before. percentage wise, Spendy get more of a proportion of their populace turning up.

its the delusion from some of their fans that they're not reliant on Brad Groves to propel them up the leagues that should be chuckled at

I'm not sure I get some of our fans sometimes when it comes to Spenny. They say they aren't our rivals, yet talk about them on here and social media at every opportunity.

Fans seem to want to attack their attendances. I personally think that it's decent for the size of the town, but arguably not enough for a club 3rd in the National League North.

You could take some like Blackburn. Just under 150k population but get a good average for their size. I can understand Brad's frustration and if he wants to take an interest in DFC I would certainly listen