People say they're disappointed with today's crowd

[Darlo_Pete]

Well what do you expect, given our poor start to the season? Our crowds will continue to drop until we start winning. I heard some people after the game say they won't be back anytime soon.
It was also alarming to see that some of our most dedicated fans, didn't even bother today. If we start to lose our hardcore fans then we really are in big trouble.
I particularly feel sorry for Sussex07 who came up from Eastbourne with his son, it was the lads first Darlo game and probably his last. We don't deserve to have such fans.

[darlogaz]

agreed pete ,i came up from blackpool witrh young un and to be honest thought there wud be more here today1 but as you sAY untill we get a winning team its as u are at the mio

[Santino]

I too was surprised by people's surprise at the crowd. We were getting poor crowds when we were in the top six for two years, now we're a much worse side the attendances are only going to get worse. Judging by today's game, I can't blame someone not wanting to spend £18 of their hard earned on watching this current Darlo side.

[Haji el Maveric]

Wait until Tuesday night. Ii'm working so won't be there to swell the numbers - all 1500 of them.

[TinShedDarloFan]

I didnt think we'd hit 2500 yeserday so wasnt suprised when it was announced as 2300, it doesnt look good for Tuesday, first time in along time that we struggle to hit 2000, on another note, wheres GQ at with his drum, the atmosphere i thought was pretty crap yesterday, atleast the drum seems to drum up abit more noise

[Quakerz]

Wait until Tuesday night. Ii'm working so won't be there to swell the numbers - all 1500 of them.

Same here. dreading Tuesday's crowd.

I'll guess 1,656 including 120 from Crewe.

[Breedon]

Our crowds have been pathetic for the last two seasons in spite of having two good promotion pushes (obviously last seasons was destroyed after the admin, but still we were good on the pitch and would have made the playoffs if not for the -10).

The reason our crowds are s*** is because the stadium is too far away and has a shite atmosphere so we dont pull in the part timers we did at Feethams. The facts speak for themselves, even some long term fans cant be arsed to fuck about either walking or driving to a stadium miles away from civilisation, part with 30/35 quid (average cost of a match for an adult, ticket, programme and refreshments and car parking for drivers) to sit in an empty stadium with no atmosphere and watch League 2 football. Again, I'm not moaning about the cost of Darlo, I'm moaning at the cost of football, but also the fact we are stuck in a stadium we wouldn't even fill in the Premiership and that is the soul reason that our fans cant be arsed. We were getting 3500 at Feethams when we were in the bottom half season after season!

[TKOA]

I don't think people can be arsed full stop. They would be making excuses even if we were at feethams, the crowds there weren't always brilliant either. Looking at a programme from the 95/96 season the first 3 crowds were 2,139, 1,906 and 1,895. I realise thats just one example, but im sure many other seasons the crowds won't differ too much from that. Most people on the town never were and never will be that bothered about this football club, i don't think where we play has much to do with crowds at all.

[bigrichiet]

we dont and never have had a hardcore of more than 2k, remember the many sub 2k crowds during some of the darker years at Feethams. I agree that there are a number contributary factors here that havent helped - location and size of new stadium, ticket prices on the matchday etc.

But, the bottom line is, when we have a great team we get circa 3.5k (possibly 4k at Feethams), when we have a poor team we lose 500 to 1k of those floating fans.

Why? because we dont have a rich footballing history that would consistently ensure the loyalty of a greater % of the towns people.

I dont buy into all the shite about the 'big 3' taking our fans. If we'd won more promotions and had a greater historical success, we would have a bigger hardcore, its not just that they are bigger, more successful clubs, its more that we are generally an unsuccessful club, one of the most unsuccessful in the history of the professional game in this country, i might add.

This is best illustrated by teams like Blackburn and Burnley. Both towns have less people than Darlo (Blackburn might be on a par with us), yet they have much larger hardcores and yet are located in an area of the country containing ManUtd, ManCity, Liverpool, Everton and a host of smaller clubs a stonethrow away - Oldham, Bolton, Accy, Bury, Dale, Stockport, Blackpool, Morecambe.

Why? because they are historically much more successful clubs thn Darlo.

Point is, 2.3k is exactly where Darlo are at at this point in time and is to be completely expected. I just hope Raj was aware of the effects on the crowd of a poor team when he worked out his breakeven budgets.

[loan_star]

I remember the days when we considered 2000+ to be a big crowd at Feethams. Ive been many times when we've been hovering around the 1000 mark. Theres not been many times when we've been crap that we were getting 3500 at Feethams.

I see the chimps fans are saying how poor their gate was yesterday and how poor things were off the pitch as well. Seems like we arent the only ones with things to complain about, although I'd rather be in their position than ours!!

[TKOA]

I dont buy into all the shite about the 'big 3' taking our fans. If we'd won more promotions and had a greater historical success, we would have a bigger hardcore, its not just that they are bigger, more successful clubs, its more that we are generally an unsuccessful club, one of the most unsuccessful in the history of the professional game in this country, i might add.

You have to be dissapointed that train loads of people go off to newcastle, sunderland and boro every week instead of following their home town team, i won't even bother talking of the man utd 'fans' etc. We may have been unsuccessful but if these fans got behind us for a change we would be more successful. Larger crowds in this league can help success, as much more money comes into the club. Houghton even pulled the plug because nobody got behind the team, if we were getting 5000+ would he have done that? I doubt it.

[bigrichiet]

I dont buy into all the shite about the 'big 3' taking our fans. If we'd won more promotions and had a greater historical success, we would have a bigger hardcore, its not just that they are bigger, more successful clubs, its more that we are generally an unsuccessful club, one of the most unsuccessful in the history of the professional game in this country, i might add.

You have to be dissapointed that train loads of people go off to newcastle, sunderland and boro every week instead of following their home town team, i won't even bother talking of the man utd 'fans' etc. We may have been unsuccessful but if these fans got behind us for a change we would be more successful. Larger crowds in this league can help success, as much more money comes into the club. Houghton even pulled the plug because nobody got behind the team, if we were getting 5000+ would he have done that? I doubt it.

yeah of course i am, but my point, (if i had one!) is that such 'fans' exist all over the country and its more to do with our lack of success than the greater success of those other teams, something we've always had to deal with. Houghton was a fool in thinking that a winning team would attract crowds of 5k, and reynolds was a bigger fool in slightly over sizing his new ground to the tune of 15 fucking thousand red seats!

[TKOA]

Aye, i see your point. Its a pity many football fans look at success and don't realise they have their own local team crying out for fans. Wonder what percetage of the town actually goes to matches, about 1% i'd of thought.

[TeessideQuaker]

I'd be suprised if we managed 2,000 on Tuesday night.

[darlo rick]

I don't think people can be arsed full stop. They would be making excuses even if we were at feethams, the crowds there weren't always brilliant either. Looking at a programme from the 95/96 season the first 3 crowds were 2,139, 1,906 and 1,895. I realise thats just one example, but im sure many other seasons the crowds won't differ too much from that. Most people on the town never were and never will be that bothered about this football club, i don't think where we play has much to do with crowds at all.

it must do a bit although it was cheaper at feethams we got a lot better crowds when we were doing well most in our play-off season in 2000

[bigrichiet]

Aye, i see your point. Its a pity many football fans look at success and don't realise they have their own local team crying out for fans. Wonder what percetage of the town actually goes to matches, about 1% i'd of thought.

Well there's 100k in Darlo isnt there? 1% is 1000, so its more like 2% that go, as of yesterdays home crowd.

Burnley - circa 75k pop - got average 10k last season (ball park guess) - so about 15% of their population go to matches - they took circa 40k to wembley so there were more people from burnley in London than in Burnley that day.

[comeondarlo]

'I particularly feel sorry for Sussex07 who came up from Eastbourne with his son, it was the lads first Darlo game and probably his last. We don't deserve to have such fans.'

What's he like in real life? I've always found him eccentric on here.

[Darlo_Pete]

'I particularly feel sorry for Sussex07 who came up from Eastbourne with his son, it was the lads first Darlo game and probably his last. We don't deserve to have such fans.'

What's he like in real life? I've always found him eccentric on here.

Nice bloke, about your age. Used to live in Geneva Rd before he went down sarf over 20 years ago. He only gets to a handful of games each season.

[PDL23]

I didnt think we'd hit 2500 yeserday so wasnt suprised when it was announced as 2300, it doesnt look good for Tuesday, first time in along time that we struggle to hit 2000, on another note, wheres GQ at with his drum, the atmosphere i thought was pretty crap yesterday, atleast the drum seems to drum up abit more noise

GQ is on his honneymoon but should be back at next home game i think.

[TKOA]

Aye, i see your point. Its a pity many football fans look at success and don't realise they have their own local team crying out for fans. Wonder what percetage of the town actually goes to matches, about 1% i'd of thought.

Well there's 100k in Darlo isnt there? 1% is 1000, so its more like 2% that go, as of yesterdays home crowd.

Burnley - circa 75k pop - got average 10k last season (ball park guess) - so about 15% of their population go to matches - they took circa 40k to wembley so there were more people from burnley in London than in Burnley that day.

I was saying that i reckon theres probably around a 1000 off the figure actually come from darlington, the rest from south durham- aycliffe bishop etc and probably a decent number from north yorkshire.

[Quakerz]

Aye, i see your point. Its a pity many football fans look at success and don't realise they have their own local team crying out for fans. Wonder what percetage of the town actually goes to matches, about 1% i'd of thought.

Well there's 100k in Darlo isnt there? 1% is 1000, so its more like 2% that go, as of yesterdays home crowd.

Completely incorrect as you are failing to take into account the fact that a good proportion of those 2,000 people, or 2% do not come from darlington!

[bigrichiet]

Aye, i see your point. Its a pity many football fans look at success and don't realise they have their own local team crying out for fans. Wonder what percetage of the town actually goes to matches, about 1% i'd of thought.

Well there's 100k in Darlo isnt there? 1% is 1000, so its more like 2% that go, as of yesterdays home crowd.

Burnley - circa 75k pop - got average 10k last season (ball park guess) - so about 15% of their population go to matches - they took circa 40k to wembley so there were more people from burnley in London than in Burnley that day.

I was saying that i reckon theres probably around a 1000 off the figure actually come from darlington, the rest from south durham- aycliffe bishop etc and probably a decent number from north yorkshire.

i get you now mate, good point. Impossible to work out like, but of the 2k yesterday i'd assume 1500 came from Darlo.

[Quakerz]

Assume again. Only 900 came from Darlington when we were getting 3-4k home fans.

It is probably about 28 now.

[bigrichiet]

Aye, i see your point. Its a pity many football fans look at success and don't realise they have their own local team crying out for fans. Wonder what percetage of the town actually goes to matches, about 1% i'd of thought.

Well there's 100k in Darlo isnt there? 1% is 1000, so its more like 2% that go, as of yesterdays home crowd.

Completely incorrect as you are failing to take into account the fact that a good proportion of those 2,000 people, or 2% do not come from darlington!

well i'm not saying that all 12000 match attending fans in burnley live within the towns boundary either, but its a good point and only serves to further prove the point about our small hardcore

[chip fireball]

population of burnley is just over 71,000 and there average attendance last season was over 13,000.

they are officially now the town with the smallest population ever to play in the prem.

previous was barnsley with 72,000.

hth.

[divas]

Assume again. Only 900 came from Darlington when we were getting 3-4k home fans.

It is probably about 28 now.

a bright point to a depressing thread....people need to take their rose tinted specs off about feethams tho, we've had countless shite crowds under 2k over the years. the move to the arena and the subsequent decent teams we've had barring a couple of seasons have inflated our crowds, not reduced them. now however, we are returning to our average historic level of around 2-2.5k, its just looks even worse in this stadium

the thing i dont get, is everyone knew what it would be like when raj took over - i remember DJ starting a thread stating exactly what would be happen, and everyone said they were fine with it - looks like its taken 3 games for the worm to turn!

[Quakerz]

People can remember sub 2,000 crowds all they want but in the days when we were getting sub 2,000 crowds, it was normal for teams to get sub 2,000 crowds apart from those chasing promotion.

It is not normal now apart from one or two of the ex non league clubs, and we have moved on since then.

Our last sub 2,000 gate in the league was on April 13 1998, 11 seasons ago. 11 seasons.

[chip fireball]

In Burnley's near-disastrous season of 1986-87, gates regularly fell below 2,000, with an all-time low of 1,696 against Colchester on 4 November 1986.

So it is possible for towns with small populations to become successful and gradually increase attendances, but rebuilding a football club is a long and tortuous process, unless you have a wealthy benefactor like Jack Walker or Dave Whelan.

Sadly it sounds like Darlington suffers in the same way that Hartlepool does, wherby the majority of the towns inhabitants that claim to like football would prefer to "support" what they consider to be a big club via television, rather than their home town team.

[mobi]

In Burnley's near-disastrous season of 1986-87, gates regularly fell below 2,000, with an all-time low of 1,696 against Colchester on 4 November 1986.

So it is possible for towns with small populations to become successful and gradually increase attendances, but rebuilding a football club is a long and tortuous process, unless you have a wealthy benefactor like Jack Walker or Dave Whelan.

Sadly it sounds like Darlington suffers in the same way that Hartlepool does, wherby the majority of the towns inhabitants that claim to like football would prefer to "support" what they consider to be a big club via television, rather than their home town team.

Check Burnley's average attendences over the past 50 years and you'll see that those gates were an abberation, not the norm, For us, an average of around 2,500 has been the norm over the last 40 years. Hence, Burnley had to attract fans back, whereas we never had them here in the first place.

[mobi]

People can remember sub 2,000 crowds all they want but in the days when we were getting sub 2,000 crowds, it was normal for teams to get sub 2,000 crowds apart from those chasing promotion.

It is not normal now apart from one or two of the ex non league clubs, and we have moved on since then.

Our last sub 2,000 gate in the league was on April 13 1998, 11 seasons ago. 11 seasons.

I would also add another important difference. We could just about manage to run Feethams on the basis of sub 2000 gates, now we have to run a huge stadium, with restaurants, bars, kitchens, function rooms, hospitality suites, food and drink outlets and Colour TVs throughout. Trying to operate all that with less than 2000 customers is a recipie for disaster.