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Post by NobodyGood on Sept 15, 2015 18:02:16 GMT
Hate to say it but I think that, for a standard league fixture, around 2200 is our ceiling in terms of home supporters. I'll now expand on that with a long and boring post as I'm on nights and have nothing better to do. I've mentioned before about the generational and historical affect on our supporter base. If you dig out the demographics of football supporters I'm sure the average age of an adult football supporter at this moment in time would be something along the lines of 25 to 40 years old. Now consider where we were 20 years ago when people from that age range would've been either growing up and inheriting an allegiance to a club from a parent or seriously getting into football and drinking and going with their mates. Were they coming to Eton Park or were they getting on a train and going to the BBG/Pride Park/Villa Park or going into town to watch the Premier League on TV? I certainly fall into that demographic and I can tell you that 20 years ago I had no interest in Burton Albion and fell squarely into the latter category. I started coming in 2000 with a mate who almost had to drag me kicking and screaming to Eton Park. I came for a few years, fell away for a bit and only started coming back full time because I started working with a bloke in his 50s who became a very good mate and happpened to be a Brewer. Consider that last sentence. "A bloke in his 50s." I might be way off on this but I reckon that we would, proportionally, have more people above that demographic of 25 to 40 than most clubs in the country simply because we were nowhere when they were all growing up and a sizeable chunk of the 40+ generation (watching my words carefully) fall squarely into the "Burton or Derby when either is at home" crowd which would also explain our dire away numbers. Ok, I accept that not everybody falls into those categories but I genuinely think that this is "rule of thumb" when it comes to us. My own personal feeling is that another promotion could be potentially damaging to the club at this point in time because we'd go from being a small fish in a big pond to being a small fish in a gigantic ocean. Johnno is absolutely spot on when he says the club have outperfomed the fanbase and I think we're now at the point where the club need to almost reign it in slightly and grow with the next generation of Brewers. The good news is that I'm starting to see kids with Burton shirts on around my neck of the woods. The Community Trust do an absolutely stellar job getting the club out and about in the town and I also think that we as supporters carry an element of responsibility since because our club is so small (arguably still in the smallest 4 or 5 in the country) a lot of the time we are the face of the club. What DOESN'T help is the presence some of our supporters have on social media. In this day and age the first impression that people get of a club and what their supporters are like is on social media outlets. I know I do it for other clubs. Our representation in that respect is abysmal to the point where sometimes I think it's no wonder the people of Burton don't want to turn up on a Saturday. That rant is for another day though. Sorry for the length. That's the first time I've ever said that, by the way. Hope you get the drift though. All replies in agreement or disagreement are welcome. I do agree... I have to admit that I started supporting Burton after being invited for a day out to Wembley in 2014... Last season I went to c. 10 games, and this season (incl. pre-season) I've been to 6 already.
I think if people actually came to watch us play, who were without an allegiance to a club, they would probably support us.
Our best selling points IMO: - Terraces (I like standing up...) - Underdog overachieving factor (Probably my biggest draw, every game I feel like we should lose...!) - Fans, we aren't n*bs - Local team - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - The only member of our squad that anyone outside of the west midlands has heard of! - Ticket prices, reasonable given the standard prices around the league. But tbh, I still think they should be much much lower - especially for away games (I'd propose £20 PL £15 Champs £10 L1 £5 L2. An away day when you get a train down south, with a drink, pie, ticket can cost £100 which is a whole other debate!)
We'll get there.
A lot of very popular YouTubers use our badge on Fifa  !
P.S The only bit I don't agree with is not wanting to be promoted, this would be fantastic for us, even if we did awfully!
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Post by mikeyboy on Sept 15, 2015 19:56:46 GMT
I think you do have to consider where we have come from too and to understand where we once were to get the answer. Which at various points in our history were crowds of less than 300 at home.
We now often command 10 times that many home fans and that constitutes a phenomenal rise. I think it will continue too albeit slowly.
Are there things we could do to quicken the pace? Yes I believe so, with more effective marketing and the further enhancement of the match day experience as some have described on this thread.
But credit where credit is due we have made incredible strides forward during the Robinson years and owe a massive debt of gratitude to Ben for leading this.
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Post by johnno on Sept 16, 2015 8:33:55 GMT
As always Spence, Elkhayatiisgod and Mikey boy, you all make complete sense of the position we're in and a very good and fortunate one it is too.
I suppose after all these years I haven't lost the passion or the faith that we would one day become a football league side...a friendly bet I made with my long deceased grandfather, back in the late 70's.
Unfortunately the football supporting public in B-O-T have deep rooted allegiances elsewhere, rather than to their own home side and turning this around, is rather like trying to turn around an ocean liner...it doesn't happen very quickly!
Never mind...we'll enjoy the ride and hope that the message eventually sinks in.
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Post by North Wales Brewer on Sept 16, 2015 9:03:49 GMT
I think you do have to consider where we have come from too and to understand where we once were to get the answer. Which at various points in our history were crowds of less than 300 at home. We now often command 10 times that many home fans and that constitutes a phenomenal rise. I think it will continue too albeit slowly. Are there things we could do to quicken the pace? Yes I believe so, with more effective marketing and the further enhancement of the match day experience as some have described on this thread. But credit where credit is due we have made incredible strides forward during the Robinson years and owe a massive debt of gratitude to Ben for leading this. I agree entirely with regards to Ben and what he has achieved,but unfortunately it is only the loyal following who will miss it when Ben is no longer at the helm and one day heaven forbid we find ourselves back in the Northern Premier. I don't think there is an answer,this apathy of the sporting public of the Burton area has been around for as long as I can remember,which sometimes does'nt give me much pride in calling myself a Burtonian. I have been following the Albion for 54yrs and recall that the so called local fans are happy to turn out for the big game then disappear into the woodwork. The year we were promoted to the Southern League Premier we had crowds for the top of the table clashes 3K+ against Hillingdon and night game against Barnet was around 5K with few away fans,Southern League Cup v Weymouth 5K+ few away fans.This has been repeated at several FA cup matches since. I also don't buy this message that they are all watching Derby,I personally know somebody who has a Burton & Derby season ticket and back in the early days when Ritchie Barker signed for Derby & Taylor and Cloughie were in management and later at Forest I managed to combine watching on meager pocket money and wages whilst still watching Albion home games.I enjoyed many European nights at the Baseball& City ground without allegiance to either of them.
I still manage to see 60% of matches home and away despite a 225mile round trip to home matches which really annoys me when the rest of Burton can't get off their backsides to go and watch the Albion. Looking forward to Swindon on Sat.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 16:56:57 GMT
Ground reuirements?
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Post by mikeyboy on Sept 16, 2015 18:29:04 GMT
Yes if crowds were to grow!! |
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Post by North Wales Brewer on Sept 16, 2015 18:30:15 GMT
The point I was trying to make is the due to the apathy of Burton public even if we were promoted to the Championship for one season and we continued to restrict away support to two thousand,the only sell outs would be against Derby & Forest, therefore we would not need to do much other than possibly fill in the corners. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 19:30:19 GMT
We'll, most of the recent posts in this thread have little to do with ground requirements.
And the points about the age of the current fanbase and the numbers suffering due to bigger clubs in the area has been kicked around so many times...for me the only solution is to grow the young youth teams support which I think Ben and Fleur have been addressing very admirably with free or cheap tickets, the BCS group, getting players out to schools and community events etc. . We won L2 4 months ago, we are 3rd in L1 and the home support hasn't changed...says it all really.
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