Matchday thread 21/11/15

Andy Harrier said:

Wow, I wasn't expecting to see us that high on that list.

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Given the way you have performed this season, I'd like to know what you are doing to attract such numbers. I'd always though of Kiddy as averaging around 1800 (though this might be wrong, it's just the impression that I held), with the ability to go up in good years.

Jemfy said:

Given the way you have performed this season, I'd like to know what you are doing to attract such numbers.

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Starts with f, ends with ood.

If I was a Kiddy fan I'd go every week, no matter how crap the football was.

Semi-skimmed Silk said:

I'm glad he's doing well because he's a really nice guy and always worked hard. He was good for the first half of last year and caused teams trouble with his pace, but had no confidence (and at times ability) to do anything with the ball in and around the area. I'm not the only one who wasn't overly fussed we lost him in the summer and actually saw Bailey-Jones as an upgrade (incidentally he has disappeared of the face of the earth).

The fact that a) he's been so outstanding and b) has been playing a more holding/central role, is bewildering more than anything!

I'm looking forward to Saturday because it should be between two decent sides and we've had some cracking games over recent years; but I think this time you'll have too much for us (Vose was brilliant against us in a shocking Welling side last year and I anticpate the same).

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Based on our games against both teams I'd pick Macc to win

Chris FGR said:

Starts with f, ends with ood.

If I was a Kiddy fan I'd go every week, no matter how crap the football was.

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Without looking up their historical attendance info the food hasn't changed (I'm sure people would have raved even more on here) but crowds appear to be up.

Actually taking a look it appears that those numbers (from FWP) appear to be wrong somehow.

NLM is generally a good source (though sometimes behind), and that has Kiddy at ~1,800 (1,845)
http://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/global/attendances/
http://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/divisions/1/ (shows table)

1 Tranmere Rovers 5022 N/A
2 Wrexham 4824 +49.81%
3 Grimsby Town 4439 +20.53%
4 Lincoln City 2854 +11.35%
5 Cheltenham Town 2633 N/A
6 Chester 2187 -0.14%
7 Kidderminster Harriers 1845 -3.40%
8 Eastleigh 1823 +4.05%
9 Torquay United 1787 -8.31%
10 Forest Green Rovers 1679 +11.78%
11 Woking 1557 -18.57%
12 Aldershot Town 1523 -13.42%
13 Macclesfield Town 1461 -9.42%
14 Barrow 1426 -2.26%
15 Bromley 1410 +30.31%
16 FC Halifax Town 1236 -16.03%
17 Southport 1229 +14.86%
18 Altrincham 1208 -3.44%
19 Gateshead 1028 -12.81%
20 Dover Athletic 889 -7.68%
21 Guiseley 792 +40.43%
22 Braintree Town 747 -10.43%
23 Welling United 686 -5.64%
24 Boreham Wood 592 +81.04%

(I've left in the percentage change from last season for those it's available for, big winners are not overly surprising with Wrexham competing at the top end and the promoted clubs improving)

Edit: FWP attendances are VERY out of date. Kiddy are just bouyed by the big opening game of the season vs Grimsby.

Jemfy said:

Given the way you have performed this season, I'd like to know what you are doing to attract such numbers. I'd always though of Kiddy as averaging around 1800 (though this might be wrong, it's just the impression that I held), with the ability to go up in good years.

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We played Grimsby opening day and Wrexham came with a load of away fans. Our home attendance realistically is about 1500 at the moment and dropping

Harrier94 said:

We played Grimsby opening day and Wrexham came with a load of away fans. Our home attendance realistically is about 1500 at the moment and dropping

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While the opening gate helped, and the Wrexham game has helped, it makes things look pretty bleak! Turns out those numbers are very out of date (see my other post). Your average is 1845 not 2200 odd, with your biggest gates of the season gone.

Looking at the fixtures you've got Cheltenham at home left for a potential big gate on boxing day to help with the finances. Pretty short straw getting Tranmere on a Tuesday as the food should have been a big draw for away fans.

Edit: That 1500 and dropping home fans looks about right. You've got to be looking at going part-time surely?

Jemfy said:

While the opening gate helped, and the Wrexham game has helped, it makes things look pretty bleak! Turns out those numbers are very out of date (see my other post). Your average is 1845 not 2200 odd, with your biggest gates of the season gone.

Looking at the fixtures you've got Cheltenham at home left for a potential big gate on boxing day to help with the finances. Pretty short straw getting Tranmere on a Tuesday as the food should have been a big draw for away fans.

Edit: That 1500 and dropping home fans looks about right. You've got to be looking at going part-time surely?

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We've actually got Tranmere on the Bank Holiday monday so that should draw a big crowd. But we're not looking at Part Time, I don't know why but Colin Gordon is determined to stay full time, I think it'll cost us

Harrier94 said:

We've actually got Tranmere on the Bank Holiday monday so that should draw a big crowd. But we're not looking at Part Time, I don't know why but Colin Gordon is determined to stay full time, I think it'll cost us

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Ahh I just looked at the BBC site and it said 7.45... silly beeb. That should get you a good crowd then.

If you go down you've got to go part-time. It might even help with getting in youngsters on loan from the big Birmingham sides as they can then train with their parent clubs a few times a week in-between training and playing with you.

Jemfy said:

Ahh I just looked at the BBC site and it said 7.45... silly beeb. That should get you a good crowd then.

If you go down you've got to go part-time. It might even help with getting in youngsters on loan from the big Birmingham sides as they can then train with their parent clubs a few times a week in-between training and playing with you.

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Tell that to Gordon he's said we'll remain Full Time even if relegated, with an even smaller budget.

Harrier94 said:

Tell that to Gordon he's said we'll remain Full Time even if relegated, with an even smaller budget.

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Good luck getting players! You must already be dealing with players who struggle to live on their current wage, let alone if the budget goes down.

Jemfy said:

Good luck getting players! You must already be dealing with players who struggle to live on their current wage, let alone if the budget goes down.

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I know it's a stupid idea but I think he wants to really utilise our Academy, which is a good plan but you can't just throw a bunch of kids in and hope they play great football without having some experience there.

Harrier94 said:

I know it's a stupid idea but I think he wants to really utilise our Academy, which is a good plan but you can't just throw a bunch of kids in and hope they play great football without having some experience there.

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It seems to be working pretty well for Nuneaton at the minute tbf. Although it worked less well at Stalybridge, but they were paying absolute peanuts as a "full time wage".

Harrier94 said:

I know it's a stupid idea but I think he wants to really utilise our Academy, which is a good plan but you can't just throw a bunch of kids in and hope they play great football without having some experience there.

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There is no reason the academy can't serve a part-time side, even if the players want to be full time eventually. We're really trying to develop our youth side of things, doesn't mean we should go full-time in order to do so!

That NLM average attendance link that Jemfy has posted above proves a lot of things. You can agree or disagree with me, but to me the facts are these.
1) Wrexham is the club with the biggest amount of glory hunters.
2) Not too many Eastleigh fans are buying into this 'vision thing' - only a 4% increase.
3) Welling and Braintree are having a better season than last year and yet they have registered a decrease.
4) Not the same could be said for Southport who have a 15% increase but that could simply be down to large away followings.
5) Woking are not as big as Sparrow thinks they are, with a massive -18.57% decrease.
6) How come BWood have an 81% increase? Like, did they only get something like 250 fans last year?

BarnwoodCTFC said:

We have played half a season and only lost twice, both injury time goals totally against the run of play in those games. I don't believe I have seen any side who has looked better than us so far this season either. Not too mention we have the best away record and the best defensive record. Yet there have been a few opposition fans on here saying it won't last or we look really average.

Of course that does not confirm we will win it, we should probably be further ahead if anything, but I do feel we have every right to be optimistic at this point. I would also state if the top three is not CTFC, FGR and Grimsby I would be very surprised.

To finish a number of Grimsby fans wanted their manager sacked after we beat them and I said they are a good side and will run us close, a few wins and now they think they will win the league with ease such a fickle attitude.

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As has been said there have been a number of teams who have done the exact same as you at this point and gone on to falter, it's not a certainty but it isn't uncommon. A lot of teams simply run out of steam too early while others pick it up a gear or two. You're definitely one of the better sides in the division but at this stage there's still a handful of teams in the mix.

As for the last sentence, I've not ever been a big fan of Hurst but his one positive is signing quality players. I think we'll win the league despite his lack of tactical versatility and his rotation policies. I personally believe our squad is just too good.

Vanni said:

That NLM average attendance link that Jemfy has posted above proves a lot of things. You can agree or disagree with me, but to me the facts are these.
1) Wrexham is the club with the biggest amount of glory hunters.
2) Not too many Eastleigh fans are buying into this 'vision thing' - only a 4% increase.
3) Welling and Braintree are having a better season than last year and yet they have registered a decrease.
4) Not the same could be said for Southport who have a 15% increase but that could simply be down to large away followings.
5) Woking are not as big as Sparrow thinks they are, with a massive -18.57% decrease.
6) How come BWood have an 81% increase? Like, did they only get something like 250 fans last year?

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I know you're (still) "wumming", but the prices have gone up to £18 and we had a terrible run.

Cardsfan said:

I know you're (still) "wumming", but the prices have gone up to £18 and we had a terrible run.

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And it's November.

Cardsfan said:

I know you're (still) "wumming", but the prices have gone up to £18 and we had a terrible run.

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Well, you shouldn't have bothered to reply then if you think I''m "wumming". And even if I were, the thing I dislike about Sparrow is that he's always going on about the smaller sides but keeps forgetting that he supports a club which takes 20-40 fans to away games. B2TF version2.1.

edit - but yeah, a decrease of more than 18% is poor imo.

Vanni said:

the thing I dislike about Sparrow is that he's always going on about the smaller sides but keeps forgetting that he supports a club which takes 20-40 fans to away games.

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Got any examples?

Glory hunters? We have a few (look at our Wembley followings) but no more than any team really.

Id rather see it as: the club has worked hard to increase attendance through better publicity, events and promotions. The football big offered is more attractive than it has for many seasons. A few seasons ago, amd for a coyple of seasons, we were top for large parts of the season but crowds are better this year when we are currently 6th.

Also don't forget we have a lot of support who live a fair distance away (Anglesey etc) who the club are trying to entice more regularly.

As for Helen ham fans getting a bit over excited...you cannot take anything for granted in this league. Ourselves and Grimsby have been in similar positions to you (often healthier given the small gap between Cheltenham and the chasing pack) in the past and ultimately failed. Until the season is over and you have won the league or won the play offs then don't lose focus for a second.

To clarify a few things, whilst we have a billionaire majority shareholder, Simon Keswick has put no money into the club for a number of years, certainly since Martin Allen was manager. He resigned from the board suddenly in 2009, and the rumours are that it was because of Allen demanding he put his hand in his pocket and not question why. No evidence of this rumour has ever been submitted, I hasten to add and it's more likely due to the financial situation in the World at the time. Whilst Keswick is worth a lot of money, this is not necessarily as liquid assets.

We are over-budget from the initial budget set for Gary Johnson in the summer, however, season tickets were higher than expected, overall attendances have been higher than expected and it wouldn't surprise me if Paul Baker continued to support Johnson at low risk to the club when needed.

It's no secret that we have set our stall on promotion this season. Only Harry Pell has a definite contract for next season with every other player being on a one year deal. If we don't go up in May, we won't challenge next season as we will have to cut our cloth accordingly. Promotion isn't a necessity in terms of the existence of the club, but it is in terms of a competitive full-time club.

Semi-skimmed Silk said:

I'm glad he's doing well because he's a really nice guy and always worked hard. He was good for the first half of last year and caused teams trouble with his pace, but had no confidence (and at times ability) to do anything with the ball in and around the area. I'm not the only one who wasn't overly fussed we lost him in the summer and actually saw Bailey-Jones as an upgrade (incidentally he has disappeared of the face of the earth).

The fact that a) he's been so outstanding and b) has been playing a more holding/central role, is bewildering more than anything!

I'm looking forward to Saturday because it should be between two decent sides and we've had some cracking games over recent years; but I think this time you'll have too much for us (Vose was brilliant against us in a shocking Welling side last year and I anticpate the same).

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He does seems like a good chap. In our local paper tonight he credits Macc with resurrecting his career. He has been outstanding for us so far that's for sure.

Chris FGR said:

Grimsby have looked average against most half decent teams, the only reason they've scored so many is because they've smashed the shite teams.

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Have any of the half decent teams looked anything other than average against us?

Si Robin said:

To clarify a few things, whilst we have a billionaire majority shareholder, Simon Keswick has put no money into the club for a number of years, certainly since Martin Allen was manager. He resigned from the board suddenly in 2009, and the rumours are that it was because of Allen demanding he put his hand in his pocket and not question why. No evidence of this rumour has ever been submitted, I hasten to add and it's more likely due to the financial situation in the World at the time. Whilst Keswick is worth a lot of money, this is not necessarily as liquid assets.

We are over-budget from the initial budget set for Gary Johnson in the summer, however, season tickets were higher than expected, overall attendances have been higher than expected and it wouldn't surprise me if Paul Baker continued to support Johnson at low risk to the club when needed.

It's no secret that we have set our stall on promotion this season. Only Harry Pell has a definite contract for next season with every other player being on a one year deal. If we don't go up in May, we won't challenge next season as we will have to cut our cloth accordingly. Promotion isn't a necessity in terms of the existence of the club, but it is in terms of a competitive full-time club.

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This is not true there have been several donations into the club and these can be seen in the clubs accounts but Simon Keswick does not like to broadcast it.