Stickied League One Away Support Thread 2023/24

[wiganmudhuts28]

1686 coventry at swindon is good imo

good following that,if that following of ours is true thats crap

 

[Crewelad87]

Looked a decent following from us at Blackpool today, not sure what the blocks behind the goal hold but they looked fairly full 7-800 maybe , I'd guess.

 

[DH84]

1686 coventry at swindon is good imo

Fucking late goals against Swindon again. Bottling twats

 

[finley]

1296 Wigan at Bradford

that really is shit to be fare

 

[F!RTHY]

Weren't you in the play offs for the majority of last year though? At the end of the year you were 5th.

The season before last? 2013/14? Not 1,400. It was 1,153.

No. And it certainly didn't seem like we were either.

1,153? Was it really?

I willing to bet it was more.

 

[1976Bantam]

Rather interestingly, if you look at the link I posted earlier on, Shrewsbury Town, Port Vale, Oxford, Bury, Chesterfield, Plymouth, Carlisle, AFC Wimbledon (probably a few more too, just picking teams I know who were in L2 recently) all had better followings in 2010/11 and 2011/12 despite a 6-9,000 home attendance difference between the teams. Bradford were getting 400 away average with 11,000 home fans.

Draw your own conclusions from this.

Here's the link in case you missed it: http://www.football-league.co.uk/documents/travelling-fans-average549-2598175.pdf

Those two consecutive seasons where we came very close to being relegated out of the Football League? Not entirely surprising the away followings were poor. Perhaps you can draw your own conclusions from that instead? Stats are great without context.

I don't think you'll find any City fan arguing that our home attendances aren't boosted by the cheap season ticket deals. It's hard to know what our 'core' is though now, given the deals have been in place quite a while.

What I will say is that we are equally capable of excellent or pretty poor away followings. Unsurprisingly, league position/form often has something to do with it.

 

[F!RTHY]

Oh, and Wigans following today was pants. Vocally shite too!

 

[DH84]

No. And it certainly didn't seem like we were either.

1,153? Was it really?

I willing to bet it was more.

Yes I posted it on the other previous page, where you can view other teams too.

 

[Jamo]

A woeful but surprisingly vocal 125 Fleetwood at Oakwell.

 

[Football Purist]

Oh, and Wigans following today was pants. Vocally shite too!

And I bet they were singing that 'You are my sunshine' number.
Not as bad as that incessant 'Oh when the Blooo-ooos go marchin' in' from Oldham though.

 

[Football Purist]

A woeful but surprisingly vocal 125 Fleetwood at Oakwell.

Did they take the Ponny?

 

[GFCSludge]

The Southend turnout is pretty solid.

 

[DH84]

Those two consecutive seasons where we came very close to being relegated out of the Football League? Not entirely surprising the away followings were poor. Perhaps you can draw your own conclusions from that instead? Stats are great without context.

I don't think you'll find any City fan arguing that our home attendances aren't boosted by the cheap season ticket deals. It's hard to know what our 'core' is though now, given the deals have been in place quite a while.

What I will say is that we are equally capable of excellent or pretty poor away followings. Unsurprisingly, league position/form often has something to do with it.

Ok I know of another team who nearly got relegated out of the Football League too at the same time, Plymouth Argyle. In 2011\12 they finished 21st in L2, scraping relegation by 2 points. Plymouth's average home attendance was 6,915 away average was 723. In 2012\13 they also finished 21st, this time scraping relegation by just a single point! Plymouth's average home attendance was 7,095 with away average of 751. That's context.

 

[Football Purist]

The Southend turnout is pretty solid.

You mean they brought a good firm?

 

[NorthernSoul]

I'm not surprised we didn't take past 1,500. The ticket prices were a disgrace, we paid around that for several Premier League away days.

How Bradford can justify charging what works out at £6.50 per game for home fans and mug off away fans for £25 is shocking. At £20 limit, we'd have shifted close to if not over 2,000. Which is ironic, as cheaper tickets would have actually seen Bradford make more ££s with a higher crowd.

Coventry charged us £18 which is a substantial difference and despite it being twice as far we took 2,000, due to good priced tickets.

 

[DH84]

I'm not surprised we didn't take past 1,500. The ticket prices were a disgrace, we paid around that for several Premier League away days.

How Bradford can justify charging what works out at £6.50 per game for home fans and mug off away fans for £25 is shocking. At £20 limit, we'd have shifted close to if not over 2,000. Which is ironic, as cheaper tickets would have actually seen Bradford make more ££s with a higher crowd.

Coventry charged us £18 which is a substantial difference and despite it being twice as far we took 2,000, due to good priced tickets.

Yes thats what I said. As a club, not a home team, they pledged to affordable football. Obviously home teams can never charge away teams 6.50 a game but they could have gone 15 or something.

 

[JJH]

1686 coventry at swindon is good imo

How have you came to that conclusion? You potentially have your best and most exciting season in a number of years in store, and you only bring 1,600 to a ground that is roughly two hours away?

Not great at all IMO.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Exactly, whilst £6.50 as you say was never going to be charged for match day prices, due to season tickets obviously working out as better value, just simply capping it at £20 for away fans, makes a big difference, a saving of £5 or so each away game soon adds up over the season, averaged out for someone going to all, would be well in excess of £100. Factor in travel and food/drink, away games aren't cheap.

An away day cap at £20 for Premier League, £17.50 for Championship, £15 for League One, £12.50 for League Two would work wonders for increasing away followings and despite charging less, having more fans attend could actually see clubs picking up more money in tickets revenue. I doubt the FA have any guts to introduce should a structure though, fans are considered important.

I remember paying £18, 10 years ago in the Championship away to Sunderland in a neat modern stadium and thinking that was a little steep... Inflation hasn't gone up that much since....

 

[Football Purist]

I could get in for about 25p when I started going games.

 

[1976Bantam]

We charge 'on the day' home fans £25 as well.

I agree it's high. They put it up this season to try and encourage more purchases of season tickets/flexi cards (which worked). The unfortunate by-product of course is that the away ticket price also went up.

A Bury fan wrote to BCFC this week about the price (saying they weren't going to attend because of it) and they replied with:

"Thank you for your email. I am sorry that you feel unable to attend the game here at the Coral Windows Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Bradford City’s efforts to bring football to the widest possible range of supporters are second to none. The Club has received praise from many authorities for its ticket pricing initiatives and in 2015/16 its #149 campaign which knocked £50 off the price of its season tickets resulted in its charges being the lowest in all of the Football League. The increase to £25 for an adult was, obviously, geared towards encouraging spectators to commit to the Club by buying the season ticket. This was a great success with just over 18000 home fans taking advantage of the fantastic offer

With regard to match-day prices, you should be aware that the increase in adult admission was the first the Club has introduced in 8 seasons. In addition, although the adult price increased significantly, the concessions price (for seniors and students) only increased by £1 per match and the juniors actually decreased by £2 per person. In addition, we also offer an entry price of just £5 to under-11s when accompanied by a paying adult. You will also appreciate that, under Football League regulations, we are committed to charging the same price for away supporters as we do for home followers.

As a way of comparison, I understand that match tickets at Bury were increased for this season and although prices can be as low as £18 per person, they could also be £20 or £22 depending on the category of the match. I also understand that Bury FC season tickets were priced at £300 for adults compared to our £149.

Each Club is entitled to decide upon its own sales strategy for its season tickets and match ticket prices. We feel that the current adult price, when taken into account alongside the season tickets and concession rates available, is fully justified and offers a balanced and fair pricing structure".

Make of that what you will.

 

[natdan]

The average away support at Bradford is 597 which is inflated with a good following from Sheff United (1497) so to take 699 above the average and over double of any other team bar Sheff United isn't that bad really is it. Its around 16% of our home support which again isn't bad is it.

Also FRITHY, you like the conspiracy against the mighty Bradford that all Lancashire clubs downgrade Bradfords away crowds and whist I am not arguing with todays figure, that end behind the goal supposedly holds 1800, it was full at the top and there were not 800 seats at the bottom to fill and there were people in these. Then there were a number on the side who paid on the day.
Which is wrong? the size given for the stand or the side of the away following?

Stand the the right hand side for pay on the day only:

Away end behind the goal that holds 1800 (allegedly)

 

[natdan]

Coventry away support is again excellent as is that of Southend.

I wonder if City's fans were at Crewe again singing Blue Moon and were not really here with their City shirts on. Bizarre that but what ever takes your fancy I suppose.

 

[natdan]

I must also give credit to Millwall, I didn't know they ever travelled outside of the smoke. Very rarely anyway so thats a very big away following for them.

 

[BCFC]

Unsure why Wigan fans were given part of Midland Road when there was plenty of space for them in the Bradford End. Good following by them though, a few hundred more than I'd thought they'd take, and could see them trying to sing after their goal but they were still pretty quiet.

 

[1976Bantam]

Ok I know of another team who nearly got relegated out of the Football League too at the same time, Plymouth Argyle. In 2011\12 they finished 21st in L2, scraping relegation by 2 points. Plymouth's average home attendance was 6,915 away average was 723. In 2012\13 they also finished 21st, this time scraping relegation by just a single point! Plymouth's average home attendance was 7,095 with away average of 751. That's context.

In both 2010/11 and 2011/12, L2 was a predominantly southern division.

Plymouth have a good away following regardless, to be fair to them - though it remains fairly constant if you look across their averages across the 5 seasons you posted. I think I recall their own fans on the away support threads around the time saying they have an unusually large number of "ex pats" around the country who swell their away support.

Our away followings significantly increased the season we went up in 12/13 - although even then we were mid to lower mid table for the majority of the season before sneaking into the play offs, which basically supports my points about fluctuations for us being driven by form and being capable of both excellent and poor away support.

 

[BCFC]

The average away support at Bradford is 597 which is inflated with a good following from Sheff United (1497) so to take 699 above the average and over double of any other team bar Sheff United isn't that bad really is it. Its around 16% of our home support which again isn't bad is it.

Also FRITHY, you like the conspiracy against the mighty Bradford that all Lancashire clubs downgrade Bradfords away crowds and whist I am not arguing with todays figure, that end behind the goal supposedly holds 1800, it was full at the top and there were not 800 seats at the bottom to fill and there were people in these. Then there were a number on the side who paid on the day.
Which is wrong? the size given for the stand or the side of the away following?

Stand the the right hand side for pay on the day only:

View attachment 2022

Away end behind the goal that holds 1800 (allegedly)

View attachment 2023

There was barely anybody in the bottom tier as shown on your photo.

 

[GFCSludge]

I must also give credit to Millwall, I didn't know they ever travelled outside of the smoke. Very rarely anyway so thats a very big away following for them.

I know we're one of their closest games, but they always travel well to Priestfield (although they usually leave fairly disappointed).

 

[Football Purist]

Coventry away support is again excellent as is that of Southend.

I wonder if City's fans were at Crewe again singing Blue Moon and were not really here with their City shirts on. Bizarre that but what ever takes your fancy I suppose.

Not really sure what you're getting at.
Crewe started singing Blue Moon after a Friday night game at Stockport in '89 then the Mancs began singing it a few years later.

 

[Crewelad87]

Coventry away support is again excellent as is that of Southend.

I wonder if City's fans were at Crewe again singing Blue Moon and were not really here with their City shirts on. Bizarre that but what ever takes your fancy I suppose.

We started singing blue moon 1st and we sing "were the railwaymen" not "were not really here"

 

[PUSBCCFC]

How have you came to that conclusion? You potentially have your best and most exciting season in a number of years in store, and you only bring 1,600 to a ground that is roughly two hours away?

Not great at all IMO.

Probably because people didn't want to stand in the rain for 2 hours like 500 or so of us did.

Decent following, could be better, but there isn't the buzz about the place that I thought there would be with us being in the top 6. Probably because we aren't playing well.