| Big support equals good support? I thinketh not 15:46 - Aug 29 with 631 views | WarkTheWarkITFC |
All week I have been seeing our feathered friends work themselves up into a frenzy over attendances and the fact that, quite obviously, we will not be selling out for their visit to Portman Road.
I recall in the 2000's at some point we also failed to sell out our over 30,000 capacity, but came very close. 28,000 or 29,000 I think. It may even have been for the Counago last minute equaliser in the 1-1 draw if memory serves me correct. Norwich fans I knew made an issue of the fact they then sold out their smaller stadium, but actually had a lower attendance than we did. It struck me as odd at the time that we should lose such an apparent argument that we would have won by reducing the capacity by 2,000!
One quick glance at last years average attendance shows the massive cities of Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield up the top and the much smaller places like Burton, Barnsley and Preston towards the bottom.
'Massive' Leeds United are the only team in the third biggest city in England. 784,000 people in Leeds. London, our biggest city, has many clubs. Birmingham has two. Leeds just the one. So who else would they support?
Ipswich and the surrounding area is said to have 180,000 people. Norwich and the equivalent is 215,000, an extra 35,000, 20% of the population of Ipswich and friends.
Football isn't a linear case of appealing to all and a fixed percentage of every population. Manchester United have more fans in Rochdale than Rochdale do, more fans in Bury than Bury do, a point of frustration to locals in those smaller towns. Clearly success plays a part, recent performances, ticket prices, travel disruption, the implications of the result and where the match falls in the season.
Ipswich versus Norwich in August with both teams in the bottom two is clearly going to be nowhere near as well attended as the same fixture on the final day with the two teams fighting over the title.
Our learned Budgie friends seem incapable of deriving from this that they should, without any other factors, be getting 20% more supporters than us through the doors on derby day on sheer location alone.
Add in ticket prices and we charge more.
Add in the competition and we have a number of other clubs within a 50 mile radius and are not far from London and bigger clubs, while they have barely anyone within that radius and anyone nearby is a smaller club.
Add in current performance and we are bottom and they are mid-table.
Add in recent history and we've been stuck in the division for 17 years with almost nothing to shout about and in the last few years mind numbingly boring football, whilst they have been legitimate promotion contenders and two years ago were a Premier League team.
Add in recent record where we have not won for 9 years against them and they have had their best ever period of results against us.
Consider that all of those factors above give even more reason why they should have more fans attending than we do.
Then consider this.
In August last year we saw 24,928 in Portman Road. This year it looks as if it will be around 23,000.
The return fixture in February saw 27,100 in Carrow Road. A 20% increase alone on our home match would be 29,913. There were still a few hundred seats at Carrow Road that were not taken up.
Given that our fans have seen two or three years of little investment, poor football, a shocking record against Norwich and a massive rift between the club, whilst Norwich have regularly spent millions on players, played in the Premier League, been promotion favourites, been to Wembley and regularly beaten us then they are right.
The support is embarrassing. But it certainly isn't ours.
Our support has held up remarkably. I have absolutely no doubt at all that in our situation they would have even lower crowds than us. In fact we can recall them doing exactly that when the tables were turned.
But the only way we'll shut the b*stards up (the only time I swear in is mention of them I am afraid) is by beating them Sunday.
It is our time. [Post edited 29 Aug 2018 15:50]
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| Big support equals good support? I thinketh not on 16:05 - Aug 29 with 584 views | Slambo |
Another excellent post Warky..! They're as well stocked with fairweather melts as the next club. We'll see how many little green seats are visible in the mighty Barclay end after another season of obscurity... |  |
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| Big support equals good support? I thinketh not on 16:38 - Aug 29 with 551 views | LeagueOne |
I remember a few years back when they had kids for a quid and were slagging us for attendances ... let's face it, with Norwich's history had they had the 16 years we have had their support would be non-existent by now and the club in financial ruin. We've survived.
They have been paid by the Premier League to go back up a few times now and we were relegated before the dole was dished out, which is the only reason we ever went into Admin, for a poultry £20 odd million which by today's standards is laughable.
They are only a few seasons away from total financial collapse themselves - so while they may laugh at us now, even if they win this weekend if they fail to be promoted again they are in real sh1t. |  |
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