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Will we ever be a big club?

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Knockingonabit
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« Reply #40 on: August 27, 2015, 09:29:28 am »

I would agree with that TFMH, although Reading with more or less the same population, get a couple of thousand above that and I believe averaged about 23000 in the Prem.
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« Reply #41 on: August 27, 2015, 10:16:40 am »

The town is currently a rugby town and you have to give them credit for turning a cosy old gits committee type of club into the Rugby giant it is now. The rugby club now has a huge catchment area , something we could not hope to achieve, with only Leicester and now Wasps as challengers for that domain. When i travel up by train to Northampton, and we are both playing, the coaches are dominated by those in Saints colours......probably one other in the proud claret. Rugby also has a different eclectic mix of fans and is more family based.

We have seen the Donkeys overtake us & turn a franchise club into quite a force with a good stadium and well run club .........further limiting our chances of drawing fans from that area.

We can't even build a simple stand with the money handed on a plate and have very limited ambition and resources.......on a collision course to Administration and the deduction of 12 points with all that would imply. Without the take over we are sinking and back to square one of the early Nineties....and with it god knows anyway?

However, with the right owners things could be very different. Its almost like saying England is a Rugby country when we won the world cup. It isn't and will never be so.

We did average nearly 20k in the glory season in the top tier and would do so again with a team fighting for the top end of the Championship. Times would be harder than before but a winning team playing good football in a fit for purpose stadium...winning most games would soon expand our dedicated hard core of fans and attract a whole new generation. It is a very big town and the level of support we already have is formidable, particularly the away army.
Some say the team must come first, but i would follow the example of the many that have developed or moved to a suitable inviting stadium and got the infrastructure in place, including the lamentable training facilities we have, etc.
We need to invest in both the team & capital projects.

The club does have prospects and is in a great location.... is it enough to attract the right investor as owner/ s, who hopefully would be a die-hard football fan.

I think it all can be done , with both clubs thriving...alongside the County, who do have more of a struggle with low membership levels.

Is there a talisman out there with the money to turn dreams into realities and fulfil our potential.

Perhaps, then the town would also be known and recognised as a football town Huh?   
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« Reply #42 on: August 27, 2015, 15:05:05 pm »

Could the Trust still request it to be registered as an Asset of Community Value?

The Stadium is owned by the council and leased by NTFC.
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« Reply #43 on: August 27, 2015, 16:15:40 pm »

Doesn't stop it being requested does it? It's mostly a way of being aware of possible changes by forcing an obligation on the owners?
 
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« Reply #44 on: August 27, 2015, 16:47:40 pm »

I have never accepted that Northampton is a Rugby town. Anyway its not just the town that matters but the surrounding area as well. A then Editor of the Chron told me that what really sold papers was something happening at the Cobblers far more than rugby or cricket. Obviously the Saints get bigger gates now but could it be that most of those interested actually go whilst the Cobblers have huge latent support ?
I think there is a bit of a "Man Utd"effect as well. Some people like to be seen to follow a succesful club as it somehow boosts their ego!
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« Reply #45 on: August 27, 2015, 17:14:32 pm »

I know quite a few Saints fans who wouldn't have been seen dead at Franklins Gardens in the pre Barwell days, also a lot of them have Man Utd & Rushden & Diamonds scarves hidden away in the cupboard. Wink
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« Reply #46 on: August 27, 2015, 19:14:24 pm »

The Saints get more fans than us and I'm sure they'd get even more if they had a bigger stadium. We can't fill our smaller stadium, even with cheaper prices than them. They consistently make profits and are known nationally and continentally. I love NTFC but looking at it realistically we're just a bog-standard lower league football club with very little to distinguish ourselves from other ones in this league.

I don't see how Northampton isn't a rugby town. Apart from the odd play-off final and the Man U game, when has the town ever got behind the Cobblers? This 'potential' of five-figure crowds seems a bit farfetched, I've not seen any signs of this potential, even when we were in League One.
Whether Northampton is a football or rugby town certainly doesn't rest solely on the shoulders of the Cobblers and their fanbase. Whilst the Saints in this particular 'era' are getting the Lion's share of support - not to mention erm...success, overall in our town of 200,000 plus, how many 'footie' fans travel to the likes of Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Irons, Leicester, Villa et-al, in addition to our Liverpool and United friends in the Pickering Phipps, Auctioneers etc?
Would be pretty confident that if a poll was conducted across the board, those putting football over rugby interest would be vastly higher.
Then there is Northants CCC...#Steelbacks  Wink
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« Reply #47 on: August 27, 2015, 19:18:21 pm »

Whether Northampton is a football or rugby town certainly doesn't rest solely on the shoulders of the Cobblers and their fanbase. Whilst the Saints in this particular 'era' are getting the Lion's share of support - not to mention erm...success, overall in our town of 200,000 plus, how many 'footie' fans travel to the likes of Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Irons, Leicester, Villa et-al, in addition to our Liverpool and United friends in the Pickering Phipps, Auctioneers etc?
Would be pretty confident that if a poll was conducted across the board, those putting football over rugby interest would be vastly higher.
Then there is Northants CCC...#Steelbacks  Wink

Personally I support all three and generally look for the results of the Saints and County. Like most on here only go and watch the Cobbs.
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« Reply #48 on: August 27, 2015, 20:02:37 pm »

We are a Rugby Teyn as we have a very good rugby team.
We are also a football town as we have a famous old league club albeit total Shiite most of the time due to being run in an unprofessional way for near on the last 50years.
We're also a cricket Town as we have a very decent county cricket club based here.

All aboard the Edgbaston train satdee, gunna to be great watching air boys bring the T20 title home again. Goo steelbacks.
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« Reply #49 on: August 27, 2015, 20:13:15 pm »

Yes, i way well be, but that is a story for future days
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« Reply #50 on: August 29, 2015, 00:21:01 am »

There's definitely the potential in place for us to become a good medium-sized club if we can get the team in order and up the leagues. We're the only football league club in the county, and it isn't even like there are any clubs from the county that are even in with a shout of making the FL right now. About 6/7 years ago there were the likes of Kettering and Brackley knocking on the door whilst Rushden were in the FL about 10 years ago, but now Rushden are no more, Kettering suffered financial turmoil and Brackley fell off, so there's only 2 Conference North clubs in the county and then there's us.

Our problem is that whenever we make it to League One, relegation follows a few years later so fairweather fans don't want to invest interest into the club, which is why our gates don't go up much. If we could make it to the Championship, and more importantly stay up the first year we got there, then people would come to games and we'd get good gates. This is not a rugby town, the fact is that our problem isn't that people in this town don't care about football, it's that going to watch League Two isn't much of a draw when you can sit on the couch or go to the pub and watch Premier League football instead. If we were a Championship club, people would take notice and make an effort to attend games.
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« Reply #51 on: August 29, 2015, 06:32:55 am »

It's been mentioned already but the modern sky sports football fan doesn't go to games.
They go to the pub and support their team.
The average Man Utd or Chelsea fan will just scoff at their local team saying how s*** they are compared to "their" team.
Back in the 70s and 80s, the only exposure people had to top level clubs was football focus and match of the day.
Today, it's rammed down your throat 24/7.
This means that the arm chair fan, forms a deep knowledge and a psychological bond with the players and the club they claim to "support".

So, no, we won't ever become a big club.
Look at Fulham, Blackburn, Watford etc who've had rich benefactors.

Bigger.... Than us.
But not big.
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« Reply #52 on: August 29, 2015, 07:42:37 am »

The modern sky sports fan won't pay £20 to watch league two football.
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« Reply #53 on: August 29, 2015, 08:29:06 am »

Who wants to be a big club anyway? I'd much rather be watching The Clash at the 100 Club than Simply Red at the Birmingham NEC.
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« Reply #54 on: August 29, 2015, 09:05:41 am »

Does it matter if we are a rugby, football or cricket town, as long as there is a team to support, We will never become a big club, its too late , very ,very few smaller clubs climb to the heights of premiership ,and fewer stay there, look what has happened to some that made it, now skint
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« Reply #55 on: August 29, 2015, 10:25:24 am »

47 different clubs have been in the Prem. More than I realised.
Always hope
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« Reply #56 on: August 29, 2015, 16:51:36 pm »

The modern sky sports fan won't pay £20 to watch league two football.

That adds to my point.... they'll spend it in their local McManus Tavern though.
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« Reply #57 on: August 30, 2015, 12:14:55 pm »

No, the point I was making that I have plenty of them ask about going to games and it all goes well until you get to the point of admission costs.
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« Reply #58 on: August 30, 2015, 13:07:15 pm »

I don't think so, no. Northampton is a rugby town and I don't think even a Premiership/Championship side would change that. Look at Wigan.

We need to just enjoy being what we are, a mid-sized League Two club, who occasionally get a tilt at League One. Hopefully we won't go any lower than or else I think our fanbase would be seriously damaged.

This is the biggest myth going. Look at the Saints crowds during the Carr era in the late 1980s. They were far smaller than the football ones. The Saints are well supported because they are the Man City of rugby: rich, impressive stadium, top stars etc. There are far more football fans than rugby ones in our town but they want to support a successful club. The proof of this? Our local paper's circulation has always gone up dramatically when the Cobblers have threatened to do something exciting; the rugby successes have never dramatically boosted circulation. The fanbase is/would be there but only once Championship football is in the offing. Northampton is no more rugby-mad than Leicester.
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« Reply #59 on: August 30, 2015, 13:21:36 pm »

Apologies for repeating others' contributions to the thread.
It's never too late to become a big club if the population is there, which is what stops Burnley from becoming a regular Prem club. Think of Swansea who we beat at Wembley and who turned up with a pitiful support. Now they are a top middle tier Prem club.
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