From the first 13 home games gates are only down by 400 on two years ago when we were in League 1. In those first 13 matches 2 years ago we had hosted Bradford, Bristol Rovers, Blackpool, Posh, and Portsmouth, all clubs with a strong away support. In the first 13 games this season the only clubs you could say have had decent away support are Plymouth and maybe Walsall. The large away followings of those clubs in early 17/18, plus the fact that there would have been fans more inclined toattend those matches due to the more 'high profile' opposition, the fact that we had just appointed a 'high profile' manager in JFH and that we had also just received investment from overseas leading to a number of exciting new signings, would surely be the reason for the higher average than what we have seen so far this season.
Considering also that since two years ago we have suffered a RELEGATION and had only gained 7 points from the first 10 games of last season (leaving us sitting in the bottom 2), not to mention that over the last 3 windows have had to sell most (if not all) of our better players, then it stands to reason that gates would have fallen from the level they were at two years ago. This happens to ALL clubs.
We were also not in a 'lofty' position earlier in the season, so I don't see that this would have influenced attendances over August and September.
The football certainly isn't 'pretty' and yesterday was for the most part certainly a poor showing, but the belief that the style of football this season is significantly contributing to 'depressed' gates is pure conjecture.
I understand the general theme of your post and indeed can see why you think its "conjecture".....at the end of the day unless its fact there will always be differing ideas.
All I was trying to point out was that gates are down this season against last.....despite us being in a higher position. we've been up around the top 10 for a while now, but to only have 4361 home fans on New Years day is disappointing i'm sure you will agree.
You say about the fact we weren't always up the top end of the division yet earlier in the season we attracted 4888 against Crawley and over 4700 against Salford.
Last season we had back to back fixtures over Christmas, against arguably more attractive opposition and there were 4918 home fans v Swindon and 5514 v MK three days later, so I don't get the "moneys tight" analogy either as people will come out...as shown in those figures.
Last year 10432 home fans for the two games, this year 9084 for the two games.....that's nearly 13% fewer in total despite us being on the edge of a promotion race this season, last season we were in 14th place going into those games.
The average home fans figure for last season at this stage was 4594, and at the end of the season that had fallen to 4549. This season as it stands the average is 4532.
Maybe its just me.......if we were playing decent football and were 7th in the table I believe those figures would be nearer 5000. I'm not saying the results would be any better, just the performances on the pitch. You only have to look at some of the comments on here and on the FB groups to see that people are genuinely staying away because the "entertainment" on offer is negligible.
Granted, its conjecture......but I don't believe it to be baseless!
