I just don’t buy that the size of our stadium almost guarantees relegation from league 1, as statistically the evidence doesn’t back this up. This season Burton, Fleetwood and Cheltenham all look likely to stay up despite average attendances is 3,241 3,412 and 4,348 respectively and although they will be relegated this year Accrington have stayed in league 1 for 5 years while having the lowest attendances of less than three thousand. When we last went down in 20/21 we were one of three teams relegated that weren’t in the bottom four places for average attendances.
When we have been in league one it’s not like we’ve been turning away fans week in week out. Would it be nice to have a bigger ground to maximise revenue? yes, but it it likely that if we had a bigger ground it would significantly effect our competitiveness? no. We saw what happened the last time we had a ‘very competitive budget’ in league with the Chinese investment, we were relegated.
Our relegations from league one have not been because of a 7,800 capacity stadium but through underachievement.
Losing several hundred thousand in lost revenues per league 1 seasons have been a kick in the ball for our clubs hopes.