Dot Counting Bristol Rovers 10k - 7th Oct

[Scotchegg]

4 games, 12 goals, 12 points! We're flying and this team deserves to walk out in front of a full house. A win on Saturday and we'll be top of the table at the final whistle, and the sun will be shining.

Let's turn up in numbers, and get as many others as possible to join us. The early kick off makes it hard for some to get there, but there's also an opportunity to get some people along who would otherwise struggle.

If your kids are playing football in the morning, why not get some parents together and get them all along to the game when yours is finished. If you travel to games alone or with one other in your car, ask around and get a couple of mates to join you. Get a load of you together from work, couple of drinks, football and still home for 3ish! Flood social media with positive comments about the team and your matchday experience.

The place is buzzing right now with the next Stadium plans to be released in a matter of days. On and off the pitch we will Stand United, so let's fill the place and show everyone how incredible this club is.

 

[ECYellow]

Fingers crossed the people of Oxfordshire can get on board, as quite frankly tonight’s attendance for a team who are free scoring and 2nd in the league was pretty abysmal iMO.

Good noise but poor numbers.

 

[Scotchegg]

Fingers crossed the people of Oxfordshire can get on board, as quite frankly tonight’s attendance for a team who are free scoring and 2nd in the league was pretty abysmal iMO.

Good noise but poor numbers.

I know Tuesday night games are generally lower, but I would have expected 8000+ tonight with where we are and how we're playing.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

A win on Saturday and we'll be top of the table at the final whistle

If Portsmouth also win wouldn’t they be top still? (I’m going by the way)

 

[MJB]

If Portsmouth also win wouldn’t they be top still? (I’m going by the way)

3pm kick-off for them.

 

[Scotchegg]

If Portsmouth also win wouldn’t they be top still? (I’m going by the way)

Our early kickoff would mean that we'd certainly be top at the final whistle as the Portsmouth game wouldn't have started.

 

[OX14]

I know Tuesday night games are generally lower, but I would have expected 8000+ tonight with where we are and how we're playing.

Comparison though, last time we played Shrewsbury on a Tuesday night was 19th October 2021 and the attendance was 5763.

Also accross the board apart from Bolton and Pompey tonight in league one was quite poor attendances.

Northampton v Reading 6550
Cheltenham v Fleetwood 3104
Charlton v Exeter 11575
Carlisle v Posh 6014
Cambridge v Barnsley 5493
Burton v Wigan 2527
Bristol rovers v Port Vale 7364
Blackpool v Derby 11137

 

[Scotchegg]

We're averaging 8500 this season and big crowds against Rovers, Blackpool and Wycombe should see us averaging 9000 by the end of October.

That's great, but just being better than before is not enough. We have to push as hard off the pitch as we are on the pitch, and that is on every one of us.

 

[andystroud]

Our early kickoff would mean that we'd certainly be top at the final whistle as the Portsmouth game wouldn't have started.

We would go top if we draw given our superior goal difference.
I hate playing Bristol Rovers, they beat us far too often. Hopefully we can set the record straight this Saturday and I don’t have to listen to them singing “It’s happened again” on my journey home.

 

[OnlyOneUnited]

Just to point out, there are train strikes today, that were starting to affect the trains last night too. I couldn't make the game as there was no viable train back to London for me at that time of night. It might have put others off too.

 

[OX14]

Just to point out, there are train strikes today, that were starting to affect the trains last night too. I couldn't make the game as there was no viable train back to London for me at that time of night. It might have put others off too.

That could explain Shrewsbury only bringing 187.

 

[Colin B]

As promised I've been doing a dot count this week, but I didn't want to put it up on here until after last night's game.

Firstly, tickets are selling well. I'll exclude the Exeter game, as that was a bit of a one off, due to the ticket promotions. But as of midnight last night we are showing our highest home sales of the season by a few hundred. We were at just under 6,700 which is, for instance, over 400 higher than the Port Vale game at the same stage. That game ended with 8,144 home fans. For a 10,000 attendance we need just over 8,500 home fans on Saturday, so we're pretty much on par for it at the moment. We have sold between 1,514 and 1,905 from this stage for each home game this season, so again, the median of that gets us to just about where we need to be.

Once again, this is going to be interesting, particularly in respect of match day sales with the earlier kick off.

 

[ECYellow]

Just to point out, there are train strikes today, that were starting to affect the trains last night too. I couldn't make the game as there was no viable train back to London for me at that time of night. It might have put others off too.

Fair comment.

I believe the train strike issues are affecting most of the country. With that in mind, Notts County of Lg2 still managed 2,000 more home fans than us last night. Albeit they are on a bit of a roll after promotion and a strong start but then again, our start hasn’t been half bad either.

I think the people of Oxfordshire and our wider support base probably need to do a little more where possible.

I understand the cost of living issues, travel disruption and mid-week games limiting kids attendance etc, but none of these examples are exclusive to Oxfordshire. Every club, including the example of Notts County will have similar hurdles to navigate.

Hopefully Saturday is a marked improvement.

 

[Scotchegg]

Fair comment.

I believe the train strike issues are affecting most of the country. With that in mind, Notts County of Lg2 still managed 2,000 more home fans than us last night. Albeit they are on a bit of a roll after promotion and a strong start but then again, our start hasn’t been half bad either.

I think the people of Oxfordshire and our wider support base probably need to do a little more where possible.

I understand the cost of living issues, travel disruption and mid-week games limiting kids attendance etc, but none of these examples are exclusive to Oxfordshire. Every club, including the example of Notts County will have similar hurdles to navigate.

Hopefully Saturday is a marked improvement.

I don't disagree in general, although Notts County were averaging 8000 in the conference and had a Wembley final and promotion to help create an attendance bounce.

One of the things that I've tried to push in these threads is about how we can all play a part in driving up attendance. There are loads of fans who drive to games on their own. How many ask around to see if a mate or neighbour wants to join them? How many work at places where they are the only one who goes to watch local football? Or goes to the pub with people banging on about the PL but have never seen a proper game in their lives?

In 3 years we want to be going from an average of 8500 to 15000. And we want them to be home fans that return week after week. Of course we need to reach out to the kids across the county, but we also need to be proactive in selling our club to everyone regardless of age or background.

And that is on everyone of us as much as it is on the club.

 

[Sarge]

given ifollow was available to buy last night Id be interested to know (if there is a way to find out) how may ifollow subscribers there was for last nights game?

 

[MarkG]

given ifollow was available to buy last night Id be interested to know (if there is a way to find out) how may ifollow subscribers there was for last nights game?

I watched it on the iFollow. So that's one legal streaming view.

 

[NorthWestOx]

I watched it on the iFollow. So that's one legal streaming view.

+1 for iFollow, alongside 3 others.
There's just no way I can make midweek games.

 

[LeftSideLarry]

I watched it on the iFollow. So that's one legal streaming view.

+1 for iFollow, alongside 3 others.
There's just no way I can make midweek games.

As a matter of interest, if iFollow did not exist would you 'find a way' to get there? Please don't infer any criticism from my question, I'm just interested in the affect that iFollow has on attendances.

Cheers.

 

[NorthWestOx]

As a matter of interest, if iFollow did not exist would you 'find a way' to get there? Please don't infer any criticism from my question, I'm just interested in the affect that iFollow has on attendances.

Cheers.

No criticism inferred, but no, it's just not possible without taking an afternoon off work.
Which I have done before for some big games, Stevenage away in the conference for example.
It's 190 miles and takes about 4 hours with a brief stop.

It's either iFollow or updates from here or twitter.

 

[MarkG]

As a matter of interest, if iFollow did not exist would you 'find a way' to get there? Please don't infer any criticism from my question, I'm just interested in the affect that iFollow has on attendances.

Cheers.

Junction improvement works on the A3-M25 added about an hour to my drive to Oxford the other week, so it makes it a much simpler decision to stay at home and watch a Tuesday game on iFollow when might not get home til midnight. I tried an alternative route back via A34 but was not as straightforward as motorway driving as there are several roundabouts and A roads to go down. Similarly when there are train strikes on Saturdays mean I'd rather listen to a commentary than spend the petrol money and time in the car.

I might start getting tempted by midweek games if we are still riding high later on in the season and there are postponed games to go to.