Matches Lack of supporters

[Lincoln.yellow1]

Attendance in the league	FA Cup	League Cup	European Cup
Champion	0	Period	Highest avg	In year	Highest	Lowest	Winner	0	Winner	1	CL:	0
# 2	0	2000 - now	8.297	2017	12.243	3.676	Finalist	0	Finalist	0	Best
# 3	0	1987 - 1999	11.009	1986	14.211	3.420	Semis	0	Semis	1	CWC :	0
Highest pos.	18	1970 - 1986	10.884	1971	18.990	2.741	Quarter	1	Quarter	3	Best
Total years	55	1947 - 1969	11.636	1969	18.020	4

Someone posted on the Wycombe match-day thread that 7500 home supporters was disappointing and more Oxfordshire public should come out and attend matches.
Well......... As you can see from the stats above, these are our average attendances over the last 70 odd or so years and although we would all like to have our home games sold out every game the history of our club clearly states differently....
Since we moved to The Kassam Stadium our highest average attendance was in 2017 which was 8297 including visiting supporters which will easily average anywhere between 500 - 1000 away supporters so in keeping with 7500 oufc fans regularly attending home matches as the Wycombe match panned out.
The higher averages in the 1960’s and 70’s was down to having a ground with a higher capacity and dare I say a larger amount of visitors attending, it certainly was the case in the 1980’s (my first seasons) as the Cookoo lane end when we were in Division 2 and Division 1 were packed out with 2500 visitors again with around 7500 - 8000 home supporters attending and they were our glory days.....
It is a far cry from our 4 Wembley visits (where supporters could attend) when reports are that we had anywhere between 25,000 - 35,000 yellows cheering our team on.
The unfinished stadium, the lack of pubs, the lack of eating places and the whole match day experience is not the best however there are lots of so called new stadiums that have been built out of town and they will have similar issues.
We have what we have and however the team on the pitch performs either successful or unsuccessful we will only ever have 7500 regular supporters at the last 70 years have proved.

 

[Colin B]

Attendance in the league	FA Cup	League Cup	European Cup
Champion	0	Period	Highest avg	In year	Highest	Lowest	Winner	0	Winner	1	CL:	0
# 2	0	2000 - now	8.297	2017	12.243	3.676	Finalist	0	Finalist	0	Best
# 3	0	1987 - 1999	11.009	1986	14.211	3.420	Semis	0	Semis	1	CWC :	0
Highest pos.	18	1970 - 1986	10.884	1971	18.990	2.741	Quarter	1	Quarter	3	Best
Total years	55	1947 - 1969	11.636	1969	18.020	4

Someone posted on the Wycombe match-day thread that 7500 home supporters was disappointing and more Oxfordshire public should come out and attend matches.
Well......... As you can see from the stats above, these are our average attendances over the last 70 odd or so years and although we would all like to have our home games sold out every game the history of our club clearly states differently....
Since we moved to The Kassam Stadium our highest average attendance was in 2017 which was 8297 including visiting supporters which will easily average anywhere between 500 - 1000 away supporters so in keeping with 7500 oufc fans regularly attending home matches as the Wycombe match panned out.
The higher averages in the 1960’s and 70’s was down to having a ground with a higher capacity and dare I say a larger amount of visitors attending, it certainly was the case in the 1980’s (my first seasons) as the Cookoo lane end when we were in Division 2 and Division 1 were packed out with 2500 visitors again with around 7500 - 8000 home supporters attending and they were our glory days.....
It is a far cry from our 4 Wembley visits (where supporters could attend) when reports are that we had anywhere between 25,000 - 35,000 yellows cheering our team on.
The unfinished stadium, the lack of pubs, the lack of eating places and the whole match day experience is not the best however there are lots of so called new stadiums that have been built out of town and they will have similar issues.
We have what we have and however the team on the pitch performs either successful or unsuccessful we will only ever have 7500 regular supporters at the last 70 years have proved.

What a load of defeatist rubbish.

So, according to you, whatever we do we'll only have 7,500 supporters? Well we might as well pack up and go home and close the club up, as we clearly have no future. I'll let the owners know that they're wasting their time on a new stadium too. I've published figures before, proving what can happen when clubs move to a well planned new stadium, which is an average increase of something like 65% in attendances. We will at least achieve that, why should we be any different to other clubs?

The fact is that, no matter what we do, the Kassam Stadium remains an awful match day experience, and the only people that go are the diehards. That is why our attendances are what they currently are, and that is why they will increase significantly when we are free of the place, as we'll be able to attract, and keep, the (currently) uncommitted nearly 1 million people within our catchment area, by giving them a great day out at a 21st century venue, something we're unable to do at the current soulless breeze block with its inadequate facilities.

 

[horseman]

When a new ground was first spoken of, i recall i was one of the first to have doubts about filling a stadium largely based on the Apathy of the Oxfordshire public. You (Colin) produced well researched figures of how it would indeed be possible. My thought process has always been that with a 20k stadium we'll see 3k away fans so that's 10.000 extra home fans needed to fill the stadium (17.000 Total ) and i think that's a stretch and here's why i think that.

Everything today is about the Premier League and by and large mainly 6 clubs. Looking at the clubs in the Championship i don't see them being an attraction to the current non attendees and in all honesty not a great one for current fans. People have come when the likes of Man City, West Ham, Newcastle etc were in town but despite seeing some excellent games the following League fixtures did not see them return. When we played Middlesborough away in the cup there were some 3k Oxford fans, in the League we were in the promotion race but even when the top 2 came to the Kassam it was still nowhere near capacity and there were roughly 5k Home fans.

On top of this there has not been a great sign that the new generation are heading to matches and many kids today are only interested in Pc games and the like, it can also be quite an expensive day out and the higher up the pyramid we go then the cost just for a ticket will be 30-40-50% higher against an already stretched leisure pound. This in my opinion will be beyond the average person and even more so for those with a family.

What happens on the pitch is of course vital, my fear though is that even if there was a major uptake in support it will only need a bad season with Relegation and the numbers would drop alarmingly.

People will come on the odd occasion to see the superstars if we ever reached the Premier League but in my opinion the likes of Blackburn, Cardiff, Preston etc are not going to be an attraction to the much needed new fans.

I truly hope my thoughts are way off the mark.

 

[OxfordYankee]

What a load of defeatist rubbish.

So, according to you, whatever we do we'll only have 7,500 supporters? Well we might as well pack up and go home and close the club up, as we clearly have no future. I'll let the owners know that they're wasting their time on a new stadium too. I've published figures before, proving what can happen when clubs move to a well planned new stadium, which is an average increase of something like 65% in attendances. We will at least achieve that, why should we be any different to other clubs?

The fact is that, no matter what we do, the Kassam Stadium remains an awful match day experience, and the only people that go are the diehards. That is why our attendances are what they currently are, and that is why they will increase significantly when we are free of the place, as we'll be able to attract, and keep, the (currently) uncommitted nearly 1 million people within our catchment area, by giving them a great day out at a 21st century venue, something we're unable to do at the current soulless breeze block with its inadequate facilities.

I hope you’re right, Colin. I don’t subscribe to Lincoln’s theory and that’s what frustrates me. If the pandemic proved anything, it’s that football is best enjoyed live, yet apathy still surrounds the club from the ‘uncommitted 1m’.

Swindon’s ground has become an absolute dump and is surrounded by an even bigger dump, yet they’re getting bigger home support than we are, at a lower level, watching a group of players far below our standard. I find that very frustrating. I know that they’re on a high after the Power-era, but still, we should have higher numbers than them at this time.

I hope your faith in the stadium plans is well founded, but I worry that planners and the inevitable protest-groups will use the lack of current (and historic) demand to help undermine any plans.

As someone who would go and watch OUFC under any conditions, perhaps I lack the perspective of the ‘uncommitted 1m’, but I really would like to be more confident that the county’s only full-time professional sporting club will actually receive the support it deserves. I’m more confident of hearing a new set of excuses, though.

Pessimism or realism?

 

[Essexyellows]

The game has priced many people out and, especially recently, people have found better things to do that offer better VFM.

That is the first hurdle to overcome. I would rather we had cheaper tickets and a full house every other week.

Sell 5,000 tickets at £20 or 10,000 at £10? Same total.

And if you have more folk in the ground there are more "add on" sales and exposure.

Back to Maslow......... start at the bottom, build a foundation.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I certainly know people who dont attend because they dislike the ground. Apart from location, price, and distance from pitch, I think numbered seating and advance ticketing put people off. It’s hard for a group of lads to decide to go to the football and just pile in together. I know it’s not the 70s any more, but also it’s not a show at the New Theatre

 

[Foley]

Sell 5,000 tickets at £20 or 10,000 at £10? Same tototal.

It wouldn't work like that.
I suspect that for Accrington at home at the Ka$$am we will get 6500 to 7000 @ £20 whereas at £10 we may get 7500 to 8000.
So the receipts would be significantly less.

 

[Colin B]

When a new ground was first spoken of, i recall i was one of the first to have doubts about filling a stadium largely based on the Apathy of the Oxfordshire public. You (Colin) produced well researched figures of how it would indeed be possible. My thought process has always been that with a 20k stadium we'll see 3k away fans so that's 10.000 extra home fans needed to fill the stadium (17.000 Total ) and i think that's a stretch and here's why i think that.

Everything today is about the Premier League and by and large mainly 6 clubs. Looking at the clubs in the Championship i don't see them being an attraction to the current non attendees and in all honesty not a great one for current fans. People have come when the likes of Man City, West Ham, Newcastle etc were in town but despite seeing some excellent games the following League fixtures did not see them return. When we played Middlesborough away in the cup there were some 3k Oxford fans, in the League we were in the promotion race but even when the top 2 came to the Kassam it was still nowhere near capacity and there were roughly 5k Home fans.

On top of this there has not been a great sign that the new generation are heading to matches and many kids today are only interested in Pc games and the like, it can also be quite an expensive day out and the higher up the pyramid we go then the cost just for a ticket will be 30-40-50% higher against an already stretched leisure pound. This in my opinion will be beyond the average person and even more so for those with a family.

What happens on the pitch is of course vital, my fear though is that even if there was a major uptake in support it will only need a bad season with Relegation and the numbers would drop alarmingly.

People will come on the odd occasion to see the superstars if we ever reached the Premier League but in my opinion the likes of Blackburn, Cardiff, Preston etc are not going to be an attraction to the much needed new fans.

I truly hope my thoughts are way off the mark.

You've kind of answered your own question, when you state that fans came for certain big games, but didn't return for the bread and butter fixtures. That, to me, proves that they can be attracted, but it's the retention that is the problem. I've seen with my own eyes the absolute shambles in the North Stand concourse when non regulars take their kids down at half time to get refreshments and then end up missing much of the second half due to the inadequate facilities. Same if they want to use the toilet. That's why they don't return and why we're fighting with one hand tied behind our back until we move.

We don't need 20,000 fans in the Championship. Imagine an 18,000 seater stadium, close to the pitch, fully enclosed, retaining the atmosphere. Imagine 3,000 away fans, with 12,000 home fans, that's an 85% capacity crowd, which if designed properly, feels 85% full, not 15% empty. That's only 4,500 extra home fans. Can we really not aspire to that?

I've got all sorts of research and statistics, and have posted some of it before, and there is absolutely no reason why Oxfordshire should be any different to Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, and dare I say it Berkshire in attracting fans once the right facilities are in place off the pitch to match the entertainment on the pitch. I've got a busy day today, so don't have time to re-post the data, but trust me, I do think your thoughts are off the mark, and feel qualified to say so with the information I've seen.

 

[OxfordYankee]

I certainly know people who dont attend because they dislike the ground. Apart from location, price, and distance from pitch, I think numbered seating and advance ticketing put people off. It’s hard for a group of lads to decide to go to the football and just pile in together. I know it’s not the 70s any more, but also it’s not a show at the New Theatre

What would have stopped those people attending yesterday? There were no queues at the ticket office, no need for advance booking and certainly swathes of unoccupied seats for them to all sit together.

It’s just another excuse.

 

[Foley]

I would think that in the Championship in a quality 21st century stadium we could average 12000 to 15000.
Look at Reading, Brighton, as clubs whose attendances rocketed in good new grounds.

 

[werthersoriginal]

What would have stopped those people attending yesterday? There were no queues at the ticket office, no need for advance booking and certainly swathes of unoccupied seats for them to all sit together.

It’s just another excuse.

I guess. For some people they just have the perception that it’s not a good experience.

 

[Banbury2018]

What a load of defeatist rubbish.

So, according to you, whatever we do we'll only have 7,500 supporters? Well we might as well pack up and go home and close the club up, as we clearly have no future. I'll let the owners know that they're wasting their time on a new stadium too. I've published figures before, proving what can happen when clubs move to a well planned new stadium, which is an average increase of something like 65% in attendances. We will at least achieve that, why should we be any different to other clubs?

The fact is that, no matter what we do, the Kassam Stadium remains an awful match day experience, and the only people that go are the diehards. That is why our attendances are what they currently are, and that is why they will increase significantly when we are free of the place, as we'll be able to attract, and keep, the (currently) uncommitted nearly 1 million people within our catchment area, by giving them a great day out at a 21st century venue, something we're unable to do at the current soulless breeze block with its inadequate facilities.

Good points made here but travel to and from the Kassam from the centre of town is dreadful on occasions. For example my mate went to watch QPR at Reading yesterday by train and by the time I was getting off the bus in the High Street he was back at Oxford station. We both left at the final whistle and whereas I had a nearly 10 minute walk followed a 10 minute wait there were shuttle buses back to the centre/train station laid on.

 

[Scotchegg]

What a load of defeatist rubbish.

So, according to you, whatever we do we'll only have 7,500 supporters? Well we might as well pack up and go home and close the club up, as we clearly have no future. I'll let the owners know that they're wasting their time on a new stadium too. I've published figures before, proving what can happen when clubs move to a well planned new stadium, which is an average increase of something like 65% in attendances. We will at least achieve that, why should we be any different to other clubs?

The fact is that, no matter what we do, the Kassam Stadium remains an awful match day experience, and the only people that go are the diehards. That is why our attendances are what they currently are, and that is why they will increase significantly when we are free of the place, as we'll be able to attract, and keep, the (currently) uncommitted nearly 1 million people within our catchment area, by giving them a great day out at a 21st century venue, something we're unable to do at the current soulless breeze block with its inadequate facilities.

The Kassam is a crappy stadium, and I think we can both say with confidence that the future is much brighter! The experience on offer at a modern purpose built stadium will hugely increase the numbers of those coming.

But it's not just the stadium, but also our brand of football that is important. I took a Spurs supporting workmate to the Crewe game and again yesterday. They weren't the most inspiring games but he was amazed at the quality of some of our play, and said that he felt like football used to be. He bought a shirt and was heading home to ask his wife for another pass out for the Gillingham game. I was also speaking to 5 lads who sat behind us and had just started at Uni. They loved the game and were raving about Brannagan, Sykes and Forde. They'd all got brand new scarves and were talking about which games they'll come to next.

The appetite for football is there, and the club are working really hard to reach out to the wider community. We saw in the months before the pandemic hit that we were getting bigger crowds, and I've no doubt that we'll see more and more fans sharing our success if we stay in and around the promotion places playing the way we are. Add in the stadium plans and further investment behind the scenes and things are looking very positive.

 

[Essexyellows]

It wouldn't work like that.
I suspect that for Accrington at home at the Ka$$am we will get 6500 to 7000 @ £20 whereas at £10 we may get 7500 to 8000.
So the receipts would be significantly less.

Flexible pricing.
It can cut both ways.
Clubs will happily categorise matches upwards so why not the other way?

They need to get the next generation in and hooked.

 

[Northstandboy]

I certainly know people who dont attend because they dislike the ground. Apart from location, price, and distance from pitch, I think numbered seating and advance ticketing put people off. It’s hard for a group of lads to decide to go to the football and just pile in together. I know it’s not the 70s any more, but also it’s not a show at the New Theatre

With e tickets it's easy to just decide to attend without needing to visit the TO

 

[horseman]

The game has priced many people out and, especially recently, people have found better things to do that offer better VFM.

That is the first hurdle to overcome. I would rather we had cheaper tickets and a full house every other week.

Sell 5,000 tickets at £20 or 10,000 at £10? Same total.

And if you have more folk in the ground there are more "add on" sales and exposure.

Back to Maslow......... start at the bottom, build a foundation.

I remember 2/3 seasons back stating how vital it was going to be to Attract the new support at that point, when i suggested a reduction in ticket prices and selling blocks of 4 at around a quid a pop i was laughed at and told it wasn't viable. Those new bums on seats were needed and they can't get the bug if you cannot get them there in the first place. it is better to have new faces along with current one's filling the place, small time pain for Long Term Gain and if you don't try then you stagnate.

2/3 seasons later and the seats still remain empty and over a period when some of the best football has been available to watch, now imagine the high new engaged fans would be feeling having experienced this over those seasons and into today.

Where i stated i felt we were getting it wrong was the big push to sell out for Sunderland and the like when you actual needed them there for Accrington, Shrewsbury etc when the place remained virtual half empty. 6.000 extra fans and you will get some of them hooked at least, never forget empty seats don't generate income of any form.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

What those figures don’t tell you is at Grenoble Road we have been in the fourth tier or Conference for most of the time
It’s a lot different playing the likes of Tamworth rather than Birmingham or Forest
In the sixties we were on a roll in the seventies we were in tier 2 or near the top of tier3 the eighties were exceptional and the nineties a bit hit and miss, all this achieved at our spiritual home
It was only when Nr K came along and took us on a journey to near oblivion that the real decline in fan numbers occurred
With the right ground and facilities I’m sure we will attract fans back

 

[Wallop]

What would have stopped those people attending yesterday? There were no queues at the ticket office, no need for advance booking and certainly swathes of unoccupied seats for them to all sit together.

It’s just another excuse.

The smell of sewage, unattractive opposition playing style, unclean ground and toilets, poor transport links, having to get there an hour before kick-off if you want any chance of parking, nowhere nearby of note to get a decent drink, previous experience of a terrible match day experience.

 

[Ox4Eva]

There is always some excuse used for someone not attending, Oxfordshire is not a passionate football area.

 

[pidge]

Until we get a new stadium our attendance will fluctuate between 6.5-9k with the odd sellout. What is there for people to do around the ground? Look at AFC Wimbledon they had times where they wouldn't get 4k at kingsmeadow and now they're pretty much selling Plough Lane out every game. We'll be the same and get 10-12k a week if we return to closer to the city.