After having read through a number of match reports from last night there are two things that stands out – the injury of AJ and the, to me, very low attendance. We are very likely to get regular updates regarding AJ over the next hours and days, might even see another striker signed if the injury is as serious as it sounds.
What concerns me more is the low attendance!
It has been said that our true support is around 12,000-15,000 people (that would attend games), but I have never seen any research to actually back this up. Do we really have a near 45% part of the ground on premiership match days filled with neutrals and tourists (including away support of course)?
That our fan base grew extremely quick during the rise through the divisions is no secret and anyone who visit Craven Cottage will bump into the odd “football tourist” too, but the feeling is that we must have more loyal fans than the 13,029 that watched the game last night. Of course the numbers of visiting fans must have been at a minimum considering factors such as visas, cost, midweek and not to forget the time involved in travelling.
The thing that surprises me the most is that we haven’t been playing in Europe for 7 seasons and regularly ever in our clubs history. Sure, this was the second qualifying game so far, but the first one didn’t lure more than 15, 016 people to the Cottage.
What is up with this? Is this a reflection of our true support? Are we so spoiled that despite being an international game as long as the opposition isn’t a “big name” club we stay at home? Well, I don’t know, but would be curious to hear your theories.
Honestly, Dan, it felt quite full. Most of the HammyEnd seemed occupied, JH and Riverside too. The Putney End was quite sparse, as was the away section (understandably) but I’d have guessed much higher. Good atmosphere too.
Hey Rich, thanks for the reply!
First of all, the above is written by me, Nick ;), not Dan. I think Dan was there and I wasn’t (so who am I to question the attendance?).
Well if the Putney is almost empty and there are no neutrals nor away fans I guess that would mean a substantial drop in the total numbers. But still, shouldn’t we be able to pull higher numbers for a European game?
Glad to hear the atmosphere was good! It’s been good for quite some time now.
Nick,
I live up in the North West and its 500 round trip to Fulham matches. Even the bigger clubs such as Man Utd and Liverpool struggle to sell tickets to early European games. The ST holders will not pay for these matches and the place where I work is flooded with available seats. That said, I think an attendance of 12 to 15K is very acceptable at this stage of the competition. especially against a team no-one has heard of. This should be no reflection on the 18,000 to 23,000 true supporters. I am sure Man United have more than 70,000 true supporters. Not everyone goes to every match.
Fulham still give away a lot of comps and free tickets for games, which artifically inflates our league attendances. It was noticeable last night that there was virtually nobody where these people would sit (below the directors’ box in the middle of the Riverside Stand). Quite a few of the people who usually sit near me at the back of the Hammersmith End weren’t there (perhaps because they hadn’t signed up to the home cup-tie scheme or didn’t consider this a ‘big’ enough game) and there were a few gaps where ST holders are known to sit.
Decent atmosphere again last night but disappointed by a return to the ‘silly stewarding’ of yesteryear. Barely five minutes gone (i.e. just after AJ had scored) and one of the supervisors was running up the stairs to tell the young lads in the back row (yes, the back row) to sit down and threatening them with being thrown out by the police. Very heavy handed.
Neil:
I hear you, I live in Stockholm, Sweden (not a clue how many miles the round trip would be) – hence the reason why I was not in attendance myself. My focus is more on fans living in Greater London but maybe we don’t pull more? I’m sure you are right in saying people not prioritising a game this early and against unknown opposition, but it is partly this that surprises me as we are not spoiled with international football.
Oh well, this was more a spontaneous reflection on the attendance figure, not having a go at anyone or saying that people are more or less “true fans”.
Dan:
Sorry to hear about the stewarding, last season was such an improvement so I’d hate it if we’re going back to what was two seasons ago.
Nick, Everton’s attendance for their Europa league game was 27,433 their attendance against Arsenal at the weekend was around 40,000.
I think there are few things that mean our attendance is down for these games. Very little away support, School holidays, people are simply away at the moment. As Dan said a lot of ST holders around me were not there. It is a cost over and above the ST. (Arsenal include a number of cup games in their ST’s). It is not cheap to go to football game and if you had the choice of last night or Sunday, simply there is no choice (I notice that there are still some tickets available for the game against the filth)
I think what i am trying to say, don’t worry too much about the attendance. In fact over recent years the marketing department have done a great job in increasing out average attendance year on year, even if by means of lots of free tickets.
Once bitten we are all smitten with FFC!
I was there. All the corp boxes were empty as well.
I think the ‘unknown’ opposition did not help. And I think people are realizing that if we make the group stage it will be a long season with a mid-week and weekend game for about 3 months solid.
I must say that Duff looked the goods. His run down the wing to set up the goal was as good as anything I have seen a Fulham player do. Duff is a perfect left sided player for us – especially after seeing Dempsey shoot for goal on the left side with the outside of his right boot.
You have to take the economy into consideration. I’ve seen where many Fulham supporters have stated that they would go to more games if it weren’t for the economy.
Stateside, I use to attend more Chicago Fire matches. This year, I’m not going to any. Same reason. I may be laid off work in a month, I gotta save every penny in order to weather the storm.
Not surprised the corporates weren’t out in for this one, Geoff. Bet they’ll be full to bursting on Sunday, though.
Duff looked good – he must have made a compelling case for a starting place on Sunday with that run alone. The best part of playing Dempsey out wide is that he does tend to drift into dangerous areas with the ball, so cutting inside onto his right foot is useful.
Jason’s point about the recession is a good one. Alan made a shrewd observation about people choosing between Perm and Chelsea too further up the thread.
Just to address some of Nick’s points in the article a little fuller. I’m sure we attract plenty of ‘floating London support’ as Wimbledon and Charlton did when they were in the top flight. A number of friends and colleagues have STs/memberships at Fulham though they don’t support us – they generally go to see Premiership football.
We’ve got to remember that because of our dismal early 90s performances we arguably lost an entire generation of fans, who chose to watch other clubs.
Oh sorry, Nick, didn’t realise you were back writing! Hurray, good to see.
rich:
No worries, not easy to know really! Thanks for the Hurray though 😉
Great to see some passion for the subject though, I think all theories might be valid and true more or less. I just hate for the Cottage not to be full at all times there’s a Fulham game there.