Where are the missing fans ?

[JRSLEFTPEG]

Of course they get many fans from outside Dingwall but the numbers still don't add up when you look around the crowd up there and have an estimate on the numbers.

[louisxiv]

Can anyone who attended Palmerston in the 60s / 70s tell us what kind other attractions were around in that era that stopped folk going to watch Queens ? I'm just curious after hearing all thats wrong nowadays .

A good question JR, and one I don’t claim to have an answer to. I do remember that back in the day they used to open the big gate on Terregles Street at half time. I saw many a second half that way in the 70s. It boosted the crowd, if not the attendance figures and related income.
From what I remember there wasn’t a hell of a lot going on elsewhere back then, although we did as kids actually go out and play. Nowadays the competition might include Netflix, game consoles and a societal obsession with retail parks. We didn’t have any of these back then.
I had the privilege this week of spending some work related time with a director of Cowdenbeath FC. Now there’s a club with an amazing heritage, surviving, just, on crowds in the low hundreds.
It’s a national malaise. I personally put a big chunk of the blame on Rupert Murdoch. No-one has done more in terms of ripping the guts out of small clubs like ours to line his own pockets.

[scooby_blue]

It makes me wonder why some people from Dumfries and beyond make up all these excuses why they don’t attend Queens games yet Falkirk charge £20 entrances fee and average approx 4,000 each home game. And that’s despite them having a nightmare start to the season.

You don’t see them making up all these ‘excuses’

[jardi]

Scooby, you are quite correct that clubs like Falkirk seem to be having amazing success with their home support, - despite having been at the bottom of the league for much of the season, - and many of the excuses used by people for not attending QOS matches do not stack up. However, that is not the issue, - the fundamental problem facing Queen of the South is how do we attract more fans regularly to Palmerston?

We need to stop looking for excuses why people are not turning up, and stop blaming our hard pressed BOD, and come up with radical solutions for bringing new fans into the fold. That's the difficult part, and something that cannot be sorted overnight.

Asking Ross County, Falkirk , Dunfermline and smaller clubs like Cowdenbeath what they do, - is certainly a starter for ten, - as Queen of the South is so far from any club apart from Annan, - that we are not a threat to any of them.

Perhaps asking the fans to come up with their own 10 point plan, (of how to increase the fan base) - which must include at least 1 completely novel idea is another option. 1250 brains are better than just three on the BOD, - who are struggling with the day to day running that they have no time for 'blue sky thinking.

As mentioned this is not something that can be achieved in 5 minutes or 5 days, - but perhaps in 5 months.

I'm not convinced that airing ideas on a site like this is the sensible way either, - because people will be influenced immediately by other's thinking. This is the ultimate exam if you like, where you must show your own workings!

Fans should be encouraged to email the club directly, or The Queens Trust, - or simply write their ideas on a piece of paper and drop it in a sealed envelope marked My 10 (20 or 30) point plan to increase the fan base.

Fans should be encouraged that no idea is stupid or not worthy of airing, and they should not worry if they might just be saying the same as 'Wee Johnny,' - every point is valid and once collated the BOD might see some strong bias towards certain strategies, - but also they might be amazed at one or two novel ideas which could bear fruit.

[Ftivano1]

All true Stravaigar but the crowds hardly ever went above a 2,000 average in the 70s. For example , I remember the average attendance in 76-7 and 77-8 was around 1700 odd . This was a team featuring many favs like Dickson , O'Hara etc. What was the excuse then for not attending ? There wasn't as much weekend working and full range of hobbies available nowadays . The highest average attendance since 1963 was 2,750 in 09/10, the season after the cup final. I remembered we took 1,000 fans to Somerset in 2009 as we briefly went top of the league. Amazing to think of now a decade on.

Hammer the really poor attendances were 83 to 85 down to 3 figures then picked up for three seasons before hitting the skids again from 89 to 94 - another six seasons of three figure average attendances - so to sum up the nine seasons mentioned are the worst in our soon to be 100 years history.

[Francis_begbie_HFC]

Hammer the really poor attendances were 83 to 85 down to 3 figures then picked up for three seasons before hitting the skids again from 89 to 94 - another six seasons of three figure average attendances - so to sum up the nine seasons mentioned are the worst in our soon to be 100 years history.

so guys if you look into the times when we had these really low attendances ,what was different from the times when we had the larger attendances ,the answers are there ,for me from the end of the 80s when we got relegated to mid 90s queens stagnated in the old second division ,looked like there was no ambition atol there ,and you had statements in the press i remember with chairmen coming out with at least we are in the black lol ,how off putting was hearing that when you watch your team struggle in the lower leagues ,what was the point in being in the black if you are doing jack sht ,now can anyone see why crowds have started dropping nowadays ,for me its because we went through a period where we were winning the odd trophy and getting far in the big cups then slowly fading away into struggling to keep it going and stagnating ,thats the reason the crowds have dwindled away ,the dumfries public got a glimps of queens showing great ambition from 2007 till 2012 say then its slowly drifted away and the fans with it .

[JRSLEFTPEG]

The home crowds were slightly worse than now when I started going in 1978 so this is not just a modern trend. This is a football mad area but maybe we should just except that the lure of other teams will always transfix a significant part of this South West community

[scooby_blue]

We’re a well established Championship team who’ve won trophies, reached finals , had top 4 finishes and played in Europe FFS.

Oh and we’ve one of the best players EVER playing for our side. What more do folk want ? Queens certainly don’t lack ambition it’s the fickle public who’ll moan about the prices and then probably pay 3 or 4 times that by going glory hunting and supporting other teams.

[Truthhurts]

We are a team that have not played in the top division in most of our lifetimes.

[Ftivano1]

The home crowds were slightly worse than now when I started going in 1978 so this is not just a modern trend. This is a football mad area but maybe we should just except that the lure of other teams will always transfix a significant part of this South West community

Since we were relegated in 1963 - 64 we have never really had great crowds for the size and area of Dumfries. That season the average was 4,153 and it has never come ANYWHERE near that again and imo it never will - 2,000 plus is the best we can hope for in modern times and even that depends on our opponents bringing a large following - it is what it is !