Quote Originally Posted by SBRed48 View Post
I thought it was a widely used term.

1. Catchment area = the geographical area surrounding a ground containing the population the club is likely to draw it's support from.

2. The larger the population, the larger the crowd that is likely to be generated.

3. The larger the crowd, the more income that can be generated.

4. The more income, the better the player that can be brought in.

5. The better the player, the more the likelihood of success.

There are anomalies such as Sheffield and Newcastle where heavily populated catchment areas haven't brought success despite the large attendances but generally the above has held true since the Football League was formed.

The population of Tyneside is almost 800,000, and there is one club. Sheffield’s population is roughly 518,000 and there are two clubs with roughly equal support, unlike say Stoke or Nottingham.

Barnsley Met Borough is roughly 23I,000.


Ipswich and Burnley have done well with small catchment areas.