Controversial Opinions

[LilCrazyKim]

You can probably trace the upturn in our support back to Munto. There's the stereotype that the only people who support Notts are pensioners, which was of course always a massive exaggeration, but prior to 2009 we probably did have a serious problem in getting enough young people to support us. Munto seemed to solve the problem overnight. But Hardy does deserve a little credit. Most of Meadow Lane's best crowds since it was rebuilt were during his tenure and we probably have a lot of supporters who first came to a game during one of his many ticket promotions.

It's typical Notts that two near disasters - Munto and Hardy - probably had a positive impact on our support base.

[laddo]

Hardy was great at getting bums on seats as his excitement came across well. He also talked alot of waffle which always helps bring people in. Trouble is his ego was bigger than his excitement or ability to run a club. Good intentions but done very badly and in the end made a prat of himself and ruined his business. Still for a time at the start it was a new dawn.

Point one is correct but we now have a team who wins more than not and plays good football, doesn't matter the league you're in, the combination of playing well, winning and challenging for the top positions will always bring in notts fans.

It's great to see more and more people on here recognise the "good football" on display since IB came in and implemented his ideas and playing style into the squad.

Naturally this doesn't happen overnight but instead following no doubt hard work and new concepts on the training pitches.

Whether it ends up being successful in this highly competitive 5th tier is another matter (as always is the case), only time will tell.

But the majority of fans will enjoy the football on offer in finding out and more importantly hopefully a blueprint of good attractive football at a club that is viewed as progressive can only be a good thing. Our damaged reputation in the footballing world might just be being repaired on a month by month basis. It's just a shame IB didn't come in when we were struggling in L2 rather than in NL.

[crazyfists]

Yeah the more the players work with IB and his methods become second nature to them then I think we'll have quite the team.

[macstop]

I just love the direction our club is going at the moment, it seems to be aimed at the young which is great for a future
fan base, (and i'm 70 by the way), but i do feel the club should try and get the UNI kids involved, there are over 30,000
in Notts alone (link below), and checking the average age on Google it is 22, i feel we should be giving these a discount and maybe
bang them in the JS Stand, i do realize we did this some years ago, but i think we should try again?

https://tinyurl.com/3xye6rh7

[SwalePie]

I just love the direction our club is going at the moment, it seems to be aimed at the young which is great for a future
fan base, (and i'm 70 by the way), but i do feel the club should try and get the UNI kids involved, there are over 30,000
in Notts alone (link below), and checking the average age on Google it is 22, i feel we should be giving these a discount and maybe
bang them in the JS Stand, i do realize we did this some years ago, but i think we should try again?

https://tinyurl.com/3xye6rh7

Agreed, time for another go!

[BigFatPie]

It might be because I go in the kop but there seems to be a lot more families and younger people than what there used to be. I feel more optimistic about the club’s future than I have for years. If we can somehow get out of this league the sky’s the limit.

[Elite_Pie]

I just love the direction our club is going at the moment, it seems to be aimed at the young which is great for a future
fan base, (and i'm 70 by the way), but i do feel the club should try and get the UNI kids involved, there are over 30,000
in Notts alone (link below), and checking the average age on Google it is 22, i feel we should be giving these a discount and maybe
bang them in the JS Stand, i do realize we did this some years ago, but i think we should try again?

https://tinyurl.com/3xye6rh7

Very good point, and one I've always agreed with. I don't have any links, but I did see some stats a while back that said a fair few Uni students settle in the place they studied rather than returning home. Probably that's because they meet a local partner while studying, or just liked what the city has to offer. We should go all out to attract them while they are at a young age.

[queenslandpie]

Very good point, and one I've always agreed with. I don't have any links, but I did see some stats a while back that said a fair few Uni students settle in the place they studied rather than returning home. Probably that's because they meet a local partner while studying, or just liked what the city has to offer. We should go all out to attract them while they are at a young age.

Don't agree. It's been tried more than once before with limited success. If you want to get fans you need to get them very young before they have an affiliation with a particular club and 22 is for the most part far too late for that. If you give things away cheap you will probably get a few revolving fans through the door but for the effort expunged and the likely return I think we are much better off aiming at families with young kids. Long term that's where the support - and money - is.

[Elite_Pie]

If you give things away cheap you will probably get a few revolving fans through the door but for the effort expunged and the likely return I think we are much better off aiming at families with young kids.

I don't see why we can't do both. I think a casual occupied seat for a quid is better than an empty seat, and we have plenty of them.

[queenslandpie]

I don't see why we can't do both. I think a casual occupied seat for a quid is better than an empty seat, and we have plenty of them.

We could do both. But how much effort will it take to get some students in the majority of which will not be long term fans and will need some cheap deal to entice them in - that effort costs time and money. I don't think its a good strategy at all. The fact it has been tried and had little success previously backs up that thinking. If there are examples at other clubs of similar ilk where its been done I would gladly reconsider my opinion.