⚽Match Thread vs. Dorking Wanderers 11.03.23 [NL]

[jackal2]

Sam Austin's work to create the second, crucial goal was outstanding. He's not unappreciated, but he is underrated.

[laddo]

The crowd were loud when we scored our goals. Well I never.

There was some nice build-up play throughout but the first two goals both relied upon a bit of luck and the second on a bit of a mistake

[upthemaggies]

The club have explained many times that match day attendances include ST holders, whether the attend the game or not.

Not seen that, or it mentioned on here other than people guessing it to be the case, but it would explain what I could clearly see with my own eyes so I'm not doubting you, although that would be an awful lot of season ticket holders staying away - around 1k. Presumably the figure includes any tickets sold but not used and, dare I say, tickets given away?
Anybody know how long this practice has been going on for? Always used to be the case of us saying there was more in the ground than they said there was, now it's the other way around.

[laddo]

The club have explained many times that match day attendances include ST holders, whether the attend the game or not.

Definitely not 7,000 yesterday.

I doubted there were 7000 actually there too, and i've often wondered how many ST holders counted but not in attendance actually amounts too. It can't be that many surely?

Regardless you win lots of matches, score lots of goals, play nice football and in with the shot of promotion each season and the locals respond with great support. Such a contrast to some dark depressing times in a higher division.

[GranthamPie]

I can imagine that the fact that it was televised, wet and cold, definitely had an effect on yesterdays attendance. It was still a great turnout nether the less.

The club have never officially admitted counting ST non attendees but individuals have questioned it and this was the answer.

I can only assume that there is some tax or accounting reason for doing it.

[upthemaggies]

I doubted there were 7000 actually there too, and i've often wondered how many ST holders counted but not in attendance actually amounts too. It can't be that many surely?

Regardless you win lots of matches, score lots of goals, play nice football and in with the shot of promotion each season and the locals respond with great support. Such a contrast to some dark depressing times in a higher division.

Not an issue with Notts today, but what if Trew had done this. Short of actual protests, which are a last resort, the benchmark for whether or not fans are voting with their feet or supporting what owners are doing is the attendance figure. This practice should not be allowed, it's thoroughly disingenuous, we should know how many people are actually turning up and supporting the club and how many are staying away, for whatever reason. The gate figures are literally now made up and meaningless.

In theory, now that we have virtual rather than physical tickets, what's to stop clubs giving away free tickets at no cost to themselves whatsoever, knowing they won't be used, to give the impression that owners are doing a great job and the fan base is still fully behind them.

[Proactive not Reactive]

I was somewhat surprised that Macca was made Captain in the absence of Cameron. Also, I think Bajrami did a decent job in the middle of the back three

Thought it was good management on LW’s part as he could well have chosen Palmer,Rawlinson,Chicksen or OBrien with no surprise but you’re going to get the same from them whether they are captain(they are all captains in every game)or not where as the two main match winners which you might get a bit extra from is Macca or Rodders
The trouble with Rodders is he might get too excited and make a bad tackle or something similar(aka Gazza or Rooney) so you give Macca an extra boost - 2 goals later 😜

[laddo]

Not an issue with Notts today, but what if Trew had done this. Short of actual protests, which are a last resort, the benchmark for whether or not fans are voting with their feet or supporting what owners are doing is the attendance figure. This practice should not be allowed, it's thoroughly disingenuous, we should know how many people are actually turning up and supporting the club and how many are staying away, for whatever reason. The gate figures are literally now made up and meaningless.

In theory, now that we have virtual rather than physical tickets, what's to stop clubs giving away free tickets at no cost to themselves whatsoever, knowing they won't be used, to give the impression that owners are doing a great job and the fan base is still fully behind them.

As you say certainly not a current issue but an interesting historic hypothetical. Weren't the rumours in decades gone by that attendances were unreported when announced over the PA for financial reasons, allegedly?

The attendance reported yesterday evening wasn't made up and certainly wasn't meaningless IMO.

How many ST holders would you guess aren't in attendance on a home game as an average over a season?

[Proactive not Reactive]

I suppose our 2nd goal and their goal were similar in that mistakes got them down the left and able to get a cross in - both scores were scored because of the qualities of the crosses

[salmagundi]

This has certainly been the norm this century. I started working matchdays at both Notts and Forest in 2000 and the published attendance was always adjusted for tickets sold and not used. Also for people attending who did not have tickets and did not go through a turnstile ( mostly corporate). The clubs obviously know exactly how many people are actually in the ground but choose not to publish it.