Season Ticket Sales Pass 5,000!

[Magpies1959]

It would be great to get to 6,000 S/T sales, and I think it is doable now.

[TSANHO]

It would be great to get to 6,000 S/T sales, and I think it is doable now.

It would be great, Gump said the same a month or so back and I didn’t think it possible….perhaps it is! An interesting/exciting signing or two could push the numbers up!

[upthemaggies]

Yes a couple of these teams have had great success recently but the expected significant drop in crowds just hasn't materialised yet. Will it?

You can't rule it out. As soon as there's a drop, however small, it's going to be a news story with an attempt to explain why gates have gone into reverse, with the negative aspects of the game inevitably highlighted and potentially encouraging the people who only jumped on the bandwagon in more recent times to jump back off again.

We could be looking at something similar to population growth, which is increasing now because people are living longer but is predicted to collapse due to younger generations not having kids. I've heard/seen people claim the genuine football fans that stick with their club through thick and thin are now much older on average and the extra bums on seats are because those men who traditionally turned up on their own or as father/son are now bringing the whole family along who spend much of the match looking at their phones and therefore won't be so inclined to continue the tradition once the older dyed in the wool types have climbed that additional staircase into row Z of heaven.

That's a theory which may have some sound logic behind it, but you can't underestimate the power of media hype. As long as they're making money off the back of the game and relentlessly pushing football as one of the most positive and meaningful aspects of secular life that brings communities together, then high attendances can probably be maintained for the foreseeable, at least until the super league happens.

[laddo]

Interesting thoughts UTM, and lets hope your last paragraph runs true.

Even if Notts understandably saw a level of correction/regression due to stalling in L2, consistently winning less games etc, the increases and progress made over the past few years have been so noticeable and so great, it would still be a very positive story. I suspect the base level at Notts has increased noticeably following the clubs/owners excellent work to date.

Sounds like if anything major is to happen to send it into reverse it could be a long term, slow burner thing rather than a a sudden fall.

[Jampie]

impressive

[slack_pie]

You can't rule it out. As soon as there's a drop, however small, it's going to be a news story with an attempt to explain why gates have gone into reverse, with the negative aspects of the game inevitably highlighted and potentially encouraging the people who only jumped on the bandwagon in more recent times to jump back off again.

We could be looking at something similar to population growth, which is increasing now because people are living longer but is predicted to collapse due to younger generations not having kids. I've heard/seen people claim the genuine football fans that stick with their club through thick and thin are now much older on average and the extra bums on seats are because those men who traditionally turned up on their own or as father/son are now bringing the whole family along who spend much of the match looking at their phones and therefore won't be so inclined to continue the tradition once the older dyed in the wool types have climbed that additional staircase into row Z of heaven.

That's a theory which may have some sound logic behind it, but you can't underestimate the power of media hype. As long as they're making money off the back of the game and relentlessly pushing football as one of the most positive and meaningful aspects of secular life that brings communities together, then high attendances can probably be maintained for the foreseeable, at least until the super league happens.

I also think social media has a lot to do with increased interest in football as well. When I was a kid, you'd go to the game or listen to Uncle Colin if you couldn't make it, then you'd get your Football Post on a Saturday evening. That was pretty much it. I remember going to Asda during school lunch breaks to read the NEP and find out the latest Notts news, or checking teletext. Often, you'd turn up to a game to see we'd signed someone but have no idea who it was.

Today, there's endless exposure to football at pretty much every level. Non-league clubs have top-level media teams, and there are tons of armchair data analysts pouring through every detail of a performance or signing. You've got videos of fans celebrating goals, and people commenting on the 'limbs'. It's just nonstop content every day of the year. Nonstop banter and rivalry, too. That's bound to make interest in actual matches greater as well. That and the post-COVID urge to get out there and experience real stuff.

With attendances up pretty much everywhere, it's a great time for Notts to have a renaissance. If we keep improving year on year and find ourselves a decent L1 club in a few years, we could easily be averaging 12k, which is pretty much what we got in the top flight and twice what we got last time we were at L1 level.

[Pensionerpie]

Reading the last post brought back memories of an away trip to Chester ( I think?) in the 80’s with my dad and we had no idea who the full back playing for Notts was .It turned out to be Chris Withe who’d we signed the day before

[Proactive not Reactive]

Reading the last post brought back memories of an away trip to Chester ( I think?) in the 80’s with my dad and we had no idea who the full back playing for Notts was .It turned out to be Chris Withe who’d we signed the day before

Played golf with him lovely modest guy was a member at Oakmere Park

[The_Don_ORiordan]

I think the season ticket amount has to be put in context. For example, clubs like Chesterfield sell similar amounts, but a lot of their fans buy them knowing that they will have a seat for busier games when they will absolutely sell out.

A large proportion of our fans clearly don’t buy a season ticket because they only attend a proportion of the games and know they will pretty much always get a seat.

So essentially our 5k is not comparable to clubs who regularly sell out their grounds, it’s significantly better for our average attendances.

I for one can’t make enough home games to warrant buying a season ticket, but I’ll still attend the majority of home games, because I know I can pretty much pick up a ticket the day before without issue when I know I can get there.

At say Chesterfield or Wrexham or even Mansfield that wouldn’t have been possible.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

Is a really good achievement to have broken 5,000 season ticket sales. Going down to the National League has enabled the club to reset and the Reedz brothers build it from the bottom upwards. The club is going in the right direction and it’s a big thumbs up to the owners that they are doing something right.

I’ve said it many times on here over the years that with our ground we have the infrastructure in place for us to climb the leagues if we do well. The owners do not have to do too much in terms of the ground to take Notts to a higher level. This has always been a good selling point and a legacy from the Derek Pavis era. Meadow Lane would hold its own in the championship. It might need a bit of tidying up now and again but when you think in recent years the conference and banqueting facilities and changing rooms were renovated by Hardy. Then the MLSB by Trew. The pitch, scoreboard and now PA system and Padel Centre have been upgraded by our current owners. So infrastructure wise the club is in a good place.

The culture of football is changing as well in the U.K. Especially since the likes of Pep and Klopp joined the premier league brining their different styles but ones which other clubs want to emulate. Of course winning is the aim, but it’s also becoming more about a teams technical style and stats. Fans now want to see good football and some will call for managers to leave or be sacked if they play a turgid brand that might even get results. What is this good football? It’s creating chances (expected goals), scoring goals, but also has other aspects such as dominating possession, having a high pass completion ratio, and many other things that fans who are armchair enthusiasts of stats will use to measure their teams performance. We had the perfect blend last season. Look at how complimentary other teams managers were last season of the way we played even though we beat them.

It’s the same with players. If a manager or coach is able to improve their stats they may choose to go to that club over another. They all become methods of comparing performance between other kinds of players. Our owners with Football Radar have brought stats to a tier five and now EFL club as an extra string to the clubs bow.

That’s why I don’t think or can’t see us changing our style as we progress under the current owners. What we will need to be is better at it at league two level and to do that you either improve what you’ve got or bring in better players than those that have left to execute it. It may take one season or four seasons but like they said in commentary against Boreham Wood we won’t change the way we play.

Football is changing and thankfully we are on the right side of the curve.