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Burnley have more of a history than we do and as a result have a bigger core support in their town than we do.

 

I do believe though that we have a fairly large dormant support in the town/borough that given success we could tap into. Getting into the championship could see us get gates of around 10000 to begin with and if we challenged to get into the premiership at the top end of the championship could see us get gates of around 12/13/14000 depending on what kind of state of ground and capacity we would have at that time. But we are a million miles away from that currently so it's all hypothetical.

I'd make an estimate that at least 60 clubs of the 72 could have 10,000+ crowds in the Premier League, excluding the obvious restraints of ground size. It has that pulling power.

 

As for the Championship, 10,000 is probably ambitious. I think if we had a few years of competing at the top of this division and finally achieved promotion the crowds would be bigger than if we had one freak season and went up, like Walsall could.

 

Measuring dormant support is tricky. Crowds haven't exceeded 5000 home fans for the best part of 5 years, and there was a struggle to even sell out the Liverpool and Everton games. That makes me sceptical.

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I'd make an estimate that at least 60 clubs of the 72 could have 10,000+ crowds in the Premier League, excluding the obvious restraints of ground size. It has that pulling power.

 

As for the Championship, 10,000 is probably ambitious. I think if we had a few years of competing at the top of this division and finally achieved promotion the crowds would be bigger than if we had one freak season and went up, like Walsall could.

 

Measuring dormant support is tricky. Crowds haven't exceeded 5000 home fans for the best part of 5 years, and there was a struggle to even sell out the Liverpool and Everton games. That makes me sceptical.

Looking at the championship average attendances all the clubs are getting over 10000 Rotherham and Brentford have the smallest average attendances and they are both getting over 10000 they were getting attendances similar to ours in this league.

 

A run to the championship would require a massive change in gear for the whole club so it would create a completely different feel which would mean completely different atmosphere which get people back in or in some cases entirely new fans I think 10k in the championship would be realistic.

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The old get out of jail. There's plenty of people in the surrounding areas and oldham itself that don't go and watch a match on a Saturday. ...Oldham fans included. It's like everything else in life if the product was good and at the right price it would sell

But when the product was good, and the price was good, and on the bounce from the Pinch Me season and an England World Cup semi-final we were still not exactly turning them away most games

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But when the product was good, and the price was good, and on the bounce from the Pinch Me season and an England World Cup semi-final we were still not exactly turning them away most games

Crowds have increased in general. I can't see how we wouldn't benefit from that if we were doing well.

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8,000 would be realistic for us in the championship - provided we made a go of it and didn't languish at the bottom end.

 

It's true that a good product and match-day experience would draw in dormant fans - but only to a certain extent. We're part of a conurbation and as such our identity is somewhat blurred - where does Oldham stop and Tameside begin for example, or Rochdale? or Manchester?

 

Burnley, on the other hand stops at ol' gran'pa Bubba's moonshine shack, the one with that rockin' chair on the deck and the ol' Chevy Stepside languishing out back...

 

Anyway, even though we may not have the greatest number of fans, we certainly have the best.

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"We only hate part timers" ;-)

 

I remember that being chanted at some of the cup games in the 89/90 season.

 

Fact is we have never been a big support club, we attracted some fringe supporters for the period of time we were doing OK, and then over the years of decline they all drifted away and then so did some of the hardcore.

 

It will always be difficult for us to be a genuinely attractive proposition. In the early 90s City and United weren't the huge successful clubs they are now - United had gone over a quarter of a century without a title and a smattering of cups, City were even less successful.

 

With that back drop a cavalier, attacking side with a swagger in its step was something to tempt people. The difference in amenities and even standard of player was not that pronounced.

 

A very good second division side was portably providing better entertainment and ability on the pitch than a team that might have sacked it's manager had they not won the FA Cup.

 

Now you can genuinely watch world class players, in world class facilities, in the most hyped football competitions in the world

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Burnley have more of a history than we do and as a result have a bigger core support in their town than we do.

 

I do believe though that we have a fairly large dormant support in the town/borough that given success we could tap into. Getting into the championship could see us get gates of around 10000 to begin with and if we challenged to get into the premiership at the top end of the championship could see us get gates of around 12/13/14000 depending on what kind of state of ground and capacity we would have at that time. But we are a million miles away from that currently so it's all hypothetical.

10,000 is very optimistic, we weren't getting that when we were previously playing at that level. A few larger gates at the end of the season skewed the average attendance for the season we won the league, but both West Ham and Wednesday brought 5K+ fans. I think 7000 - 8000 with decent away followings is more likely.
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10,000 is very optimistic, we weren't getting that when we were previously playing at that level. A few larger gates at the end of the season skewed the average attendance for the season we won the league, but both West Ham and Wednesday brought 5K+ fans. I think 7000 - 8000 with decent away followings is more likely.

If you look at the average attendances in the season we went down in what we really know as the 2nd division only Man City and Wolves averaged over 18000 now the top 8 teams do and 18 out of the 24 averge over 15000. The championship has got bigger in the last 18 years and with Aston Villa and 2 from Newcastle Sunderland Norwich coming down that shows no sign of changing. 10000 would not be unrealistic like I said Rotherham and Brentford who both had the same types of attendances as us in league 1 and both like us have a number of clubs on their door step averaged over 10000.

 

A number of clubs would bring big followings of this seasons championship clubs. Preston, Huddersfield, Leeds, Derby, Wednesday, Hull, Blackburn, Burnley, Middlesbrough, would all sell out 1 end of our ground the likes of Birmingham, Wolves, Ipswich, Forrest would too if they had something riding on it. I think we can manage 8000 of our own for our first season back at that level and after the first promotion anyone under 30 will have witnessed.

Edited by GlossopLatic
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Burnley have more of a history than we do and as a result have a bigger core support in their town than we do.

 

I do believe though that we have a fairly large dormant support in the town/borough that given success we could tap into. Getting into the championship could see us get gates of around 10000 to begin with and if we challenged to get into the premiership at the top end of the championship could see us get gates of around 12/13/14000 depending on what kind of state of ground and capacity we would have at that time. But we are a million miles away from that currently so it's all hypothetical.

 

You need to reduce those estimates by 50%.

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