They also both dropped out of the league with Wimbledon having to start from scratch . We have now been a league club for over three decades and have been in exsistance just as long as them. On top of this Leyton Orient’s ground is 1.7 miles from West Ham Utd (This being as close as Downley to our stadium). Wimbledon’s stadium is 6 miles from both Chelsea and Fulham and 7 miles form Crystal Palace.
I have nothing but admiration for the Ainsworth era and when you took account of the budget issues, it was nothing short of amazing.
But lots of occasional visitors I know were genuinely mystified that some of us went regularly!
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Lots of Prem fans cannot get into their home games or away games, so go elsewhere for a football fix.
A number of years ago at Leyton Orient I was told lots of their fans have season tickets for both Orient and West Ham. Normally because police would ask for home matches not to clash and lots of Hammers fans could not get away tickets.
Wimbledon got a large following because of what happened to them. To get 4k fans at tier 6-9 was incredible. They are an outlier.
If our stadium was nearer the town centre and prices were more akin to Bradford then I think attendances would go up quite quickly.
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I was thinking more of home belt commuter towns, of which I would say clubs like us, Stevenage, Crawley, Reading, Northampton maybe, Luton maybe and Oxford maybe.
If we look at this forum as being in anyway representative I would guess that at least 25% of contributors who are long-time supporters have moved some distance away.
In my case it means that neither of my children have grown up (in spite of my best attempts) to be Wycombe supporters.
I do know that up here (Doncaster) there is less permanent relocating of people generally which probably also means Doncaster Rovers fans.
Just an idle theory (that maybe I will research properly if I ever retire)
I don’t think pricing has much to do with it as we are in line with the majority of clubs at this level.It is more to do with percieved value. If we were magically transported into the premiership and charged £50 a ticket we would have a full house every week with a 15k stadium. At the other end of the scale it is £20 to get into Maidenhead Utd so I am not sure how cheap you think it should be ? We will never likely know if being closer to the town centre would make a difference but I suspect it would not make the difference you think it would.
Considering the “Wycombe District” has a population of 174000 it is dissapointing that only 4500 see most of our league one fixtures as something worth going to. We can debate the reasons all day but ultimately they simply appears to be an apathy for league 1 football in our area.
What I will say though is that I was delighted to see the club advertising the community day on the large screen at Eden. Dissapointingly it appears to have been a one off though. Sitting in traffic near there the other day it was being tempting by bowling,the cinema and other activities with no suggestion of Burton at home to be seen .
An over reliance on marketing by email or on instagram is a mistake imo. Nothing like a 30ft high Grimmer looking down on Eden as a viual . Emails go into junk and instragram ignored.
If you are correct in assuming our out of town location is an issue,we have to at least be a conctant presence in our town centre to stand any chance.
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In 2018/9 we hit an average gate of over 5k the first time in 8 years. We have been over that in 5 of the following 6 seasons ( ignoring the covid year)
Between 2012/2017 4 out of 5 seasons we didnt get into the 4,0000s.
In 2022/23 we had our 4th highest average attendance, and best since 2002/03.
I’ve proven my point that attendance chat is boring. But, if you look at our history, the recent trends are actually quite promising.
There is nothing worth wailing for.
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I expect our performance levels next season to be far more consistent home and away, once we have fully ironed out the kinks in the squad. I’ll be surprised if we’re not punching close to the sharp end from the start, and I think we can build our attendances on that basis. That and consistent lower pricing incentives for juniors.
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Presumably he wouldn’t have to pay if he’s in the squad
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BIG game tonight. Although they’re all big at this stage of the season. However, BIG game nevertheless.
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