CFSFC Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Seems we will yet again be taking between 800 -1000 on Saturday. For a big club, with big support are northern away support is very very poor. Leeds average attendance at home 26k saints 24k ( roughly ) They bring 3200 for a live game on the tele we take a third of that to a away game in Yorkshire at 3pm on a sat. Before we get responses like its a recession, i have work, my mortagage has gone up etc.. For which i agree with and understand there are more important things than football. but out of our big home support why do we get a nosebleed north of Birmingham???
Prince Jazzbo Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Leeds have traditionally had good away support, also whilst it may appear that they've all travelled down from up north, they've got a big fan base in the South of England.
Nexstar Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Seems we will yet again be taking between 800 -1000 on Saturday. For a big club, with big support are northern away support is very very poor. Leeds average attendance at home 26k saints 24k ( roughly ) They bring 3200 for a live game on the tele we take a third of that to a away game in Yorkshire at 3pm on a sat. Before we get responses like its a recession, i have work, my mortagage has gone up etc.. For which i agree with and understand there are more important things than football. but out of our big home support why do we get a nosebleed north of Birmingham??? Leeds have the best support in the country outside the top 4, with supporters groups all over the country. "Are" Northern support isn't big. So what? We're Southampton. No, I don't think a big signing would prompt many people to go as it's not just popping down the road and getting a ticket. It would be train/fuel costs + ticket + food/drink for the whole day. Pretty pointless thread.
Saint Garrett Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Already going. Bit of a shame the numbers are that bad to be honest. I thought that we would get about 2000 there, first away game of the season. WHU have sold out 3000 at Donny on Saturday!
explorer saint Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 You should of ben supporting Saints up north in the 70's two men and a dog on some trips and we were in the top division
CFSFC Posted 11 August, 2011 Author Posted 11 August, 2011 Leeds have the best support in the country outside the top 4, with supporters groups all over the country. "Are" Northern support isn't big. So what? We're Southampton. No, I don't think a big signing would prompt many people to go as it's not just popping down the road and getting a ticket. It would be train/fuel costs + ticket + food/drink for the whole day. Pretty pointless thread. Easy don't reply then you clown. Sorry "our" northern support isn't so big... so what...? Personally i think it is a big deal, as supporters you can be judged on one thing and that is how well you support your club. I promise you Leeds core support is from the leeds area as they sell out a lot before general sale, ok i'll compare us to Sheffield Wednesday for the arguemnet, smaller home gates and always bring double to us as to what we do to them? Now you cant tell me they have supporters groups all over the country? It is a Southampton thing... we sell lots in London and local games, and never further away. Even in the Prem days. Don't get it...
CFSFC Posted 11 August, 2011 Author Posted 11 August, 2011 You should of ben supporting Saints up north in the 70's two men and a dog on some trips and we were in the top division Granted it's better now but still fairly poor. Even the important games, had we been playing carlisle instead of Brentford or Plymouth in the last two away games, tickets would of been easy to get hold of.
doddisalegend Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Leeds have traditionally had good away support, also whilst it may appear that they've all travelled down from up north, they've got a big fan base in the South of England. yeah I see loads of Leeds car stickers and such like down here all the time, no doubt like lots of northerners they moved down south were it is nice.
Griffo Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 It has got much better from our Prem days but I'm not exactly sure why we travel so poorly north of the Midlands. I think our support lacks a certain 'get up and go' about it, where if the journey is too long and too costly then they don't bother. A club like Leeds would have fans trying whatever they can to get to an away game. For the longer ones, mostly all of them travel by locally run minibuses it seems. I sometimes prefer being in a small, loyal band of away support up north sometimes, it's just a shame our northern Saints fans like to sit down.
Nexstar Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Easy don't reply then you clown. Sorry "our" northern support isn't so big... so what...? Personally i think it is a big deal, as supporters you can be judged on one thing and that is how well you support your club. I promise you Leeds core support is from the leeds area as they sell out a lot before general sale, ok i'll compare us to Sheffield Wednesday for the arguemnet, smaller home gates and always bring double to us as to what we do to them? Now you cant tell me they have supporters groups all over the country? It is a Southampton thing... we sell lots in London and local games, and never further away. Even in the Prem days. Don't get it... Our support is decent, home and away. The likes of Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle have very good support, which is above average for the size of their club. You didn't compare us to other teams such as Coventry, Middlesborough and Reading, all who have similar home gates and yet have much few average away attendances. Sheffield Wednesday only averaged 150 fans more than us at away games last season.
Turkish Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Leeds have the best support in the country outside the top 4, with supporters groups all over the country."Are" Northern support isn't big. So what? We're Southampton. No, I don't think a big signing would prompt many people to go as it's not just popping down the road and getting a ticket. It would be train/fuel costs + ticket + food/drink for the whole day. Pretty pointless thread. I thought we were the best supported club outside of London and Manchester?
The Kraken Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 I thought we were the best supported club outside of London and Manchester? We are. MLG will be along soon to back it up with facts, and reasoning why we need to start building our 50K stadium right now.
Dan Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 It annoys me how for Plymouth we sell out 3000, every one wants tickets with hundreds going ticketless or sitting in the home end. First away game of the season on the back of 2 wins into the season and a promotion and we can barely shift a 1000. Pathetic saints, full your finger out.
Nexstar Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 I thought we were the best supported club outside of London and Manchester? I've never said that.
SuperMikey Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Can't afford to get there, but I will be listening on SaintsPlayer and staying up to watch the highlights on BBC1.
action man Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 You should of ben supporting Saints up north in the 70's two men and a dog on some trips and we were in the top division agree,remember going to bolton the saturday after the league cup final in 1979 when we took over 30,000 .at bolton there were 36 of us
Saint Garrett Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 It annoys me how for Plymouth we sell out 3000, every one wants tickets with hundreds going ticketless or sitting in the home end. First away game of the season on the back of 2 wins into the season and a promotion and we can barely shift a 1000. Pathetic saints, full your finger out. This^
wightman35 Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Midland fans have short journeys in any direction. Coming South from Leeds, Newcastle etc must be like coming on holiday to the Sunny South!
Gorgiesaint Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Its game I would have gone to a few years back, sadly finances are such that I cannot afford to go. Will do well to get down to SMS for one game this season
Sour Mash Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 It has got much better from our Prem days but I'm not exactly sure why we travel so poorly north of the Midlands. I think our support lacks a certain 'get up and go' about it, where if the journey is too long and too costly then they don't bother. A club like Leeds would have fans trying whatever they can to get to an away game. For the longer ones, mostly all of them travel by locally run minibuses it seems. I sometimes prefer being in a small, loyal band of away support up north sometimes, it's just a shame our northern Saints fans like to sit down. Exactly this. We lack the get up and go that other clubs have, privately booked up mini-buses or coaches doing away days, lads on the beer etc. You're also right, its a hang over from our Prem days, particualrly in the 90s, going to the same places year in, year out, usually getting well turned over. The lower leagues have helped a bit - new grounds, winning games, got the buzz back for people to get on the road and start following Saints again, plus younger lads getting the bug of doing the aways. also right, in that you can't bet being up north 700/800 of you, making a proper bit of noise, stand/sit where you want and not squashed in with some cretins that usully happens at the bigger/London aways.
bigchrisy Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 went down to get tickets wednesday and was told the club wouldn't be running anymore coaches. Seeing as it's so far up north i'm sure this will put a lot of people off.
Sour Mash Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Our support is decent, home and away. The likes of Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle have very good support, which is above average for the size of their club. You didn't compare us to other teams such as Coventry, Middlesborough and Reading, all who have similar home gates and yet have much few average away attendances. Sheffield Wednesday only averaged 150 fans more than us at away games last season. But we get much better home crowds than Cov, M'Boro or Reading. Even look at what teams like Brighton and Plymouth take away compared to us and it doesn't reflect well.
Sour Mash Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 went down to get tickets wednesday and was told the club wouldn't be running anymore coaches. Seeing as it's so far up north i'm sure this will put a lot of people off. Really? How many people would have planned to do this game, leave it late to book up on the coaches and now not go? We're probably talking 20/30 people max?
Nexstar Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 But we get much better home crowds than Cov, M'Boro or Reading. Even look at what teams like Brighton and Plymouth take away compared to us and it doesn't reflect well. We all had pretty much bang on the same average attendance at home last season.
Iowsaintsfan Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Going to Ipswich on a Tuesday night instead
Iowsaintsfan Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 Granted it's better now but still fairly poor. Even the important games, had we been playing carlisle instead of Brentford or Plymouth in the last two away games, tickets would of been easy to get hold of. we still took 1000 to Carlisle the 1st season in league 1. and 900 to Hartlepool on a bloody wet and windy tuesday night
dune Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 (edited) I remember going to places like Middlesbrough and Blackburn and us having a few hundred, yet in the past 2 seasons we've taken relatively huge numbers to northern clubs. Also I think our Northern support is good quality support (with exceptions such as Rochdale away where our fans were crap) compared to our southern away support being good numberswise but crap noise wise. I blame a lot of this on the supporters coach fans. They get there 30 mins before k/o, have a bovril, sit in silence, then get back on the coach. What a depressing day out - no wonder they always look so miserable. That all said we did have more passion a decade ago. Edited 11 August, 2011 by dune
Sour Mash Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 We all had pretty much bang on the same average attendance at home last season. As who? I don't think so.
Nexstar Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 As who? I don't think so. I apologise, was looking at 2009/10
Sour Mash Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 I apologise, was looking at 2009/10 Don't think you'd be right on that year either........Goes to show that the opening post was correct - our away support up north is poor compared our home crowds.
SNSUN Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 My chinchilla has the squits. Yorkshiremen scare me. Saturday's the day I turn into a werewolf. I can't miss Tonight's the Night with the ravishing John Battyman. All valid excuses imo.
VectisSaint Posted 11 August, 2011 Posted 11 August, 2011 You should of ben supporting Saints up north in the 70's two men and a dog on some trips and we were in the top division Bloody hell, 2 men and a dog, luxury. Blackburn in 74/75 I don't recall seeing another Saints supporter at all (I was working in Oldham so went to the game). No signing will make me go on Saturday, even if it was Messi. Will be at Cropredy to see Horslips, been waiting 37 years to see them again.
CFSFC Posted 12 August, 2011 Author Posted 12 August, 2011 we still took 1000 to Carlisle the 1st season in league 1. and 900 to Hartlepool on a bloody wet and windy tuesday night New grounds only reason... We have the support there but seem to fail on a few games.
CFSFC Posted 12 August, 2011 Author Posted 12 August, 2011 I apologise, was looking at 2009/10 You've been wrong in every post so far, why apoligise now. I think at times our support is tremendous at other times, very very average.
whelk Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 The likes of Leeds........... have very good support, which is above average for the size of their club. Leeds population: 715,404 Southampton poulation est:239,700 Not really punching above their weight! Also with only one club in the city they should have even greater support than they do. And let's not be fooled Leeds are a much bigger club than Saints.
Golden Balls Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 Will be interesting how many we'll take to 'boro on the last away game of the season if the game means something.
whelk Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 "Are" Northern support isn't big. For the record a [sIC] would have been more appropriate than inverted commas. #Education
Sour Mash Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 Leeds population: 715,404 Southampton poulation est:239,700 Not really punching above their weight! Also with only one club in the city they should have even greater support than they do. And let's not be fooled Leeds are a much bigger club than Saints. But part of the point in this thread is how poor our travelling away support is in relation to attendances we get at home.
stevegrant Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 But part of the point in this thread is how poor our travelling away support is in relation to attendances we get at home. Being at one end of the country doesn't help, I'd say, especially in terms of travel costs. In order to get anywhere north of the M4, you realistically have to go via London (the CrossCountry trains from Bournemouth to Manchester seemed to always be horrendously expensive even on advance bookings), which is a ballache as you then have to add at least another 2 hours to your journey.
Simster Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 Leeds have traditionally had good away support, also whilst it may appear that they've all travelled down from up north, they've got a big fan base in the South of England.Correct. In terms of membership to affiliated supporters clubs, Leeds United are the 4th biggest club in the country or something. It's not so much that your away support in the north is particularly shìt, it is that in reality Leeds ought to be getting a lot more than 26,000 at home.
oldsarum Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 New grounds only reason... We have the support there but seem to fail on a few games. New grounds not totally true we still took 1000 to Carlise last season when are form wasn't too good and nearly 700 to Hartlepool last season
This Charming Man Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 Leeds have the best support in the country outside the top 4, with supporters groups all over the country. "Are" Northern support isn't big. So what? We're Southampton. No, I don't think a big signing would prompt many people to go as it's not just popping down the road and getting a ticket. It would be train/fuel costs + ticket + food/drink for the whole day. Pretty pointless thread. Not really. He makes a very valid point. As we've shown in the past, people are willing to travel... just not that far. We've taken 4k to Orient and 5k to Reading for games with nothing riding on them. Yet as soon as we play north of Birmingham, it seems nobody can be bothered. As Sour Mash said, we take hardly any independent coaches or mini-buses, there seems to be no get up and go with our support. Just lots of families and odd-balls from the New Forest who are happy to watch us at home and that's that. We even struggled to sell our full allocation for Derby away in the play-offs. The last time we took a few thousand up North for a meaningless game was Man City when we had £5 tickets and cheap or free travel (after they wrongly cut our allocation for the last game at Maine Rd). I know being where we are geographically we're not in an ideal place but that doesn't stop Sunderland travelling in large numbers (wouldn't be fair to compare us to Newcastle, they're a massive, massive club). Even Plymouth's away support is decent when you compare it percentage wise to their home crowds. A lot of people on here look at Saints with rose-tinted glasses on and aren't able to take a step back and look at us from a neutral point of view. I use the England forum quite a bit and there are many threads on there about away support, who brings the most and who makes the most racket and trust me, we've never been mentioned, not once. Our away support on a whole is pretty poor. Not the worst but could be and should be so much better. Last season, when comparing home and away attendances, percentage wise, Bournemouth's away support was better than ours. That says it all for me... P.s. I am going.
Wurzel Posted 12 August, 2011 Posted 12 August, 2011 Would a big signing prompt you to attend saturday?? Only if the big signing was me .
CFSFC Posted 12 August, 2011 Author Posted 12 August, 2011 Not really. He makes a very valid point. As we've shown in the past, people are willing to travel... just not that far. We've taken 4k to Orient and 5k to Reading for games with nothing riding on them. Yet as soon as we play north of Birmingham, it seems nobody can be bothered. As Sour Mash said, we take hardly any independent coaches or mini-buses, there seems to be no get up and go with our support. Just lots of families and odd-balls from the New Forest who are happy to watch us at home and that's that. We even struggled to sell our full allocation for Derby away in the play-offs. The last time we took a few thousand up North for a meaningless game was Man City when we had £5 tickets and cheap or free travel (after they wrongly cut our allocation for the last game at Maine Rd). I know being where we are geographically we're not in an ideal place but that doesn't stop Sunderland travelling in large numbers (wouldn't be fair to compare us to Newcastle, they're a massive, massive club). Even Plymouth's away support is decent when you compare it percentage wise to their home crowds. A lot of people on here look at Saints with rose-tinted glasses on and aren't able to take a step back and look at us from a neutral point of view. I use the England forum quite a bit and there are many threads on there about away support, who brings the most and who makes the most racket and trust me, we've never been mentioned, not once. Our away support on a whole is pretty poor. Not the worst but could be and should be so much better. Last season, when comparing home and away attendances, percentage wise, Bournemouth's away support was better than ours. That says it all for me... P.s. I am going. I nearly mentioned that Man City game 3000 because it was cheap and a new ground. Our support was worse than Sheff Wed last season and they finished midtable. And only marginally better than Brighton who averaged 7000 home supporters. I often speak to people who class themselves as "big saints fans" and they only talk about attending Reading, Brighton or London games. Very rare that they will go to a Barnsley, Stockport, or even Everton. I don't do every single away game but distance doesn't stop me. I'll do my standard 10-15 away games this season and they will range from big games, northern games, midweek trecks, etc. In my opinion it's not cost that people don't go it's the lack of enjoying travelling distances. And the genuine lack of supporting there team.
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