I've been reading the threads about attendance on here over the last week with real interest.
Most of you know that I am a Linnets fan and come in peace (apart from when you guys bleat on about not beating us and it being everyone fault but your own . Only kidding. ) I have a lot of respect for your club with your foundations and beliefs being very similar to ours and I'm always interested to read about how your getting on with the operation of running and growing the club, just like we had to.
Ok so here's the worrying part, and I have said this on here in the past. I'm not surprised that your attendances have fallen, because exactly the same thing happened to us. We started at Witton with a regular base of around 220, which dropped to around 120-150 in our last year of playing there. People just found the journey too much after a while and also the sense of paying into someone else's pot.
When we came home after 4 years at Witton our attendances skyrocketed initially, but it did'nt last and with us only being a decent side at the time but not title challengers they dropped right down to around the 200 mark again. We have learned now over the years that the pattern is 200 hardy souls who will watch the club if it played on the moon, another 70 odd that are semi-regulars around other commitments and then another 100 on top for big games and when we are playing really well. Beyond that is special event days (family fun days etc ) or our games against Town and yourselves.
Attracting new people is so difficult. One area where we were lucky was moving to the New Town end of Runcorn, as those guys would never watch us at Canal St but many have really taken the club to heart. You then pick up the odd straggler who comes along out of curiosity and stays for the long run (we have an Aldershot fan who comes our games since moving up here).
In my opinion, you guys have two problems.
Firstly, you wont grow your fanbase playing in Winsford no matter what you do. You have seen that now in the slow decline of your attendances even despite being top of the league, something that goes against what we have found. Winsford FC have been around for over a hundred years, why would anyone in Winsford who has an interest in non-league footy suddenly decide to watch a Northwich team who's intention it is to leave the Town asap?
Secondly, your club doesnt seem to know fully what it is or what its about. I struggle understanding it myself and its people like me with a passing interest that you need to paint a clear picture to. By that I mean, parts of the club seem like they want to acknowledge and latch on to Vics, then other parts completely dismiss a link to Vics and say that your an entirely new club with none of Vics history. You cant have it both ways. Your probably putting off people who don't like Vics by half pretending to be them, and also putting off people who did love Vics and would enjoy watching Vics phoenix club, but wont watch a new club.
I was involved from the very beginning of Linnets and the 30 or so of us that had the initial discussions were all Runcorn FC fans and did so to continue that club. None of us were interested in it being a new club with no history. People who have come along since might have their own interpretation but from the outset we were 100% a continuation/phoenix/whatever you call it of Runcorn AFC. There was no alternative slant.
You will only get a true feeling for your core fanbase when you move to Northwich and I genuinely hope you can do that sooner rather than later, because I can see us having a great rivalry for many years to come!
Most of you know that I am a Linnets fan and come in peace (apart from when you guys bleat on about not beating us and it being everyone fault but your own . Only kidding. ) I have a lot of respect for your club with your foundations and beliefs being very similar to ours and I'm always interested to read about how your getting on with the operation of running and growing the club, just like we had to.
Ok so here's the worrying part, and I have said this on here in the past. I'm not surprised that your attendances have fallen, because exactly the same thing happened to us. We started at Witton with a regular base of around 220, which dropped to around 120-150 in our last year of playing there. People just found the journey too much after a while and also the sense of paying into someone else's pot.
When we came home after 4 years at Witton our attendances skyrocketed initially, but it did'nt last and with us only being a decent side at the time but not title challengers they dropped right down to around the 200 mark again. We have learned now over the years that the pattern is 200 hardy souls who will watch the club if it played on the moon, another 70 odd that are semi-regulars around other commitments and then another 100 on top for big games and when we are playing really well. Beyond that is special event days (family fun days etc ) or our games against Town and yourselves.
Attracting new people is so difficult. One area where we were lucky was moving to the New Town end of Runcorn, as those guys would never watch us at Canal St but many have really taken the club to heart. You then pick up the odd straggler who comes along out of curiosity and stays for the long run (we have an Aldershot fan who comes our games since moving up here).
In my opinion, you guys have two problems.
Firstly, you wont grow your fanbase playing in Winsford no matter what you do. You have seen that now in the slow decline of your attendances even despite being top of the league, something that goes against what we have found. Winsford FC have been around for over a hundred years, why would anyone in Winsford who has an interest in non-league footy suddenly decide to watch a Northwich team who's intention it is to leave the Town asap?
Secondly, your club doesnt seem to know fully what it is or what its about. I struggle understanding it myself and its people like me with a passing interest that you need to paint a clear picture to. By that I mean, parts of the club seem like they want to acknowledge and latch on to Vics, then other parts completely dismiss a link to Vics and say that your an entirely new club with none of Vics history. You cant have it both ways. Your probably putting off people who don't like Vics by half pretending to be them, and also putting off people who did love Vics and would enjoy watching Vics phoenix club, but wont watch a new club.
I was involved from the very beginning of Linnets and the 30 or so of us that had the initial discussions were all Runcorn FC fans and did so to continue that club. None of us were interested in it being a new club with no history. People who have come along since might have their own interpretation but from the outset we were 100% a continuation/phoenix/whatever you call it of Runcorn AFC. There was no alternative slant.
You will only get a true feeling for your core fanbase when you move to Northwich and I genuinely hope you can do that sooner rather than later, because I can see us having a great rivalry for many years to come!