Play-offs 2015

[Gas Go Marching In]

Plenty of space to have given us extra tickets, I know they didn't want to risk it being like an away game, but definitely throwing away extra revenue (not that Vince needs it obviously.) I was very, very suprised they didn't sell out.

Why were you surprised they didn't sell out? They're just a tinpot club with a multi million pound owner.

 

[Gassy]

Bit harsh, I wouldn't go that far. They're an average conference club.

And tbh Miagsy, I doubt the owner cares about the revenue, what would an extra 500 Rovers fans add in the scheme of things?

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

Grimsby have sold less than half of their allocation for tonight's game (returning 500 tickets).
Its a long way to come midweek and all that, but i'm surprised that they didnt sell their full amount.
Real club eh.....
Looks like we will take about 400 there on Sunday, which for us, will be a record away attendance.
Tinpot eh...
If us and FGR get to Wembley, they may aswell just open one end....
Apparently if we lose tonight we go bust, and the owner is walking away, and James Constable is being sold to Barnet to replace Akinde who is off to another London club.

 

[Sledge FGR]

We aren't allowed to fill the whole stadium due to (yes, tinpot) safety certificate issues. There's room for over 5000 but we aren't cleared to accommodate anywhere near that.

 

[HertsWolf]

Grimsby have sold less than half of their allocation for tonight's game (returning 500 tickets).
Its a long way to come midweek and all that, but i'm surprised that they didnt sell their full amount.
Real club eh.....
Looks like we will take about 400 there on Sunday, which for us, will be a record away attendance.
Tinpot eh...
If us and FGR get to Wembley, they may aswell just open one end....
Apparently if we lose tonight we go bust, and the owner is walking away, and James Constable is being sold to Barnet to replace Akinde who is off to another London club.

I've heard that Stoneham Lane is closed tonight. Is the car park open for the game, do you know?

 

[Chris FGR]

3336 at FGR last night for a play off semi, including roughly 1000 Gas fans.
Now at the risk of pissing off my good friend ChrisFGR, what an absolute joke that attendance is, you should be embarassed by it.

It's not brilliant, but given the size of our catchment area it's not embarrassing either. Our average attendance this season is just over 1500, puts us 14th and is more then "proper club" Halifax, and we've averaged over 100 at away games.

All in all we're an average sized Conference club, and our crowd figures reflect that. We're not from a big town/city and we've never been in the league. Our support is growing, and our supporters trust do great work with local schools, up to 35 will be involved in our ambassadors scheme next season, which has already proved very successful over the last couple of years.

In the 17 years we've been at this level, we've gradually grown into a bigger club. It's going to take a while longer to catch "massive" clubs like yourselves up, but I bet we've grown our average gate far more in the last 10 years percentage wise then a lot of the ex-league clubs in this league have.

 

[GTFC1979]

Grimsby have sold less than half of their allocation for tonight's game (returning 500 tickets).
Its a long way to come midweek and all that, but i'm surprised that they didnt sell their full amount.
Real club eh.....
Looks like we will take about 400 there on Sunday, which for us, will be a record away attendance.
Tinpot eh...
If us and FGR get to Wembley, they may aswell just open one end....
Apparently if we lose tonight we go bust, and the owner is walking away, and James Constable is being sold to Barnet to replace Akinde who is off to another London club.

Maybe if Fenty had given us free coaches, we would have sold them all.....?

 

[Gassy]

It's not brilliant, but given the size of our catchment area it's not embarrassing either. Our average attendance this season is just over 1500, puts us 14th and is more then "proper club" Halifax, and we've averaged over 100 at away games.

All in all we're an average sized Conference club, and our crowd figures reflect that. We're not from a big town/city and we've never been in the league. Our support is growing, and our supporters trust do great work with local schools, up to 35 will be involved in our ambassadors scheme next season, which has already proved very successful over the last couple of years.

In the 17 years we've been at this level, we've gradually grown into a bigger club. It's going to take a while longer to catch "massive" clubs like yourselves up, but I bet we've grown our average gate far more in the last 10 years percentage wise then a lot of the ex-league clubs in this league have.

Whilst I stuck up for FGR earlier, thats a bit of an unfair point. For an ex-league club to be here, they were relegated, which means going down a division, which generally means a drop in attendance (which in our case is actually the opposite) but nonetheless, its a drop. You have been steadily increasing attendances over the years when the club is on the up. If you were to be run poorly and drop to the conference South, are you honestly telling me that a the attendances would stay the same, and in our case, improve? Like hell. And can you tell me that if a Basingstoke fan said the exact same to you if you went down, you would agree with the point?

 

[Chris FGR]

Fair point, that was probably a bit harsh but it seems that there is a lot of apathy shown towards the smaller clubs, when it's often those who are doing far more and better work to attract locals to games then some of supposedly bigger, more historic clubs. Surely it's just as hard to attract locals who aren't regulars to any club in the same division, regardless of history. Football fans local to us are going to think of the Conference in exactly the same way as fans local to Grimsby, for example. It's about making it enticing to come.

Tbf, the likes of Luton, Oxford and yourselves have maintained impressive attendances in this league so it is possible.

We've spent the best part of the last 17 years battling relegation. We've only finished in the top half 6 times, with our highest finish before this season being 8th, which we achieved pre-Ecotricity's takeover. So it's not like we've had a lot of winning football to help entice the crowds in. Despite this, our average gate has slowly but steadily increased.

 

[rudebwoyben]

We aren't allowed to fill the whole stadium due to (yes, tinpot) safety certificate issues. There's room for over 5000 but we aren't cleared to accommodate anywhere near that.

If you did win the play-offs, what would you need to do to get the ground up to League 2 standard?

 

[Gassy]

Fair point, that was probably a bit harsh but it seems that there is a lot of apathy shown towards the smaller clubs, when it's often those who are doing far more and better work to attract locals to games then some of supposedly bigger, more historic clubs. Surely it's just as hard to attract locals who aren't regulars to any club in the same division, regardless of history. Football fans local to us are going to think of the Conference in exactly the same way as fans local to Grimsby, for example. It's about making it enticing to come.

Tbf, the likes of Luton, Oxford and yourselves have maintained impressive attendances in this league so it is possible.

We've spent the best part of the last 17 years battling relegation. We've only finished in the top half 6 times, with our highest finish before this season being 8th, which we achieved pre-Ecotricity's takeover. So it's not like we've had a lot of winning football to help entice the crowds in. Despite this, our average gate has slowly but steadily increased.

Not sure if you ever saw my post before, but I mentioned that tradition is harsh. As I said, if in 100 years FGR were a solid championship club for ever 60 of those years and were getting 20,000 week in, week out; they would be classed as a traditionally large club, with FL history. Tradition has to start somewhere, and just because clubs were generally formed around 100-130 years ago, why do they, especially fans, deserve more respect? If anything, they should be given more respect (especially Eastleigh where its very easy to support Saints) for supporting their local team.

Hence why I've stood up for your attendances, yes it is poor for now, but who knows, in 50 years you could look back and say, "My god, remember when Bristol Rovers used to bring 1/3 of our crowd away?" when at the time, it could be the opposite way around.

 

[Greenacres]

It's not brilliant, but given the size of our catchment area it's not embarrassing either. Our average attendance this season is just over 1500, puts us 14th and is more then "proper club" Halifax, and we've averaged over 100 at away games.

All in all we're an average sized Conference club, and our crowd figures reflect that. We're not from a big town/city and we've never been in the league. Our support is growing, and our supporters trust do great work with local schools, up to 35 will be involved in our ambassadors scheme next season, which has already proved very successful over the last couple of years.

In the 17 years we've been at this level, we've gradually grown into a bigger club. It's going to take a while longer to catch "massive" clubs like yourselves up, but I bet we've grown our average gate far more in the last 10 years percentage wise then a lot of the ex-league clubs in this league have.

I'm not one for getting into pointless slagging matches, that do little to enhance the opinions that others may hold, as this thread seems to have degenerated into. I have to break my relative silence to say that Chris makes a few valid points, that many of you may just dismiss.

We represent a village with a population in the region of 6500, although many of us do travel from elsewhere to follow our team, the actual catchment area spreads fairly wide. We are not a massive club, we will never be a massive club, but to be brutally honest we don't care one bit and that is half of the attraction about following the team. We revel in being the underdog, the little club, the more people deride us or our achievements the more determined we are to succeed, so if that is your aim, please keep it up. Chris is right about growing our average gate, ten years ago it was just under 750, so I make it that we have doubled it since then. There have been a few peaks and troughs in that time, we have had some really poor seasons, but this season we increased our average by 25% on last season. I expect it to continue to grow next season, on the back of this one, and wouldn't be surprised if we can raise the figure again.

Chris mentioned the ambassadors scheme, how many of you follow teams that have done that sort of thing, why don't you give it a try. You all want to follow teams with more supporters, and financial clout, to sustain your push to the Football League, don't you? I think Watford did something similar in the early 80's, as they were on the rise, it certainly helped their cause and I wouldn't mind betting that much of their current support became hooked during that time and are probably now taking their kids to games.

We all love our teams, that is natural, why do so many find it so difficult to acknowledge or applaud the success of others?

 

[Chris FGR]

And just to add yet again, we're not a flash in the pan who are only here because of a rich sugar daddy either. We've celebrated our 125th year this season, most of which was spent gradually growing the club through sheer hard work. We do have tradition, it's just not as glamorous as some of the clubs in this league. We now have investment, but we'd established ourselves as a small Conference sized club long before that, which was nothing short of a miracle given our catchment area.

There is a lot to be proud of, and no matter how many fans of bigger clubs want to dismiss us or put us down, the majority of our fanbase will stay proud of what their club has achieved.

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

Yes EFC car park open for 400 cars, but will fill up quick, but plenty of alternative parking up
Stoneham lane though (Trojans Rugby club etc). Our usual secondary parking area (Hardmore) is closed to us tonight as they are setting up for a Music festival on over the weekend.

To the other lad, yes fair point about the (subsidised) free coaches....but come on mate, your Grimsby Town FC, a real club & a giant in this league apparently and only 500 sold...I expected better than that, you brought about 200-300 for the league game (which was on a Saturday). Have to admit, decent fans on the previous visit tbf. I hope you enjoy our village, you will all be treated well by the locals.

 

[Gassy]

Blimey, you two liking each others posts is like broke back mountain of the forum

Although what Chris mentions is true about gradual improvement, you cannot argue that the last few years has taken a massive swing. No way could you afford players like Pipe, Coles, Parkin, Lee Hughes etc without him. 2 sides to that story my friend.

 

[Greenacres]

Although what Chris mentions is true about gradual improvement, you cannot argue that the last few years has taken a massive swing. No way could you afford players like Pipe, Coles, Parkin, Lee Hughes etc without him. 2 sides to that story my friend.

Of course there is, two sides to every story, and the last thing you will ever hear me do is deny the fact that the money invested by Dale Vince has given us a huge advantage. However, what would anyone do if a self made multi-millionaire wanted to bale their team out when they were in a tight corner, or maybe help them towards the next level...I suspect all would have done exactly what we did, what would you have done? I admit to having had a huge degree of scepticism when he arrived on the scene, unsure of his intentions, but I am now happy that the club is in safe hands and headed in the right direction.

 

[Gassy]

Of course there is, two sides to every story, and the last thing you will ever hear me do is deny the fact that the money invested by Dale Vince has given us a huge advantage. However, what would anyone do if a self made multi-millionaire wanted to bale their team out when they were in a tight corner, or maybe help them towards the next level...I suspect all would have done exactly what we did, what would you have done? I admit to having had a huge degree of scepticism when he arrived on the scene, unsure of his intentions, but I am now happy that the club is in safe hands and headed in the right direction.

I would have protested outside the ground, actually...

But on a serious note, I wasn't arguing that case, I was viewing things from another perspective. We all want success, hopefully start on Sunday for us

 

[Chris FGR]

Although what Chris mentions is true about gradual improvement, you cannot argue that the last few years has taken a massive swing. No way could you afford players like Pipe, Coles, Parkin, Lee Hughes etc without him. 2 sides to that story my friend.

No doubt that we can afford better players these days, but I was talking more about the growth of the club as a whole

Tbh despite the investment on the pitch we've not really played particularly good football on a consistent basis, under Hockaday or Pennock.

By far the best football quality wise was during Jim Harvey's 2006-09 reign (pre-Ecotricity) when we finished 8th, knocked Rotherham and Rochdale out of the cup and had a couple humdingers where we went out of the Cup at Swindon, bringing nearly 2000 away supporters from somewhere, and in the 3rd round where we lost 4-3 at home to Derby in front of a record 5000 gate. Those teams included plenty of quality players despite our lower budget the likes of Fleetwood (who moved to Charlton), Beesley, Clist (sold to Oxford), Darren Jones (still in the league at Newport), Mangan (now at Shrewsbury), Lawless, Smith (both at Luton) plus several others who either already had or went onto good league careers.

In short, although a lot of money has been spent on the team in the last few seasons, don't be fooled into thinking that this is by far the best we've ever had it on the pitch quality wise. We had plenty of good players play for us before the investment, we just couldn't afford to keep them. Even when we were part time we had plenty of big names on the way down, the likes of Tony Daley, Nigel Spink, Dennis Bailey, Stuart Slater, Paul Warhurst, Neil Grayson etc. The signings we've made and the football we've played in the last few seasons are not the main reason our crowds have increased, the efforts by volunteers in the local community are.

 

[Gladders]

Apparently our players are having to walk 2 miles from the hotel to ground tonight because of traffic congestion

 

[Harrier94]

From Sam Elliot on Twitter

"Hearing Grimsby players are WALKING from their team hotel over two miles away to the ground. Chaotic. KO scheduled for one hour"

 

[Gassy]

Hardly a surprise, traffic was manic round there when I went

 

[Harrier94]

Kick off delayed

"Eastleigh v Grimsby KO put back to 8.15pm according to the @btsportfootball team"

 

[Andy Harrier]

Oh, just seen that Lee Swabey was yesterday's referee. That explains the atrocious performance. He couldn't manage a game of tiddlywinks without an idiotic, controversial decision.

 

[Greenacres]

What is it with Grimsby and traffic, think they were caught up in it for one of the first BT Sport games I watched, possibly against Alfreton. They must have been at least an hour late, although it was pretty funny watching the pundits trying to fill the time until they arrived.

 

[B2TF]

Oh God, are the hopes of the real clubs really restng on Paul Hurst tonight. He just inspires a sense of hopelessness in you.

 

[Master D]

Grimsby to win 1-0.

 

[rudebwoyben]

No doubt that we can afford better players these days, but I was talking more about the growth of the club as a whole

Tbh despite the investment on the pitch we've not really played particularly good football on a consistent basis, under Hockaday or Pennock.

By far the best football quality wise was during Jim Harvey's 2006-09 reign (pre-Ecotricity) when we finished 8th, knocked Rotherham and Rochdale out of the cup and had a couple humdingers where we went out of the Cup at Swindon, bringing nearly 2000 away supporters from somewhere, and in the 3rd round where we lost 4-3 at home to Derby in front of a record 5000 gate. Those teams included plenty of quality players despite our lower budget the likes of Fleetwood (who moved to Charlton), Beesley, Clist (sold to Oxford), Darren Jones (still in the league at Newport), Mangan (now at Shrewsbury), Lawless, Smith (both at Luton) plus several others who either already had or went onto good league careers.

In short, although a lot of money has been spent on the team in the last few seasons, don't be fooled into thinking that this is by far the best we've ever had it on the pitch quality wise. We had plenty of good players play for us before the investment, we just couldn't afford to keep them. Even when we were part time we had plenty of big names on the way down, the likes of Tony Daley, Nigel Spink, Dennis Bailey, Stuart Slater, Paul Warhurst, Neil Grayson etc. The signings we've made and the football we've played in the last few seasons are not the main reason our crowds have increased, the efforts by volunteers in the local community are.

For some reason you've omitted Des Lyttle...

 

[Gladders]

What is it with Grimsby and traffic, think they were caught up in it for one of the first BT Sport games I watched, possibly against Alfreton. They must have been at least an hour late, although it was pretty funny watching the pundits trying to fill the time until they arrived.

Coach curse.

Arrived in Eastleigh yesterday and still arrive late to the ground.

 

[Oxcityhoop]

Good Luck to Eastleigh this evening, been there twice with Oxford City, very friendly club.

 

[B2TF]

No way that shit hole is a Football League ground.