New beginning = new realism ?
By Howard Borrell
Welcome back to a new season with hopefully are newed optimism....let's hope this time it's tempered with realism, something that has generally been in real short supply at Saltergate over the years. OK probably there was a little bit of over confidence that came out in some of the pre-season statements last year and because we all wanted to believe that we could make a swift return to League One finishing in 8th place was considered by many to be failure.
Mistakes were made last season (as they were at every club) that meant the expected promotion didn't come to fruition. Hopefully we'll learn from the mistakes and the fans will display a little more patience. I'm convinced that the lack of vocal support the team received at too many of the home games is directly attributable to the level of unrealistic expectation.
Last season the Football League recorded its highest aggregate attendances for 47 years, at Saltergate our support fell to an average of 4104 as we ended 12th in the attendance table. I know that away support last season was poor (compared to a higher division) and this will have impacted on the average but the fact remains that support very often (not always) equates to success and three of the four promoted League Two sides proved that theory, with their higher level of support.
If we'd been performing in League One our last season's average attendance would have left us rooted to the foot of the crowd table and even with better away support we could have expected to average under 5,000 which again would have left us in the bottom four of crowd pullers. In the Championship, which of course we all aspire to, just three teams averaged under 10,000 fans and two of those were relegated.
So let's be realistic - this coming season we'll probably figure no higher than last season in the support table but we'll still have plenty of fans who think we have a divine right to be in League One.
In the play-off games both Rochdale and Stockport attracted gates of over 9,000 - would we have done ?
Rochdale took 5,000 more fans to Wembley for their visit than we did for our first trip to the stadium in 1990 when the whole experience cost a fraction of today's outing.
The two non league finals at Wembley both drew over 40,000 fans - both thousands more than at the League Two play off game. In fact Exeter and Ebbsfleet both sold over 24,000 tickets .
We all know that statistics can be used as a means of proving almost any argument. My main point is that there are many better supported clubs than us in the same division and even below us in the non league pyramid and, whilst not guaranteeing anything, better support would improve our chances of success.
These facts are not meant to be critical of our fans because actually our support has stood up quite well. In the dark days of our last promotion in 2001 we averaged 700 more fans but attracted some great away followings from the likes of Brighton and Cardiff meaning that our own home support hasn't differed much. Pleasingly our current average attendance beats the support levels in our previous two promotions in 1995 and 1985 when there were far fewer things to spend your money on.
On just three occasions in the last thirty four years has our support exceeded an average attendance of 5,000 - so let's grab the reality. We are what we are ! We have ambition but it has to be tempered with prudence. When Arthur Cox was allowed to spend beyond the club's means it was never going to cost in.
Hopefully the new stadium is with us on schedule and it kick starts a new era for the Spireites and the town.
