[60s 70s Spireite]

Radders, on 06 February 2015 - 02:51 PM, said:

The phrase; "They don't bluddy want promotion" haunts us to this day. I've been hearing it for 50 years - got sick or arguing with it and now its kind of hard to argue with

Are you talking about Shentall or Allen?

[Trigger]

farney, on 06 February 2015 - 04:53 PM, said:

Yes we were Trotman slipped and fell over to let their forward in on goal

Forte score the winner?

[Sheffield Blue]

newboldsteve, on 06 February 2015 - 04:02 PM, said:

cause the club have ambition but we also have to live in the real world Portsmouth had ambition, leeds had ambition, sheff wed had ambition, all nearly went under chasing a dream

It was an unforgettable experience though. Would I swap championship or premiership obscurity for the memories I have? No way.

If it had been another ending I might feel differently. Football is a sport its about winning and being the best you can be.

You have to have ambition otherwise why do we waste time money and effort following our respective clubs?

[JonB]

a kick in the balls, on 06 February 2015 - 05:02 PM, said:

Town has never had a large fan base as such, its a result of spending decades and decades in the lower leagues.

As for Chesterfield not being a football town, didnt chesterfield used to have the largest number of sunday league divisions at one time? 13 divisions at one time wasnt it?

I've heard that story about the Sunday league but no idea if it's true! Certainly isn't these last few years....7 divisions and standard dropped massively. Remember watching my dad play for CSPO and it was a right side...there was only him and one other guy that weren't semi pro on a Saturday...one of them played for England C.

[jonnythespireite]

JonB, on 06 February 2015 - 10:02 PM, said:

I've heard that story about the Sunday league but no idea if it's true! Certainly isn't these last few years....7 divisions and standard dropped massively. Remember watching my dad play for CSPO and it was a right side...there was only him and one other guy that weren't semi pro on a Saturday...one of them played for England C.

Had 12 divisions when I played mid 80s to early 90s. Good standard in top divisions back then. Lads who played Saturdays and Sundays. Hillstown MWFC.

[JonB]

jonnythespireite, on 06 February 2015 - 10:09 PM, said:

Had 12 divisions when I played mid 80s to early 90s. Good standard in top divisions back then. Lads who played Saturdays and Sundays. Hillstown MWFC.

Must have been mid to late 80s when I was going every week watching my dad. Remember being ball boy for numerous alma cup finals on saltergate as they kept winning it.

[60s 70s Spireite]

JonB, on 06 February 2015 - 10:02 PM, said:

I've heard that story about the Sunday league but no idea if it's true! Certainly isn't these last few years....7 divisions and standard dropped massively. Remember watching my dad play for CSPO and it was a right side...there was only him and one other guy that weren't semi pro on a Saturday...one of them played for England C.

I remember some of the guys that helped form the Sunday League, a concept that in hindsight made a lot of sense (no conflict with all the Saturday football league games), but ground breaking that teams should play on the Lords Sabbath.

I played in the early seventies in the league, usually near the bottom of the pyramid. I knew most of the guys who played for CSPO, so likely as not know your Dad. And yes, it was on a number of occasions covered in the national press, on the back pages, about it being one of the largest Sunday Leagues in the country.

[sophocles]

Maverick, on 06 February 2015 - 10:52 AM, said:

In my mind, the sale of Doyle is probably the best example of why our attendances are 'what they are'. For example, Tuesday morning in the office, the first thing a Derby fan said to me is: "SO, WHERE IS YOUR AMBITION?". And that firmly hits the nail on the head and is why we will always be perceived as a small team. The wider population of the town lacks the belief that the club has the ambition to reach the championship and is why many choose to watch their football in Sheffield/Derby/Manchester.

In my opinion, the Club have just squandered probably the greatest opportunity to demonstrate "AMBITION" to the town, since 1979/80 if they had kept Doyle, enabling us to make a serious push for the Playoffs and ultimately promotion to the Championship.

But now, short-termism has yet again demonstrated the exact opposite making it even harder to convince people that the people running the club are the real deal.

You don't sell your best players if you are serious about the Championship.

Correct - exactly what I said as soon as Doyle was sold. Players such as Ryan and Morsy have been given the clear message that they will have to follow Doyle out of the door to achieve that step - up. They now know how dimwittedly short-sighted our Board is, and so do the fans.

[needdm]

I think we get great attendances considering the size of the town and we are surrounded by cities like Derby and Sheffield. About 6-7% of the population go regularly! and if you look at a city like Leeds with a population of 500k they would have to be getting 35k each match. Obviously the only way to get greater attendances is to keep winning as obviously that attracts the casual supporters. Even if we ever went up to the championship we would only get a short term boost., as fans would drift away once we started losing.

[Happ Hazzard]

Think they need to make tickets cheaper for a lot of less attractive games, particularly midweek games in winter against non-local teams. Have tickets for a tenner for 5 games a year and promote the hell out of it. Chesterfield could get far bigger crowds, remember it's not just the population of Chesterfield (100,000 or so) that they can attract but the whole region of North Derbyshire and surrounding parts of South Yorks and Notts. They need to reach out and do something to attract people that might not be that interested in football at the moment. Do stuff for kids, fireworks after the games, look at some of the stuff they do in the US to attract fans to baseball and the like and take it from there.