[Zigsuk]

Was browsing through Stuart Bassons?s book in the local studies in the library. Started looking at the records from 67/ 8 my first full season up to the 85 championship season. I knew the attendances were often 5 figures for example 10/11 thousand regularly although there were still plenty of 4/5 thousand gates, but there were also quite a number over 16, including that against Workington Boxing day 67 a goalless draw which was I think was the first time we had dropped points at home and started the slide down the table to an eventual 7th place finish - no play offs then of course. The sale of our best player at the time Frank Lord coincided with the fall away.
We continued to enjoy many 5 figures gates for the next few years but by the 85 season even though we were champions gates had slumped to 5/6/7 thousand. I know capacity had been reduced but wasn?t this before the truly savage capacity cuts? It was before Hillsborough and actually the seasons of the Bradford fire.
I don?t think just capacity reductions can account for the lower gates. Was there just a general reduction of interest in the game?
That interest seems to have been revived to an extent now, however even if we increased the capacity of the stadium I couldn?t see us ever getting 15/16 thousand again. We regard 8-10 thousand as a good attendance now, which it is, but it was common in the late 60?s early 70?s. Attendances did seem more volatile then though with some poor ones too and notable fluctuations between games. I assume the greater consistency of attendances now is because there are more season ticket holders.

[needdm]

Zigsuk, on 20 December 2024 - 11:13 AM, said:

Was browsing through Stuart Bassons?s book in the local studies in the library. Started looking at the records from 67/ 8 my first full season up to the 85 championship season. I knew the attendances were often 5 figures for example 10/11 thousand regularly although there were still plenty of 4/5 thousand gates, but there were also quite a number over 16, including that against Workington Boxing day 67 a goalless draw which was I think was the first time we had dropped points at home and started the slide down the table to an eventual 7th place finish - no play offs then of course. The sale of our best player at the time Frank Lord coincided with the fall away.
We continued to enjoy many 5 figures gates for the next few years but by the 85 season even though we were champions gates had slumped to 5/6/7 thousand. I know capacity had been reduced but wasn?t this before the truly savage capacity cuts? It was before Hillsborough and actually the seasons of the Bradford fire.
I don?t think just capacity reductions can account for the lower gates. Was there just a general reduction of interest in the game?
That interest seems to have been revived to an extent now, however even if we increased the capacity of the stadium I couldn?t see us ever getting 15/16 thousand again. We regard 8-10 thousand as a good attendance now, which it is, but it was common in the late 60?s early 70?s. Attendances did seem more volatile then though with some poor ones too and notable fluctuations between games. I assume the greater consistency of attendances now is because there are more season ticket holders.

In the late 70s and 80s attendances fell off at all clubs because football was not fashionable and there was a lot of hooliganism. Liverpool averaged 35k, Arsenal 24k and Newcastle 23k and another 12 clubs averaged less than 20k in the old first division

[Westbars Spireite]

The mid 80s were the lowest in history. Decaying grounds, fences, hooliganism, industrial decline etc etc.

[60s 70s Spireite]

Zigsuk, on 20 December 2024 - 11:13 AM, said:

Was browsing through Stuart Bassons?s book in the local studies in the library. Started looking at the records from 67/ 8 my first full season up to the 85 championship season. I knew the attendances were often 5 figures for example 10/11 thousand regularly although there were still plenty of 4/5 thousand gates, but there were also quite a number over 16, including that against Workington Boxing day 67 a goalless draw which was I think was the first time we had dropped points at home and started the slide down the table to an eventual 7th place finish - no play offs then of course. The sale of our best player at the time Frank Lord coincided with the fall away.
We continued to enjoy many 5 figures gates for the next few years but by the 85 season even though we were champions gates had slumped to 5/6/7 thousand. I know capacity had been reduced but wasn?t this before the truly savage capacity cuts? It was before Hillsborough and actually the seasons of the Bradford fire.
I don?t think just capacity reductions can account for the lower gates. Was there just a general reduction of interest in the game?
That interest seems to have been revived to an extent now, however even if we increased the capacity of the stadium I couldn?t see us ever getting 15/16 thousand again. We regard 8-10 thousand as a good attendance now, which it is, but it was common in the late 60?s early 70?s. Attendances did seem more volatile then though with some poor ones too and notable fluctuations between games. I assume the greater consistency of attendances now is because there are more season ticket holders.

Full national explanations are available on the World Wide Web. See the massive increase post the war, followed by a steady decline to 1985, apart from the post 1966 World Cup spike, and the continuous rise since then.

[Sussex Spireite]

Westbars Spireite, on 20 December 2024 - 11:41 AM, said:

The mid 80s were the lowest in history. Decaying grounds, fences, hooliganism, industrial decline etc etc.

I went to 1st Division - Villa v Southampton midweek in the mid eighties and the gate was less than 9,000.

[Westbars Spireite]

Chelsea pulled into under 10k for a league fixture well into the 90s.

[Misnomer]

I went to Old Trafford, Ure v Chelsea, FA Cup match....think it was '87/88 season; absolutely rammed, Chelsea took thousands - me and my mate were in the away end.

This post has been edited by Misnomer: 20 December 2024 - 02:53 PM

[60s 70s Spireite]

PS - for the record, Frank Lord left in October after scoring 6 in 12 (for a player coach role at Plymouth). We carried on winning, until, ironically, we signed a new striker, Bill Curry at the New Year and from then we had only bottom of the league form.

[Zigsuk]

Yes the Dee dahs had poor gates for the size of the city back then with gates of 13000 or even less. I noticed a couple of the games when the attendance against the Dee dahs was actually higher at Saltergate than in the away games. It wasn?t until the famous 33 draw at Hillsborough did Wednesday have an attendance over 20000 against us. Prior to that their attendances against us were embarrassing.

[gordon_brittas]

I think none of the local sides can boast about attendances until the late 90s. Went to a few Forest, Wednesday, Derby games when they were in the Premier, top end of First division and the grounds were practically less than half full.

[warfey is a spireite]

60s 70s Spireite, on 20 December 2024 - 03:05 PM, said:

PS - for the record, Frank Lord left in October after scoring 6 in 12 (for a player coach role at Plymouth). We carried on winning, until, ironically, we signed a new striker, Bill Curry at the New Year and from then we had only bottom of the league form.

Bill curry ,what a bag of Bunkum he was

[60s 70s Spireite]

warfey is a spireite, on 20 December 2024 - 04:41 PM, said:

Bill curry ,what a bag of Bunkum he was

He was indeed for us.
When you look him up, he had a great career before we signed him - but for us- too old, too much weight - past it. No Frank Lord.

[Zigsuk]

60s 70s Spireite, on 20 December 2024 - 04:45 PM, said:

He was indeed for us.
When you look him up, he had a great career before we signed him - but for us- too old, too much weight - past it. No Frank Lord.

I thought the strikers wwere Randall and Hollet, did Frank Lord play with them or instead of one? For some reason I thought Lord was a midfielder. Hollet was the main striker when I first saw them and Randall was there too I am sure. Hollet was replaced by Ernie in 68/9 and had gone when Ernie came good in the following championship season. (Sad to think all four players mentioned in this post are now no longer with us.)

[clarevoyant.]

60s 70s Spireite, on 20 December 2024 - 04:45 PM, said:

He was indeed for us.
When you look him up, he had a great career before we signed him - but for us- too old, too much weight - past it. No Frank Lord.

Ironically he scored on his debut in our first home defeat (2-3) of the season v Barnsley the other scorer being another ex Stag (they weren't scabs then) Ivan Hollet. Unfortunately he was clean through in the last minute and fell over a matchstick costing us a point (or was it a pen?)

[60s 70s Spireite]

Zigsuk, on 20 December 2024 - 05:28 PM, said:

I thought the strikers wwere Randall and Hollet, did Frank Lord play with them or instead of one? For some reason I thought Lord was a midfielder. Hollet was the main striker when I first saw them and Randall was there too I am sure. Hollet was replaced by Ernie in 68/9 and had gone when Ernie came good in the following championship season. (Sad to think all four players mentioned in this post are now no longer with us.)

We hadnt particularly caught up with the new fangled 4-2-4- it was more like 2-3-5. - no wingless wonders for us. Frank is listed as a centre forward on WIki. As I recall he would alternate with Kev in dropping deep as and when required.

[Zigsuk]

60s 70s Spireite, on 20 December 2024 - 05:39 PM, said:

We hadnt particularly caught up with the new fangled 4-2-4- it was more like 2-3-5. - no wingless wonders for us. Frank is listed as a centre forward on WIki. As I recall he would alternate with Kev in dropping deep as and when required.

Ah that's why I thought he was a midfield player. I thought I recall my dad saying he was a schemer / playmaker. The old man was far more into horse racing than football but he took me for three years before his increasing poor health and having to stand in the enclosure in the huge crowd against Swansea or Wrexham in the championship season rather than our usual seat in the stand put him off. After we got promoted he never went again. However that 67/8 season he was very prescient suggesting that we would struggle after Lord went, which we did and predicting that Luton would win the league, which they did.

[BLUE SINCE 62]

60s 70s Spireite, on 20 December 2024 - 04:45 PM, said:

He was indeed for us.
When you look him up, he had a great career before we signed him - but for us- too old, too much weight - past it. No Frank Lord.

We're still signing players like that now.

[ronpowellsbutler]

clarevoyant., on 20 December 2024 - 05:33 PM, said:

Ironically he scored on his debut in our first home defeat (2-3) of the season v Barnsley the other scorer being another ex Stag (they weren't scabs then) Ivan Hollet. Unfortunately he was clean through in the last minute and fell over a matchstick costing us a point (or was it a pen?)

Ivan Hollett, not Hollet, was coach at Alfreton when I was there as a lad.
His favourite exercise was to hold out both arms sideways and rotate them until they felt like they were dropping off. Not sure how that improved your football.

[clarevoyant.]

ronpowellsbutler, on 20 December 2024 - 11:29 PM, said:

Ivan Hollett, not Hollet, was coach at Alfreton when I was there as a lad.
His favourite exercise was to hold out both arms sideways and rotate them until they felt like they were dropping off. Not sure how that improved your football.

It was probably to strengthen his arm for his somewhat unique goal celebration.

[60s 70s Spireite]

clarevoyant., on 21 December 2024 - 08:41 AM, said:

It was probably to strengthen his arm for his somewhat unique goal celebration.

Which of course Denis Law copied……

This post has been edited by 60s 70s Spireite: 21 December 2024 - 10:50 AM