RE: NLN Watch -
Si Robin - 20-04-2023
They had 1,603 home fans the other night, and I know for a fact they're still giving out shitloads of complimentaries in that.
That they probably won't even sell out our away end on Saturday for the

"big derby" sums them up entirely.
TP1 -
TP1 - 20-04-2023
Good posts Si and Charlie, definitely agree we’ve got to take our chance when we have it and go from there.
RE: NLN Watch -
Tigermatty 2.0 - 20-04-2023
(20-04-2023, 09:06 AM)charlie Wrote: We had absolutely no right to play at this level during the exile years. Our budget wasn’t just the lowest in the league (until Curzon came along) but some seasons we were half the going rate.
Yet we did it, we did it well, and survived.
If we get the chance of promotion we need to take it. If it results in coming straight back down then so be it. But we’ll give it a good go. We’re a city of 150,000 people, we should be a comfortable NL/League 2 club.
The past few home games we’ve been averaging over 1,000. Add more onto that playing in the NL and away attendances, we’d have a lower end average, but it likely wouldn’t be the lowest. Plus if we start doing well and FGR stutter in League 2, I don’t see there being much between us attendance wise.
And the difference between us and a lot of clubs who get promoted to step 1 is that we’re aren’t the dog and duck fc, we are a city of 150k + people and we have a huge catchment compared to most teams in the NL
RE: NLN Watch -
Joe - 20-04-2023
Agree with the above.
We were never ready to be promoted in 2009, but we're still here. I remember after the play-off final there was talk of mass exodus, the club going just due to being placed in the North, etc.
Everything worked out pretty well considering.
RE: NLN Watch -
Darran - 20-04-2023
I don't think anyone is saying we shouldn't take promotion, I am certainly not anyway and want nothing more to get promoted to the National League. However, I watch a lot of National League football and I would be very surprised if we lasted more than a season. I obviously hope that isn't the case, but so many promoted teams, especially those promoted via the play-offs, do struggle and plenty come straight back down. All 4 promoted teams last season have been in a relegation battle this season and Gateshead and Dorking have only just confirmed survival. York could still come back down and Maidstone have finished bottom with only 5 wins. Our current squad is miles away from being a competitive squad from the league above and it would need a fair bit of money thrown at it to get one that would strong enough to survive. Still to have even a season at that level would be a great achievement and will be great fun even if we do end up struggling.
RE: NLN Watch -
Paul - 20-04-2023
We won't know until we get there. It's true some clubs go up and come straight back down, but for those clubs that have stayed up and gone further, what level of investment have they put in to do that? E.g. a team like Solihull Moors - or Harrogate now in the EFL.
As Matt has said, a great strength of ours is the size of the population - and the income generation from that if we can attract large crowds. There are no village teams in NL, we'd be competing against clubs with similar sized or larger populations, so we should see larger away support too.
RE: NLN Watch -
Darran - 20-04-2023
(20-04-2023, 03:15 PM)Paul Wrote: We won't know until we get there. It's true some clubs go up and come straight back down, but for those clubs that have stayed up and gone further, what level of investment have they put in to do that? E.g. a team like Solihull Moors - or Harrogate now in the EFL.
As Matt has said, a great strength of ours is the size of the population - and the income generation from that if we can attract large crowds. There are no village teams in NL, we'd be competing against clubs with similar sized or larger populations, so we should see larger away support too.
Both of those sides have spent plenty of cash. Obviously you would hope are home support would increase and larger away support will be a given, but those clubs already there have that income already. Boreham Wood have the lowest average crowd with 1177. Gateshead are next on 1211 and then Maidenhead on 1476.
Daveangel -
Daveangel - 20-04-2023
(20-04-2023, 03:58 PM)Darran Wrote: Both of those sides have spent plenty of cash. Obviously you would hope are home support would increase and larger away support will be a given, but those clubs already there have that income already. Boreham Wood have the lowest average crowd with 1177. Gateshead are next on 1211 and then Maidenhead on 1476.
Would there be figures published regarding the average away support?
Be interesting to see a comparison with the NLN, to see how many more away fans you could expect on average over the 23 home games.
RE: NLN Watch -
Darran - 20-04-2023
No idea to be honest and I’m not sure all games are segregated anyway.
RE: NLN Watch -
London Tiger - 21-04-2023
(20-04-2023, 08:54 AM)Si Robin Wrote: There's no such thing as a season too early. Ask Huddersfield if promotion to the Premier League last season would have been a disaster? Instead, they've spent most of this season fighting relegation to League 1.
There's no reason Gloucester couldn't get promoted and then ride the wave of optimism into the new season and actually bloody a few noses. Treat every game like an FA Cup tie (though that may not be a good idea for Gloucester
) and build enough points for when the inevitable poor run comes in.
I'm a firm believer in taking the opportunity when it arises. It's like having your first kid - you're never truly ready, but when the baby comes you step up and give it your best shot. Until it happens though, you will never know what you're capable of.
I now and again watch my local non-league team, Hanwell Town. They were promoted to SL Prem last season, their highest ever level, somewhat unexpectedly, as their playoffs were both away. They had a good start to the season, and although fell away, they have maintained Premier status. It can be done.