it'll take a long time for me to recover from 353 at hartlepool whilst walking the league
I still dont get that Hartlepool figure. I was there and bought my ticket from their ticket office at about 2.30pm, with Addicks quein infront and behind me. The woman on duty told me we sold near 400 from The Valley and they expected a few hundred more to be sold that afternoon. I think the Pools are fiddling somehow? I reckon 500-600.
oohaah performs a thankless and necessary task - the seeker of away attendance truth and justice. I think we need to work on what i call our 'spreading ability' - when you look at the away end at the valley, you can always tell the clubs who have been working with 'limited resources' for years - the fans will be nicely spread to give the illusion of numbers - often employing the V formation. It's an effective tactic and one we shouldn't overlook.
a trip along the district line for a one off against a premier club is hardly the same cup of meat as a coach ride to Carlisle in midwinter .. consumers and fans are getting choosy about where to spend their hard earned
Our away numbers are not great for certain away matches, but for certain away games more people get excited and want to come along , away numbers will go up as we progress hopefully through the divisions , considering we are in division 3 our numbers are all right i think?
There are a lot of factors why away sales vary from club to club.
I see MIllwall constantly refered too as a bench mark in terms of numbers however we are quick to jump on their fans accusing them of all being thugs and only attending games for a ruck hence the large turnouts.
We on the other hand constantly bang on about being a family club, wives, girlfriends and children are regulars at the Valley however this brings different circumstances as familys need to spend time doing other things not just attending fooball matches so when we are playing away these things are done hence the low turn out.
Age also plays a big part at away games, we have mentioned time and time again of a lost generation of fans due to our relegations, the lads that go away week after week, drinking, singing and supporting the team in rain & snow eventually get older, settle down, kids come along etc if these are not replaced numbers dwindle.
And last but not least the internet and TV play a huge part, when I was in my 20's if I had not travelled to the game I had to wait until the teleprinter chugged into life at 16.40 on a Saturday afternoon on Grandstand before I knew how we had got on away from home.
Now in my 50's I can sit on my sofa and watch Jeff Stelling describe every goal and incident as if I were at the game, all without the 5 hour trip home afterwards.
Away attendences will get better if and when we get out of this pub league but as a family club I do not think we will ever match the away support of some of the teams being talked about above.
The simple fact is Ooh Aah looks at our attendances the wrong way round. He looks at our home attendances and slags off our away crowds,when in reality we have, especially over the last few years, over-achieved on the home attendance front.
You can't compare our support away with any non-london team, because any northern team will have plenty of exiles living in london, whilst the number of Charlton fans living in Hartlepool is next to zero if not in fact zero.
Compare our away support with similarly sized London clubs, Palace, Millwall, Fulham, and you'll see our away support is fairly average.
At the end of the day Ooh Aah has convinced himself of these "facts" and will not be swayed, we could fill 22 or the 23 away allocations, and he'd still use the one where we didn't to "prove" his point. The simple solution is just to ignore him, frankly I'm bored by every thread being hijacked to run-down our own support.
bloke with the black lacoste, chain and earing - he's really going through the motions - was only out for a nice day of hooli posing and has got stuck in all that.
Oohaah speaks the truth. The majority of us agree with him.
However, it's always been that way and probably always will be.
It's probably due to us being a "family" club & the men with families take that responsibility seriously & don't abandon their families for the whole of a Saturday (like Ooh aah). Family responsibilities are seen as more important. Probably quite rightly.
It may also be slightly due to a lot of our fans living out in Kent & therefore having to travel into London before then having to head North.
All Oohaah needs to do is stop banging on about it.
It isn't fairly average it is poor. For one, Millwall are not a similarly sized London club, they have minute overall support compared to us and have spent the grand total of 1 season in the top flight in their entire history, and the best part of the last 15 years in the third tier when we have been in the premier league.
The point about london exiles is only relevant to away games in London, what about all the other away games miles away?
A very easy example is Southampton, who have long been suggested as a similar sized club to us and have had a similar history over the last 15 or so years. Last season they were up the top (although not doing as well as us so far) and they made the respectable turnouts we are going to have at walsall, yeovil etc look embarrassing. Sold out most away games in no time, they took thousands to places north of london and in london which were much further for them than us, even took over 800 to Hartlepool on a Tuesday night in February. We are creaming ourselves cos we have already sold 900 to orient - they would have sold the entire allocation if they were in our place by now and its 5miles away from charlton.
The likes of Norwich / Leicester etc have larger away support than us, even Palace and Millwall etc always end up on general sale and don't always sell out whereas they always have fans in our end at our place.
Whilst the club have done a superb job growing our crowds in a relatively short tim and holding them up, we haven't overachieved on home support either, we were in the premier league for 7 consecutive years the borough of greenwich has over 200,000 people, bexley and bromley the same again not to mention kent, we have a potentially huge fanbase, obviously we have to compete with other clubs and the exile period didnt help but in reality we should be attracting the same home support as West Ham.
Oohaah is spot on our away numbers are low. That is a simple fact and as he points out one game at spurs or fulham in the cup doesnt change that - havant and waterlooville took thousands to anfield a few years ago. It's not a reason to slag us off and it isn't to the discredit of any individual nor does it say that our away support is quiet. But the fact is the numbers are low.
We have poor away support (numbers wise compared with home attendances) because until this yr in the last ten years we have won away from home a handfull of times, infact the only saving grace of our plummit down the leagues has been our better away perfromances which slowly and surely and turning punters around and taking them back away, even in this time of austerity.
I've only started going to away games again this yr, I simply got fed up of going to games expecting a loss spending a shed load of money when before the ball was kicked we were hoping for a draw at best people go on and on about the good old days but sorry between the early 90s and present day we have never been a team that has consistantly performed away from home (except 99 season), mainly because we didn't have to and since moving back to the valley it meant alot more to fans winning at home.
I'm the first to admit that I'm part of the problem, a Valley-going diehard that generally gets to only a handful of aways a season. These are not (as some might expect) necessarily the big games - the last 2 seasons have seen me at (among others) Carlisle, Hartlepool, Exeter. But I will not be at Orient on the 31st (quite a journey for me, and once Sky bagged it & moved the time, that killed it). I'm always likely to pick & choose aways, and as others have deduced, I'm part of a large group that is happy to fit them around family/personal life. For those frustrated by that, I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.
If other teams have more people who want to go to 40+ games, fair play to them. I don't feel superior to them, but neither do I feel guilty/inferior either - it's just a personal choice.
Other teams can rightly brag therefore that their support is 'better' - this is undeniable. No point in beating ourselves up, but for those unhappy about this what do you want to do about it? Free coach offers all very well but this won't sway me one bit (I don't live anywhere near pick-up points, and prefer train or car). I guess cheap ticket prices help, but in all honesty there are simply times when I don't want football to dominate the weekend.
I make no excuses - i go to the odd away game now and may start going to more as i always jump on a good promotion bandwagon. Lets face it, the week in, week out type supporter who travels to any away game no matter what is to be applauded but there's a lot more things i'd rather do at the weekend than sit on a train, coach or car for hours on end. I've had spells years ago of doing the week in week out thing but the novelty wears off and the camaraderie of going with your mates gradually fades as each finds they have other things to do. The day i start going shopping or doing DIY on a Saturday however instead of football is when i'll start to question myself.
I make no excuses - i go to the odd away game now and may start going to more as i always jump on a good promotion bandwagon. Lets face it, the week in, week out type supporter who travels to any away game no matter what is to be applauded but there's a lot more things i'd rather do at the weekend than sit on a train, coach or car for hours on end. I've had spells years ago of doing the week in week out thing but the novelty wears off and the camaraderie of going with your mates gradually fades as each finds they have other things to do. The day i start going shopping or doing DIY on a Saturday however instead of football is when i'll start to question myself.
Spot on Dan, pretty much touches on what I said above, going to football every week suits people with no other interests or commitments, football is their hobby and to some a way of keeping up with friends.
I work full time, have a bloody big garden that does not look after itself, 2 x grandchildren and other hobbies so football once a fortnight suits me now as opposed to what I did 30 years ago.
Its all about choices, I applaud those that go away, especially to places like Yeovil on Boxing Day, but would not slag off those that don't.
Good point randy. We work hard as a club to bring in support for home games but there is less incentive to promote the club for away matches for obvious reasons.
This debate reminds me of the time when I went to Upton Park (as we used to call it) and there couldn't have been more than 50 of us making it known that we were Charlton in the whole ground for a league match I think. Don't recall the season but this was in the darkest days of thugs and no segregation. Most unpleasant experience that day.
Comments
The bloke with the black shirt on and longish hair actually writes a blog for the Arsenal OS.
carrick lol i struggled to find him
kenny miller's at the front right in a pale pink t shirt being pulled all over the shop
oohaah performs a thankless and necessary task - the seeker of away attendance truth and justice. I think we need to work on what i call our 'spreading ability' - when you look at the away end at the valley, you can always tell the clubs who have been working with 'limited resources' for years - the fans will be nicely spread to give the illusion of numbers - often employing the V formation. It's an effective tactic and one we shouldn't overlook.
There are a lot of factors why away sales vary from club to club.
I see MIllwall constantly refered too as a bench mark in terms of numbers however we are quick to jump on their fans accusing them of all being thugs and only attending games for a ruck hence the large turnouts.
We on the other hand constantly bang on about being a family club, wives, girlfriends and children are regulars at the Valley however this brings different circumstances as familys need to spend time doing other things not just attending fooball matches so when we are playing away these things are done hence the low turn out.
Age also plays a big part at away games, we have mentioned time and time again of a lost generation of fans due to our relegations, the lads that go away week after week, drinking, singing and supporting the team in rain & snow eventually get older, settle down, kids come along etc if these are not replaced numbers dwindle.
And last but not least the internet and TV play a huge part, when I was in my 20's if I had not travelled to the game I had to wait until the teleprinter chugged into life at 16.40 on a Saturday afternoon on Grandstand before I knew how we had got on away from home.
Now in my 50's I can sit on my sofa and watch Jeff Stelling describe every goal and incident as if I were at the game, all without the 5 hour trip home afterwards.
Away attendences will get better if and when we get out of this pub league but as a family club I do not think we will ever match the away support of some of the teams being talked about above.
COYR
You can't compare our support away with any non-london team, because any northern team will have plenty of exiles living in london, whilst the number of Charlton fans living in Hartlepool is next to zero if not in fact zero.
Compare our away support with similarly sized London clubs, Palace, Millwall, Fulham, and you'll see our away support is fairly average.
At the end of the day Ooh Aah has convinced himself of these "facts" and will not be swayed, we could fill 22 or the 23 away allocations, and he'd still use the one where we didn't to "prove" his point. The simple solution is just to ignore him, frankly I'm bored by every thread being hijacked to run-down our own support.
bloke with the black lacoste, chain and earing - he's really going through the motions - was only out for a nice day of hooli posing and has got stuck in all that.
Oohaah speaks the truth. The majority of us agree with him.
However, it's always been that way and probably always will be.
It's probably due to us being a "family" club & the men with families take that responsibility seriously & don't abandon their families for the whole of a Saturday (like Ooh aah). Family responsibilities are seen as more important. Probably quite rightly.
It may also be slightly due to a lot of our fans living out in Kent & therefore having to travel into London before then having to head North.
All Oohaah needs to do is stop banging on about it.
See you all at Walsall.
We must be doing alright on the pitch as we've got back to moaning about how many we take away!
Anyone tasted the burgers lately?
You would get better odds on Millwall to win the Champions League, than the above to happen i'm afraid.
said Linda Lovelace..........
.
anyhow. First away game for my son, can't wait.
We have poor away support (numbers wise compared with home attendances) because until this yr in the last ten years we have won away from home a handfull of times, infact the only saving grace of our plummit down the leagues has been our better away perfromances which slowly and surely and turning punters around and taking them back away, even in this time of austerity.
I've only started going to away games again this yr, I simply got fed up of going to games expecting a loss spending a shed load of money when before the ball was kicked we were hoping for a draw at best people go on and on about the good old days but sorry between the early 90s and present day we have never been a team that has consistantly performed away from home (except 99 season), mainly because we didn't have to and since moving back to the valley it meant alot more to fans winning at home.
A fair-weather away fan writes...
I'm the first to admit that I'm part of the problem, a Valley-going diehard that generally gets to only a handful of aways a season. These are not (as some might expect) necessarily the big games - the last 2 seasons have seen me at (among others) Carlisle, Hartlepool, Exeter. But I will not be at Orient on the 31st (quite a journey for me, and once Sky bagged it & moved the time, that killed it). I'm always likely to pick & choose aways, and as others have deduced, I'm part of a large group that is happy to fit them around family/personal life. For those frustrated by that, I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.
If other teams have more people who want to go to 40+ games, fair play to them. I don't feel superior to them, but neither do I feel guilty/inferior either - it's just a personal choice.
Other teams can rightly brag therefore that their support is 'better' - this is undeniable. No point in beating ourselves up, but for those unhappy about this what do you want to do about it? Free coach offers all very well but this won't sway me one bit (I don't live anywhere near pick-up points, and prefer train or car). I guess cheap ticket prices help, but in all honesty there are simply times when I don't want football to dominate the weekend.
Yours plasticly....
I make no excuses - i go to the odd away game now and may start going to more as i always jump on a good promotion bandwagon. Lets face it, the week in, week out type supporter who travels to any away game no matter what is to be applauded but there's a lot more things i'd rather do at the weekend than sit on a train, coach or car for hours on end. I've had spells years ago of doing the week in week out thing but the novelty wears off and the camaraderie of going with your mates gradually fades as each finds they have other things to do. The day i start going shopping or doing DIY on a Saturday however instead of football is when i'll start to question myself.
Spot on Dan, pretty much touches on what I said above, going to football every week suits people with no other interests or commitments, football is their hobby and to some a way of keeping up with friends.
I work full time, have a bloody big garden that does not look after itself, 2 x grandchildren and other hobbies so football once a fortnight suits me now as opposed to what I did 30 years ago.
Its all about choices, I applaud those that go away, especially to places like Yeovil on Boxing Day, but would not slag off those that don't.