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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2020 19:46:42 GMT 1
I was asked today by a guy at work,how come our fan base isn't alot bigger than it is.I was struggling to answer him really.I think generally we have quite a good loyal group of fan's for a town the size of Shrewsbury.but it got me thinking,we are the only football league club in salop,indeed we are the flagship of Shropshire imo.jo Hart said on tv lastnite that 90percent of our fan's come from Shrewsbury,and the rest from other areas of Shropshire.that I thought was accurate enough,but I would have thought anyone from salop who loves the county,and football would automatically follow the town,or am I just being naive i wonder.when I say follow town I'm talking about league football.just wondered what others thought about my viewpoint.
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Post by Namur on Jan 27, 2020 20:10:48 GMT 1
Shropshire’s a fairly rural outpost maybe. Seems that most other teams from similar types of ‘far flung’ counties, Lincolnshire, Devon, Gloucestershire etc tend to be round about our level or below.
It’s not like we’ve got huge a conurbation with hundreds of thousands of citizens who would traditionally have gone to the match en-masse.
On the plus side, we don’t really have any big near-neighbours. Even across at Telford, there’s a bigger contingent of Wolves and West Brom supporters. Wrexham was always seen as the de-facto North Wales team, but whenever I’m up there it seems just as many people support the big Merseyside & North West teams, especially as you get more towards Deeside and Flintshire.
I think we’ve been doing ok though. There’s plenty of passionate supporters and the new place has brought through a new generation of fans. 20 years ago getting 5,000 on the gate was a big deal, seems quite average now.
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Post by neilsalop on Jan 27, 2020 20:37:18 GMT 1
Shropshire’s a fairly rural outpost maybe. Seems that most other teams from similar types of ‘far flung’ counties, Lincolnshire, Devon, Gloucestershire etc tend to be round about our level or below. It’s not like we’ve got huge a conurbation with hundreds of thousands of citizens who would traditionally have gone to the match en-masse. On the plus side, we don’t really have any big near-neighbours. Even across at Telford, there’s a bigger contingent of Wolves and West Brom supporters. Wrexham was always seen as the de-facto North Wales team, but whenever I’m up there it seems just as many people support the big Merseyside & North West teams, especially as you get more towards Deeside and Flintshire. I think we’ve been doing ok though. There’s plenty of passionate supporters and the new place has brought through a new generation of fans. 20 years ago getting 5,000 on the gate was a big deal, seems quite average now. Historically we've always had a reasonable following from Mid Wales too. My grandad used to come all the way from Tywyn, before he moved to Shropshire.
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Post by Stowmarket Shrew on Jan 27, 2020 20:41:32 GMT 1
Some short memories here - I can well remember 2000 hardy souls rattling round at Gay Meadow under King.
I actually think we do pretty well for a town, club and area of our size.
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Post by tvor on Jan 27, 2020 20:54:17 GMT 1
Some short memories here - I can well remember 2000 hardy souls rattling round at Gay Meadow under King. I actually think we do pretty well for a town, club and area of our si ze. We also used to get 10,000+ regularly in the 1950s when the Town's population was smaller.
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Post by Mortgagehound on Jan 27, 2020 21:00:47 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2020 21:09:07 GMT 1
Some interesting points there.I think though in the 50's most club's had bigger gates than now.we do great though with our fan's,maybe only on average 6000 but we are loyal,vocal,not up our own arses,decent lot.forgive me if my grammar is worse than normal,them old Tom ales are still going down sweet after lastnite.☺
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Post by venceremos on Jan 27, 2020 21:09:14 GMT 1
Some short memories here - I can well remember 2000 hardy souls rattling round at Gay Meadow under King. I actually think we do pretty well for a town, club and area of our si ze. We also used to get 10,000+ regularly in the 1950s when the Town's population was smaller. Different time, different world. Lower real disposable incomes and not a lot else to do for entertainment in the 50s. Shrewsbury's a small town and Shropshire has a small population for its size. Realistically, I think we're doing pretty well for crowds at the moment.
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Post by gainsparkshrew on Jan 27, 2020 21:19:25 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think Wasn't that just a couple of days after we beat Everton in The F.A Cup? Pretty sure that we lost
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Post by bordersalopian on Jan 27, 2020 21:20:43 GMT 1
Some short memories here - I can well remember 2000 hardy souls rattling round at Gay Meadow under King. I actually think we do pretty well for a town, club and area of our si ze. We also used to get 10,000+ regularly in the 1950s when the Town's population was smaller. Back in the 1950s, there would’ve been a rural rail network...Shrewsbury had two stations at the time - the main Shrewsbury Station and the Marches Line, which terminated next to The Abbey - but a certain Mr Beeching put paid to that! Less accessible to Town games from rural areas for this not wishing to drive. Back in the 1950s, Saturday was generally a non-working day for most of the population - fewer people have Saturday’s off now. Also, people from outlying locations around Shropshire would have more of an affinity with the county town due to the weekly Cattle Market...sadly that has been lost somewhat. Saying that, this week, the link between the club and the community has been pretty evident...I just hope that the club can build on it.
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Post by cmonsalop on Jan 27, 2020 21:22:44 GMT 1
The one thing I've noticed is that our attendances tend to be very stable. Other clubs seem to fluctuate much more depending on their current form.
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Post by tdk on Jan 27, 2020 21:25:35 GMT 1
The population of Town is approx 70k. Take away the very young and the very old and the strange 50% of women that don't like football 6k represents a pretty high percentage.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2020 21:36:24 GMT 1
The population of Town is approx 70k. Take away the very young and the very old and the strange 50% of women that don't like football 6k represents a pretty high percentage. The very strange,well thank buggery they don't come.
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Post by Dale on Jan 27, 2020 21:42:10 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think Pretty sure we had 1,200 once for a midweek league game on a wet evening in March against Hull under Jake King, in a ideal world we’d have a full house every week but we’re not doing too badly at the moment, although it would be nice to get crowds like Lincoln currently do.
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Post by Namur on Jan 27, 2020 21:46:44 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think Pretty sure we had 1,200 once for a midweek league game on a wet evening in March against Hull under Jake King, in a ideal world we’d have a full house every week but we’re not doing too badly at the moment, although it would be nice to get crowds like Lincoln currently do. I remember a few seasons after that playing Hull and there was a huge push to get people to come along, as Hull were bringing a few. We just about cracked 5000 and it seemed amazing. Re the Southend game... yeah I remember that one! Hardly anyone there compared to the FA Cup game and we lost 1-0
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Post by neilsalop on Jan 27, 2020 21:57:14 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think Pretty sure we had 1,200 once for a midweek league game on a wet evening in March against Hull under Jake King, in a ideal world we’d have a full house every week but we’re not doing too badly at the moment, although it would be nice to get crowds like Lincoln currently do. I think one of the differences between us and Lincoln is that we have no real local rivals in the county, whereas they have effectively 2 in Grimsby and Scunny. This rivalry between towns close together tends to push people towards the things that allow tribalism, like football and it follows on through the generations and leads to more support, especially when things are going well.
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Post by barrynic on Jan 27, 2020 21:58:56 GMT 1
Remember 1300 many years ago for a midweek afternoon game against Charlton...due to the banning of floodlights because to the usual strikes at that time.
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Post by philharvey on Jan 27, 2020 22:17:00 GMT 1
18,900 v Walsall 17,000 v Rotherham League cup semi final 16000 Aston Villa league quite a few 14,000 league and cup.
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Post by staffordshrew on Jan 27, 2020 22:20:06 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think Wasn't that just a couple of days after we beat Everton in The F.A Cup? Pretty sure that we lost In the bygone days of the '50s/60's people used to work Saturday morning at Rolls Royce, etc. the big employers then head off down to the match, via a pint. Then things got a bit "non family friendly" in football with yobs and trouble at all the clubs. These days people have the day off or are working the whole day - the routine of overtime Saturday morning, match afternoon has gone. Now it's what the kids want to do, some of them heading off miles to watch the "big" teams.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2020 22:25:17 GMT 1
Shropshire’s a fairly rural outpost maybe. Seems that most other teams from similar types of ‘far flung’ counties, Lincolnshire, Devon, Gloucestershire etc tend to be round about our level or below. It’s not like we’ve got huge a conurbation with hundreds of thousands of citizens who would traditionally have gone to the match en-masse. On the plus side, we don’t really have any big near-neighbours. Even across at Telford, there’s a bigger contingent of Wolves and West Brom supporters. Wrexham was always seen as the de-facto North Wales team, but whenever I’m up there it seems just as many people support the big Merseyside & North West teams, especially as you get more towards Deeside and Flintshire. I think we’ve been doing ok though. There’s plenty of passionate supporters and the new place has brought through a new generation of fans. 20 years ago getting 5,000 on the gate was a big deal, seems quite average now. Historically we've always had a reasonable following from Mid Wales too. My grandad used to come all the way from Tywyn, before he moved to Shropshire. As a teenager I used to travel from Tywyn for every home game and on the way would be joined by school mates from Aberdyfi. Sometimes there would be at least a dozen of us, if not more. There was also a chap who travelled from Barmouth. There used to be good numbers travelling in from Welshpool and Newtown too.
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Post by leonidrogozov on Jan 27, 2020 22:57:03 GMT 1
Some short memories here - I can well remember 2000 hardy souls rattling round at Gay Meadow under King. I actually think we do pretty well for a town, club and area of our si ze. We also used to get 10,000+ regularly in the 1950s when the Town's population was smaller. 1950s was considered the golden era I think, pretty sure a lot of record attendances at various grounds came in that time. For reasons mentioned above.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2020 23:11:51 GMT 1
The population of Town is approx 70k. Take away the very young and the very old and the strange 50% of women that don't like football 6k represents a pretty high percentage. The very strange,well thank buggery they don't come. 😂😂😂😂
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Post by GrizzlyShrew on Jan 27, 2020 23:40:01 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think Wasn't that just a couple of days after we beat Everton in The F.A Cup? Pretty sure that we lost Remember it well. Jemson looked totally disinterested after his heroics a few days before. Maybe we should have seen the writing on the wall that night.
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Post by Minormorris64 on Jan 28, 2020 9:14:35 GMT 1
We have come a long way since the low point of only 1800 witnessing a midweek game at Gay Meadow against Southend I think Pretty sure we had 1,200 once for a midweek league game on a wet evening in March against Hull under Jake King, in a ideal world we’d have a full house every week but we’re not doing too badly at the moment, although it would be nice to get crowds like Lincoln currently do. Lowest League attendance at Home (correct me if i'm wrong) was 1232 against Charlton Athletic in the early 70's because of the floodlight ban , and the game kicked off at 5pm or 5.30pm
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Post by Minormorris64 on Jan 28, 2020 9:15:26 GMT 1
Remember 1300 many years ago for a midweek afternoon game against Charlton...due to the banning of floodlights because to the usual strikes at that time. 1232 from memory, and it was a 3-3 draw
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Post by highlandshrew on Jan 28, 2020 9:41:07 GMT 1
Pretty sure we had 1,200 once for a midweek league game on a wet evening in March against Hull under Jake King, in a ideal world we’d have a full house every week but we’re not doing too badly at the moment, although it would be nice to get crowds like Lincoln currently do. Lowest League attendance at Home (correct me if i'm wrong) was 1232 against Charlton Athletic in the early 70's because of the floodlight ban , and the game kicked off at 5pm or 5.30pm Correct, 19th March 1974. Kearney, Durban & Tarbuck were the Town scorers. Also noticed when checking in BOES that the first home league game of the season attracted just 2,666 spectators to watch Wrexham. Whatever happened to them?
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Post by stuttgartershrew on Jan 28, 2020 10:01:19 GMT 1
I don't think things are too bad now. I mean I was there way back in the 80's and 90's and we could only dream of the attendances that we see now. Its a fair increase on what we used to have down at the old Meadow. I think the dip into non-league and the move to the new stadium are the main factors in that. And just to go off on a tangent, it really is no surprise we have seen an increase. Catching up with all the old FA Cup action this weekend and the difference you see from then and now with regards to the stadium and the facilities. Just watching the footage from the Liverpool game (behind the scenes) and it really is another world to what we had at the old place. We really do look the part now (if not on the field at times, certainly off it)...
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Post by Valerioch on Jan 28, 2020 10:11:57 GMT 1
I don't think things are too bad now. I mean I was there way back in the 80's and 90's and we could only dream of the attendances that we see now. Its a fair increase on what we used to have down at the old Meadow. I think the dip into non-league and the move to the new stadium are the main factors in that. And just to go off on a tangent, it really is no surprise we have seen an increase. Catching up with all the old FA Cup action this weekend and the difference you see from then and now with regards to the stadium and the facilities. Just watching the footage from the Liverpool game (behind the scenes) and it really is another world to what we had at the old place. We really do look the part now (if not on the field at times, certainly off it)... BC has worked wonders at the club
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Post by ssshrew on Jan 28, 2020 10:39:42 GMT 1
Indeed he has. Another thing is that - once a shrew always a shrew is a true saying. People who leave Shropshire for various reasons still travel miles to see them and support. When we moved people asked me who I would support now. I just gave them a look and told them that you don’t change your allegiance just because you move - what an odd idea.
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Post by gainsparkshrew on Jan 28, 2020 11:27:06 GMT 1
Indeed he has. Another thing is that - once a shrew always a shrew is a true saying. People who leave Shropshire for various reasons still travel miles to see them and support. When we moved people asked me who I would support now. I just gave them a look and told them that you don’t change your allegiance just because you move - what an odd idea. I would echo that sentiment, but there are quite a few of us who have also come the other way.Jobs have brought us to the area and we have fallen in love with everything that is Shrewsbury/Shropshire related i.e Venceremos, Red Rose in Exile and myself. There is something special about this club. One thing I do remember thinking as a kid back on the Wirral was for years the MOTD producer was a chap called John Shrewsbury, no doubt a Londoner, but I often wondered if he had a particular liking for our club?
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