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I looked at the crowds from last nights games and some of them were dreadful, for instance the poppies only had about 800, with many of the others being poor as well. A sign of the times or because its the end of the Ist month after Christmas?

End of the first month and the cold nights I'd say. I'm down to a tin of beans for lunch which says it all.

STAGMAN wrote:I looked at the crowds from last nights games and some of them were dreadful, for instance the poppies only had about 800, with many of the others being poor as well. A sign of the times or because its the end of the Ist month after Christmas?

A majority of Poppies supporters are annoyed with the admission prices, so I guess they are voting with their (webbed) feet

I was going to Eastbourne (scouting trip to watch Tamworth) but it was a miserable evening, there was footie on the box(albeit only Arse****)and I wanted to see if Harry was really dead (Silent Witness).

The game apparently was abysmal Borough are going from bad to much worse and Tamworth had very little to beat. The crowd of 550 shows that evening games in January are not a good idea.

I will be there on Saturday cheering them on v Grimsby.

sussexdiamond wrote:.....and I wanted to see if Harry was really dead (Silent Witness).

Of course he wasn't since, according to the Radio Times, he was scheduled to be in next week's episode. ;)

With regard to playing matches on Tuesday evenings in January and February it's about time the Conference sorted the problem of fixture back logs which occur without fail every season through a combination of bad weather and cup runs/replays and scheduled more evening fixtures during August, September and October which, in my opinion, would attract better attendances.

sussexdiamond wrote: The game apparently was abysmal Borough are going from bad to much worse and Tamworth had very little to beat. The crowd of 550 shows that evening games in January are not a good idea.
I will be there on Saturday cheering them on v Grimsby.

What's gone wrong at Eastbourne, they started the season playing some real good attacking football by all accounts? Now they've lost about 8 or 9 on the bounce and are in the relegation zone.

Trek wrote:With regard to playing matches on Tuesday evenings in January and February it's about time the Conference sorted the problem of fixture back logs which occur without fail every season through a combination of bad weather and cup runs/replays and scheduled more evening fixtures during August, September and October which, in my opinion, would attract better attendances.

I would say the only reason teams are playing midweek atm though is because of saturday postponements, and so if you are going to arrange more games on Tuesdays in Aug/Sept/Oct, there will be no fixtures left for Saturdays if the weather remains okay.

Apart from Forest Green at home on 8th March, our last scheduled midweek fixture of the whole season was Cambridge on the 30th Nov, not including Grimsby A, K*ttering H, Crawley A and Kiddy H, which are all 3PM kick-offs. I would suggest this is the conference leaving as many Tuesdays open as possible for re-arrangements after last season nightmare. I just quickly counted 12 at least Tuesdays open.

It's surely up to the clubs as to when the games are re-arranged for.

Steve wrote: I just quickly counted 12 at least Tuesdays open.

It's surely up to the clubs as to when the games are re-arranged for.

Of course it is but the point I was making is that an attempt should be made to play more fixtures before Christmas rather than after it since most clubs end up with a fixture back log in March and April and although there are Tuesdays available, as you have pointed out, attendances are very poor with cold evenings and the attraction of televised football on these evenings.
I shall be interested to see what sort of attendance we will get for our match against Cambridge United this Tuesday.

I think really though that it would be difficult to play more games before xmas from the current fixture list without sacrificing Saturday fixtures.

As for the Cambridge game I feel it could be a very disappointing crowd compared to previous years. A lot of their fans seem at rock bottom atm. In the past they would always bring 1000+, unlikely this year I think. And I should imagine we'll have our usual 1000 :( ;)

Steve wrote:I think really though that it would be difficult to play more games before xmas from the current fixture list without sacrificing Saturday fixtures.

Plenty of spare Tuesday evenings August-October as I pointed out earlier.

The Conference's management set the fixture list but without representation from the clubs a change won't happen so they will have only themselves to blame if they start complaining about poor attendances for re-arranged fixtures on cold and/or wet winter evenings in the period January to March. I doubt if the attendance on Tuesday evening will exceed 1500.