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Will the people of Exeter turn up

GJW

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Apr 2, 2004
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Devon
Exeter are top of the league by 2 points after seven games. They are undefeated, winning 5. They have scored 10 goals and have the second best defensive record in the league. Chiefs are not playing at home next week. I’m not sure how the start to this season compares to some of the past but it’s pretty decent.
Not sure what else the people of Exeter and the surrounding area want to get them filling those seats and standing areas around the ground. Be disappointed if we don’t have over 5000 on Saturday. Am I expecting too much? I’m not talking about the supporters who do turn up most weeks (if not all weeks). It’s the ones who occasionally turn up or potential new blood. What more will it take to get them interested in turning up? Surely not just a cup draw against a top 6 Premiership team. Tell me I’m wrong.
It’s an old cliche but if every regular invited just one new supporter ..... bla bla bla.

Thoughts?

I’ll be there with my Son and will try to bring someone who doesn’t normally attend. There, done my bit.
 

Grecian Max

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May 6, 2005
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Exeter
I think it will build naturally over the next couple of months. We’ve not quite done it quite a few years in a row now so I think it needs that sense of belief.

If we stay top for a long period I think we could regularly see 6.5-7k

I do think long term the Chiefs have affected our top end gates.
 

Ash

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I'm pretty sure we'll have over 5k next week. And as Grecian Max says, that will build, if this momentum continues.
 

Banksy

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Crostwight Norfolk
Exeter is ever expanding , at least it seems to have been continually build , build , build there since I moved up here seven years ago. You’d think that a few of those newcomers would have increased the gate numbers but then again maybe they support the teams of the places they left behind? On the other hand too I’ve heard a lot of my Exeter family and friends have bought Chiefs’ season tickets rather than watching City now. Maybe without getting political , it was those latter boring Tisdale years that killed them off!
 

antman

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I don't think the entertainment levels at SJP have matched our away games. There have certainly been fewer goals, literally less than one a game from us. I've been loving the way we get results, big fan of the 1-0 games, but it isn't pretty to watch sometimes. There haven't been many chances even in those games, there was a stat I saw before yesterday's game that we had had the fewest shots on goal in the division despite being top. I think if there had been more games like yesterday's we might expect more people to come. Also, the fans have seen us in this position twice before in the last two seasons, so nobody is getting carried away. Good thing too. You also need to remember that August gates are always affected by holiday absences. I predict 4.5k for Saturday, which is a great turnout in my view.
 

IndoMike

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To be honest, I don't think we'll get crowds of 5000 until Easter time onwards, and only if we are competing near the top. In 1989-1990 we had a great team and a fantastic home record, but we didn't get crowds of 5k + until near the end, and at that time there was no Chiefs and less alternative entertainment.
For City 4.5k is a very good crowd at this stage imo.
 

Boyo

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May 5, 2004
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We should be able to muster 4.5k home fans given our position. If Orient bring 300-400 then we're not far from that 5k figure. Uni students will be drifting back to Exeter as well, so that should help.

The Chiefs definitively have an impact. Even when we're not at home on the same day, many people only have the time / finances to attend live sport a few times per month.

In the 90's we had a few average attendances under 3k, I believe, so we have come a long way.
 

grecian-near-hell

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Unfortunately I'm with Indo on this one, a quick review of Wiki shows our best recent division 4 average attendance was the second Tisdale promotion from Div 4 to Div 3 with 4939, followed by that championship year where we didn't lose a match and only drew 3 where we averaged 4859. Last season our average was 4343. To date we have seen 4502, 5435 and 4316 giving an average of just over 4750 which is a good start to the season for us.

Last season after three league matches (which included the top of the table clash against Lincoln) we got 4266 4239 and for Lincoln 4067 giving an average of 4190. so we are showing quite a marked improvement on last season.

If we compare the individual gates this season to last season for the respective teams, Macclesfield our gate was up 1432 being the first game of the season, Swindon the gate was up 929 ( boosted by a large away support) and Mansfield the gate was down 701 as we played them in the run-in at the end of the season. So in summary we are doing better than last year and whilst it would be nice to achieve a regular crowd in excess of 5000 the last time it happened for us in the fourth division was in the 1960's

In division three however we have regularly achieved more than 5k on average, it's just disappointing that our stays there have been so brief.

The next couple of home matches will probably bring in around 4500 as neither away side will be well supported to help bolster the figures as the Swindon fans did

However if we continue to play as has been reported on Saturday, then in a few more weeks we will be regularly hitting the high 4000's which will set up us nicely for the run-in and this could well be the first season since the 60's when we average over 5k for a division 4 season which will be an amazing achievement
 

John William

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It also depends partly on the league position of the opposition. If they are doing badly, fewer casual fans seem to bother.

I'm expecting attendance similar to last time, not a bumper crowd, on Saturday despite our being top. Orient took 326 to Mansfield and may bring a like number to our game.
 

Snoop Fog

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Jun 29, 2007
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Exeter
Attracting bigger crowds seems to be a tricky one, and it surprises me that we had a season in the 60's with average attendances higher than those of today as the population of the city must have grown a fair bit since then.

Clearly success plays a big part in attendances and generates more interest in the club, and of course the higher the level you play the bigger the clubs you play and thus a higher number of away fans visit SJP.

There must, however, be a way of attracting more fans to SJP even if we stay at the same level. The general consensus seems to be that the club provides an excellent matchday experience, so why cant we regularly attract crowds of around 6k? Exeter and the catchment area certainly has the numbers to suggest this is possible.
 
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