The home of DFC
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Re: The home of DFC
1,750+ was about right today, and expected.
If it was a Halifax, Harrogate, FCUM, Stockport or Kidderminster then we'd be looking at somewhere closer to 2,000.
But given that Curzon Ashton brought about 50, it's January, and a lot are struggling through to pay-day, then I thought that the attendance was decent.
I expect that gates will pick up in April over 2,000+.
If it was a Halifax, Harrogate, FCUM, Stockport or Kidderminster then we'd be looking at somewhere closer to 2,000.
But given that Curzon Ashton brought about 50, it's January, and a lot are struggling through to pay-day, then I thought that the attendance was decent.
I expect that gates will pick up in April over 2,000+.
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Re: The home of DFC
Darlofan97 wrote:1,750+ was about right today, and expected.
If it was a Halifax, Harrogate, FCUM, Stockport or Kidderminster then we'd be looking at somewhere closer to 2,000.
But given that Curzon Ashton brought about 50, it's January, and a lot are struggling through to pay-day, then I thought that the attendance was decent.
I expect that gates will pick up in April over 2,000+.
Re: The home of DFC
The parking problem was sorted within a couple of weeks so no blame just a learning curve for all concerned. All I can say it was great to see the bar full before and after the game today where both clubs earn out of the relationship. It sounds like both clubs are talking and listening to each other it's now up to us as fans and Darlington businesses to get on board and use the facilities. To have a company like Turner &Townsend sponsoring the match today shows how far we have come so long may it last.
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Re: The home of DFC
That was still a good gate , Curzon hardly getting the pulses racing and I bet that beat all but 3 or 4 in the league above.Anything around 2000 at our level at this stage of the season is really good and I would guess only FC United and Halifax have bettered our gate today.
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Re: The home of DFC
FC scum over 4100, 1000 sal£ord fansQUAKERMAN2 wrote:That was still a good gate , Curzon hardly getting the pulses racing and I bet that beat all but 3 or 4 in the league above.Anything around 2000 at our level at this stage of the season is really good and I would guess only FC United and Halifax have bettered our gate today.
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Re: The home of DFC
I'm afraid to say crowds will not increase this season with what has been on show over the past few games. Fc United will bring a few but other than that 1700 is the best we can hope for unless we can stop this season from petering out.
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The home of DFC
Will Altrincham get the pulses racing in our next home game after yesterday, the pitch is not very good and we just have to deal with that as it's the same for the other team..QUAKERMAN2 wrote:That was still a good gate , Curzon hardly getting the pulses racing and I bet that beat all but 3 or 4 in the league above.Anything around 2000 at our level at this stage of the season is really good and I would guess only FC United and Halifax have bettered our gate today.
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Last edited by HarrytheQuaker on Sun Jan 29, 2017 9:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The home of DFC
Spot on. You can't expect crowds to pick up, when they're offered the standard of football that was on offer yesterday. Improve of our standard of play and get a few results together and then the crowds will come back. If we don't then crowds will drop to around 1500 I'm afraid.quakerste wrote:I'm afraid to say crowds will not increase this season with what has been on show over the past few games. Fc United will bring a few but other than that 1700 is the best we can hope for unless we can stop this season from petering out.
Re: The home of DFC
Who are these fans who could be bothered to make the trip to Bishop but because we are not winning will stop coming?
In fact who are these fans who don't come because we are not winning full stop? I understand that you encourage new fans through good performances and entertaining games but once they are with you then you'd expect a bit more resilience.
Besides it's not like the other teams aren't providing some entertainment value at the moment either!
In fact who are these fans who don't come because we are not winning full stop? I understand that you encourage new fans through good performances and entertaining games but once they are with you then you'd expect a bit more resilience.
Besides it's not like the other teams aren't providing some entertainment value at the moment either!
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Re: The home of DFC
Big drop from the 3000 opening game to yesterday's 1700lo36789 wrote:Who are these fans who could be bothered to make the trip to Bishop but because we are not winning will stop coming?
In fact who are these fans who don't come because we are not winning full stop? I understand that you encourage new fans through good performances and entertaining games but once they are with you then you'd expect a bit more resilience.
Besides it's not like the other teams aren't providing some entertainment value at the moment either!
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Re: The home of DFC
Doesn't take long for the fucking negativity to kick in does it? 4 games back in Darlo and a poor run of form over 10 games after 4 glorious seasons
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Re: The home of DFC
Were you expecting something different?HarrytheQuaker wrote:Big drop from the 3000 opening game to yesterday's 1700lo36789 wrote:Who are these fans who could be bothered to make the trip to Bishop but because we are not winning will stop coming?
In fact who are these fans who don't come because we are not winning full stop? I understand that you encourage new fans through good performances and entertaining games but once they are with you then you'd expect a bit more resilience.
Besides it's not like the other teams aren't providing some entertainment value at the moment either!
In Bishop we would have probably got about 1,100/1,200 we expected an increase of around 500 on average and looks like that's what we will get.
I remember over 11k v Kidderminster opening of stadium and pretty sure we didn't get 11k every week after that game.
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Re: The home of DFC
If people thought we would get 2.5k/3k fans watching Darlo v Curzon in a ground with no spare seats, flat standing in about 2/3rds of the ground, on a not so great run of form during a cold/wet January day then I hope they never plan our budget for the season.
It is what it is and in all fairness it's pretty decent, we will average around 1800 this season which is 40%+ on last season. Whinging not enough people won't get more people to the match, many past chairman will vouch for that.
It is what it is and in all fairness it's pretty decent, we will average around 1800 this season which is 40%+ on last season. Whinging not enough people won't get more people to the match, many past chairman will vouch for that.
Re: The home of DFC
I thought it was a decent crowd considering the circumstances - poor form, unappealing opposition, cold + wet, and at the time of year when some have very little spare cash.
Had we been allowed to put our sign up yet?
Had we been allowed to put our sign up yet?
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Re: The home of DFC
al_quaker wrote:I thought it was a decent crowd considering the circumstances - poor form, unappealing opposition, cold + wet, and at the time of year when some have very little spare cash.
Had we been allowed to put our sign up yet?
Sign mentioned at the AGM, no issue with rugby club, just need to sort out where to put it where it won't break due to the elements (high winds etc)
Re: The home of DFC
Thanks.Undercovered wrote:al_quaker wrote:I thought it was a decent crowd considering the circumstances - poor form, unappealing opposition, cold + wet, and at the time of year when some have very little spare cash.
Had we been allowed to put our sign up yet?
Sign mentioned at the AGM, no issue with rugby club, just need to sort out where to put it where it won't break due to the elements (high winds etc)
Strange how plenty of other signage has gone up. Maybe this one is particularly brittle. Anyway, I look forwards to seeing it up soon.
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Re: The home of DFC
I were expecting that I got shot down last year when I said we would not get 2500 every week , a lot of people on here said it were a certainty when we returned home... I truely wish we would get over 2000 every home game but let's face it we are where we are and I'm sure we will make the best of itsuper_les_mcjannet wrote:Were you expecting something different?HarrytheQuaker wrote:Big drop from the 3000 opening game to yesterday's 1700lo36789 wrote:Who are these fans who could be bothered to make the trip to Bishop but because we are not winning will stop coming?
In fact who are these fans who don't come because we are not winning full stop? I understand that you encourage new fans through good performances and entertaining games but once they are with you then you'd expect a bit more resilience.
Besides it's not like the other teams aren't providing some entertainment value at the moment either!
In Bishop we would have probably got about 1,100/1,200 we expected an increase of around 500 on average and looks like that's what we will get.
I remember over 11k v Kidderminster opening of stadium and pretty sure we didn't get 11k every week after that game.
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Re: The home of DFC
We missed the years that Hereford are having when they are winning most weeks 5/6 nil and the home town got right behind them, sadly we were over in Bishop. Our return home has seen us hit a level where they are probably about 7 clubs better financed than us, we have also removed 50k (500 club) from our budget every season and still need to spend more on the ground.
If we finish 8th say and average 1,750 then that has been a good season, whilst I want us to make the playoffs and think we possibly could but I would guess it would be an overachievement.
Fylde, Kidderminster, Stockport, Halifax, Salford, Harrogate all would have bigger budgets, however they all seem to get loan players who are decent at this level. I can't remember when we got a loan player who was better than the standard, probably Ramshaw/Taut at the time.
I don't see the point whinging we didn't get 2.5k just have to build on what we have and try to increase revenue streams where possible.
If we finish 8th say and average 1,750 then that has been a good season, whilst I want us to make the playoffs and think we possibly could but I would guess it would be an overachievement.
Fylde, Kidderminster, Stockport, Halifax, Salford, Harrogate all would have bigger budgets, however they all seem to get loan players who are decent at this level. I can't remember when we got a loan player who was better than the standard, probably Ramshaw/Taut at the time.
I don't see the point whinging we didn't get 2.5k just have to build on what we have and try to increase revenue streams where possible.
Re: The home of DFC
I still think we will average 2,000 this season for the games at BM, and I think we will average 2,000 next season so long as we're in contention.HarrytheQuaker wrote: I were expecting that I got shot down last year when I said we would not get 2500 every week , a lot of people on here said it were a certainty when we returned home... I truely wish we would get over 2000 every home game but let's face it we are where we are and I'm sure we will make the best of it
It is not necessarily the case that yesterday's crowd of 1,761 is how it is going to be going forward, or worse - although if the team play like yesterday there's no incentive for fair weather fans to attend.
I will hold my hands up and say I was over optimistic with my crowd expectations though, I mean I thought we'd sell out the 2nd match because of all of the people who missed the first match for instance.
I also failed to take into account the damaging effect that 4 years out of town has done to our core and latent fan base.
We have not had the advantage of starting the Northern League at home in a ground big enough, like Chester and Hereford had, and they're certainly not bigger clubs than us. I'm sure we'd have been playing to 3,000 every week in the NL if the town rallied round the fresh start.
So personally I'm slightly disappointed by the crowds, but at the same time they've still been much better than what we've had in the last couple of seasons.
Onwards and upwards.
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Re: The home of DFC
Had the chance to attend my first game at Blackwell Meadows yesterday, Il be honest it's not my sort of stadium. I prefer being right on top of the action, the drop off from behind the goal is not for me and I felt detatched from the game which maybe wasn't a bad thing with the performance yesterday! I don't have a pint or get food at games so can't comment on that, just the overall match experience I didn't enjoy at all. It won't put me off attending any future games that I can, I support Darlington and will pay to watch us play anywhere but can see why the floater fan would be put off not returning.
I know our hands were tied and financially it's what we can afford, just giving my opinion on my experience yesterday.
I know our hands were tied and financially it's what we can afford, just giving my opinion on my experience yesterday.
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Re: The home of DFC
980 of those Salford fans are Man Utd fans with nowt to do on a SaturdayHarrytheQuaker wrote:FC scum over 4100, 1000 sal£ord fansQUAKERMAN2 wrote:That was still a good gate , Curzon hardly getting the pulses racing and I bet that beat all but 3 or 4 in the league above.Anything around 2000 at our level at this stage of the season is really good and I would guess only FC United and Halifax have bettered our gate today.
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Re: The home of DFC
You could stand along the sidelines?
I don't think it's that disappointing... I do think there's an issue with the ground though. It badly needs improvement as too much of the view is restricted. That, more attractive opposition and better results will all help.
I'd like to see the details of the next fundraising drive soon, and what improvements are planned!
I don't think it's that disappointing... I do think there's an issue with the ground though. It badly needs improvement as too much of the view is restricted. That, more attractive opposition and better results will all help.
I'd like to see the details of the next fundraising drive soon, and what improvements are planned!
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Re: The home of DFC
We still have higher attendance than all of national
South and higher average than 14 teams in national league.
South and higher average than 14 teams in national league.
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Re: The home of DFC
Better than that according to the stats:don'tbuythesun wrote:We still have higher attendance than all of national
South and higher average than 14 teams in national league.
http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/natnorth/attendances
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Re: The home of DFC
The floater fans are par for the course with most clubs. I think with Darlington it is higher than average as demand for tickets for play offs has demonstrated. The ground for me as a physical facility has long term potential although it is seriously compromised by the restricted viewing on the club house side. The dugouts need to be lowered otherwise we're going to disappointing the floater fans who may come to the marquee games. A bigger challenge is whether we have the will to budget based on games like yesterday or wrongly punt on some potential spike in attendances. My take is that attendances will normalise around 1800 as personally I have never felt the trip to Bishop was quite the obstacle stated. The evidence I have heard for higher crowds has been largely anecdotal and IMO not that compelling. Would a fan wait 5 years for a 13 mile return. 1790 is a decent gate as long as we budget for it and makes far more comfortable viewing. The ground simply can't accommodate on many levels a gate of 3k. That's the harsh truth with/ without segregation one side largely redundant On a positive note I do detect that the profile of the crowd has changed with a larger youth element. For me, that is as big a reason to move to BM as anything.
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Re: The home of DFC
Where's the beer tent thought it were going to be erected by the end of the month???
Re: The home of DFC
Don't think it's needed now that we have access to the main bar.HarrytheQuaker wrote:Where's the beer tent thought it were going to be erected by the end of the month???
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Re: The home of DFC
First time I have been in bar nice to see certain beer on offer does it vary each time ?
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Re: The home of DFC
Good to see the footle halftime scores on the big screen in the bar and serving alcohol for the first time as well.
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Re: The home of DFC
I was including all the teams in the division above.