So the attendance on Sunday was only 13,134 and say about 1000 Hearts fans (heard they took heaps for them)? That means only 12000ish Aberdeen fans turned up for the first home game of the season.

 

Now I know the game was played on a Sunday so less people can go and it was also on the telly - but for the big important opening game that attendance is a shocker! Especially after we took 6,500 down to Dundee last week.

 

Thoughts?

 

My thought is what the fuck does it matter? With the exception of the OF, the crowds are ALWAYS the same give or take. Why are people obssesed with how many people can be bothered to turn up? With the footy we've played so far, we're lucky ANYONE is turning up.

If we'd got our train tickets a bit quicker, then the crowd would have been at least 4 higher!

Having done a bit of sports marketing at uni, the hard fact of the matter is that it's the glory hunters that bulk up a crowd.  You will always get your hard core fans that turn up regardless but in the end only success on the park will bring people back.

 

By the way finishing 3rd is not success.  Winning the league, cups etc is and to be honest we probably aren't going to finish above 3rd so where is the attraction?

 

Until people think we have a real chance of winning anything crowds will stay at the 12-14 thousand mark.

Is not just about glory hunters though.

 

Take a look at Hibs, yes they won a cup last season, but their crowds have been higher than ours since they started to play football which involves creating chances rather than ours which is completely dull (based on lifeless performances dating back several seasons). I'd go as far as to say we're duller than the most exciting Canadian.

 

I conclude that playing a version of football which affords our best players to play in their correct positions and remove the negative tactical shackles so they can try things and express themselves will attract folk back and help rid us of this 'living in the past' tag which seems to appear as soon as any supporter dares complain about our dullness.

 

3rd but dead of boredom. Thank you, Mr Calderwood. 

Tv obviously put a large dent on the crowd but fear by the time our first non tv game comes around (celtic home, Hibs away and Killie away before Motherwell at home) we will have alienated all the fans that were won back after end of last season.  Must do something good in next 2 tough games to avoid this or crowds will drop again big time (attacking football might help but not much chance of that on sunday against Celtic)

Is not just about glory hunters though.

 

Take a look at Hibs, yes they won a cup last season, but their crowds have been higher than ours since they started to play football which involves creating chances rather than ours which is completely dull (based on lifeless performances dating back several seasons). I'd go as far as to say we're duller than the most exciting Canadian.

 

I conclude that playing a version of football which affords our best players to play in their correct positions and remove the negative tactical shackles so they can try things and express themselves will attract folk back and help rid us of this 'living in the past' tag which seems to appear as soon as any supporter dares complain about our dullness.

 

3rd but dead of boredom. Thank you, Mr Calderwood. 

 

You have a point, entertainment value is a big part of it as well and we have been dull as dish water recently but if we beat Celtic get to the UEFA group stages, maybe get a Munich etc, and progress through the league cup we might see an increase.

The thing is the budget will have been set by expected crowd size....the finance department will be ringing the alarm bell I would think!

Let's see what the number V the Tims is this weekend...

would guess as there will be 3000 extra away fans we'll have about 16,000 at the game on Sunday.

 

Sad fact is that nae cunt in Aberdeen (slight over generalisation I know) gies a shit.  There isn't a massive population of dandies out there to entice back, other than for a big game (last day deciders, cup finals...ha..etc).

 

As for the hearts game the shite result/performance/tactics/team line-up from the previous week won't have helped.

 

Oh and we had about 5400 at Tannadice, dunno where this 6500 constantly comes from

Jute counted the tops he saw on Sunday morning on the way to the pub:

 

6 Man U

4 Hun

2 Aberdeen

1 Tim

1 Everton

 

On a matchday..........ffs!

The crowd is about what the Jambo crowds were last season. The club will have budgeted for that so there is no problem here. Usually a club will budget for average crowds and getting papped oot o the cups in the first round so a good cup run or bigger crowd is a BONUS, not a REQUIREMENT to running successfully. If you honestly think that Pittodrie is budgeting for crowds of 15-16,000 or summat like that, then I have a picture of one of your relatives...

 

 

Jute counted the tops he saw on Sunday morning on the way to the pub:

 

6 Man U

4 Hun

2 Aberdeen

1 Tim

1 Everton

 

On a matchday..........ffs!

kids don't have the same interest/loyalty to scottish football they used to have.

Loads of other distractions and cheaper/better value entertainment

blah blah blah

plus all yir white settlers (sic)

It's not just that.  Going to football and especially taking a family to football is an expensive hobby (without including the beer).

By the time you've paid petrol/buses to and from the game, programmes, half time pies and coke's for the kids plus the tickets.....it's not cheap.  Some people would rather spend the money on other things that they feel are 'value for money'.  With the cost of houses and cost of living in Aberdeen, some people just cannot afford it.  They can however afford a couple of games a season - hence they come out for the more attractive games, like the huns at the end of last season.

Even if we were winning cup and challenging for the league title, I reckon we'd still only get an average crowd of about 14,500.

I'm going to be back in Scotland for a couple of weeks at the end of September, and as luck would have it, given the timing of flights and whatnot, I will only be able to get to one Dons league game.

 

That game will be against bloody Gretna at Pittodrie, and I'm already not too keen on the prospect of shelling out silly money just to get to it. I watched the Hearts game for free at the weekend via the net and that wasn't even really value for money. I'm might end up doing the "gloryhunting" thing and hope we're drawn at home for the second leg of the UEFA Cup tie and go to that instead...