[quote][cite]Posted By: ThreadKiller[/cite]we don't. it's just that other sides just happen to have all their fans in other cities and we all live in margate so it's a lot harder for us to get to away grounds.[/quote]
Not True I live in Ramsgate ;). x
Honestly though I believe it is down to a number of factors but our Away Results being the main one.
Next Season in League One more traditional grounds, some terrances more likely to pick up points i think we will get a good away following going.
Whould be a good idea if the club run a coach from towns in Kent, Sussex, Essex in the morning to the Valley where we all get together have couple of drinks then get on a coach to the away ground. At a reasonable price and think this whould be a success.
Could it be that most of our fans are from the charlton area - whereas as other teams seem to have fans all over the country - Just my opinion of course
I used to travel to away games on a regular basis and one of the main reasons I stopped is because of the treatment of away fans by most clubs. Its usually a sh1t part of the ground. Over zealous stewarding and policing and generally being regarded as scum by everyone involved.
Time - my missus would not be too impressed if every other saturday half the weekend was written off by me going to an away game.
Money - 25-30 quid for a ticket, plus 30-40 quid on train.
Thats before food and beer. Just cant afford it.
History - never used to go to many away games even when in Prem.
Me and my mates used to pick 2 northern games and make a weekend of it.
Now they have got got kids.
Sad to say, last but not least, I am just not bothered enough to make that kind of effort to see us away. I dont feel that I am missing out on anything letting the team down.
Thing is, Football League fans up and down the country of a similar stature club or less have similar problems regarding time, money etc but still reguarly get treble what we get. Thats what i don't understand.
20 years ago i used to do about 15 away games a season, but now i will do 8 tops. This is all to do with the fact, other things come into people's lives, eg: stop being single, kids, cars, property.
The day out to Swansea must have cost me about a ton i would say, so it's not exactly cheap.
Shall venture to Coventry as i not been to the Ricoh yet, and Derby being the last away game of the season.
[cite]Posted By: L Block JT[/cite]Thing is, Football League fans up and down the country of a similar stature club or less have similar problems regarding time, money etc but still reguarly get treble what we get. Thats what i don't understand.
We do have a 'missing generation' of fans from when we were at Selhurst. Are they of the age of the people who make up the majority of travelling fans ?
Also there is a probably a hardcore of 150-200 fans that go to at least 20 away games a season, and i would say the average age of them is 35-40. Maybe we have missed out on the younger generation.
On the way back from Swansea, you just recognise that same old faces that have been going for the last 20 - 30 years.
1. The missed generation in the Selhurst/UP years must have an effect.
2. The cost (of travel more than anything). But this effects every club in the Country
3. Away performances, again this effects a lot of clubs. How long have Clubs like S.Wednesday been shit for? We have just had a few bad years really.
4. Internal problems when you have a "family" club. The "lads" (and there are not many) don't like the sit down and watch in non emotional silence bridgade, and the sit down and watch in silence lot don't like the "Stand, swear & support bridgade". Have to admit im in the lads side and would attend many more if our away support was like it is at palace away, every week.
5. We are simply a small club im afraid. You will argue by pointing out are home "numbers", but next season will show this has been inflated since 98 by casual fans, prem league fans, free season ticket offers etc. So when we say we have 17k home fans, why does such a small percentage travel, I think that home numbers figure is misleading.
6. Minimal support outside the capital, like palace, millwall, fulham etc.
7. Due to all of the above people stop going as much, when this happens they varely rarely start going again, except for one off games, hence when a big one comes along we can pull a proper decent away support at times.
I wish we could produce an away support like we take to palace, every week, but it's never gona happen im afraid :(
I will give you one reason, the average age of Charltons supporters, I would say that it is over 40, ie not enough youngsters between the age of 18-30 to give a large away support. When I go to away matches and look around me most there seem to be in my age range 50+.
every club we have played home and away this season so far has brought a lot more fans to us FACT
our away support to home support ratio is one of the worst in the country FACT
every other club has bad runs /poor away form /skint fans / older fans with family commitments etc
My main reason is cost and having 3 kids Not on the greatest of wages so limit myself to London and maybe one other in a county close, money priorties are elsewere.
I'm hoping that the atmosphere created at Reading last week with a pocket of fans will be a taster to next season's road trips. First away game i've enjoyed in a while, maybe because ultimately the result didn't mean a great deal anymore but if this kind of support can continue next term, i will be going to a vast number of away days.
Like Pork pie I get to alot more away games then home ones. The atmosphere amongst a few hundred die hards can actually be alot better then watching a game at the valley sometimes. After everything that has been said Winning makes a huge differance, some of the away crowds the last time we won the championship were pretty huge. I remember a game at the hawthorns (Possibly final one of the season)when we were packed in.
Although I think the general point is valid, I recall the official numbers showed that there wasn't a lot of difference between Charlton, Palace and QPR for away support last season. We had the most home fans, so you might think we ought to have had the most away fans, but they are not travelling in huge numbers either.
The faces tend to come out for new stadia, rather than generally. Hence Swansea.
The so-called lost generation - I think 17 years on this is a myth. Or at least the lost generation if it existed would extend back to the late 70s, when the collapse of the Nelson team drove people away from The Valley. Gates at Selhurst from 1986-91 were higher than gates at The Valley from 1980-85! Of course this was because we went into the First Division at Selhurst, but this argument is about absolute numbers so it makes no difference.
[cite]Posted By: Elthamaddick[/cite]Fulham are as bad as us, can't remember who they last played away but they took less than 200
they won their first away game in about 4 years at the weekend. so someone kept on reminding me when i put them to win in my prediction thing. not surprising they only take 200!
[cite]Posted By: Elthamaddick[/cite]Fulham are as bad as us, can't remember who they last played away but they took less than 200
they won their first away game in about 4 years at the weekend. so someone kept on reminding me when i put them to win in my prediction thing. not surprising they only take 200!
won their last three away games last season, that's why they stayed up.
Came back in the same carriage on Sat as the Wolves London branch - not surprisingly they were in a good mood and sung a lot of the time. In between could hear snatches of their conversation about Belvedere and Bexley where some of them live. The only good thing was they paid £20 for their organized train tickets while ours were £5 each way!
1) We are not a 'big club'. We have never had a consistently high away attendance.
2) I would reckon over time our away support would be similar to other suburban london clubs, Watford,QPR,Brentford,Fulham,Palace obviously relative to league status.
3) The attraction of coming to London and Charlton in particular may appeal more than us going to say Burnley
4) We are quite a nice welcoming club and reasonable value.
5) We even offer a dedicated pub for away fans only
6) We are on the South East side of London in the South East. Hence when travelling anywhere you have to negotiate London or M25 for all journeys (bar the obvious). Not the same for Midlands clubs etc. Makes our travelling costs higher.
7) As one of a number of London clubs our support boundaries are not quite so specific as individual towns. As such our support base isnt as cohesive as say Norwich or Leicester etc
8) Our Board have made our prices reasonable. Perhaps that means we attract more people for whom thats all they can afford with away trips being outside budget.
9) Our wives and girlfriends love us and dont want to part with us too much.
10) Train services out of London probably run later than those from provincial towns meaning it is more feasible to use public transport for people coming to Charlton as opposed to the reverse
I dont think we should say our away support is bad. Its what it is.
Comments
Not True I live in Ramsgate ;). x
Honestly though I believe it is down to a number of factors but our Away Results being the main one.
Next Season in League One more traditional grounds, some terrances more likely to pick up points i think we will get a good away following going.
Whould be a good idea if the club run a coach from towns in Kent, Sussex, Essex in the morning to the Valley where we all get together have couple of drinks then get on a coach to the away ground. At a reasonable price and think this whould be a success.
Money - 25-30 quid for a ticket, plus 30-40 quid on train.
Thats before food and beer. Just cant afford it.
History - never used to go to many away games even when in Prem.
Me and my mates used to pick 2 northern games and make a weekend of it.
Now they have got got kids.
Sad to say, last but not least, I am just not bothered enough to make that kind of effort to see us away. I dont feel that I am missing out on anything letting the team down.
The day out to Swansea must have cost me about a ton i would say, so it's not exactly cheap.
Shall venture to Coventry as i not been to the Ricoh yet, and Derby being the last away game of the season.
On the way back from Swansea, you just recognise that same old faces that have been going for the last 20 - 30 years.
Norman!
1. The missed generation in the Selhurst/UP years must have an effect.
2. The cost (of travel more than anything). But this effects every club in the Country
3. Away performances, again this effects a lot of clubs. How long have Clubs like S.Wednesday been shit for? We have just had a few bad years really.
4. Internal problems when you have a "family" club. The "lads" (and there are not many) don't like the sit down and watch in non emotional silence bridgade, and the sit down and watch in silence lot don't like the "Stand, swear & support bridgade". Have to admit im in the lads side and would attend many more if our away support was like it is at palace away, every week.
5. We are simply a small club im afraid. You will argue by pointing out are home "numbers", but next season will show this has been inflated since 98 by casual fans, prem league fans, free season ticket offers etc. So when we say we have 17k home fans, why does such a small percentage travel, I think that home numbers figure is misleading.
6. Minimal support outside the capital, like palace, millwall, fulham etc.
7. Due to all of the above people stop going as much, when this happens they varely rarely start going again, except for one off games, hence when a big one comes along we can pull a proper decent away support at times.
I wish we could produce an away support like we take to palace, every week, but it's never gona happen im afraid :(
our away support to home support ratio is one of the worst in the country FACT
every other club has bad runs /poor away form /skint fans / older fans with family commitments etc
Not on the greatest of wages so limit myself to London and maybe one other in a county close, money priorties are elsewere.
Would love to do more
we sold out there?
they had 3,000 here?
we sold 2648
"oohaah is our leader, oohaah is our leader, lalalala"
(bottom line: it's got dull, over expensive and a waste of your life)
The faces tend to come out for new stadia, rather than generally. Hence Swansea.
The so-called lost generation - I think 17 years on this is a myth. Or at least the lost generation if it existed would extend back to the late 70s, when the collapse of the Nelson team drove people away from The Valley. Gates at Selhurst from 1986-91 were higher than gates at The Valley from 1980-85! Of course this was because we went into the First Division at Selhurst, but this argument is about absolute numbers so it makes no difference.
they won their first away game in about 4 years at the weekend. so someone kept on reminding me when i put them to win in my prediction thing. not surprising they only take 200!
won their last three away games last season, that's why they stayed up.
that was their 6th away win in 4 seasons,so i think it's fair to say their away form is utter pants.
1) We are not a 'big club'. We have never had a consistently high away attendance.
2) I would reckon over time our away support would be similar to other suburban london clubs, Watford,QPR,Brentford,Fulham,Palace obviously relative to league status.
3) The attraction of coming to London and Charlton in particular may appeal more than us going to say Burnley
4) We are quite a nice welcoming club and reasonable value.
5) We even offer a dedicated pub for away fans only
6) We are on the South East side of London in the South East. Hence when travelling anywhere you have to negotiate London or M25 for all journeys (bar the obvious). Not the same for Midlands clubs etc. Makes our travelling costs higher.
7) As one of a number of London clubs our support boundaries are not quite so specific as individual towns. As such our support base isnt as cohesive as say Norwich or Leicester etc
8) Our Board have made our prices reasonable. Perhaps that means we attract more people for whom thats all they can afford with away trips being outside budget.
9) Our wives and girlfriends love us and dont want to part with us too much.
10) Train services out of London probably run later than those from provincial towns meaning it is more feasible to use public transport for people coming to Charlton as opposed to the reverse
I dont think we should say our away support is bad. Its what it is.