Jon
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Post by Jon on Feb 21, 2013 23:05:26 GMT
Inspired by Timbo posting the 1980 Port Vale programme, I thought I'd track the lowest Plainmoor League gate - because I can.
27/08/27 H v Exeter City D 1 - 1 10,749 Turner (pen)
07/09/27 H v Millwall L 0 - 1 5,413
17/09/27 H v Northampton L 1 - 5 4,625 Turner
01/10/27 H v Brighton & HA D 1 - 1 2,156 Jones
21/01/31 H v Bournemouth D 4 - 4 1,745 Birkett, Trotter, Clayson 2
05/11/75 H v Barnsley W 2 - 0 1,615 P Sandercock (pen), Myers
25/04/79 H v York City W 3 - 0 1,585 Cooper 3
23/04/80 H v Hartlepool W 3 - 1 1,581 Cooper 2, Ritchie
05/11/80 H v Port Vale W 4 - 0 1,227 Sermanni 2, Cooper, Fell
27/04/82 H v Halifax Town D 2 - 2 1,178 Brown, Jones
05/05/82 H v Darlington L 1 - 2 1,039 Brown
22/12/84 H v Southend United D 2 - 2 1,022 Anderson, Laryea
26/02/85 H v Swindon Town D 0 - 0 1,021
05/03/85 H v Scunthorpe U D 0 - 0 989
31/08/85 H v Colchester U W 2 - 1 895 Lambert, Crowe
01/03/86 H v Crewe Alexandra D 0 - 0 850
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2013 9:15:15 GMT
Hands up the 850
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Post by stewart on Feb 22, 2013 14:13:00 GMT
Inspired by Timbo posting the 1980 Port Vale programme, I thought I'd track the lowest Plainmoor League gate - because I can. 27/08/27 H v Exeter City D 1 - 1 10,749 Turner (pen) 07/09/27 H v Millwall L 0 - 1 5,413 17/09/27 H v Northampton L 1 - 5 4,625 Turner 01/10/27 H v Brighton & HA D 1 - 1 2,156 Jones 21/01/31 H v Bournemouth D 4 - 4 1,745 Birkett, Trotter, Clayson 2 05/11/75 H v Barnsley W 2 - 0 1,615 P Sandercock (pen), Myers 25/04/79 H v York City W 3 - 0 1,585 Cooper 3 23/04/80 H v Hartlepool W 3 - 1 1,581 Cooper 2, Ritchie 05/11/80 H v Port Vale W 4 - 0 1,227 Sermanni 2, Cooper, Fell 27/04/82 H v Halifax Town D 2 - 2 1,178 Brown, Jones 05/05/82 H v Darlington L 1 - 2 1,039 Brown 22/12/84 H v Southend United D 2 - 2 1,022 Anderson, Laryea 26/02/85 H v Swindon Town D 0 - 0 1,021 05/03/85 H v Scunthorpe U D 0 - 0 989 31/08/85 H v Colchester U W 2 - 1 895 Lambert, Crowe 01/03/86 H v Crewe Alexandra D 0 - 0 850 As I was not in the area during the mid 1980s, I was wondering if Jon, or anyone, could confirm whether or not the Popside had been reduced in size, or the Family Stand built, by the time of the matches which saw the attendances drop into three figures ? |
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Post by gullone on Feb 22, 2013 16:07:46 GMT
Inspired by Timbo posting the 1980 Port Vale programme, I thought I'd track the lowest Plainmoor League gate - because I can. 27/08/27 H v Exeter City D 1 - 1 10,749 Turner (pen) 07/09/27 H v Millwall L 0 - 1 5,413 17/09/27 H v Northampton L 1 - 5 4,625 Turner 01/10/27 H v Brighton & HA D 1 - 1 2,156 Jones 21/01/31 H v Bournemouth D 4 - 4 1,745 Birkett, Trotter, Clayson 2 05/11/75 H v Barnsley W 2 - 0 1,615 P Sandercock (pen), Myers 25/04/79 H v York City W 3 - 0 1,585 Cooper 3 23/04/80 H v Hartlepool W 3 - 1 1,581 Cooper 2, Ritchie 05/11/80 H v Port Vale W 4 - 0 1,227 Sermanni 2, Cooper, Fell 27/04/82 H v Halifax Town D 2 - 2 1,178 Brown, Jones 05/05/82 H v Darlington L 1 - 2 1,039 Brown 22/12/84 H v Southend United D 2 - 2 1,022 Anderson, Laryea 26/02/85 H v Swindon Town D 0 - 0 1,021 05/03/85 H v Scunthorpe U D 0 - 0 989 31/08/85 H v Colchester U W 2 - 1 895 Lambert, Crowe 01/03/86 H v Crewe Alexandra D 0 - 0 850 As I was not in the area during the mid 1980s, I was wondering if Jon, or anyone, could confirm whether or not the Popside had been reduced in size, or the Family Stand built, by the time of the matches which saw the attendances drop into three figures ? The old mini stand was demolished in about May 92 and the pop side was redeveloped a year or two later if that helps. |
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Post by stewart on Feb 22, 2013 16:21:39 GMT
As I was not in the area during the mid 1980s, I was wondering if Jon, or anyone, could confirm whether or not the Popside had been reduced in size, or the Family Stand built, by the time of the matches which saw the attendances drop into three figures ? The old mini stand was demolished in about May 92 and the pop side was redeveloped a year or two later if that helps. In that case those, if there were any, who attended the last few games on Jon's list and had also crammed into Plainmoor for the famous cup-tie in January 1965 must have thought that they had woken up in a ghost town. What a remarkable transformation in the space of just 20 years ! |
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Post by gullone on Feb 22, 2013 17:21:48 GMT
The old mini stand was demolished in about May 92 and the pop side was redeveloped a year or two later if that helps. In that case those, if there were any, who attended the last few games on Jon's list and had also crammed into Plainmoor for the famous cup-tie in January 1965 must have thought that they had woken up in a ghost town. What a remarkable transformation in the space of just 20 years ! If you are not overly impressed with Ling and co you certainly would not have liked what you saw under Dave Webb. I was there at those sub thousand gates and it was diabolical. My all time worst team would certainly consist mainly of players that played under Webb over those couple of years with the exception of a young Mark Loram of course. By the way if there is anyone out there who knows the wherabouts of one of those blue shirts we wore under Webb i will happily pay your price or even if one still survives. |
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Feb 23, 2013 12:44:48 GMT
As I was not in the area during the mid 1980s, I was wondering if Jon, or anyone, could confirm whether or not the Popside had been reduced in size, or the Family Stand built, by the time of the matches which saw the attendances drop into three figures ? As gullone says, the Family Stand was built in the summer of 1992 and the Pop rebuilt in the summer of 1994. I know this had been posted several times before, but I never tire of reminding myself how Plainmoor looked when I was a lad c. 1980: Cosily decrepit at the start of the 80s, the ground really was falling apart by the end of the 80s. Of course, Webby flattened the away end in 1984 and part of the Grandstand accidentally burned down in May 1985 - a few days after the Bradford disaster. |
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Feb 23, 2013 12:47:01 GMT
Not present - living away from Torquay at the time. I was one of the 895 though. |
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Post by wangfang on Apr 1, 2013 6:40:21 GMT
What a remarkable transformation in the space of just 20 years !
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2015 8:39:34 GMT
It'll not be a large crowd tonight. I'm sure I read last Tuesday's (v Chester) was the lowest league attendance for twenty-eight years. In that case we must be speaking of the season which ended in the first "Great Escape".
Using figures from the centenary history, the next "barrier" is the 1120 crowd that watched the Colchester game on the final day of January 1987. Prior to that there was a lower crowd - 1051 - for the Hereford match in November 1986.
And it's earlier in 1986 for the last two sub-1,000 crowds: 959 against Tranmere in April and, the lowest of them all, 850 for Crewe on 1 March.
Jon's initial post on this thread shows how our lowest crowds progressively reached that all-time low. Look carefully and you'll see a similar crowd to last week - 1227 v Port Vale - as early as November 1980. We won that game 4-0 with goals from Sermanni (2), Cooper and Fell.
This made me ponder what is the lowest Plainmoor league crowd of which I've been part. I was far away for the 1980s; just seventeen home matches between April 1982 and September 1988 (including a friendly and key games against Crewe, Spurs, Scunthorpe and Swansea).
I've gone through those programmes and the lowest, with respect to what I recorded at the time, was 1282 against Orient in November 1985. I can't for the life of me imagine what I was doing at that game. Checking the centenary history, that figure was later amended to 1181. That looks to be my personal best. Or worst.
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hector
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Post by hector on Mar 21, 2015 9:52:41 GMT
Although it wasn't a league game - it was Sherpa Van or whatever it was called then, perhaps Freight Rover Trophy, I remember the attendance being something like 601 against Swansea City and even with that sparse crowd, the game was policed because I remember there being some crowd trouble, which was difficult as I think away fans were banned at the time. It was essentially home fans fighting the police.
The Webb years were probably our lowest ever ebb, as had the relegation system been in place, we would have probably suffered two or three consecutive relegations and been playing regional football. The attendances reflected that. The fact we are now actually struggling at this level, therefore our worst performances since the 1920s, it is no wonder that our attendances are dropping to a level that even a struggling Plymouth Albion attract. And that is the nub of it. That is where we are - on the edge of semi-prodom.
If the Conference National, and struggling in it, is our foreseeable future, then we may as well be TUST owned and play at a regional level because for me, there is nothing positive about this league (other than its proximity to the Football League), no merit in being a Conference club. It is just a dull limbo of nothingness that really harnesses zero interest for me. I'd sooner watch us play Tiverton than Alfreton.
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sam
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Post by sam on Mar 21, 2015 9:57:53 GMT
Doubt if it will dip below the 1000 today. It could be that so many people will want to say 'I was there' at the lowest attendance that in fact they will never achieve it.
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Post by gateman49 on Mar 21, 2015 10:33:43 GMT
I was there but, of course, not counted as part of the 850!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2015 11:54:58 GMT
It should be remembered crowds were low throughout the Football League during the 1985/86 season.
I may have touched on this before but, using the following season's Rothmans' Football Yearbook as a guide, nine clubs in our division averaged fewer than two thousand. I watched Blackburn Rovers a lot that year; their gates averaged under 6,000 in the old Division Two.
I assume those averages were based upon the figures for individual games quoted elsewhere in the yearbook. They may not have done of course; crowd figures have often been a moveable feast over the years.
Certainly the Plainmoor attendances listed in that particular yearbook are, invariably, different to those quoted in the somewhat later centenary history.
The Crewe Alexandra game on 1 March 1986 is a case in point. Rothmans has the crowd as 1,011. The centenary history says 850.
What was announced at the time? I'm sure I can't remember anything that low. I've a programme for later in the season season but it isn't telling.
Apologies if this has been covered in the past and it has slipped my mind.
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Post by gullone on Mar 22, 2015 12:58:07 GMT
It should be remembered crowds were low throughout the Football League during the 1985/86 season. The Crewe Alexandra game on 1 March 1986 is a case in point. Rothmans has the crowd as 1,011. The centenary history says 850. What was announced at the time? I'm sure I can't remember anything that low. I've a programme for later in the season season but it isn't telling. The Herald at the time gave the crowd as 1,011 with snow in March...  |
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