Brad Smith

Neil Dawson said:
Population of Rochdale 211,000
Population of Bournemouth 187000

You still miss my point. All I was trying to say was that a lot of the outside world don’t understand the magnitude of ours and Eddies achievement because they don’t understand how small a club we actually are/were and what a non football town he galvanised.

Putting us on the map was harder than putting Hull on the map. It’s a compliment to Eddie. So when radio pundits were saying he needed to be sacked to preserve our status I think they were misjudging the situation.
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In case you hadn't noticed Neil, Bournemouth Poole and Christchurch are now, not only a conurbation in fact, but a unitary authority to boot with a population of almost 400,000 as many others on here have pointed out to you.
 
zigger zaggar said:
In case you hadn't noticed Neil, Bournemouth Poole and Christchurch are now, not only a conurbation in fact, but a unitary authority to boot with a population of almost 400,000 as many others on here have pointed out to you.
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You know when you wish you’d never said something!!

Ok. Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch is a bigger population than Rochdale town centre if it keeps people happy.

It’s not made up of solid working class football fans is it though... half the population are waiting to die in Christchurch. We couldn’t sell out Wolves at home going for the Championship title in March. Burnley a much smaller population but a football town.

The roots of this club are small which makes the achievement greater, and was why Eddie didn’t deserve to be sacked like some fans and a lot of media people were saying needed to happen. That was the only point I was trying to make.
 
red_house said:
We were far bigger than them back then, always have been. Anyway I'm losing sight of the argument, whats it about again ?
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We were getting 2700 in a three sided stadium and about to go conference. We were bigger in the 70s and part of the 80s yes.... but at the point Eddie took over we were equal.
 
Neil Dawson said:
We were getting 2700 in a three sided stadium and about to go conference. We were bigger in the 70s and part of the 80s yes.... but at the point Eddie took over we were equal.
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Average that season was nearly 5K.

Wolves average in 1986 was 4K.....still struggling with your point.
 
zigger zaggar said:
In case you hadn't noticed Neil, Bournemouth Poole and Christchurch are now, not only a conurbation in fact, but a unitary authority to boot with a population of almost 400,000 as many others on here have pointed out to you.
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I think the next census will show BCP above 500k. Think its due next year.

Neil Dawson said:
Agreed. But not bigger when Eddie took over the first time.
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Deluded, 5 years in PL, fanbase has grown.

Neil Dawson said:
We were getting 2700 in a three sided stadium and about to go conference. We were bigger in the 70s and part of the 80s yes.... but at the point Eddie took over we were equal.
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Also took 19k to another country in the L2 playoff final in 03.
 
I don't think it's at all hyperbole to say that we signed Brad Smith to build us a new stadium and he didn't nothing of the sort, instead implementing a membership scheme that drove fans away and then somehow selling the stadium from under our noses. What a git.
 
Neil Dawson said:
We weren’t when we were getting and spending 100m a year. We are smaller now. When the parachute payments end we won’t be in much different a position to Wycomb

The difference is that we didn’t get our extra support in the habit of going, we didn’t get them hooked. We couldn’t so I’m not attaching any blame to that.

You know that if we’re are in the bottom six of the Championship we won’t sell out don’t you?
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I can understand the theory that people who didn't get to see a game maybe less likely to be hooked and I'm sure the positives of promotion won't be as pronounced as they might have been with a bigger ground.... However, thousands of new fans did get to see them in league games, cups games away games, on telly, on MOTD, in their sticker albums and in there fantasy football teams.

There is a generation in this area now that have grown up as AFCB fans whether they got into DC or not. The proportion of under 21 year olds that support afcb over the other clubs is higher than its ever been as is the number if replica shirts and afcb merch you see around the town. Some may drift off to other things but a shitload will be afcb for the rest if their lives.

As much as it pains me to say it, Swindon have always got 1,000 - 2,000 more than we have through the gates. This is because they've had a purple patch that we'd never had. Well we now have had it and we'll never go back to 4,000 odd average gates. In fact I don't reckon we'll ever drop much below 7,000 averages again no matter what happens.

We probably won't sell out but we'll have thousands more fans than we would have done had all this not happened.
 
red_house said:
Average that season was nearly 5K.

Wolves average in 1986 was 4K.....still struggling with your point.
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My only point (which I made on a podcast) is people that were calling for Eddie to be sacked on radio shows/tv etc didn’t really understand the size of our club and his achievement. People thinking about us like a Huddersfield when we are more of a Rochdale or an Exeter at the point he took the reigns. That was the throw away comment that I’m now getting stick for! I stand by it for the reasons stated but respect people having their own subjective views on it most of which is we have been bigger before and after that point which I agree with.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
I can understand the theory that people who didn't get to see a game maybe less likely to be hooked and I'm sure the positives of promotion won't be as pronounced as they might have been with a bigger ground.... However, thousands of new fans did get to see them in league games, cups games away games, on telly, on MOTD, in their sticker albums and in there fantasy football teams.

There is a generation in this area now that have grown up as AFCB fans whether they got into DC or not. The proportion of under 21 year olds that support afcb over the other clubs is higher than its ever been as is the number if replica shirts and afcb merch you see around the town. Some may drift off to other things but a shitload will be afcb for the rest if their lives.

As much as it pains me to say it, Swindon have always got 1,000 - 2,000 more than we have through the gates. This is because they've had a purple patch that we'd never had. Well we now have had it and we'll never go back to 4,000 odd average gates. In fact I don't reckon we'll ever drop much below 7,000 averages again no matter what happens.

We probably won't sell out but we'll have thousands more fans than we would have done had all this not happened.
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Hopefully we won’t find out!
 
Neil Dawson said:
My only point (which I made on a podcast) is people that were calling for Eddie to be sacked on radio shows/tv etc didn’t really understand the size of our club and his achievement. People thinking about us like a Huddersfield when we are more of a Rochdale or an Exeter at the point he took the reigns. That was the throw away comment that I’m now getting stick for! I stand by it for the reasons stated but respect people having their own subjective views on it most of which is we have been bigger before and after that point which I agree with.
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We're not though, you're wrong, and to be honest we have more potential than Huddersfield and should look to being a bigger club than them and being the same size as Reading.
 
Resevoir_Red said:
I think the next census will show BCP above 500k. Think its due next year.



Deluded, 5 years in PL, fanbase has grown.



Also took 19k to another country in the L2 playoff final in 03.
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not disputing points one and three, shame they couldn’t make it to the Wolves game or the Forest etc etc. Point two I’ve never disputed I’m just saying at the point Eddie took the reigns we were small.
 
Resevoir_Red said:
We're not though, you're wrong, and to be honest we have more potential than Huddersfield and should look to being a bigger club than them and being the same size as Reading.
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Agree with you on most of this subject but Huddersfield is in a bigger urban area than we are, has pretty much always had much bigger crowds than us or Reading. We're certainly no bigger than them and neither are Reading.
 
Neil Dawson said:
It’s not made up of solid working class football fans is it though... half the population are waiting to die in Christchurch. We couldn’t sell out Wolves at home going for the Championship title in March. Burnley a much smaller population but a football town.

The roots of this club are small which makes the achievement greater, and was why Eddie didn’t deserve to be sacked like some fans and a lot of media people were saying needed to happen. That was the only point I was trying to make.
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This is the thing, the basic crux of it all, no matter what WE say, how WE feel, nor even how many folk turn up on the beach, this is not and never has been a "football" town. Something I'd never really appreciated until I lived in a proper football town. Derby averages probably 27-8k , population 250k. I'm pretty sure most of us have been asked by people (even in Bournemouth) what team is that shirt?
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Agree with you on most of this subject but Huddersfield is in a bigger urban area than we are, has pretty much always had much bigger crowds than us or Reading. We're certainly no bigger than them and neither are Reading.
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I have to disagree Derek, although Huddersfield have had solid crowds since they built their Stadium I do think they have reached their ceiling because of the sheer amount of Yorkshire clubs -there's the 3 biggest 1) Leeds 2) Weds 3) Sheff,Utd all with large populations and no doubt have a fair chunk of the Yorkshire fanbase.
Huddersfield do have a smaller population than us.
But then the rest of them who get fair crowds - Barnsley, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Hull and to a lesser extent Rotherham all cancel each other out and I think in the long term we should be bigger than the these clubs. Let's not forgot they're only 40 miles or so away from some of the biggest clubs in the world. And that's not including the smaller ones like York and newly promoted Harrogate.
 
cockbeard said:
This is the thing, the basic crux of it all, no matter what WE say, how WE feel, nor even how many folk turn up on the beach, this is not and never has been a "football" town. Something I'd never really appreciated until I lived in a proper football town. Derby averages probably 27-8k , population 250k. I'm pretty sure most of us have been asked by people (even in Bournemouth) what team is that shirt?
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In the 80's I'd agree with you but I think there's been a much bigger shift in the last 10 to 20 years with the population and the 5 years in the PL.
 
Resevoir_Red said:
I have to disagree Derek, although Huddersfield have had solid crowds since they built their Stadium I do think they have reached their ceiling because of the sheer amount of Yorkshire clubs -there's the 3 biggest 1) Leeds 2) Weds 3) Sheff,Utd all with large populations and no doubt have a fair chunk of the Yorkshire fanbase.
Huddersfield do have a smaller population than us.
But then the rest of them who get fair crowds - Barnsley, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Hull and to a lesser extent Rotherham all cancel each other out and I think in the long term we should be bigger than the these clubs. Let's not forgot they're only 40 miles or so away from some of the biggest clubs in the world. And that's not including the smaller ones like York and newly promoted Harrogate.
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Leeds or Bradford City maybe but nobody in the Huddersfield area is going to support South Yorkshire clubs. Transport links are shite for a start. Yeah there will be a few plastic Mancs but you're suggesting Reading are bigger and they are 20 mins from London with all the competing clubs there.
 
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