Play-off attendances in Manchester

Kernow Yellow · Post by **Kernow Yellow** » Thu May 26, 2011 8:28 pm

Following on from the discussion on the other thread, which got slightly sidetracked, about the perceived poor attendance at the Conference play-off final at Eastlands - I see that Stevenage have sold a whopping 3,500 tickets so far for their visit to Old Trafford this weekend, and Torquay have only managed 5,000. Wonder what the record low attendance for a league play-off final is?

Tabbernackle · Post by **Tabbernackle** » Thu May 26, 2011 10:25 pm

Blame the F A for chosing Manchester for the final (12 months previous) They could have waited to see which 2 teams were in the final. We could even have staged it. 5,000 at most from both teams, no probs.

Baboo · Post by **Baboo** » Fri May 27, 2011 9:19 am

Finalist were not know until a week ago. Waiting until then to pick a venue and get everything arranged would have been asking rather a lot I think.

wightyellow · Post by **wightyellow** » Fri May 27, 2011 10:02 am

&quotBaboo&quot wrote:Finalist were not know until a week ago. Waiting until then to pick a venue and get everything arranged would have been asking rather a lot I think.

Would you not have &quothedged your bets&quot and picked somewhere in the midlands?

bspittles · Post by **bspittles** » Fri May 27, 2011 10:02 am

19,486 saw Colchester beat Torquay in 1998. Figures for pre-1991 aren't on wikipedia. Contrast that with 2007, when 61,589 were at Wembley for Bristol Rovers v Wycombe!

I'd be surprised if it would have been possible to wait until the finalists were known. Maybe the Millennium Stadium would have been a better choice as venue - more of a &quotbig day out&quot feeling than Old Trafford.

Baboo · Post by **Baboo** » Fri May 27, 2011 1:45 pm

&quotwightyellow&quot wrote:
&quotBaboo&quot wrote:Finalist were not know until a week ago. Waiting until then to pick a venue and get everything arranged would have been asking rather a lot I think.
Would you not have &quothedged your bets&quot and picked somewhere in the midlands?

That shows too much commonsense. But depending on the two clubs involved there could be a massive difference in demand. A few thousand rattling round in a huge ground would look ridiculous (Old Trafford on Saturday) but wouldn't want people to be locked out that wanted to go.

slappy · Post by **slappy** » Fri May 27, 2011 1:50 pm

The football league paper weren't far wrong a fortnight ago

Kernow Yellow · Post by **Kernow Yellow** » Fri May 27, 2011 2:04 pm

&quotwightyellow&quot wrote:
&quotBaboo&quot wrote:Finalist were not know until a week ago. Waiting until then to pick a venue and get everything arranged would have been asking rather a lot I think.
Would you not have &quothedged your bets&quot and picked somewhere in the midlands?

But what if the final had been between, say, Us and Shrewsbury? A stadium in the Midlands might well have been oversubscribed for that.

Essentially it's bad luck that two Southern teams with poor support made it through. Bradford vs Chesterfield, for example, would have made Old Trafford look pretty full.

The biggest mistake is the ticket prices. It is still a game of Div 4 football, at the end of the day, and many tickets are selling at upwards of 40 quid. That makes it a very expensive day out for a family from Torquay. If all tickets were sold at £20 (£10 concs), you'd get many more family groups travelling, and more neutrals turning up for a game at Old Trafford too. As it is, watching it on telly in the pub must be quite an attractive proposition for casual fans of both teams.

Waiting until the finalists is known is a nice idea, but I don't know how feasible it would be. What if the most suitable grounds were all booked up with other engagements?

OUFanatic · Post by **OUFanatic** » Sat May 28, 2011 10:18 am

I think Villa Park would have been a far more imaginative and even sensible option for the L1 and 2 play offs. Even the Conference play off final was under supported!

I hope the FA and FL kick themselves when they total up the profits of the play offs this year.

Who do we want to win from Stevenage and Torquay then?

BigCrompy · Post by **BigCrompy** » Sat May 28, 2011 3:29 pm

Torquay's Guy Branston was just quoted on the Beeb as saying &quotStevenage are a big, big club' whom the pressure will be on. Work THAT one out if you can!

slappy · Post by **slappy** » Sat May 28, 2011 4:54 pm

11484

Aylesbury Rich · Post by **Aylesbury Rich** » Sat May 28, 2011 5:17 pm

To be fair I understand that there was a traffic problem on the M6, so I can only assume that the missing 25,000 Stevenage fans were there? Otherwise it would be just too embarrassing to contemplate that a league 2 club can only bring 5000 fans to a play off final.

Yellow-Robbo · Post by **Yellow-Robbo** » Sat May 28, 2011 6:49 pm

It really annoys me to see that less than 11,500 people turned up to that game. I understand why and everything but it just bugs me! - It's horrible to think that we could have hosted that game at the Kassam and had 1000 tickets spare.

Geographical stuff blah blah - Oxford would have taken over 20,000, even if the final was in Darlington.

Baboo · Post by **Baboo** » Sat May 28, 2011 7:01 pm

&quotAylesbury Rich&quot wrote:To be fair I understand that there was a traffic problem on the M6,

Torquay supporting mates were stationary on the M6 for ona and a half hours. Just wasn't their day was it.

slappy · Post by **slappy** » Sat May 28, 2011 7:21 pm

Apparently the FA have so far paid up ┬ú500K compensation to the football league for double booking Wembley (with a total of ┬ú1MM due).

Rage Online

Play-off attendances in Manchester

Play-off attendances in Manchester

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