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That is the question being asked in the echo tonight, and with bottom of the table Barnsley visiting on Saturday, could the record lowest ever League St Marys crowd, set on Wednesday in the game against Ipswich be beaten again? The Ipswich game saw the first ever league crowd at St Marys that could have fitted into the old Dell. After 3 games of 2008/9 season, Saints average league attendance is 16,490 – 23% down on last seasons final average of 21,418. The truth is there are a variety of reasons why fans are staying away, the main one being we are just not doing very well. Despite people (the club, the echo, the official website) putting a brave face on the performances of the youngsters, it is clear we need to be able to be more effective in our play. Nice crisp passing and movement is all very nice, but IMO it needs to be done more often in the final 3rd and less in our own half. If we start to win the crowds will come back, it’s as simple as that. Most fans want good football, but they want winning good football!
Fans will put up with anything if the team is winning. There are of course other reasons, such as the economy, lack of stars to watch, and to some extent Rupert Lowe himself. Nothing can be done about the economy, but that is only part of the reason, Rupert Lowe has managed to keep a reasonably low profile, and it is a pity that he can’t go completely into the background as that would certainly help in some supporters eyes. As far as stars to watch, that is a major problem.
While there is always a section of die hard fans who will go and watch the team whatever, the bulk of fans need a reason. When the teams perceived star players are sold off or loaned out (whether they were star players or not, is of course open to another debate), then fans will automatically be downhearted and when they are replaced with players no one has heard of, it is not going to set the pulses racing and get the fans pouring in. Added to that the replacement of a guy who became quite popular in a short time, with a guy from Holland again that no one had ever heard of its clearly going to cause caution among the fans. The feeling from many fans was that it wasn’t going to work to play youngsters not used to the championship, under a manager (head coach), who was also inexperienced with Championship football, and the last 3 games have done nothing to dispel those doubts. It is a problem for the cash strapped club, but the simple fact is that if the club don’t do something to bring some new experienced blood into the club during the current loan window, then results will continue and crowds will continue to drop.
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