Torquay United Fans Forum

I am pretty sure the gate would be season ticket holders and those who pay on the day. To say Bar Staff etc are included is just plain silly

The club have to pay VAT on each ticket sold, so they have to keep a record of those who pay


....incidentally, the lowest crowd I can find for a league match is 850 at home to Crewe in March 1986. I did not go to that match myself, think we had at least 4 other crowds below 1000 for league fixtures

wivelgull wrote:I have been interested in the comments made by some correspondents regarding attendance figures. When a figure is announced (say, for example, 1100 [Braintree]) does it or does it not include season ticket supporters who are actually not in attandance? If that is the case then the published figure is misleading and the real (i.e. those actually present) figure should be given. Luckily, I have not attended a match this season (see whereabouts on my details) but perhaps those who have been at the games can enlighten me as to the REAL attendance figures. Is the one given true or not?

I asked an "insider" how the gate figure was reached on Saturday and was told ...

"The attendance figures include everyone in the ground - players - stewards - bar staff - reporters - cleaners - etc-etc"

So there you have it .. the actual gate of supporters is therefore considerably less than that which is publicly released.

In today's Herald Express, it says that the attendance of 1221 at the Chester match was the lowest since January 1987 when there was a gate of 1120 at a match against Colchester - 28 years ago. On a fine night for football, last night's gate of 1102 was even lower than that. Desperate times indeed.

I do remember going 2 or 3 times in the 80's when we had football league crowds under 1000 at home. Never thought those days would return

Some of you may have seen this regarding Accrington v Hartlepool gate earlier this year

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/sport ... gue_crowd/

happytorq wrote:not sure what they do in England now, but I know that for MLS and other american sports here they *always* count tickets sold, rather than people through the turnstiles. It's kind of a standing joke at places like the Red Bulls, cos they announce a 'sell-out' and you can clearly see that the place is -at best - 3 quarters full. It makes sense from an accounting perspective to do it this way, because tickets sold is a corollary to revenue, but it can be laughable at times.

Still - 'laughable' seems to be a pretty decent description of the football on offer right now.

This is the way we do it in Norway as well with tickets sold. And as you point out we have had our share of funny moments when people have actually counted the exact number of people who turned up Quite a mismatch

not sure what they do in England now, but I know that for MLS and other american sports here they *always* count tickets sold, rather than people through the turnstiles. It's kind of a standing joke at places like the Red Bulls, cos they announce a 'sell-out' and you can clearly see that the place is -at best - 3 quarters full. It makes sense from an accounting perspective to do it this way, because tickets sold is a corollary to revenue, but it can be laughable at times.

Still - 'laughable' seems to be a pretty decent description of the football on offer right now.

people around me were guessing and i my guess way 1100, a few in the pop last night

I've always thought they counted ST holders regardless of whether they actually attended. Looking at the crowd last night, I really can't see how they came to 1100. The Family Stand and Bench were embarrassing to look at and Braintree brought 15.

I have stopped going because I moved back home (Whitby, Yorkshire) a year ago. Of course I will always support TUFC but now I have returned to supporting Whitby Town FC of the Northern Premier League. I actually stopped going to Plainmoor a few months before I moved. The last match I saw was the 0-1 defeat to Accrington Stanley. So poor and so depressing was that game that I almost felt glad that I would never go to Plainmoor again. Also, the 100 mile round trip was becoming more and more of a chore. But at least I was at Plainmoor during the great years of the 60s. After relegation in 1972 the club has never recovered: attendances fell away disastrously and never recovered whiule the ambition that was dynamically present in the 60s faded and was lost. There were a few moments of joy among the gloom but these didn't last long as the three promotions which occurred never lasted longer than a season.
Still, I saw Robin Stubbs in his great days and those will always be the enduring memories of Plainmoor for me (along with Tommy, Colin, Ernie, Terry and two later heroes: John Smith and Mark Loram).
To see the club now at its lowest point ever (and I was there in the 850 crowd against Crewe and the 1-8 defeat to Scunthorpe) is so infuriating, especially when I remember the golden days. That it should come to this....

Can I ask why you have stopped going - I have got to say that looks a really sensible decision. I went to some matches at the start of the season and have been to a few since, but the writing has been on the wall. After the Wrexham game I won't set foot inside Plaimoor until if or when there is a regime change.

Looks possible that on Saturday the PA will be announcing the crowd changes to the players!

I think most Clubs record the actual people there on the day. However, Arsenal have definitely published how many tickets were sold for the game, which amounted to a difference of 170 000 between their figure and the Met Police's figure over the course of the season.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... gures.html

I started to count the attendance on the Popside to distract me from the antics on the field.......but people kept leaving .....

There's no way any one single fan inside the ground will or could know whether the announced attendance figure included season ticket holders who were not in attendance, it's guess work.

In that case the attendance at old Trafford will be zero. Despite 76k being in attendance