GFC Arrivals Departures | Page 5 | Vital Football

GFC Arrivals Departures

On the face of it FGR have all the potential to progress but will the lack of any real fanbase hold them back ?

Is that area more Rugby with Swindon and Bristol close enough to gobble up any football fans ?

I guess this is what frustrates me about Gills. We have far more potential than FGR, if we had an owner who could fund the dream. This isn't a scally bash, its just fact that he can't fund the dream or attract an investor. Possibly because he really wants a donation not an investment in my opinion.

Bloody frustrating as Kent really should be able to support a championship team.
The Medway Towns is big enough to easily support a premiership team.
 
It’s big enough but doesn’t have the amount of people who would support Gillingham to any decent level.
We’ll never know Trev because we’ve never been anywhere near it. Our last game in league two in 2013 was a sellout.
People want success.
I’d reckon that if we were top of the Championship, every game would be a sell out.
If we ever got to the Prem, every game would be a sell out, just like Bournemouth.
When they are back in league one, they will be back to 5k crowds
 
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On the face of it FGR have all the potential to progress but will the lack of any real fanbase hold them back ?

Is that area more Rugby with Swindon and Bristol close enough to gobble up any football fans ?

I guess this is what frustrates me about Gills. We have far more potential than FGR, if we had an owner who could fund the dream. This isn't a scally bash, its just fact that he can't fund the dream or attract an investor. Possibly because he really wants a donation not an investment in my opinion.

Bloody frustrating as Kent really should be able to support a championship team.

FGR are as it is often termed “the little club on the hill” They play in Nailsworth with a population of 5,500! The fanbase has grown since they got in to the league and are attracting fans from a much wider area and also with their environmental ethos! I love going down to the club!
 
FGR are as it is often termed “the little club on the hill” They play in Nailsworth with a population of 5,500! The fanbase has grown since they got in to the league and are attracting fans from a much wider area and also with their environmental ethos! I love going down to the club!
Presumably everyone has to drive there?🤪
 
We’ll never know Trev because we’ve never been anywhere near it.
I’d reckon that if we were top of the Championship, every game would be a sell out.
If we ever got to the Prem, every game would be a sell out, just like Bournemouth.
When they are back in league one, they will be back to 5k crowds

Ever since the early 60's and possibly earlier, people have been travelling from the Medway Towns to London to watch top clubs rather than go to Priestfield. for people in large parts of Kent (except for the railway lines from Dover and Ramsgate) getting to London is easier than getting to Gillingham. Reaching the Prem. is for the foreseeable future beyond us, to increase attendances significantly Gills need to move to the increasingly mythical new stadium. An accessible stadium of the same size as the present one with the facility to increase capacity as and when it is needed, would seem to be our only alternative. Getting fans to stop going to London for football to me is a non starter.
 
FGR are as it is often termed “the little club on the hill” They play in Nailsworth with a population of 5,500! The fanbase has grown since they got in to the league and are attracting fans from a much wider area and also with their environmental ethos! I love going down to the club!

Are you sure you shouldn't be going up to the club..? 😉
 
More than a decade ago a friend who was considering it (briefly!!) told me McDonalds were wanting £500,000 for a franchise, then of course a cut of the turnover.
I don't find that overly surprising. You're pretty much buying a ready to go business.

All the marketing, pricing and operational practices are done for you. You'll have an immediate customer base.
 
It’s big enough but doesn’t have the amount of people who would support Gillingham to any decent level.

We’ll never know Trev because we’ve never been anywhere near it. Our last game in league two in 2013 was a sellout.
People want success.
I’d reckon that if we were top of the Championship, every game would be a sell out.
If we ever got to the Prem, every game would be a sell out, just like Bournemouth.
When they are back in league one, they will be back to 5k crowds


I think you are both right. The problem for Gills is that we have never really had a sustained period of success to build the fan base. For the big game out they come, but they don't stay, and that's due to a lack of success or even any real prospect of success.

We need a new direction and an owner able to invest to bring that success. That's not a dig at Scally. He is exactly what we need to navigate the COVID impact. He is not what we need to go to the next level and build from there. For whatever reason he can't find an investor and we could speculate as to why.

I believe Medway/Kent COULD support a championship club but it needs sustained success to make that happen.
 
I think you are both right. The problem for Gills is that we have never really had a sustained period of success to build the fan base. For the big game out they come, but they don't stay, and that's due to a lack of success or even any real prospect of success.

We need a new direction and an owner able to invest to bring that success. That's not a dig at Scally. He is exactly what we need to navigate the COVID impact. He is not what we need to go to the next level and build from there. For whatever reason he can't find an investor and we could speculate as to why.

I believe Medway/Kent COULD support a championship club but it needs sustained success to make that happen.
Agreed, its the old cliché "He's taken us as far as he can" scenario. He came, he rescued the club, massively improved the ground and got us to our highest ever league position. All massive achievements and they must never be forgotten but I feel we will never quite "kick on" with PS at the helm.
Again, in no way a criticism, he has made us pretty much self sustaining as a business. OK so by his own admission, we need one big sale or sell on fee per season but we pretty much always achieve that due to good business by him or the manager of the time but its no basis on which to rely if we're going to make it to (and stay in) the PL.
I guess it all depends on whether he wants to tick over as we are or sell up to someone who can take us there, whoever that "someone" is. Maybe all the grief of COVID will be the straw that breaks the camels back for him but, as is mentioned above, I'm quite chuffed it was him in charge when it came as I can see many other clubs coming out of it in much worse shape than us.
 
What is this weird obsession in football for wanting a rich benefactor to drive success? Especially when fans will still claim "we're the club" despite it essentially being a rich owner bringing the success.

I'd much rather success come more organically through fans realising it is them that drives the success through going to matches. It would never happen but if the club did a 'Pay what you want' season ticket I'd hazard a guess that the revenue would depressingly go down. Too many fans would slag off who we can sign on a small budget but would probably be paying £50 for a season ticket.

I think we've all really enjoyed the season just gone because we didn't expect much but had a valiant attempt at the playoffs - no big spending required. Look how it ended last time we went for promotion (JET).

Just get behind the team and accept that football fluctuates with highs and lows. Couldn't care less about getting into the Championship or beyond on the back of unearned money. I accept it's a money game now but do we really want to help encourage that?

Tl;Dr : I consider it our responsibility to drive the success of the club, not owners investing.
 
What is this weird obsession in football for wanting a rich benefactor to drive success? Especially when fans will still claim "we're the club" despite it essentially being a rich owner bringing the success.

I'd much rather success come more organically through fans realising it is them that drives the success through going to matches. It would never happen but if the club did a 'Pay what you want' season ticket I'd hazard a guess that the revenue would depressingly go down. Too many fans would slag off who we can sign on a small budget but would probably be paying £50 for a season ticket.

I think we've all really enjoyed the season just gone because we didn't expect much but had a valiant attempt at the playoffs - no big spending required. Look how it ended last time we went for promotion (JET).

Just get behind the team and accept that football fluctuates with highs and lows. Couldn't care less about getting into the Championship or beyond on the back of unearned money. I accept it's a money game now but do we really want to help encourage that?

Tl;Dr : I consider it our responsibility to drive the success of the club, not owners investing.
Hear hear. I should have added my usual caveat that I am happy for PS to stay. I've always said that I'd prefer a solid L1/L2 club to support than risk everything for a shot at "the big time" but i usually get shot down for showing a lack of ambition.
An average club is better than no club and its our club after all.
 
What is this weird obsession in football for wanting a rich benefactor to drive success? Especially when fans will still claim "we're the club" despite it essentially being a rich owner bringing the success.

I'd much rather success come more organically through fans realising it is them that drives the success through going to matches. It would never happen but if the club did a 'Pay what you want' season ticket I'd hazard a guess that the revenue would depressingly go down. Too many fans would slag off who we can sign on a small budget but would probably be paying £50 for a season ticket.

I think we've all really enjoyed the season just gone because we didn't expect much but had a valiant attempt at the playoffs - no big spending required. Look how it ended last time we went for promotion (JET).

Just get behind the team and accept that football fluctuates with highs and lows. Couldn't care less about getting into the Championship or beyond on the back of unearned money. I accept it's a money game now but do we really want to help encourage that?

Tl;Dr : I consider it our responsibility to drive the success of the club, not owners investing.
It is not about a rich owner .Simply a owner who doesn't need or wish to take a quarter of a million out of the club ot there abouts every year.Might make a difference.Scally as has been said has done everything he can with the finance that is left after everything else is paid.He can no longer run the club as he has.He needs to sell or at very least cut the amount he takes out .No doubt he will be asking others to take a pay cut time he took a real lead if he intends to stay .Even a 20/30% cut would help the player budget maybe stay as it was last season.
 
I'd much rather success come more organically through fans realising it is them that drives the success through going to matches..

The key question is how do we get from a 4,000 average club to a 8,000 average and then a 15,000 Average (in the new stadium) and then selling out the new stadium ?

If we aren't planning on that fan base growth then we really don't need the new stadium to be built.

To attract new fans I argue we need sustained success and that generally speaking needs some better players to be signed.

Hopefully scally will issue his bond scheme soon and that will allow those fans that want to, to invest and grow the club organically as you say. That would be better than the risks associated with investors/new owners.

I'm not convinced that scheme will trigger the investment needed and so if we want to grow then we need some external help. Or, as many would be happy to be we could be content with being a league one club attracting around 5-6000 in a successful season and less on a normal one. That's fine too at Priestfield but would look silly in a 25,000 stadium. I just think we need to to decide what direction the club is going in and plan for that. I do wonder how much we have spent on the "new stadium" planning, investment hunting and consultancy over the years. I'd guess enough to have built a proper Town End and turn Priestfield into a stadium that was very fit for our league one ambitions.
 
More than a decade ago a friend who was considering it (briefly!!) told me McDonalds were wanting £500,000 for a franchise, then of course a cut of the turnover.

given the size of their brand I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Hard graft running one of those though
 
Our first championship season the average gate was 9,600 with a few total sell outs.
That was for a lower mid table finishing 13th
Had we been pushing for the title or even the playoffs I think it would have been much higher.
Our final game in the league two promo year was nearly 12k
People jump on the back of success.
Just look at Charlton.
I don’t think we could ever get the gates of a big city team, but more like Watford or Bournemouth.
 
Our first championship season the average gate was 9,600 with a few total sell outs.
That was for a lower mid table finishing 13th
Had we been pushing for the title or even the playoffs I think it would have been much higher.
Our final game in the league two promo year was nearly 12k
People jump on the back of success.
Just look at Charlton.
I don’t think we could ever get the gates of a big city team, but more like Watford or Bournemouth.

I agree but the last few years our averages have been approx.

2019/2020 - 5,400
2018/2019 - 5,200
2017/2018 - 4,800
2016/2017 - 5,800
2015/2016 - 6,200
2014/2015 - 5,300
2013/2014 - 5,900
2012/2013 - 6,500

We need a period of sustained success and growth to get us over 50% stadium capacity.

The potential is there but we aren't attracting them along. Even when we won the title (and were top 3 most of that season) we only pulled in 6.500 on average
 
I agree but the last few years our averages have been approx.

2019/2020 - 5,400
2018/2019 - 5,200
2017/2018 - 4,800
2016/2017 - 5,800
2015/2016 - 6,200
2014/2015 - 5,300
2013/2014 - 5,900
2012/2013 - 6,500

We need a period of sustained success and growth to get us over 50% stadium capacity.

The potential is there but we aren't attracting them along. Even when we won the title (and were top 3 most of that season) we only pulled in 6.500 on average
Don’t forget the large amount of free tickets handed out since the Pennock years in particular. Lots of those attendances were boosted by tickets handed out to local schools, youth clubs etc.
I dread those games as it usually means there’s a 10 year old with no interest in the game fidgeting about and kicking the back of my seat for 90 mins! :pinch: