Attendances - The Best Run For 65 Years | Vital Football

Attendances - The Best Run For 65 Years

Scotimp

Vital Football Legend
The attendance of 8,882 against Bolton means that we have now enjoyed the equivalent of a full season of home league games (23) where the attendance has been above 8,000.

That constitutes the best run for 65 years. The last time the club enjoyed a run of 23 successive home league attendances over 8,000 was in the Second Division between 26 January 1952 and 16 March 1955 (66 games).

The last time we had an attendance at a league game under 5,000 was for the National League game against Wrexham on 29 November 2016 (it was bloody freezing, I still haven't warmed up). Since then, we have enjoyed:

68 successive league attendances over 5,000 (average 8,625)
64 successive league attendances over 6,000 (average 8,797)
61 successive league attendances over 7,000 (average 8,893)
23 successive league attendances over 8,000 (average 9,151)

If someone had told me at that Wrexham game (attendance 3,344) that the average attendance for the next three years would be 8,625, I would have had them committed.

The average home attendance since we returned to the Football League stands at 8,927.

As John Beck would say, 'not bad for little old Lincoln'.
 
That Wrexham match was one of the defining games. Down to10 men and a huge rearguard action to take the 1-0 win. Our mental strength and togetherness was clear that night. Poor Wrexham are now the longest serving members of the Conference. Still not non-league in my eyes But can’t be far off now.
Unbelievable where we are now and Ithink our average is just over 9,000 at the moment. Amazing
 
Those are cracking stats Scot Imp when you think of the crowds we used to get in the Conference it is nothing short of amazing.

Of all the attendances since we got back in the league last night’s was the most impressive nearly 9000 on a freezing cold January night was superb.
 
That Wrexham match was one of the defining games. Down to10 men and a huge rearguard action to take the 1-0 win. Our mental strength and togetherness was clear that night. Poor Wrexham are now the longest serving members of the Conference. Still not non-league in my eyes But can’t be far off now.
Unbelievable where we are now and I think our average is just over 9,000 at the moment. Amazing

Agree 100% re that Wrexham game, one of our most important results that season which often gets overlooked. It was bladdy cold!

Current average is indeed over 9,000 - it's 9,069.
 
68 successive league attendances over 5,000 (average 8,625)
64 successive league attendances over 6,000 (average 8,797)
61 successive league attendances over 7,000 (average 8,893)
23 successive league attendances over 8,000 (average 9,151)
Another remarkable facet of that is how quickly attendances rose through 5,000, 6,000 and 7,000; and then kept on going.
 
Well the Cowleys certainly achieved one of the things they set out to do. I remember them saying they wanted to change the status of the club forever. Do you know what it feels like they have done. The whole vibe and attitude towards our club locally, county wide and nationally is completely different from anything I have ever experienced in my 40 odd years of supporting the mighty Imps.

Our fantastic club feels like it belongs at this level and hopefully above. These sort of attendances are now the norm and wow doesn't it feel truly great!
 
That Wrexham match was one of the defining games. Down to10 men and a huge rearguard action to take the 1-0 win. Our mental strength and togetherness was clear that night. Poor Wrexham are now the longest serving members of the Conference. Still not non-league in my eyes But can’t be far off now.
Unbelievable where we are now and Ithink our average is just over 9,000 at the moment. Amazing


Now that's an interesting philosophical point.
What is a league club and what is a non league club?

It cannot simply be decided by what league a club currently plays in. In my opinion,
It depends on a much longer period of history.

Back before our recovery years came along, I had several discussions/arguments with other clubs' supporters as to whether we were a non-league club.
My argument was that we were still very much a league club as we always had been but a league club playing in the non league.
An analogy is that if you have a field of sheep and another field of giraffes, and you take one of the giraffes and put it into the field of sheep, it will still be a giraffe.
And similarly the other way around.

In other words, despite us being placed in a non league division, we were still in essence a league club, with a league ground and fulltime players and several thousand fans and a very long history.

And likewise for non league clubs being promoted into the League. The likes of Forest Green and Salford are very much still non league clubs.

But the more difficult question is after how long or under what conditions does a club change its inherent nature from league to non league or non league to league??
 
Those are cracking stats Scot Imp when you think of the crowds we used to get in the Conference it is nothing short of amazing.

Of all the attendances since we got back in the league last night’s was the most impressive nearly 9000 on a freezing cold January night was superb.

It was really mild! About 11C.
 
Now that's an interesting philosophical point.
What is a league club and what is a non league club?

It cannot simply be decided by what league a club currently plays in. In my opinion,
It depends on a much longer period of history.

Back before our recovery years came along, I had several discussions/arguments with other clubs' supporters as to whether we were a non-league club.
My argument was that we were still very much a league club as we always had been but a league club playing in the non league.
An analogy is that if you have a field of sheep and another field of giraffes, and you take one of the giraffes and put it into the field of sheep, it will still be a giraffe.
And similarly the other way around.

In other words, despite us being placed in a non league division, we were still in essence a league club, with a league ground and fulltime players and several thousand fans and a very long history.

And likewise for non league clubs being promoted into the League. The likes of Forest Green and Salford are very much still non league clubs.

But the more difficult question is after how long or under what conditions does a club change its inherent nature from league to non league or non league to league??

Well we certainly got the attendances of a non league club.
 
What is a league club and what is a non league club? It cannot simply be decided by what league a club currently plays in. In my opinion, It depends on a much longer period of history.

But the more difficult question is after how long or under what conditions does a club change its inherent nature from league to non league or non league to league??
There is definitely a timescale during which a 'former League club' morphs into a 'non-league club'. I think we were on the point of becoming a non-league club when salvation came our way from the Southern Hemisphere. I remember thinking of Workington and Southport as non-league in the 80s, certainly within ten years of leaving the FL, so perhaps that is about right.
 
I also believe it is 42 league matches (43 if you count the play-off match v Exeter) in a row that we have had 7,500+ Imps in the ground as well.

I think the last game we didn't was the Newport home match in January 2017.
 
If someone had told me at that Wrexham game (attendance 3,344) that the average attendance for the next three years would be 8,625, I would have had them committed.
That is truly extraordinary, isn't it? You couldn't dream that up in your wildest imagination.