Colchester Gazette article about our support | Vital Football

Colchester Gazette article about our support

I like it when other clubs look at what we are doing and say to themselves, lets try to emulate Lincoln. That's a real sign that we are doing things well
 
Colchester has a bigger population than Lincoln (121,859 against 97,541) and is one of the fastest-growing towns in Britain (it grew by almost 18,000 between the 2001 census and 2011). But it is also a satellite town for London and many of the people who live there have little or no real affiliation with it. Therefore, the real picture regarding potential support for its football club is very different to Lincoln.

One of the comments is right: Lincoln has a good traditional support base that has been lying dormant, Colchester has never had that.

And you cannot generate the kind of support Lincoln have out of thin air - you have to draw it in through doing exceptional things. The vast majority of clubs never do exceptional things - Lincoln's success over the past two seasons is practically unprecedented. Add a charismatic management team with a genuine understanding of how to relate to people, and you have a potent mix. I have a feeling I won't see anything like this happen again in my lifetime.
 
Yep I think for us long suffering fans realise that we need to ride this particular crest of wave for as long as we can.

I think Danny says it all when he says Lincoln people have that bit more loyalty to Lincoln than maybe folks do from some other towns and cities and that shows in the support we are generating.

We have always been slightly isolated historically and that builds in that sense of place and DC and NC have bought into that and generated and brought out that potential that has always been latently there!

What we need to do is build that core support up while we can and then we have a chance of keeping the crowds that little bit better once some more normal times return. That will help us stay further up the leagues in the long run!
 
Agree r.e. a dormant fan base.

People are quick to point out the low attendances in the NL at times, but forget to mention that last time had decent 'success', over 10 years ago, we were 5.5k average and back in the KA days, the Boston/Scunny games were 7k-8k anyway.

There are some who've jumped on the Loco, but not to the extent that outsiders think.
 
Agree r.e. a dormant fan base.

People are quick to point out the low attendances in the NL at times, but forget to mention that last time had decent 'success', over 10 years ago, we were 5.5k average and back in the KA days, the Boston/Scunny games were 7k-8k anyway.

There are some who've jumped on the Loco, but not to the extent that outsiders think.
A very valid point. Another way of looking at it is that despite the half dozen of most miserable, dire years in our 134 years history during which time we seriously threatened to drop to the 6th tier with no hope in sight, we still averaged 2.5k. That actually is something we should be quite proud of. It's not like we had one bad season and we could see a crop of youngsters coming through or major investment round the corner. We were to all purposes down, out and clinging to life support as a full time professional club and yet two and a half thousand people carried the torch.
 
Let them think whatever they especially the sneering beggars up the a46 and over the border in Notts, we know the truth.
As has been said we got decent crowds a decade or so back and Lincoln has grown since then.
Our biggest growth in support is the amount families going now, just wish they'd sit and watch the game....
 
We are actually witnessing two separate dynamics occurring at the same time: the return of the dormant fan base (which was substantial) and the advent of a whole new tranche of fans from last season's cup run and Wembley this season. And with the city expanding at a rate of knots, the club could be sitting on top of a gold mine if they get it right over the next five years.
 
Agree r.e. a dormant fan base.

People are quick to point out the low attendances in the NL at times, but forget to mention that last time had decent 'success', over 10 years ago, we were 5.5k average and back in the KA days, the Boston/Scunny games were 7k-8k anyway.

There are some who've jumped on the Loco, but not to the extent that outsiders think.

Like you say I think it is a case of 2-3000 jumping back on as well as some new people.

Add in the fact that Forest have been crap for years (I know they had been the "big club" to take your kids to see back in the day, along with the Sheffield clubs) and you have parents who want to take their kids to see proper live football taking them to see us instead. Those kids get hooked and tell their friends and it keeps going and going.
 
We are actually witnessing two separate dynamics occurring at the same time: the return of the dormant fan base (which was substantial) and the advent of a whole new tranche of fans from last season's cup run and Wembley this season. And with the city expanding at a rate of knots, the club could be sitting on top of a gold mine if they get it right over the next five years.
but, if the ground capacity stays the same, how do we mine the gold?
 
Interesting part comment from ColonelChester.

"Many of the comments here contain valid points. Cowling has alienated people and the club's community out-reach is poor compared to many. However, there is another reason that the crowds failed to respond as we reached the championship. They did go up, but it is not enough to say the increase is due top the size of away teams' support. A Club that can take 10,000 fans for an away cup tie shouldn't struggle to get 5,000 for a home game, but Layer Road undoubtedly did not help to grow the fan base, although it gave a great atmosphere. Who could forget Burnley playing there with Ian Wright in their team, for example. Layer Road was a leveller.

The new stadium was supposed to fix all of the flaws of the old and came just as the championship offered the good times and a chance to win new fans, but I contend it did the opposite. Layer rd's dodgy parking and walking miles, the difficulty getting anything decent to eat or drink, the lack even of cover on one end, and so on, should have been fixed, but if anything it got worse.
The new stadium is rubbish and has lost as many fans as it has gained. The parking and matchday transport are a joke; the steps to seats are so steep that many old people don't feel safe; the place is windy and cold, and the roof so high that depending on the wind direction many seats get as wet as the Clock end when it rains; the catering is rudimentary so although it is easier to buy things, they aren't any more interesting; the pitch is dire; you can't walk into town after a match and have a pint and watch the evening game on TV, in fact you can hardly walk anywhere, you either wait for a bus or you've parked somewhere on the business park and walked to the ground (although the park and ride car park might have improved that, but I haven't been for two years now, nor have any of the 30 people that used to regularly go to the old ground with me)... need I go on?
Sport is a people business, and people don't want to trek for miles to see a line of Bentleys and Mercs parked right outside the door for the fortunate few. A ground that offers a poor team, playing badly in the middle of nowhere which is cold and uninviting is a recipe for disaster. The football may have got better at times this year but Cowling needs to learn how to run a business if he wants attendances to grow. He needs to invest in making the matchday experience value for money, for making sure customers feel valued and that they are getting value for money. That isn't just results or the quality of football, it is much more than that. It is too late to fix many of the access issues, or the fact that there isn't much of note within walking distance of the ground, although he should keep banging on to the Council that the nearby developments and long rumoured pubs and restaurants etc are sorely needed. However, some of the internal access issues, and the wind can be dealt with, for relatively small investment. As can the products on offer on a matchday, and more comfortable places can be provided to enjoy them. Cowling is either running it as his hobby, and doesn't care if people go or not, or he needs to invest in the right areas to attract back the several thousand fans who just can't be bothered to help him out by subsidising his hobby at what is one of the worst grounds (for access/parking, ambience refreshments and comfort) in the professional leagues. I know many of us who go to more away games than home, and that is wrong but Cowling doesn't seem to care."
 
There's a lot on there that has been said here not too long ago. 'Speculate to accumulate' used to be popular, and the idea that you can double your crowd by halving your prices. I think it shows how difficult achieving what we have with the Cowleys actually is in reality - there aren't any easy answers, 'get a brilliant young management team who both succeed on the pitch and enthuse people off it' is a hard one to pull off.
 
There's a lot on there that has been said here not too long ago. 'Speculate to accumulate' used to be popular, and the idea that you can double your crowd by halving your prices. I think it shows how difficult achieving what we have with the Cowleys actually is in reality - there aren't any easy answers, 'get a brilliant young management team who both succeed on the pitch and enthuse people off it' is a hard one to pull off.

As with a lot of things in life it's achieved by putting together a team (in our case on and off the pitch) all focused on a few precise goals and following it up with lots and lots and lots of very hard work...
 
Thanks Luke for sharing that Colchester fan's views on their stadium. Always interesting to read whats good and bad elsewhere.
 
Obviously you need a winning successful team to bring in the crowds. But even more than that it was a stroke of genius to first get Clive Nates involved with the Club. Who then, I believe, was instrumental in bringing the Cowleys. It is the Cowleys who have put this team together and created a proper fitness regime and a tremendous will to win. They have even made players who were here already and who were playing ok reach another level. But beyond this it is the way they communicate and interact with the fans and people of Lincoln. They are brilliant at it and we have to savour every minute they are with our club. Thanks to them we are like phoenix rising from the ashes.