our fixtures make zero difference with other london teams as our attendances are so small in comparison - plus i think we start on a different saturday(could be wrong with that as isnt the season starting early due to the world cup?)
It says in the local rag that only 6 out of 10 Charlton season ticket holders have renewed their tickets for next season. Might mean a boost for our attendances!!
We should do a deal for Charlton Supporters who bring last years season ticket AND buy ours this year....I dont know maybe a stad ticket for the price of a terrace ticket
I see on the unoffical conference south board that H&W and Portsmouth have come to a deal. If you become a member of Pompey (£40) you get a free seaon ticket to Havent. So why would anyone buy a season ticket from the club. Strange - maybe they want to get rid of their cup money asap.
The way charlton are dropping fans and through the leagues THEY will be offering Welling Fans deals to go to the valley soon.
Can we rely on 3000 fans for the Charlton friendly anymore as the curtain raiser? Should we be trying to get Spurs/Chelsea/West Ham etc etc to send a fair team down?
I seem to remember when Spurs and Chelsea sent teams to PVR they were well attended and included some big names.
Still obviously keep charlton but one more bigger club could balance or increase what we were getting before from the Charlton friendly.
I wonder if Andy has the contacts to get a big friendly in to help the budget next season.
-- Edited by JgFc on Thursday 18th of June 2009 10:49:50 AM
__________________
Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
They done it to Gillingham fans when they laid on coaches to pick them up from Medway JgFc, so it wouldn't surprise me if Charlton tried something similar to 'entice' fans away...
I think anon is being very optimisitic. I don't recall there being 3500 there last year and certainly a much smaller crowd to se the Gillls youth team.
Barry did write to all the "bigger" clubs but I can't see them playing us - they normally go for a local connection or a friendly where they play their reserve games, then off to America or China to play Milan or Madrid. Mind you Arsenal are palying a tournament this Summer with lots of second rate sides - they must have lowered their sights!!!
I think we should be grateful to CAFC - unless we want to entertain Millwall.
Sadly I don't think we'll get anywhere near 3500 for the Charlton game or 1500 for Gillingham. More like 2000 and 500. If it were on a Saturday it might be different.
Last year there were a touch over 2000 IIRC, and the weather was awful. I would like to think we would get 2,500 - 3,000 this year if the weather's good.
Perhaps thats the way forward Alan in future, have the Charlton game on the first saturday of pre season to maximise the crowd .
All depends if the Gills will send a strong team or a mix, if its a mix you will get 500-600 if its announced as the first team you might get a few more.
We do need to get one big gate friendly that will bring in decent five figure money.
perhaps we can email every big club in europe to see if they are touring england NEXT pre season and offer the youth place as a training ground and ask for a friendly. You never know, there have been some weird friendlies over the years at non league clubs.
__________________
Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
We played Gillingham's first team acouple of seasons back and drew 2-2. The crowd was just over 500.
The rain last year hurt us as it knocked £10K off our expeced income. Not sure how many will turn up.
Charlton used to play us on Saturday but when they got bigger and were a top 10 Premier League side they made it mid-week.
Now they're bad it's dissapointing they can't slot us in for a Saturday given it should be a relativley competitive game due to Charlton being a lot worse they 5 year ago.
It says in the local rag that only 6 out of 10 Charlton season ticket holders have renewed their tickets for next season. Might mean a boost for our attendances!!
I feel if any charlton supporters looking for non league football will find there way to Dartford, they are certainley on the up and attract bigger crowds and have good facilitys and they will be one of two kent sides that will climb the leagues (the other being Dover)
Dartford is easier to get to from Charlton and it's got better parking.
If the railways were sensible they'd run trains up the 3 Kent lines (Sidcup, Woolwich and Bexleyheath lines) then back down using a different line. To be able to get to Woolwich Arsenal and Charlton direct from Bexleyheath would be very useful. It wouldn't mean building new lines either because the loops already exist. It would just be a matter of changing timetables.
Might be easier to get to but getting out is a nightmare. Even when we played with relatively small crowds it was was dreadful, I would hate to think what it would be like if the ground was nearly full.
I would have thought by public transport it is worse - must be further away from a station than we are.
Good ground when you are in there though - I'll give them that - but with the amount of support from the local council it should be.
Might be easier to get to but getting out is a nightmare. Even when we played with relatively small crowds it was was dreadful, I would hate to think what it would be like if the ground was nearly full.
I would have thought by public transport it is worse - must be further away from a station than we are.
Good ground when you are in there though - I'll give them that - but with the amount of support from the local council it should be.
Public transport to Dartfords ground is quite good I think they have a fast track bus thats runs every 10mins on saturday match days and it stops right outside the ground.
The coucil support Dartford because of the potential that they have and wouldnt it be good if every council supported there local football club.
I think youre talking bollox when have Dartford played above us recently? What have they done in the last 20 years or even 2 years.
No they have not played above us for some years, but that was possibly because of the ground share with Maidstone, but they have built up and are on there way back to where they use to be.
I think they are a bigger club with faclities and possibly pay bigger wages and get larger crowds.
Next season they should be in the same league as us and when it comes to trying to sign players and attract new support where do you think has more to offer
Dont get me wrong I love the wings and get really jealous when I see a club like Dratford rise the way they are doing now I just wished it could be us but we will have to learn to live with it.
Interestinng to see who Bromley have got pre season.
Reading Websfleet Gillingham Palace Grays And Colchester
Now thats four professional teams, albeit most apart from palace will bring X1's rather than first team squads but if you say you'd get 400-500 for a game against a league side then Bromley will be getting 1,500 from three of them friendlys and then a big gate against Palace - who are their equivalent to our Charlton game being their nearest league side.
If Bromley can line up games like this then we should be able to get some more league clubs down IMO. West Ham, Brentford, QPR, Millwall, Southend, Leyton Orient are all fairly localish and would get a few hundred hardcore fans at least travel to see their side, which on top of our lot would equal a respectable crowd.
I suppose its all about contacts etc but if you manage to get them one season then quite often you can build up a rapport and get them most seasons, as Bromley have proved with their last couple of pre season line ups.
P.S Im not having a dig at the club I was just surprised at the strength of Bromley's pre-season games and the potential for draweing bigger crowds etc. I feel we are just as big a pull as bromley so if they can do it I don't see why we can't!
P.S Im not having a dig at the club I was just surprised at the strength of Bromley's pre-season games and the potential for draweing bigger crowds etc. I feel we are just as big a pull as bromley so if they can do it I don't see why we can't!
WJ couldn't agree more. If AF has so many contacts, why can't we attract the bigger clubs for pre-season? Surely the Hobbins have influence too?
A lot of it is down to contacts as you say. Long ago we used to have a pre season with Arsenal due to contact with George Armstrong. Sadly when he passed away that was the connection lost.
Guess we need to build new bridges with other clubs and maybe start earlier to try and get a game organised. Like wise the CAFC game is a major bankrole to the club and I dread to think where the finances would be without it
Yeah I do remember the trouble at that game. But still there are plenty of league clubs in the Greater London area and surrounding counties. And as for Millwall you wouldn't believe the amount of 'wall fans who now live in Bexley/Eltham/Welling/Dartford areas having moved out of inner London. However much some people may hate them it could pull a largeish crowd.
You dont learn a lot about your team thrashing Erith town 8 nil either but nor do you make any more money from such games. Plus surely playing league clubs representative x1's we could pick up a few loan players etc?
Bromley are still playing games against two conference national teams which provide realistic games for them to measure their ability. After all are we not striving to reach that level?
Couldn't we have an agreement that when we lose a player to another team that part of the deal is that we have a friendly with them within two years for example.
