The Macclesfield Express reports that business student and fan of the Silkmen, James Corcoran has written to Club Chairman Rob Bickerton regarding the recent price hike to £17 for the cost of a seat to watch the team. James says that this makes the cost of watching at the Moss Rose, from a seat, one of the most expensive in Division Two and makes it more expensive than some of the local teams who are in higher leagues, and almost as expensive as watching at Old Trafford or the City of Manchester Stadium. James expresses his fear that attendance could fall as a result.
The club responded by pointing out that after a disappointing performance last season, gates went up by more than 10 per cent and that the club are engaged in a large investment in the team for next season.
Floodlight points out that although the increase in average gates at the Moss Rose last season was nearly thirteen percent, this was well below the surge in average attendance for the old Third Division of 20.9%. So what does an analysis of the attendance figures at the Moss Rose show us? Was the increase in fans through the gates as a result of the club marketing or was it just an up swell due the general surge in support in the old Third Division. Floodlight decided to have a look at those attendance figures.
Below is tabled the attendance figures for the League games at the Moss Rose, with the previous seasons figures for the same fixture and the percentage change.
Last Prev Change
Hull City 3801 2229 +71% Promoted
Mansfield Town 3578 dnp
Carlisle United 3256 2383 +37% Relegated
Huddersfield Town 3059 dnp Promoted
Doncaster Rovers 2831 dnp Promoted
Oxford United 2763 1583n +75%
Northampton Town 2634 dnp
Bury 2312 2920 -21%
York City 2311 2586 -11% Relegated
Darlington 2293 1967 +17%
Boston United 2222 1941 +14%
Yeovil Town 2221 dnp
Scunthorpe United 2205 1929 +14%
Leyton Orient 2156 1676n +29%
Rochdale 2152n 2873 -25%
Cambridge United 2151 2053 +5%
Cheltenham Town 2061 dnp
Lincoln City 2016n 2187 -8%
Kidderminster Harriers 1988 2089 -5%
Torquay United 1970 1835 +7% Promoted
Southend United 1821 1917 -5%
Bristol Rovers 1542n 1814 -15%
Swansea City 1513n 2515 -40%
n - night game, dnp - did not play
Of the top seven clubs, who beat the season average figure of 2385, four were new arrivals in the league and the other three saw big increases in attendance of 71%, 37% and 75%, the last mostly due to last season's game being on a very wet tuesday evening. And of those seven clubs, four, won't be playing in the new Division Two this season. Looking at the bottom sixteen clubs, whose attendance figures did not beat the average, it is very much a mix, with the big drops in attendance for the York, Rochdale, Bristol Rovers and Swansea explainable, but what happened with the Bury game? The Orient game increase can be explained, due to last season being a night match, but well done Darlington, Boston and Scunthorpe. If we remove the six clubs who are leaving the division, add up the figures and divide by the number of teams, we get an average figure of 2213 for last season and an average of 2113 for the previous. This is an increase of under 5%. Which suggests that the underlining increase in attendance was much smaller than the overall average suggests and the bulk of the increase was due to the games against those top seven clubs, four of whom are now leaving the league.
Ah Yes! But the clubs going out will be replaced by clubs with similar levels of support, you might say. See the chart below for last seasons average home attendance figures for all the clubs including the new 6 arrivals.
Hull City 16845 Promoted out
Huddersfield Town 10528 Promoted out
Bristol Rovers 7141
Doncaster Rovers 6938 Promoted out
Swansea City 6853
Oxford United 6296
Yeovil Town 6196
Notts County 5939 New in
Carlisle United 5617 Relegated out
Northampton Town 5305
Wycombe Wanderers 5291 New in
Mansfield Town 5206
Darlington 5022
Lincoln City 4910
Grimsby Town 4730 New in
Southend United 4535
Rushden & Diamonds 4456 New in
Leyton Orient 4156
Cheltenham Town 4116
Shrewsbury Town 4007 New in
York City 3962 Relegated out
Cambridge United 3918
Scunthorpe United 3839
Torquay United 3460 Promoted out
Rochdale 3277
Chester City 3064 New in
Kidderminster Harriers 2980
Boston United 2963
Bury 2891
Macclesfield Town 2385
The game on New Year's day against Chester City should be close to a sell out, but otherwise the replacements are generally farther away and have smaller base support than the clubs they are replacing.
The club is obviously determined to improve its standings in the league and is working hard and investing in both the ground and the playing staff. It is also working hard to boost attendance by offering season tickets at a discount and other initiatives such as kids for a quid. However the big price increase for the fan who likes to pay at the gate is a bitter pill to swallow. The club says that season ticket sales are going well and no doubt this is one way the club would like sales to go, rather than depending on the walk in fan. Also the decision to stop the ball by ball commentary on SilkFM is a difficult one for the fans to understand as it was a facility that was generally well received and it must have been good publicity for the club.
The new season beckons and with time we will see if the increase in support continues or is revealed as a one season wonder.