Barrow v Bradford match thread

[Jim]

yesterday we had a higher attendance than Colchester, Crew, Stevenage and Crawley

Not surprised about Stevenage, Their ground may be smarter than ours, but the opposition wasn't much of an attraction there yesterday

[mickmike wilson]

When you look at the gates from the other L2 games yesterday, makes me finally feel like we belong in this league.

Always saw us as punching above our weight, riding a temporary crest. That is because non-league has become so ingrained in us, having spent so long out of the EFL but yesterday we had a higher attendance than Colchester, Crew, Stevenage and Crawley (and only a couple of hundred below Gillingham) I know some of the above mentioned teams aren't the biggest teams in the league, but they are definitely quite well established league teams.

This is our 3rd season in now and there is a real feel good factor which itself draws the masses. If we keep playing the way we are and getting the results, I'm sure we can finally feel established in this league.

We are a bigger club or on par with several in L2 & a handful in L1 …..I mean are Burton, Accy, Morecambe, Fleetwood any bigger than us, I don’t think so & they do benefit from having bigger away ends which boost their attendances massively but we get as many home fans if not more & we could easily get an extra 1k home fans if we were up there challenging at the business end of the season (( not saying we will do that )) just saying what would happen if we ever did.

[Hadrian]

I realise that there are valid reasons that may be trotted out (holidays, Tall Ships, tournament at the bridge club, Ulverston Nose Hair Plaiting Festival, etc.) but I thought a home attendance of c3350 was rather disappointing for the first game of the season with a new manager, many new signings, a new wall-decoration, all following a great start at Stockport.

[Suffolk Blue]

IfI’m wrong I’ll be more than happy to apologise. For information you don’t tend to get swelling with a break. More so with a fracture.

*SPOILER ALERT* Hate to be the bearer of bad news to you, but please take it from someone who reports on X-rays for a living…a break (layman’s terminology) and a fracture (medical terminology) are the same thing.

Since I’ve not heard anything to confirm it looks like the info I received regarding Rays injury might not be accurate. If so that’s great news and I’m sorry if I was premature. Believe me I’m more than happy to apologise. He’s a really good asset.

With regard to breaks and fractures I shall also leave that to the experts. Clearly swelling associated with either a break or a fracture is more to do with the damage to tissue as opposed to the bone so you can get swelling with both.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

I realise that there are valid reasons that may be trotted out (holidays, Tall Ships, tournament at the bridge club, Ulverston Nose Hair Plaiting Festival, etc.) but I thought a home attendance of c3350 was rather disappointing for the first game of the season with a new manager, many new signings, a new wall-decoration, all following a great start at Stockport.

One reason you failed to mention and the biggest reason that some might not have been there. The cost of living crisis. Set to get worse in October so given the circumstances the attendance was excellent IMO

[Moribund]

I realise that there are valid reasons that may be trotted out (holidays, Tall Ships, tournament at the bridge club, Ulverston Nose Hair Plaiting Festival, etc.) but I thought a home attendance of c3350 was rather disappointing for the first game of the season with a new manager, many new signings, a new wall-decoration, all following a great start at Stockport.

4,100 up from 2,800 for our first home match last season - that is a massive increase.

[mall]

I realise that there are valid reasons that may be trotted out (holidays, Tall Ships, tournament at the bridge club, Ulverston Nose Hair Plaiting Festival, etc.) but I thought a home attendance of c3350 was rather disappointing for the first game of the season with a new manager, many new signings, a new wall-decoration, all following a great start at Stockport.

"One reason you failed to mention and the biggest reason that some might not have been there. The cost of living crisis. Set to get worse in October so given the circumstances the attendance was excellent IMO"
Spot on.
And come the back end of the year it will only be a certain few who can afford to take in home games, a lot of folk just wont have the money to attend Holker Street and other matches up and down the country.

[Wintergreen]

School holidays as well like.

[bamber678]

Don’t get why people are transfixed on making the away end bigger. We are growing our fan base and giving away fans any more than 15% of capacity is crazy

[Kieran]

Don’t get why people are transfixed on making the away end bigger. We are growing our fan base and giving away fans any more than 15% of capacity is crazy

I would've thought it's fairly simple. We rarely sell out our own sections completely, but there are clubs in this league who would bring close to double what our away end holds if allowed. A bigger away end would let them do this and increase revenue for us so everyone wins. Away capacity can (apparently) be increased by developing the existing away section without reducing home capacity also.

Our away end is a disgrace to be fair and definitely should be one of the first areas of the ground that is addressed. It's not just a bit shit, it's a complete embarrassment.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

Don’t get why people are transfixed on making the away end bigger. We are growing our fan base and giving away fans any more than 15% of capacity is crazy

Pointless IMO. Total away following attendances will be lower than last season. It was ticked off as visited by many last season as a new ground to visit and given how the away end is I suspect a lot will not return. Bigger away followings means increased costs ie policing etc

[Sefton Aubergine]

Don’t get why people are transfixed on making the away end bigger. We are growing our fan base and giving away fans any more than 15% of capacity is crazy

I would've thought it's fairly simple. We rarely sell out our own sections completely, but there are clubs in this league who would bring close to double what our away end holds if allowed. A bigger away end would let them do this and increase revenue for us so everyone wins. Away capacity can (apparently) be increased by developing the existing away section without reducing home capacity also.

Our away end is a disgrace to be fair and definitely should be one of the first areas of the ground that is addressed. It's not just a bit shit, it's a complete embarrassment.

Exactly this... We have to increase seating (no choice) and so makes sense to put the new seats needed, and so improve, the worst part of the ground. It happens to be the away end.

[mickmike wilson]

Don’t get why people are transfixed on making the away end bigger. We are growing our fan base and giving away fans any more than 15% of capacity is crazy

Yesterday is a prime example, We we’re 1,400 shy of capacity so an additional say 500/600 away fan is free money for the club & the police costs wouldn’t vary that much with a proper well thought out bigger away end with exclusive exits & safety corridors shepherding away fans to coaches etc & if it possible to have fencing sections to allow the away capacity to fluctuate from say the 640/900/1200 etc then when the away club would fill it they get the 1200 & if our crowds would be much larger & theirs not they get the lower number & home fans can use the rest with an obvious buffer zone between the 2.

Plus our overall capacity can & will rise when we make various FA ratified improvements so it’s not hampering our home fan base potential & ….We all want more home fans attending we just need to cover all basis on a as and when situation.

Remember the likely hood of bigger cup games are in our future now way more than ever before, Villa, Man U etc

[mall]

Best result for ages, one club I wanted us to beat, revenge is sweet.
+1

[Mark Johnson]

yesterday we had a higher attendance than Colchester, Crew, Stevenage and Crawley

Not surprised about Stevenage, Their ground may be smarter than ours, but the opposition wasn't much of an attraction there yesterday

Regarding Stevenage - they got over 1000 less than us. Going back to 2010 when we played them at Wembley, I’m sure most barrow fans perceived them as a bigger club. I’m sure they got better attendances than us that season (yes they won the league so were always up there which draws more fans) but if someone told us that in 12 years we would be in league 2 with them and getting 1,000 more fans than them, it would seem quite unbelievable!