Planet Swans ArchivesOctober 07 2002. Rochdale are the visitors to the Vetch. James Thomas grabs his 5th goal of the season in a 1-1 draw (Paul Connor equalised) – the attendance 3732. 12 months, earlier (9 October 2001) Tony Petty makes his Vetch ‘debut’ as the Swans succumb to a Tony Ford goal in a 1-0 reverse, 3,533 witness the game.
On October 8 2004, Adrian Forbes scored the goal that took the Swans to the top of League Two – less than 9,000 saw the match on a Friday night at the Vetch
October 1 2005 – the Swans retain their position at the top of League One with a 3-2 win over Blackpool in front of just under 14,000. 10,000 more than watched either of the two fixtures above. Even 5,000 above the attendances of twelve months ago.
Of course it is disappointing to see the crowd drop so much week on week. And yes we have to wonder if that is what we are facing between now and maybe a potential promotion push at the end of the season. Bigger crowds for the perceived ‘bigger’ opposition (a strange comment in reality when all are League One sides!)
We can easily point the finger and say that the pay on the day crowd have been discouraged by the fact that they cannot pay on the turnstiles. How many did we lose there because of the farce that we witnessed at the Barnsley game?
I do think that it was disappointing that we dropped to the extent that we did for yesterday’s game. I would have hoped to see at least 15,000 at the game – a 2,000 drop off should be maximum. In reality – take the Forest game out of it – and attendances have not really increased during the great run that the team have had.
Yes I see the arguments of the two home games in consecutive weeks, the perceived difference in the opposition quality and all those factors but should that really allow for a drop of over 20% between the two gates? I would hope not.
That aside I also accept the argument that I started with of the increases in attendance and I am sure that we are probably still over the figure that we pencilled into our budget at the start of the season.
But really I guess what this article is showing is how far we have come in a short period of time when we are discussing whether an attendance of 13,911 for a Swans home game is enough to keep us happy or not!
And hands up who saw that coming when Tony Ford scored at the Vetch in October 2001!
