Crystal Palace athletics ground.

Oh no, not again!

Its a pretty tidy stadium.

The smart money has to be on a return to the Valley, home of Charlton Athletic which is where the club had its highest attendances after leaving the spiritual home of Craven Cottage.

why?

Crowds at The Valley in 2000 and 2001 were pretty much as bad as they have been at The Stoop in recent years.

Isn't the Valley capacity twice that of Twickenham Stoop? It must have looked practically deserted with 2 - 3K crowds.

Yes it used to.

Attendances have probably been worse at the Stoop. According to the stats in the Gillette RL book in 1999 the average attendance at the Stoop was 2,935 and last year was 3,132. Worst season at Charlton was 3,177 in 2001.



Charlton

1996 5,416 4th

Stoop

1997 5,076 2nd

1998 3,625 7th

1999 2,935 8th

Charlton

2000 3,419 11th

2001 3,177 6th

Griffin Park

2002 3,760 8th

2003 3,546 5th

2004 3,458 10th

2005 4,038 6th

Stoop

2006 4,917 7th

2007 3,395 9th

2008 3,773 9th

2009 3,436 11th

2010 3,380 13th

2011 3.132 12th



Location and performance, style and quality of play, the economy, names in the team and a host of other factors probably affect our attendances. And yes the inevitable. However you've got to admit the most recent period has seen the most sustained slide and that is more on performance and quality on the field. We have some exciting younfg players coming through but they are not big names that will attract people. Winning consistently just might wherever we are.



Stoop next season.

MARKETING







Regardless of the crap served up on the park, the total lack of anything other than "lip service" points to the club still not understanding that regardless of where they play, they have to f""king INVITE people to come and watch



The Twickenham Stoop is not the problem.....but I suspect it will be used as yet another excuse by the club to cover up their total ineptitude.

There will be a least two games next year on the road.

Err are you good at marketing crap then. You can invite anyone, it doesn't mean they'll turn up. On field does matter or do marketeers ignore that fact in planning. After all what are you trying to sell. People only buy crap for so long however you market it. Your alternative is to control the market and strangle the competition.