The Red Rose Football Blog
Number 4 November
15th 2016
The Princes and the
Paupers
“Does the size of the gate matter?” “Well
yes, even for the rich boys”
Ever since Wembley’s first FA Cup Final in 1923 (Bolton Wanderers
2 West Ham 0), the one where the policeman on a white horse managed to peacefully
manoeuvre a crowd of 200,000 back behind the touch lines, attendances at
football games have always been close to the top of the game’s agenda.
PC Scorey on Billie, the White Horse
Attendances at Professional and Semi
Professional Clubs in the Red Rose County this season. (Clubs with an average
gate of 1000 plus)
Position
|
Club
|
Tier
|
Average Attendance
|
% of full Stadium
|
1
|
Manchester United
|
1
|
75,251
|
100
|
2
|
Manchester City
|
1
|
53,731
|
98.3
|
3
|
Liverpool
|
1
|
53,042
|
96.5
|
4
|
Everton
|
1
|
39,226
|
98.5
|
5
|
Burnley
|
1
|
20,026
|
92.1
|
6
|
Bolton Wanderers
|
3
|
14,667
|
51.6
|
7
|
Preston North End
|
2
|
12,305
|
68.1
|
8
|
Blackburn Rovers
|
2
|
11,183
|
35.4
|
9
|
Wigan Athletic
|
2
|
10,881
|
43.3
|
10
|
Bury
|
3
|
4,365
|
34.3
|
11
|
Rochdale
|
3
|
3,988
|
38.9
|
12
|
Blackpool
|
4
|
3,600
|
20.8
|
13
|
Oldham Athletic
|
3
|
3,547
|
20.2
|
14
|
Fleetwood
|
3
|
2,985
|
56.0
|
15
|
FC
United of Manchester
|
6
|
2,124
|
48.2
|
16
|
Morecambe
|
4
|
2,070
|
31.9
|
17
|
Accrington Stanley
|
4
|
1,868
|
36.9
|
18
|
AFC Fylde
|
6
|
1,609
|
27.0
|
19
|
Salford
City
|
6
|
1,438
|
71.3
|
20
|
Chorley
|
6
|
1,388
|
33.7
|
21
|
Barrow
|
5
|
1.376
|
31.1
|
22
|
Southport
|
5
|
1,058
|
17.6
|
The further you drop down the leagues, the more the contrast
is marked. To a great extent there is a correlation between a club’s current
league, its league position and its attendance. There are exceptions however.
As can be seen, Bolton packs in more than its three neighbours who are a league
higher. Further down the pyramid, FC United of Manchester attract larger gates
than Morecambe and Stanley who play two tiers higher, as well as Southport
and Barrow who play one league above.
How Fleetwood, who have retained their place league 1 for
three seasons now, can survive on gates of less than 3,000 is a minor miracle
or is perhaps due to the depth of pocket of their owner Andy Pilley. There are
a number of reasons why some clubs remain at the top of the tree, but mostly
they are connected to money. Certainly below the Premier League, if you cannot
attract the punter through the turnstile, you will struggle. Manchester United
will (with apologies to the Bard’s “Julius Caesar”) continue to bestride the
world of football like a colossus while the others (with apologies to St
Matthew’s Gospel) will feed on the crumbs from the rich clubs’ table. The big
four in the Red Rose county are the Princes, the rest……..simply the Paupers.
Performances
of last week
Blackpool 4 Notts
County 0 (Division 2)
John
Sheridan has a reputation for producing sides that scrap and County were on the
fringes of the Play-offs. All of this counted for nothing as a resurgent
Blackpool completely whitewashed them at Bloomfield Road on Saturday. Kyle
Vassell, one of manager Gary Bowyer’s first signings in June, was a revelation,
scoring two and making the other two. Bowyer was somewhat harshly sacked at
Blackburn a year ago after bringing a steadying influence to a club in turmoil.
He may well be in the process of arresting the decline at Blackpool also,
although there were sadly less than 3,500 paying spectators at the game.
Kyle Vassell, now with 8 goals to his name
this season
Gloucester City 0
Curzon Ashton 2 (National League North)
Curzon
Ashton drew at Westfields in the first round of the FA Cup the previous week
and is awaiting a replay in Ashton on Monday evening. With the cloud of
expectancy on reaching the second round for only the second time in their
history hanging over them, it could not have been easy to travel down to
Gloucester for a league game. A first half goal from Liam Tomsett however would
have settled their nerves and a late clincher from substitute Adam Morgan meant
they could travel back up the M5 with 3 points in the bag. This moved the club 4
points clear of the dreaded drop zone.
Warrington Town 2
Rushall Olympic 0 (Northern Premier League)
The
Wires have now settled into Tier 7 football following their run away title
victory in the Northern Premier League North last season. Their West Midland
rivals were in the top three of this extremely competitive league, but a goal
on the stroke of half-time from veteran striker Kiaran Kilheeney and a late own
goal have pushed Warrington up into eighth position, only 4 points away from
the play-offs. This was Kilheeney’s 10th goal of the present
campaign, but he will have to go some to repeat the 37 from season 2015-16.
1874 Northwich 0
Atherton Collieries 3 (FA Vase Round 2)
The
Vase has not been a raging success story for North West Counties League sides
this year but Atherton Collieries are an exception. Exactly a century ago, the
club was founded as a merger of 6 local pit teams, hence the “ies” on the end
of its name. Saturday’s game at the high flying Northwich club was never going
to be easy, but Atherton’s fine run continued as they took command of the game
after half time. Jordan Cover helped himself to a couple of goals as the “Collieries”
reached the FA Vase 3rd round for the first time in their history.
Games
to look forward to this week
Manchester United v Arsenal (Premier League)
With the International break completed, what a
crackerjack of a game awaits. In 97 previous encounters at Old Trafford, Arsenal
has won only 25 times. There have been some memorable occasions, not least the
two 6-1 and 8-2 victories for United in 2002 and 2011 respectively. There were
the Arsenal 1-0 victories of 1998 and 2002, each time the Gunners going on to
win the title. There were the fisticuffs at the end of the “battle of Old
Trafford”, the goalless draw in Arsenal’s unbeaten season and the “pizza
chucking” when the Gunners pelted the United players with food in the tunnel
after losing 2-0 in 2002-2003. Hopefully this year the game will be remembered
for the quality of its football but we should be left in no doubt about the
importance of the game. If Mourinho’s side loses, the quiet murmurs surrounding
his fitness to manage United could be turned up a notch. If Arsenal loses, the
old question of “when did you last win the league” will once again be asked of
Wenger.
City of Liverpool FC v Sandbach United (North
West Counties Division 1)
This fixture pits together two new teams to
this level of football. Sandbach from Cheshire’s leafy lanes has progressed
through the Staffordshire and then the Cheshire leagues and is currently
sitting in a play-off place in the North West Counties League. City of
Liverpool is a brand new side, put together by Liverpool business men who are
trying to offer an alternative to the Liverpool/Everton domination of the City.
Unfortunately they could only find a home venue with suitable facilities
outside of the city, hence them sharing at Bootle FC. In spite of this they are
averaging 434 spectators per home game and they occupy second spot in the
league. They have extremely ambitious plans, but Sandbach have games in hand.
It will be an interesting game.
Bamber Bridge v Glossop North End (Northern
Premier League North)
In a congested league where 4 points separate
the top 8 clubs, there are bound to be any number of competitive fixtures. This
one pairs Bamber Bridge from the suburbs of Preston with Derbyshire’s most
northerly club, runners-up in the FA Vase two seasons ago. They had actually
played in the old Division 1 in the final year of the 19th century,
but have fallen a long way since then. Nevertheless they currently top the
table, a position “Brig” occupied earlier in the season. The Lancashire side
has enjoyed a topsy-turvy season so far, but such is the nature of this league
that any result is possible on Saturday.
The Sir Tom Finney Stadium, Bamber Bridge
Quiz
of the Week (Answers at the foot of the Blog)
1 Which former Blackburn Rovers player started
in Friday’s England v Scotland game?
2 Who
scored a hat-trick for Manchester Utd in their 2011 8-2 thrashing of Arsenal?
3 Which
Red Rose County club’s highest received transfer fee was in 1992 for defender
Earl Barrett from Aston Villa?
4 Which
Burnley player started for the Republic of Ireland v Austria on Saturday night?
5 Daisy
Hill, the North West Counties League 1 side, is situated in which Metropolitan
Borough?
6 Who
is the only player (he was a defender) to win the FA Cup with both Liverpool
and Everton, doing so in 1989 and then in 1995?
7 Who,
in the 2014-15 League 1 Play-Off Final at Wembley, scored a hat-trick for
Preston North End?
8 Danny
Webber played a couple of League Cup games for Manchester United. He then scored
lots of goals for Watford and Sheffield United before finally scoring 38 goals
in 54 games for which local non-league club, then retiring this summer?
9 Which
of our major clubs has a stand named the “Gwladys Street End”?
10 Which current regular member of the
England team played 32 times whilst on loan to Burnley in the 2004-05 season?
Post Weekend
Musings
Bolton Wanderers’ 1-0 loss to
Peterborough United on Sunday brought to a halt a run of 5 consecutive
victories. The Posh themselves are now on a 4 game winning streak so it was
always going to be a tight affair. It was in fact decided by a goal from 25
yards out, a superb strike from Michael Smith which has demoted the Wanderers
from second to fourth.
It was interesting to study the
England line up on Friday evening in terms of the clubs the starting eleven
play for. Representing London clubs were Walker, Cahill, Rose and Dier. All the
remaining players, with the exception of Joe Hart, the Torino loanee, were
divided between Manchester and Liverpool with three from the Anfield side, two
from United and one from City. So not a sniff from the rest of the country;
zilch from the North East, South Coast or Midlands apart from Jamie Vardy’s
late appearance.
It was another fine performance from
AFC Fylde. I predicted last week that their trip to the North-East would be a
tough test, but they defended well to earn a point at Darlington, thus
retaining that 4 point gap at the top of National League North. Danny Rowe put
Fylde ahead, his 24th goal of the season, but probably the most
interesting fact about the club is that manager Dave Challinor has now been
there for 5 years. Championship clubs take note!
Daniel Sturridge scored his eighth
goal for England in the match v Scotland, taking him above ex Liverpool
strikers Robbie Fowler and Emile Heskey in the all-time list.
Tier 11 Club of the Week
Rocket engines, rocket shots
Back in 1829, village of Rainhill
became famous for the railway locomotive trials, a competition to decide the
type of engine to pull the trains on the world’s first inter-city railway. It
was won by Stevenson’s Rocket. Now, nearly 190 years on, the village football
team is topping the West Cheshire League. Situated between St Helens and
Prescot, the club has played at a low level for many years, but since joining
this current league in 2013, successive promotions have highlighted exceptional
progress. Electric trains now rocket through Rainhill en-route from Lime Street
to Victoria, but rocket shots from Rainhill strikers have obviously been
raining down on the opposition’s goal at the JMO Sports Park.
Quiz Answers
1 Grant
Hanley 2 Wayne
Rooney 3 Oldham
Athletic 4 Jeff
Hendrick 5 Bolton 6 Gary
Ablett
7 Jermaine
Beckford 8 Salford
City 9 Everton 10 Gary
Cahill
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