Best for 50 years? In some ways, YES

[HenneysKnee]

And we’d actually get teams bringing away fans in the football league

[barrowfan]

The consensus seems to be that the football at HS is the best for years so we and the Mail should be shouting it from the rooftops.

I kind of take your point about if we were in the Football League, but surely whatever league we are in people want to be entertained and if they come now they will see that the team is giving good value for spectators' money.

Let's sell it, not come up with excuses.

[blue nige]

There's nobody more vocal at work than me I'm always bigging the team up but it falls on deaf ears they would rather stay at home streaming matches on their I pads and what really gets my back up is when they ask what was the game like I have to be as diplomatic as I can !

[The Tomahawk Kid]

The consensus seems to be that the football at HS is the best for years so we and the Mail should be shouting it from the rooftops.

I kind of take your point about if we were in the Football League, but surely whatever league we are in people want to be entertained and if they come now they will see that the team is giving good value for spectators' money.

Let's sell it, not come up with excuses.

I agree with you regarding the entertainment value - but you're preaching to the converted.

I know many people who won't set foot in Holker Street until we're back in the Football League - they've actually stated that fact to myself and others.

Also; entertainment value opposed to winning games could be a deciding factor.
Many people like to support a winning team.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

There's nobody more vocal at work than me I'm always bigging the team up but it falls on deaf ears they would rather stay at home streaming matches on their I pads and what really gets my back up is when they ask what was the game like I have to be as diplomatic as I can !

...rather stay at home streaming matches on their I pads? - and be sat in warm comfatable surroundings.
Or sitting in a warm, comfatable stadium...

[Lancaster Branch]

Also; entertainment value opposed to winning games could be a deciding factor.
Many people like to support a winning team.

And when we were winning under Cox folk weren’t coming because they wanted to be entertained. Apparently.

Let’s face it, the floaters won’t come until we’re winning every week, in the League, with free admission and their own personal heated seat with an en-suite and views of the hills. So let’s not worry about them too much.

[bigmac95]

Also; entertainment value opposed to winning games could be a deciding factor.
Many people like to support a winning team.

And when we were winning under Cox folk weren’t coming because they wanted to be entertained. Apparently.

Let’s face it, the floaters won’t come until we’re winning every week, in the League, with free admission and their own personal heated seat with an en-suite and views of the hills. So let’s not worry about them too much.

Could not agree more. Excellent post.

[mall]

Theirs no money in the town-area, thats why.

Employent and income statistics suggest otherwise. Typical employment pattern compared to the region and above national average income for salaried and hourly paid.

Not attacking you personally but this sort of negative attitude is trotted out too often in Barrow and needs to be challenged. More effort needed in shouting about the positives of the town and area.

I know you dont mean it personally-and believe it or not I aint negative either and, I agree there is an attitude that needs challenging in this town but. You can have all the employment statistics you like-they dont mean a thing. The vast majority who build subs or whatever in Maggie's Farm are not interested in Barra Soccer-some are-the majority aint, and never will be. Times, along with attitudes have changed for the worse since Appleton's team of 1968 and its getting worse.

[barrowaberdeen]

Theirs no money in the town-area, thats why.

Employent and income statistics suggest otherwise. Typical employment pattern compared to the region and above national average income for salaried and hourly paid.

Not attacking you personally but this sort of negative attitude is trotted out too often in Barrow and needs to be challenged. More effort needed in shouting about the positives of the town and area.

Depends where you live. We could all trot out statistics. There's pockets of huge poverty in Barrow- Central the second most deprived ward in Cumbria and pretty sure we have most of the top ten. But I do agree there's a lot to be positive about too that we aren't good at shouting about.

[Jonty]

To increase fanbase is not as straightforward as improving what is on offer the pitch. Need to start understanding the cutural elements and what makes the modern football fan tick.

[whitty1969]

Average attendance is currently 1316, last season it was 1293. This was 3.2% down on the season before

Pretty much running at the same levels, we have played a lot of the bottom clubs at home. No Tranmere to bump it up this year.

Carry on playing attractive football and if our luck is in an FA cup run then I hope it climbs.

Poor facilities and costs are the main factors.

[geobarrovian]

Would Salford at home not bump it up a bit to compensate? with it being over Christmas and the number of people who pretend to support Man Utd in Barrow turning up because of the Class of 92 not bring a larger gate in?

[TaylorBAFC]

Sadly, some people are content with watching the Premier League clubs on the TV; sitting in front of Soccer Saturday on a Saturday instead of watching their local team. It's disappointing that we can only get around 1.2k, but it's the harsh reality. Massive shame that these people will soon come out when it's a big game i.e. Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Wembley, Rochdale etc. and then pretend they're huge supporters. I remember we sold out vs Dale and then only managed a crowd of around 900 on the Tuesday night vs Southport. It's not 'fashionable' to support Barrow like it is your United's, City's etc. unfortunately, it seems.

As a younger supporter of the club (17), many people are bemused by why I support Barrow and travel to all these games up and down the country, instead of supporting one of those aforementioned clubs. They simply do not understand and feel the need to belittle Barrow, simply because it's not a 'big' club and I feel like this is a view shared by many adults, who neglect their local football club too. All we can do is continuing supporting the club and trying to spread the word. I love supporting my local club like we all do on this forum, I'm there through the ups and downs (and trust me, Torquay away last year was horrible!) Fingers crossed, we can get a few of these people off their arses and down to Holker Street in the future...

[Jonty]

Thinking that bigger teams coming here and better football will increase the fanbase is a myth. Maybe see some short term improvement but will not increase our fanbase over the longer term and certainly not when we are playing a run of the mill league game on a Tuesday night. Last 10 years have seen our average attendances reach natural levels and until there is a shift in the Barrow fan culture of following the local team as being the thing to do then this is unlikely to change soon. The modern football fan has been exposed to so much football content that they likely follow the fortumes of a number of teams and may only have a passing / big game interest in what happens down at Holker Street and will be as equally likely to spend their money and Saturday afternoons on other things.

[barrowaberdeen]

I think we might be at a tipping point though if we get a few more results- a lot of people speaking very positively about the team in the town.