Obviously with a much larger than average crowd hopefully expected today are we dependent on the teams perfromance and the ability to remain in the Ryman South to retain them or is there something within the match day experience alone can provide that will get them coming back next season in bigger numbers under the new ownership. The Harrogate crowd fell away quickly amongst terrible subsequent results in winter so what can we do to stop that happening again now? What does everyone think?
I think basic things can be helpful. If regular supporters try to 'bring a friend' (as it happens I will today); talk to people at the ground who are not obvious regulars; and just generally be pleasant (a test for some of us in adversity as I will admit); it all helps to create the right impression. We are a friendly welcoming club; we just need perhaps to be a little more confident in proclaiming that.
By far the biggest problem this year was that we simply did not offer value for money. £10 was far too much for the quality of entertainment that was on offer week after week and it shows the loyalty of the regulars who kept coming back no matter how bad it got.
Fortunately (and this doesn't usually happen) we put in a decent performance in front of a good crowd on Saturday with a quality goal from each team and plenty of commitment and indeed drama. OK...it wasn't a footballing classic but most first-time-this-season locals may have been pleasantly surprised that it was actually more entertaining than they had probably expected. Hopefully some will return.
Maybe though, the club should consider a slightly more customer friendly pricing structure in an attempt to get more through the gate who may also buy a programme, a raffle ticket a beer and a burger.
I actually found the Harrogate 'feeding frenzy' quite remarkable. Who knows how many more tickets we could have sold for a match that suddenly caught the town's imagination....a match that was actually very similar in standard to the majority of others that season. But is just proves that the interest COULD be there....but we just need some success to attract them in the first place.
I'm sure we'll take a really good crowd with us on Saturday and outnumber the locals two to one.....with memories of Leyton a few years ago.
