Big club Oxford, tinpot Gravesend?

[Hempstead Gaz]

Oxford are already dissing us, ridiculing our support and stadium, and dismissing our chances of remaining in League 2 , should we get promoted.

The forum link is here.

[eufckev]

They are criticising the fact we have 210 season ticket holders and they have 3,000. They seem to forget their team is based in a large city, and we are just a small town.

[Hirsty]

Saves Liam doing a team talk.....he just has to show the team that garbage as motivation, should the team need it !!

 

Fact 1 - yes..the City of Oxford is bigger than Gravesend

 

Fact 2 - yes...Oxford do have a bigger fan base than Gravesend

 

( don't have to be on Mastermind to work those two out !)

 

However, you're only as good as your last game Brian ! The league doesn't lie ! There is not much between the teams at present. All the makings of a good game on Saturday. The bigger they are, the further they fall !! Llamas are bigger than frogs !

 

Onwards & upwards men !

[Fleet boys]

what was the score last time 1-0 i think it says it all

[Hempstead Gaz]

The form guide says a LOT more!!!

http://www.confguide.com/cgi-bin/form.mpl?season=2006&where=all&num=10&submit=go

[Ray ellingham]

message to liam:

 

just stick this thread up on the wall in the dressing room before the game

[Slartibartfast]

Originally Posted By: kevthegnfcfan

They are criticising the fact we have 210 season ticket holders and they have 3,000. They seem to forget their team is based in a large city, and we are just a small town.

According to the 2001 census Oxford had a population of 134,248 while Gravesham had a population of 95,703. I would think we have closed the gap a bit since then.
So Oxford most definately is not a big city and we are not a small town.
The reason we only have 210 season ticket holders and get such poor home gates is that very few of our not inconsiderable population give a toss about Gravesend and Northfleet.

[jc]

Originally Posted By: Chatham Gary

Oxford are already dissing us, ridiculing our support and stadium, and dismissing our chances of remaining in League 2 , should we get promoted.
The forum link is here.

A lot of what they say on those issues has an element of truth though, surely?

A bit of selective quoting there from a couple of isolated posts - there are also more complimentary comments on that thread. Any club messageboard would look the same if commenting on forthcoming opposition.

[kmj]

I think that the current number of season ticket holders is greater than the number quoted. At a fairly recent Fleet Trust meeting at which Duncan Holt was present, the number 333 was mentioned. Whether or not this includes child/concessionary priced season tickets I don't know. However, if the figure is over 300 that represents approximately one third of our core support which is quite reasonable. I would imagine that the Club would like to get this up to around 50% next season.

 

It isn't really helpful to compare the number of supporters a recently relegated League 2 club has with a club who have never been higher than the Conference. While their core support is a lot greater than ours (which is to be expected) their floating fans really are pretty fickle with a slump in recent weeks being much evident. Should they fail to gain promotion this season, I would expect their attendances to crash dramatically unless they get off to a flyer again next season. In comparison I would expect ours to remain fairly level.

 

Also in terms of how we and Oxford have been performing since we played them at home, it is interesting that Ed Miller in today's G R states "And to think, as we approach the game at Oxford, there are only two points between us. When we played them last, that gap stood at 15!"

 

If any set of supporters should be worried on Saturday about the potential result it should be those of Oxford United not us.

[thatguy]

I was a season ticket holder for two seasons, but just missed out on ordering before the season started (bills for car parts, etc). The only reason I did not take up a season ticket at the start of the football season, is that our form has been good, and being superstitious, did not want to hex it by getting a season ticket. but I am quite happy to pay my entrance fee, and know that it is costing me more, for the sake of seeing my beloved fleet keep on going the way they are.

[John Pearce]

Yes they may have a larger fan base and therefore more season ticket holders...but they are an ex-football league club and appear to have retained much of the support from thet period.

 

I am sure when they played under a previous guise...ie Headington United and played in the Southern League their levels of support were not so good?

[ianjs]

Hi,I think you will find our levels of support in the Southern League were similar to the ones we have been experiencing in the last 4 or 5 years.We also had regular crowds of 2-3,000 for reserve fixtures in the sixties.

 

[BustaGut]

I think that we have a poor Stadium in a poor surrounding area.I honestly believe it puts a lot of people off coming to the ground. If you bring your, young ones and they need the toilet, the poor sods have to use a place that smells terrible, while they paddle in urine.It does not encourage people to bring young ones, so no base support for the future. If and when we get the new stadium I honestly believe that the fan base will increase two or three fold. more familys, couples etc. Go to a prem game, over a third to half of the support is made up from females and children, because the stadiums have catered for them, the grounds are clean, tidy, clean facilites etc etc, so even at £70-£80 a ticket they still sell out.

[BustaGut]

Originally Posted By: ianjs

Hi,I think you will find our levels of support in the Southern League were similar to the ones we have been experiencing in the last 4 or 5 years.We also had regular crowds of 2-3,000 for reserve fixtures in the sixties.

I have more than likely got it wrong, but were Oxford not on the brink of going down the pan once apon a time, and something about Robert Maxwell???
To be honest something is rattling about in my empty head, but cannot bring it to the fore. Help

[John Pearce]

Originally Posted By: BustaGut

Originally Posted By: ianjs

Hi,I think you will find our levels of support in the Southern League were similar to the ones we have been experiencing in the last 4 or 5 years.We also had regular crowds of 2-3,000 for reserve fixtures in the sixties.

I have more than likely got it wrong, but were Oxford not on the brink of going down the pan once apon a time, and something about Robert Maxwell???
To be honest something is rattling about in my empty head, but cannot bring it to the fore. Help

Doesn't help much, but take a look at this....

http://www.thisisunited.com/history/?subject=lows

[BustaGut]

Originally Posted By: Quecerasaha

Originally Posted By: BustaGut

Originally Posted By: ianjs

Hi,I think you will find our levels of support in the Southern League were similar to the ones we have been experiencing in the last 4 or 5 years.We also had regular crowds of 2-3,000 for reserve fixtures in the sixties.

I have more than likely got it wrong, but were Oxford not on the brink of going down the pan once apon a time, and something about Robert Maxwell???
To be honest something is rattling about in my empty head, but cannot bring it to the fore. Help

Doesn't help much, but take a look at this....

http://www.thisisunited.com/history/?subject=lows

That was it thanks Rasha ,Just goes to prove how tinpot they were at one point, memories and short seem to go together.

[Stu M]

Originally Posted By: BustaGut

That was it thanks Rasha

'Rasha' makes me think of Quecerasaha as some kind of 'gangsta' figure.

[BustaGut]

Originally Posted By: ianjs

Hi,I think you will find our levels of support in the Southern League were similar to the ones we have been experiencing in the last 4 or 5 years.We also had regular crowds of 2-3,000 for reserve fixtures in the sixties.

Hey Ian check out Quecerasaha Link, then you can talk us through tinpot, due to your experiences on the matter

[ianjs]

Gravesend calling Oxford tinpot. At least you have a sense of humour.

[Harry J Allstars]

Originally Posted By: Stu M

'Rasha' makes me think of Quecerasaha as some kind of 'gangsta' figure.

Is it some sort of reference to a former Soviet Communist State?