I have always maintained that it is what happens on the pitch that will determine if and when the majority of the missing fans return, clearly there will always be a few that see cost as the main reason to stay away but by and large it is the entertainment and success on the pitch that matters to most.Town manager Mick McCarthy believes he and his team are starting to gain the trust of Blues supporters with another crowd in excess of 20,000 expected for today’s home game against Middlesbrough and half-season ticket sales having climbed above 800.
“It’s lovely, it really is, it’s fantastic,” McCarthy said. “I detected at one point where we were doing OK and people were perhaps not so sure.
“It’s that bit of trust that you have to gain from the fans really. They don’t want to come back when you’ve just had a couple of good results and then lose. I think Leeds was a really big game for that.
“And we’ve been there and in and around the top six for long enough now that they can believe that maybe we can stay there. That’s great and we’ve got to continue getting the results to make sure we do to keep them coming back.”
While fans may have become frustrated at the Blues spending 13 seasons in the Championship, he points out that things could have been worse.
“Let me tell you, there are worse divisions than this to be in for a long time,” he added. “I started at Barnsley, they’re in the league below and Manchester City went to the league below and Southampton and Norwich.
“It’s beyond the realms of possibility that we could have been there. It makes me laugh a little bit ‘We’re the longest serving club in this division’, there are a lot of teams who would love to have been in this division for 13 years.
“But like everybody else we want to get out of it, and at the top end, not at the bottom.
“Somebody said it’s tough to get out of this league, it’s not at the bottom. It’s pretty damn easy if you let your guard down.
“I understand that if you have a couple of good results and you’re up there suddenly people aren’t so sure, but if you stay there for a while then they start coming back, they believe in you and and I think you start believing in yourself a bit more as well.”
It is great to see the fans starting to return and the 16,500 crowds are now turning into 20,000+ attendances, yes we had a ticket promotion in a recent game which obviously helps to but the crowds are now going up for ordinary games as well and that is great to see. 22,500 for Watford and 21,500 for Leeds looks like being fiollowed by another 20,000+ crowd today against a team who will bring very few fans, then we have the 5000+ going to Southampton and the 800 new season ticket holders, the feelgood factor is definitely returning and if we carry on the good work on the pitch it will only build further, I already know of Four people who I work with that are commiting to season tickets next term.
Like Mick I have never got this stigma that we are the longest serving team in the Championship, so what ? As he says it could have been a lot lot worse, as it has been for many top clubs over the years who have fallen lower, it really should be seen as a positive, for us to go through what we have and always maintained this level of football at Portman Road is a credit to the club and should be viewed as a massive positive.
First thing I thought too
