The typical image of a football supporter is someone who 'inherits' an allegiance to a football club and follows it through thick and thin. That would certainly fit my case (well to an extent) and many of the hard core Addickted who read the blogs and contribute to the lists and message boards.
However, as we know many younger people tend to become followers of a big club. For example, the now grown up sons of a friend formed an allegiance to Everton when the Toffees counted for something. One of them chose to go to university in Liverpool so that he could attend home games more regularly. A friend of mine who expressed little interest in football in the past now goes regularly to Manchester United.
The sports studies literature also suggests that there is a lot more 'churn' in support than is generally believed. Fans abandon less successful clubs and switch to other ones. For example, David Mellor was apparently a Fulham fan before he switched to the Chelsea shirt. Somewhere I visited yesterday has seen a sudden upsurge in declared Hull City supporters.
Yesterday I had to do some business with an American living in North London whom I had not met before. In the course of conversation he revealed that he qualified as a 'member' of Charlton as he had been sent the Red Card.
When Charlton were in the Premiership and he had friends or relatives over from the States who wanted to see a soccer game, he had taken them to The Valley. His reasons were:
1. He could get tickets easily, whereas it was almost impossible to get them at the nearby Emirates
2. The price was very reasonable
3. It was a 'great' stadium with a good atmosphere and his visitors always enjoyed the experience.
4. The stadium was easy to get to by public transportation.
He doesn't go to The Valley any more. If he fancies seeing a game, he goes to the Orient. He can decide at 1.30 p.m. whether to go. He can cycle to the stadium, park up his bike and be home by 5.30 p.m.
The moral of this story is that if Charlton can recover its standing, there is great potential for developing the support base, above all in the growing Thames Gateway. That is why I think there could still be a successful takeover bid for the club.
3 comments:
Spot on. Infact, like it or not, I suspect that this so-called fringe support, which obviously includes those "football fans" who find themselves living in the catchment area by chance (lots of people move around for work and/or family reasons), is probably more important financially than the "core" support. Moreover, and I can speak from personal experience here, this kind of supporter can develop a strong allegiance quite quickly. Paradoxically, it might also be much less likely to boo when things aren't going well, but perhaps that's another story.
Now I know where my Red Card went....
The seats next to me were occupied by an American and his son who had come to the Valley a.) because the son was into soccer and b.) the Spurs match that they had booked to see had been changed by Sky. The father was very impressed and surprised by the Stadium in its suburban surroundings and really enjoyed the match. However I think that he went home a fan of Kelvyn Davis rather than Charlton!
otherwarwickaddick
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