Thetownend.com

'Town-sized club will not grace Premier League again'
           
           


  IN THE second in a series of articles reliving Swindon Town's promotion to the Premier League through the Division One play-offs in 1993, chief sports writer SAM MORSHEAD talks to former midfield favourite Martin Ling about his memories of Wembley glory.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10445999._Town_sized_club_will_not_grace_Premier_League_again_/?ref=rss
           
           
           

Hull twice the size of Swindon? Have a word with yourself Lingy.

Reading and QPR do ok... Oh!

Wigan,
Blackpool,
Reading,

Whilst Reading and Wigan might be considered "bigger" clubs than us now, they've built that through being the in the top two divisions consistently for the last decade or so. Historically they're no bigger, or certainly in Wigan's case, smaller than us.

You could argue the same about Burnley and Blackburn too.

Blackpool were the first to spring to my mind. Their L1 crowds were lower than ours are now if memory serves correctly. Hardly a huge place either.

Southampton and Norwich cant be much bigger than Swindon - if at all

In terms of population, no. In terms of fan base, I'd say they're both much bigger.

Norwich especially

We're all aware of the apathy of the people of Swindon regarding the club.

Good core support - fantastic away support - but unable, seemingly, to build on any success that comes our way.

8500 seems to be about it

Similar to Oldham, decent sized place, graced the top flight for a short time, mostly a top lower league club

No reason a club like ours can't be a premier league club again. However like the similar size clubs being mentioned it needs a new bigger stadium and can help to have a rich owner.

The stadium should be the number one priority of the club, but who ever is in charge never seems to do anything about it!!

In 05/06 we averaged 5900ish, over the last few years we have grown those attendances by almost 3k. Fitton and co did a fantastic job at getting into the community and making STFC "cool" again.
Over the last 5 years the amount of Man Utd, Chelsea etc shirts in Swindon have gone down compared to the amount of youngsters now wearing Town shirts.

I honestly believe that with a new stadium or improved stadium we could do a Swansea, Brighton or Reading and improve our support massively.

Why do you keep quoting people without adding anything?

Its an interesting debate/discussion.

For example Barnsley who have been in the Championship for a while now have a population of 73,000, whereas Swindon has a population of 209,000. A town our size should be able to support a Championship Club I would have thought? Peterborough has a similar population to us and are a Lg1/Championship yo yo club so perhaps this is what we should be aiming for?

Perhaps he can't spell "this"

I'd agree with all of that.  Average attendances have been stuck at around 8,500 for the last 5 years or so after rising sharply in the years immediately before that.  But what a lot of people seem to gloss over is that almost all of the clubs who have seen dramatic increases in attendances have had the benefit of:

(a) promotions in to one of the top two divisions; or
(b) a ground redevelopment

...or more often than not, both.

We are one of a very small number of clubs that has done next to nothing to its stadium for the best part of a generation.  And we have been outside of the top two divisions since 2000.  Under those circumstances, interest in the club these days is pretty impressive in my view.  And if/when we get our act together and do something with regards to (a) & (b) above, I think things are going to take off in quite a meaningful way.  Not holding my breath right now, but one day it will happen.  One day.

Unfortunately, it looks like the promise of recent seasons has now gone.

Population of Manchester is approximately 500,000 but utd apparently have a fan base of 659 million, how does that work?  :sherlock:

95% of statistics are made up.

I think we are in agreement regarding the short term.  But you have got to hope.

It's the hope that kills you....just accept our lot and enjoy it for what it is..

If Yeovil can get to the Championship with a Conference budget, and League 2 gates, then we can get back to the Prem.

Probably not in the short term though.

At the outset of the season, most people agreed that the relative weakness of the league gave us a chance. Namely the likes of Pompey and Cov coming down were pretty much basket cases...with only really Sheff U kicking around as a name. Yeovil proved this by going up.

For us to be upwardly competitive, than a massive change at the club has to happen....we're currently undergoing a massive change, but not for the better.  Our short term aim has to be maintaining our current status next season.

What were Reading's gates before the move to their new stadium?  On the whole, the club's challenging for promotion in thr Championship have new(ish) stadia.

Cardiff
Hull
Watford (two end stands built in the 1990's)
Brighton
Palace (no)
Leicester

Bolton
Forest (two end stands built in the 1990's)
Charlton (three new stands from the late 1990's)
Derby

We need a new stadium to 'improve revnenue streams'.

but for every Reading and Brighton there is a Coventry or Darlington

It is not a given that a new stadium equals success.

It is very much chicken and egg. Does the stadium come first or does the team have to achieve success first?

Personally, I reckon a piecemeal approach to revamping our existing stadium is the way to go

the big difference is that Coventry and Darlo don't own their stadiums so don't get the revenue streams though which negates that argument

It fits with the template of our history.....just that the pieces are a bit tardy in execution....so the TE was built in the 30's and is essentially unchanged, and the Bank had a major tart up which I recall watching excitedly as a kid in the early 60's. Then new fences at the back...new bogs...and clock and flag poles were added, along with new turnstile blocks.  They're either still there or have fallen into disuse or disrepair.

Would be nice to see something happening here, to be included in Jed's "business" plan, but not holding my breath.

Can't be bothered to write 'this'.

A lot of clubs who grace the prem had grounds that had a limited capacity, when we were there it was 18,250 ish. The dell wasn't big, neither was the baseball ground or Craven Cottage (before the development). When Charlton were on their travels they used to get crowds of 5-6k. We could achieve what Reading have in terms of success and crowd increase.

The advantage that Reading have over us in terms of catchment etc. is that it's a slightly bigger town with a more densely populated hinterland.  Plenty of medium sized towns surrounding Reading - Wokingham, Henley, Bracknell, Maidenhead etc. - where as Swindon is surrounded mostly by fields.  So they do have a bigger natural catchment than us - and a more affluent one at that - but agree with your basic point that there is plenty of scope to increase our crowds when we step up a level.  Maybe not averaging in the high teens as Reading do, but mid teens - should be possible with the right management.

Most of those towns are boating strongholds, not football  :D. A catchment area that is also not far from London. Swindon's catchment area is quite large, albeit mostly smaller towns and villages.  :)

Don't bother with either.

Couldn't agree more.