07-06-2022, 02:52 PM
(07-06-2022, 01:55 PM)scumslayer Wrote: That may well be your conventional wisdom Gaffer, but the facts prove it wrong I'm afraid.
Roker Park opened the same year as Fratton Park and had a capacity of 22,500 when it closed. Attendances rocketed when they moved to the Stadium of Light.
The scum hit their 15k ceiling at The Dell and doubled their attendance when they moved to St Mary's.
As you can see, Sunderland see a perfect archetype for comparison.
And separately, like others, you're looking only at present day footfall requirements and only for Pompey matches.
The development needs to be for the city, not just for the football club, and for tomorrow, not just today.
You have to compare like with like SS and when the scum were in the lower divisions they did not double their attendances compared to the Dell, far from it. Their big attendances have been in the Prem (surprise, surprise) and they don’t fill the ground for most matches even then.
Attendances depend on the division you are in and the opposition you are facing. Sunderland are much better supported than us in terms of regular attendees, they always have been. When I was a kid the capacity of FP was knocking on 50,000, we very rarely came even close to filling it. We had very big gates occasionally for big league games and cup games against higher division opponents. You only have to look at when we were in the Prem, we didn’t fill the park for every game.
You could do with a dose of realism methinks .
A capacity of between 30 and 35,000 is about right for us and we should aspire to that.
What is the point of having a huge stadium that the crowd rattles around in most of the time? You want a stadium that provides an intimidating atmosphere and doesn’t look half empty. We have that already and it would be a mistake to change that just so you can see the Killers, or whoever, occasionally.