The K's In Point
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by supahoops7Yesterday 19:18Yesterday at 19:18:57
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Attendances
Views: 2818
The Supporters Club notes that attendances have been falling dramatically for the last few seasons - both at home and away - and would like to understand more about the reasons for this.
You might consider:
* the quality of the football on offer
* the quality of the stadium (Fetcham Grove, King George's Field, Imperial Fields)
* the overall matchday experience
* the distance involved when we play home games outside of the Borough
* the cost (entrance, transport, food & drink)
* the cost of living (more generally)
* dissatisfaction at the way the Club is being run
What would make you more likely to attend, or attend more often? Importantly, are you more likely to attend next season, when we move to Raynes Park Vale?
Please comment below and/or email the SC Secretary with your thoughts. Any answers you give by email will be treated in strict confidence, and may help to form the basis of a more in-depth survey in due course.
If attendances continue to fall, the Club will surely become unsustainable in the very near future. Only if we understand more about the reasons for the drop in attendances, can we hope to do something about it.
Thank you.
Secretary, Ks Supporters Club
Mailto: secretary@kingstoniansupportersclub.com
Kingstonian Supporters' Club
Edited by K Supporters Club at 14:30:27 on 25th March 2024
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8 people 
1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 779
A huge thank you to everyone that has already responded to this. I will summarise the responses in a report to be published before the end of the season. This is a reminder that you still have time to contribute, either by replying to this thread, by email to secretary@kingstoniansupportersclub.com or via the blogspot at: https://comeonuks.wordpress.com/2024/03/25/attendances/
I have offered the Chairman that I will include his response in the report, and suggested that he might like to invite the SC to a Board meeting to discuss it. I look forward to a reply...
Kingstonian Supporters Club
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7 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 599
Thanks for doing this
I won’t be at Tooting Saturday
I’ve got a cycle race to go to organised by Twickenham CC on Sunday and then there’s Liege Bastogne Liege that afternoon on TV . So Saturday’s the only day to catch up with stuff around the house and frankly there’s not an iota of incentive to go on Saturday
________________________________________________
Neither witty or imaginative to have one
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2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1273
I think the biggest problem - aside from the varying valid reasons people have listed above - is the people of Kingston don’t think of Ks as their local team anymore. We are out of sight, out of mind. Hopefully RPV is a step in the right direction in that regard but simply playing a few miles closer won’t massively move the dial on its own. We simply have to be more proactive.
Happy to be corrected on any of this, but to my knowledge there are no posters anywhere in Kingston advertising the club, where we play, or who/when we’re playing. The club don’t appear to have an email mailing list to keep floating fans in the loop (I still regularly get emails from several clubs we visited in the Covid era, having bought tickets online), There is no longer any effort made to engage local students in either coming to games or volunteering at the club. Equally are we in schools?
We make it very easy for potential fans to forget about us.
Was the current chairman originally not elevated to the board with the remit of improving how the club markets itself? Genuine question…
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9 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1283
Don't go because:
1. Makeup of the board
2. Behaviour of the board on a personal level
3. Club has been put into managed decline. I want to watch competitive football and Kingston don't really offer that now
4. Behaviour and attitude of the boards dwindling number of supporters
5. Appalling football. Watch more games in the league below now. Without significant change we are going to really struggle. Back to back relegations plausible and in my opinion likely.
6. Can't remember the last time I could confidently tell you who was likely to be in the starting lineup or even still with the club. Hard to feel much connection with the current team on that basis.
7. Statement from the club on Simon Lane's departure was completely nuts and to be honest embarrassing to the point of why would you want to be associated with this in any way.
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13 people 1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 1379
Travelling from so far away, the difference between one ground share and another (Levred, Cor-Cas, Tooting, RPV) is kinda immaterial. What matters to me is whether or not it's in the Borough of Kingston. Ks are my sole remaining link to the town I called home for 15 years, and I'll be fucked if I'm gonna go to any more "home" games until we're back there.
How often I go (home or away) is massively influenced by who owns the club and the way it is run. A Chairman and a Board of Directors who treat the fans with such utter contempt are a huge disincentive. Ks should be owned and run by its supporters.
The club is dying. Yioryos is a massive part of the problem.
Edited by reximus at 16:04:19 on 3rd April 2024
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13 people 2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1650
One of the reasons attendances are down is probably that people aren't all that enamoured having to endure foul mouthed tirades emanating from behind the goal most weeks, as occurred again yesterday.
Why would anyone want to bring their kids along to subject them to that?
Oh, if anyone is thinking of replying to this post with something along the lines of " well at least it adds to the atmosphere" then you should consider yourselves part of the problem.
Happy Easter! 🐇
COME ON YOU Ks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Newt
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5 people 9 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1393
Yeah you never get that at other non-league clubs
No words 🤣 Chatham yoooooof on their big day out pic.twitter.com/F4RKoGRmJD
— Matt Carlin (@mattcarlin12) April 1, 2024
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15 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1061
The Supporters Club has asked John McCormack (the Club’s Safety Officer) to lodge a complaint with Chatham Town FC, following the disgraceful behaviour of a small group of their “supporters” at the game at the The Bauvill Stadium on Monday 1st April.
In doing so, the SC wishes to acknowledge the incredible patience shown by the travelling Ks fans. You are a credit to the Club and the good name of Kingstonian FC.
Kingstonian Supporters' Club
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10 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1118
Thank you
It important that an official protest is made especially when a bottle with liquid is thrown into a group of people. (Fortunately the object hit something rather than someone, otherwise there could have been an injury to one of our fans)
And an applause to our fans who did not react other than to laugh.
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Neither witty or imaginative to have one
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2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1292
Whether on here, on Facebook, on my blogsite or directly by email, I have received dozens of replies from people, telling me exactly why they have stopped coming to Ks, or coming less often. Not one of them has mentioned bad language.
Speculating on other people's reasons is probably not helpful.
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6 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1264
𝖨 𝖺𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗇𝖽𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝖺𝗆𝖾 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗍 𝖧𝖺𝗌𝗁𝗍𝖺𝗀 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗆𝗒 𝖿𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝗈𝗅𝖽 𝗌𝗈𝗇. 𝖨 𝖽𝗂𝖽𝗇'𝗍 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝖻𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗏𝖾.
A.
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8 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1348
Hi Newt, hope you're well. I agree, as this club (hopefully) gets rebuilt this is something we need to be conscious of. As a potty mouth myself, even I have winced at times over the years. I think it's fair to say there may be one or two whose attendance is limited by this, let's work on it.
As for where the other 1-2000 have gone, I have this absolutely down to the direction the old and current board have taken us on. The rest of this thread, albeit mostly anecdotal, is fairly strong evidence towards this. Yes, we need to make sure this club is as welcoming as possible, but we also need to stop the rot. A plan was in place for this, including a £150k investment of new money, but the old/current board were too interested in either keeping control or maximising a return on their own failures.
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13 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1320
Newt, come on man. We have a board that treats its managers, players and supporters with extreme disdain and, now your drinking mate is on the board you turn around and blame the fans! That’s an extraordinary reach.
But, maybe you can quote what is “foul mouthed” and a “tirade “ and why it would put off fans, as opposed to non sweaty fans at any other football club?
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5 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1336
We would have to have the attendances for them to come and hear the foul mouth tirades and decide not to come again if that were the case.
Fair play for your exceptional hearing as well, I heard absolutely nothing foul mouthed over the game
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2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1351
Newt talking about “part of the problem” is probably one of the most hypocritical things I’ve ever read on here. 😂
I’m surprised you have an opinion actually Newt, usually you’re picking splinters out of your backside after being perched on your fence for so long.
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1 person 2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1309
Here we go!
What is foul mouth about asking a member of the board where the money is? Where is the big statement/update we were promised 6 weeks ago? Well done for backing failure Newt, it will be the death of our club and you’ve supported it!
Given you are seriously in denial about the state of the club maybe read the posts below which of course make no mention of your reasons Newt.
Oh and we did have a number of kids there yesterday. Maybe read my post in this very thread about how I’ve brought a number of new kids to the club. What have you and your pal done?
Maybe the board’s lying ability is becoming infectious!
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1 person 3 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1304
I attend most games but when you take a look at the playing squad, paying £12 to watch K's feels like we're being mugged. Either that, or we are the mugs for paying £12 to watch a side that is Step 3 in name only.
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4 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1831
In some ways you are probably asking the wrong question.
I can give you my answer which is that I moved to Wigan. Even now qualifying for an senior rail pass it's £70 to get down by train, so we're talking about close to £100 for the day and with the travel 10am to 8.30pm. This compares to a maximum of £30 to see Wigan Athletic and walk to the ground at 2.30 and back by 5.30 which is much what I was doing at K's when I lived in Kingston.
But that's just normal churn for a football club- people die, people move away, people get other interests or families. Our average crowds dropped by over 400 when we got relegated from the Conference and even if some of that is down to away fans or special games that attracted more fans, clearly lack of success played a bit part in that drop.
So the question is really why can't we attract new fans and I think the answer is rather obvious while living a normadic existence. Maybe RPV gives more options for initiatives to work with 15 minute train or bus journeys from a lot of our catchment area but it's still not permanent and there's no option to make the football club a community asset that raises awareness that a football team even exists.
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15 people 1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 1939
From May 2023
Sorry, but I won't be renewing my K's season ticket. I can live with going to Tooting & Mitcham. As I now qualify as a senior (>60), I could even live with the 22% price increase. I can completely understand the difficulties with securing a ground back within the borough.
However, I thought the way the board handled the approach and discussions with Kingston Bridge Holdings (KBH) was supremely arrogant and patronising.
Never been since and won't go while the current board in in place.
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14 people 2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1665
I don't usually comment on Thumbs Up & Down, cos everyone's entitled to their opinion.
But to give a Thumb Down to Andy's post is absolutely to stick your fingers in your ears and shout "Lah lah lah, I don't care"!
This thread is about finding out WHY attendances have been falling for the last few seasons. If you - whoever you are - are so far up the Directors' combined arses that you don't care, then you are 100% part of the problem.
Actually, you're just making the problem worse. You are now adding to the reasons we don't bother coming to home games any more.
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8 people 1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 1145
It's definitely one of those instances you wish you could see which members are liking/disliking posts
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2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1665
For me the reason are simple — it is too far away, I can’t be bothered and there is a genuinely compelling alternative at Walton & Hersham which is 10 minutes drive or 40 minutes walk from my front door. My son play for their junior teams. There is a community spirit, I made friends and it is fun to watch.
The owners of Kingstonian don’t seem to appreciate that there is competition.
Whilst I understand that finding a new ground in Kingston is very difficult, the gulf between the owners and the fans is so massive that it is impossible to summon up any enthusiasm. Their stewardship has been dismal. Okay the circumstances have been difficult but it has been atrocious.
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7 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1680
All your grievances about the club are self inflicted by the directors ,their pursuit of money has led the club to it's present state.
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4 people 3 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1631
One real issue is we have missed an entire generation of fans. Firstly the Scumbles hypocritically moved in cuckoo like into our ground before basically enabling the asset stripper Khosla and stealing the ground itself. Then our directors moved us out of Kingston. One main reason we have hardly any fans is … there are hardly any fans.
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4 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1539
The fans are there just dissillusioned we need good management,here's hoping .
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Re: Attendances
Views: 1733
I haven't attended for some time since the club were shunted out of KM. This really upset me and still does. I never got to a game at KGF which is partly my fault but also apathy towards the club itself for letting down its supporters. Going to games at T&M was always unlikely as it's a rotten journey from the middle of Kingston where I live. I want to go to my local club in its home town.
Having said that, I hope to get over to Raynes Park as that seems a lot easier.
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5 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1813
In my own circumstance
I guess I would say I used to attend 50pc of games at the time I was attended the games whilst we were at KM.
I followed to a certain degree to Leatherhead at the beginning of the season based off the feel good factor after the late drama of the previous season with Craig Edwards
Obviously Leatherhead became a disaster travel wise for me as I don't drive and the public transport options for Leatherhead wasn't the best, then again apparently Saturday 3pm kick offs was the alleged priority from the fans over distance to Kingston when deciding ground share options
I went to alot more games at Casuals as I was living close to Tolworth at the time, personally I really enjoyed the experience there. Being able to walk to the ground was a massive factor for me as that short trip was part of the whole experience and the short trip back
Quality of football obviously does help to a certain degree when attracting new fans me however I enjoyed being able to support the town I live ins football team. I have near enough in my adult life have always either worked or lived in town and Kingstonian was apart of the town and it's culture. Now I just feel the club has been torn from the town and the club itself is starting to longer feel like Kingston's team
I would also say that the league/level Kingstonian play at is secondary to being Kingston's team for me.
------------------------------------
It's the Organs or the Craic, you can only serve one master
Edited by JBreeze at 21:29:38 on 25th March 2024
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2 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1742
I havn't been to a game for around 18 months. This has mostly been due to working within non-league (albeit at a lower level) and a lot of fixture clashes.
When the opportunity has come about of a free date for us to come, the prospect is not appealing. Mitcham is marginally more awkward for us to get to from Reading. The increased cost is not a huge factor, but the running of the club is a major issue.
There doesn't seem to be any plan of how to push things forward as a club at board level. The team is under-funded and there seems to be no direction or real desire to improve any issues that the club faces.
The social media presence is pitiful in comparison to other clubs, even at a significantly lower level to Ks. There is no direction, no buzz, no vision and no plan. And they are too up their own arses to accept help or to even engage properly with supporters.
For me to attend again (on my days off) there needs to be some hope and a vision of what we can achieve.
What's most frustrating is that, the expertise required already exists amongst the supporters. KBH and the Supporters club contain more than enough capable people to help put the club back on track. I would even offer to help the club build a junior system (something I've done successfully before in Reading) if asked by the right people, though I'd be reluctant to help the current board.
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10 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1843
As far as I'm concerned the quality of the ground is not a prime concern for me. As a 'groundhopper' I've visited grounds from the Premier League to local leagues with hardly any facilities, to watch a game of football (although I must admit to preferring a seat now I'm in my mid-70s.)
And if the team I'm supporting wins some and loses some I'm happy enough. But losing every week just makes me depressed, and so I've stopped attending recently. (It doesn't help that the other two clubs near to me, Casuals and Colliers Wood Utd are also having terrible seasons!)
The journey to Tooting is really quite difficult and time-consuming. And the ground itself is soul-less - no wonder Tooting are doing so badly too. Leatherhead was pretty dire to get to, but had some atmosphere, and at least sharing at Casuals was in the Borough of Kingston so not so far away. Raynes Park Vale will be certainly easier to get to than Tooting. Will I go to games there? Well yes, if there are signs that we've stopped the rot, and start winning a bit. But I'll need to see some improvement first.
And to finish i'd like to point out that I'm not blaming the players or the Manager for this terrible run of results. I'm sure they all put in 100%, although with a few exceptions sadly they're playing at a level that's too high for their ability. Sadly, money does buy success at all levels of the game, and if you don't have a realistic playing budget to start with, you can't expect success.
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8 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1779
I hear a lot bout budgets,is Ks budget so far worse then many of the clubs above them?
Does Ks points tally with the budget deficit with all those above them?
Ksuals
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1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 1889
This is obviously my own personal reasons so I don't expect everyone to understand or agree & apologies in advance for not taking the wider picture into account here because I know the ramifications of moving to a ground only currently suitable for Step 4 football maximum.
I have been voting with my feet since season two of the Tootstonian experiment was confirmed. For me, supporting my local team does not entail getting on a bus to Sutton then another bus to Imperial Fields. It felt ridiculous that upon passing Gander Green Lane of all places I was only ~50% into my journey to support my local football team that for years (save for 1 when K's were in Leatherhead & also my own exile before that when I lived in Devon for a bit) a big part of my match day experience was a leisurely stroll to the ground with mates.
At KM we used to meet in Richmond Park, have a drink or two (or five as it was back in those days) then walk to the ground. At KGF the holy pilgrimage from my house up to the A3 & along it became almost as important to the match day experience as the game itself (& on occasion more enjoyable!). I can walk to Grand Drive from my house in the same sort of time as I can get to KGF. To me that's huge. That's my local team again. Perennially Step 4 or otherwise.
I don't think the quality of football even comes into it for me. Okay the terrible on field display would always make it even less likely I would have gone this season but it was 0% chance even without that. I'll happily pay good money to watch bad football locally with a team I can identify with before I'll pay to watch good football further away with a team that I can't identify with.
The clown show at (not a) board level probably was a slight factor for me to be fair... maybe part of this has been me subconsciously disassociating myself with the club so im less upset when it goes pop. But having said that it'll still be the same damn circus next season only one of the clowns has been promoted to ring master.
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10 people 1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 1842
I’ve had to drag myself to games this season. I’ve not really been to many evening games even though it doesn’t take me long to get to Mitcham.
It is a combination of everything listed, everything that is rotten to the core caused by this shambles of a board, old and new!
Happy to oversee the demise of our once great football club for their own egos/agenda. Cowards who can’t face the fans, a sign of how scared and how out of their depth they really are.
Not man enough to accept the help and finances of those wishing to take the club in a new direction.
I live in the hope that things will change. I have brought a number of friends and their kids to ks over the past 2 years, with a full explanation of the club’s situation. I arranged the family day and Christmas party; a reminder that we are a club. The Supporter’s club have loads of ideas for club events and I’m hoping we’ll host a supporter’s vs staff game (Tutu is all over the idea!).
I am still making Ks part of my life, clinging on to lifetime memories, friendships and that hope that things will get good again. I completely understand why fans are not coming and I keep making the point more don’t attend than do. With the wrong people being on the board they will never acknowledge or address that!
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5 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1724
Mitcham is obviously top of the list and thank God we'll soon be leaving. Awful journey, soulless and far too big for us once you're there. It's utterly sucked the life out of the football club and simply hasn't been a fun way to spend Saturdays. Little more to add on top of some good posts already on this thread.
The away game at Casuals last season on the other hand was brilliant. A terrace packed with Ks fans under a low roof making a great atmosphere. Like it used to be there, or at KM, or even to a lesser extent at Leatherhead. And it's close to my family home (I don't live in Kingston myself any more) so it works around life.
With the team, it's not so much that it's rubbish for me but the way there's just been so much change. Not just this season but constantly ever since the Dynan era. How many rebuilds? How many whole new teams? How many players who we'll never remember in a year or two? How few players have reached 100 games for us in the last seven years? Any at all apart from Tolfrey soldiering on? How many managers? I can put up with the team being bad but I hate the way there's no identity and just so much change that I get to the point of not knowing, or even caring, who most of them are.
Yes I'll probably go more to RPV - closer, more suitable for us size-wise, likely more fun than Mitcham. But to really feel we're getting the club back I'd like to see us establish a more consistent team with a bit of an identity, as well as making some sort of progress in getting back to Kingston.
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5 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1750
For me it’s simply the complete abscence of ambition since Dowse left.
I thought the Tommy Williams appointment was the start of the demise but the Lee Dynan experience plumbed new depths…to the point that it felt insulting towards the end. Some seriously weird stuff seemed to go on with transfer dealings and Lee Dynan’s post match interviews were banal and devoid of footballing insight or self-awareness.
As a result of years of neglect the only appeal to attending games is to catch up with fellow fans. I’ll definitely be a regular attendee again when my dad’s no longer able to go to Brentford games but fear that by then there might not be much of a club or fanbase left.
Sad times.
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6 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1755
for me, there's two main themes::
1) It doesn't feel like my local football club
I'm in a minority of K's fans in that I live in Kingston. But that's a very real part of what Kingstonian is to me (and it was when I lived in Chessington too). I want to watch Kingston's local team, and the connection that it has to the town I spend my life in, and trying to make better. The physical distance means it's just harder to get to (and back from). games I woulda gone to before I won't make kick off, or won't be able to stay to the end of. And as the crowds have dropped, the experience drops. Oftentimes it's just a rubbish day / night out.
but also
2) the mismanagement and frustration around the set up
I think there was still a way that despite the physical distance it could still feel like Kingston's club. But the running of the club and the middle finger attitude to supporters extinguishes any flame whenever it comes. The leaving Kingsmeadow and the claim it was in the club's best interest. The lack of any plan for the future and (until very recently) the Supporters Club's cheering it on. The whittling away of the Wimbledon money. The feeling that success is merely not going bust. "The envy of non-league", That my money and knowledge is not good enough but other people's is. As a fan and an ex / potential sponsor I feel like the club doesn't give a shit about me and my friends. So it's harder to give a shit back.
if it was just 1) or 2) I could handle it. It's the cumulative effect which has done it for me.
That said. I'm a K's fan and the wallies I watch the games with, I still wanna watch games with. Raynes Park is half the journey of MItcham. The ground is better for watching matches at, and i'll get to more games there than I would where we are now. K's can't die for another decade or so, so we'll keep on keeping on, and those at the wheel can keep this unsustainable entity going for a little while yet.
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9 people 1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 1745
Similar to others I don't live in Kingston anymore but my family still does. I could coordinate going to KGF with family visits but its not as easy at T&M as the journey is much longer.
Will try RPV as I'm hoping its not too much longer than KGF
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1 person
Re: Attendances
Views: 1661
I have been watching the very sad decline of The K’s , from a distance I live in Southern Ireland, but am a lifelong Walton and Hersham fan, as you know we too went through a decline/demise in recent years and I for one thought my once “mighty “ team would become nothing more than just a distant memory. The club was poorly run with no ambition, our real demise too happened after Dow’s left us for you. My point is keep the faith you have a great pedigree/history and supporters, stay strong/positive together.
I wish you well for the future.
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11 people
Re: Attendances
Views: 1440
I've got a season ticket but have only been to one home game this calendar year, and that was solely because it was the 'meet the board' event afterwards.
Ultimately we have binned off the season and therefore I have to.
Mitcham has been a disaster.
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9 people
Previous thread: Dowson by Paddy17/4 14:27Wed Apr 17 14:27:24 2024view thread