Saturday’s game now sold out

[Weybourne Shot]

Me thinks KE is on here on a wind up mission ...

[lowerbourneshot]

Me thinks KE is on here on a wind up mission ...

Why KE comes on here a lot to air his views . I hear Simon is a pretty sound chap.

[redandbluescb]

He will be crying at 1425 Sat afternoon.

[Kingfield Ender]

Not on the wind up at all. Growing up in West End in the 80s when Woking were in the lower reaches of the Isthmian league I was surrounded by people in Bisley, Knaphill , Brookwood and West End who all supported Aldershot. To be fair a lot of them went to Woking as well when Aldershot were away or not playing. Caught up in town with Peter MacDonald last season and it was great to see him. Just like me he's been through all the bad times with his club and is still here and I hope to see him again soon.

Saturday is a weird one, so many players out (too many to mention but probably 7) injured and also the ones we had to sign recently are mostly cup tied. We've had two easy wins (Gainsborough away and Radcliffe at home) and two penalty wins (Havant under Doyle when we were 3-1 up and coasting and Oxford away when we needed a 92nd minute header from Effiong).

We won't win a high scoring game, it just isnt happening as we dont score enough . WFC 41 league goals, ATFC 63 league goals
However we do concede less WFC 53, ATFC 65

The only way we can win (IMHO) is to concede 1 or less , but you know Effiong will have a good game and will probably score

If Aldershot go 2 up I would say thats it, so I'm expecting you to come at us all guns blazing. All logic suggests a home win. We can't win another penalty shoot out surely. Losing in a derby in the semi final would be a kick in the nuts, but imagine losing to one another in a Wembley Final, that would be the worst day out ever.

You have more game changers available to you, and should Henry and Barrett have good games they can certainly win it for you. Maybe 3-0,3-1. Of course the game could run away from us

At least we can have breakfast and a few drinks before all getting Ubers at 11.15 am from Woking. The trophy is very important and I can't state highly enough what its like to go to Wembley, I cried like a baby in 94 when the teams came out, just couldnt believe we were there, however staying up is everything right now for us, we don't want to end up in an ultra-tough NLS next season with some serial big spenders there to compete with.

For what its worth I think Spennymoor will win at Rochdale and the Trophy Winner comes from our tie.

If we go through I doubt I'll be here giving it the big one because it wont mean anything if we get relegated.

So for now lets just keep biting those fingernails and looking for new pants as saturday will be TENSE

[Triggers Broom]

7500 ?

7100 ish

I think it was 7100ish before Woking got an extra allocation so I think it's now 7450ish.

[Bear]

Strange if the league is more important!

For many years, I've always wished people put the same effort into league games as they do these cups.

Would transform our fortunes.

We'd all love to see regular big crowds at the Rec but I would guess that there are probably around 6,000 active Shots 'fans' in total (inc friends, family and work colleagues) who are happy to go to at least one game a season but generally have other better things to be doing or other commitments, or who support/watch other clubs. Of those 6,000, I'd guess that about 1,500 are 'category 1' fans - the 'die hards' - those who will go to most if not all home games regardless of weather time of year or opposition - mainly season ticket holders. Then there are about 1,500 in category 2 - those who will generally prioritise the Shots but will have other commitments - work, family, travel etc but will still aim to get to around half of all home games. Then there are around 3,000 in category 3 who have an interest (friends colleagues, fans of other clubs and sports, stray Shots etc) who may go to a handful or even just one or two games a season out of interes tor to meet up with other friends - and will naturally target going to bigger games, good weather or over holiday season. There is probably a 4th 'unknown category' - those who will turn up if we got to Wembley or away to Chelsea, Spurs or Liverpool who are the 'bandwagon jumpers' - They want to be part of it when the time suits without having to watch us get thumped in the league at Rochdale. We might take the micky or feign contempt but fair play to them and realistically I'm sure we'd be disappointed if we took 2,000 should we ever make it to Wembley. If we did ever make it there, I'd like to think we would get to circa 6,000 category 4 so around 12,000 in total but who knows.... Hopefully we get to find out next month.

For arguably one of the clubs biggest ever games, it's no surprise that anyone with a vague connection to the club will try extremely hard to attend and therefore we will have circa 6,000 home fans.

The key to growing our fanbase long term is getting kids in young (pre-teen) and hooked (the club is doing well with this) and in the short term, success on the pitch (its picking up!) is the best way of increasing our average crowd. Ideally we need both and that is what clubs like Lincoln have done - a few years ago averaging around 2,000 but now flying (in relative terms after reduced prices for kids and success on the pitch).

If we win on Saturday, hopefully a few of those in category 3 will move into category 2 and we can build on the success as others have done...

Roll on Saturday!

[Aldershot]

Without trying to sound like a negative nelly I can't see The Shots ever getting a massive following even if by some miracle they were to go as high as L1. This may just be a sweeping generalisation but I would assume a lot of Shots supporters are fans because of some connection to the area and I'd imagine most of our current supporters live outside of the town. With the army no longer based in the area and the Louise Margaret Hospital shut 30 years ago I think the club will struggle to attract younger/newer fans. The demographic of the town is different too. The fact there are other clubs on the rise in the local area that are in more pleasant surroundings (Farnham Town) also leads me to fear for the long-term future of football in Aldershot.

[Kingfield Ender]

How long is Farnham going to last ?. Nowhere near the support they need to fund the team, let alone a ground fit for purpose. We've seen it all before, when Mr Hugo decides he's not going to waste any more money on them they will vanish. They had 234 in the league a couple of weeks ago. Thats wont pay for players playing 2 divisions below their level

[RC-Moderator]

Simple story on how to get new fans.

A friend of my wife who lives in the town had never been to the club.

They got a free ticket through schools for him and his 8 year old to attend one of the Autumn games (maybe the Jordi howler!)

Since then they have been back almost every Saturday. The 8 year old oves catching the highlights on DAZN and they are asking me when season tickets go on sale for next season!

It does, and can happen folks.

[Bear]

Absolutely. Just to add, I have brought along a few friends over the years and now they are semi-regulars having never heard of Aldershot and only previously watched premier league football on TV. I brought a couple of work colleagues along last night for their 4th Shots game and they loved it and are already talking about coming back and wanting to do hospitality next season - they have no connection to the town or the area, they just like and appreciate accessible, live football at a decent(ish!) standard with an atmosphere (even with 1,400 last night sounded 3x that at times!) which though maybe we all think is pricey but is relatively cheap compared to the premier league!

Growing the club's fanbase isn't just the clubs responsibility - we can all do our bit but the main thing as Robin says is getting under 12's in as most people decide who will be 'their club; when aged 8-11.

[redandbluescb]

You're all sounding incredibly confident ahead of saturday

In theory with everyone we have out or cup tied it should be a fairly simple 3-0 stroll for you, however.............

Yep we will win i am 99.9% sure as your team is ****.

[Kingfield Ender]

I wasn't expecting a grown up response from you. I presume you'll go missing as usual should it not go your way

[Weybourne Shot]

I wasn't expecting a grown up response from you. I presume you'll go missing as usual should it not go your way

Actually KE I think you'll find that, given what is at stake, a lot of Shots fans I speak to are expecting a tight, cagey affair which may well be decided by a mistake, or by a piece of individual brilliance, or god forbid the dreaded penalty shoot out. I'm sure Ardley will have a plan to negate our strengths as will our Tommy for yours. I think it's fair to say that we play a more open brand of football though and if we do get it right and build up a head of steam on Saturday, with some of non league's most passionate supporters right behind us, then you could be in for a long afternoon. But us older Shots fans are long enough in the tooth to have suffered many a disappointment over the years so you don't think for one minute we all share redandblues view.

[A.T.F.C 92]

How long is Farnham going to last ?. Nowhere near the support they need to fund the team, let alone a ground fit for purpose. We've seen it all before, when Mr Hugo decides he's not going to waste any more money on them they will vanish. They had 234 in the league a couple of weeks ago. Thats wont pay for players playing 2 divisions below their level

I heard last night they pay some of their players 4 or 500 a week for combined counties

[lowerbourneshot]

Not on the wind up at all. Growing up in West End in the 80s when Woking were in the lower reaches of the Isthmian league I was surrounded by people in Bisley, Knaphill , Brookwood and West End who all supported Aldershot. To be fair a lot of them went to Woking as well when Aldershot were away or not playing. Caught up in town with Peter MacDonald last season and it was great to see him. Just like me he's been through all the bad times with his club and is still here and I hope to see him again soon.

Saturday is a weird one, so many players out (too many to mention but probably 7) injured and also the ones we had to sign recently are mostly cup tied. We've had two easy wins (Gainsborough away and Radcliffe at home) and two penalty wins (Havant under Doyle when we were 3-1 up and coasting and Oxford away when we needed a 92nd minute header from Effiong).

We won't win a high scoring game, it just isnt happening as we dont score enough . WFC 41 league goals, ATFC 63 league goals
However we do concede less WFC 53, ATFC 65

The only way we can win (IMHO) is to concede 1 or less , but you know Effiong will have a good game and will probably score

If Aldershot go 2 up I would say thats it, so I'm expecting you to come at us all guns blazing. All logic suggests a home win. We can't win another penalty shoot out surely. Losing in a derby in the semi final would be a kick in the nuts, but imagine losing to one another in a Wembley Final, that would be the worst day out ever.

You have more game changers available to you, and should Henry and Barrett have good games they can certainly win it for you. Maybe 3-0,3-1. Of course the game could run away from us

At least we can have breakfast and a few drinks before all getting Ubers at 11.15 am from Woking. The trophy is very important and I can't state highly enough what its like to go to Wembley, I cried like a baby in 94 when the teams came out, just couldnt believe we were there, however staying up is everything right now for us, we don't want to end up in an ultra-tough NLS next season with some serial big spenders there to compete with.

For what its worth I think Spennymoor will win at Rochdale and the Trophy Winner comes from our tie.

If we go through I doubt I'll be here giving it the big one because it wont mean anything if we get relegated.

So for now lets just keep biting those fingernails and looking for new pants as saturday will be TENSE

I'll get sh1te no doubt ,but I have no problem with Woking . I used to watch them regularly from 84 till 87 when I couldn't attend shots games regularly away . Saw chappells first match in charge . Remember a very good game v Farnborough 2 2 iirc and my old mate paul Richardson scored 1 . I worked for john buchanan for a while and got to know Glenn Cockerill very well . I don't see Woking as a rival ,mine will always be Reading . Anyway may the best team win Saturday.