For size of city, are we one of the best supported clubs in England?

[BathRam72]

4 minutes ago, AlfretonRam84 said:

The village I'm in is mostly Forest, a few mansfield and even a handful of Alfreton Town fans, and of course a few rams. Although to be honest i'm right on the border of Derbys/Notts so not too surprising.

Get out there good man and preach the good word and change those heathens

 

[TelTheRam]

16 hours ago, ONEPIEGON said:

Heanor is Derbyshire. and don't mean in just the geographical and political sense I mean in culture and heartbeat.

First time I've seen "Heanor" and "culture" in the same sentence 

Mind you, if Stoke can have signs for "Cultural Quarter"...........

[AlfretonRam84]

12 minutes ago, BathRam72 said:

Get out there good man and preach the good word and change those heathens

 

I've tried the mansfield and forest lot but no luck  I'll leave the Alfreton Town fans alone as it is the local team, so fair enough on em.

[angieram]

1 hour ago, AlfretonRam84 said:

The village I'm in is mostly Forest, a few mansfield and even a handful of Alfreton Town fans, and of course a few rams. Although to be honest i'm right on the border of Derbys/Notts so not too surprising.

I'm curious now. South Normanton? 

[AlfretonRam84]

3 minutes ago, angieram said:

I'm curious now. South Normanton? 

Close, Newton, Few miles down the road

[BobbyD]

All interesting stuff

Makes you wonder why it is that places like Burnley, Derby and Sunderland and even Portsmouth have such high support relative to their size. 

I guess there are all sorts of factors that go into it :

- long established, traditional  football clubs

- some element of historical success

- no obvious/acceptable alternative 

- a sense of local belonging and pride

- in the case of Rams and Sunderland the fact that they have fan-friendly new stadiums (encouraging kids, families and women as well as others ) must have helped

- a belief that the owners aims were aligned to the fans (?)

What I find amazing is that we now get better attendances after nine years in the second tier than we did when we were in the Premier for a few years under Jim Smith (even in the best of times)

Would love to know why this is.  

[AlfretonRam84]

13 minutes ago, smiths_tavrn said:

I forgot to pencil in Forest fans for the north of the County. I should imagine that there are many more Forest fans from Derbyshire.than there are Derby fans from Nottinghamshire. Strange that in these border towns / villages that you never get any Notts County fans.

I'd Imagine most Notts C fans are either from Nottingham or have been bought up supporting them from their family, very local fan base I'd think.

[23081986]

1 hour ago, AlfretonRam84 said:

I'd Imagine most Notts C fans are either from Nottingham or have been bought up supporting them from their family, very local fan base I'd think.

I've been really surprised since I moved to Nottingham at how many Notts County fans there are. If I wasn't aware of theirs and Forest's attendances I would say the size of their fan bases is not that different. Not sure if it's a case of the Magpies having a fairly large fan base but not bothering to go to matches, or if it's a case of their relatively small number fans being proud and showing off their support more than Forest's tend to.

 

Regarding the OP, I would say Burnley get absolutely fantastic support for the population they have to draw on. A small town without any other decent sized towns nearby that don't have their own club to follow. I'd say Sunderland, us and the Sheffield clubs also get good crowds compared to the local population size.

 

I think history has a lot to do with it. All the clubs mentioned above have been relatively successful in the past and the support gets passed down the generations. I think Notts County were at least as big as Forest until the 50s/60s.