Gillingham FC Forum

Mr. almost Perth, please see my comments under Declining Attendances.

Many of the crowd now have women in and that is often a reason given my many for poor atmosphere. Football tends to be stuck in the "always done it this way" mentality and our chairman more than some. We have only just got rid of terraces (which I hated) but now clubs are looking to re-introduce similar. I don't think public apathy can be ignored. The club has given out many free tickets to the houses close to the ground as an appeasement for the inconvenience yet very few took up the offer. I'm not sure how, if free tickets do not generate much interest, the club can attract more people. It seems Kent is not a sporting hot-spot. Possibly the larger number of semi-professional clubs we have (Dover, Maidstone, Ebbsfleet, Welling, Bromley, Dartford) all take chunks of that potential support not to mention those who travel to West Ham and Charlton. I worked in Gillingham high street and the majority of shirts worn were for clubs from the EPL. The next generation I am pretty sure are not aware of PDPS's antics and are staying away through apathy rather than staying away because of the chairman.