Bulls deserve better support at Edgar Street

As Graham Turner takes his dog for a stroll this morning he must be so pleased that Hereford United are second in Division Two yet pondering why less than 2600 Hereford supporters went to Edgar Street yesterday to back their team.

The rugby may have slightly affected the attendance. The extra pound admittance, charged as the Bulls are in the top seven of the League, may have put a few off. The smoking ban might mean a couple less through the turnstiles. But those negatives should have been more than cancelled out by the positives of being near the top of the league, scoring eleven goals in the previous four games, and playing some most attractive and entertaining football certainly as good if not better than during Richard O'Kelly's last year as coach.

Average attendance, including yesterday's game, at Edgar Street is currently 3048 compared with 3262 at this date last season when the Bulls were 13th not 2nd. That's a drop of 214.

The final average for last season was 3328 which was boosted by several local derbies against Walsall, Swindon and Bristol Rovers all of whom have been promoted to League One. That figure of 3328 incudes an average away support of 457 which gives a figure of 2871 for the average number of home supporters attending League games at Edgar Street.

Below are the home figures this season to date:

Brentford - 2942 - including 355 visitors
Bradford City - 3275 - 512
Macclesfield - 2725 - 170
Rochdale - 2732 - 257
Rotherham - 3566 - 673

Average gate: 3048 - average home support: 2655 - average away support: 393.

Graham Turner introduced a scheme for this season when, on three occasions, season ticket holders could bring someone free of charge to a game. The first was the game against Macclesfield but that didn't appear to have much effect on the gate and could have cost the club money. Which games will be chosen as the other two remains to be seen but if season ticket holders simply bring in a friend who would probably come anyway the value may be miminal.

There's little doubt that these attendance figure are below budget and if continued at the current level for the rest of the season would mean a shortfall of, may be, around £70,000.

That figure has to be made up somehow or the club will face losing money for the year as a whole. Perhaps the money received from the sale of Andy Williams to Bristol Rovers will cover this probable deficit unless that has already been spent. If so Turner may need to balance the books with a sale of a player before the end of the season or hope for a good run in the FA Cup.

Next Tuesday's game against Yeovil in the Paint Trophy has reduced admittance prices so may attract a reasonable following but the real test of support will be in two weeks time when the next home League game, against current leaders MK Dons, takes place.

Whilst a good result from Chester next Friday evening would help, it will be disappointing if the gate for the visit of MK Dons is under 3,500.

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