Free Season Ticket Anyone?

Apart from anything else, wasn't the attendance poor at the Valley on Tuesday? After four successive wins, three of which were on the road, you would have thought we could be expecting a crowd close to the seasons top gate which was 23,671 for the visit of QPR. However, it was actually the lowest of the season - 20,737.

The visitors brought about 700, so the number of Addicks must have been c 20,000. I don't know the official number of season ticket holders but 17,000+ re-signed in April and the figure must have crept over 18,000. Assuming that to be the case, we have been struggling to attract game-by-game fans all season. Visiting supporter numbers are understandably down but if you exclude them the home attendance has been pretty static.

The club looks to have done as much as can be expected in terms of promoting attendance - £20 for every game is very reasonable - and it's apparent that there are tickets available for every game. The obvious conclusion is that Championship football has a finite appeal at the Valley. The question then arises about what would our gate be if the club had not run the "free season ticket scheme" this year? You have to think it would have fallen away, particularly for some of the evening games which present travel problems for many of our long-distance supporters.

So, I think the club will have little option but to extend the free season ticket deal next season if we fail to go up. No doubt they will try and lock us in sometime in April before the matter's concluded.