I'm not sure the club needs that many more seats at this level put a covered stand with the addition to be able to add them later is required.
I'm fairly certain that the lease on the ground is very long term and there is a coverant on the land to prevent it being used for anything else other than leisure/recreation.

One thing for sure is to be able 'to go places' as Voice states we need to grow our support massively.
I know you can't always compare costs but for Baths first season in the National, they budgeted for 1150 fans per game to be able to break even, they got around 1050 the 1st season and less for the 2nd. a 2 year stint in the National added another 100k to the debt, they already lose 80K a year anyway (hence the redevelopment)
Scary figures!!

Last edited by Wellard (12/11/2019 3:24 PM)

I know I've mentioned this before but Sunday's game highlighted the need for some terracing along the covered side of the ground.  Anyone not on the front row would have had their view strictly limited.
We will need additional seating should we ever get close to getting promoted, and I believe the plan is to install them at the cricket end.  However I'd resist this if we possibly could, it would have an adverse affect on the atmosphere currently generated.  In an ideal world the school end would be covered, and we could put some seats up in the top far corner.  (Seem to remember we had temporary seats their for the Vase semi?)
Anyway, all conjecture.  We might need another cup run or two before we start making real improvements.

I actually take exception to the Voice "taking this piss out of the old boys" when I personally think I show particularly your group a level of respect and quite often enjoy our little conversations stopping off in the stand for a chat! So I hope that is tongue in cheek banter as opposed to genuine feeling that you are the subject of mocking from me and anyone I associate with.

Now to the question asked of me. You start at the very bottom, my love affair with Chippenham Town started as a 5 year old, playing football on the astro turf behind the Sheldon End, a ball came flying over, I returned it and that was my first step inside HP, I was talking to Lee Burns as a CTFC Under 6 and was encouraged along with a couple of our team playing to come down and take advantage of the "Youth Players for a Pound" offer than ran back in the day. I grabbed my Mother and Father and the rest was history, the following week I was in a car to Barnstaple for a nothing dead rubber in the middle of nowhere.

Attachment forms at a young age, so the first thing to do is attack the youth of Chippenham. Where does this start? Schools! Chippenham has 23 primary schools within a 5 mile radius of the ground. Clubs in the Community have become a massive thing of late. We also have Sheldon, Hardenhuish and Abbeyfield Secondary Schools in the town. Comprising of some 4316 students ranging in age from 11-16 according to the enrolment figures of 2018. How do you get kids interested in anything these days? You have to make it more interesting than their Xbox or Mobile. We could be engaging with these schools, talking to these kids in assemblies etc. Leaving tickets with these children to go free with a paying adult, encouraging them to come along and get involved with football at a young age, we could run Soccer Schools on the occasional days, getting representatives from CTFC to come along and put the kids through a few basic drills, charge for this, cover some costs of a cheap lunch bag and to meet some CTFC coaches/players/management. 

While most of this sounds far too big time and professional and above "Little Chippenham" with the correct arrangement, Chippenham could have a Community presence, it doesn't need to attract thousands does it? Just a couple of hundred extra bodies through the door. Little Billy has a good time listening about Chippenham and goes in on his parents about wanting to go to football this Saturday, the only thing that stops the parent is cost or laziness. We can't do anything about lazy but a child going free with a paying adult whilst only adding one "paying" customer on that day, what if it hooks? We have a family coming to football for however long they are interested. 

We need to think bigger to attract bigger. We cannot rely on big games and pleas from social media to attract people to the ground. We need to be pro-active instead of reactive to situations. We sold some 1700+ tickets for Northampton by opening a door however, (and although we didn't really NEED to do this due to capacity restraints) how many tickets would be have sold actively going out and selling them. I have worked in Sales for 10 years, I sell Telephone Systems and Hosted Solutions to Businesses, can you guess how many of my some 150 new business clients that I have signed this year, contacted me? I'll tell you, it's 0! They all came from a phone call, an e-mail, a chat down the pub. You want to get results, we have to graft for them. 

As for your metrics of attracting 1000 from a 50,000 catchment area, that is 2% of the town. Which in reality sounds so small it's almost baffling we don't have these kind of numbers. Bath run close. So why don't we? Do yourself a favour and Google Bath City in the Community. We compete against a Rugby club, they compete against a bigger one. They have a population of some 89,000 and us 45,337, but they go after the casual, they try initiatives to get people of all ages through the door. 

We need fresh ideas, and we need to actually try things. Nothing comes from sitting and waiting. If we just sit and wait for people to get behind the club, what will actually happen is we simply stagnate. We need to make Chippenham attractive, a place to enjoy football, little gimmicks, better bloody music, engagement with fans, chuck a bloody half time crossbar challenge in there, a fans five a side game, anything to make it a bit more atmospheric. We have all the tools, we have the platform and we have a supportive management team from the board to the gaffer that will hopefully pack behind such ideas. Raising profile and revenue for the club is not going to be easy, but here is hoping a line in the sand can be drawn with the high profile game that has just been and gone. We can but be optimistic. 

Sorry all got into a bit of a rant there.. 

Here’s the even more controversial bit... I agree with you.

Sunday as we were warming up our voices a certain few people who shall remain nameless came over and the first thing they opened with... that song. Pointless, irrelevant and totally without need. Northampton were great opponents and didn’t need to be on the end of any “fan banter” however, I do concede and have in the past, you can’t stop it.

For many years I’ve been tarred with the brush as an identifiable and recognisable face in that “choir” and defended it many times for its place in the game. It’s needed and the odd swear word creeps out of my mouth at games. I was loudly calling the referee a wanker after not one but two penalty shouts were laughed off by the man in the middle but to eradicate it in its entirety is borderline impossible..

Take me for example, I’m aware I’m an influencer behind the goal, I am trying to use said influence to positively affect the club more and more however, like the chairman, the manager and the tea lady, someone somewhere is going to be against you. I would suggest the vocal support in terms of hostility and swearing is much better at Chippenham than any club that surrounds us? Swindon, Bristol even Bath. Yet the occasional chant will have a swear word in it. It’s the game more than the persons responsible. Football has always been that was as long as I can remember and we haven’t got the resource to eradicate it. Ban the offenders you ban too many and cause detriment. Ban the offenders you are then tasked with replacing them. If it doesn’t work 500 becomes 300 not 700..

Most of the chants are PC, most of the support is family friendly and I think should we not highlight the rare occasions that aren’t with the drama then we likely wouldn’t carry the stigma but as it goes, what’s done is done. There will be fans of football that turn their ears in at the mildest of language and there will be parents that allow their 6 year old to use language that’s “only for football” it’s just life.

I welcome a world of inclusive attitude, should a small minority be ruining this for everyone then I would totally support action. However, I like to stand behind the goal, support vocally and occasionally I’ve been guilty of these offences in the heat of passion. I guess it’s just where you draw the line isn’t it