Great team performance, and the build up to our first goal was a delight to watch.  We play well against the top teams but cannot break down the poor teams. Playing good football is the key, which we did today.
 

78 r.p.m for the report today as His Lordship has had quite enough to say recently ( Agreed all round - Ed.).  Then a quick initial reflection on the  hot issue of TSS gate sizes. News ... and there is some.. of Her Ladyships's latest "project" will have to wait for a future date... suffice to say it involves blue mdpe water pipe and a life-sized statue of our esteemed Chairman. More later.

His Lordship's Inexpert Analysis No. 16.
A really good game just as we hoped. Good conditions, unobtrusive refereeing, two sides who wanted to win.

Dartford FC:  Looked as if they were going to put us to the sword early on  with their quality, physicality and speed of movement and thought.  Their fine  early goal seemed ominous and looked as though it might  herald an avalanche.  Either through complacency and/or  the growing quality of our play they began to take their foot off the pedal and look increasingly rattled in defence. As the game progressed they looked as capable of conceding as they did of scoring. 
On paper, their principal threat, George Porter was relatively ineffective and reduced to a lot of arm waving..his Danger Man role taken by the statuesque Jordan Greenidge, scorer of their first goal. The sending off of Kieran Murtagh on 30 minutes was deserved and uncontested. 

CTFC:  His Lordship thought we were in for a long, painful afternoon after the first 10 minutes, until the clouds lifted and CTFC started to play.  We pressed and worked really hard to make things happen. The best move of the game gave us our equaliser.. finely and calmly taken by young Jordan.  Thereafter, we grew further and further into the game ... the spaces opened up and JY, Mo D, Alefe, JH ran into them.  A minor sickening moment of deja-vu took hold when DFC brought it back to 3-2, but our fourth was a proper coffin nail and cause for relief as much  as celebration.
Overall:  A really quite inspiring fightback and some of our best qualities to the fore.  Thank you Dartford for bringing out the best in us.  A heartening afternoon. all-round; the only downside was Simon's announcement, presumably through clenched teeth, of the gate... a pretty sad 480 or so. 

His Lordship's  quick thoughts about gates as follows in note-form only:  As with any problem... the first step is to recognise there is a problem.  There is. The ratio of local poulation to gatesize is way out of whack.. I'm sure someone, somewhere has worked on the various ratios of catchment area to gate size for every club, League and Non League.  It would be useful to have access to that information and see what might be in line with a national average.  and then know how that translates for CTFC. His Lordship is quite sure the Board and Chairman have all this info to hand  and have wrestled with it for a long time. I'm equally sure  various marketing ideas have come and gone in recent years.  I really do think we have to work on the USP of the club.  There is an analogy with supermarket-bought produce and locally grown produce here ... One selling point is that CTFC ISN'T  ( yet) professional and contaminated by all the recent bad press about the game and money ( ie isn't a wealthy bullying supermarket)... 2) it is local, selling a local "product" with largely  home-grown players who have some identity, not always, admittedly,  with the community they represent; (3) it is much cheaper  and far more accessible and easier to get to than any EFL or Premiership ground (4) it offers a LIVE, shared experience rather than football in a vacuum simply and endlessly mediated through a screen. Bath City advertise games on public transport.  His Lordship would probably go for direct marketing via mailshot... leaflets ( sadly not using House of Lords headed paper) with the emphasis on  pride in community, and localism, plus any promotional offers the Board might see fit to offer as incentives. This would seem best timed to set up in the close season for a new season launch.  His Lordship would be more than prepared to help and be involved in any way... as by the sound of it, would many others who care about the club. 
 

OK, here we go. Let's have a go at addressing the elephant in the room. As many of you would have speculated or seen with your own eyes. The situation is being addressed. In terms of promoting the club in the town, the community, schools, shops and all sorts of other various methods that we are exploring. Of course there will be a slight temptation from most to either take this personally or come out with the standard argument of "Sod the Forum" "It's not important" "It's all a bunch of moaners" Let's try a different approach. A couple of weeks ago, I was put up by Dave Coombes (Thank you very much) and assisted in large by Jonny Garraway and Wayne Lawther with various activities throughout the week in order to promote the football club. Huge thanks to many shops, businesses and venues in Chippenham and the surrounding areas which allowed us to use their windows and noticeboards to promote our fixtures both in the league and the legends game. Whilst on the subject of the legends game, the reason why so much effort has been expended into both advertising and promoting the event is both the financial connotations and of course the longevity of the event in terms of engaging with old players, supporters and hopefully some new supporters and their children for the remainder of the season and beyond, It's a pure profit game that a lot of hard work from a lot of people has gone into and not only should we reap the benefits of the day but also see an upturn in our attendance should the day be enjoyable. A couple of things I have noticed that are a little concerning is this element that the club never asks for help? The club has done nothing but ask for help for the 25 years I have been following it! The only issue with this platform is that we cannot ask an alias for help. However, there is absolutely no issue with coming to us, me, anyone and asking if you can be of assistance, you will find us most grateful and absolutely in need of that assistance. Referencing those hard working volunteers as "hangers on" needs to stop! These people donate their time, however much to aid the football club we all claim to care about so passionately yet the reality is there are more comments on the forum lambasting the lack of efforts than people willing to put their proverbial money where their mouth is. 

So my suggestion is simple. Should you have an idea, a willing pair of hands, a want to help the club in a positive way, I invite you to join me for a drink after the Manchester United Legends game, or any game where you are in attendance. Come and introduce yourself, come out from behind the alias and put your ideas and comments to me. I will happily also discuss with you the plans the club has in order to action the above points such as advertising, schools, businesses etc. There is no hidden agenda here. Just a chance for those on here that claim to have had their voice and opinion stifled to not only be listened to, but to help the club in a positive way and help us leave our own footprint in the rich tapestry of CTFC. 

Failing that, should you wish to protect your anonymity and remain behind a username but still have an opinion you feel is valid and should be listened too. E-mail me at commercial@chippenhamtown.com and we can always have a good natter about the club and it's state of affairs in the area of concern or interest. 

Warmest, 

Simon 

I was very impressed when visiting Hungerford just after Christmas at their "four for a score" offer which seemed to be quite popular... Other clubs in the league too seemed to have embraced online ticketing in a way we haven't quite - few people are going to take it up if it actually costs more than at the turnstile! And also remember we've only just accepted contactless at the gate, little things like this can make a difference as much as putting posters up.

It's a shame the upcoming international break (and annual non league day) is one of our bye weekends. However our four remaining home games are all against teams up with us near the top - perhaps the club could do a value four game ticket to attract floating fans?

(I would add too that's its not a case of us failing to attract extra fans - but rather we've lost a hundred or so this season)

Last edited by Space Raider (15/3/2022 3:16 PM)

SR - Some very good points particularly about Hungerford. They have really pioneered the "Small Club" doing better off the field mentality. I spent a good amount of time with Patrick at the Hungerford away fixture and his ideas aren't revolutionary just a lot of hard work going into the basics. The "Four for a Score" is something that Chippenham are looking to implement under our own branding from as early as next season and something Mr Calladine has championed since first hearing the idea. Sadly I can also field your question regarding numbers decreasing not just addition. Sadly the impact of COVID has really negatively impacted football at the lower level. If you speak to most clubs around our league, they too have seen a few stay aways because of the fear of COVID spreading, sadly it's just something we cannot avoid. Also, let's hold our hands up as a club, we haven't done enough over the last decade in terms of bringing supporters in to replace the ones that are not coming for various reasons. This is being resolved as we speak with community engagement, school visits and plenty of other initiatives being green lit by the board of directors and staff to try and bring more people through the gates. The Manchester United Legends fixture is an example of this. Again, should you wish to jump in the bar before a game and have a chat about the intricacies, you are more than welcome to come and introduce yourself. 

Regards, 

Simon