Shrewsbury are in a division higher than us, with some very attractive opponents. Whether or not they're a bigger club (depending on how you'd determine what's 'bigger') the question arises as to how MUCH better supported they are than us, especially when taking conurbative population into account.
So here are some numbers and we can make of them what we will:

Number of Shrewsbury fans attending home league games: (first 10 games)

TOTAL..................................54635............................NCAFC:....30092
HIGHEST...............................7367*...........................NCAFC.......3737
LOWEST................................4735............................NCAFC.......2516
AVERAGE............................5463.............................NCAFC.......3009

* v Sunderland

Bearing in mind they're in a higher division, which probably accounts for 35% of their gate, it still puts them "theoretically" on 3550 after adjustment for the higher league. Take into account their population compared to ours, and it would probably indicate that they're twice as well supported as County in terms of population.
The question arises as to why that would be.
What do they do to attract the extra fans (even after accounting for the higher division)?
Has moving to a new stadium helped - is their current support level higher now they're in a new ground?
Has moving out of town helped - is their current support level higher or lower in terms of population, since they moved out of town?

So are they bigger than County?...and if so, why are they, leaving aside the higher division which I've already accounted for?

Any thoughts?.....

There’s shit all else to do in Shrewsbury

Well done for this, NGR. I'd wanted to do a similar analysis myself in response to some of the (frankly barking) views expressed on here that we're equivalent / bigger than Shrewsbury. Your figures help to debunk that argument. As for the "why", I'd posit the following:

- They don't have a big local rugby side competing for media and public attention;
- They don't have a Premier League team 20 minutes away competing for media and public attention;
- They have spent considerably more time in the Football League in recent years;
- They have a superior ground (including with a safe standing area);
- They play more entertaining football (this was true last year, arguably less so this year).

Last time they were in League 2 they had an average of 5343 so only 120 difference to the first 10 games of this year, admittedly they finished 2nd in L2 that year. So I am not sure that the evidence supports the theory that the higher league accounts for such a large increase in attendance in this case.
All the reasons Kairdiff Exile states are reasons we may have lower attendances although Newport has double the population. I don't think there is any one solution to upping our attendance there have been plenty of potential solutions suggested on here: community engagement, bigger online presence, super 6 ticket deals and the like all could play in to it.
But in answer to your question at this point they probably are a bigger club: higher attendance, higher division, own their own stadium, greater turnover, more assets (£13.9M in 2016/17). Not to say we can't achieve that over time.

Kairdiff Exile wrote:Well done for this, NGR. I'd wanted to do a similar analysis myself in response to some of the (frankly barking) views expressed on here that we're equivalent / bigger than Shrewsbury. Your figures help to debunk that argument. As for the "why", I'd posit the following:

- They don't have a big local rugby side competing for media and public attention;
- They don't have a Premier League team 20 minutes away competing for media and public attention;
- They have spent considerably more time in the Football League in recent years;
- They have a superior ground (including with a safe standing area);
- They play more entertaining football (this was true last year, arguably less so this year).

Yes all the above is undeniably true. Plus the reality is the majority of Newport and immediate surrounding area actually don't enjoy watching football. This might be surprising for those in love with the game, or Newport sport in general; but in may opinion the truth. Attempts to compare us with other towns is therefore purely academic as we are, like every other town unique. I'm not saying better or worse, just different. Any increase in numbers attending will be a slow evolution over many decades, and certainly not a revolution. I do think, however, as I have said before, more local academy players making it into the first team would see a gradual increase in younger supporters.

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:

Kairdiff Exile wrote:Well done for this, NGR. I'd wanted to do a similar analysis myself in response to some of the (frankly barking) views expressed on here that we're equivalent / bigger than Shrewsbury. Your figures help to debunk that argument. As for the "why", I'd posit the following:

- They don't have a big local rugby side competing for media and public attention;
- They don't have a Premier League team 20 minutes away competing for media and public attention;
- They have spent considerably more time in the Football League in recent years;
- They have a superior ground (including with a safe standing area);
- They play more entertaining football (this was true last year, arguably less so this year).

Plus the reality is the majority of Newport and immediate surrounding area actually don't enjoy watching football.

Are you really trying to say that the people of Newport are different from everyone else in the country?

In relation to supporting association football .Yes Newport people overall are different from other towns; in the same way that people from every other town are different from every other town in many different ways.

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:In relation to supporting association football .Yes Newport people overall are different from other towns; in the same way that people from every other town are different from every other town in many different ways.

You are entitled to your opinion. I have to say that I find anyone trying to argue that people in Newport are predisposed not to watch football as far fetched in the extreme.

Est.1912 wrote:Last time they were in League 2 they had an average of 5343 so only 120 difference to the first 10 games of this year, admittedly they finished 2nd in L2 that year. So I am not sure that the evidence supports the theory that the higher league accounts for such a large increase in attendance in this case.
All the reasons Kairdiff Exile states are reasons we may have lower attendances although Newport has double the population. I don't think there is any one solution to upping our attendance there have been plenty of potential solutions suggested on here: community engagement, bigger online presence, super 6 ticket deals and the like all could play in to it.
But in answer to your question at this point they probably are a bigger club: higher attendance, higher division, own their own stadium, greater turnover, more assets (£13.9M in 2016/17). Not to say we can't achieve that over time.

...does that include the away fans though?

Brian Harris got it right in 1974 and sadly nothing has changed.I've never been to Shrewsbury but I doubt that booze,bingo and betting is as high on their minds as here.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:In relation to supporting association football .Yes Newport people overall are different from other towns; in the same way that people from every other town are different from every other town in many different ways.

You are entitled to your opinion. I have to say that I find anyone trying to argue that people in Newport are predisposed not to watch football as far fetched in the extreme.

My point is there are people in every City, Town and village in the country predisposed not to watch football, Afterall only a small percentage of the population attend matches, and this percentage varies from town to town, area to area. Whilst technically an exile like yourself, and not having lived within Newports' bounderies for over 40 years, I have lived just 8 miles away for some time and more frequently hear of peoples dislike of Football ( mostly due to the perceived lack of integrity) compared to there liking. Of course my social circle can only be a tiny percentage of the population. I find it somewhat ironic however, that there is no apparant animosity towards the County and in fact everyone seems to wish them well.

...does that include the away fans though?[/quote]

Yes it does include away fans. I don't think that shows too much variation year on year however you will always have bigger teams in the league like Pompey and Sunderland as well as smaller like Morecambe & Macclesfield. I was just using the average to illustrate that they are in terms of attendance over the last 10 years their lowest average was 5343 in 2014/15 when they finished 2nd in League 2 and their average over that period up until today was 5694 but only 4 years of that decade was spent in L2.

In comparison our highest average over that time was 3489 last season. That being said our average attendance in 2008/9 was 1842 so in 10 years time with the steady growth we have achieved we could be averaging over 5000

Est.1912 wrote:...does that include the away fans though?

Yes it does include away fans. I don't think that shows too much variation year on year however you will always have bigger teams in the league like Pompey and Sunderland as well as smaller like Morecambe & Macclesfield. I was just using the average to illustrate that they are in terms of attendance over the last 10 years their lowest average was 5343 in 2014/15 when they finished 2nd in League 2 and their average over that period up until today was 5694 but only 4 years of that decade was spent in L2.

In comparison our highest average over that time was 3489 last season. That being said our average attendance in 2008/9 was 1842 so in 10 years time with the steady growth we have achieved we could be averaging over 5000 [/quote]

So relative to population, Shrewsbury may be as much as THREE times better supported than County?.... I wonder what they're doing to achieve that....

newgroundrodney wrote:

Est.1912 wrote:...does that include the away fans though?

Yes it does include away fans. I don't think that shows too much variation year on year however you will always have bigger teams in the league like Pompey and Sunderland as well as smaller like Morecambe & Macclesfield. I was just using the average to illustrate that they are in terms of attendance over the last 10 years their lowest average was 5343 in 2014/15 when they finished 2nd in League 2 and their average over that period up until today was 5694 but only 4 years of that decade was spent in L2.

In comparison our highest average over that time was 3489 last season. That being said our average attendance in 2008/9 was 1842 so in 10 years time with the steady growth we have achieved we could be averaging over 5000

So relative to population, Shrewsbury may be as much as THREE times better supported than County?.... I wonder what they're doing to achieve that....[/quote]

That's only happened since they moved to their new stadium.

Genuinely think that one of the problems is that Newport has a big ethnic population but look around the ground when you’re next at Rodders, it’s 99.9% white people.
It’s strange as other clubs seem to attract black/Asian fans but we don’t, I’ve always wondered why that is.
Anyone?