Club size in order

Jabba the gut

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(Plymouth's) catchment area for football is the whole of Devon and Cornwall...

This is a misconception both our fanbases seem to have, but it is highly misleading.

The simple geographical spread, or population size within a catchment area is not particularly important, unless you're talking about a compulsory activity like attending school. What counts is how easy it is to exploit the population of said catchment area and in the case of Devon & Cornwall that is very difficult to do. They are large, relatively sparsely populated counties with a high number of small, scattered settlements and poor transport links between them.

Most people are not going to schlep for an absolute age along relatively poor roads or crap bus and train services in order to attend even Argyle v Stoke in the Championship on a Tuesday evening. Penzance to Plymouth takes between 90 minutes to two hours and from the other direction it can take nearly THREE HOURS from Axminster by train - and don't even get me started on dicing with death in poor weather from North to South Devon.

Even travelling between Plymouth and Exeter is much more of a pain than it should be. I think the 40 miles took me about an hour and twenty minutes by train last time I went to the derby when I was staying in Exeter.

There is also the compounding factor of the kind of people in the catchment area. There is not a huge tradition of passionate interest in football among the local population and a high proportion of residents who are interested are incomers from other regions seeking the rural idyll. They tend to bring their allegiances with them.

You could put a minor-league baseball team in the wilds of Canada that would probably have a larger nominal catchment area than many of its rivals , but that wouldn't mean very much in any practical sense.

I have no shame in saying I come to watch the Exeter Chiefs play sometimes, in fact regularly go to the corporate setup with work. If we were ever to make it to the Prem I have no doubt people and businesses would travel from Exeter to come and see the football too.

But that is elite sport - a completely different situation. People would travel to almost any halfway local club in the country if they were playing in the Premier League - even Torquay would sell out against Manchester United. That doesn't mean they have some huge untapped potential.

Would rather money was spent sorting out the Plymouth - Exeter ridiculous rail line.
All the transport links are ridiculous. It's an absolute joke that so much is being spent on HS2 when transport links to and from the region are so substandard. Exeter is relatively better off, but try say, going the 90 miles to Bournemouth - it's a ridiculous trek given the relative proximity of the two cities.

I think considering the above it's not unfair of our fanbase to want us to be a consistent Championship side. Think we've missed the boat though. Too much money floating around the top 2 leagues and the gap has become huge.

Completely agree. It's bad enough that the financial madness has killed the dream of the top flight for all but a few, but the fact that the 2nd tier is going the same way shows how effed up the system has become.

In a sane world you should be able to dream of all the stars aligning and somehow tasting the top flight, while we should be able to dream of spending more than one or two seasons in the Championship if we really lucked out with everything going perfectly.

IMO the only thing that can stop things getting worse is for the big clubs to eff off and form some kind of closed shop super-league, taking the incentive for smaller clubs to join a dangerous spending arms race with them.
 

FGR-Star

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This is a misconception both our fanbases seem to have, but it is highly misleading.

The simple geographical spread, or population size within a catchment area is not particularly important, unless you're talking about a compulsory activity like attending school. What counts is how easy it is to exploit the population of said catchment area and in the case of Devon & Cornwall that is very difficult to do. They are large, relatively sparsely populated counties with a high number of small, scattered settlements and poor transport links between them.

Most people are not going to schlep for an absolute age along relatively poor roads or crap bus and train services in order to attend even Argyle v Stoke in the Championship on a Tuesday evening. Penzance to Plymouth takes between 90 minutes to two hours and from the other direction it can take nearly THREE HOURS from Axminster by train - and don't even get me started on dicing with death in poor weather from North to South Devon.

Even travelling between Plymouth and Exeter is much more of a pain than it should be. I think the 40 miles took me about an hour and twenty minutes by train last time I went to the derby when I was staying in Exeter.

There is also the compounding factor of the kind of people in the catchment area. There is not a huge tradition of passionate interest in football among the local population and a high proportion of residents who are interested are incomers from other regions seeking the rural idyll. They tend to bring their allegiances with them.

You could put a minor-league baseball team in the wilds of Canada that would probably have a larger nominal catchment area than many of its rivals , but that wouldn't mean very much in any practical sense.



But that is elite sport - a completely different situation. People would travel to almost any halfway local club in the country if they were playing in the Premier League - even Torquay would sell out against Manchester United. That doesn't mean they have some huge untapped potential.

All the transport links are ridiculous. It's an absolute joke that so much is being spent on HS2 when transport links to and from the region are so substandard. Exeter is relatively better off, but try say, going the 90 miles to Bournemouth - it's a ridiculous trek given the relative proximity of the two cities.



Completely agree. It's bad enough that the financial madness has killed the dream of the top flight for all but a few, but the fact that the 2nd tier is going the same way shows how effed up the system has become.

In a sane world you should be able to dream of all the stars aligning and somehow tasting the top flight, while we should be able to dream of spending more than one or two seasons in the Championship if we really lucked out with everything going perfectly.

IMO the only thing that can stop things getting worse is for the big clubs to eff off and form some kind of closed shop super-league, taking the incentive for smaller clubs to join a dangerous spending arms race with them.

No, you are not boring at all!! Jeez
 

shoddycollins

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Season 1 Episode 2
The Carlisle fans get giddy over their lofty position in the top 8 biggest clubs in Division 4. They decide to book a weekend in Sellafield to celebrate them being fucking MASSIVE.

We did no such thing, AFAIK I'm the only Carlisle fan to have contributed to this thread (the rest are too relieved at the prospect of no more football until August to even be on this site) and I don't know if I even commented on people putting us top 8, certainly not giddy.

Stop being a bitter little monkey ;)
 

shoddycollins

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Ah those were the days, a decent proper stadium and we were actually quite good back then. To be fair, we were one of the few teams who were full time back then facing many part time sides including FGR, hence why we performed so well. What I would do to have a home record like we did at "Fortress Christie" but 2019 hasn't been so bad.

Sounds like financial doping to me ;)
 

The Jovial Forester

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We really did have a great conference national record, even given AGM cups etc, precisely because we are small and tinpot and that was punching well above our weight.
 

shoddycollins

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Yeah, okay.

That's a reference to the amount of people early in the thread who described their clubs as 'bigger than Carlisle', 'smaller than Carlisle' or 'about the same as Carlisle'. In the same way that everything in geography seems to be either 'the size of Wales' or some multiple of Wales.
 

Soup Ladle

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That's a reference to the amount of people early in the thread who described their clubs as 'bigger than Carlisle', 'smaller than Carlisle' or 'about the same as Carlisle'. In the same way that everything in geography seems to be either 'the size of Wales' or some multiple of Wales.

But that doesn't make for a good story bro. Call it journalistic licence ;)
 

EnglishRed

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If I ever get down about the fact that we've been non league now for about a billion years I'll read a thread like this, I'll look at the fact League 2 has teams like FGR, Newport, Crawley, Stevenage, Morecombe and now Salford, and I'll read ChrisFGRs 'megabantz' and I won't feel so bad.
 

Chris FGR

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If I ever get down about the fact that we've been non league now for about a billion years I'll read a thread like this, I'll look at the fact League 2 has teams like FGR, Newport, Crawley, Stevenage, Morecombe and now Salford, and I'll read ChrisFGRs 'megabantz' and I won't feel so bad.

That's the spirit. You've got many, many more years of non league ahead of you so better to make the best of it I suppose. Maybe you can join the League of Wales if you ever get too bored being a permanent non league club.

Are we having another friendly at your place this season? I'd imagine we'd bring some of our football league stars to give the Wrexham public a chance to see some proper footballers for once.
 

Trapdoor

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Still can't believe we have to play a team called forest green rovers from nailsea or wherever it is in a supposedly professional league.

We were playing Southampton, Leeds, Sheff Wednesday, Charlton etc. a couple of years ago. Now we are playing village teams. FML.
 

FGR-Star

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Still can't believe we have to play a team called forest green rovers from nailsea or wherever it is in a supposedly professional league.

We were playing Southampton, Leeds, Sheff Wednesday, Charlton etc. a couple of years ago. Now we are playing village teams. FML.

Must try harder!!
 

EnglishRed

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That's the spirit. You've got many, many more years of non league ahead of you so better to make the best of it I suppose. Maybe you can join the League of Wales if you ever get too bored being a permanent non league club.

Are we having another friendly at your place this season? I'd imagine we'd bring some of our football league stars to give the Wrexham public a chance to see some proper footballers for once.

We've seen them before. Just a long time ago.

There would be no value in a pre season match against you lot because no-one has heard of you so wouldn't be much of a draw.

I hope you are enjoying life in the football league Chris.
 

FGR-Star

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We've seen them before. Just a long time ago.

There would be no value in a pre season match against you lot because no-one has heard of you so wouldn't be much of a draw.

I hope you are enjoying life in the football league Chris.

Although we are obviously a far smaller club than Wrexham, I completely disagree.

FGR is probably a lot better know internationally than Wrexham.
 

Chris FGR

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We've seen them before. Just a long time ago.

There would be no value in a pre season match against you lot because no-one has heard of you so wouldn't be much of a draw.

I hope you are enjoying life in the football league Chris.

We played you last year.
 

EnglishRed

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Although we are obviously a far smaller club than Wrexham, I completely disagree.

FGR is probably a lot better know internationally than Wrexham.

Hey we used to be in the 'Manchester United Europe' computer game.

Chris- we may have done but no-one remembers.
 
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Conker

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They should only let Welsh teams stay if they come under the English FA anyway to be fair, it’s something that’s always irked me, and I’m surprised it’s not debated more.
 

EnglishRed

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They should only let Welsh teams stay if they come under the English FA anyway to be fair, it’s something that’s always irked me, and I’m surprised it’s not debated more.

It is stupid. It's the reason we are the only club in the conference with a transfer window.
 

Conker

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It is stupid. It's the reason we are the only club in the conference with a transfer window.

Maybe Wrexham should push it?

That’s my only issue with it, I remember red cards getting unfairly overturned a few years back.
 

Chris FGR

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Not even trolling. Genuinely upsetting.

I'd imagine the likes of Leeds, Wednesday, Southampton and Charlton found it genuinely upsetting that they had to play you!
 

RebornKirtonRed

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Since the beginning of time :

v Sheffield Wednesday
Games won: 7 Games drawn: 1 Games lost: 3

v Charlton Athletic
Games won: 11 Games drawn: 6 Games lost: 15

v Leeds United
Games won: 2 Games drawn: 1 Games lost: 2

v Southampton
Games won: 8 Games drawn: 8 Games lost: 21
 

Chris FGR

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Since the beginning of time :

v Sheffield Wednesday
Games won: 7 Games drawn: 1 Games lost: 3

v Charlton Athletic
Games won: 11 Games drawn: 6 Games lost: 15

v Leeds United
Games won: 2 Games drawn: 1 Games lost: 2

v Southampton
Games won: 8 Games drawn: 8 Games lost: 21

So you've played us a lot more often in your history then you've played Leeds or Sheffield Wednesday.
 

E10rifle

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So you've played us a lot more often in your history then you've played Leeds or Sheffield Wednesday.

One of my favourite things about the upcoming season is that we’re finally going to have played Forest Green more times than we’ve beaten Man U in the top flight. It’s the stuff dreams are made of.
 

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