Low attendance

[AlexTheTall]

Alright I am managing FC Chambly - Oise in France and I took them up the ladder of French Football... We've been 3 times in Europa League, we're right now in semi-final of the Europa league and 2nd in Ligue 1... My league average attendance is 10K and even against Inter Milan in the Europa league quarter final, we only got 14K people in the stadium...

My stadium is brand new and have 20K seats... How come nobody is showing up? We're getting good seasons, but I doubt I can keep my good players with such low attendances...

Anyone can guide me please?

 

[Jack_Has_Arrived]

Lots of reasons.

I don't know how long you have been managing them, but even say 10 years is a short time in the grand scheme of things. You will have fans who are willing to change allegiances, but the vast majority of football fans are fans of their club for life, so they aren't going to change that for a team that is in the Europa League (not taking anything away from what you've done, mind, impressive!). So the main way to gain extra fans is by getting them from very early in their lives, you're talking 20 years plus for this IMO - just look at Man City irl, granted they were already a decent size club, but even they aren't on the same scale as say Liverpool, even though they've been more successful than them over the past 6 years or so. It's a very gradual process.

Then you have to look at area that your club is based in. A quick google shows that Chambly has a population of 9,740 (2012), so it's unrealistic to expect to fill a 20k seat stadium week in week out. Also, you'll have to consider if there are any other big clubs around your area. If say Bury or Oldham were to gain several promotions in a row and become Europa League contenders, they would gain some fans through hype but would still lose most fans to Utd and City.

There will be other reasons that I've forgotten about/don't know about, but I'd say the best way to improve attendances is to just keep winning and hope over a long period of time that the attendances gradually improve. Good luck, but congrats on what you've already done!