Note that this page is from our Gresley Rovers archive. It may not be related to the new Gresley Rovers (formerly Gresley FC until 2020).
Fans doing just fine
Story courtesy of
Gresley Rovers’ forward momentum has not been halted by the club’s failure to gain promotion to the Beazer Homes League – if the Moat Ground attendance for the opening day of the season was anything to go by.
A local radio pundit who suggested afterwards that the crowd was “disappointing” may have chosen to rephrase his remarks had he made two crucial comparisons to the attendance of 410 for the visit to Cradley Heath.Firstly, the gate was over 100 up on the corresponding Saturday of last season, when 303 watched Gresley play Westfields.
More interestingly, Rovers’ crowd for the Cradley game was higher than all but two of the gates in Beazer Homes Midlands Division on the same day.
Tamworth attracted 879 – disappointing by the standards at The Lamb, while 441 watched Steve Burr make his debut for big-spending Hednesford in the 1-1 draw against Stourbridge.
Gresley’s gate would not even have been out of place in the Premier Division, where only 304 witnessed Atherstone United’s 3-1 home defeat by Bashley.
Rovers averaged 500-plus for home games last season and, if Saturday was anything to go by, need only to match the consistency of recent seasons t at least maintain that figure. A decent FA Cup or Vase run could send the figure even higher.
