After being away I have managed to catch up with the recording of the Supporters Meeting on YouTube. Peter Jones comments in the Sunday Independent were a verbatim quote from the comments he made at the meeting. Seeing the context of his comments in the meeting they were an amalgam of bewilderment and disappointment that attendances were lower than expectation despite, as he put it, the 'product' being better on the pitch.
Compared to two years ago Memberships are down around 15% at between 3,800 and 3,900. Checking back on the breakdown of the last figures publicly available only around 50% of Memberships were full price, the rest being concessionary or part membership. Additionally on checking John Lloyd's excellent but under reported Supporters Survey (with over 800 respondents) less than 10% of respondents had supported the club for less than 10 years. Only 40% of respondents were resident in Plymouth.
Although, not overwhelmingly conclusive , the objective evidence points towards the club failing to connect with its local population and potential future supporters. In the last three years the unity and support that was endemic upon the club's exit from administration has evaporated shipwrecked by over promises and under delivery. However, the new revised grandstand proposal does give the football club an opportunity to properly embed itself within the heart of the community and offer facilities that can be used most days of the year that will in turn, combined with the adjacent Life Centre, should enable it to be a focal point of the community.
What I perceive is that some of the heart of the club has gone missing and its relationship with the supporters has been adversely affected as a result. In my view it is imperative that the the new facilities within the grandstand ensure that it can fulfil its role as a focal point in the community. That means proper openly available supporter's bars, meeting rooms, conference and banqueting facilities being provided. Linkages with the Life Centre and better integration with what Central Park has to offer should assist in reinforcing the focus of getting Argyle at the heart of the community and with it the opportunity of growing longer term committed support.
In my view, it is not the 'product' on the pitch that will alone dictate future attendances but it is the commitment to ensure, particularly if public money is involved, that the facilities offered in the new grandstand and how they are integrated within the wider community that will play a significant role in the future development of the football club. Included in that is ensuring the capability to expand capacity, but the facilities must come first. It is an opportunity that must not be wasted.
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