I have just been reading an article in When Saturday Comes about the opportunity Non League clubs in Coventry have to swell their attendances as disenfranchised Coventry City fans who don't want to travel to Northampton look for somewhere to go,its not however the likes of Coventry Sphinx who need to look to attract more fans of League clubs/
I would guess that the majority of fans of League clubs are homers,I certainly was years go when I followed Wolves, with the exception of Vila,Blues and Sandwell Town I never went away so every other week I had a free Saturday and many of those free Saturdays before I started playing were spent watching Dudley Town which was only 10 minutes walk from my front door.
So how do Non League clubs especially at the lower levels look to attract these "Homers", well fans at my own club AFC Wulfrunians have recently walked the streets of the locality doing a leaflet drop to try to attract fans and , I have seen on Twitter another MFA team Boldmere St Michaels offering discounted entry to Villa season ticket holders for certain games,no doubt across the country there are many other clubs doing similar things Is there even a possibility that the "Big" clubs themselves do something to support lower level Non League by being approached to advertise in their programmed about local non league clubs that their "Homers might like to go and watch?
So if we do manage to get new fans through the door how do we keep them, well without being arrogant I don't think that will be a major problem,we have a good "product" with lots of competitive games and not a small amount of skill on display, in addition if my experience at many grounds across the country is anything to go buy new fans will be made very welcome.
So lets hope with inventive thinking we can get new fans through the gate even if they re only every other week because every bit of support and every penny counts
