WCL 25/26 | United v Vålerenga - 20:00 Wed 8 Oct

[Lightbringer]

2,204. Very disappointing.

That is shocking tbh. What is the problem? Too many home games lately? It was our first game in the Champions League, you would think that would be a big draw! I

It seems english clubs does not draw much attendance in the UCL until the quarterfinals. Or maybe the odd game vs Barcelona home before that. But I would expect more people to show up vs Durham in the league cup than 2204.

Without the 60 000 euro for winning the game we would have lost a lot of money for traveling to an away game in the UCL.

Sadly playing in the UCL will lose some clubs money with that kind of turn outs. The qualification pay-out saves some clubs from going minus on the experience!

 

[Demon Barber]

That is shocking tbh. What is the problem? Too many home games lately? It was our first game in the Champions League, you would think that would be a big draw! I

It seems english clubs does not draw much attendance in the UCL until the quarterfinals. Or maybe the odd game vs Barcelona home before that. But I would expect more people to show up vs Durham in the league cup than 2204.

Without the 60 000 euro for winning the game we would have lost a lot of money for traveling to an away game in the UCL.

Sadly playing in the UCL will lose some clubs money with that kind of turn outs.

I'm not sure what the reason is, but I would be really disappointed if I was part of the women's team.

Arsenal v Lyon was not at the Emirates and only got 3000, so it's not just a United thing.

Maybe it is a marketing issue? I don't really understand why free tickets are not being given to local schools and local clubs. LSV is a bit out of the way.

Our game against PSG will get a decent crowd because people want to experience a game at Old Trafford, it's easier to get to, and I guess the opposition are a bigger name - although that latter point did not work in Arsenal's case v Lyon.

Edit: Barcelona v Bayern - 4409 attendance.
Twente v Chelsea - 4193

 

[Scanny]

2,204. Very disappointing.

Some thoughts.
Midweek night game. The women’s game still attracts many who bring their girls with them. It’s a family-friendly game so tricky to go with your kids on a midweek night.
Also - and I am aware this is unpopular with those who get there easily - LSV (or whatever it is called now) is an absolute pain in the arse to get to on public transport if you don’t live locally.

 

[DOTA]

Some thoughts.
Midweek night game. The women’s game still attracts many who bring their girls with them. It’s a family-friendly game so tricky to go with your kids on a midweek night.
Also - and I am aware this is unpopular with those who get there easily - LSV (or whatever it is called now) is an absolute pain in the arse to get to on public transport if you don’t live locally.

Yeah, I've never been because every time I thought about it and checked google maps I was immedietely put off by the insane amount of time it would've taken me on public transport. Just makes it in to a much bigger commitment.

 

[Scanny]

Yeah, I've never been because every time I thought about it and checked google maps I was immedietely put off by the insane amount of time it would've taken me on public transport. Just makes it in to a much bigger commitment.

I travel from NE Manchester when I go because I travel up from London then stay at my sister’s.
It’s a bus/tram into Manchester then the bus about 30 stops from Manchester to the ground.

Took me almost two hours there and back last time I bothered.
I’m one of the few who prefer OT because it’s so much easier to get to.

They need a ground with either a train or tram station tbh.

 

[Rood]

Some thoughts.
Midweek night game. The women’s game still attracts many who bring their girls with them. It’s a family-friendly game so tricky to go with your kids on a midweek night.
Also - and I am aware this is unpopular with those who get there easily - LSV (or whatever it is called now) is an absolute pain in the arse to get to on public transport if you don’t live locally.

Ye it's the combo of midweek, relatively short notice too being the first match after the draw plus the least attractive name of the teams we have drawn

LSV has issues but usually gets bigger crowds on the weekend

 

[Lobster11]

Sounds like there are many reasons why attendance would be poor at LSV on a weeknight. Maybe a better gauge of fan interest would be how many people watched at home on Disney+. I don't know about the U.K., but here in the States I believe Disney+ is one of the most popular streaming services and would reach a lot of potential viewers.

As for referring to the venue as "LSV," my understanding is that the entire complex/campus is still called that; only the stadium was recently given its own name. I don't see any problem with continuing to refer to matches being played "at LSV."

 

[Lightbringer]

Where do people find the attendance for individual games? Is it on the Manutd website? Or do you find it in local media outlets writing about the games? I have not found a simple source for it.

 

[Lightbringer]

I travel from NE Manchester when I go because I travel up from London then stay at my sister’s.
It’s a bus/tram into Manchester then the bus about 30 stops from Manchester to the ground.

Took me almost two hours there and back last time I bothered.
I’m one of the few who prefer OT because it’s so much easier to get to.

They need a ground with either a train or tram station tbh.

That is insane. Thats like a proper away game. I mean its literally like playing an away game. If people have to travel for 1-2 hours of course thats going to reduce crowds a lot. I think this is a major issue that needs to solved because if its not the womens team cant be expected to get anywhere tbh. How long would it take you if you drove by both ways?

How do you motivate the Glazers/Ineos to put money into the womens team when they finally make it into the UCL and then nobody locally cares enough to go the first game? If we get 6000 vs Lyon and 10 000 vs PSG I still think that would pretty terrible overall. It also obviously had a direct financial impact which INEOS will pick up on!

I am most shocked that this game barely drew more crowd than like Everton home in the league cup.

 

[Lobster11]

Still waiting for this! JoJo has giv n us something, and I think Ella did well for us but I am looking forward to what was promised later!

Haha! Sorry to leave you hanging there.

As I said shortly after the final whistle (post #70 above), I think Skinner's goal in this match -- given our crowded schedule and lack of depth (by WCL standards) -- was to get the 3 points without expending any more calories than necessary. He probably expected Valerenga to sit in a low block, so the game plan was to dominate possession and attack only cautiously and opportunistically -- thus expending much less energy than trying to attack aggressively while also minimizing the number of times we'd have to race back to defend against counterattacks. So it seemed to me that although Tooney often looked like she wasn't doing very much, she was actually doing exactly what she had been asked to do: i.e., just find open spaces to receive the ball and keep it moving -- if only backwards as was often the case. Patience, patience, patience.

I think Skinner deserves a lot of credit here. He's in a very difficult situation right now trying to juggle our crowded schedule with a squad that isn't properly built to compete in the WSL and WCL simultaneously. He needs to be clever about how to manage the calories available to him, and this was a great way to do it against this particular opponent. I also think the players (including Tooney) implemented the game plan extremely well, and winning a relatively dull 1-0 match was an ideal result.

 

[Demon Barber]

Where do people find the attendance for individual games? Is it on the Manutd website? Or do you find it in local media outlets writing about the games? I have not found a simple source for it.

Oddly enough, I just googled "United Women v Vålarenga attendance" and found it!

BBC Sport often has attendances, and some places have the attendances under "statistics"

I just googled Brann v Vålarenga attendance and the BBC came up with the 3-2 game on September 13th, attendance 17,176 - I think that was the men!

 

[jojojo]

That is insane. Thats like a proper away game. I mean its literally like playing an away game. If people have to travel for 1-2 hours of course thats going to reduce crowds a lot. I think this is a major issue that needs to solved because if its not the womens team cant be expected to get anywhere tbh. How long would it take you if you drove by both ways?

How do you motivate the Glazers/Ineos to put money into the womens team when they finally make it into the UCL and then nobody locally cares enough to go the first game? If we get 6000 vs Lyon and 10 000 vs PSG I still think that would pretty terrible overall. It also obviously had a direct financial impact which INEOS will pick up on!

I am most shocked that this game barely drew more crowd than like Everton home in the league cup.

I live in greater Manchester, only about 20km from LSV in fact - I'd be looking at about 2 hours by public transport to get there.

Even by car on a good day without rush hour or matchday traffic and if I can park at the ground I'd be looking be looking at 40 minutes+
That means typically over an hour with traffic plus however long it takes to get from wherever I end up finding a parking place.

For families with kids an 8pm is a non-runner midweek even by car. It's not just a United problem or even a LSV one - women's football has to look very carefully at whether trying to clone the entire men's matchday setup, timings and all, is a good thing.