jbuzza wrote:
Hughes took over sole control from Lenegan in Dec 2007. In the 2007 season, our crowds were small by SL standards but we averaged 3,400 at The Stoop. Lenegan had said that 5,000 was needed to be sustainable. That felt about right and seemed achievable given historic crowds at The Stoop and the tie in with Harlequins. Crowds held pretty firm until Hughes appointed the legend that is Gus Mackay. The man who was quoted as saying 'Success is not rocket science' set about his business (included severing the Quins relationship) and knocked 1,000 off the Stoop gate in 3 years.
This was followed by the desperate spell at The Hive where Hughes's new man Jason Loubser took over and the rot really set in. That move halved our average attendance in season 1 to 1,300 (with only a single SL win being recorded) and pretty much halved it again to just over 600 in season 2 as we adjusted to our new life in the Championship.
Another move to Trailfinders for 2016. This was seen by Hughes as the perfect venue allowing us to bring all aspects of the club including junior sides together in one place. Over the next 3 seasons, we saw some consolidation. We were a competitive Championship side, each time finishing 2nd in the regular season and making the Super 8's. Crowds were averaging around the 1,000 mark by 2018. Hughes's best appointment of Danny Ward (assisted by Jamie Langley) even got us back into SL for 2019 (with a team that was way more than the sum of its parts) and seeing the average blip back up to 1,900. Unfortunately back in the Championship, the last 2 seasons at Trailfinders were COVID disrupted and we emerged with an average of around 400.
It was time for another move, this time to Wimbledon and the Cherry Red Records stadium. Hughes hailed this switch as the best opportunity for long term survival targeting 5,000 fans in 3 years. You would have though he would want to get out of the blocks quickly to address this challenge but the preparation for the 2022 season was were where the genius of the management was displayed in all its glory. Having lost Danny Ward and replacing him with the untested Coleman (who sadly was never going to cut it) we assembled what was undoubtedly the worst squad in our history. Unsurprisingly this failed to make a good first impression. Fitness man Eccles came in and he along with a few better players saved us from relegation and possible demise. Not sure we learnt much from that ahead of 2023 as the initial squad again looked pretty weak. After a poor start we again brought in better players mid season (and importantly a coach in Lovegrove) with a distinct improvement leading to a play off spot.
So looking at that photo we see where we are. A few hundred fans in a 9,000 capacity stadium. Announcing the move to Cherry Red, Hughes said there will be occasions when it may appear to not be working. I guess we will see when the IMG grading is announced since that can be the only rational explanation for being at the Cherry Red. However, Hughes also said this is not a project for today it is a project for tomorrow. It seems like he is just playing a waiting game. But without fans there is no tomorrow whatever the administrators may decide.
You forgot to mention The T-shirt merchant who needed an alcohol lock on his PC given some of the rants it posted when toasted. Alienating the LSBA, banning people from the ground or the clubs social media (sic) and generally blaming everyone for the abject failure of the Wimbledon move. Also, Hughes implication that it was up to the fans to make it work when ho touted his 5,000 target.
As for it seeming like its not working, I can only assume his idea was to go scorched earth and rebuild from scratch, but that takes expertise and money, one of which is clearly lacking at the club whilst to other seems in very short supply until mid season.
