Hi Gutterfax,
I am wondering whether your season one data includes the double header in which over 12,000 fans were counted as present.
That would be pretty much the difference explained for year one.
Comparing the years is also not necessarily comparing like with like unless you discount results/league position.
We have dropped from 7th to 9th, stayed at 9th, then dropped to 11th, then 13th, then bottom for most of 2012 before Tony Rea saw us finish the season in 12th.
Whilst away support has certainly dropped for London, with Catalans eating into the leisure £ for the once-a-year Northerner trip and then a recession that has gone on for 5 years.
It sounds all excuses, but the reality is that 1,000-2,000 could sometimes come from the likes of Wigan and Bradford plus the Hull clubs and I'm not sure that is still the case.
There are some similarities in that we failed to win at home for the first five games of each of the first two years following each of the rebrands. Whilst our Landlord won all its games in the first year 2006 at home and has since seemed to be playing European Rugby etc since then.
I honestly believe that the Twickenham Stoop has connotations in player and supporter minds given that we have only tended to win three or four games per year in it and that we have little or no home advantage playing there. I feel much more positive away from home.
It is irrational but I feel that the ground opposite is like a Spectre looming over the Stoop and that we are overshadowed by our landlord to the point that the Rugby £ is spent only in one place.
I have nothing against West London but feel that the football demographic is much more relevant to our game rather than a different rival sport, so Brentford or whatever would work for me.
I will be controversial and say that Gillingham would also work for me, because if the Rugby League community did get behind the club that would be better than having no community at all as we do now.
If we could get a council with us, a non direct rival club competing for the same £ and a community surely that would be better than now
Cheers
Mark