rozza1
Reserve team regular
Posts: 3,195
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Post by rozza1 on Aug 19, 2023 12:22:01 GMT
Yeah modernisation would help and is needed. Has to be done in the right way though, which is hard. There must be a way to modernise and redevelop the Abbey yet keep some of the character that we all love about the place. Not really, you demolish, the habbin and nre and build new stands, nothing to be kept there, but the ground will still have loads of character as all stands are different Yeah, the style of the two new stands would have to be right though. If it's two stands similar to what Colchester have then it loses that character a bit. A terraced NRE is the key thing for me though.
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nutsaboutamber
Reserve team regular
Posts: 3,902
Favourite CUFC player: Brian Greenhalgh
Favourite CUFC match: Maidstone(a) at Dartford, playoff semi final 2nd leg, 16 May 1990
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Post by nutsaboutamber on Aug 19, 2023 12:25:32 GMT
10k doesn’t sound too far fetched with the new developments continuing - Eddington, Trumpington Meadows, Northstowe, New Waterbeach will all have young fans to attract and possibly Wintringham too. Might be a nightmare in terms of infrastructure in the city but selfishly as a football club it’s brilliant being at the centre of it if we can target these places early. Didn't there used to be a train stop close to the Abbey back in the day? Could that be reopened? That'd help reduce local traffic. Barnwell Junction. You can see it from the bridge. In WW2 injured US troops were ferried through there on the way back to the bases which is where that line splintered off to. The old station building looks like the house from Psycho.
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shubs
Reserve team substitute
Posts: 2,292
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Post by shubs on Aug 19, 2023 12:26:00 GMT
Yeah modernisation would help and is needed. Has to be done in the right way though, which is hard. There must be a way to modernise and redevelop the Abbey yet keep some of the character that we all love about the place. Not really, you demolish, the habbin and nre and build new stands, nothing to be kept there, but the ground will still have loads of character as all stands are different Demolish the Habbin, Tojo? Wash your mouth out with soap and go and stand in the corner with your face against the wall. 😉
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Post by mike_CUFC on Aug 19, 2023 13:02:32 GMT
Like many it’s been a very nice surprise to see attendances doing so well. Bad weather, summer hols and mid week games all making very little difference.
Great to see if they can be maintained, combination of family friendly, club ethos and general all round good factor. And will people buy earlier to avoid missing out, thus creating demand for others to not risk missing out.
Exciting times in any event!
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Post by flouncingarburyboy on Aug 19, 2023 13:11:42 GMT
Really enjoyed reading this thread and the welcome rise in attendances and posters offering reasons why. I have absolutely no proof to suggest this but I also wonder if there’s also a welcome rise in ‘localism’. When I was at school in the mid 70s to mid 80s the only teams I heard school kids me toon were the typical (old) League One teams….Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester United etc. I can’t recollect any one supporting United or Pish (I spent time growing up in the North of the county). How and why this more local focus has happened I don’t know but it’s hugely welcome and brilliantly refreshing. And obviously a club like ours doing so much local work will benefit massively. What a great story we are.
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Post by groundsman on Aug 19, 2023 13:32:50 GMT
My football club for over fifty years everyone should support there home town club this club means more to everyone of us than any plastic premier league fans
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Post by mike_CUFC on Aug 19, 2023 13:32:50 GMT
Really enjoyed reading this thread and the welcome rise in attendances and posters offering reasons why. I have absolutely no proof to suggest this but I also wonder if there’s also a welcome rise in ‘localism’. When I was at school in the mid 70s to mid 80s the only teams I heard school kids me toon were the typical (old) League One teams….Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester United etc. I can’t recollect any one supporting United or Pish (I spent time growing up in the North of the county). How and why this more local focus has happened I don’t know but it’s hugely welcome and brilliantly refreshing. And obviously a club like ours doing so much local work will benefit massively. What a great story we are. That’s a very good point. My kids all comment on how many kids they see wearing a United shirt in Ely or Newmarket now and they never used to say that. And I definitely see a lot more just walking around these days.
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imp566
Cult hero
Posts: 16,066
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Post by imp566 on Aug 19, 2023 14:19:33 GMT
Didn't there used to be a train stop close to the Abbey back in the day? Could that be reopened? That'd help reduce local traffic. There's been so much talk over the last decade about new train lines or reopening old ones around the area. There was even talk of a metro system, though not sure how serious that ever was? There'll be three stations in the city soon though, a fourth one next to the Abbey would be ideal but I'm not sure how much use it would ever get on non matchdays? I imagine if there ever was a fourth station, the council would want it somewhere else a bit further from the main station and Cambridge North? Barnwell Junction still sits there, very unfit for purpose I grant you, has been the subject of conversation regularly in our past, especially when we almost made it to the Premier League as a much needed transport link to the Abbey on match days. Sadly, with Cambridge North not a long walk away, I think that ship has sailed.
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pgtips (lurid)
Youth team substitute
Scattered thoughts, but thoughts nonetheless
Posts: 694
Favourite CUFC player: Dion Dublin
Favourite CUFC match: 2-0 Vs Pish 22/23
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Post by pgtips (lurid) on Aug 20, 2023 17:04:05 GMT
Given the train stations already in place the most equidistant spot would be just after the bend on the Ipswich line. A siding to a platform on the common would be a nice walk to the ground and promote train/bus use to the folk festival. However the turn around for Cambridge-Ipswich trains might be impacted and a new platform, points and siding would cost millions. Nothing is a small project with railways.
Double rail the whole Felixstowe to Cambridge line for roll-on roll-off HGV carriages, include a turnstyle platform at the common (unmanned) and a station between Cherry Hinton and Fulbourn ("Cambridge East"). Fully elctric lines, gauge enlargement at all underpasses. Billions, but a huge improvement on carbon footprint - for taking lorries off the road and onto electric. Establishment would rather go the way of the other dinosaurs. The fact that I would have a rail link to the Abbey has nothing to do with it.
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Post by martinjohn on Aug 20, 2023 17:28:13 GMT
One caveat I'd add about attendance figures is that we have no way to reliably compare with past figures. Loads of people I know say the official figures were deliberately lowered back in the day for obvious reasons.
And anecdotally I remember there being a lot more space around me when we played Man U in 2015 compared to when we played Bolton in the FA Cup in 2001 and I could barely move, yet Man U was the bigger crowd.
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Post by milesfenton on Aug 20, 2023 17:41:05 GMT
One caveat I'd add about attendance figures is that we have no way to reliably compare with past figures. Loads of people I know say the official figures were deliberately lowered back in the day for obvious reasons. And anecdotally I remember there being a lot more space around me when we played Man U in 2015 compared to when we played Bolton in the FA Cup in 2001 and I could barely move, yet Man U was the bigger crowd. The total attendances were pretty similar, but the Bolton game would have had the old south stand terrace for away fans. If that held less than the current south stand, then the home attendances would have been very similar to each other.
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hersey
Youth team star
bored
Posts: 1,916
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Post by hersey on Aug 20, 2023 18:23:28 GMT
When I started attending the greatest football stadium on earth regularly in 1985 crowds for evening games were 2200 and for Saturdays were 1800. Clearly not accurate but we appear to have moved on a bit.
Back then you could move freely around the terrace, we’d go next to the S Habin (away) seats when we kicked that way and in the NRE for the other half. So it felt a bit fuller than it was. It wasn’t until the first FA cup run under Becky that movement between the NRE and Habin was stopped.
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Post by mike_CUFC on Aug 20, 2023 19:25:04 GMT
One caveat I'd add about attendance figures is that we have no way to reliably compare with past figures. Loads of people I know say the official figures were deliberately lowered back in the day for obvious reasons. And anecdotally I remember there being a lot more space around me when we played Man U in 2015 compared to when we played Bolton in the FA Cup in 2001 and I could barely move, yet Man U was the bigger crowd. I recall that too, attendances of 3,000 ish and people around us saying no way it’s as low as that. I do recall an entry in some football book (Rothmans possibly?) which had every league team ground and history and that even mentioned how the crowd always looked bigger than it was. So maybe a perception issue? Watching that Scunthorpe video you can see how sparse the NRE and main stand were!
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tommy
Youth team regular
Posts: 761
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Post by tommy on Aug 21, 2023 1:04:21 GMT
One difference is that all tickets sold are counted in the attendance these days. That wasn’t the case in the not too distant past.
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Post by Bangkok u on Aug 21, 2023 7:18:31 GMT
Slightly disappointed with the 6,300 attendance on Saturday,was expecting 7 k to be honest.
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