It seems to be a fact, Mick, that Football like many other sports has become less of a spectator sport over the last 20 years. There are so many factors contributing to this but I believe global media coverage of almost all Premier League games and sports in general means it's much more convenient and cheaper to follow your particular favourite team or sport.

They say success breeds interest and Everton's lack of it since the eighties is also a big factor. Wouldn't be too bad if they had played attractive football but tactics being what they are prevent may teams if not all from opening up.

Add to this the many other varied interests that have sprung up during the technological revolution and you may have the reason why football isn't the drawing power it used to be. Back in the fifties and sixties, football and rugby basically stood alone as Winter spectator sports. Hooliganism etc hadn't really taken hold and it was a real treat to travel all over the country every week. The train fares were pretty cheap too. Generally it was the one thing we looked forward to all week.

With spiralling wages and transport costs, football is no longer the attractive leisure commodity it was. Hardly any wonder that younger people seek diversion elsewhere.

Don't forget Mick, this is a poll of TWebbers, not GP attenders. I'm sure that data protection prevents the lads from publishing what a wizened old bunch of curmudgeons we are, but I'm sure we're not representative of the crowd as a whole. Many TWebbers seem to be able to afford broadband AND a season ticket – again, a sign of Anno Domini, and we must pity those poor sods in their 20's struggling to pay the bills.

Yes, there are many factors to be taken into consideration, and the all-seater stadium is a huge one there. But without knowing the figures – and I hope someone will tell us – Goodison fills up nicely in my experience. If we get a decent season from August who knows? We might even need a new, bigger stadium. What happens then?

The peaks indicate one thing only.... Glory hunters!

I wouldn't say I was a 'glory hunter' Michael. My dad took me to reserve games in the old Goodison Road terrace in the 1960s with promotion to the big games in 1969-70 season. That was the norm then for many and most of us are still there. Even if there had been no glory, I still think it would have been the same.

Statistics on one website mean nothing...apart from the people on that one website

All the kids are over on Blue Kipper with their new newfangled text talk.....blood!!!

Wasn't there a survey some time ago saying the majority of match going Evertonians are over 40?

Michael,
I also think that the term "Glory Hunters" is invalid. Fans who enjoyed our success, and domination, in the 1960s would probably be in their 60s now and, one would imagine, mortgage and debt free. Likewise those who started supporting in the 1980s would possibly be in a relatively financially sound situation and maybe more able to afford to go to Goodison.

And, as a percentage of supporters, the total of 8% who have joined the family since 1995 are so young as to be having to rely on their parents generosity or their pocket money to fund their match day attendance. Add to this the financial state of most of the western world and the myriad of alternatives to watching football and it is a wonder that there are as many fans attending as there are.

I was thinking about this just the other day when picking up my 7-year-old son from school. It was an 'own clothes' day and about ¾ of all the kids (well, boys and some girls) had RS kits on. When speaking with some of the other dads and my son's friends, it's clear that we just don't seem to be attracting new young supporters.

I reckon there are a number of reasons: lack of success, lack of any big-money signings, awful marketing and commercial side... I mean I can't even buy the new away kit for my baby son! All these factors will lead to a smaller fanbase and eventually we will fall away.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to that you can use the stats gained from poll results to make any point, 87% of people I spoke to agree!

As said above, this is just out of Toffeewebbers who could be bothered to take part.

Also doesn't reflect age either, some of the 8% may be Arl foggies who have decided to stop watching Bryant in the Bowls and follow us instead

Don't worry, it just means TW is populated by moaning old bastards like me, I see plenty of kids at the game and it's always difficult to get tickets for the family enclosure.

And quite uplifting for an old git like myself, some very presentable young women seem to be allowed in. Or is that just The Paddock?

As much as its pains me to say this, as I think we are, marketing-wise, run by total clowns...

I think the club have realised this new fans issue, and the Under 11 season ticket for just £95 is absolutly fantastic value. The junior version for £149 is excellent also, so long as it's not abused..

Michael (798), you are in the main right re the 'glory hunter tag' but keep one thing in mind. If a young lad is not being influenced by location or family to support a specific team, then in all probability he (she) will support one of the successful sides at that current moment (why would he want to support a 'loser'?). Glory hunting (in the bad sense of the word) can only be reserved for people who SWITCH their support from one team to the next due to success.

I have not one dot of shame in saying I started supporting the blues because a) blue was/is my favourite colour and b) they were one of the best teams in the land at the time. That was back in the early 80's and I was 7 years old and I don't come from Liverpool. Had a Chelsea or Peterborough United been one of the top teams in the land and not Everton, I probably would have supported them instead, either way it would be highly unlikely that I would have ended up an Everton fan.

Main point though is that I have stuck with Everton since those glory days in 80's, through the shite of the 90's ('95 apart) and the mostly dross and defensive football of the '00s........and will still support them until I enter the grave, in all likelyhood watching dross in the coming years as well. Most people I encounter scratch their head and ask me 'why on earth I supoort Everton when I dont come from Liverpool?'. Funny thing is no one asks this question when a non-Liverpudlian RS fan says he supports the RS - becasue they already have a huge global fanbase, built up on the massive success they had in the past, domestically and in Europe!

Simple point I'm trying to make is: Success = Fan Base Grows = More revenue = More Success. Repeat.

Its no coincidence that ManU and the RS have one of the largest fanbases outside their locality. Success inspires kids and they want to be like their 'heros'. I remember pretending to be Linekar playing in the school play ground, how many kids pretend to be Anichebe? Why do you think marketing the likes of Donovan, Pienaar and Cahill in their home countries is important? Fans in those countries who choose Everton are not doing so beacuse of Liverpool's lovely beaches or the dynamic style of our (current) football - its because they see these players as heros (when playing in their national sides anyway) and want to emulate them.

All in all, supporting a side because they are successful is obvious if you're not following family or come from there, however once you've chosen your team, you cannot change (even if sometimes you wish you could!). With no success the fan base declines as the only new fans tend to be locality or family driven, leading to lower revenues and becoming a 'small' club.

Respect to those who go to GP regularly - and for those, please have some pity for the fans who wish they could but can't because they live miles away, or in another country alltogether....

PS I think thatn the stats would be different if you polled those who go to GP because most of these people would have supported Everton due to locality/family reasons. If you polled the 'global' Everton fan base, I think the spread would be similar to that here on TW.

Some of us chose EFC over Liverpool even when the RS were winning everything, it's not all about glory. It's about Everton and what they stand for....

I daresay people in their 20s have better things to do than go on ToffeeWeb....

[Sorry, I realise I'm offending everybody with that comment!]

Spot on Mr Thistle. Yes the blues christened in the last 2 decades or so have not had it good. But compared to those of us who first walked into The Old Lady in circa 1972-1975 and say we stop the clock on1 January 1984, you lot have it good.

Those long walks to the Anfield Rd End year after year, hearts in mouths; sitting tight as yer red-shite 'mates' made travel plans for one final after another home and abroad; 'Kings of Europe'; the 0-5 (I was so bladdered that when I got to The Prince of Wales after the match and thought it was 0-6, I nearly cried for relief; Gordon Lee; anyone else remember the Terry Darracott throw in in front of the enclosure when he threw it and the ball fell to his feet?; Jim Pearson; Rod Belfitt; Alan Biley and so on and so on; the dreadful early Kendal #1 days; Elland Rd, Barry Davies wetting himself screaming 'Lampard'; Old Trafford, forgot the name of the Villa winner scorer; Clive fucking knobhead Thomas; flares for a while; star jumpers; heels; Styx; REO Speedwagon; The Arrows; Dave Fucking Lee Bell-end Travis; new romantics (southern fookin puuffters); Peter Frampton; Buggles; Plastic Bertrand; Frank Bough; Keith ball-bag Chegwyn; the eleven plus exam; fucking Thatcher.

I could go on. Bright spots, needless to say: King against the shite, a screamer; just going away, special, car, whatever; ale was cheaper; you could actually last out a week on the dole and still go to aways (imagine that now); Sally James on Tiswas; a succession of prick provoking Blue Peter presenters (that's why it was called BLUE Peter; punk; Bob Latchford, Ducan Mac (and many others, but real EFC heroes 1980-1983?????); the simple pleasure of being a blue and resulting superior airs; designer gear; Erics; Echo and the Bunnymen; and so on and so on.

Yes I know there was oodles of fun and - probably coz I was teens/early twenties - great times. But. looking back, that all aside, there never a worse time in my life-time to live next to the shite from across the park. We had it rough back then.

Sherlock, is that you?

Yes Peter, none more than me. A proper sad case of a 26-year-old who spends about an hour a day on this when I should be out chasing women and having it large 24/7...

Michael Kenrick, I registered my vote for between 80 and 85, however, that was at a time when my Father considered me to be old enough to go to Goodison, just a coincidence that it was at a time when Everton began the glory years. Like my brother, I'm an Evertonian because of my Father, passed down from my grandfather who used to watch from the stands when Dixie Dean was playing.

Conor - still time to change your ways - I'm an old man now and have no time for drugs sex and rock and roll

Paul Ferry, nice post that.

Indeed we bled regularly, blues growing up in the seventies. What was Darracott doing against Villa - league cup final replay at old Trafford. He just needed to hoof the fookin thing.

I grabbed Latchfords boot when he jumped on the perimeter fence at Elland road, and Kings goal still makes me grin. Proper blue shirts, shirts with stuff down the arms.

There was David Bowle too. David Bowie and Mick Lyons. Thats it, thats the 1970s for ya,.... David Bowie and Mick Lyons.

Peter and Conor - gardening, get some gardening done. The new rock 'n' roll.

Prickly sensitivities (and REO Speedwagon!) aside, there is some underlying logic to the 60s and the 80s showing a higher number of Blue Starters than other eras. Yes, no-one wants to be labelled a glory hunter, but it cannot be denied that success brings with it popularity... while a distinct lack of success, even in the greatest league in the world, can't help to dispel the feeling that we are just now making up the numbers.

It's interesting too how people like to dis a voluntary survey of this kind as if that somehow invalidates the results... when they in fact make perfect sense. Okay, people could have answered with anything that took their fancy but I suspect they would be a tiny minority, with most people responding honestly.

Thanks mike I've just taken up baking my own bread and listening to Duran duran. Funny how some glory hunters get annoyed at being called glory hunters

Michael - what glory?

I always used to wonder how my Father, a born and bred Shropshire lad, came to support Everton.

Then I realised I didn't "know your history" and that we were incredibly successful in the early 1930's

Exciting stuff for a young boy - glory hunter way back then ? Probably.

However, he remained a true blue for the next 70 years.

At his funeral a Royal British Legion standard bearer lowered the flag out of respect for his WW2 service. I remember thinking at the time that an Everton flag should also have been lowered such was my Father's love of Everton.

My point I suppose is that it doesn't matter what brings you to Everton.

What matters is if you have the courage to keep supporting them through that truly unique blend of disappointment, agony,despair,anger,rage and very occasional pleasure that only Everton can evoke in you.

That all depends what herbs your growing, Mike.

Back to the OP and I wonder if a correlation can be made between when someone started supporting Everton and how fanatical they are. I think success, to some degree, kills the hunger or does it just attract a more fickle follower.
The most fanatical and therefore "biggest fans", in my estimation, seem to be of teams that are success starved. Any takers, or is that just the weed talking?

I really started going by myself in 1967 but I sometimes went to anfield with other mates but Everton just had something different about it maybe Alan Ball the z cars tune and them great floodlights we had then

By 1968 the only time I ever went back to anfield was to see Everton play and I been a bitter blue ever since I remember beating them 2 nil Royle and Whittle scoring in our champion season and my photo was in the Liverpool Echo queing up for tickets I was sagging from school at the time and got caught out by the photo

Nice work Peter! Apart from Duran Duran..... Made my first Victoria Sponge the other day, it was a belter!

Just to stir the pot I reckon the truest of true Blues caught the bug as I did in the early 50s. In my first season of not going with my dad I saw us get relegated.

That was when I could easily have freed myself from the bonds that tied me to this club.
Curse you Davy Hickson and those of your ilk that denied me right of knowing how the other half lived.
I suppose there is some solace in knowing that whatever honours did come our way were not paid for by foreign billionaires.
As a wise? man said, we may be lying in the gutter but what better position is there for gazing at the stars.

"we may be lying in the gutter but what better position is there for gazing at the stars".

Dick, that is some wise ass shit there. Fantastic and relevant quote. Often the Dream is better than the reality. Reminds me of the time I went with that aul one.

Michael (#846) and others, without going all SurveyMonkey, another question could've been "at what age group did you start supporting Everton"?

For me, it was early, being born in Kirkdale, and in a family of Blues. But I am certain that we've picked up fans, particularly overseas, for a variety of reasons. (E.g. signing a particular player, like Cahill, Donovan etc). I think James Flynn and others came in around Donovan The First, and have stayed. (Apols to James if I've got that wrong).

Dick, the 'wise man' wasn't Andy van der Meyde was it ??

I first supported Everton because of the 1986 FA Cup Final against the shite. Being Australian it wasn't about where I was from but what you got to see on TV. That was the first soccer match from England that I ever saw and after my brother said he was following the shite I decided to do the opposite and follow Everton. Back then I did not know how successful any club was and just knew the FA Cup final was a very important match. I have followed Everton very closely since. I was only 10 years old back then as well.

I will be in Europe in 4 weeks time to get married in Germany and was hoping to get across to England for the first home game against Manchester United which would make it my first ever EPL game and visit to Goodison. This will finally take my love for Everton, which started in 1986, to 2012 and finally see a proper game in the flesh. I did see the pre season game in Melbourne a couple of years ago.

Not sure if this makes me a glory hunter or not Michael. It was just who I saw the first time of watching a match and the success back in those days meant more TV time and more exposure.

The first time I walked into Goodison Brazil were playing Bulgaria. Garrincha, Pele etc. Hungary next, with that fabulous goal from Farcas. Then Portugal twice starring - who Joe Mercer called - Yous ee be oh. The North Korea game is still a classic.

And after that Prenton Park just wasn't enough. Great nights out for teenage lads on 'Friday Night Under The Lights' on the bus from Ellesmere Port. But the Holy Trinity gave me my football education.

It's actually in the blood - grandad's Birkenhead neighbour William Ralph, dad's office boy Dave Hickson, and a Jimmy Glazzard who played for us - who is on the football data base of Sau Paulo University.

So why do I never wear red? Been to Anfield. Always struck me as lacking in class. Tacky, if you wish. But once you're a blue, there's no going back. The Old Lady needs more than a facelift, but she's certainly the throbbing heart of the club.

Craig (880) - glad to say that I find Evertonians tend to be more rational (I did say tend!) than a lot of other supporters, so hopefully everyone will agree with me when I say it doesn't matter how you became a Blue, it just matters that you are one. Hope you have a great trip when you come here.
If anyone needs any affirmation about being a ToffeeWebber, just have a look at the bilge (and bile) that is being posted in Media: Leighton Baines Is Right Player, Wrong Price. Almost got involved, but then realised there was no chance of getting an intelligent response!

I think in the 60's the choice of team was by and large determined by your locality and your family. You supported your local team. Everton or Manchester supporters in London would have been unheard of unless they had moved there from Liverpool. Same with Arsenal or Chelsea supporters in Liverpool or Leeds.

Our neighbours had just been promoted to the first division in the early 60's so it stands to reason that a lot of our parents of that era were Everton supporters, so we became Everton supporters in the 60's too.

In the 80's we were not the only successful team, our neighbours were also successful so again probably a good split of support determined by your family allegiances.

I chose to be a Blue in the late 1970s but I can't really remember why. I liked football, had an idea that I should have an allegiance, preferred blue to red and both my brothers had chosen the RS (reason enough for a 10-year-old wanting to have a distinctive identity, I suppose).

There was zero parental pressure one way or another; my Dad never declared an allegiance (he just liked watching good play in a wide variety of sport), and although my Mum's family are Blues they aren't particularly hardcore (both Grandads died pretty young so no influence from them).

I was fortunate enough to start going to games in 1984 with a couple of other lads from school. All you needed then was your entrance money (pools and paper rounds just about provided enough – supplemented when necessary by parental contributions) and the enthusiasm to get there at least an hour before kick-off so you would be well enough placed in the queue to get a prime spot in the Gwladys Street end (which you defended tenaciously until the final whistle).

I loved every aspect of match-day and though I didn't always manage to meet up with the lads, just being in the company of 30 to 40-thousand like-minded souls was exhilarating (the semi-final against Bayern in 1985 is literally unforgettable for me simply because of the emotions that the crowd exhibited). Of course, what I was fortunate enough to witness on the pitch in those halcyon days was the icing on the cake.

Though I haven't maintained that level of attendance over the years, I can honestly say I would have been hooked even if we hadn't had the best team in the country (perhaps in Europe too) during my formative spectating years. I just enjoy being an Evertonian, no matter what level the team are performing at (yes, I would prefer that we were all-conquering again).

I will always take the chance to go to a game and actively participate in the support of our team (now with a group of close friends who have the essential quality of being discerning in their football allegiance), though I miss the singing and the swaying... and, other than that, I watch as much of our games as Sky enables me to.

Paul Ferry @ 822, Wholeheartedly agree with you and Peter Thistle over glory hunting: since the mid 60s, the reds have been more successful than us, so choosing Everton couldn't be described as jumping on a bandwagon. And I'm also chuffed to find a fellow Eric's patron (the original, not the tacky plastic imitation). In the 70s I had two homes: Goodison Park and Eric's. Oh, and a place where I used to sleep sometimes.

Michael Evans @ 854, my father-in-law passed away a few months ago, and he received a military funeral for his 6-year war service. He was buried in an Everton shirt at the age of 91, and his last years were spent watching his beloved blues on a 42" HD telly (bought especially for his live footy matches) and slagging off Hibbert and Howard. His only source of enjoyment, and I believe it kept him going despite his illnesses.

A true blue, like your father, and when the flag was lowered and the Last Post played, I thought about him and all the great players he'd seen (he played pro football himself for Southport but the war ended his career) and the joy Everton had brought him. Then in my mind, I thanked Tony Hibbert and Tim Howard for winding him up, and giving him something to shout about, when there was nothing like the Deans, Lawtons and Mercers of his early days to hold his attention.

I first started taking an interest in football because I lived in a football mad area - there was no other serious choice for a sport. It was a shock many years later when I first moved away and everyone didn't want to talk about football (Bristol).
I supported Everton because I preferred blue and my elder brother kept telling me about Everton players - back in 1968. That cup final knocked me back a bit though.

On falling numbers of fans - if you remember the 70's/80's we had some of our smallest gates and football had become a hooligans game with dwindling interest everywhere - it wasn't about the cost back then was it?

The Premier League was launched to turn the sport into a game for everyone - yes even 'glory hunters' but also children, families and women. In that it has been amazingly successful - I wouldn't mind betting that overall attendances in the Premier League are twice that of the old League 1 in its dying days.

The lack of youngsters actively supporting Everton has a very long history. Even in the 70's I was one of maybe 3 in a class of 30.
A Premier League survey around 5-7 years ago questioned match goers and found Everton had the lowest number of new young fans of any club in the league and identified it as worrying back then. That kind of figure worries any potential buyers and is one factor in our malaise.

The other factor was also revealed when asking matchgoers of their biggest complaints - sight lines & facilities were our biggest problems. We had some of the most unhappy fans in the league in this respect.

Say what you like about new stadia - they had the most new fans and the happiest if I remember correctly. New stadia support the future in terms of ability to attract numbers now and into the future & we desperately need one wherever it is placed.

The problems with Everton are deep seated, we have continued to deteriorate in terms of new young fans in an era where our competitors have doubled gates and have many more new fans while we increasingly rely on an older fanbase. I thing Moyes has slowed this trend and may yet turn it round but next time we get an opportunity to redevelop our home we need to grab it as we will not get many more chances.

I'm not sure the survey represents anything other than a reflection of the age of TW posters. That's how I was reading it.

People generally probably become footy fans between the age of five and ten, so the selected 'year range' is a straightforward indication of who was this age at the time. I didn't link it to pot hunting.

That's my take John (904) - I started watching probably around 83/4 - we were awful at this stage and I was lucky to be swept up in the next couple of years of glory. My age was why I started at that time - Everton chose me due to my Dad and Grandad following them etc........personally I think that the term Glory Hunter should be saved for those who support team A and then change to team B who are succesful (we've all had a few mates who did this!!!)........

The survey seems to show that 43% of people who have voted are in their 30s or younger which seems healthy to me

Born in the 60s
Fanaticism and despair in the 70s
Redemption and ecstacy the 80s
Disillusionment in the 90s
Resignation in the 00s
The next decade?

This past season was my first home and away year. I was born in 1994 and turned 18 last month, and despite us again winning nothing, I had a fucking whale of a time drinking (underage, therefore making it more risky and fun) myself up and down the country. Every single penny I have went on Everton last season. After splitting from my 1st serious (as serious as a 17 year old can be) girlfriend last October, it freed me up to spend as much time as possible jumping trains with my 2 best mates all around the country.

Had such a laugh, it's just a shame it'll be my last for a while as I move to Sheffield for uni in September. However I'll be at the United game and my last away for a good while will be WBA. I'm going on my 1st lads holiday in 10 days too, 9 of us (a mix of Blues, Reds, Man United, Spurs and Arsenal) on a weeks piss up in Magaluf. Tell you what you arl buggers, it's marvelous being 18!

Young Cunliffe.
You make me sick !!!.....................only jokin...enjoy mate, we're only here once....unless you're a buddist.

Probably not too many people born in the late 1990s - 2000s on this site, to be fair.

Haha Steve, I am no Budhist. I am a Methodist though...Needless to say my Nan doesn't approve!

John #904 "New stadia support the future in terms of ability to attract numbers now and into the future & we desperately need one wherever it is placed."

Not wherever it is placed John. Say for example it was in a remote retail park where there's a lack of public transport with the only way to get there being by car or bicycle if you don't fancy waiting hours for an inadequate train service. And even if you have a car or can get a lift you'd have to walk a couple of miles from the car park to get to the ground and there's no facilities around the ground other than a Teso and a TopShop.

OR you could just walk down the road or get a bus to your local ground where there's plenty of pubs, chippies and pie shops and be home or in the city centre ready for a night out within an hour of the final whistle, even if you'd walked.

Which team would you choose to start off supporting making the choice for the first time?

I admire my daughters (now 19 years) response to being mocked for being an Evertonian (living on the South Coast) ... " OK, how long of you supported Chelsea, Arse, Man U, Shite?" .. respones range from 5 - 10 years. She responds ... "LOL, I've supported Everton since 1878, my dad, my grandad, my great great grandad and before, have all supported Everton. Its in my blood. Before I was born. Now fuck off and when you know something about football come back and I might talk to you!".

ooops ... better not leave out my son (13years) whose choice of name and number for his Everton shirt is 'DixieDean', #60. He naturally gets asked and takes great pride in educating his mates. He also loves it on away trips when he hears other kids (from the oppossition) asking 'who is Dixie Dean dad?' and them being told of the great man. Time is irrelevant, its our gene pool.

Denis - good for her. I get the same on my stretch of the south coast. Though I usually settle for the 'fuck off'' bit.

The stats would be skewed because many of the 50s 60s groups would have already fallen off the perch. As one of them I am desperately clinging to the branch in the hope of seeing us win at least one major honour.

Are you listening messiah.

The stats would be skewed because many of the 50s 60s groups would have already fallen off the perch. As one of them I am desperately clinging to the branch in the hope of seeing us win at least one major honour.

Are you listening messiah.

Dick - you okay? or have you joshed it on the keyboard with your nose on enter.

Probably been said already, but those that ticked the 60s were probably born then or around then. How many people born in the 90s or 2000s (I'll bet we have a decent enough amount of supporters in that category) are posting on this site in the first place? My guess is only a handful of 90s kids.

I was born in 85, and started supporting in 2002 (if I was born in the UK I would have supported them from the 80s or not at all), but only got posting on here because I've had a lot of down time in the past two years. If I was busier, I wouldn't bother.

How can I be a glory hunter when I am still sticking around. I should be hunting instead of staying faithful all these years.

I think for a lot of us it was a family thing, I was born in 1953 and started going in the 62-63 season. Not because I was glory hunting but because I was from an Evertonian family but me Ma said I was too young to go to the match untill that season. Just good luck that we won 2 leagues and an FA Cup over the next 7 seasons.

Ian @ 174, thanks for your concern my nose on the enter key would be the least of my worries.

Think its a bit wrong saying peaks show one thing - glory hunters. I was born in 79, remember being interested in football before school - 84. So I answered to poll regardless.

Cant remember becoming a blue or why, I just always was, regardless.