v Hampton & Richmond (away)

[Curtis]

I think Hampton are a club we should keep a close look at over the coming months & years, with new owners & a new manager they have not only put together some very good and consistent results but have also significantly grown their attendances (& I don’t accept that they have nearly doubled their average attendances just because of good results)….. was the attendance 1,774 yesterday?

[Bernie Gogan]

2 minutes ago, Curtis said:

I think Hampton are a club we should keep a close look at over the coming months & years, with new owners & a new manager they have not only put together some very good and consistent results but have also significantly grown their attendances (& I don’t accept that they have nearly doubled their average attendances just because of good results)….. was the attendance 1,774 yesterday?

It was indeed 1,774. Same has applied at Eastbourne regarding attendances, except they are in a very poor run and have now sacked their manager.

[Curtis]

12 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

Fully agree regarding Hunt, wasn’t bothered when he left and was surprised Hampton signed him and still wondering what they see in him after watching him play against us in these 2 matches.

I disagree, I was disappointed to see George leave, and his return to fitness and the starting eleven at Hampton for the last 14 matches has seen them win 10 & draw 4.

He is still only 22, and if he can stay injury free I think we will see him playing in the Football League in a few years.

[Kaiser Gibbs Batman (KGB)]

There have always been players who, whilst themselves remaining relatively unobtrusive (other than to the trained observer-not me I hasten to add), seem to bring out performances from others and play at a decent level for a good length of time. Anyone else remember Micky O'Sullivan? ( I know Keith H will).

[Reading Rebel]

3 hours ago, Curtis said:

I disagree, I was disappointed to see George leave, and his return to fitness and the starting eleven at Hampton for the last 14 matches has seen them win 10 & draw 4.

He is still only 22, and if he can stay injury free I think we will see him playing in the Football League in a few years.

Have to disagree with you Curtis.

I've said it many a time that George has undoubted ability but for reasons I can't fathom and for all his ability he just seems to flit in and out of games and just doesn't seem to have any major affect on games.

As a Comparison look at players like Matt Lench or Aaron Kuhl who are always on the ball and virtually affect every game they play in.  

There is no comparison.

Edited January 2 by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, Curtis said:

I think Hampton are a club we should keep a close look at over the coming months & years, with new owners & a new manager they have not only put together some very good and consistent results but have also significantly grown their attendances (& I don’t accept that they have nearly doubled their average attendances just because of good results)….. was the attendance 1,774 yesterday?

So what do you put their sudden increase in attendances down to?

Looking at their home attendances this season they started with 723 with two more at 844 and 935 the rest have been over a 1,100 mainly against clubs like Yeovil, Torquay and Maidstone culminating with 1,355 against Weston and their top gate against us yesterday.

If not down to success and being second in the table what is it down to? 

[GlenSTFC]

1 hour ago, Curtis said:

I disagree, I was disappointed to see George leave, and his return to fitness and the starting eleven at Hampton for the last 14 matches has seen them win 10 & draw 4.

He is still only 22, and if he can stay injury free I think we will see him playing in the Football League in a few years.

I’d be very surprised if he made it to the EFL. I know it’s only 2 games but I made a point of watching him a little closer than others and I just didn’t see much contribution from him at all which probably resulted in him being subbed off in both games. Maybe he’s been excellent in other games, who knows? We shall see if he progresses…

[GlenSTFC]

36 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

So what do you put their sudden increase in attendances down to?

Looking at their home attendances this season they started with 723 with two more at 844 and 935 the rest have been over a 1,100 mainly against clubs like Yeovil, Torquay and Maidstone culminating with 1,355 against Weston and their top gate against us yesterday.

If not down to success and being second in the table what is it down to? 

Free mince pies and mulled wine?! 
When you look at their pricing which must be top 3 in our division it makes it even more surprising how much their attendances have risen. 

[Reading Rebel]

54 minutes ago, GlenSTFC said:

Free mince pies and mulled wine?! 
When you look at their pricing which must be top 3 in our division it makes it even more surprising how much their attendances have risen. 

Success has got to go hand in hand with price increases to that level.

I'm pretty certain if they were at the bottom of the table they wouldn't be getting anywhere nears their current attendances.

57 minutes ago, GlenSTFC said:

I’d be very surprised if he made it to the EFL. I know it’s only 2 games but I made a point of watching him a little closer than others and I just didn’t see much contribution from him at all which probably resulted in him being subbed off in both games. Maybe he’s been excellent in other games, who knows? We shall see if he progresses…

Pretty much the same as when George was with us?

Edited January 2 by Reading Rebel

[Windsor Rebel]

13 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

Agree their ground has to be one of the worst in our division. Looks to be very tight on 2 sides of the ground with next to no room to expand. The only side they could properly develop is the side with 3 dilapidated stands. Would imagine they’d have a massive bill to bring this upto NL standards.

They are looking to purchase the old London Irish rugby ground in Sunbury and some land at Kempton Park, so that they 

can build a larger facility and expand their fanbase. I was a guest of Hampton FC yesterday as one of my friends is their

goalkeeping coach, they are a  very ambitious club with rich owners.

[Reading Rebel]

1 minute ago, Windsor Rebel said:

They are looking to purchase the old London Irish rugby ground in Sunbury and some land at Kempton Park, so that they 

can build a larger facility and expand their fanbase. I was a guest of Hampton FC yesterday as one of my friends is their

goalkeeping coach, they are a  very ambitious club with rich owners.

Do they own their ground?

Edited January 2 by Reading Rebel

[Windsor Rebel]

5 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

Do they own their ground?

yes  I believe so

[Reading Rebel]

35 minutes ago, Windsor Rebel said:

yes  I believe so

Probably explains why they've managed to get rich owners on board.

Hopefully for their sakes Hampton have put safeguards in place in case they run off with the money and end up groundless and penny less.

[Reading Rebel]

General opinion on the Hampton forum is that we were the better side but lacked a striker/cutting edge to our game.

Edited January 2 by Reading Rebel

[Nathan]

2 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

As a Comparison look at players like Matt Lench or Aaron Kuhl who are always on the ball and virtually affect every game they play in.

Funny you should bring Aaron Kuhl up. When he was with us, I couldn't see why people raved about him. He had his moments, but I felt he was ineffectual far too often. I may be in a minority, but I wasn't too upset when he left. 

19 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

General opinion on the Hampton forum is that we were the better side but lacked a striker/cutting edge to our game.

This appears to be universal opinion; it must therefore be right! 

[Kaiser Gibbs Batman (KGB)]

1 hour ago, Reading Rebel said:

Do they own their ground?

Certainly used to be owned by the local authority-London Borough of Richmond of Thames. When it was owned by Twickenham Council the mayor used his casting vote to award the lease to Twickenham (who for a short time after WW2 played in the Corinthian League) over Hampton.

[Reading Rebel]

17 minutes ago, Nathan said:

Funny you should bring Aaron Kuhl up. When he was with us, I couldn't see why people raved about him. He had his moments, but I felt he was ineffectual far too often. I may be in a minority, but I wasn't too upset when he left. 

This appears to be universal opinion; it must therefore be right! 

I'd say you are not just in the minority Nathan but the one and only.

When Kuhl first came to the club I thought the same but as time went on he ran the midfield along with Lenchy. 

[Reading Rebel]

Just read that H&R had to get permission from the Council to put down a 3G pitch.

Does that tell us that they don't own their ground?

[Wycombe Rebel]

3 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

So what do you put their sudden increase in attendances down to?

Looking at their home attendances this season they started with 723 with two more at 844 and 935 the rest have been over a 1,100 mainly against clubs like Yeovil, Torquay and Maidstone culminating with 1,355 against Weston and their top gate against us yesterday.

If not down to success and being second in the table what is it down to? 

I’d say there were 500 kids there yesterday and that’s no joke, free admission and bumps up the attendance !

[Wycombe Rebel]

I think they are benefiting from the Ted Lasso/AFC Richmond phenomenon, people may laugh but you’ll be amazed how many will latch on to that!