The new WSC that got trashed by my postman

[Third rate Leszno]

Interesting statistic in Drew Whitworth's piece about Fleetwood stating that "at least 10%" of the town's population attend games and how that compares well to other northern lower league clubs.

It's a reasonable indicator of local interest as lower league clubs will probably attract less out-of-town support than their PL counterparts.

I'm now scrambling through league tables, attendance records and population stats to see which club might come top of a national chart of honour based on this formula.

As I'm sure you've read in the papers, we teachers have got nothing else to do.

I've always felt that Burnley would have a very high percentage of townsfolk supporting them.

[Tony C]

An obvious first thought of mine was Forest Green Rovers who averaged gates of around 2,500 in 2019/20 with Nailsworth's official.population currently about 5,700.

[Patrick Thistle]

That whole x% of the town thing is nonsense. Even a place like Shrewsbury has people travelling from outside the town to watch the team.

[Gangster Octopus]

My WSC may have turned up, but my Private Eye hasn't...

[imp]

My WSC may have turned up, but my Private Eye hasn't...

I haven't had a Private Eye for over a month. Wondering if something's gone wrong with my subscription, or if it's just Xmas/Covid/Brexit postal problems. No sign of WSC yet either.

Lest you think Germany is mastering this crisis any better than anyone else, we just had our first postal delivery in three days.

Re. local support. It'll be interesting to see if fans graduate towards their local clubs the deeper we get into environmental shit and/or consciousness-raising. Also, I'm always a bit ambivalent about those fans who cover thousands of miles every year to follow their teams away from home. Great devotion and loyalty and all that, but, come on, how many of those journeys are really necessary? With digital streaming of away games, there's not much reason to waste time, money and energy on long away trips any more, is there? Sure, you want to cheer the lads on and take in the fresh air and magnificent scenery of Rochdale and show how much you care more than the plastic armchair fans, but at the expense of our air quality and the destruction of the planet?

[Snake Plissken]

I'm now scrambling through league tables, attendance records and population stats to see which club might come top of a national chart of honour based on this formula.

Burnley usually appear at or near the top, for 21,000 attendance of a town of 73,000. When I was following Colne Dynamoes in the late 80s, they were getting 2,000 out of a town of 10,000. Probably would have got more if they could have fitted them into Holt House.

I don't know how much of Fleetwoods numbers were boosted by the recent issues at Blackpool.

[Uros Predic]

I don't know how much of Fleetwoods numbers were boosted by the recent issues at Blackpool.

I had presumed that Fylde were the biggest beneficiaries of the boycotts at Blackpool

[Capybara]

Mine still hasn't arrived. We've had a couple of deliveries around teatime in the past few days but no sign of WSC. I bumped into a neighbour this morning and asked if he'd had any problems. Turns out he's more proactive than I am and has made enquiries. Our regular postie is away from work at the moment and they are short-staffed. Anything that went into the system two weeks ago is likely to be lying unsorted in a box at the sorting office and they are only delivering some of the mail that has arrived in the past few days. Meanwhile the other side of the road is getting deliveries because it's on a different round. Perhaps this ought to be in Mundane III.

[danielmak]

Arrived today to the US. Paper wrapper was thrashed with some holes but no damage to the magazine.

[Capybara]

Needless to say, mine's still not here. We've had two tier changes since it should have arrived.

[danielmak]

My daughter wanted to surprise a friend who lives about 6 blocks from us by sending the friend a letter. She sent the letter in November; it still has not arrived to her friend.

Two really funny letters in this issue: (1) referee tripping over John Gregory while Gregory was tying his boots and (2) a letter about teams hiring hydrologists. I love the laugh out loud letters.

[imp]

Arrived in Germany. And just to make sure, I got two separate copies, both envelopes fully intact.

[Capybara]

I've had a mail delivery. It's the first since the beginning of last week. Such mail that was dated seems to have been posted in the week before Christmas. Still no WSC.

[Capybara]

I was delighted to see our postie back today. A lot of mail came through the door followed about half an hour later by another lot, so I'm wondering if that had gone through the wrong door as sometimes happens. This includes one item that I knew was on the way and why I thought there was a problem. No WSC though, but four Christmas cards.

[Capybara]

It's here!!!!1 Perfect condition as well.

[Gangster Octopus]

Just as the next one goes to the printers...

[Capybara]

The first thing I looked at was when the next one's due.

[Jobi1]

That line in the TV Watch column about David Marshall's facial expression post playoff penalty save changing "from anxious enquiry to jubilation with the shocking suddenness that makes the movement of frogs so terrifying" is everything I love about this magazine.