Just got out of Hearts v Dunfermline in the Scottish League Cup. First time at Tynecastle - I wasn't expecting such a big crowd and a whopping away following, looked far more than the declared 1,500, much bigger than what we usually see at Meadow Lane.

The stadium seemed bigger, but the official capacity is just a dozen more than Meadow Lane. I was stunned to find out the attendance was only 12,940, when we regularly declare 10K+. Either they're undercounting, we're overcounting or it's some kind of optical illusion!

I know once upon a time Notts used to announce, let's just say, adjusted numbers. Yet, I was under the impression that it is not possible these days. It was a very common thing during the 80s and 90s. I had been told. Meadow Lane can look busier at times compared to the announced gate, and at the same time it can look well under what was announced. I tended to take the gates under Alan Hardy for the big games as just an achievement rather than the actual number being a sign of our fan base growing; he used to give his employees tickets, allegedly.

Which is different compared to the 90s, when the numbers tended to be inflated.

Last season's average of 10,400 was a real positive for the club, not too long after all those years of it being stuck at around 5000.

It's important to keep this going and have the number right up there, not only for revenue but to attract players and keep the feelgood vibe for the fanbase

It fell by about 500 from the previous season, so if that trend continues we'll be below 10K again. That'd still be good. Let's see.

hearts recently sold jorge grant to salford city. did you ever get to see grant play for them @theAnticlough?

the last time i saw a picture of their ground, it looked a lot different. now it looks very nice and much longer. i do wonder if meadow lane is steeper and that makes it look different?

Sometimes I think the crowd looks smaller than the numbers the club announces, though it’s only now and then. Most of the time it matches, but there are moments where it seems off.

I’ve noticed when the club says on social media that a game has sold out, it often doesn’t feel that way in the stands. There seem to be empty seats more often than expected.

My first time there @liampie, and I learned on the morning of the match that he had left them this summer.

I think Jorge Grant is highly rated by Notts fans and rightly so. Most would be happy if he'd come back to us to replace Crowley. He's certainly got a nose for goal. Not to be, so the wait goes on

I haven’t thought too much about it, but some clubs make odd choices. Chesterfield last season gave us a small number of tickets, even though they had lots of seats spare and still said it was a sell-out.

What a coincidence, a good friend of mine is a fanatical Hearts fan and he messaged me after the match.

4-1 to Hearts with Shankland scoring twice from the penalty spot, but room for improvement he tells me.

He's over the moon because Shankland has signed a 3 year contract, as apparently he is supposed to be a prolific scorer.

We do the messaging thing on a weekly basis during the season, following each others team and giving scoring updates and match reviews.

He is always telling me that the stadium is full, I reckon they sit one miss one seat to make it look like they have a capacity crowd 😉 😄

Attendances at the lane have been fantastic over the last few seasons and I hope that we keep it up this season. Getting into the double figure thousands is testament to the hard work of all the staff, players and great facilities here at Meadow Lane. COYP.

17 hours ago, theAnticlough said:

I think Jorge Grant is highly rated by Notts fans and rightly so. Most would be happy if he'd come back to us to replace Crowley. He's certainly got a nose for goal. Not to be, so the wait goes on

i think its one of the best signings salford have made, jorge grant must have been doing well for Hearts to keep him for so long. its a shame that we did not look to bring him back because he would do well in our squad i think.

1 minute ago, liampie said:

i think its one of the best signings salford have made, jorge grant must have been doing well for Hearts to keep him for so long. its a shame that we did not look to bring him back because he would do well in our squad i think.

Yeah, looking at his record though it's a bit like Adam Chicksen's in that most of his scoring is crammed into 2 seasons. Also he's coming up to 31! it's easy to imagine him as the young looking 24 year-old he was with us. I'm just looking for consolations, cos now he's signed for Salford til he's 33, we won't be seeing him back at Notts again.