Carlisle United’s average gate for the latest season was 4,970 – an increase of fans attending games for the club.
The rise in support was before Paul Simpson’s arrival and despite home results as the fans stood by the club in real adversity.
United’s chief executive Nigel Clibbens said: “This was humbling for everyone and made a real difference. Support increased markedly after the arrival of Paul Simpson.
“Average gates were up 21 per cent on 19/20 (the last season with fans, but only 19 games). They were also up five per cent on 18/19 the last season unaffected by COVID.
“This last figure of 4,459 is the best home fan average for five years – excluding 20/21 with COVID limits – and the third best in the last 10 years.
“Excluding ticket promo games and one-off big attendances the home average was 4,235 in 21/22 vs 4,017 in 18/19 a like-for-like five per cent increase.
“Excluding the two ticket promo games and one-off big attendances, the average home fans for the six games under Paul Simpson was 4,977 compared with 3,917 for the 14 home league games before his arrival.
“An increase of 1,000 per game (27 per cent increase) after he joined. Interestingly, even at 3,917 before Paul’s arrival, this was still three per cent up on 19/20.
“Season tickets are on sale and 1,721 have been sold so far. It is always difficult to compare like-for-like with different dates of sale, length of sales periods, etc – however, this is an extremely encouraging figure. With half-season tickets, last year’s total was 1,845.”
In his quarterly report, Clibbens admits commercial income remains challenging, especially new business and larger corporate deals.
A new commercial team is being formed following the retirement of Jenny Anderson and Anne-Marie Gardner as new staff are being recruited.
The Business Club is to be relaunched for 2022/23, after stopping due to COVID while 22/23 hospitality and sponsorship packages are being worked on to be launched after the fixtures are released on June 23.
