In February 2026, Bracknell Town announced a corporate transition to a new entity – Bracknell 1896 Ltd. One of the key goals in this announcement was long-term financial sustainability. An important aspect of sustainability in any business is customers and in non-league football that translates to supporters and therefore attendances. The more people that come through the door, the more the gate receipts, the more markup on food and drink, the more visibility for advertising and sponsorships and the more there is to spend on the team. In a new era of sustainability at Bottom Meadow, what can attendances tell us about team expectations?
Note: All of the following figures/stats are based solely on League games and data sourced from the Southern Premier League website.
Historical Attendance
Over the past three seasons, Bracknell have ranked 12th, 13th and 14th in average home attendance in the Southern Premier League South. If we expect attendance to be a major driver of income and thus team performance then Bracknell over-performed in 23/24 in making the play-offs. They slightly underperformed in 24/25 and pretty much finished par for 25/26. Whilst not a perfect predictor of success, it’s also not a bad predictor. Season-on-season the average home attendance for Bracknell has increased from 376 in 23/24 to 455 in 24/25 to 514 in 25/26.
Caveats on 25/26:
- Fans were offered free season tickets and early season attendances were high.
- U18s paid nothing for entrance but pay £2 this season (I think that’s true, comment if incorrect and I will adjust).
Other considerations for 26/27 attendances are the loss of local teams from the league: Farnham and Walton & Hersham. Both teams provided the highest league attendance figure at Bottom Meadow in the past two seasons.
26/27 Attendance
With a very small sample size of 4 home games, Bracknell sit at 447 as an average home attendance. At the time of writing they have the 18th-highest attendance and sit in 14th.
As an aside, it’s interesting to see that Gloucester and Basingstoke are seriously underperforming based on attendance, with Plymouth and Uxbridge overperforming.
During the 24/25 season there were 6 matches at Bottom Meadow that had an attendance of less than 400. During 25/26 there were only 5 matches with less than 400. This season, three of the four home games played so far were under 400 in attendance already and that is worrying for sustainability.
To compare, the equivalent fixtures in the 25/26 season had home attendances for Sholing and Havant of 468 and 525 respectively.
Are Bracknell alone in having lower-than-expected attendances this season? The table below shows the average Aug+Sep attendances so far this season, compared with last season. Bracknell have the third-largest drop so far in attendance compared with last season. However, with only a few games played this season the sample size is too small to make anything of this. There is little sign that a ‘Cooksley Love Island’ celebrity spike of attendances has occurred at the moment.
The cost of travelling
This season there are 5 teams whose ground is within 30 miles of Bottom Meadow (see below). Last season there were 6 teams, including Walton & Hersham and Farnham Town. Clearly having teams with a big following translates to bigger crowds at Bottom Meadow.
The total miles for all away games this season is 1,152. Last season it was 1,218 miles. So, a slightly shorter distance for opposition fans to get to Bottom Meadow overall. However, with the geopolitical climate increasing fuel prices sharply this year, it will surely factor into opposition fans deciding whether to make the trip to Bottom Meadow or not.
Cup matches
Although this article predominantly looks at league attendances, a good run in the cups this season would have been a welcome addition to the coffers. Bracknell can consider themselves a touch unfortunate to have been drawn away from home in three cup competitions and then be out of two of them at the first hurdle with an injury-time winner and a loss in a penalty shootout.
International break
With a longer-than-normal autumn international break, a home game for Bracknell during this period might well have provided a higher-than-expected attendance. However, at the time of writing there is no league or cup home fixture scheduled during this period. Unlucky timing to be sure.
Other clubs
If the topics raised in this article paint a tough picture for Bracknell, it is worth pointing out that other clubs will have their own woes to navigate this season. For example, Havant & Waterlooville sit at the bottom of the table yet boast the seventh-best attendance figures in the league. Gloucester are also enduring a difficult campaign following the lofty heights of last year. As the old adage suggests, “It’s non-league—anything can happen.”
Looking at how teams in the bottom five at the start of October historically finish, two to three of those sides end up relegated if past trends repeat themselves. Crucially, Bracknell are not currently in that bottom five.
The takeaway
Clearly it is too soon to say if attendances will pick up or not but the three early low attendances are an early worry and the cup exits a real blow. The absences of big local teams like Walton or Farnham, the huge rise in fuel prices and the return of paid season tickets will also have an impact. Given the reasons above, it’s hard to see how we will keep our season-on-season attendance increase of previous years and thus it’s going to be a tough ride living within our means.
If attendances do provide a method for estimating spending power and setting expectations then finishing above the relegation zone could well be viewed as a reasonable season.