Fleet’s average attendance figure for 2017/18 at the Kuflink Stadium has broken records stretching back 55 years. The club’s average for the campaign just passed was 1,561, the highest level since a mean number of 1,741 regularly came through the turnstiles in 1962/63, the season of our greatest FA Cup run.

Fleet’s crowds declined steadily after that season and reached an all-time low in the mid to late Eighties before returning to four-figure averages through much of the 21st century.

A second notable achievement also occurred in 2017/18, with every single home league crowd reaching four figures, a statistic that has not occurred since 1959/60. The total number through the gate (35,912) is also the highest since 1962/63 when that figure was 36,569.

BELOW: Average attendances this century…

The club’s executive vice chairman Dean Pooley told FleetOnline, “Our primary aim has always been to grow the club’s fanbase and we have shown steady increases in the season average for the past five years. Up is a direction we want to head in on and off the field and so I’m delighted this season’s average has gone up again and been the highest in living memory for many of us. It’s testament to the kind of squad Daryl’s assembling, the football they’re playing and most of all our fans, who have grown in number and noise this season, home and away, and I’d like to go on record once again to say how superbly they have backed the side throughout 2017/18.”

BELOW: Action from Stonebridge Road in 1962/63, when the average last broke the 1,500-barrier for league games