By Albatross
May 22 2003

Ever wondered how Hartlepool United arrive at their attendance figures? Ever thought that they're wrong? Pools Online took up Hartlepool United's offer to see the attendance recording system in action - and I'm convinced it's bullet-proof. "I'm sure there were more than that here today" - how many times have you heard that, or even said it yourself, when you've heard the attendance at the Vic?

The club have made the offer to fans for some time to come behind the scenes at the Vic and see the system used for monitoring the attendance. And so, towards the end of the season, I decided to take them up on it: would they be happy to have someone poking around, or would it turn out to be an empty promise?

Any doubts about the offer were soon put to bed. I contacted the club by Email, and received a message back the same day saying yes; and when I then took a few days to get back to them, they contacted me again, asking me to arrange a date. Far from trying to discourage me, it was obvious that they were not only willing to have someone looking at the system - they were very keen for it to happen. And so I travelled across from Merseyside earlier than normal for the last home game of the season against Shrewsbury, to meet the club's Senior Administrator Maureen Smith.

The issue of having accurate attendance figures is important for a number of reasons. First and foremost is Safety; it is vital for the club to know how many fans are in each area of the ground, and when capacity is reached - or near. Gaps in the system allowing a significant number of fans in without being recorded could mean areas becoming overcrowded; the Town End has been full or close to it on a number of occasions this season, and an extra 100 or so in there would be a serious safety problem. It may sometimes seem a long way from an FA Cup Semi Final to a Division 3 game at the Vic, but the spectre of Hillsborough looms over every ground; not only do the club have a responsibility for the safety of the fans, but you can be sure that any breach - even if not causing an obvious problem in terms of numbers - would be taken extremely seriously by the authorities. Which is entirely how it should be.

Then of course comes the issue of money. A couple of hundred not declared might amount to a couple of thousand pounds; and before long you're talking about brown envelopes, and the sort of corruption that has seen the likes of Chesterfield and Boston subject to investigation by the FA. While in both cases the punishments have met with some criticism, the prinicple is there - there are sanctions that the authorities can take if they find something dodgy. Nevertheless, the suspicion in some fans minds seems to be that someone somewhere is on the make.

However, the way things are going the opposite argument is also true. Division 3 faces a Salary Cap - albeit voluntary - next season; and it's proposed to come in for the other divisions in the Football League sooner rather than later. Overall player salaries will be limited to 60%, and then 50%, of income. While there are not any sanctions next season, there will almost certainly be some before long. Under the circumstances, it's best all round for any club to make sure they are declaring as high an income as possible. Brown envelopes simply aren't worth the risk.

Maureen Smith also has other reasons for making sure the figures are accurate. As the Senior Administrator, it is she who operates the system; and speaking to her it quickly became obvious that she sees ensuring the figures are correct as something that reflects very much on her, and her ability to do the job. Criticise the figures, and you're saying Maureen isn't doing things right; and it's very apparent that she is determined to make sure that she is doing the best possible job - there's plenty of pride in the quality of her work.

Maureen has been involved with the club since the Garry Gibson era, and no doubt has many tales she could tell from behind the scenes of the Bearded one. She limits herself though to telling me how poor the attendance system was at the time; very obviously open to abuse from turnstile operators, other members of staff, and inaccurate enough to make her decide to try and put her banking background to good use - even though at the time she was just working part-time in the office. Over the years, things have improved no end, and she is always on the lookout for ways to make things even better.

So how exactly does everything work? Unsurprisingly, there's a computer system at the bottom of it. Set up and maintained by an external company, Maureen logs onto it on her PC, and then sets up the parameters of each match: date, time, the allowed capacity of each section of the ground, and so on. A test is usually done several days before each match, and then it's all set up ready to go on the day of the game itself. Each Turnstile is linked in, and every time it turns it's recorded by the system and updates the numbers on a graphical representation of the Vic.

Of course, not everyone passes through a Turnstile. Visitors to Executive Boxes, Press Box, and the Disabled Enclosure either have to, or expect to, pass through a more conventional entrance. To make sure these are included in the final figure, a "Start Figure" for each of these areas is entered into the system, based on the number of tickets sold or otherwise allocated.

Each Turnstile Operator is provided with a float, a sheet to detail the number of each type of ticket sold or handed to them (eg Adult, Concession, Press and so on) - this can then be checked against the ticket stubs - and a two-way radio. This links them to the office, allowing them to call for assistance if needed - an idea Maureen suggested after seeing it in action at Swansea's ground. The Operators are rotated around different turnstiles throughout the season, meaning that any fiddling by an individual will soon be picked up and readily tracked. Operators have been dismissed in the past, and the system is such that anyone who thinks they are on to a nice little earner will not go undetected for long.

Incidentally, have you wondered why your ticket has a hole punched in it on the way into the ground? I'd noticed this at the Rochdale game, and discovered that it's simply a way of marking that the ticket has been used. Apparently it's not unknown for people to appear at the office on a Monday, asking for a refund as they didn't make the game - only to present a ticket with the tell-tale hole!

Safety runs through the whole match-day operation. The club, expecting a big attendance for the Shrewsbury game, were looking to open turnstiles early - but they would only be allowing spectators in the ground after St. John's Ambulance had arrived, and the stewards had been fully briefed by the Safety Officer. He also can see the same display of the ground filling up as Maureen from his position in the Control Box. There's a lot more going on than you might think in the build-up to the game.

Once the turnstiles are closed, all the operators return to hand in their takings and sheet. The money is counted, paperwork filled in and kept. The thing that convinced me above all of the accuracy of the figures though was the Screen Print; Maureen takes one of these for every game, and it's attached to the paperwork - and there's a considerable amount of it kept for every game. The print lists the time and date, match, total number of fans, the number (and percentage of capacity) in each area, and plenty of other info too. I saw the one for the Bank Holiday game with Rochdale, and was highly convinced; apparently there were just 18 spaces left in the Town End, but the Mill House was considerably below capacity - and that certainly matched up with my experience that day.

After spending the best part of two hours with Maureen looking at the systems and talking about Pools, I left to have some lunch round the Marina. I was back though to see the Turnstiles open on the Clarence Road side, and then it was back into the office again to see the system in action.

Watching the numbers change on the screen was hardly the most interesting way to spend some of the time before kickoff; but that's precisely what I did. With another view showing each turnstile in action, and the overall display giving a full count and rate of entry, I watched as the figures gradually built up. Meanwhile, the office was far from quiet; Keith Nobbs walked through, a couple of the Youth Team lads who were acting as Stewards appeared for more change for one gate, a scout for another club - obviously well known to the staff - sat in for a while and talked about this and that, Ken Hodcroft dropped by briefly, and James Sharp did his Mr. Nice Guy image no harm at all when he dropped off some chocolates for the Office Staff as a "thank you" before he left the club for good.

After an initial surge, things were quiet for a spell, but then it started picking up. Every seat had been sold in advance for the Cyril Knowles Stand, and the Town End was filling up steadily - but the Mill House was taking an age to reach even 20% capacity, and the 800-odd that Shrewsbury reckoned were on the way were patently not going to materialise. But seeing the rate of entry slowly increase, I was entirely convinced that the system was doing what it was supposed to do - recording every click of a turnstile and storing the figure in the database. I saw the crowd increase above the 3000 mark, and then headed for my seat.

Not too long ago, the FA offered to come in and audit the attendance systems of clubs; Hartlepool United were one of the first to invite them in. It's a testament to the hard work that's gone in behind the scenes, from Maureen and many others, that although they were able to suggest some improvements, most of them were little more than cosmetic. Overall, they were more than happy with the systems in place at Pools.

The Fax detailing the numbers and takings for each game that the club are obliged to send to the Football League is backed up by an impressive amount of paperwork that is checked and double-checked; and it's hard to see where there is room for seriously doubting the figures. Everyone that goes through a turnstile is recorded; those who go through other gates into the Disabled, Press and Executive areas are counted in advance; and every exit gate is now covered by a CCTV camera to cut down on the opportunites for a steward to let someone in that they shouldn't. Purely on the technical side of things, it's all very convincing. It needs to be; if the figures reported to the League are wrong, then the club is in some serious hot water.

Possibly even more convincing though was the attitude and openness of Maureen, Paul Mullen and the other staff at the club. They were happy to have me visit - even chasing me up to arrange the date and time when I lingered; and were genuinely pleased to have someone visiting to look at the systems at last - I was the first one to take them up on the offer. Maureen especially found the time during a busy matchday morning to spend with me to explain everything, and didn't duck any of the questions I asked about the systems.

In other words, I'm convinced that it is all as accurate as it can be; if you're not convinced - well, why not see for yourself? As I discovered, the club will be more than happy to show you in person. It's not as though there's anything to hide.