BRIGHTLINGSEA Regent chairman Terry Doherty has admitted having grave concerns about falling attendances at North Road.

The Ryman League division north side had an average crowd of 125 last season but, for their three home matches this term, that figure has plummeted to 87.

Just 76 turned up for last Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at home to Bowers and Pitsea, while only 62 turned out for the previous week’s Alan Turvey Trophy tie against Leiston.

Now Doherty has warned that unless more people start coming through the turnstile, the club runs the risk of losing players by being forced to slash their budget.

“Our attendances have dropped by a considerable amount,” said the long-serving chairman, who has seen his club rise from the Essex and Suffolk Border League, through the Thurlow Nunn League and into the Ryman League.

“It’s surprising and hard to put our finger on why.

“Maybe people are watching their money a bit more or perhaps the novelty is beginning to wear off (following the club’s rise through the divisions).

“I don’t know if it’s the same generally or just us that are suffering and I could understand if our admission prices had gone up.

“But they’re still the same (£8 for adults and £5 for concessions), as they have been since we gained promotion, and they’re the minimum we’re allowed to charge by the Ryman League.

"We’ve had a short, sharp burst in terms of admission prices, because of the fact we’ve gone through the leagues.

“Five or six years ago people didn’t have to pay anything to watch us play.

“They’ve gone from rolling up and not paying at all to now having to fork out £8.

“I understand it’s not easy but from our point of view, as a club, it’s very worrying because we plan our budget accordingly.

“We base it on an average and while we know it could go up or down slightly, we didn’t expect it to drop to the extent that it has.

“It’s having quite an effect on our finances and, to be honest, I don’t know how much longer we can go on as we are.

“We might have to re-evaluate things at the end of the year because obviously we can’t run at a loss.

“The sad thing is that the first thing to be affected would be our playing budget and then, of course, we run the risk of losing players.”

Ironically, Regent are now preparing for a flurry of home games.

Six of their nine league and cup matches in October are at North Road.

Only four of their next 13 fixtures are away from home and that sequence begins against Tilbury tomorrow, followed by a date with Haringey Borough on Tuesday.

“We need people through the turnstile and it makes a massive difference – financially and also to the players,” added Doherty.

“If fans felt there was something we could do to improve the matchday experience we’d really like to hear from them and would value their input.

“At the moment it’s very worrying and unfortunate, because it’s come at a difficult time when one of our main backers has also had to take a back seat due to ill health.

“Our other chief sponsor, Butterfly Care Homes, is still on board and doing all it can, for which we’re extremely grateful.

“But we’re conscious that we need further business partners to help offset the costs of running a club at step four on the pyramid.

“We’ve appointed Phil Calver and Gavin Aplin to work on the commercial side of things, to try and bring in more revenue, and they can be contacted by emailing BRFCCommercial@gmail.com.

“We’re also looking for some help with the administrative arm of the club, to ease an ever-increasing workload on our secretary, Mark Gridley.

“But I have to be honest and say that we’re feeling the pinch. That’s the reality and something has to change.”