Eh? Since when was promotion 'deserved' by the number of supporters a club has? On that basis, Portsmouth, Sunderland and Ipswich would not be in L1! And we would never be in the Championship. This is the same nonsense as clubs whinging they are 'too big' to be where they are in the pyramid.
You'd hope that now Harrogate are in the league they will pick up some more support, hopefully that support will then stick with them.
So I'll accept that I was wrong to use the term 'deserve' - in that obviously where every club ends up in the pyramid is wholly and solely based on how they perform on the pitch (with the exception of the few cases where incompetence off the pitch kills clubs e.g. Bury).
But look - when it comes down to it, there's some fun to be had on occasion in going and watching a game in a garden shed somewhere where we have almost as many away fans as there are home fans. But really, would you rather do that or watch a game at Meadow Lane - a big, old, traditional ground with 7-8,000 supporters when Notts County are going well?
Yes, it was hilarious when Luton, Leyton Orient and Bristol Rovers all had spells in the Conference.
But at the end of the day, don't away days against those guys get the blood flowing a little more than trips to Fleetwood or Macclesfield?
And the number of small clubs in the football league with small stadia that can't pull a significant crowd is growing.
By my count, there are twelve clubs now that are 'new' to the football league since they instituted automatic promotion from the conference - and by far,
by far the best supported is Wycombe Wanderers. Which is a bit of an indictment really of those clubs' ability to pick up new supporters and grow.
And look, if you're a fan of a fairly big Championship club - I would hope that no-one would be saying that Wycombe (or us, if Henry had just shot) shouldn't be allowed to be promoted into the league. But if some of their fans were a bit disappointed, thinking that they would rather have had a day out at the Stadium of Light or Portman Road as they prefer bigger crowds in bigger stadia.....I certainly wouldn't begrudge them that. Because that's all we're talking about here - not that anyone shouldn't be allowed to get promoted, just that I find it a bit disappointing that Harrogate were promoted at Notts County's expense.
(*n.b. this discussion is of course completely moot if there are no fans next season)