KEITH Curle sounded a bit like Kevin Costner from the film 'Field of Dreams', saying: "If we win, they will come."
The Notts County boss was talking about the hot topic of falling crowds at Meadow Lane this season, after the club's chairman Ray Trew took to a fans' messageboard this week to tell supporters straight that he is disillusioned by a lack of support on the terraces.
Curle shares Trew's feelings, but he knows the best way to get fans flocking back – and that is to turn Meadow Lane into their very own field of dreams by winning more games.
A lot of fans have stopped going to games because the Magpies have struggled badly on home soil so far this season, losing half of their 12 league games – and also being dumped out of the FA Cup, Capital One Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy in front of their own supporters.
While they are unbeaten away, they have won just four league games at Meadow Lane – and only one since the end of September.
"We want more people coming through the gates and we need to win more games at home – they go hand in hand," said Curle.
"Our performance levels at home at the beginning of the season were excellent and we were rewarded by people coming to watch us.
"But because the results haven't been good recently there has been a fall in attendances.
"There is also not a lot of money around because it's been Christmas.
"Hopefully if we start getting results and get back up to where we want to be the crowds will come."
The crowds at Meadow Lane have only topped 7,000 for one home league game this season, when they faced league leaders Tranmere Rovers back in October – and their average gate is around 5,900.
It is not going to be easy for them to turn it around quickly either because their next home game is against high-flying Sheffield United next Saturday.
Their home form is the only question mark hanging over them in their quest to win promotion into the Championship this season – and Curle admits he has even thought about getting his players to change in the away dressing room at Meadow Lane to see if it makes a difference.
"I've looked at so many videos of the games and we've gone through the planning, the preparation and the mind-set of the players," he added.
"We've thought about having a pre-match meal like we do before away games or going to a hotel, putting them on a coach and bringing them into Meadow Lane like it's an away game – or even changing in the away dressing room.
"We've gone through lots of different things.
"At the end of the day, players go out onto the pitch and make decisions and we need to make better decisions."
Trew has also told fans he is not prepared to plough any more cash into the club to fund signings in the January transfer window because they are not supporting him.
It means Curle has to offload more players before he can sign new ones to strengthen his squad for a push for promotion in League One in the second half of the season.
"I've not seen what the chairman said, but I've spoken to him so I'm fully aware of what the situation is," said Curle.
"All he is saying is we have to do some wheeling and dealing.
"I need to create monetary movement in the budget, I need to free up some cash by getting players out if I can and then I can bring some other players in as replacements.
"I was told that at a board meeting a long time before this."
New Football League rules mean Notts can only spend 60 per cent of their turnover on players – so falling gates means less spending power.
"It's not just us – all clubs are having to be cost effective because of the new League rules," added Curle.
"They are setting our budget levels based on the income streams that come into the club.
"We need to be cost effective as a business, otherwise the club will suffer.
"With the financial background the chairman has got, there is no way this club will get into trouble.
"I know the chairman is not like Roman Abramovich at Chelsea so this club has to run as a business.
"We've got a fantastic budget that was set by the league that is funded by the chairman and we have got to work with it – it's very simple."
All the talk of cash-flow issues and financial cuts at Meadow Lane is quite ironic because Notts face crisis-club Portsmouth at Fratton Park today.
"Portsmouth is a club that has been massively mismanaged, but I know that with our chairman's astute business sense this club will not get into the same situation," said Curle.
