It is also the change in the demographic of football fans. When I was going in the 70's the Rainham End was mostly single men and teenagers. Families were in the family enclosure, old gits in the Gordon Road (not much change there then

), the main stand was for the hoy poloy and the local business men. The town end was for the older guys and more working class families.
Now it is a completely different mix and family budgets are more of an issue than in those days. I know you can't change some things, but it would be nice if more people wanted to get behind the team rather than waiting for the team to wake them up, stop looking at their smart phones and making some noise. COYG