Hopefully we can pack AP out. If the ticket sales aren’t the best it would be a great chance to offer quid a kid or cheaper tickets for families/u18s/18-25 etc
A nice thought..... the Couhigs never went for this mentality.... Will be interested to see if the new ownership will condone such discounts in favour of bums on seats....
You would hope with rice and the knowledge he has it would be about using this game to capture fans. If the goal is championship and beyond we need bums on seats.
My most significant worry for our club is that our fanbase may dissipate more and more owing to various factors. Hopefully this will be a bumper crowd!
I know it’s contentious on here, but this season’s attendances have been poor. How can we not even get close to selling out the terrace on the opening home game against Birmingham City? Holidays or not; that’s poor. Pricing issue. Location issue. Marketing issue.
Will be interesting to compare our Sky TV payout with any reduction in crowds at the end of the year and associated spend at the bars of such things were made public.
That doesn't tell the whole story of course if less people are introduced this becomes a multi year issue.
Multiple issues about why attendances have dwindled in the past decade. Sky, lack of presence in the town (shop went years ago) access to and from AP ( leaving takes ages.) Ticket prices are on par with the league.
I know I’m currently the club’s third oldest supporter (give or take a hundred or two) but, more seriously, I used to look around me when I was still tottering up Hillbottom Road and thinking what an elderly cohort (if that’s the right word) we were. I suspect the pandemic has, directly and indirectly, had a considerable impact, not least of course the impact of having got out of the habit.
I’d like to think I’ll be able, in a few years time, to “look down” (as people still delightfully put it) and see huge crowds filling the superb Mikheil Lomtadze Stadium.
Looking at my local club (Dover Athletic FC) currently in tier 7, they have seen their attendance hold steady despite relegation. I suspect this is due to the increase in local derbies, but also they didn't increase their ticket prices which includes under 18s for £9 (£50 for a season ticket) & under 11s free. The consequence of this is that the age profile of the fan base is well spread with a decent number of teenagers going with their mates & lots of families.
I am sure if I looked at other clubs around here Tiers 5-7 their price structure would be broadly similar & they too would have a good mix of ages amongst their fan base.
We do lots of good stuff in the community via the Foundation, The Trust & the Ex-players Association to raise awareness of the club & its values, but we then fail to follow though in encouraging them to come through the doors on a match day. One way is to offer sensible concessions to juniors & kids/families, another is to ensure ingress & egress is eased (2nd road anyone), another is to ensure the stadium is fit for purpose (no leaking roofs, decent bogs, plenty of food/drink outlets etc.) & finally to play deceent football & win more than we lose.
What I am unsure of is how any of that fits in with MLs vision or interest, beyond he wants & needs an EFL club to enable delivery of his academy plans; after all he is up there with Croesus in terms of wealth.
I am really concerned it won't benefit us at all, as even if the payout covers the decreased crowds, it also just means players' wages will inflate. I could see us making less net income in the future even with the TV money, with lower crowds to boot.
The fact is other teams of commensurate size seem to be increasing their gates while ours are poorer than 20 years ago, when we were a L2 side having just suffered a truly dreadful season (arguably a truly dreadful 18 months or so of hoofball prior) and relegation. Until there’s a holistic approach to access, facilities, transport, marketing, and pricing then I don’t see that changing much.
What’s most dispiriting is that the current and previous regimes don’t seem too bothered by low crowds.
I do wonder whether the apparent current downturn compared to other clubs could be due to us having had a slightly false higher base for a few years than we might otherwise have done due to the phenomenon that was Bayo.
Or it could just be that AP is so quiet these days the sound of @Wendoverman working his way through bags of crisps every game puts sensitive hearing folk off coming.
Not sure about the Bayo effect, great as he was. Crowds dipped to a nadir around 2012-14 and remained stubbornly low until a boost following promotion to L1. Averages have improved in recent seasons but I think these are slightly inflated by some big away followings (and we did reach a L1 play off final in that period which helped!).
This perennial question has become the new ‘improve the atmosphere/acoustics in the terrace/swap the home and away ends’ circular debate, albeit far more nuanced.
As said, I don’t think it’s as easy as picking off parking issues, food offering, bad bogs, billboards in the town etc one by one, it needs a joined-up approach. And if possible some proper local market research to determine root causes. Brands (yuk) offer way more personalisation than football clubs to entice different types of people at different times and in different ways. Can we not look at stuff like discounted ticket bundles, food and drink coupons, merchandise discounts, contracting the Carousel Pick Me Up minibuses from different areas etc etc?
I’m sure there are plenty of can’t work/wont work reasons why some of these things aren’t possible but if we don’t at least try, nothing will change. Accept the point the new owners haven’t had long to look at these things but I hope it’s on their radar.
Comments
Hopefully we can pack AP out. If the ticket sales aren’t the best it would be a great chance to offer quid a kid or cheaper tickets for families/u18s/18-25 etc
Being live on Sky Sports Football should definitely cut down the attendance as well as a second/third string Villa team.
A nice thought..... the Couhigs never went for this mentality.... Will be interested to see if the new ownership will condone such discounts in favour of bums on seats....
You would hope with rice and the knowledge he has it would be about using this game to capture fans. If the goal is championship and beyond we need bums on seats.
Agree fully
My most significant worry for our club is that our fanbase may dissipate more and more owing to various factors. Hopefully this will be a bumper crowd!
I know it’s contentious on here, but this season’s attendances have been poor. How can we not even get close to selling out the terrace on the opening home game against Birmingham City? Holidays or not; that’s poor. Pricing issue. Location issue. Marketing issue.
Sky issue
Will be interesting to compare our Sky TV payout with any reduction in crowds at the end of the year and associated spend at the bars of such things were made public.
That doesn't tell the whole story of course if less people are introduced this becomes a multi year issue.
Multiple issues about why attendances have dwindled in the past decade. Sky, lack of presence in the town (shop went years ago) access to and from AP ( leaving takes ages.) Ticket prices are on par with the league.
hopefully this will change and time will tell
I know I’m currently the club’s third oldest supporter (give or take a hundred or two) but, more seriously, I used to look around me when I was still tottering up Hillbottom Road and thinking what an elderly cohort (if that’s the right word) we were. I suspect the pandemic has, directly and indirectly, had a considerable impact, not least of course the impact of having got out of the habit.
I’d like to think I’ll be able, in a few years time, to “look down” (as people still delightfully put it) and see huge crowds filling the superb Mikheil Lomtadze Stadium.
"Looking down?"
We await to read your autobiography before we can take an informed view of that Sir....
(But hope so! Albeit it will be a lot further up for me to see you one day...)
We haven’t had a non-summer holiday home game yet.
Every club is contending with increased TV coverage. But many have increased attendances in recent years.
Got the day off for the game but if the ticket prices hit £725, I'm out!
You expecting them to pick up?
Looking at my local club (Dover Athletic FC) currently in tier 7, they have seen their attendance hold steady despite relegation. I suspect this is due to the increase in local derbies, but also they didn't increase their ticket prices which includes under 18s for £9 (£50 for a season ticket) & under 11s free. The consequence of this is that the age profile of the fan base is well spread with a decent number of teenagers going with their mates & lots of families.
I am sure if I looked at other clubs around here Tiers 5-7 their price structure would be broadly similar & they too would have a good mix of ages amongst their fan base.
We do lots of good stuff in the community via the Foundation, The Trust & the Ex-players Association to raise awareness of the club & its values, but we then fail to follow though in encouraging them to come through the doors on a match day. One way is to offer sensible concessions to juniors & kids/families, another is to ensure ingress & egress is eased (2nd road anyone), another is to ensure the stadium is fit for purpose (no leaking roofs, decent bogs, plenty of food/drink outlets etc.) & finally to play deceent football & win more than we lose.
What I am unsure of is how any of that fits in with MLs vision or interest, beyond he wants & needs an EFL club to enable delivery of his academy plans; after all he is up there with Croesus in terms of wealth.
I am really concerned it won't benefit us at all, as even if the payout covers the decreased crowds, it also just means players' wages will inflate. I could see us making less net income in the future even with the TV money, with lower crowds to boot.
Does this "it's the summer" excuse actually stack up numbers wise these days, or are we just generally fighting against it these days?
It seems a clutching at straws excuse like "access", ignoring no-one seemed to be put off by the access 25-30 years ago in the glory days.
If you build it (a tier 1 academy) they will come.
More hope than expectation.
As long as ‘they’ isn’t the bailiffs
The fact is other teams of commensurate size seem to be increasing their gates while ours are poorer than 20 years ago, when we were a L2 side having just suffered a truly dreadful season (arguably a truly dreadful 18 months or so of hoofball prior) and relegation. Until there’s a holistic approach to access, facilities, transport, marketing, and pricing then I don’t see that changing much.
What’s most dispiriting is that the current and previous regimes don’t seem too bothered by low crowds.
And since we can't move Adams Park to the location of Loakes Park we have to work twice as hard at everything else.
I do wonder whether the apparent current downturn compared to other clubs could be due to us having had a slightly false higher base for a few years than we might otherwise have done due to the phenomenon that was Bayo.
In fairness the current regime have only been in situe a short amount of time.
Maybe they've got an incredible set of park and ride schemes and absolutely huge convoy of buses planned?
Mixed in with an arrangement to stop any cars leaving Hilbottom road or the ground after the 80 marker on the clock so every bus gets away instantly.
Or it could just be that AP is so quiet these days the sound of @Wendoverman working his way through bags of crisps every game puts sensitive hearing folk off coming.
Certainly parking around the area is harder now than it was 25 years ago. It'd put me off if I wasn't a habitual attendee.
Have bus services to the ground changed/got worse?
Not sure about the Bayo effect, great as he was. Crowds dipped to a nadir around 2012-14 and remained stubbornly low until a boost following promotion to L1. Averages have improved in recent seasons but I think these are slightly inflated by some big away followings (and we did reach a L1 play off final in that period which helped!).
This perennial question has become the new ‘improve the atmosphere/acoustics in the terrace/swap the home and away ends’ circular debate, albeit far more nuanced.
As said, I don’t think it’s as easy as picking off parking issues, food offering, bad bogs, billboards in the town etc one by one, it needs a joined-up approach. And if possible some proper local market research to determine root causes. Brands (yuk) offer way more personalisation than football clubs to entice different types of people at different times and in different ways. Can we not look at stuff like discounted ticket bundles, food and drink coupons, merchandise discounts, contracting the Carousel Pick Me Up minibuses from different areas etc etc?
I’m sure there are plenty of can’t work/wont work reasons why some of these things aren’t possible but if we don’t at least try, nothing will change. Accept the point the new owners haven’t had long to look at these things but I hope it’s on their radar.