CotswoldRed Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 I, as much as anyone, am so happy with the way the last few years have panned out for the club. Sometime I just feel like basking in the relative glory that is the Championship. I am very pleased with my lot. The hysteria of reaching the championship and the subsequent success of having 2 strong finishing postions did alot to create a wider enthusiasm about football in Bristol and crowd numbers increased accordingly. Sitting having a pint last night before the kick off I was thinking about the number of 'floating' supporters who, for many different reason, choose to come to Ashton gate on a less regular basis. I don't know how this compares to other clubs but this seems to be dwinding quite rapidly at present in the last year. The recession helps little. There are many ways of evaluating the current situation I am sure. One can point to strong season ticket sales as being Bmore important, but I am genuinely shocked that against Blackpool tonight with a crowd below 14,000 we are only looking at approx 2,000 people who have chosen to turn up when they hadn't already purchased a season ticket. I think this is a very low number and with new parking restrictions this could fall further. I suspect many of these 2,000 won't be quite so die-hard and could be influenced by significant disruption like struggling to find a parking space or having to arrive 30 minutes earlier to get one. Given the catchment of Bristol 2,000 additional fans seems like number that could be increased with some wiser 'marketing' perhaps? I don't have definitive answers though I'm afraid. If I'm honest I think Bristol is a difficult place to recruit new fans as football apathy is much worse here than most places IMO. What worries me most - looking at the year ahead - are that there are some significant things that could exhaserbate things further. If planning doesn't go our way how will this affect long term investment in players and, therefore, subsequent performance and general enthusiasm for BCFC? If we have any downturn, i.e. below mid-table, will apathy remove even more fans from the stands? The atmosphere last night I felt was very poor and the attendance didn't help much either. I'd love to think that crowds could be increased by existing fans working harder to drag newcomers to Ashton Gate to see what its all about. I think this is the key to generating new interest, so long as the players do their bit too on the pitch. Given the pressures on attendances from seemingly many angles I wonder if the club could do something like an 'introduce a friend' policy such that season ticket holders might get a £5/£10 voucher for each ticket purchased - a direct incentive. The fans are the best asset in getting new/infrequent fans through the turnstiles and many other businesses (like Sky TV) have similar policies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunley Legend Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 You've opened up a can of worms here mate. The best thing to do is see what happens over the next couple of months and if we are playing good, attacking football and getting results with crowds of only 13,600 turning up then there is obviously a more deeper, underlying reason than I am thinking (in addition to the obvious lack of money caused by the recession of course)!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted September 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 You've opened up a can of worms here mate. The best thing to do is see what happens over the next couple of months and if we are playing good, attacking football and getting results with crowds of only 13,600 turning up then there is obviously a more deeper, underlying reason than I am thinking (in addition to the obvious lack of money caused by the recession of course)!! I agree performances will affect crowds one way or the other, but I just can't help but think that 2,000 over and above season ticket holders is pretty awful (whatever the economic climate or pitch performance). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milo1111 Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 scunny, blackpool and posh at home is going to mean many floaters will stay at home and save their pennies for the more attractive games, people who dont have ST's pick and choose. many people have money worries. last seasons gate were boosted by glory hunters who bought seats on the back of the PO final. 13500k or whatever it wasnt wasnt really that bad on a CL night for me, against blackpool given that we hadnt won for a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easton boy Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 The Posh game will see me introduce 5 people(including 1 42 year old and 4 kids) who have never been to a football match in their lives. I talk to people with little or no interest in football every day, and am forever banging the drum(figuratively) about the joys of "Live" football, and encourage them to get to the Gate to sample what I have been enjoying for the past 30+ years. The club could do a "bring a friend" scheme, with either a free ticket or a massively reduced price for people who aren't already members. The club could do a group booking discount for tickets of not just 10+, but 5 tickets - so mates can go together; offer a free sausage roll or pasty; offer a free programme; offer a free pint of beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrs Court Red Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 Tickets are expensive, it can be hard to get seats togehter and there's no decent transport from many parts of Bristol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Red Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 Tickets are expensive, it can be hard to get seats togehter and there's no decent transport from many parts of Bristol. This is the main issue ticket prices are a joke, i and a lot of people i know who are big City fans wouldnt have a problem shelling out big money to watch City, but for many floaters having to fork out £20 + quid for 90 minutes of football is a massive amount. For a family of four to watch city you are talking (once they have all got food, the odd bit of memorabilia etc) upwards of £100... For many people who arnt that passion about football paying that sort of money is simply way to expensive to it it just the once let alone on a regular basis. If we can get up near the top of the league and really start pushing for the play-offs then im sure we will start getting the 16/17/18 k attendences we got last year.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_Q Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 Tickets are expensive, it can be hard to get seats togehter and there's no decent transport from many parts of Bristol. And last time I bought tickets online for me and my 2 young sons, our seats turned out to be already allocated to season ticket-holders. So we ended up being shown by stewards to seats with a worse view and told 'if anyone has tickets for these, you'll have to move again.' We were less than impressed. If it had been my first visit, it would have also likely been my last one as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdgifford64 Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 It`s an all too familiar pattern i`m afraid. The glow of promotion and the 1st season has worn off. The floaters will pick and choose and if after xmas we`re in contention attendances will pick up, if we`re not they stay pretty much the same. Why do we not have a bigger level of regular support ? I don`t know but if you ring BCC i`m sure they`d happily blow £500k to some company to look into it for 6 months and still not come up with an answer. It`s disappointing yes, but it`s been this way for many many years, it`s not a new phenomenon. PDG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jungle Jim Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 I'd say we're about where we were 2 years ago, before the playoff final run and the knock on effect to last years ST sales. Look at some of the gates from some comparative games in 07/08, if anything worse than we're doing now, and that was with the promotion buzz. Scunny (aug 07) - 12474 Burnley (sept 07) - 14079 Sheff utd (oct 07) - 13071 But you look to our next 2 home games, Plymouth & Peterborough in the space of 4 days, and its hard to see many POD'ing for both. Too late now but some sort of deal, say buy tickets for both games for £40 should probably have been brought in for these two pretty unattractive fixtures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrs Court Red Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 I think plymallmouth games sell pretty well. City should advertise a lot more. I've often wondered by City can't make a deal with first - free sponsorship if you run certain busses for home games from certain areas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted September 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 City should advertise a lot more. Have to agree. Outside of City circles (emails, website etc) I don't think I've seen any advert encouraging the public to get to the gate. BCFC don't even make use of the entrances to the stadium saying "come and join us" etc (do they?). I like the above idea about group booking incentives. How about a ..."bring along a family of 4 and receive a free drink and hot dog for £40 or £50" promo. I nice round number whereby people have a fixed idea of the cost and know they get a bit of refreshment too. £50 is still a lot of cash but football isn't cheap. The club do offer promotions such as the East End ones, but with a full page ad in the EP with a voucher for this I reckon it would be interesting to see the take-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ferret Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 The price of tickets in England is mental compared to the price of watching the German Bundesliga My mate went to watch Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League for about a tenner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.3e54750d2bcd621122f4fee7e939b1d1.jpg){kind=tracking}
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.