University Of Bristol, 18,000 People, Get Them Down The Gate!

[screech]

This isn't students claiming they should get cheaper entry. This is just a suggestion saying that it might be beneficial to the club. Admittedly I'm a student, but I don't complain about needing cheaper entry, I've been a season ticket holder since I was 11 ****il I joined uni, bit difficult living 100 miles away!). Most companies offer a student discount, it's not through students deserving it more. It's an initiative in order to get students on board earlier, as they are likely to earn more later on in their lives and as such potentially put more money into the company that they have built a positive relationship with. Banks are a great example of it, they help so much with student accounts.

I'm totally behind the idea of getting everyone in for £7. Problem is, it won't happen. The student idea could well happen, seeing as loads of other clubs are recognising the benefits of it and acting accordingly.

Again, I fail to see a benefit of student discounts in what you have just posted. There is no added value to the club offering a student from outside this city a cheaper ticket, who will already have his/her own team, over a fan who can no longer afford to go or young children who live in the city.

Your other point about graduates putting more money into business just doesn't apply in this situation unless, you will be the next Steve Lansdown. I understand being a student will obviously bias your viewpoint, but surely, you cannot honestly tell me that in a like for like situation, offering a thousand discounted tickets for students would be more beneficial than offering a thousand free schoolchildren tickets or offering the same deal to existing database Bristol City fans, who can no longer afford to go. Which do you think would see the better return for long term support of the club?

[Uncle Albert]

If any student has an interest in football They will already have a team they support

Unless that team is City you wont get them down to the gate!!

You have no chance of getting a Glory hunting Man Utd Chelsea Liverpool arm chair fan down to the gate Simple

If you want to give away cheap tickets give them to the local school kids

Come on, Maltshoveller. How can you say that for one minute? You reckon that every fan that went to the Plymouth match Vs Burton Albion didn't have any interest in football and supported no one else before? Of course not. You love football, and at a reasonable price, you'll go and watch football, regardless of who it is. I live in Reading, I support Bristol City, do I go and watch Reading play? Of course I do. Just because I support a different team doesn't mean I won't go and watch another team play.

You, and probably a lot of other fans on here, will be pretty scared to know that I took glory hunters to quite a few City matches last season - an Arsenal fan, a Man Utd fan, and yes, Cardiff fans as well.. In fact, the Cardiff fan is my best mate, he's been to about six City matches with me. (Told him to stop coming though, he's never seen them bloody win!).

[Uncle Albert]

Again, I fail to see a benefit of student discounts in what you have just posted. There is no added value to the club offering a student from outside this city a cheaper ticket, who will already have his/her own team, over a fan who can no longer afford to go or young children who live in the city.

Your other point about graduates putting more money into business just doesn't apply in this situation unless, you will be the next Steve Lansdown. I understand being a student will obviously bias your viewpoint, but surely, you cannot honestly tell me that in a like for like situation, offering a thousand discounted tickets for students would be more beneficial than offering a thousand free schoolchildren tickets or offering the same deal to existing database Bristol City fans, who can no longer afford to go. Which do you think would see the better return for long term support of the club?

Screech, let me pick up on something there - we are not suggesting that you just give it to students, in fact, Plymouth City and I have said this now on numerous occasions, quite the opposite. City have attendances of around 11,000 at the moment, do the maths, 8,000 seats empty. Get any bums on seats that you can, students, school kids, military, disabled, disadvantaged, whoever. Our point is that with such a large audience sitting on City's doorstep, why not target them AS WELL. At the end of the day, we are not going to get 1,000 students to the ground, but why not try and get, say, 500? The same applies to school kids etc, 500 + 500 + xyz = a lot more fans!

[screech]

Okay, I get your point. Students don't deserve discounted tickets more than anyone else, but, at the end of the day, our football club is a business (whether we want it to be is another argument) and it needs to compete. To take an example, national heritage or national trust sites have student priced tickets. Pubs/clubs have offers. Students can get discounts on clothes. The theatre, the cinema etc. There are plenty of other things in Bristol for students to spend money on. With city losing 12 million a year we need their money and we need to convince them to spend it at Ashton Gate. And seeming as city have trouble making season ticket holders attend student prices need to be pretty damn cheap.

And I totally agree with your point about older fans. But the logistics of that would be difficult i imagine. I think that's a discussion to be had with ticket prices in general.

Edit: Ha, seems plymouthcity and I are thinking along the same lines!

I get that Robin, but for me, it's the long term support that needs to be addressed for the club to grow. If I was a student, personally, I wouldn't expect to be seeing any football for the 3 years I was at university. My wife went to university for 3 years and she had to work 2 jobs as well as study to get through.

Maybe we can't have it all in life, we now have 2 small kids and I can't afford the time, even if I can afford a season ticket, it's a sacrifice I will be making for a few years until they are a little older and want to go and watch with me.

[Stylus]

If any student has an interest in football They will already have a team they support

Unless that team is City you wont get them down to the gate!!

You have no chance of getting a Glory hunting Man Utd Chelsea Liverpool arm chair fan down to the gate Simple

If you want to give away cheap tickets give them to the local school kids

This hits the nail on the head and is compelled with the fact that watching City is painful most of the time for us, let alone someone with no attachment to the club.

Whats more, watching City is expensive for the working man let alone a student. You would need to heavily discount tickets and I can't see that going down too well.

[screech]

Screech, let me pick up on something there - we are not suggesting that you just give it to students, in fact, Plymouth City and I have said this now on numerous occasions, quite the opposite. City have attendances of around 11,000 at the moment, do the maths, 8,000 seats empty. Get any bums on seats that you can, students, school kids, military, disabled, disadvantaged, whoever. Our point is that with such a large audience sitting on City's doorstep, why not target them AS WELL. At the end of the day, we are not going to get 1,000 students to the ground, but why not try and get, say, 500? The same applies to school kids etc, 500 + 500 + xyz = a lot more fans!

I know you are not suggesting you have tickets for free, but you are suggesting you get a better deal than other full paying adults, which I don't agree with.

It was your choice at the end of the day to go to university to get a better education, you knew before you went that money would be extremely tight and there are sacrifices that you need to make.

It was my choice to have kids, I equally knew that my choice would have consequences financially, and what I can and cannot do regarding my spare time, football has to take a back seat for me right now.

My argument is as above, supplying schools with free tickets gives them an option to watch live football in their own city and may get them interested long term, that for me is far more beneficial to the club than a few students turning up when it suits because it's subsidised just for them.

The schoolkids are not old enough to have made the same choices we have made in our lives, so we should be trying to get their support early and given them access to Bristol City for nothing or as close as, this will be our future of the club afterall.

If we are to heavily discount tickets, I would, as previously said, target the adult fans on the clubs database, I would say the vast majority of these are City fans that have attended for the right reasons but may not have the desire to go back at full price, maybe they just dont have the same income they used to have but would come back for a few games at discounted prices, I'm sure the club could even limit these tickets so the same person cannot for example, get more than 6 discounted games in every season. I don't have all the answers right now, but I do know that there are more deserving City fans out there that may want access to what you suggest.

I'm not here to slate students, I know for selfish reasons you want to watch City for as cheap as possible, but I'm not buying the argument of the OP that there is this great untapped support out there, there isn't, City have proven this in the past with their giveaway priced ST's, hardly any took the offer, and I would guess most that did were already City fans anyway.

My limited knowledge of the student world (worked at Uni of Gloucestershire for 6 years) is they will turn up if it's free, that may have to be an option if we get to Ashton Vale because having 15000 empty seats every week will not look very pretty.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

They'd much rather watch us struggle in the championship!

On a serious note with all these students in Bath and Bristol, is there any merit in putting on coaches from say the UWE and Bath campuses and offering a student package i.e coach travel and match ticket at a competitive price?

I work in a senior role at one of the Bath universities and wrote to the club about this a few years ago. Never even got a reply.

[pigeon]

I've been waiting for someone to raise this point.

I'm a student from Bristol but go to Manchester and Man City are always giving students tickets for 5-10 quid. If I can see the Premier League champs for half as much as city then something is quite clearly wrong.

I've always been shocked that BCFC don't even offer student tickets? Only under 21's...

The prices of tickets is certainly stopping a large majority of people going. But like the OP said, the student population of Bristol is massive and even if it doesn't mean each student would become a lifelong fan it would still get numbers up on match days and give city some much needed revenue!

At the end of the day its common sense, if on a thursday seats are available (which they always are) then drop say a thousand tickets to each uni to sell for a fiver. I'm sure they wouldn't sell out but that could easily add a few bums to seats (this theory would work with anyone by the way... armed forces, school kids, etc).

[NOTR]

How on earth would you know this?

Mate, are you sure this isn't in your head? People seem jealous of students for some odd reason, and as such seem to categorise them in the ridiculous group of being stuck up, not interested in football and generally horrible. I'm a student, and I'm not loaded whatsoever. 2 of the people in my student house were raised by single Mums ffs. Once you see past the general (inaccurate) stereotype, it's actually a very good idea, for both students and schoolkids alike.

See my orininal post,I said that the uwe might be worth a shout,so where do get this accusation of thinking all students are stuck up,as for jealousy I don't go in for jealousy.In fact I like it that bristol has a large student population it certainly adds a bit of life to the city.And yet again Ollie you have called me stupid which I can assure you I am certainly not.The fact is many who go to Bristol uni are from posh back grounds,and it has one of the worst records in the country of students from poorer back grounds.I will not post on this subject any more as it will end up going round in circles.COYR.

[nebristolred]

Again, I fail to see a benefit of student discounts in what you have just posted. There is no added value to the club offering a student from outside this city a cheaper ticket, who will already have his/her own team, over a fan who can no longer afford to go or young children who live in the city.

Your other point about graduates putting more money into business just doesn't apply in this situation unless, you will be the next Steve Lansdown. I understand being a student will obviously bias your viewpoint, but surely, you cannot honestly tell me that in a like for like situation, offering a thousand discounted tickets for students would be more beneficial than offering a thousand free schoolchildren tickets or offering the same deal to existing database Bristol City fans, who can no longer afford to go. Which do you think would see the better return for long term support of the club?

You fail to see a benefit? Well the midlands clubs see a benefit. The Premier League champions see a benefit. It's a commonly known fact that a very high percentage of students (I can't remember the exact figure) actually permanently stay in their university cities after they graduate. There is clearly added value. You make the sacrifice of letting them in cheaper temporarily, and if it works, you have them down at full price for the rest of their lives. Many, many people could be easily swayed. In my student house, only myself and another guy actually support their local teams. All the others are Premier League "supporters". They could definitely be easily influenced by cheap tickets.

As for your second paragraph, why are you trying to make this into a free student tickets vs free schoolkid tickets debate? I've already said that offering both would be very beneficial. Personally, I think more effort should be done to make both happen.

[screech]

You fail to see a benefit? Well the midlands clubs see a benefit. The Premier League champions see a benefit. It's a commonly known fact that a very high percentage of students (I can't remember the exact figure) actually permanently stay in their university cities after they graduate. There is clearly added value. You make the sacrifice of letting them in cheaper temporarily, and if it works, you have them down at full price for the rest of their lives. Many, many people could be easily swayed. In my student house, only myself and another guy actually support their local teams. All the others are Premier League "supporters". They could definitely be easily influenced by cheap tickets.

As for your second paragraph, why are you trying to make this into a free student tickets vs free schoolkid tickets debate? I've already said that offering both would be very beneficial. Personally, I think more effort should be done to make both happen.

In what way do Man City benefit from selling a cheaper ticket to a student who is a Bristol City fan over a ticket to a child from Manchester who will support the club? The student is a Bristol City fan, he's not going to be a Man City fan after his cheap deal expires is he? Your argument appears to be flawed because they are the Premier League champions and make 10x what we do and can keep a certain amount of cheaper tickets aside for whoever. There is no financial benefit and there is no supporter at the end of it, these kind of deals are laid on as a sort of pr stunt more than anything else.

We on the other hand are trying to build a fanbase, how do we do that with Man City supporting students taking a cheap ticket from a local kid, the two do not go together because we dont have the capacity or the finances to do both and I am responding to the OP who wants to grab a student population into AG by cheapening tickets for them. Not fair on existing City fans who have been priced out, the club will benefit from real supporters attending, not a student jolly because the price suits.

Show me some evidence if you can of a 100 or so students out of the 10's of thousands who supported other football clubs and came to Bristol and remained supporters, I bet you can't and neither can the club who would have researched and found there is no value, evidenced by the dropping of the student season ticket.

As someone else above suggested, that the club organise a deal where coaches and tickets are subsidised, how laughable is that, where i live in the Forest of Dean there used to be two coaches organised by fans who used to attend AG, if this person seriously wants coaches from Bath uni to come to AG, how about organising it. Do a deal with the club, tell them you gaurantee 500 student season tickets each season will be sold and I'm sure the club will listen, if you don't get them, pay the full price, start organising it now for next season. See how you get on. I'll bet my mortgage there just isn't the interest out there, otherwise they would have done it already. Face facts, you and a few Bristol City students want a cheaper seat, your Chelsea buddies will come along with you once, maybe twice because it's cheap and go home and still be a Chelsea fan.

[pigeon]

In what way do Man City benefit from selling a cheaper ticket to a student who is a Bristol City fan over a ticket to a child from Manchester who will support the club? The student is a Bristol City fan, he's not going to be a Man City fan after his cheap deal expires is he? Your argument appears to be flawed because they are the Premier League champions and make 10x what we do and can keep a certain amount of cheaper tickets aside for whoever. There is no financial benefit and there is no supporter at the end of it, these kind of deals are laid on as a sort of pr stunt more than anything else.

We on the other hand are trying to build a fanbase, how do we do that with Man City supporting students taking a cheap ticket from a local kid, the two do not go together because we dont have the capacity or the finances to do both and I am responding to the OP who wants to grab a student population into AG by cheapening tickets for them. Not fair on existing City fans who have been priced out, the club will benefit from real supporters attending, not a student jolly because the price suits.

Show me some evidence if you can of a 100 or so students out of the 10's of thousands who supported other football clubs and came to Bristol and remained supporters, I bet you can't and neither can the club who would have researched and found there is no value, evidenced by the dropping of the student season ticket.

As someone else above suggested, that the club organise a deal where coaches and tickets are subsidised, how laughable is that, where i live in the Forest of Dean there used to be two coaches organised by fans who used to attend AG, if this person seriously wants coaches from Bath uni to come to AG, how about organising it. Do a deal with the club, tell them you gaurantee 500 student season tickets each season will be sold and I'm sure the club will listen, if you don't get them, pay the full price, start organising it now for next season. See how you get on. I'll bet my mortgage there just isn't the interest out there, otherwise they would have done it already. Face facts, you and a few Bristol City students want a cheaper seat, your Chelsea buddies will come along with you once, maybe twice because it's cheap and go home and still be a Chelsea fan.

I fear you are missing the point Screech...

The point of the free ticket isn't solely to increase lifelong fans (even though as stated above, many students stay in their student city after university so many can be swayed to support new teams) it is to increase ticket sales. The way that man city benefit is simple, they make 5 pounds vs making nothing if they weren't to do the student deals AND they have the chance of getting a few students to follow them and spend money in other ways. Granted I am a Bristol City fan so I wouldn't be swayed but many students aren't fans of their local team and can easily be persuaded to support a team.

Everyone against this idea keeps on coming out with the 'what about the children' speech even though it has been said that the club should do both! The club is not going to fill up the spare 10,000 home seats per game purely with school children is it now.

[CamBCFC]

I know it's a small minority but I do know 32 people at UNI in Bristol that have visited the gate this season for the first time ever.

[nebristolred]

In what way do Man City benefit from selling a cheaper ticket to a student who is a Bristol City fan over a ticket to a child from Manchester who will support the club? The student is a Bristol City fan, he's not going to be a Man City fan after his cheap deal expires is he? Your argument appears to be flawed because they are the Premier League champions and make 10x what we do and can keep a certain amount of cheaper tickets aside for whoever. There is no financial benefit and there is no supporter at the end of it, these kind of deals are laid on as a sort of pr stunt more than anything else.

Man City will obviously see the effects more, but there's no reason why we can't do it, especially if League Two clubs are doing it too. The deal is more aimed at those armchair supporters who perhaps didn't get to see their clubs particularly often. I know very few people down here who saw their clubs week in week out. People are writing it off without any knowledge whatsoever, all I'm saying is give it a chance. One of my mates is from London, was a Fulham supporter, but now living in Bristol is a home and away Rovers fan.

We on the other hand are trying to build a fanbase, how do we do that with Man City supporting students taking a cheap ticket from a local kid, the two do not go together because we dont have the capacity or the finances to do both and I am responding to the OP who wants to grab a student population into AG by cheapening tickets for them. Not fair on existing City fans who have been priced out, the club will benefit from real supporters attending, not a student jolly because the price suits.

"From a local kid". How on earth are they taking the tickets from local kids? Both should have the opportunities, as has been said at least 5 times now. People are just jumping against it with the classic "lazy students, why should they get something we don't?". We don't have the capacity? Well, the last time I checked we're only getting 12/13,000 a week this season, which is only just over half of our overall capacity.

Show me some evidence if you can of a 100 or so students out of the 10's of thousands who supported other football clubs and came to Bristol and remained supporters, I bet you can't and neither can the club who would have researched and found there is no value, evidenced by the dropping of the student season ticket.

There is no evidence, because it hasn't been done properly before, but evidently many clubs are exploring the appropriate avenues, and if it takes off then once again we will be left behind. The club have researched? Would love to know how you know this, or perhaps you're making another uneducated guess.

As someone else above suggested, that the club organise a deal where coaches and tickets are subsidised, how laughable is that, where i live in the Forest of Dean there used to be two coaches organised by fans who used to attend AG, if this person seriously wants coaches from Bath uni to come to AG, how about organising it. Do a deal with the club, tell them you gaurantee 500 student season tickets each season will be sold and I'm sure the club will listen, if you don't get them, pay the full price, start organising it now for next season. See how you get on. I'll bet my mortgage there just isn't the interest out there, otherwise they would have done it already. Face facts, you and a few Bristol City students want a cheaper seat, your Chelsea buddies will come along with you once, maybe twice because it's cheap and go home and still be a Chelsea fan.

Jesus Christ . I have been a season ticket holder for most of my life. I don't even see City live now, because of uni, I actually live 100 miles away. When I'm back, I watch City, and I happily pay full price. This deal wouldn't benefit me whatsoever. I am suggesting it for the club. Maybe you should face the facts.

We have approximately 60,000 students in this city, that is simply too large a base to leave completely ignored. In fact, include all the colleges and sixth forms and that number will be in the hundred of thousands. You have to bear in mind that not all students are from different cities. This, as well as schoolkids of course (before another numpty jumps down my throat). Students adn schoolchildren, the two are not mutually exclusive. In all fairness though, the deals for schoolchildren should be a given to be honest.

[screech]

Man City will obviously see the effects more, but there's no reason why we can't do it, especially if League Two clubs are doing it too. The deal is more aimed at those armchair supporters who perhaps didn't get to see their clubs particularly often. I know very few people down here who saw their clubs week in week out. People are writing it off without any knowledge whatsoever, all I'm saying is give it a chance. One of my mates is from London, was a Fulham supporter, but now living in Bristol is a home and away Rovers fan.

"From a local kid". How on earth are they taking the tickets from local kids? Both should have the opportunities, as has been said at least 5 times now. People are just jumping against it with the classic "lazy students, why should they get something we don't?". We don't have the capacity? Well, the last time I checked we're only getting 12/13,000 a week this season, which is only just over half of our overall capacity.

There is no evidence, because it hasn't been done properly before, but evidently many clubs are exploring the appropriate avenues, and if it takes off then once again we will be left behind. The club have researched? Would love to know how you know this, or perhaps you're making another uneducated guess.

Jesus Christ . I have been a season ticket holder for most of my life. I don't even see City live now, because of uni, I actually live 100 miles away. When I'm back, I watch City, and I happily pay full price. This deal wouldn't benefit me whatsoever. I am suggesting it for the club. Maybe you should face the facts.

We have approximately 60,000 students in this city, that is simply too large a base to leave completely ignored. In fact, include all the colleges and sixth forms and that number will be in the hundred of thousands. You have to bear in mind that not all students are from different cities. This, as well as schoolkids of course (before another numpty jumps down my throat). Students adn schoolchildren, the two are not mutually exclusive. In all fairness though, the deals for schoolchildren should be a given to be honest.

Ok last post from me on this, we clearly are miles apart and for the person above saying I'm missing the point, I know I'm not, the OP states about the missing students, I'm saying forget about them, concentrate on the future, anyway here is my last point on the subject.

I will set you or anyone else in the student world a challenge that the club just wont be able to ignore, students get a cheap deal and you get to be right about what I would describe as far fetched claims that students make

.

Get just 500 students out of the claimed 18000, to pledge to give Bristol City their credit card details to buy a season ticket at a discounted £200 for next season (I hope someone from the club reads this and takes it to the relevant people at UWE etc) on the 500th pledge of £200 Bristol City release the deal, they wouldn't be able to turn down £100,000, that's a serious commitment from the students that they want to come and they get their discount in the process.

Or if you will, an easier solution 1000 students to put in £100, how can anybody turn that down?

I am looking forward to having this rammed down my throat and looking forward to making a public apology, but we all know, this wont happen, and it wont be the clubs fault , because they have offered student season ticket prices as low as £185 back in 2008, but the take up was pitiful.

Jump right in and contact the club, get a good bargaining positing by pledging between 500-1000 students spending money at the gate, they wont turn their nose up.

EDIT: Just found the article I was looking for, here is the take up figures back in 2008.........Drum roll....................................20. That's right 20 season tickets, in fact double edit it was less than 20.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Students-21-hit-City-scrap-discount/story-11284111-detail/story.html

[glynriley]

Under 21 ST in the East End is £169.

[pigeon]

I don't understand why you are suggesting season tickets... No student will spend £200 for a season ticket watching a team that they have no knowledge of and no connection with.

All that I think we are suggesting is offering student tickets (£5 or £10) and so if a few of the 40,000 odd students in Bristol fancy watching a game of footy on the weekend they can!

You are completely changing the whole argument to suit your cause. Empty seats at AG don't do anyone any favours, if city can get an extra thousand or so people through promotions like student tickets, tickets for school children, armed forces its still money gained! I don't understand why people argue this, the same people that no doubt moan about the small attendance figures!

I understand that your next argument will be 'what about the people that pay full prices'. That is an issue you can take up with the someone else because students get discounts everywhere so yes, we do get discounts but thats because we are broke (which is another conversation) and companies understand that if they don't reduce their prices for students then they are simply missing out of revenue and future custom.

[TRL]

Ok last post from me on this, we clearly are miles apart and for the person above saying I'm missing the point, I know I'm not, the OP states about the missing students, I'm saying forget about them, concentrate on the future, anyway here is my last point on the subject.

I will set you or anyone else in the student world a challenge that the club just wont be able to ignore, students get a cheap deal and you get to be right about what I would describe as far fetched claims that students make

.

Get just 500 students out of the claimed 18000, to pledge to give Bristol City their credit card details to buy a season ticket at a discounted £200 for next season (I hope someone from the club reads this and takes it to the relevant people at UWE etc) on the 500th pledge of £200 Bristol City release the deal, they wouldn't be able to turn down £100,000, that's a serious commitment from the students that they want to come and they get their discount in the process.

Or if you will, an easier solution 1000 students to put in £100, how can anybody turn that down?

I am looking forward to having this rammed down my throat and looking forward to making a public apology, but we all know, this wont happen, and it wont be the clubs fault , because they have offered student season ticket prices as low as £185 back in 2008, but the take up was pitiful.

Jump right in and contact the club, get a good bargaining positing by pledging between 500-1000 students spending money at the gate, they wont turn their nose up.

EDIT: Just found the article I was looking for, here is the take up figures back in 2008.........Drum roll....................................20. That's right 20 season tickets, in fact double edit it was less than 20.

http://www.thisisbri...tail/story.html

It is no real surprise, what the OP is suggesting may have worked 10-15 years ago, when you got grants for the course that you never had to pay back and loans that were unbelievably cheap, then this may have got off the ground. But when Courses are costing 6-9 grand and loans are getting larger and larger, being a student is nowhere near as much fun as it used to be, and the free money you used to get,well you wouldn't have minded parting with a couple of hundred quid.

Not today I am afraid, Uni has taken on a completely different role today, not so many slackers there nowadays getting free money, you really have to want to study with the costs involved nowadays

[tom from sunny side]

surely students who like football already have a team they support?