[Archived] The Old Gate Debate

[AndyC]

the fact that people actually reply to him makes me laugh!

he's clearly ona wind up, yet people can't just ignore him! He'd soon leave if no one repsonded to him!

[Dan Furness]

Ah but when he goes personal then theres no way im letting it drop

noticed he has crawled in a hole tho

[cletus]

Maybe if Rovers had some WWE pro-american wrestling on the pitch at half-time....it would appease 'our beloved Vinjay' & take his mind off our lost millions?

Maybe blue/white halved spandex leotards & face masks instead shirt & shorts?

[stuwilky]

Maybe if Rovers had some WWE pro-american wrestling on the pitch at half-time....it would appease 'our beloved Vinjay' & take his mind off our lost millions?

Maybe blue/white halved spandex leotards & face masks instead shirt & shorts? 

361619[/snapback]

You volunteering cletus?

[cletus]

I think i`d look rather fetching in that garb!

[stuwilky]

Me equally. In fact its enough to lower the attendance further!

[Exiled in Toronto]

To answer each point:

1: We very rarely sell out the £15 adult tickets that are available for all Category B games. Price is not the be-all and end-all.

2: Again, all B games are £5

3: As has been mentioned we have School Incentive Scheme

4: I doubt there is a club in the Premiership that has done more promotion than us. Talking buse stops, adverts in the local paper all the time, website, emails, radio promotions on RockFM and Century, and thats just off the top of my head.

5: The fans forum used to have a representative from Asian Image magazine as a member, and there were often promotions and competitions aimed at that particular community. The club regularly has meetings with relevant people in an attempt to rectify that issue. The number of asian fans at the ground is rising, and this will certainly be helped if the number of Stewards who are Asian report back to their friends and family that Ewood Park is a thoroughly decent place to go.

6: This is precisely the reason why we play our reserve games at Morecambe, and why I was involved (before I worked for the football club) in the involvement in the North Lancs Supporters Club. They regularly run a coach from up the M6 to Ewood Park on matchdays.

There aren't THAT many areas for us to market to. As a club we have the highest percentage of supporter that lives within a five mile radius*. Something like 82%* of our fans are within BB postcodes.

* I might be slightly off on those figures, they are off the top of my head.

If Rovers did nothing to address problems, then obviously there'd be an issue, but feel free to continue (like us) to search for ideas that may help the football club in the long term.

As has been alluded to, when the transfer window comes around and fans are wondering why we've no dosh to spend, take a look at those average attendance figures.

361578[/snapback]

All very admirable, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working, does it?

Maybe the club have mis-diagnosed the problems and the initiatives are irrelevant. Maybe the club have correctly diagnosed the issues but the initiatives are inappropriate. Maybe they are appropriate but have not been communicated effectively. Maybe, maybe, maybe. At the end of the day, management are paid, and paid hansomely, to solve these issues.

We don't need to be spending $400,000 a year on a management team to not solve the problems, they can be not solved for a lot less than that. Those salaries are supposedly paying for a combination of ability, experience and most crucially, accountability.

We have the fastest declining support in the PL as a % of the gate and among the fastest as an absolute number of bodies. If management aren't accountable for customer numbers, then why are they there?

[ABBEY]

The only idiot you know is your hooligan father.

Going to the BRISA meeting tonight? Is that how you're going to respond if they disagree with you?

Yes I know perfectly well it's Garry. I believe I was typing too fast my apologies.

361585[/snapback]

YOUR A FIRST CLASS PILLOCK!!!!!!

YOU POP AT SOMEONES DAD AND GO ALL FREAKY OVER SOME ACTOR YOU DONT EVEN KNOW.....

[Dan Furness]

YOUR A FIRST CLASS PILLOCK!!!!!!

YOU POP AT SOMEONES DAD AND GO ALL FREAKY OVER SOME ACTOR YOU DONT EVEN KNOW.....

361672[/snapback]

[stuwilky]

It always amuses me the Vinjay finds it perfectly acceptable to hijack every other thread with his repetitive hypocritical spiel (dont disagree with the club, keep in line), yet if someone posts something he doesnt like he has kittens.

[RevidgeBlue]

As has been alluded to, when the transfer window comes around and fans are wondering why we've no dosh to spend, take a look at those average attendance figures.

361578[/snapback]

So we can take it the same argument applies in reverse then if we're sat in 4th or 5th on the 1st of Jan some 4m quid ahead of budget.

[JihadOnBurnley]

Wigan have sold out for 12.45 game vs arse nil tomorrow

[Dan Furness]

They will sell out against the majority of big clubs, many will see it as a once in a lifetime.

Then again, we'll take over when we play

[JihadOnBurnley]

They will sell out against the majority of big clubs, many will see it as a once in a lifetime.

Then again, we'll take over when we play 

361913[/snapback]

I wouldnt say that they are going great guns, i#'d say its down to that plus the incentives of cheap tickets. Granted, wigan is slightly bigger than blackburn and isnt surrrounded by rival football clubs to the same extent so their cachment area is prob better, but they're all egg chasers down there anyway!

And bet we only take 2000 max for that game!

[Dan Furness]

I wouldnt say that they are going great guns, i#'d say its down to that plus the incentives of cheap tickets. Granted, wigan is slightly bigger than blackburn and isnt surrrounded by rival football clubs to the same extent so their cachment area is prob better, but they're all egg chasers down there anyway!

And bet we only take 2000 max for that game!

361919[/snapback]

I think we can easy take 4000

[JihadOnBurnley]

I think we can easy take 4000

361935[/snapback]

Thats my point... we COULD take 4000 we could take 8000, but I would guess no more than 2500. Apathy is a major part of many rovers fans thoughts.

[Dan Furness]

Its new years eve and attendances always shoot through the sky on public holidays, take Newcastle on Boxing Day for example.

[JihadOnBurnley]

Its new years eve and attendances always shoot through the sky on public holidays, take Newcastle on Boxing Day for example.

361946[/snapback]

Is it? I dont check the fixtures as often these days... yeah maybe a few exta will attend then.

[Dan Furness]

Oh it certainly is on new years eve, local derby too.... I can see a set in stone figure of 4,000.... mind you depends how we go over Xmas

[JihadOnBurnley]

Oh it certainly is on new years eve, local derby too.... I can see a set in stone figure of 4,000.... mind you depends how we go over Xmas

361950[/snapback]

EXACTLY!!! Depends how we go. Fair weather supporters will only maker it up to 4000 if weve had a decent run and its not too far. If we have a medium to poor run of results then we will do well to take 2500. Your thinking of the cup/friendly games with wigan I suppose, we had more fans in those few short years ago.

[Dan Furness]

EXACTLY!!! Depends how we go. Fair weather supporters will only maker it up to 4000 if weve had a decent run and its not too far. If we have a medium to poor run of results then we will do well to take 2500. Your thinking of the cup/friendly games with wigan I suppose, we had more fans in those few short years ago.

361955[/snapback]

League cup

We took hell lot more than 4,000

[JihadOnBurnley]

League cup

We took hell lot more than 4,000

361956[/snapback]

Yeah I know thats what I said... but we had more fans in general then, well who go to matches. Lets be honest and not sure this is the right thread for this but I couldnt give a rats ass, we had an explosion of local fans when we won the prem and before that, when we got promoted under kenny, and a lot of these fans are now not interested the bandwagon has rolled out of town. Some of these fans (esp youngsters like us) have stayed with the club and become loyal fans but we would probably have supported rovers had they been in div 3 because they are our local team and we love football. What i'm trying to say is we have roughly the same amount of hardcore day in day out supporters as burnley or preston but burnley will take more fans away than us and looking at the lancs evening post recently preston take about the same. They are a league below us with nowhere near as good a recent history! A LOT of big city clubs would be chuffed with what we have acheived recently but its not good enough for small town small minded people when things arent going as well. I hate reading posts like these when they come from other people and I could probably write an equally convincing but conradictory post but right now I think our home/away attendances have been appaling and i'd be suprised if that all changed for a visit to pie land.

[philipl]

One of the issues we have faced is not only the small population base but the extent to which our hinterland has been encroached upon.

I genuinely want to see Accy Stanley do well but they went top of the Conference last night and surely their tiny crowds (1,500 last night) will grow if they keep their push towards automatic league promotion going.

Not only that, but since our Championship win:

Bolton have become an established Premiership club and have grown their gates having moved into an area which traditionally had good Rovers support and close to Chorley which was very much a Rovers town when I was a youngster.

Wigan's rise must be hurting us in the Chorley/Wigan areas where we used to be strong.

PNE have had some very good seasons.

We still have exceptional support given the base we've got. The club has to be opportunistic and I wonder if any marketing effort is being directed towards Yorkshire given the poor state of football over there?

[Alan75]

We still have exceptional support given the base we've got. The club has to be opportunistic and I wonder if any marketing effort is being directed towards Yorkshire given the poor state of football over there?

362039[/snapback]

Rovers were involved with coaching for kids in Ingleton (North Yorkshire) during the summer.

[Lee]

So we can take it the same argument applies in reverse then if we're sat in 4th or 5th on the 1st of Jan some 4m quid ahead of budget.   

361800[/snapback]

They might be ahead of budget in January, but the club certainly wouldn't have that money to spend!