[Archived] The Old Gate Debate

[greggyk]

I also cannot understand why the gates are so low, but I am starting to believe more and more in the theory I have that the price of actually getting to Ewood could be the main factor, especially for those living an hour or more away from Blackburn. (And lets be fair, 1,000's are leaving and not comming back to live in and around Blackburn because of work etc.)

Which is why I say we should copy Charltons idea of sending coaches to places outside Blackburn to make it easier for people to come. This would also create slightly more money for the club

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The stayaways(those who have no real excuses) and those who purport to 'support' Rovers behind the beer glass deserve to be 'slagged off' until they get behind the club and its efforts in person down at Ewood.You cant help the way you feel.

Fair enough MB, my 'rants' may not be what you want to here but if people got behind the club in the numbers like they have done in the past this thread would not be neccessary.If by chance a new visitor to this site is encouraged to attend by this thread then its served a good purpose.

I'll leave it at that

Edited April 2, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[bellamy11]

I'll leave it at that 

395696[/snapback]

Oh but you wont!

I do agree. At this point in the season the public shouldn't be told to come down to Ewood, it should be almost automatic. I know more and more people who want to come to matches with me because we're playing good football and important matches. Public perception of us is changing, and I think long-term this will definitely help with the gates. People won't just come back overnight.

[Paul]

I know people who are going tomorrow who haven't been this season. Sadly I know ST holders who can't go tomorrow, to Liverpool or Chelsea because the games have been moved - granted Chelsea is unavoidable. I also know of long-standing ST holders who will not be renewing next season. Why? They miss too many games through fixture re-arrangement. For ourselves we arranged family life around the Wigan, Liverpool and Chelsea games. Each was then moved, it has become near impossible to see every game and I'm constantly amazed we haven't missed one yet.

Rovers should be lobbying for a return to 3.00pm Saturday KOs, plus allowing Sky to broadcast any game they wish at 3.00pm Saturday. To this could be added a mid-week (I mean mid - Tuesday/Wednesday) and a 3.00pm Sunday KO. That would be that, 57 live games. FULL STOP. The game is massively over-exposed, televised football used to be special it's now BORING.

3.00pm Saturday KO would give the opportunity to improve our gates and I don't believe broadcast of a live game at that time would have any impact in Blackburn.

[Exiled_Rover]

Jesus I feel sorry for the club - quite frankly our fans are a bunch of tw_ts. All they do is b!tch and moan about quality of football, fixture times, ticket prices, concession prices, atmosphere etc, etc. I don't know why the club even bothers, they simply can't win.

[Paul]

I'm not sure if that's a dig at me or not but I was just about to mention this.

38 League games

26 Saturday KOs

Home games - 10 on a Saturday of which 7 at 3.00pm, 3 at other times.

It isn't the club's fault, it was the PL that sold it's soul.

[Dan Furness]

The stayaways(those who have no real excuses) and those who purport to 'support' Rovers behind the beer glass deserve to be 'slagged off' until they get behind the club and its efforts in person down at Ewood.You cant help the way you feel.

Fair enough MB, my 'rants' may not be what you want to here but if people got behind the club in the numbers like they have done in the past this thread would not be neccessary.If by chance a new visitor to this site is encouraged to attend by this thread then its served a good purpose.

I'll leave it at that 

395696[/snapback]

Your like Vinjay but with a different motive!

[Exiled_Rover]

It's a dig at everyone mate

[Exiled in Toronto]

I'm not sure if that's a dig at me or not but I was just about to mention this.

38 League games

26 Saturday KOs

Home games - 10 on a Saturday of which 7 at 3.00pm, 3 at other times.

It isn't the club's fault, it was the PL that sold it's soul.

395734[/snapback]

For a business that wants to build back the habit of going to matches, in my view it has no chance when the fixture list is chopped and changed as much as it is.

Would the same TV executives who blithely rearrage match days and kick off times for Rovers do the same with their popular programmes? Of course not; a big part of destination TV is having a fixed slot around which people can build a routine.

The blame has to go back to the clubs for greedily allowing this and then assuming the Sky money would be 100% incremental to gate money. Making it more difficult for customers to enjoy your product does not usually build sales, and reflects an arrogant and out of touch industry.

Going back to points raised a while ago on this thread re affordability, the fact that Rovers prices are among the cheaper of premiership clubs is interesting but irrelevant. Rovers do not compete with other clubs for customers, albeit maybe at the margins with Wigan, so what counts much more is the cost versus local affordability - just because beer is cheaper in Blackburn than London does not mean that Thwaites should enjoy higher per capita consumption. The big increase in our gates post Jack didn't, in my view, come from 200% more breadwinners attending, but was largely driven by increases in the number of family members who came, thus greatly increasing the burden on the typical Rovers-supporting household budget.

I think it all adds up to a "tipping point" example where many people simultaneously and independently reached the point where the combination of fixture hassle, games on at the pub, and burden on disposable income combined to trump the benefits of being there live. And once habits get broken, they are very difficult to reinstate.

[roversWASmylife]

TBH, I'm sick of hearing reasons why people don't go anymore.

I understand kick off times etc, family commitments and football is expensive.

Since 2006 begun we've played some cracking stuff, if people aren't coming, apart from winning the league I don't know.

People who choose not to come, are missing out on some of the best football I've seen in a while from Rovers.

[cletus]

Four home games left this season, Wigan, Liverpool, Chelsea & Man City...how many are going to be televised?

I believe the public in general are starting to suffer from over exposure to football. I cannot even be @rsed watching MOTD these days.

[Paul]

Four home games left this season, Wigan, Liverpool, Chelsea & Man City...how many are going to be televised?

395858[/snapback]

At least 2 and I can conceive of it becoming all four. I think the Chelsea game will be on the box.

[Modi]

At least 2 and I can conceive of it becoming all four. I think the Chelsea game will be on the box.

395869[/snapback]

Tsk, tsk, Paul.

Have you not been reading your official site?

The televising of the Chelsea match was confirmed at the same time the rearranged fixture was announced.

Chelsea match

[krislu]

Four home games left this season, Wigan, Liverpool, Chelsea & Man City...how many are going to be televised?

395858[/snapback]

As far as I know they all will, on Canal+ that is.

[ABBEY]

talking to a couple of mates last night in the pub and they said they would rather spend 20 dabs in the local watching it on telly..i tried to convince them into going but to no avail.

[OscarRaven]

talking to a couple of mates last night in the pub and they said they would rather spend 20 dabs in the local watching it on telly..i tried to convince them into going but to no avail.

395902[/snapback]

Its the revenue streams Sky are worth to the club 4-5 times the fan base bring in gates.

Nothing the club can do about Sky as its the PL who sell TV rights, our chairman would probably like more games on TV makes more money for the club no matter how many fans drop away becuase of it.

What we need is the collective PL to do something about it but the decline isn't biting as hard in the big city clubs and as such there is no urgency at PL level.

Whats the alternative? Exactly.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

talking to a couple of mates last night in the pub and they said they would rather spend 20 dabs in the local watching it on telly..i tried to convince them into going but to no avail.

395902[/snapback]

You see what we are up against .......... next time Abbey put them in a half Nelson!

[bellamy11]

talking to a couple of mates last night in the pub and they said they would rather spend 20 dabs in the local watching it on telly..i tried to convince them into going but to no avail.

395902[/snapback]

Maybe if we banned drinking nationwide in all public places then people would come to Rovers...

[waggy]

it looks like it's a losing battle trying to convince people to come to the match.but remenber in the 80's when we averaged 7-9k i would have been delighted to think we were averaging 20-22k in the naughties,fans will always be fickle-take a leaf out off my book,get yourself a spare junior ticket and encourage youngsters to come along,ewood will have 1 new season ticket holder next season due to my policy

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

remenber in the 80's when we averaged 7-9k i would have been delighted to think we were averaging 20-22k in the naughties,

395945[/snapback]

Fair enough Waggy and very true.

[Ray-Von]

talking to a couple of mates last night in the pub and they said they would rather spend 20 dabs in the local watching it on telly..i tried to convince them into going but to no avail.

395902[/snapback]

However, these people are usually first in the queue when it comes to cup finals/play-off finals for tickets.

[Paul]

............and Burnley away

[Lee]

I've answered the reduction offers on this very thread

[RevidgeBlue]

It's entirely people's prerogative to go to an individual match or not. It's a free country. You don't say they've got to eat the value food from Tesco every day and aren't allowed to look at the stuff on the "finest" shelf.!

It serves no purpose at all getting uppity about people who don't attend or taking the "I'm a better fan than you" approachanddubbing them part timers. The only approach likely to succeed is a policy of encouragement and trying to persuade them they're missing something.

[ihateburnley]

People who choose not to come, are missing out on some of the best football I've seen in a while from Rovers.

395797[/snapback]

RIML - I think the reason people aren't coming to Ewood anymore is because people won't miss the action if they don't turn up! If the game isn't on Sky, you can watch it in a local pub with a dodgy satelite. If you miss that you can watch that Football First thing on Sky at eight o'clock. And if you miss that, at least you can see some of the action on Match Of The Day. And you can even miss Match Of The Day nowadays, because you'll still see the goals on MOTD2 on a Sunday night! Not to mention the highlights on RoversWorld!!!!

No longer do we have to fit going to the match into our busy lives, because we can always catch up with the action at a later date. And it's sad. Very, very sad.

I'm not going to the match tonight against Wigan because I play for a pool team on a Monday night - but I know it'll be on in the pub anyway. If Sky didn't exist, I probably would have gone on Ewood tonight with it being cheaper tickets and all.....