[Archived] The Old Gate Debate

[philipl]

Early days but five clubs have lower average gates than us in the Premiershipthus far. Our gate is up over 2,000 on last season's average. Seven clubs are averaging over 40,000 for home games.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

'BIG CITY CLUB' Birmingham averaging a whopping 2,200 more than 'little town club' Rovers.....Bolton well down on last season.

But its always Rovers who are lambasted for the crowds?

[ABBEY]

listened to century last night and the utd fans were moaning like fook,its a disgrace what the glaziers have done,and there puppet mikey thomas still backs the club

we will be moaning if we get took over and the new folks introduce the CUP SCHEME.....dont know how they can get away with it it must be illegal to take money out of your account like they do..and they can miss one game and then im sure they said there ST are taken off them.

[waggy]

the thing is with utd,they have plenty off fans wanting to go,whilst we have over 5,000 empty seats.ray houghton said on talk sport yesterday the sky monies were originally introduced to keep ticket prices low,and not to inflate wage packets.i wonder how true that statement is.

[JAL]

Early days but five clubs have lower average gates than us in the Premiershipthus far. Our gate is up over 2,000 on last season's average. Seven clubs are averaging over 40,000 for home games.

Seen a statistic somewhere that shows just over 5000 people have left Blackburn over the past five years or so but the area has had an influx of around 4000, leaving a population deficit of something like 700 plus. If this trend continues Blackburn will completely change but will the new influx be ready and willing to support Rovers in the future.

[waggy]

they most probably support LEGIA WARSAW

[roversmum]

Seen a statistic somewhere that shows just over 5000 people have left Blackburn over the past five years or so but the area has had an influx of around 4000, leaving a population deficit of something like 700 plus. If this trend continues Blackburn will completely change but will the new influx be ready and willing to support Rovers in the future.

Coming in to Ewood on Saturday notices numerous signs pointing to new housing developments, so someone is expecting a few new residents. Maybe these should be targeted with info on Rovers to maybe attract new fans.

[JAL]

Coming in to Ewood on Saturday notices numerous signs pointing to new housing developments, so someone is expecting a few new residents. Maybe these should be targeted with info on Rovers to maybe attract new fans.

They'll only come if they here something positive and are surrounded by people talking about Rovers in a proud positive manner sadly the reality is ....we Rovers fans are very thin on the ground and many of the locals who dont go to Ewood seek every opportunity to knock Rovers thus this influence will probably be the image that any foreigner will be greeted with in Blackburn about Blackburn Rovers.

Plus they'll have little money in their pockets as they come just to collect some cash from our own 'Black Jack' Straw in return for a vote.

[Paul]

Seen a statistic somewhere that shows just over 5000 people have left Blackburn over the past five years or so but the area has had an influx of around 4000, leaving a population deficit of something like 700 plus. If this trend continues Blackburn will completely change but will the new influx be ready and willing to support Rovers in the future.

Connected to this is something I've mentioned several times. I know a lot of young people who are die-hard Rovers fans, thanks to Dads who have taken them season after season, but have moved away from the area and cannot attend any or only a few games. There was a time when I took myself, my three kids, somethimes the good lady plus another lad to every game. Now we are down to myself and one of my sons at every game and one of my lads to some games. Over the last three season our match day group has dropped from 5 to 2 at every game plus 1 more at some games, a drop of at least 40%. I feel this does explain some of the tail off we've seen at Ewood in recent seasons, but it rarley gets discussed.

Once these young people have moved away it's doubtful if they will ever retrun to the area and become ST holders again.

[cletus]

Coming in to Ewood on Saturday notices numerous signs pointing to new housing developments, so someone is expecting a few new residents. Maybe these should be targeted with info on Rovers to maybe attract new fans.

A lot of these new housing developments are merely replacing housing that`s disappeared from Blackburn. Take a look at the Moseley St area of B/burn, a few hundred terraced houses have been flattened in the last 2 years. The area near the firestation in B/burn had 4 entire streets pulled down in the early 80s & haven`t been replaced. A large chunk of Darwen (behind Sainsbury) is due to be flattened. Anybody remember the lower Audley area? 100s of terraced pulled down....granted, new housing has gone back up , but only a fraction of the amount originally there.

Lots of new housing is going up, but plenty have gone aswell.

[Claytons Left Boot]

As the Asian area expands, the whites move out to edge of town developments - Oakdale being a classic example - or away altogether to a lesser degree.

[MCMC1875]

Connected to this is something I've mentioned several times. I know a lot of young people who are die-hard Rovers fans, thanks to Dads who have taken them season after season, but have moved away from the area and cannot attend any or only a few games. There was a time when I took myself, my three kids, somethimes the good lady plus another lad to every game. Now we are down to myself and one of my sons at every game and one of my lads to some games. Over the last three season our match day group has dropped from 5 to 2 at every game plus 1 more at some games, a drop of at least 40%. I feel this does explain some of the tail off we've seen at Ewood in recent seasons, but it rarley gets discussed.

Once these young people have moved away it's doubtful if they will ever retrun to the area and become ST holders again.

In the Dalglish years, a family of five Burnley fans had season tickets behind us in the BBE lower. They vanished when Shearer left. Doubt that they'll be back. Wonder how many others like that there were?

Edited October 1, 2007 by MCMC1875

[thenodrog]

Once these young people have moved away it's doubtful if they will ever retrun to the area and become ST holders again.

Maybe but I'm sure that if they move to far flung destinations they'll do the next best thing and come on here.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Considering the fine football we are playing at the moment (best start to a season for 10 years?) and our lofty league position,coupled with the reduced prices were people disappointed today that less than 19,000 Rovers fans could be 'bothered'?

We know of the 'its only Reading' mentality but I was hoping we could have at least seen the end to the sub 20,000 crowds of last season.... its a shame but the walk-on crowd does not seem to have increased much.

[S15]

The reason is pure and simple... The league is crap... If we have an outstanding season we'll finish 5th...

Who wants to pay alot of money to watch games which in the bigger picture mean naff all? It might be a harsh reality to some with their blinkers on but it is true, the EPL is in no way an attractive product.

And all those who fought to end the Sky monopoly, that has really come back to bight you on the arse, and extra 10 quid a month, whereas PremPlus was 50 quid a season. That will help crowds no end.

[Gav]

Maybe but I'm sure that if they move to far flung destinations they'll do the next best thing and come on here.

We are watching the best side we've had since 94/95 in terms of challenging for honours. We've got the feeling that every time we go down to ewood we're going win, and personally I’ve not had that feeling since shearer played for the famous blue and whites.

To criticize the crowd is old news SG, let’s face it we're just not going to attract the support the team deserves and that is something we must live with.

Let’s enjoy the moment, the team deserves better but unfortunately the town just can’t support the club anymore than it currently does.

[S15]

We are watching the best side we've had since 94/95 in terms of challenging for honours.

This just isn't true, up until we got relegated we had alot of money and a good team (Until Roy mucked up his own good work)

Since we came back up things have changed.

Honours? 5th!! Hurah! 6th??!! Woopie. A League Cup???

It isn't the clubs fault but it can't compete, and it's not exciting for the normal 'Joe Public' who need pushing to turn up.

Up until 1999 there was always a hope we could achieve great things again.

Now great things just aint that great.

[Gav]

We are watching the best side we've had since 94/95 in terms of challenging for honours.

It’s a fact pal; this is the best football played and squad since we won the league.

Enjoy it while it lasts........

[deefus]

The Riverside today was much fuller than it used to be in the last few seasons. However, conversely the Jack Walker looked quite empty.

[S15]

It’s a fact pal; this is the best football played and squad since we won the league.

Enjoy it while it lasts........

I think your confusing the statement ''It's a fact pal'' with ''It is my opinion.''

I personally enjoyed that with Duff, Dunn, Jansen and Cole more 'pal.'

[Gav]

Still not as good as we're seeing currently, but we did see some good football with Duff, Dunn and Jansen in full flow.

Look at the players we have now, some of them would grace any top four side without any problem, but we have them at ewood and for that we should be grateful.

[ihateburnley]

I wonder if we could fill the stadium if we charged £5 per ticket in any seat in the stadium for any person?

If the answer is yes, maybe we should consider it. If the answer is no, then we need to simply face the fact that 20k is about right for Blackburn Rovers.

30,000 seats at £5 = £150k

20,000 seats at £15 = £300k

At the end of the day, the club needs to decide what the priority is. I personally would say, if it means filling the stadium let's practically give tickets away. We need to drum up passion that would require maybe two seasons of a packed out stadium - so maybe a short term loss would yield a long-term gain?

I read somewhere that the expected outcome in a few years time would be for football clubs to let people in for free? Sounds daft but maybe this is where we are heading.

[Damage]

Its always been about supply and demand.

We cannot win on fanbase! Simple fact.

I have thought for a long time the problem that we have is that tickets are always easy to get and so have no "value".

The only way to change this is to increase demand. Extremely difficult when the market is so small. Lets charge little and fill the ground. Create a real atmosphere - the PEOPLES CLUB!!!

Maybe extreme low price would also attack the price-premium that more popular clubs think they can charge? Man Utd are probably more vulnreable to price-drop that BRFC!? We should look to change the market rather than fight a losing battle. Sureley the Glaziers would panic if the competition was to charge a fiver!!

If everyone paid just £1 to watch premiership ......................... BRFC would make just £30k and Manyoo would make £70k. I could handle that.

[thenodrog]

The poor response to BRFC's generous ticketing policy is exactly as I predicted..... it's cost the club revenue and made little difference to the crowd figures or the match atmsophere. At best it might just have stopped the rot. The town is rewarding the clubs efforts with indifference. The plain fact is that .....

1. we have very little potential as a Prem club.

2. we are punching well above our weight.

3. Our manager and best players will be enticed away and sooner or later it WILL all come to an end (Bolton lost their leader and look how quickly they are floundering.) And thats when all the backsliders will come out of the woodwork bemoaning what we had and blaming all and sundry but themselves.

Rem the older ones amongst us have seen it all before!

Sorry but 114 pages on and each page only proves that there is still only one viable way forward from a business point of view to provide the backing for a football club that can remain at the top by right.

Edited October 21, 2007 by thenodrog

[den]

Well, in my experience, crowds very rarely increase this early in the season. If things continue on the field as they are, we'll see an increase later in the season.