[Archived] The Old Gate Debate

[adopted scouser]

the only thing i felt on the way out was joy,more joy and a lot more joy

404696[/snapback]

Joy must have been shiting herself

[trs]

what did nelsen win????????????????????????????????

404719[/snapback]

Battle of Trafalgar?

[Gav]

Battle of Trafalgar?

404994[/snapback]

[yoda]

Craig Bellamy has a good twist on the gate debate

"I've played in front of 50,000 and although we don't get the biggest crowds at Blackburn, the people we do get make more noise than when I've played in front of fifty or sixty thousand week in, week out."

Sounds like a pat on the back for everyone who goes to the games!

[Wolverine]

I hope the atmosphere on Sunday is as good as it was tuesday gone.

There are only a handful of games I can recall having a decent atmosphere this season and that was one of them.

How are ticket sales for Sunday going?

[roversWASmylife]

Craig Bellamy has a good twist on the gate debate

"I've played in front of 50,000 and although we don't get the biggest crowds at Blackburn, the people we do get make more noise than when I've played in front of fifty or sixty thousand week in, week out."

Sounds like a pat on the back for everyone who goes to the games!

405148[/snapback]

Good to hear, you got a link from what Bellamy said?

[pleasure]

I hope the atmosphere on Sunday is as good as it was tuesday gone.

There are only a handful of games I can recall having a decent atmosphere this season and that was one of them.

How are ticket sales for Sunday going?

405166[/snapback]

think 'handful' might even pushing it. i can only remember west ham, man u and middlesborough games, where the atmosphere was loud as it should be!

agree with bellers and blackburn end always makes the effort. the rest of the home support should be a lot more partizan.

i blame the drummers! (see appropriate thread).

[jamiebrfc]

Good to hear, you got a link from what Bellamy said?

405184[/snapback]

It was in the lancs evening telegraph the other night, back page. I don't think its on their site though.

[roversmum]

here is the link, quote at the end of the article.

[cletus]

The final:-

***GAV`S £50 BET UPDATE OF SEASON 2005/6***

A triumphant GAV is £50 the richer after his beloved Blackburn Rovers (& it`s supporters) won him a £50 bet...that Rovers would have a higher league gate average than our neighbours just down the M6 (the cobbled bit) Wigan Athletic.

Granted, Wigan have never had a great support for it`s team but promotion to the premiership for any team always tends to 'bring in the fans'....even if for only a season or two.

A crowd of 25,731 saw Rovers beat Citeh & celebrate a UEFA cup place at the end of quite a remarkable season....one we will all remember for a long time!

So, here`s how the whole shabang finished up :-

Rovers average home league gate finished off on 21,015 (up 262)

Wigan`s average home league gate finished off on 20,610

(rovers won by an average of +405)

Rovers total home league attendances finished on 399,288

Wigan`s total home league attendances finished on 391,587

(Rovers won by 7701)

So, the question is "what or who next?"

Will our other neighbours Preston make to the prem? If so, next season we could have a mini Lancashire league, involving ourselves, Notlob, Nobend & the pie eaters....& who will the dingles have to look forward to? Bloody no-one i hope!

A more indepth summary will follow shortly.....

[roversmum]

who will the dingles have to look forward to? Bloody no-one i hope

Still Leeds, with any luck..................

[1864roverite]

PNE wont trouble us

if they go up then the maximum at deepdale mudheap will be 18500 for the season with only 1500 away fans.

I have actually seen the plans for a promoted pne for next season and although it would bring in big money for them, the crowds will be limited as they have not got FULL permission to build the 4th stand.

Some of the locals have formed a petition and are refusing to back down as a new stand will provide them with a good view of a concrete structure !!

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

To be honest I was surprised that it was so close with the Wigan bet in the end.

If nob end do win promotion, it will be interesting to see if it has any effect on our gates,I may be wrong but I do believe Deepdale is closer to Ewood than Turd moor is.....or so its looks from the top 'o Darren tower!

Edited May 8, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[cletus]

Here`s a table of the top gates between Rovers & Wigan during season 2005/6:-

Rovers v Liverpool.....29,142

Rovers v Man City.....25,731

Rovers v Man Utd.....25,484

Wigan v Liverpool.....25,023

Wigan v Man City.....25,017

Wigan v Arsenal.......25,004

Wigan v Chelsea......23,575

Wigan v Man Utd......23,574

Wigan v Spurs..........22,611

Rovers v Arsenal......22,504

Rovers v Spurs.........22,375

Wigan v Newcastle.....22,374

Rovers v Villa...........21,932

Wigan v Everton.......21,731

Wigan v Pompey.......21,126

Rovers v Newcastle...20,725

Rovers v WBA...........20,721

Wigan v Rovers.........20,639

Wigan v Bolton..........20,553

Rovers v Wigan.........20,410

Rovers v West Ham...20,370

Rovers v Chelsea.....20,243

Rovers v Pompey.....19,521

Wigan v West Ham...18,736

Rovers v Boro...........18,681

Wigan v BIG club......18,669

Rovers v BIG club.....18,341

Rovers v Sunderland.18,220

Rovers v Bolton........18,180

Rovers v Charlton.....17,691

Wigan v WBA............17,421

Wigan v Villa.............17,330

Wigan v Fulham.........17,266

Wigan v Sunderland...17,223

Wigan v Charlton.......17,074

Rovers v Fulham.......16,953

Wigan v Boro............16,641

....The fact that Ewood Park is bigger than the JJB helped alot, with the top 3 Rovers gates being bigger than Wigan can actually fit in to their ground. Wigan`s top 3 gates were near (if not) sell outs & could`ve probably attracted a few more punters. I think this table also shows Rovers where they can 'opt' to drop prices for future games, albeit the less attractive sides & the 'live' on SKY games (are you listening Rovers?)

I should imagine next season`s UEFA cup game will be on channel 5 or somewhere on TV. I fear what Rovers gate would be if they price the game at the higher end of their structure. A less than half full stadium would look awful on telly.

[Tris]

I should imagine next season`s UEFA cup game    will be on channel 5 or somewhere on TV. I fear what Rovers gate    would be if they price the game    at the higher end of their structure. A less than half full stadium would look awful on telly.

406923[/snapback]

Not sure if we'll get much TV exposure in the UEFA cup to be honest - I'd expect Spurs to be snapped up by ITV (for broadcast on ITV4 as per this seasons biggest entrant in the UEFA Cup), and Channel 5 will take either our games or West Ham's games, probably on a round-by-round basis, and dependent on home and away match dates.

Can't imagine any other channel being remotely interested, unless there's a particularly decent fixture which could interest the BBC (ie Rovers v Rangers or similar).

Rovers got the pricing right last time round - think it was £15 or £20 for the Blackburn End (Celtic apart, which was usual Cat A price).

[greggyk]

Well sky 1 took some of Boltons Uefa Cup games this season so theres another option for Rovers.

[Ronin]

Might even end up on Eurosport or even Setanta as well.

[Ozz]

Does anyone else think that if the only coverage of top flight football was MOTD on Saturday night and Granada Soccer on Sunday afternoon that our crowds for 2005-06 season would average around 26,000?

[FourLaneBlue]

Rovers v BIG club.....18,341

Rovers v Sunderland.18,220

Rovers v Bolton........18,180

Rovers v Charlton.....17,691

Rovers v Fulham.......16,953

Of the five lowest average attendances four were in the first half of the season (up to mid-Jan) with only Sunderland, in February, being later. That would have been much larger had it having been abandones at the first attempt.

So...it does appear that slowly but surely attendances are rising. Although, as the Chelsea game shows, when there is two home games in a week then the gates suffer.

[speeeeeeedie]

Read this article for more ammo regarding attendances. I reads like it's written by an American but the points he makes are pretty valid. Before anyone asks I'm not having a go at Yanks by making that point.

[Tris]

Well sky 1 took some of Boltons Uefa Cup games this season so theres another option for Rovers.

406942[/snapback]

Might even end up on Eurosport or even Setanta as well.

406943[/snapback]

Highly unlikely that any of those channels will shell out for TV rights to show the smallest English club in the competition, and then try and screen the games up against non-subscription competitors showing Spurs or West Ham (or even Newcastle if they get through the InterToto).

Rovers best hope is that they all go out in the first round and we're the only English representative in the group stage!

[krislu]

New season, time to bring back this fun old thread..

So far this season:

Everton 22 015

Chelsea 19 398

Man City 18 403

Average 19 939

The same fixtures last season:

Everton 22 064

Chelsea 20 243

Man City 25 731

Average 22 679

I know it's still early days. Our average last season was 21 015, so the three games listet bought more people to Ewood than average.

I won't be suprised if we end up with an average attendence of less than 19 000 this season. I know the City game was our last game last season, finishing off a very good season, so you can't really read too much into this. Having said that, it aint looking good.

Edited September 18, 2006 by krislu

[Wolverine]

I was dragged to rugby yesterday to watch warrington play st helens, and I have to admit that ewood park can learn a lot from them.

There was always something going on on the pitch entertainment wise and the bloke doing the 'mc'ing made an attempt to liven up the atmnosphere. Dancers, intellegent use of music (thier rivals ran out to every day i love you less and less), and a penalty challenge, aside from the usual lottery draws etc.

The mascot they had was unusually entertaining too.

Now I'm not saying that putting dancers on at halftime will give us capacity crowds, but at least more poeple will feel as though they are getting value for money, which should go some way to reversing the trend.

[thenodrog]

Now I'm not saying that putting dancers on at halftime will give us capacity crowds, but at least more poeple will feel as though they are getting value for money, which should go some way to reversing the trend.

Did we even get to see the goals from Saltzberg? I certainly didn't see them.

Just as an aside should John Williams now be expected to fall on his sword for letting the attendances slip so much? He appears to be doing an OK job with everything else but sweet FA in keeping attendances and interest in the club alive. His position in much of the entertainment industry not subsidised by a collective TV deal would surely be looking untenable. Despite excellent results on the pitch crowds (and I expect revenues too) are falling yet the club appears to be as dynamic as a wet dishcloth. The club must not allow itself to be a collective comfort zone for ex Granada staff and the like. In his own best interest and just like the manager of any relegation threatened team he needs to shift deadwood out and draft people in with new ideas. In short he needs to get rid of poorly performing staff....before they get rid of him.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Our poor crowds are a definite big concern at the moment. I agree with Blue Phil that the club needs to look at doing something radical with ticket prices, such as allowing kids into the ground for free. Clearly the current situation is not working. There might be a temporary loss of income from allowing kids in for free, but the long-term benefits would outweigh this in my view.

Crowds of under 20,000 are not helping the club at all in terms of atmosphere and attracting other players to the club. Who wants to play in a half-empty stadium? The situation has become a serious one and my own view is that the club have got their pricing policy for matches wrong this season and the public are voting with their feet and not turning up.

After relegation in 1999, our first home game in the old Division One against Port Vale attracted over 20,000. It has to be a big cause for concern that for a Premiership match against Man City, who obviously have a much larger fan base than Port Vale, only 18,400 turned up.

We had a crowd of over 29,000 for a home match in Division One against Huddersfield, when the club lowered prices. Matt Jansen's debut for Rovers against Spurs in January 1999, when we were battling against relegation, attracted over 29,500 to Ewood. In that relegation season we had over 29,000 against Liverpool; over 27,500 for matches against Aston Villa and Leeds and over 27,000 for home games against Everton and Newcastle.

The decline since has been alarming. I don't agree with Thenodrog about Lancashire United, but I feel the club do need to have a radical look at other areas including pricing policy. If this doesn't work, at least the Rovers have tried. The present situation unfortunately isn't working.