[Archived] Poll - Falling Attendances.

[Tris]

Saturday was the lowest league crowd at Ewood Park since Rovers were promoted back up from the Nationwide, with one exception (Mon 20.10.2003 v Charlton, on Sky).

And this on the day Mark Hughes made his managerial debut.

Going from some of the (questionable) theories for crowd decline posted on this board, one would have expected that alone to have put 2,000 anti-Souness deserters back through the gate - even if it was just for the one game.

Or does the club simply have to accept that the level of support is returning to the pre-Jack Walker hard core (still ok for a town this size) and that all their efforts trying to swell the gate are a waste of time.

[den]

Tris, the reason that gates have dropped dramatically in the last two seasons [iMO], is because of the dross served up at home by Souness' teams.

Those fans that have gone wont suddenly re-appear, it will take many good home performances and results. It could take years.

[Eddie]

I don't think it matters who's in charge, who the players are or anything of that sort. People will come if we start getting results. Look at Bolton. I know people say "what about when we finished 6th, they weren't that much higher", but I think now the will be a greater appreciation of the success the clug achieves. Am I being naiive, possibly, but if there is anything that will make supporters come back to the club, it's going to be what goes on during those 90 minutes.

[chris]

I think it will get better, with Souness selling our best players and playing players like Matteo left midfield not amazed the crowds have gone down, hopefully Hughes can get some stability and the crowds will pick up.

It was the best possible time of Souness to leave, he was on a sinking ship of his own doing and hopefully things will improve with some fresh ideas, plus all the ref's hate Souness.

Souness sold our best player Cole and replaced him with Dickov, he's ok but not the way to get soft core fans back. Its all the little things that p1ss fans off.

oddly enough when I watch Souness now I can't stand it, glad he's gone, certainly the saying "you don't know what you got until its gone" does not apply in this situation.

Edited September 20, 2004 by chris

[1864roverite]

Rovers are a victim of their own successes.

Firstly when we were promoted in the days of 1991 we had King Kenny and the club was on a massive upper, we win promotion spend a few bob and hey presto 4th, 2nd then the Championship. It was the following season that set the trend we now find ourselves in.

Rovers failed to build on that championship team which ultimately resulted in the break up of the squad.

after short forays into Europe we ended up with relegation, all the time our crowd dwindling, at the same time add the fact that the cost of watching football soared and unemployment figures increased.

A short stay in the first division helped win some fans back but, as clearly stated previously, after the Worthy Cup win we have been served at Ewood with a mixture of dross, crap and utter sh**e.

Some of us fans are fortunate to get to away games, and I for one can say that our away form is 100% better or was over the past 2 seasons.

That is the simple reasoning behind it all.

No matter what John Williams has promised, no matter what efforts he has put into bringing fans back to Ewood, the fairweather fans (and I am being very diplomatic) have seen fit to still remain away from Ewood due to the performances.

You can add more reasons from the following:

a. becoming a selling club (I dont mean Dunn and Duff)

b. limited budgets resulting in players with limited amounts of skill

c. no commercialism skills whatsoever in respect of merchandising

d. the continued spiralling costs

e. a complete dislike of sourness and his merry men

f. no directiveness on or off the field football wise

g. too many excuses

h. a poor behind the scenes coaching set up

i. a refusal to blood the youth prospects (please dont mention Stead)

j. media reports of the problems within the club

k. continual beratement of referees rather than addressing our on the pitch problems

l. excuses excuses but no responsiblity

m. gross mismanagement of club transfer funds

and finally

a serious lack of communication with the fans and public.

there are probably many more which I have failed to mention and I am sure that other members will add them.

Edited September 20, 2004 by 1864roverite

[Manchester Blue]

g. too many excuses

Couldn't agree more.

[Eddie]

The sad state of football is that every club needs its fairweather supporters. So no matter how much those of us who would stick with the club through thick and thin dislike them, the club really needs to go out and win them back.

[den]

So no matter how much those of us who would stick with the club through thick and thin

What's this us paleface, you buggered off to Paris.

[Rovermatt]

The sale of Duff (and lack of big name replacement, considering the money earned), the subsequent cr@p home performances, and the poor quality of many of those on show are all factors that have surely turned people away.

[1864roverite]

eddie

At no point or any time have I ever suggested fairweather fans are NOT wanted, gratned I have slated the Riversiders for leaving early on but then again who hasn't !

[jim mk2]

I must admit I was shocked when I saw the figure for Saturday's attendance.

Talking to a number of (ex) supporters, the sale of favourite players such as Dunn and Duff, the perceived lack of ambition in the cup competitions (especially in Europe), and the generally appalling performances at Ewood in the past 12 months have led to them staying away. People want to be entertained these days - if they don't get it at a football match they'll go elsewhere.

[roversmum]

Jim, I was just about to say the same.

Many people go to football for entertainment and to get away from the tedium and stress of their daily lives.

Following Rovers has all too frequently added to stress levels and enough is enough for some.

[Gav]

The gate debate is one that can't be explained and having talked about it until 6am one night last season with Tris I’m still at a loss to explain the stay away fans.

One theory that doesn't hold water is the entertainment theory mentioned above. We finished 6th in the Premiership yet gates were going down and got worse the following season. Was the football that bad? And we finished 6th?

I've give up caring because its going to put me in an early grave

[Scotty]

The gate debate is one that can't be explained and having talked about it until 6am one night last season with Tris I’m still at a loss to explain the stay away fans.

Real brains trust in action there then!

[Ossydave]

Aren't Fulham in a similar boat to ourselves?

They splashed the cash to get to the premiership, the money kind of dried up a while back and the gates went downhill in due course.

Heard that one of their stands is now for 'neutrals', basically meaning it'll probably be full of away fans when they play a team with a big following. Hope we don't turn to such desperate measures.

We've all got our little theories but the sad truth is there appears to be no solution.

[Gav]

The gate debate is one that can't be explained and having talked about it until 6am one night last season with Tris I’m still at a loss to explain the stay away fans.

Real brains trust in action there then!

Bottle of Gin and put the world to rights.........

[92er]

I think that lots of people have highlighted plausible reasons for the decline in attendances and I think we have to have some empathy with them. But now is maybe the time to encourage these people to come back-the dawn of a new era.

[Gav]

I think that lots of people have highlighted plausible reasons for the decline in attendances and I think we have to have some empathy with them. But now is maybe the time to encourage these people to come back-the dawn of a new era.

Without wanting to get into a major debate on this subject the way I see it is a certain section of our support just don't care.

If we signed Zidane and Ronaldo we'd still struggle to get 25k home fans in the ground.

It was interesting to see the riverside last week in the UEFA Cup, full to capacity against a team of no hopers and it was live on TV. Those supporters care, a section of ours don't.

Treating the current position with contempt is a very dangerous business and the 15k hardcore is all we can rely on if things go tits up.

[Gav]

PS,

The 15k hardcore is 7k more than we had 15yrs ago so thats something to be greatful for.....

[ABBEY]

attitude of adolfesque stewards is a huge problem.

[Exiled in Toronto]

PS,

The 15k hardcore is 7k more than we had 15yrs ago so thats something to be greatful for.....

And therein lies the problem.

To go from 8k to around 25k was an amazing achievement and all credit to the Blackburn public for rising to the occasion. But it's now 10 years on and the novelty has worn off for some. To still be getting gates of 20k against Pompey when we're 2nd bottom of the league and have been playing crap for over a year you could argue is still not shabby.

Anyway, John Williams has all the tools at his disposal to figure out the problem, since his ticket database can tell him everything he needs to know.

When any "brand" is losing sales, the main problem is usually one of not being able to get the right data to figure out what's going wrong. At Ewood, they have every customers names and addressed, and a full record of who attended (or not) which games for the past x years.

If I were in his shoes, I'd be looking first at my "heavy buyers" from 3 years ago and seeing what's happened to them. If you're losing heavy buyers then you usually have some major problem with the product. More likely is that the "light buyers" have got even lighter in the number of times they come. The 24k average is probably made up of well over 30k people who attend with varying frequencies, so it's important to look at that data and see what patterns emerge. Once you know exactly who's coming less frequently, then go and ask them why, and what would tempt them back.

Marketing 101, as we say over here. Given his provenance at Granada Studios, I'm sure he knows all this anyway.

[jim mk2]

At Ewood, they have every customers names and addressed, and a full record of who attended (or not) which games for the past x years.

And therein lies another tale.

Every year a relative of mine buys merchandise from the Rovers catalogue for Christmas presents. And every year she has to ring up the Rovers store to ask them to send her the latest catalogue.

Her address/credit card details are on the database so why is the catalogue not sent automatically? Why is the club not bombarding her two or three times a year with literature to spend on Rovers products?

If the commercial department cannot make use of that sort of information at their disposal it does not give me much hope that those responsible for ticket sales are any more efficient.

Cue someone now leaping to their defence.

[thenodrog]

Talk about this all you like but unfortunately in the cold light of day it keeps coming back round to my 2 points here .......

http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?showtopic=9594&st=40

Nobody wants to face up to the fact that we have defied gravity for 15 years or so but we will not be able to do that for much longer without some sort of major success. Apart from the die-hards I am finding that far too many people in this town have the 'bought that particular T shirt' attitude to BRFC and the rest simply couldn't give a flying fcku about the tradition, history and sentimentality associated with Blackburn Rovers.

Edited September 21, 2004 by thenodrog

[bubblerrovers]

I hate fair weather fans anyway good riddence to them all!!! what we need is the people who do turn up to start having children lots of them and fast.

on a serious note why not not give more free tickets at least they will spend money on food and programme etc??? or try the mc donalds technique and give a free toy to the kids, a different one each week.

[philipl]

I hope that the low crowd is because:

Souness Rovers were pretty unttractive to watch at home

Souness played Rovers' teams which mystified everyone in the crowd and confused the plyers

Deep down, the faith in the team had gone under Souness (lots of posts about it being a chore to turn up, not a pleasure)

However, the second lowest Prem crowd since the neew Ewood was complete greeted our new popular Manager.

This has the horrible feeling of the '60s all over again when the Rovers' home crowd simply melted away despite the Rovers having a more than decent top division side.

Very pessimistic about this aspect of the Rovers' future.