[Archived] Attendances

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

So is Blackpool the end of the ridiculous Cat A games?...FFS Rovers for the remaining games stick the away following in top of DE and open the bottom tier at £5-10 a pop.

Just over 12,000 Rovers fans today shows little increase sadly.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

So is Blackpool the end of the ridiculous Cat A games?...FFS Rovers for the remaining games stick the away following in top of DE and open the bottom tier at £5-10 a pop.

Just over 12,000 Rovers fans today shows little increase sadly.

Read Gumboots posts on this subject. People soon find other things to do on a Saturday afternoon.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Nothing wrong with trying Tyrone,the Club has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

[Mattyblue]

Maybe charging up to £30 for a third division game isn’t the best way to promote bumper crowds, who knew?

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Read Gumboots posts on this subject. People soon find other things to do on a Saturday afternoon.

that's fine but The club has come up with special offers for new fans and fans who don't attend much over the past few years. 

we are winning games and top of the league, if that wont attract them not much else will. 

don't forget the Liverpool cup game when we sold out and the price didn't matter then did it?

[Hasta]

8 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

that's fine but The club has come up with special offers for new fans and fans who don't attend much over the past few years. 

we are winning games and top of the league, if that wont attract them not much else will. 

don't forget the Liverpool cup game when we sold out and the price didn't matter then did it?

How is a late-round cup game against a giant of English football, which general football fans in the area will attend, comparable to  an uninspiring league one game?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

that's fine but The club has come up with special offers for new fans and fans who don't attend much over the past few years. 

we are winning games and top of the league, if that wont attract them not much else will. 

don't forget the Liverpool cup game when we sold out and the price didn't matter then did it?

Once you've established a weekend life style that doesn't involve going to the football it wouldn't matter what the club charged for admittance. You could give out free tickets and they still wouldn't go. From experience it's 10 times harder to get fans to go back who've walked away than it is attract new fans who've never been before.

Next time we play Liverpool at home in the FA Cup we may sell out again, who knows ?

 

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, Hasta said:

How is a late-round cup game against a giant of English football, which general football fans in the area will attend, comparable to  an uninspiring league one game?

we are top of the league and Mowbray has a team to be proud of that wear the shirt with pride

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Once you've established a weekend life style that doesn't involve going to the football it wouldn't matter what the club charged for admittance. You could give out free tickets and they still wouldn't go. From experience it's 10 times harder to get fans to go back who've walked away than it is attract new fans who've never been before.

Next time we play Liverpool at home in the FA Cup we may sell out again, who knows ?

 

if people don't want to come then they don't come. 

I couldn't imagine anything else to do on Weekend than watched Rovers and all the live football on tv. Plus keep to kids happy and the missus doing other things at weekend and during the week when not working.  My Missus and kids enjoy coming to games but I mainly come go with friends and we enjoy it. 

[JHRover]

I don't really buy the lifestyle thing. If it was the case that people find other things to do and don't go back then football and football crowds would have died a death many years ago, as year on year more and more people would find other things to do. Generally speaking the numbers going to games in England are at a decent level, so even for those going nowhere clubs around people are brought back.

Coventry City have had a far worse time of things than us, yet a few weeks ago had 28,000 on for a League 2 game thanks to cheap tickets. Bradford have been in the doldrums for years yet get people turning up in numbers because the club comes up with pioneering prices to entice them. 

I'm afraid if you think £25+2 surcharge to watch a 3rd division game which is live on TV is acceptable you need to think about things. 

We have the luxury of a large stadium and plenty of seats to fill, yet I don't think those running the club really want it.

Only today we've had complaints in the Telegraph about parking near Ewood on matchdays, complaints that for 'large' crowds like 16,000 vs Wigan last week arrangements are unacceptable. Its almost as though 20 years of 25,000+ crowds every week never happened. 

Seems to me those running matchday arrangements are quite happy with their 10,000-12,000 a week turning up. Easy peasy, no trouble, no hassle. 

We can sit here all day talking about various games and initiatives to try and fill the ground and get people turning up in their droves. The club doesn't seem interested.

6 game package idea has had minimal uptake. 

If I wanted to bring a friend who needed to buy a ticket on the day he would have to go and queue up to get a ticket and pay £25 for the privilege.

Bring back a cash turnstile and do it at £10 a head, fill up behind the goals.

[Hasta]

29 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

we are top of the league and Mowbray has a team to be proud of that wear the shirt with pride

 

So why dont people attend now at the Cat A prices then, but do against Liverpool?

[Rover_Shaun]

34 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Once you've established a weekend life style that doesn't involve going to the football it wouldn't matter what the club charged for admittance. You could give out free tickets and they still wouldn't go. From experience it's 10 times harder to get fans to go back who've walked away than it is attract new fans who've never been before.

Next time we play Liverpool at home in the FA Cup we may sell out again, who knows ?

 

I knew a bloke back in the day who was a die hard in the late 70's to the end of the 80's all through the hanging teabags on the washing line era. Yet he began a family just after the start of the Sir Jack Walker era and only ever set foot in Ewood from then on when I gave him my ST on the rare occasions someone irresponsibly booked a wedding etc during the football season. This was irrespective of the cost which back then hadn't spiralled much higher than the £5 terrace level of 92/93.

He just didn't have the time because real life took preference.

 

[JHRover]

12 minutes ago, Rover_Shaun said:

I knew a bloke back in the day who was a die hard in the late 70's to the end of the 80's all through the hanging teabags on the washing line era. Yet he began a family just after the start of the Sir Jack Walker era and only ever set foot in Ewood from then on when I gave him my ST on the rare occasions someone irresponsibly booked a wedding etc during the football season. This was irrespective of the cost which back then hadn't spiralled much higher than the £5 terrace level of 92/93.

He just didn't have the time because real life took preference.

 

Some people might do that. I'd argue that more would get their children into football and then usher in a new generation of support.

'Real life'? Its a football match, not a 4 week round the world luxury cruise. If the cost isn't an issue and you want to go and watch then do it. I don't see what aspects of 'real life' prevent you watching a football match on a Saturday afternoon. My dad and his mates had 'real lives' with jobs, wives and children yet still went on Rovers every fortnight. 

[tomphil]

Just shows again you can never second guess an element of our support although first v second and the two clubs being local was always going to be a popular game it was a lunch time Sunday KO on live tv at top whack prices and got and excellent near 14k home fans in.  Seven days later another big game v a local club on the prime Sat 3pm and almost 2k down in the home sections !!!!

I know all the usual stuff, two games in a week, price etc etc but I can't help feeling if we'd won last Sunday today would've had similar if not more home fans on

Still all things considered not a bad crowd and I see Blackpools 'we only take a couple of hundred everywhere because we are boycotting' went a bit haywire again today. They brought a very similar number last time they visited in the Champ I think.

Put in perspective though North End going for the Championship playoffs only had about 11.5 on the other night in a big game and not a right lot more today.

[JacknOry]

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Read Gumboots posts on this subject. People soon find other things to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Yeah like fly all over the world and use this forum like Instagram

[chaddyrovers]

50 minutes ago, Hasta said:

So why dont people attend now at the Cat A prices then, but do against Liverpool?

Premier league and seeing world class players perhaps?

[Rover_Shaun]

55 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Some people might do that. I'd argue that more would get their children into football and then usher in a new generation of support.

'Real life'? Its a football match, not a 4 week round the world luxury cruise. If the cost isn't an issue and you want to go and watch then do it. I don't see what aspects of 'real life' prevent you watching a football match on a Saturday afternoon. My dad and his mates had 'real lives' with jobs, wives and children yet still went on Rovers every fortnight. 

Lucky you and lucky them. It was merely an example. 

[Rover_Shaun]

33 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Premier league and seeing world class players perhaps?

Liverpool's 3rd XI?

[47er]

40 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Yeah like fly all over the world and use this forum like Instagram

C'mn that's hardly fair. We  love Gumboots on here, don't drive her off.

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Premier league and seeing world class players perhaps?

Exactly.

Therefore, maybe we do actually need to do more price initiatives. Top of league one isn't bringing the crowds back is it?

You saying that the price didn't matter against Liverpool is ridiculous for the reasons you just gave above.

[gumboots]

4 hours ago, JHRover said:

Some people might do that. I'd argue that more would get their children into football and then usher in a new generation of support.

'Real life'? Its a football match, not a 4 week round the world luxury cruise. If the cost isn't an issue and you want to go and watch then do it. I don't see what aspects of 'real life' prevent you watching a football match on a Saturday afternoon. My dad and his mates had 'real lives' with jobs, wives and children yet still went on Rovers every fortnight. 

But that was their choice and in those days possibilities for entertainment were more limited. There was a time not long ago when I would organise my years diary round Rovers fixtures. I would fill in the lot as soon as they were announced and nothing got in the way of my attending. But then the kids I used to take grew up, went to Uni, left the area . I still attended, often on my own because my husband had other commitments. Then I stopped buying a season ticket after I retired because the pattern of my years changed. I was no longer definitely here at Christmas, when I might go to visit family, or at the start of season, when I could be on holiday and stay away a few days longer for less cash. I no longer found a season ticket the money saving deal it had been previously.

I still intended to attend. But without the commitment of a season ticket it was easy to think "Yes I could attend ......." instead of thinking "I can't go because there's a Rovers match on" and 2 years on I still haven't been to a match. I don't rule out the possibility of attending matches again in future whatever league we find ourselves in, but the feeling of having to be at Ewood is gone. 

In my case, it's not the cost that decides whether I go or not. It's looking at what the people I share my life with want to do. It's looking at what else I've been invited to do. Obviously were the cost to rise significantly then it would make a difference but not atm. However, for some it will. Whilst suddenly offering very cheap tickets through to the end of the season would annoy some season ticket holders,  and understandably so, choosing some games to put on offer at very low prices might just entice people in for a final push. It wouldn't bring me back; my diary is filled with other things that, oddly enough do not include jetting off round the world but are much more mundane, like visiting family who don't live in the area, but it could bring in some who genuinely can't afford the £25 that's been charged recently. 

There are other entertainments that don't cost that much and people will choose them if their budget is limited. At one time football was the affordable entertainment for ordinary people, but not now. And stupid things put people off, like the new road layout around Ewood, the closure of some of the car parks, being informed that they can't sit in their chosen area of the ground, because people have high expectations. Growing Rovers support back up is not a simple matter. This season has shown that you can at least arrest a decline in numbers attending but to start getting people back into the ground, either first timers or previous attendees will require a lot of hard work and some tough decisions.

[philipl]

Any which way, I would have hoped for an attendance of 14K plus v Blackpool.

I do think a cheap ticket game is needed and have suggested a way of doing it which minimises cannibalisation of other revenues and maximises long term benefits.

[Mike E]

13 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Yeah like fly all over the world and use this forum like Instagram

Will you stfu? Gumboots is a valued member on this forum and has family in Korea. God forbid anyone visits family on occasion.

[Vinjay]

5 hours ago, philipl said:

Any which way, I would have hoped for an attendance of 14K plus v Blackpool.

I do think a cheap ticket game is needed and have suggested a way of doing it which minimises cannibalisation of other revenues and maximises long term benefits.

Well less away fans generally have to be taken into account. Obviously more home fans than usual showed up last week primarily because the opposition are major promotion candidates too. Certainly can't be anything else given the kickoff, tv and weather factors. I don't think being relatively local has any significance in this case or last weeks for that matter. Of course the away figures are often helped by proximity I can't imagine Blackpool have taken 1000+ to many places this season. 

 

[Mattyblue]

Southend now on sale... Cat B

That’s £25-27 in the JW Upper.

Would have been a prime match for a cheap ticket game, but it looks as if the club will let this promotion run pass by without trying to re-engage with the wider fan base at all, crazy.

[JHRover]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Southend now on sale... Cat B

That’s £25-27 in the JW Upper.

Would have been a prime game for a cheap ticket promotion, but it looks as if the club will let this promotion run pass by without trying to re-engage with the wider fan base at all, crazy.

I keep saying it but they don't want it. Happy with the 10,000-15,000, don't want the aggravation and issues that come with more than that.

The Wigan attendance was their limit. Beyond that and they've all the additional things to worry about - stewarding, police, parking, food, segregation - the risk of 'unsavoury' people turning up and behaving badly.

£20+ buy in advance otherwise a surcharge, ticket only stuff ensures that there will never be a massive late turn up of thousands of fans as seen at other clubs as people simply won't pay it. If they did a £5 or £10 adult initiative they would be running the risk of thousands turning up at short notice and would have no idea how to deal with that.

Do the people who make these decisions get judged on how many tickets are sold or how many turn up to games? I very much doubt it. Therefore what incentive do they have to try and fill the ground?