Season Tickets 2018/19

[JHRover]

1 minute ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Looking at the online seat Booker for the Millwall game and I really don't think we have sold that many more Season Tickets for the coming season.Vast swaths of seating available in even the 'popular stands' such as BBE and Riverside

Sorry Mr Waggot you've really missed an opportunity here.

I did a quick add up last night and reached 9000. 

[JeffRover]

4 minutes ago, JHRover said:

I did a quick add up last night and reached 9000. 

Did you stop when reaching 9k or is the actual number sold just over 9k?

Edited July 30, 2018 by JeffRover

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

If we are looking at a figure of around 9,000 sold then that must be disappointing for all concerned.

[JHRover]

2 minutes ago, JeffRover said:

Did you stop when reaching 9k or is the actual number sold just over 9k?

That was more or less the total. 3400 in BBE, 1900 in JW Upper, 1500 in JW lower and 2100 in Riverside approx.

[JeffRover]

2 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

If we are looking at a figure of around 9,000 sold then that must be disappointing for all concerned.

Yes I would have hoped for 10k. The slow transfer window and price increase probably stopped that happening. Hopefully we can get close to 11k including half season tickets if we’re doing ok in the league. Gives a foundation to build upon.

[Mattyblue]

So in reality we are just a few hundred up from where we were after Christmas last season.

A 17% hike in price across the board was always a gamble and it looks like it hasn’t come off...

[JeffRover]

4 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

So in reality we are just a few hundred up from where we were after Christmas last season.

A 17% hike in price across the board was always a gamble and it looks like it hasn’t come off...

I sort of agree with that but despite price hikes we’ve still sold more, so the club will be increasing revenue substantially in this area. Waggott’s objectives are to increase club revenues. I agree we would have all liked a higher number to be sold but in reality if prices were slashed, how many would we sell? 12,000 - 13,000 if we are being generous. The club could actually lose money this way, so it’s a difficult balance to strike.

[Mattyblue]

Agreed, Waggott is here for one reason only, so it’s probably the wrong choice of words to call it a ‘gamble’, but I imagine he was expecting to sell more than just a few hundred extra.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Was 10,500 the figure quoted he wanted sold come kick off time?...we're miles off.

'Increasing revenue substantially in this area'...I really doubt that JeffRover if the increase is minimal! 

 

Edited July 30, 2018 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Stuart]

19 minutes ago, JeffRover said:

I sort of agree with that but despite price hikes we’ve still sold more, so the club will be increasing revenue substantially in this area. Waggott’s objectives are to increase club revenues. I agree we would have all liked a higher number to be sold but in reality if prices were slashed, how many would we sell? 12,000 - 13,000 if we are being generous. The club could actually lose money this way, so it’s a difficult balance to strike.

He should try to grow revenue by growing the fan base not biting the hand that feeds.

 

16 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Agreed, Waggott is here for one reason only, so it’s probably the wrong choice of words to call it a ‘gamble’, but I imagine he was expecting to sell more than just a few hundred extra.

The feel good factor at the end of last season - when season tickets should have been on sale - has pretty much evaporated. Add in the price hike and lack of imaginative transfer dealings (and setting of false expectations) and it’s been a Summer of missed opportunities on the ticket selling front. The strategy has pretty much been ‘let’s see if we can squeeze a bit more out of them’.

And they did. Waggott can, and I suspect will, declare it a success to Venkys.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Stuart

[JeffRover]

9 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Was 10,500 the figure quoted he wanted sold come kick off time?...we're miles off.

'Increasing revenue substantially in this area'...I really doubt that JeffRover if the increase is minimal! 

 

I acknowledged that it was a price hike for most fans.

[JeffRover]

8 minutes ago, Stuart said:

He should try to grow revenue by growing the fan base not biting.

I agree, but the club isn’t in a position to grow fan bases by shelling out millions upon millions on transfer fees. Therefore the only way the club increases revenue short term is by increasing ticket prices and securing as much sponsorship as possible. Then look for thousands more ticket sales as results on the pitch follow. We’re an unknown quantity in the Championship this time around, and our season could go either way.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

With the greatest of respect that's one very simplistic,almost naive business model to me.Keep hitting the loyal few even if results don't go our way?... even the diehards have a limit I do believe.

No Millions for transfers...why not,is that unreasonable to ask of the great ones of Pune?.Are the Raos still living by their ridiculous Champagne tastes on Beer money ideology ?

Why we ask is the Manager and Club not being backed by our so called owners.... I digress I know but it's a question that burns deep.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2018 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Stuart]

37 minutes ago, JeffRover said:

I agree, but the club isn’t in a position to grow fan bases by shelling out millions upon millions on transfer fees. Therefore the only way the club increases revenue short term is by increasing ticket prices and securing as much sponsorship as possible. Then look for thousands more ticket sales as results on the pitch follow. We’re an unknown quantity in the Championship this time around, and our season could go either way.

Signings are only one option, especially with a price increase. Williams did the opposite. Reduced the price of tickets and got bums on seats. Played the longer game of making money through the league position. Granted it works better in the PL but for what we actually make out of that 17% hike, one, we’d have probably made the same by increasing footfall and, two, for what Venkys are already putting in to cover losses it adds very little in the overall scheme of things.

Add to that 13-14,000 potential ST holders (cheap tickets after the feelgood of promotion) and a couple of thousand walk-ons (at reasonable prices) and we could have been looking a 20k+ gates at a bouncing Ewood.

As it stands we are going to be lucky to get to 12k all in when we aren’t playing a Leeds or a PNE with a massive following.

Waggott has opted for the worst and laziest option, fishing in the barrel. But thanks to 8,000 or so hardy fans he has just made 17% additional revenue so who cares right? Wouldn’t surprise me if Waggott is a trained accountant. An entrepreneur he is not.

[JeffRover]

41 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

With the greatest of respect that's one very simplistic,almost naive business model to me.Keep hitting the loyal few even if results don't go our way?... even the diehards have a limit I do believe.

No Millions for transfers...why not,is that unreasonable to ask of the great ones of Pune?.Are the Raos still living by their ridiculous Champagne tastes on Beer money ideology ?

Why we ask is the Manager and Club not being backed by our so called owners.... I digress I know but it's a question that burns deep.

 

 

It’s a question we’ve all been asking for a number of years now, but we are nowhere nearer the answer.

[JeffRover]

14 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Signings are only one option, especially with a price increase. Williams did the opposite. Reduced the price of tickets and got bums on seats. Played the longer game of making money through the league position. Granted it works better in the PL but for what we actually make out of that 17% hike, one, we’d have probably made the same by increasing footfall and, two, for what Venkys are already putting in to cover losses it adds very little in the overall scheme of things.

Add to that 13-14,000 potential ST holders (cheap tickets after the feelgood of promotion) and a couple of thousand walk-ons (at reasonable prices) and we could have been looking a 20k+ gates at a bouncing Ewood.

As it stands we are going to be lucky to get to 12k all in when we aren’t playing a Leeds or a PNE with a massive following.

Waggott has opted for the worst and laziest option, fishing in the barrel. But thanks to 8,000 or so hardy fans he has just made 17% additional revenue so who cares right? Wouldn’t surprise me if Waggott is a trained accountant. An entrepreneur he is not.

I agree and would love 13-14k season ticket holders but I believe we can achieve that with a longer term approach of slow and steady growth. I think we all know the only way the support base will get a shot in the arm is if we are playing Premiership football again.

[tomphil]

This is what happens when you bring outsiders in though they think a grain of success and a bit of constant positive spin and tickets will fly out again. It took Mr Williams a while to realise Blackburn is a very different area to those most clubs are situated in.

I think it'll take Waggot a while to realise as well.  Charlton or Coventry have a season like ours recently and they'd sell a hell of a lot more for obvious reasons despite not having maybe a Blackburn Rovers profile.

[roverandout]

You cant sell season tickets if the product isnt very good..there has been zero excitement this summer as a blackburn rovers fan..most stayaways including me have realised there is far more interesting ways to spend hard earned money on..im afraid the only way a lot of fans will return is when venkys decide to sell up

[tomphil]

To be fair even at Rovers you'd expect the crowds to go up a couple of thousand after a promotion season and maybe go back to similar to what they were a few years ago at least for a season.  If not then you have to look into why not or you're not doing your job, as it stands we are probably set for similar home turn outs to the season we went down ?  Disappointing if so, some serious stock being put into away followings to boost the revenue probably.

Edited July 30, 2018 by tomphil

[West Yorks Rover]

For once you have to give Gold and Sullivan some credit at West Ham, they promised cheap Season Tickets and they've stood by that promise,

cheapest in London apparently, sold the lot, 52,000.

[AllRoverAsia]

On 28/07/2018 at 02:45, J*B said:

The shirts where out later than expected this year because the original sponsor pulled out. The shirt release images in the tunnel at Ewood are photoshopped, which is why lots of people are saying the logo doesn't look quite as bad in the flesh. The commercial team actually did very well to find a replacement sponsor so quick.

Your post was the first I knew about this.

Who was the original proposed sponsor and why did they pull out? Any idea? Maybe they just did not fancy our washed out blue, like me.

I agree that Waggot's team did well to get a replacement prior to the season start but wonder if we sold cheap to achieve that or that awful shirt was just to accomodate 10Bet.

It's all in the detail.

[Paul]

7 hours ago, West Yorks Rover said:

For once you have to give Gold and Sullivan some credit at West Ham, they promised cheap Season Tickets and they've stood by that promise,

cheapest in London apparently, sold the lot, 52,000.

That’s an impressive number but does raise a question in my mind. How many are actual WHU fans?

When Rovers were a PL club there can be little doubt we were the most attractive accessible club in the area. I’d suggest a proportion of the then fanbase came to watch PL football and weren’t necessarily fully paid up Rovers. 

With West Ham offering a PL ST for as little as £19/match (next price is £27/game) if one simply wants to watch PL football it’s the place to go. In addition it’s been possible to actually buy an ST and I wonder if It’s possible to get an ST at Spurs or Arsenal?

Good marketing by WHU who must have spotted the opportunity and grasped it. I bet the boardroom isn’t conning itself in to believing they’re all Hammers. 

Match day prices at London Stadium for a Category A game are £55 against the £19 ST and £65 against the £27. If one wants to watch City, Utd etc. it’s a no brainer deal. 

This also seems to be Rovers strategy with an ST starting st £15/match and the same seat £18 on match day. Mine in the JWL increases from £15/ST to £22 match day for Category C, more for A and B.

This is a Championship Club offering seats from £15/game. I don’t think it reasonable to ask to pay less. People will complain and will continue to find reason to complain about everything at Ewood.

We are not a WHU offering very good prices for a product that has high demand and low availability within an area of relative affluence - London as a whole. I wonder how many WHU ST holders have the equivalent of a BB1 post code?

Even if Rovers dropped the price to £10 it would be a miracle if half the Oxford 27000 turned out. We have 8000 fans, that’s it.

£15 to watch the Rovers? Bargain. A +/- increase of £2? How many people continue to pay rip off Sky prices?

Edited July 31, 2018 by Paul
Spelling

[Mattyblue]

West Ham have a massive fan base from London into Essex, Kent and other parts of the Home Counties, so it doesn’t surprise me one bit they can flog huge number of season tickets.

For us, we just don’t have the hinterland, shoehorned into a highly competitive area, we will not even sell five figures worth with STs heading towards £400 for the pleasure of watching Championship also rans.

Hopefully it will bring Waggott down to earth and give him a better understanding of the limitations of our fan base, after he presumably thought everything he touched turned to gold in his first 12 months here.

Edited July 31, 2018 by Mattyblue

[Stuart]

7 minutes ago, Paul said:

That’s an impressive number but does raise a question in my mind. How many are actual WHU fans?

When Rovers were a PL club there can be little doubt we were the most attractive accessible club in the area. I’d suggest a proportion of the then fanbase came to watch PL football and weren’t necessarily fully paid up Rovers. 

With West Ham offering a PL ST for as little as £19/match (next price is £27/game) if one simply wants to watch PL football it’s the place to go. In addition it’s been possible to actually buy an ST and I wonder if It’s possible to get an ST at Spurs or Arsenal. 

Good marketing by WHU who must have spotted the opportunity and grasped it. I bet the boardroom isn’t conning itself in to believing there all Hammers. 

Match day prices at London Stadium for a Category A game are £55 against the £19 ST and £65 against the £27. If one wants to watch City, Utd etc. it’s a no brainer deal. 

This also seems to be Rovers strategy with an ST starting st £15/match and the same seat £18 on match day. Mine in the JWL increases from £15/ST to £22 match day for Category C, more for A and B.

This is a Championship Club offering seats from £15/game. I don’t think it reasonable to ask to pay less. People will complain and will continue to find reason to complain about everything at Ewood.

We are not a WHU offering very good prices for a product that has high demand and low availability within an area of relative affluence - London as a whole. I wonder how many WHU ST holders have the equivalent of a BB1 post code?

Even if Rovers dropped the price to £10 it would be a miracle if half the Oxford 27000 turned out. We have 8000 fans, that’s it.

£15 to watch the Rovers? Bargain. A +/- increase of £2? How many people continue to pay rip off Sky prices?

Your first three paragraphs are bang on but tbh it really doesn’t matter. You just need to get them in the door.The revenue is what clubs are looking for. Fair weather fans prop up 80% of PL sides so there’s no shame in it. Ewood used to be the place to go and with the right manager that footfall becomes a huge support. Of course relegation (and to a lesser extent alienation) will mean a loss of attendees. West Ham would be hugely unlikely to get 52,000 in the Championship but, I’ll tell you what, they would walk that division if they did. The atmosphere alone would give them a major home advantage.

You say it’s not reasonable for Rovers to charge £249 for some season tickets. Well we will have to make do with 7000-8000 and have us just make up the difference in price each year as that drops. Just a shame we won’t be able to make up the difference in atmosphere that a full ground brings.

[Paul]

13 minutes ago, Stuart said:

You say it’s not reasonable for Rovers to charge £249 for some season tickets. Well we will have to make do with 7000-8000 and have us just make up the difference in price each year as that drops. Just a shame we won’t be able to make up the difference in atmosphere that a full ground brings.

I can’t see where I’ve said that at all. The closest would be i suggested at £10/ticket we’d be lucky to get 13,500 - half the 27000 who turned out against Oxford. Ergo it’s pointless dropping the price to £10.

If the 7-8000 were to drop, which I don’t believe it will, adding £1-2 doesn’t make up the difference. 

In the heady PL days I knew 30+ people who regularly went to Ewood - probably all ST holders. Today four still go - that’s the problem. The missing thousands probably are/were Rovers fans but not fully committed, come what may Rovers. We both know the difference - diehards or daft, not sure which.