Attendances

[Don Said]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

I assume we have to wait for a Pune sign off.

Ah, the annual 2 month delay due to the communication channels of explaining the concept of a Season ticket to Madame.. again

[only2garners]

From the last Fans Forum minutes - Looking to launch season ticket information mid to late April.

[JHRover]

Just now, only2garners said:

From the last Fans Forum minutes - Looking to launch season ticket information mid to late April.

'Looking' to 'launch' 'information' in mid to late April does not mean people will be able to go and buy season tickets. To me that is a vague comment that may or may not result in some information being released before the end of the month.

Meanwhile many other clubs have had them on sale since February with proper early bird incentives in place.

If that's the way they want to do it then that's up to them but I wish they'd stop with the self-pity about income and low crowds. Do something proactive about it if you're that concerned!

 

[OldEwoodBlue]

2 hours ago, only2garners said:

From the last Fans Forum minutes - Looking to launch season ticket information mid to late April.

who gives a shit ?

The 10K will buy them in April or July.

Until something changes at the club then that's it.

Try getting shut of the Waggott Walk On Tax.

Or getting shut of Waggott and his Tax.

Or maybe even a Venky Apology.... I bet that isn't on your "fans" forum agenda.

 

[Mattyblue]

10k? That’s optimistic...

[Mattyblue]

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/april/special-offer-for-swans-clash/

‘We're hoping to end our first campaign back in the Championship on a high note and we want as many fans as possible in at Ewood Park to make it a day to remember.

More than 28,000 were packed in for the final game of last season against Oxford United and we want to top that this time around!’

Good luck with that!

[JHRover]

'As a thank you for your fantastic support'

How does cheap Swansea tickets reward fans who have been to most games this season e.g. away games and season ticket holders? The only ones to benefit are those who buy on an individual basis. 

Fair enough the club is trying to boost numbers and I hope it's a success. Early Sunday kick off on TV for a dead rubber will put a stop to that.

Also irritates me that Swansea fans will benefit from this more than me by getting cheap away tickets when I had to pay £30 to go to the reverse fixture on a Tuesday night.

[Mattyblue]

End of the day if you’d have bought 23 match tickets (including an odd offer like this) it would cost you far more than a season ticket, so it still pays to be a ST holder.

But you’re right, ‘we’ve made it £15 to thank you for your support’ is badly worded as half the folk who end up buying one probably haven’t been to Ewood since the Oxford game.

[Stuart]

Just now, JHRover said:

'As a thank you for your fantastic support'

How does cheap Swansea tickets reward fans who have been to most games this season e.g. away games and season ticket holders? The only ones to benefit are those who buy on an individual basis. 

Fair enough the club is trying to boost numbers and I hope it's a success. Early Sunday kick off on TV for a dead rubber will put a stop to that.

Also irritates me that Swansea fans will benefit from this more than me by getting cheap away tickets when I had to pay £30 to go to the reverse fixture on a Tuesday night.

This is the whole paradox of ST vs walk ons.

We need to get more people in the door is the bottom line.

However...

The time to do that was during the Christmas break when we had back to back home games at an expensive time of year, and half STs were about to go on sale.

The idea that £15 tickets for a pointless match after a very mediocre season will bring anything close to the promotion party Oxford game is just nonsensical.

They have still done nothing to reward fans who stuck by the club during some really bad times, with Kean and Coyle and double relegations. The only thing we have had is inflation busting ST price increases under the guise of annual early bird deals.

The end of season awards tickets are £75. Where is the big discounts for long standing ST holders? Answer - nowhere because it’s all about the money.

Waggott should be reducing walk-on prices for certain games throughout the season (to generate a proper home gate, an self-starting atmosphere, and increased interest) not stupid 6 game bundles which are then used as an excuse not to offer lower prices and, in parallel, increasing the value of a ST with little bonuses. There was an exclusive event this year for 1875 club members - where was the one for ST holders?

[Paul]

Just now, Stuart said:

There was an exclusive event this year for 1875 club members - where was the one for ST holders?

What was that? As an 1875 member and ST holder I don't recall being offered anything.

I have to admit the club sends out so much meaningless email I stopped reading these years ago.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Paul

[blueboy3333]

As a ST holder it costs me £17.34 per game. How is a non-attender getting in for £15 a 'thank you' to me.

My demands

[Mattyblue]

Paul - Audience with Mowbray in Blues Bar.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Mattyblue

[Stuart]

Just now, Paul said:

What was that? As an 1875 member and ST holder I don't recall being offered anything.

I have to admit the club sends out so much meaningless email I stopped reading these years ago.

What Matty said.

[Paul]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Paul - Audience with Mowbray in Blues Bar.

Ah yes I do recall hearing about that. Clearly had a big impact on me!!!!

[Stuart]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

As a ST holder it costs me £17.34 per game. How is a non-attender getting in for £15 a 'thank you' to me.

Missing the point seems to be the thing Waggott does best.

It isn’t in any way a “thank you for fantastic support”. That kind of offer would have been better being sent in a letter to individuals - maybe lapsed ST holders or walk-on fans - not as a generic offer.

They’ve made a pig’s ear of pricing and offers all season, missed the boat and taken season ticket holders for the cash cows that they are. We have the CEO we deserve.

[Mattyblue]

Looking around the Championship, ST price freezes  and more deals for young people seem to be the norm.

Will we buck that trend? 

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by Mattyblue

[blueboy3333]

Will we buck

[JHRover]

If the club were serious about rewarding or thanking supporters for their loyal support over the season then they would be looking at something for those with season tickets or a database record of buying away tickets and giving something back to those people.

I don't enjoy being critical, particularly not when the club is offering cheap tickets for games in an attempt to increase the gate, but this just annoys me.

I'm p**sed off that a Swansea fan will benefit from this more than me, yet when I take 2 days off work to go to Swansea on a Tuesday night it's £30 a ticket. Where's my 'thank you' for that?

The only 'thank you' I've seen has been a price increase on season tickets, being forced to join the 1875 membership scheme to guarantee I get away tickets and the option of free coach travel to Norwich which I won't be taking up.

Meanwhile someone who has no 1875 membership, no season ticket and has been to no games all season can get on for free v Stoke, get free travel to Norwich and a cheap ticket for Swansea at less than season ticket price.

The club needs to have a long hard think about what it is doing here. Annoying your regular core support.

If they wanted a bumper crowd the Bolton game at cheap tickets would have been more appropriate but instead has been selected at Category A pricing and may not even be 1000 coming from Bolton.

[Stuart]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Looking around the Championship, ST price freezes  and more deals for young people seem to be the norm.

Will we buck that trend? 

Price freezes aren’t the answer though, Matty. Not unless they are open ended. (Apologies if that’s what you meant).

The club froze the momentum that they gained last year and Mowbray deliberately didn’t strengthen the squad. In fact, he accidentally and then deliberately weakened it. It’s only right that they should freeze the price that people paid last season (and I mean without increasing what I paid to the post-early bird “offer”.

I don’t expect anything but what we have seen so far. Early bird renewal at last season’s increased price, with a deadline after which it will increase again. And why? Because people keep paying it, especially given that the accompanying marketing campaign is emotional blackmail.

I’ll be looking at next season’s pricing, for the first time, with a view to not renewing and instead picking and choosing matches - probably back in the Riverside - because I’m sick of Waggott taking the piss out of loyal supporters, and the football has been self-induced crap for a lot of games.

[Stuart]

Just now, JHRover said:

If the club were serious about rewarding or thanking supporters for their loyal support over the season then they would be looking at something for those with season tickets or a database record of buying away tickets and giving something back to those people.

I don't enjoy being critical, particularly not when the club is offering cheap tickets for games in an attempt to increase the gate, but this just annoys me.

I'm p**sed off that a Swansea fan will benefit from this more than me, yet when I take 2 days off work to go to Swansea on a Tuesday night it's £30 a ticket. Where's my 'thank you' for that?

The only 'thank you' I've seen has been a price increase on season tickets, being forced to join the 1875 membership scheme to guarantee I get away tickets and the option of free coach travel to Norwich which I won't be taking up.

Meanwhile someone who has no 1875 membership, no season ticket and has been to no games all season can get on for free v Stoke, get free travel to Norwich and a cheap ticket for Swansea at less than season ticket price.

The club needs to have a long hard think about what it is doing here. Annoying your regular core support.

If they wanted a bumper crowd the Bolton game at cheap tickets would have been more appropriate but instead has been selected at Category A pricing and may not even be 1000 coming from Bolton.

Good post. But I’ll say it again. Waggott sees ST holders as cash cows. They will pay “£100 a match if that was the price” because that’s what proper supporters do apparently.

[Mattyblue]

I’ve accepted that there certainly won’t be any creative thinking with adult pricing. Though if they push them up any further we will start to lose fans, never mind add any - our fans are very price sensitive, as even the PL Rovers found in the mid 2000s.

But what they MUST do is get into the modern way of thinking with young adult offers and singing sections. Such sections have been a big driving force of the big increases in crowds at this level - Forest having to cap their season ticket sales, Bristol City doubling crowds and so on.

Will we see anything? Nah.

 

[arbitro]

I wonder who is behind these poorly thought ideas. The club are generously offering free coach travel to Norwich, primarily because of the silly o'clock kick off time. For regular away travellers who don't travel by coach I think this is unfair so I wrote to Waggott asking him if there could be an across the board discount on the ticket price then everybody is treated fairly. I pointed out that there will be people going to their first away match and gaining some benefit. There are as many (if not more) regular away fans who always travel by road or rail. From my point of view I like the independence of arranging my own travel. I know a lot of southern based supporters who can't take advantage of this due to logistics. It's almost like regular supporters are penalised. The very least they could have done was issue vouchers for the club shop.

I got a nice email back from Lynsey saying they can't reduce prices on away tickets. I think they could by making up the shortfall themselves. She offered to book my place on the coach but I declined.

I understand it's the individuals choice to travel independently but, like season ticket holders I think our support is sometimes taken for granted.

[Mattyblue]

Course they can. Norwich just did if for their away game at Wigan-

https://www.canaries.co.uk/News/2019/march/norwich-city-to-offer-half-price-tickets-for-wigan/

 

 

[JHRover]

Just now, arbitro said:

I wonder who is behind these poorly thought ideas. The club are generously offering free coach travel to Norwich, primarily because of the silly o'clock kick off time. For regular away travellers who don't travel by coach I think this is unfair so I wrote to Waggott asking him if there could be an across the board discount on the ticket price then everybody is treated fairly. I pointed out that there will be people going to their first away match and gaining some benefit. There are as many (if not more) regular away fans who always travel by road or rail. From my point of view I like the independence of arranging my own travel. I know a lot of southern based supporters who can't take advantage of this due to logistics. It's almost like regular supporters are penalised. The very least they could have done was issue vouchers for the club shop.

I got a nice email back from Lynsey saying they can't reduce prices on away tickets. I think they could by making up the shortfall themselves. She offered to book my place on the coach but I declined.

I understand it's the individuals choice to travel independently but, like season ticket holders I think our support is sometimes taken for granted.

I saw the statement Rovers put on the website 'clarifying' concerns from supporters about the Norwich game which I suspect was caused by concerns such as those you have raised.

Rovers are no doubt correct - they can't reduce prices on away tickets - as those are set by the home club. I don't think anyone seriously expects Steve Waggott to ring up Norwich and force them to reduce their prices. But I fail to see why they cannot subsidise those prices, by diverting the money they have set aside for extra coaches into a fund. Why would Norwich care about that if they are getting the same money?

My suspicion is that Norwich have an agenda here - they will be keen to see as few Rovers fans there as possible - so they can allocate the extra seats to home fans for their promotion party. Rovers have taken their entitlement of 1,000 tickets, whereas Norwich will have one eye on 400-500 Rovers fans going so they can hand the rest to their fans who will be selling out. As a result Norwich will take issue with anything that sees considerably more Rovers fans want to go.

Off the top of my head Burnley have done it recently with their 'Chairmans pledge' subsidising their Everton and Chelsea away games, and Reading did it at Man Utd in the FA Cup this season when faced with hefty ticket prices. Barcelona/Man Utd have been doing it in the Champions League.

So it clearly can be done. For one reason or another Rovers don't want to go down that route. Whether they're afraid of Norwich complaining, or have worked out it will be cheaper to fund a few buses instead. Not sure.

Suppose it is similar to gift cards and club cash which can only be used for merchandise in the club shop and not on tickets, programmes or travel. Seems strange when it should all come out of the same pot but there must be a financial motivation at Rovers end.

[had.e.nuff]

2 minutes ago, JHRover said:

I saw the statement Rovers put on the website 'clarifying' concerns from supporters about the Norwich game which I suspect was caused by concerns such as those you have raised.

Rovers are no doubt correct - they can't reduce prices on away tickets - as those are set by the home club. I don't think anyone seriously expects Steve Waggott to ring up Norwich and force them to reduce their prices. But I fail to see why they cannot subsidise those prices, by diverting the money they have set aside for extra coaches into a fund. Why would Norwich care about that if they are getting the same money?

My suspicion is that Norwich have an agenda here - they will be keen to see as few Rovers fans there as possible - so they can allocate the extra seats to home fans for their promotion party. Rovers have taken their entitlement of 1,000 tickets, whereas Norwich will have one eye on 400-500 Rovers fans going so they can hand the rest to their fans who will be selling out. As a result Norwich will take issue with anything that sees considerably more Rovers fans want to go.

Off the top of my head Burnley have done it recently with their 'Chairmans pledge' subsidising their Everton and Chelsea away games, and Reading did it at Man Utd in the FA Cup this season when faced with hefty ticket prices. Barcelona/Man Utd have been doing it in the Champions League.

So it clearly can be done. For one reason or another Rovers don't want to go down that route. Whether they're afraid of Norwich complaining, or have worked out it will be cheaper to fund a few buses instead. Not sure.

Suppose it is similar to gift cards and club cash which can only be used for merchandise in the club shop and not on tickets, programmes or travel. Seems strange when it should all come out of the same pot but there must be a financial motivation at Rovers end.

Club cash can be used on progammes i used it to pay for the full season