Attendances

[OldEwoodBlue]

Waggott’s Xmas offer = massive FLOP

 

[Mattyblue]

Slightly bigger than usual, as expected.

[Ewood Ace]

With the amount dross we have dished up at home this season attendances are more likely to go down than up before the end of the season.

[blueboy3333]

There were morte people in the JW Upper today but the rest of the ground looked pretty much the same.

1250 from Norwich is pretty poor considering their league position. 

[Ossydave]

On 20/12/2018 at 20:45, blueboy3333 said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/december/back-us-in-your-numbers-urges-tony/

Tony urges stay-ways to support their local club.

Hopefully there are no cheap ale deals on at Accy. 

Still making little digs but scared to go Newcastle I see? 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

An awful Holiday time Attendance on Ewood today..only some 12,500 Rovers fans.

We have shifted very few half season tickets by the look of it too!

FFS start listening Waggott..your pricing strategy is failing badly

Edited January 1, 2019 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[tomphil]

Decent Baggies turnout but possibly less than we took down there so I think finances are biting all round this time of year. If you are going to target non big name or local games with ticket offers then these are the ones on a public holiday.

 

[Mattyblue]

£30 a ticket for mid table second division, no wonder.

Though at the end of the day it’s all about season tickets at Rovers and we just didn’t sell enough in the summer.

 

[Stuart]

43 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

£30 a ticket for mid table second division, no wonder.

Though at the end of the day it’s all about season tickets at Rovers and we just didn’t sell enough in the summer.

There is just no imagination, no innovation, no creativity, just ‘if you don’t buy one you’re not committed [so we’re better off without you]’.

[Mattyblue]

It was Cat A today because the club imagined West Brom would bring plenty of fans to rip off - they didn’t, so the whole business plan for today went out the window.

What should have happened is £15 tickets anywhere in the ground. We’d have sold a fair few more and so would WBA. 

Of course we never do see such initiatives and I do worry that the all important window of season ticket sales in the summer will see more of the same - price rises, late to be put on sale, no thoughts of how to get folk back in the tent.

[tomphil]

That's it in a nutshell the suits will have thought 3k West Broms fans or more, proving once again that like politicians they are very out of touch with those they serve !

[JHRover]

With WBA fans being placed downstairs it is clear the club was ancitipating them selling significantly more than they did. Birmingham came to town the other week, sold 2000 or so and were still upstairs in the DE, because the suits didn't expect Birmingham to travel in large numbers, this time they expected promotion chasing Albion to bring 3000+ so immediately shoved them in the lower tier, however unfortunately the plan backfired as only 2000ish came. 

The club can feel hard done to with the fixtures this Xmas - with two games vs promotion chasing sides in Norwich and WBA only seeing about 3500 away fans (less than usual as they were poor times of the year for away games) and both games over the Xmas week away from home, the club has missed out on a bumper attendance.

Then again if you stick to Category A pricing on New Years Day you aren't exactly encouraging hung over tired folk going back to work this week to chuck £30 at buying a ticket after they've spent heavily over Xmas. Basic common sense. £15 ticket offers like Birmingham have done twice recently v Stoke and Reading would likely have seen at least a couple of thousand more on and a better atmosphere if nothing else.

 

[philipl]

The replay is the perfect opportunity to do another Oxford £10 with the added bonus of reciprocating Newcastle's pricing.

With only four replays and the only one with a Premier League club travelling, it is certain to be televised so pricing promotion is essential.

I would go further AND

If the winner has a fourth round home tie after tonight's draw - link buying for the replay to an electronic voucher for a discount if we get into Round 4 (if we get opposition likely to bring fans in numbers, we can legitimately charge £20 or £30 but the replay discount would reduce prices for our fans paying £10 at the replay to £10 again for Round 4; obviously we couldn't do this if we get the dingles at home)

AND 

I would have a limited time remainder of the season ticket offer for people going to the replay.  

[Paul]

No harm in an offer Philip but I wouldn't hold your breath on sales. I'll be going but I'm not particularly excited. It's only Newcastle and I'd suggest the FA cup has been so badly devalued many casual fans will only give it a passing glance. Everyone knows tickets are easy to get, even a home tie against Burnley wouldn't make a voucher a golden ticket these days.

This isn't a big game,  a Championship club needs to be drawing a top six team at this stage to get the floating fan engaged. Newcastle are not what they were, just a bang average to poor PL club.

Traveling fans aside we will do very well to match a league attendance. 

[JHRover]

Unless the rules have changed recently then Waggott has no choice in the pricing for the replay. The same prices have to be followed as agreed between the clubs for the original tie. £10 adults and £5 concessions. I suspect they could get round it if Newcastle agreed to put them up but don't see why Newcastle would agree to such a thing.

The only way a discount scheme could work for the next round is if Rovers subsidise it. It would never happen. If we were to get through we would need to enter into discussions with the other club to agree on pricing.

Season tickets can include cup fixtures but I think that has to be declared at the start of the season. If, for example, we go through and reach the 4th round and decided we wanted to make it free for season ticket holders we might be able to do it but the club would have to put cash into the pot to offset the loss of income - if 10,000 took up the option of a free ticket the club would have to chuck the right amount into the pot for the away club to have and for the FA to get their slice. Isn't going to happen.

Tickets for the replay should have been with Newcastle before the 1st game finished so they are ready to go on sale immediately. They should be on sale now but it seems we have to wait until tonight is out of the way and the TV companies decide what they are doing, thereby costing us 2-3 days of potential sales.

[MarkBRFC]

3 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Unless the rules have changed recently then Waggott has no choice in the pricing for the replay. The same prices have to be followed as agreed between the clubs for the original tie. £10 adults and £5 concessions. I suspect they could get round it if Newcastle agreed to put them up but don't see why Newcastle would agree to such a thing.

I'm not sure that rule is in place anymore is it?

I might be wrong here, but when we played Man Utd a couple of seasons ago at Ewood, tickets were priced at £30 for adults. If that game had gone to a replay then I'm sure I read at the time that if a replay was required it would have been £42ish for us there.

Liverpool away in 2015 was £30 adults, they have (or did at the time) have a tiered structure for the FA Cup. For example they had..

3rd round against Premier League opposition - £25, 3rd round against Championship £20, 3rd round against league one/two £15. Then fourth round £30. £25, £20 respectively and so on.

I expect it to be £10 / £5 because nobody will go otherwise, but wouldn't be totally surprised to see it at £20 for adults.

[JHRover]

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/january/ticket-news-newcastle-united-h/

Tickets now on sale but no date confirmed yet. £10 adults when bought in advance and £20 on the night.

Edited January 7, 2019 by JHRover

[Mattyblue]

Looks like the Riverside’s open. Obviously expecting a bumper crowd! 

[AAK]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

Looks like the Riverside’s open. Obviously expecting a bumper crowd! 

With it probably being on telly, reckon it will probably be a similar home crowd to league games, with a few extra away fans. 20k I reckon, including maybe 6000 newcastle fans.

Edited January 7, 2019 by AAK

[JHRover]

Think that's being optimistic. I'd be surprised if there were as many home fans on as we get for league games. In theory there should be - cheap tickets and a decent chance to knock out a Premier League side - but sadly for whatever reason the people in this area don't turn up for cup fixtures. Yes it is odd that more Rovers fans turn up for a league game v Rotherham than they would for a Cup game v Premier League opposition but it has been that way for years - see Stoke/Swansea when Bowyer was here or West Ham under Lambert which was a poor attendance boosted by a sell out away end.

The only exceptions have been Liverpool, City and United at home in the Cup and we all know why that is.

I'd also expect Newcastle to be less than usual, probably 4-5000. So perhaps 13000 in total.

Edited January 7, 2019 by JHRover

[Mattyblue]

20,000?!

For a game probably on BBC1?

If there’s 8k home fans there I’d be surprised.

The reason Rotherham in the league will have more home fans than Newcastle in the cup is because a majority of season ticket holders don’t bother buying a ticket for cup ties, simple as that.

[JHRover]

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

 

The reason Rotherham in the league will have more home fans than Newcastle in the cup is because a majority of season ticket holders don’t bother buying a ticket for cup ties, simple as that.

Yes, but why? I do find it really odd. People who are committed enough to the club to stump up hundreds of pounds months in advance for a season ticket, tying them into 20 odd games a season, many midweek, yet not enough to ring up the ticket office and pay £10 to watch us play a Premier League side in the Cup?

Just very strange. I kind of get it when playing sides like Crewe and Barnet last season in the cup but not when playing a replay against a Premier League side.

[Mattyblue]

God knows!

I know a few myself. They’ve paid their money in July and that’s that. Especially when it’s on TV.

[gumboots]

If its the original 15th Jan date I can't go. I'd love to as Id rather watch a cup match than some dire league game and some of the best matches I've seen in recent years have been cup ties. I love night matches too - the dark outside the stadium makes you feel more of the all in together type feeling that adds to excitement. However, long standing meeting arranged for 15th and I don't feel I can escape it

[tomphil]

With it being cheap and not too far away by their standards I think Newcastle might sell out or come close they might see it as a welcome distraction from the league and the cup is the only thing that'll ever resemble an outside chance of them winning something. A lot will also depend on the draw otherwise at match price i'd have expected 4 or 5 thousand, never can tell with the Geordies though.

Telly or no telly we've got to be a bit disappointed if there is less than 10/11 thousand home fans on.