opinion Attendances

[damo100]

Just wondering what your thoughts are on Rovers current attendances, what you think we'll be getting for the Charlton game and what do you think the club could do to attract more fans to attend Ewood. 

 

[Ossydave]

The atmosphere is a massive put off for a lot of people

However

This is a brilliant idea and I know people who are now going on Saturday that weren't previously 

 

 

[Mr. E]

Mowbray and his transfer policies are definitely not helping, to say the very least. A lot of expectations were had this summer, next to none fulfilled. Hopefully it doesn't put off too many...

[Blue n whites]

I think blackburn fans are the same as 99% of other fans. Although we have more localised problems such as lots of other clubs close by, some of the biggest in world football. Large areas of the town not being interested in football. And relatively poor wages.

I'd go no matter what if I lived local. Instead im 5 games a year.Unless i thought i was being ripped off. Which we arnt.

 

 

 

 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The attendances will stay around the same as last year...the atmosphere will be as dire as ever.

[Ossydave]

7 hours ago, Mr. E said:

Mowbray and his transfer policies are definitely not helping, to say the very least. A lot of expectations were had this summer, next to none fulfilled. Hopefully it doesn't put off too many...

Disagree

People I've spoke to are actually upbeat about the new season. That elusive final defender signing would really take things to the next level of optimism though....

[Sparks Rover]

Just now, Ossydave said:

Disagree

People I've spoke to are actually upbeat about the new season. That elusive final defender signing would really take things to the next level of optimism though....

I'm not looking forward to seeing the exact same back 4 that shipped more goals than any other league club...

[Ossydave]

Just now, Sparks Rover said:

I'm not looking forward to seeing the exact same back 4 that shipped more goals than any other league club...

What are you on about? Have you been reading a book of incorrect facts or something? We didn't ship the most goals in the championship nevermind any other league club?

[Mattyblue]

It seems as if we’ve flogged as many STs as last season, Though hard to tell with all the different figures bandied around by the club.

If so, I’d expect a crowd of around 13,000 for Charlton.

End of the day, we finished 15th last season and this summer we’ve had a fairly flat net spend. So I didn’t particularly expect to see any improvement in sales.

Treading water in the second division fairly consistently for 7/8 years (aberration in League 1 aside) does not lead to big improvements in crowds for a club with our fanbase.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Mattyblue

[AshleyClifford]

I think the attendance tomorrow will be just over 14k sales look good, not sure how many of these are season tickets.

On the whole football attendances are on the rise across the board, Rovers are no exception however ours had to hit rock bottom first unfortunately- We had a midweek league attendance of sub 10k.

I think the club faces a loosing battle generally regarding increasing attendances as the appetite is not there from the locals, some seem to want Rovers to fail.

Cheap tickets for 18 to 25

prises frozen for last 3 seasons.

spending money on large transfer fees, without many out goings, in fact not money clubs in the championship have a positive net spend I believe we are 1 of 5/6 - when actually we should be making a profit on our transfer business or breaking even at best. 

[Mattyblue]

My season ticket went up nearly 20% last season. So not sure where you get ‘prices frozen for 3 seasons’ from.

[Ossydave]

Around 14-15k I reckon tomorrow. First game, decent bit of weather hopefully. Surprised Charlton aren't bringing more up for their first game back either that's pretty poor.

[Mattyblue]

Hope you’re right. We had 13,200 for Milwall last season and they brought up similar numbers. 

Though I suppose that was the first home game, not the first game of the season...

[MarkBRFC]

Charlton never bring numbers up here though, save for that one season in 07 (?) when they put free coaches on towards the end of the season.

It'll be between 12-13k tomorrow, as Matty says mid to lower table second division will never pull the crowds in here, and never has done in the past.

[Ossydave]

I just think the first game factor will bump it up a little, must be a lot of blokes out there keen to avoid getting dragged to IKEA. I personally pick and choose my home games these days but attend most aways, but I'm going tomorrow. Intrigued to see the new fan zone too, they seem to have done their homework on the type of music selected. Few beers, get a bit giddy having a sing song, carry that atmosphere up into the ground. OR go 1 nil down after 2 minutes and mutter it's happening again ?‍♂️

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, Ossydave said:

Around 14-15k I reckon tomorrow. First game, decent bit of weather hopefully. Surprised Charlton aren't bringing more up for their first game back either that's pretty poor.

Charlton have never turned out up here aside from their operation Ewood a few years back with free travel etc. I think they were celebrating winning the second tier one season and last away game was up here, 800 they brought.

Can't be too harsh though they probably don't have loads of exiles living up here to boost numbers a bit like when we go down there.

[AshleyClifford]

4 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

My season ticket went up nearly 20% last season. So not sure where you get ‘prices frozen for 3 seasons’ from.

Sorry this may be my mistake, Prior to early bird deadline - I think mine has been the same for 3 years - Either way I can't complain about the price.

[Mattyblue]

Just now, AshleyClifford said:

Sorry this may be my mistake, Prior to early bird deadline - I think mine has been the same for 3 years - Either way I can't complain about the price.

Prior to Early bird deadline  in 2017 was £299 in the Blackburn End. 

2018 prior to early bird deadline was £349.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Mattyblue

[JHRover]

Reading Waggott's comments in the Telegraph today I think he's in cloud cuckoo land.

Rovers 'couldn't have done more' to increase attendances. If that's his real view of the situation its probably time.for him to pack his bags and get someone in with more idea.

I've seen very little change in the approach to season tickets than we had 5-6 years ago except prices have gone up and stands have been closed.

The club have upset large numbers of people by moving the family stand, kicking season ticket holders out of their seats and putting prices up. I'm not aware of other clubs doing such things.

We're doing nothing that isnt the norm at every other club. A quick look at Stanley's pricing and engagement with fans shows us up.

The usual pro-owners stuff. They're apparently doing everything they can and it's the fans who don't buy tickets that are the issue. Perhaps if they'd have cared for the fans back when they arrived we wouldn't be in this mess. 

Waggott keeps having to ask the owners for money. Shame for them. We kept asking for Kean to be sacked and for the club to be run properly, it still isn't. Actions have consequences. Get us promoted and we won't need as many hand outs.

Edited August 2, 2019 by JHRover

[Mattyblue]

So around 9,500 ‘allocated’ STs thus far then (8500 sold plus 1k complementaries). Probably about 9,700 by the time they go off sale. So fairly flat not counting half ST sales.

Obviously the usual suspects below the line on the LT will lap it up, ‘yeah bang on Steve, WHERE are they!’’

But in reality why would finishing 15th in the second division and a net spend of about a million on players lead to a big increase in season ticket sales that are still priced at £325/350/400/450?

The floating fan who needs to be enticed in aren’t going to be falling over themselves, are they? Knock around the top 6, a play off appearance and maybe next summer will be better (PL being a totally different issue), but not for an average side that has tread water for a near decade.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Mattyblue

[Riverside under the drip]

To be honest, I don't see ever cheaper tickets as the answer. We can demand dirt-cheap prices all we like but that would completely defeat the point of selling an extra thousand. We need finance. Either it comes from India or it comes from us. If tickets cost £15 a game, there'd still be those asking for discounts for certain games (kids for a quid is great as a one-off by the way).

Those who don't go for whatever reason, be it protest, distance, price, fine. Those who go, fine. Let's not go over old, poisonous ground.

There are only two ways of getting larger (I'm talking around the 20k mark) attendances regularly. One is promotion back to the top flight and the other is establishing a core of Asian fans over several years. This is clearly on their agenda and is already having an effect. It is noticeable that the number of Asian fans attending is beginning to creep up. Personally, I'd have taken the change of caterers as an opportunity to include a halal option with massive marketing of these efforts with leaflets for every house down Audley, Whalley Range etc.

Same comment in Season Tickets thread. Merging?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Pure folly to focus the club's efforts on the Towns Asian population,Cricket is their main Sport.The few who do follow football choose to wear the Red of either Utd or Liverpool.

From my experience they will definitely not pay good money to watch footy at Ewood.

Edited August 2, 2019 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Mattyblue]

Just now, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Pure folly to focus the club's efforts on the Towns Asian population,Cricket is their main Sport.The few who do follow football choose to wear the Red is either Utd or Liverpool.

From my experience they will definitely not pay good money to watch footy at Ewood.

Cricket certainly isn’t anymore for the vast majority. That’s long gone with younger generations.

I spent some time in Pleckgate school (95% Asian intake) recently. Football is massive. By far the number 1 conversation. Unfortunately your second point is sadly true, the bags/pencil cases were to a lad United/Liverpool/City. Rovers just don’t register.

One lad asked me who I supported, ‘Rovers, of course, I’m a Blackburner’. He looked at me like I had two heads. About 10 minutes later he said, ‘but no really, who do you support?’

It will be a long and often frustrating process to get the Asian population in the tent, but it is a must as it is too large a demographic to be ignored in our already small catchment area. But we cannot expect quick results.

However, more short term we can look to ensure that those existing fans now further afield from BwD are chased and chased and the club realise that we are now more than ever a club with a Lancashire wide fanbase.

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Mattyblue

[Riverside under the drip]

Just now, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Pure folly to focus the club's efforts on the Towns Asian population,Cricket is their main Sport.The few who do follow football choose to wear the Red of either Utd or Liverpool.

From my experience they will definitely not pay good money to watch footy at Ewood.

That's the reason why we SHOULD focus on this. This is not an easy task and won't happen overnight. This is a project which may well take decades.Parents will pay money for almost anything given sufficient pestering. We just need to work in schools and in whatever youth social activities there are to convince the young to give live football a shot. Going to a live game is always better than watching big clubs on the tv. To begin with, I would focus on this aspect and try to hook a few that way.

[JBiz]

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17812362.rovers-couldnt-done-more-push-season-ticket-sales/?fbclid=IwAR0oLGHNSaSxK9o6_e06bR1WKiAmk7DlJQgP8go-cjrJG49yFU0NYLR2bPM

 

““We try and say that if you’re an 1875 member there’s no hike up price, I believe the fans call it ‘the Waggott tax’.”

Waggs reads BRFCS then I guess  

Edited August 2, 2019 by Harry The Bass