QPR (H) - Tuesday 28th Jan

[Stuart]

25 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

I’m not missing any point. I didn’t mean you personally, but fans generally.

Your point is that refusing to allow it to be on the red button tonight as an isolated decision is unnecessary. I disagree. I also think that it will increase our revenue this evening. If that’s by 100 people then great, if it’s a couple of thousand then even better.

Assuming that’s all adults that’s £2k - wow that’ll swell the coffers. So we get paid less than that for a televised match?

As always though there is no real attempt to get fans in, just find some new penalty and then blame the fans lack of commitment. This lot need to start working with fans rather than against them. Such contempt.

Still no thoughts on the times when the club move fixtures so they can be televised because of the extra revenue? Who do they think is watching then, just the neutrals?

[Mattyblue]

18 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

This problem precedes Waggot. Though I disagree with the late ticket increase I can see why it’s done. They want people to commit longer term. This helps them to budget properly.

If our fans are not fickle then where are the 10-15k who used to go to Ewood and more importantly turned up in the last home game in League 1? Hmmm

 

Of course loads of fans are fickle.

We have a 10-12k hardcore that turn up for any old shite, it’s their ‘priority’ or they wouldn’t be doing it,  the rest are floating or ‘fickle’ fans. They’ll go if they fancy it, they don’t feel a responsibility to be at the ground for QPR on a January night, just how it is, many types of fans make up a fanbase.

So make it as affordable and easy as possible to attract the non core, even if it’s only a handful of times a season they go. I.e. not £30-£32 in the Jack Walker, rising to £33-£35 if you fancied it on the day (and that’s not counting the Cat A+ £40 games)
 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Mattyblue

[OldEwoodBlue]

1 minute ago, Paul Mani said:

Tbf there hasn’t been whinging on here about the red button. I heard quite a bit yesterday and it was pretty rife on Social Media.

But I 100000% disagree with your take on supporting the club. If you take this back to the very beginning, football teams are followed by supporters. A supporters main job is to ‘support’ the team. This task is carried out on match days when supporters join each other on the terraces to exchange stories, sing tribal like songs and roar on their team. Football fans for hundreds of years have stuck with their clubs through thick and thin. We love, hate and forgive them like we do our nearest family members.

Venkys changed everything but make no mistake it could have been much worse and there are many living examples. Including Bury and Bolton who have had it far worse than we have. Bury no longer exist and Bolton get roughly the same crowds as we do but in League 1 where they get hammered every week.

I have my own opinions on why our fan base are SO upset 10yrs down the line but it’s not the time or the place. 

So I respect your decision but I don’t agree with it.

 

Using words like job and task are not appropriate to supporting your team Paul. Fans can also see it as their job or task to rid their (our) club of the poison which is killing it whilst other "fans" do nothing.

You saying Blackpool fans were wrong to take their direct action or were (are) not proper fans ? 

Different POVs Paul.

Folk who have been fans for 40 - 70 years who have stopped attending will continue to love Rovers until the day they die. 

[Paul Mani]

8 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Assuming that’s all adults that’s £2k - wow that’ll swell the coffers. So we get paid less than that for a televised match?

As always though there is no real attempt to get fans in, just find some new penalty and then blame the fans lack of commitment. This lot need to start working with fans rather than against them. Such contempt.

Still no thoughts on the times when the club move fixtures so they can be televised because of the extra revenue? Who do they think is watching then, just the neutrals?

If the club are being paid directly to have a match televised then they have to take the opportunity.

Its almost as though we think that none of this ever happens to other supporters and their clubs.

Teams shouldn’t have to bend over backwards to get their own fans in the ground.

[Paul Mani]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

Of course loads of fans are fickle.

We have a 10-12k hardcore that turn up for any old shite, it’s their ‘priority’ or they wouldn’t be doing it,  the rest are floating or ‘fickle’ fans. They’ll go if they fancy it, they don’t feel a responsibility to be at the ground for QPR on a January night, just how it is, many types of fans make up a fanbase.

So make it as affordable and easy as possible to attract the non core, even if it’s only a handful of times a season they go. I.e. not £30-£32 in the Jack Walker, rising to £33-£35 if you fancied it on the day (and that’s not counting the Cat A+ £40 games)
 

Agree with everything you said. But the risk of reducing prices and NOT getting those floaters in is huge. Because it means they make less money on the die hards and risk pissing them off if they’ve already paid for tickets. The clubs strategy is obviously to get people tied down to ST’s, half ST’s and three game deals or whatever. 

Plus, I think there’s a large number of moralistic driven fans who wouldn’t turn up because of Venkys etc. 

[Paul Mani]

8 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Using words like job and task are not appropriate to supporting your team Paul. Fans can also see it as their job or task to rid their (our) club of the poison which is killing it whilst other "fans" do nothing.

You saying Blackpool fans were wrong to take their direct action or were (are) not proper fans ? 

Different POVs Paul.

Folk who have been fans for 40 - 70 years who have stopped attending will continue to love Rovers until the day they die. 

I have said on several occasions this morning that I respect different fans points of view.

I just don’t agree with the sense of entitlement that some of those fans have around the ‘red button’ etc

[Mattyblue]

3 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Agree with everything you said. But the risk of reducing prices and NOT getting those floaters in is huge. Because it means they make less money on the die hards and risk pissing them off if they’ve already paid for tickets. The clubs strategy is obviously to get people tied down to ST’s, half ST’s and three game deals or whatever. 

Plus, I think there’s a large number of moralistic driven fans who wouldn’t turn up because of Venkys etc. 

There’s a happy medium to be found between giving tickets away and charging £30+ to watch mid table second division football in a town like Blackburn.

[perthblue02]

31 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Assuming that’s all adults that’s £2k - wow that’ll swell the coffers. So we get paid less than that for a televised match?

 

Don't think the clubs get any extra for being shown on the Sky red button thing, it was part of the package deal the FL did with Sky. A televised Main match is when they get extra payment

[gumboots]

What you're missing here is the change in lifestyle of large numbers of fans. When I was working, I was here for most of the season and away during some school holidays. A season ticket was by far the best option for me. I missed the odd game but most of my time could be structured to make sure I missed very few.

With retirement came choice. I dont have to be here if I choose not to be. Having broken away from having a season ticket when the club closed my stand, appointed Coyle, and wrote me a snotty letter about why I should never have been sitting where I was when theyd been happy to renew my ticket there for years despite knowing I'd no children with me, I found I no longer needed to structure my time around attending Rovers matches, so I stayed away longer on my summer hols, took breaks away mid season without looking at the fixture list, and generally found other choices. I dont want the tyranny of a season ticket. It may be the clubs priority to have season ticket holders, but having one is no longer my priority and I suspect there are many of the missing 10k like me.

Edited January 28, 2020 by gumboots

[Paul Mani]

20 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

There’s a happy medium to be found between giving tickets away and charging £30+ to watch mid table second division football in a town like Blackburn.

They tried it. It didn’t work. Season tickets  work out around £20 a game. I would just find the average of a season ticket per game and put a % on to reward those willing to commit in advance. 

[Mattyblue]

Tried what?

[Paul Mani]

1 minute ago, gumboots said:

What you're missing here is the change in lifestyle of large numbers of fans. When I was working, I was here for most of the season and away during some school holidays. A season ticket was by far the best option for me. I missed the odd game but most of my time could be structured to make sure I missed very few.

With retirement came choice. I dont have to be here if I choose not to be. Having broken away from having a season ticket when the club closed my stand, appointed Coyle, and wrote me a snotty letter about why I should never have been sitting where I was when theyd been happy to renew my ticket there for years

Absolutely. Fully understand your reasons.  But where are those fans who work and go away during the summer holidays now? Supporting City no doubt! 

[JHRover]

58 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

This problem precedes Waggot. Though I disagree with the late ticket increase I can see why it’s done. They want people to commit longer term. This helps them to budget properly.

If our fans are not fickle then where are the 10-15k who used to go to Ewood and more importantly turned up in the last home game in League 1? Hmmm

 

I want 30,000 a week turning up. But I know that isnt going to happen. You have to be realistic and pragmatic. 'Wanting people to commit longer term' isnt going to happen with season tickets on the rise and a poor product being served up. The ludicrous £3 surcharge won't encourage more to buy season tickets. It will just ensure next to nobody goes to games like tonight.

I'll walk past the ticket office at 7:15pm tonight and there will be more people waiting to get served in the Fox and Hounds than buying match tickets.

[Paul Mani]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Tried what?

There was a point a couple of years ago that our tickets were as cheap if not cheaper than anywhere else. It didn’t entice the floaters.

£30+ to watch Rovers is wrong on so many levels but slashing prices won’t bring back the fans we’ve lost.

[Mattyblue]

Again I’m not asking them to be ‘slashed’ just not to be priced at a ridiculous level, like £35 on the day to watch Rovers v Middlesbrough in the Jack Walker.

[Paul Mani]

1 minute ago, JHRover said:

I want 30,000 a week turning up. But I know that isnt going to happen. You have to be realistic and pragmatic. 'Wanting people to commit longer term' isnt going to happen with season tickets on the rise and a poor product being served up. The ludicrous £3 surcharge won't encourage more to buy season tickets. It will just ensure next to nobody goes to games like tonight.

I'll walk past the ticket office at 7:15pm tonight and there will be more people waiting to get served in the Fox and Hounds than buying match tickets.

The ST’s were frozen for years and never picked up. It shouldn’t matter ‘what Is being served up’ to a teams supporters. Thick and thin.

[AAK]

7 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Absolutely. Fully understand your reasons.  But where are those fans who work and go away during the summer holidays now? Supporting City no doubt! 

They just got out of the habit of going. Once you stop going and then that lasts more than 1 season, you find other things to do and save a shed load of money, only people to blame for that are those who run the club. The only way to get them back is (using your words) to bend over backwards to get them back. If the club doesnt do that, then dont expect an increae in attendances.

Only reason ive gone this season (including tonight) is freebies, these days to think of paying £25-£30 for 1 game plus drinks is crazy. Thats why they need a big initiative with season tickets, similar to huddersfield.

Edited January 28, 2020 by AAK

[Mattyblue]

Just now, Paul Mani said:

The ST’s were frozen for years and never picked up. It shouldn’t matter ‘what Is being served up’ to a teams supporters. Thick and thin.

You still don’t get it Paul.

WE turn up through thick and thin as we are the hardcore. Many floating fans see football as entertainment as much as some display of loyalty and therefore DO turn up on the back of ‘what’s being served up’.

 

[MarkBRFC]

Christ, Paul is having a mare on this thread

"Supporting City no doubt", give over.

I know loads of lads who just don't bother going now for a variety of reasons, they go to the odd away for a day on the ale, catch up with mates etc, still passionate Rovers fans who were going for years before even Jack turned up.

It's not a priority for loads of people, I have a season ticket and it's not really a priority for me anymore, I always miss a few due to other events but keep my ST out of habit really.

Edited January 28, 2020 by MarkBRFC

[OldEwoodBlue]

17 minutes ago, JHRover said:

 The ludicrous £3 surcharge won't encourage more to buy season tickets. It will just ensure next to nobody goes to games like tonight.

I'll walk past the ticket office at 7:15pm tonight and there will be more people waiting to get served in the Fox and Hounds than buying match tickets.

Correct.

The new benchmark for an evening game should be the Wigan attendance.

Big queues at the ticket office 5 minutes before KO.

Why was that ?

Cheap tickets and no Waggott Tax.

Red button was on if I recall correctly.

[MarkBRFC]

2 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Correct.

The new benchmark for an evening game should be the Wigan attendance.

Big queues at the ticket office 5 minutes before KO.

Why was that ?

Cheap tickets and no Waggott Tax.

Red button was on if I recall correctly.

Probably should be the benchmark for a Saturday game that!

[Paul Mani]

17 minutes ago, AAK said:

They just got out of the habit of going. Once you stop going and then that lasts more than 1 season, you find other things to do and save a shed load of money, only people to blame for that are those who run the club. The only way to get them back is (using your words) to bend over backwards to get them back. If the club doesnt do that, then dont expect an increae in attendances.

Only reason ive gone this season (including tonight) is freebies, these days to think of paying £25-£30 for 1 game plus drinks is crazy. Thats why they need a big initiative with season tickets, similar to huddersfield.

I take your point in getting out of the habit. Maybe the reality is that the glamour of the PL and glory enticed those extra fans and they’re never coming back. Pretty sure our gates pre Jack Walker were similar to today’s.

Huddersfields model is based on parachute payments to weigh off the difference. We don’t have that luxury.

[Paul Mani]

5 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Christ, Paul is having a mare on this thread

"Supporting City no doubt", give over.

I know loads of lads who just don't bother going now for a variety of reasons, they go to the odd away for a day on the ale, catch up with mates etc, still passionate Rovers fans who were going for years before even Jack turned up.

It's not a priority for many people, I have a season ticket and it's not really a priority for me anymore, I always miss a few due to other events but keep my ST out of habit really.

Yes mate. All true. But I know quite a few who went in the 90’s and now post pictures at the Etihad and Anfield with blue or red scarfs wrapped round their necks.

[Mattyblue]

1 minute ago, Paul Mani said:

I take your point in getting out of the habit. Maybe the reality is that the glamour of the PL and glory enticed those extra fans and they’re never coming back. Pretty sure our gates pre Jack Walker were similar to today’s.

Huddersfields model is based on parachute payments to weigh off the difference. We don’t have that luxury.

No Huddersfield reduced prices the summer before promotion.

[OJRovers]

I still think the club could make it easier for fans living out of the town to get to Ewood. 
Getting to the ground on public transport or driving and parking is a pain if you’ve got further to travel.
My suggestion would be shuttle buses from Darwen station. Other clubs do it.