Attendances: A cause for concern

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 minutes ago, roverblue said:

I have got to say that I very rarely find going on Ewood boring, even though last nights first half was a shambles we still got there in the end and got a 2-0 win. I don't think there will be many teams in the Championship that will dominate for 90mins, although I would love it if Rovers showed up for a bit longer as you say!

 

We have been really fortunate under Mowbray to have what feels like a great home record (at least when we were allowed on the ground) and I personally really enjoy the battles at Ewood where in most cases we come out on top.

It’s the football for me. Lots of times it’s mind numbingly dull and negative. I’m not one of those who’s  been ruined with watching us in the Prem. I go way back before that. We were good to watch under Gordon Lee, Ken Furphy etc playing at a lower level than we are at now.

[Bad Boy]

54 minutes ago, roverblue said:

A lot of season ticket holders around me didn't turn up last night, Tuesday night against Hull isn't really one to entice the fans!

 

It would be fairer to compare a Saturday 3pm attendance with the the last few years instead, probably still down on what it has been.

Putting the price up £100 in the Riverside was an idiotic move and has probably lost a couple of thousand purely based on cost.

The 7,000 ST holders were included in the figure whether they turned up or not.  There were also about 480 Hull fans.  Whatever way this is painted this is dire.  Some blame Covid, that is only a small part of the problem and certainly not the root cause, indeed many other clubs have seen gates go up and our own away support has Improved.

Apart from the owners and the senior management team we have the issue of some people not wanting to turn up to a morgue; we need initiatives like safe standing which albeit have a cost attached it will encourage our 16-30 year old support.  Also do the club analyse our free ticket schemes, do they work and how many return and buy a ticket?

Edited September 15, 2021 by Bad Boy

[den]

A lesson to be learnt here. The fans arguing that they would rather watch Rovers in the lower leagues that watch the “type” of football that saw us half way up the Premier League should maybe take a look at what that meant.

Its not that popular now. 
 

[roverblue]

 

9 minutes ago, Bad Boy said:

The 7,000 ST holders were included in the figure whether they turned up or not.  There were also about 480 Hull fans.  Whatever way this is painted this is dire.  Some blame Covid, that is only a small part of the problem and certainly not the root cause, indeed many other clubs have seen gates go up and our own away support has Improved.

Apart from the owners and the senior management team we have the up issue of some people not wanting to turn up to a morgue; we need initiatives like safe standing which albeit have a cost attached it will encourage our 16-30 year old support.  Also do the club analyse our free ticket schemes, do they work and how many return and buy a ticket?

I agree, although my point about season ticket holder's not showing up was meant to demonstrate that if paid up ticket holders didn't even show up its unlikely that we would have many walk ons to boost the gate.

 

I don't think the standard of football or entertainment from the team on the pitch warrants the decrease in attendance personally. I think off field stuff like ticket prices, concession stands service/pricing and the general malaise around the ownership/investment has just pushed people away.

[rigger]

1 hour ago, roverblue said:

 

I agree, although my point about season ticket holder's not showing up was meant to demonstrate that if paid up ticket holders didn't even show up its unlikely that we would have many walk ons to boost the gate.

 

I don't think the standard of football or entertainment from the team on the pitch warrants the decrease in attendance personally. I think off field stuff like ticket prices, concession stands service/pricing and the general malaise around the ownership/investment has just pushed people away.

Is it a fact that we have sold 7000 season tickets or has the real figure been rounded up? Did we really have1500 walk-ons ?

[tomphil]

33 quid for Preston at Sheff U last night, a club with parachute money and big gates.

When we go to Blackpool, that skint club who've been to the brink, only £23 for a local game. When they come here they'll likely have to pay at least £32.

Blackpool are showing the way and we are more Blackpool than Sheffield we can't get away with what they can.

Edited September 15, 2021 by tomphil

[Bad Boy]

13 minutes ago, rigger said:

Is it a fact that we have sold 7000 season tickets or has the real figure been rounded up? Did we really have1500 walk-ons ?

Yes we sold  7,000 give or take a handful.

[rigger]

6 minutes ago, Bad Boy said:

Yes we sold  7,000 give or take a handful.

So it was rounded up to 7000. And I suppose we will never know if we did have1500+ walk-ons. I would say that the actual amount of Rovers fans there was closer to 6000.

[Bad Boy]

20 minutes ago, rigger said:

So it was rounded up to 7000. And I suppose we will never know if we did have1500+ walk-ons. I would say that the actual amount of Rovers fans there was closer to 6000.

It’s a guess but I would put last nights actual total attendance at 6,500 at the very most.

Given the quality of the 1st half it would have been more entertaining trying to count the numbers in attendance.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Bad Boy

[only2garners]

58 minutes ago, rigger said:

So it was rounded up to 7000. And I suppose we will never know if we did have1500+ walk-ons. I would say that the actual amount of Rovers fans there was closer to 6000.

The actual figure on Monday was 6,995 STs sold., quoted at the Fans Forum.The Hull game was the last one that you can offset any tickets bought for home games against the price of a ST. So we may well just get to 7K, plus a few half STs later.

[tomphil]

How many has Balaji bought or is he half the walk ons .... 

[chaddyrovers]

Rovers season ticket prices need to be lower to attract more fans back and match day prices need to be £15 per game for adults and kids for pound. 

Rovers had the perfect opportunity to lower prices for this season have a season tickets at £250 per adult, with Kids ST for 20 pounds. 

But the club didn't and now we will not attract non ST back now. 

I do feel that pandemic has change people habits like spending and social activities wise but the prices over recent seasons haven't been good enough for the club and they haven't done enough to attract non ST tickets back from previous seasons or even walk on's 

[Wheelton Blue]

It's basic supply and demand economics.

The number of people who are willing to pay the price Maggott is asking to watch the football served up by Mowbray, is decreasing.

i.e. it's expensive and doesn't offer value for money.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Wheelton Blue

[simongarnerisgod]

we`ve lost fans because  of venkys,now we also have overpriced admission,**** football and a club that does`nt engage with it`s remaining fanbase,it`s as simple as that,the only way rovers will ever recover is if venkys decide to sell and the new owners actually understand about the game or we end up in administration,take the hit and rise again from the ashes,we ar`nt going on any upward curve with mowbray and maggot

[gumboots]

It would help if they got match details out there. I hadn't realised Rovers had a match last night until I came on here on Monday. If you're not engaged enough to be looking at the fixtures then they need to be much more proactive with information. It was the same with STs I think. I know a number of people said that friends and relatives who aren't on social media weren't aware when they went on sale

[RevidgeBlue]

The only surprise is that anyone is surprised by last night's turnout.

It's the culmination of a piss poor CEO  persevering with a piss poor pricing strategy (which was unbelievably originally introduced in the midst of a pandemic) after the fans have also  had to endure three years of piss poor football and results on the pitch under a piss poor manager.

Said manager hardly fired up enthusiasm for the new season either by  spending the summer desperately touting around our star striker to anyone who was interested and, then showing a stunning lack of self awareness by helpfully informing us it was unclear as to whether any funds were available for a replacement when it was his fault star striker had to be sold in the first place due to the money he's previously wasted.

And that's only the last three seasons. Apart from the brief respite of a League 1 promotion the years before that were pretty terrible as well.

The question is: What do the owners do about it now in the medium to long term? Big changes required: I see no possible scenario whatsoever in which the fans come flocking back to Ewood with either Waggott or Mowbray in situ.

Let alone both of them.

Edited September 15, 2021 by RevidgeBlue

[lraC]

People simply are not stupid, but Waggot thinks Rovers fans are. The totally ridiculous match day prices, are clearly putting people off, as did the cost of the season tickets. Add to that, the fact that no one came out to even mention the managers failings, after another death spiral last year.

The owners are simply neglecting the club and as I have posted before, whils they are here, the club is in serious trouble.

Until they sell and someone comes in who cares, this downward trajectory will continue. Where it will end, who knows, but over 10,000 fans have had enough and the numbers now attending, hammer this home. 

[Blue blood]

As others have said it's a perfect storm really. Poor football, terrible owners, increased prices and non existent efforts to engage fans all add up. Any one on its own will cause problems, bit all of them together is huge. Add in the longevity of this - 10 years of decline - and it's a hell of a window to walk away. 

I think there are other smaller factors which add to the main ones. Covid getting people out of the ha it and seeing more people with financial pressure being a key one.  Both would be issues anyway but Covid makes both issues worse. 

Another factor - which I have banged on for years about - is the attraction and ease for supporting the big 6. I've gone on for years about how easy that is, with everything geared to it, and that again will only be making it is really for people, young fans especially, to follow Rovers. 

Perhaps the biggest issue is that there is zero sign of change. Swag or some of will certainly be here next season and our owners. There's no recognition of any problem. Our biggest issue is little will change so the decline will continue. 

 

[Blue blood]

23 hours ago, Wood26 said:

Say we sold 10k tickets at £30 that would be £300,000.

If tickets were reduced to £20, we would need to sell and extra 5k to make the same money.

Does anyone think 5k fans would come over sake of it being £10 cheaper, I don’t think so.

I think lack of success, investment in team is the main issue. If we got promoted by some miracle, attendances would go up regardless if tickets were same price.

Sure investment in the team and lack of success are issues, but it's hardly just that. 

The idea that price isn't a factor goes against all business advice (and evidence, as we have not had success for ages). Nor can the dislike of the owners or management not be considered a factor either or the fact it's been 10 flipping years of them. 

Your point of would we break even with the lowering of prices misses off a number of factors. Firstly factor in the extra pies, programmes etc that those extra fans may bring. 10k - and we aren't getting anywhere near that which should get alarm bells ringing - will buy 10k's worth of stuff. 12k, 12 k's worth of stuff. Sure not as much as a ticket but each extra fan likely brings in more than their ticket value. 

More importantly for sustainability and growth, the more fans the better. For example most Rovers fans are introduced by family or friends or contacts. Here 12k worth of fans makes for more growth and sustainability than 10k. In this case, again the bigger numbers help. 

Again with this the lower price helps. What I, or others, may try at £20, is different to £30 for example. Again this can help entice new fans to Rovers. 

Long term more fans and lower prices benefits Rovers. If our management could see this the situation might not be as bleak as it seems. 

 

 

[Rogerb]

Sadly I don't think we have reached rock bottom with the attendance figures yet I fully expect Tuesday night's to be beaten during the winter. The decline is likely to be continued during the present reign large parts of the support has simply had enough. I dread to think how many will be on next season if Mowbray were to get a new contract! Should all the present incumbents remain we could eventually be down to 5000.

[Gav]

12 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

The question is: What do the owners do about it now in the medium to long term? Big changes required: I see no possible scenario whatsoever in which the fans come flocking back to Ewood with either Waggott or Mowbray in situ.

They pay off the massive debt run up on the back of the disastrous decision making, hand the club over to fan ownership and sod off.

Potting the manager and CEO encourages much of the same as we've seen over the last 10yrs, how anyone thinks thats a viable option is beyond me. 

As for attendances, success on the pitch brings the Blackburn public out, always has done always will do, keep the faith.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Gav

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

On 14/09/2021 at 23:14, SanDimas1988 said:

What would you change to fix this downward trend?

What would you change?...where the hell do you start!

 

1.Ask our owners,who have not attended a home game in years btw,to re-engage with the Supporter base expressing their desires and expectations as to what they expect in return for their Philanthropy.If they no longer have any desire and passion to be connected with this Club then put it up for sale and sell to prospective new owners who will give a damn and move this stagnant situation forward for the benefit of all concerned.We are simply going nowhere at present,a rudderless ship in a sea of shyte.

 

2. Employ a CEO with vision and an understanding of the Towns various demographics.Seriously,is it a wise move to charge £30+ in an area classed as one of the most poorest in England and then on the back of a Pandemic that has hit hard..what is the thought process in that?.He didn't get everything right but oh Lord for the days of a certain John Williams.

 

3.Employ a Manager who is able to get the very best from his side.A manager who does not speak to the fans like they are idiots (i don't look at the table bull) and wants to see us back in the top flight.It's been achieved by smaller clubs than us with a lesser budget.We are underachieving,there is no question.

 

Feels like I'm just scratching the surface here but Jesus Christ,have Rovers fans ever before been in such need of reconnecting with their club?...Apathy reigns supreme but the causes are there for all to see surely.

Edited September 16, 2021 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Hasta]

10 or 20 years ago our games were not streamed live on the internet. Not sure why that doesn't affect other clubs attendances but you only have to look on a match day at the number of people commenting on the game that are not based abroad. It's surprising how many people I speak to no longer go but seem to have firm opinions on all the players and matches.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Hasta

[Bad Boy]

There are some very interesting developments on the Rovers ownership front.  There is local interest that the V’s have not shunned.

[perthblue02]

35 minutes ago, Bad Boy said:

There are some very interesting developments on the Rovers ownership front.  There is local interest that the V’s have not shunned.

People who are considering the sale of  petrol and convenience stores for $15 billion?

Edited September 16, 2021 by perthblue02