Attendances: A cause for concern

[JHRover]

I don't like the idea of it being in the DE lower. Or if it is I would do it so only the lower tier is open with away fans in one half and home fans in the other. At least that would take us back to the days of 'banter' between home and away fans either side of segregation. That won't work with 500 Millwall lot up in the top corner and similar Rovers out of view downstairs.

With all the bottom tier to go at we are going to have to shift at least 1500-2000 to make this worthwhile and even then the lower tier will be sparsely populated.

I can see what they are trying to do and fair enough its better to try than do nothing. But I think it is asking a lot to shift a substantial volume in the space of 8-9 days and I worry it will just end up with a small cluster of home fans and not much difference to the atmosphere.

If they really wanted to push this they should have announced it weeks ago and promoted it far and wide not slipped it out 9 days before.

[tomphil]

It'll be hundreds rather than thousands they still don't quite get what they are dealing with at Rovers.

[Mattyblue]

Indeed. But I’ve no sympathy as their own data tells them that bundles don’t work. Why don’t they? Because if you are still a floating fan by this stage of the season, I.e. you haven’t bought a full, then half ST, that’s because you don’t want to be tied down to consecutive Saturday’s at Ewood, especially with one of them on Sky. 

Yet here we are, not only a bundle, but in comparison to when they usually try it, now it forces you to sit in one tier of one stand.

It will flop, and then we will hear fans decrying our ‘shit support’, Waggott stating we’ve ‘done all we can’, when it is blindingly obvious that it was a deal that wouldn’t be a hit and the chance to do something that will actually work, I.e pick a game, make it a tenner and market the hell out of it is missed…

Edited February 10, 2022 by Mattyblue

[JHRover]

Preston play Blackpool at Deepdale on 5th April. Still 7 weeks off but had announced tickets weeks ago and put them on sale in mid January. 

They've pushed and pushed them and that's partly because they are opening the away end to home fans.

I don't understand why this has been left so late in the day.

[Wheelton Blue]

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

Preston play Blackpool at Deepdale on 5th April. Still 7 weeks off but had announced tickets weeks ago and put them on sale in mid January. 

They've pushed and pushed them and that's partly because they are opening the away end to home fans.

I don't understand why this has been left so late in the day.

Laziness, ineptitude, capability, or any other suitable adjective that describes the total loss of any commercial accumen.

Take your pick.

[tomphil]

It's all just being done with another ST price rise in summer in mind i'd wager. They'll be very reluctant to do any seriously discounted games so come up with these token gestures.

Yes on the face of it it's a good deal of course it is but with the form we have been in over the past month how many are really going to stump it up ?  Rovers match buying and part time support is notorious for its one game at a time approach that's why bundles don't work around here. People know the value of their spare money and keep it in the pocket unless they feel it's really worth spending.

That's the harsh reality of life in East Lancs.

[Wheelton Blue]

I'm that I saw 'March Early Bird' adverts when watching the Burnley game on Tuesday, presumably for season tickets.

If so, that's both them and Bolton stealing a march on us.

[JHRover]

4 hours ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I'm that I saw 'March Early Bird' adverts when watching the Burnley game on Tuesday, presumably for season tickets.

If so, that's both them and Bolton stealing a march on us.

Yes, we've only got 5 months to wait for ours.

[tomphil]

4 hours ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I'm that I saw 'March Early Bird' adverts when watching the Burnley game on Tuesday, presumably for season tickets.

If so, that's both them and Bolton stealing a march on us.

Our version of early bird would be getting them on sale in June.

[A Northern Horde...]

Some 11,800 Rovers fans last night?..hardly a great response to our position and cheaper midweek tickets.

Again,massive damage done to our fanbase over the years.

[frosty]

Could that joker on the tannoy stop announcing the attendances please? Making it sound like an attendance of 13k is some kind of achievement. Just put it up on the scoreboard.

[Mattyblue]

15 minutes ago, frosty said:

Could that joker on the tannoy stop announcing the attendances please? Making it sound like an attendance of 13k is some kind of achievement. Just put it up on the scoreboard.

A million percent THIS. Just invites the opposition fans to take the piss, and gives me the impression that getting crowds of 13/14k is seen as a big achievement by the club, not a mere starting point in trying to re-build the fanbase.

And as for that PA announcer… ‘the officials have agreed 3 minutes of added time’… agreed with who?! Bring back the other (local) fella, not this fish out of water southern bloke who sounds like he’s never even been to a game of football before he somehow pitched up here.

 

17 minutes ago, A Northern Horde... said:

Some 11,800 Rovers fans last night?..hardly a great response to our position and cheaper midweek tickets.

Again,massive damage done to our fanbase over the years.

But what I would say, night games pre Christmas were attracting about 8,800 home fans, so a 3k rise on that is a big positive, Boro the same, with both games on ‘proper’ Sky too.

I will labour my ongoing point, crowds are rising, and rising substantially, but from a very low base due to the terrible summer of season ticket sales were we scraped to 7k. If we still had the 10k+ ST holders of not that long ago, then last night would have seen us pushing a 17k crowd which would be plenty for a second tier night game.

This summer, we cannot, whatever division we end up in, have another sales debacle like summer 2021.

Edited February 10, 2022 by Mattyblue

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Your points are valid Matty but it does appear an uphill battle to attract more fans to Ewood,the interest does not appear to be as high as in past decades.

Wonder how many we would shift if we made it to a Wembley play off final?...i don't think we would reach 20k tbh.

Edited February 10, 2022 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[JHRover]

With crowds you reap what you sow.

Lots of efforts being made to engage and develop support from minority groups but when you are losing traditional support hand over fist - which we have under Waggott's management - then it is achieving nothing.

Had to laugh at the obnoxious Forest lot obsessing about attendances. I think last night was the most I can remember them ever bringing to Ewood and to be honest a little over 2,000 given their form of late is nothing to boast about. I also remember playing at their place not too long ago with an official gate of 18,000 in the Championship and clearly much less than that on watching on the night itself.

Still, doesn't fit the narrative.

[Mattyblue]

25 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Your points are valid Matty but it does appear an uphill battle to attract more fans to Ewood,the interest does not appear to be as high as in past decades.

Wonder how many we would shift if we made it to a Wembley play off final?...i don't think we would reach 20k tbh.

Compare it to the 2001 promotion , we had about 12k ST holders then, from memory, so for a big game with say 5000 walk ons, plus away support, you could quickly hit around 20k for a weekend fixture, and we often did.

Now, with so few ST holders, a 5k walk on plus aways get us nowhere near 20k.

The floating fan interest is very much there, you can see it compared to pre Fulham, with double the walk ons every week compared to earlier in the season, but it is those lost ST holders that we are really missing and that is what is preventing the crowds rising to where we would like.

Edited February 10, 2022 by Mattyblue

[Upside Down]

The casual attendees were boosted by a run of good form. That seems to be coming to an end so I presume that we will be back to a whopping 10k attendance. 

Well done Venkys, you managed to halve the attendances and it only took a few years 👏

Wondering what other achievements they have in mind for the club.

[JohnD]

As matter of interest does this message board reflect the downturn in attendances?

Fewer people, less posts?

[the original david brent]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

With crowds you reap what you sow.

Lots of efforts being made to engage and develop support from minority groups but when you are losing traditional support hand over fist - which we have under Waggott's management - then it is achieving nothing.

Had to laugh at the obnoxious Forest lot obsessing about attendances. I think last night was the most I can remember them ever bringing to Ewood and to be honest a little over 2,000 given their form of late is nothing to boast about. I also remember playing at their place not too long ago with an official gate of 18,000 in the Championship and clearly much less than that on watching on the night itself.

Still, doesn't fit the narrative.

Spot on. The work Yasir Sufi is doing to attract and engage the Asian Community is to be commended. However the club cannot abandon trying to attract the next generation from the traditional support base. I just feel this is being neglected and i am not the only one who feels this.

My kids go to a primary school in Whitehall Darwen which has always been a core Rovers area. I think the school had 1-2 visits from Rovers community trust in the league 1 season but have had nothing since. It hasn’t gone unnoticed. It’s basically been left to the fervent supporting Rovers parents like me to drum our kids to be Rovers fans and not succumb to the glory of the big clubs. Accy Stanley do more to get the kids in than Rovers.

[tomphil]

5 hours ago, frosty said:

Could that joker on the tannoy stop announcing the attendances please? Making it sound like an attendance of 13k is some kind of achievement. Just put it up on the scoreboard.

That guy is terrible and not just because it's easy to knock everything after a defeat.

Constantly 'Get behind YOUR Blackburn Rovers' screeching at the top of his voice as if the crowd had been sat in silence. Last night it most definitely wasn't he sounds like he's addressing a primary school assembly.

[tomphil]

4 hours ago, JHRover said:

With crowds you reap what you sow.

Lots of efforts being made to engage and develop support from minority groups but when you are losing traditional support hand over fist - which we have under Waggott's management - then it is achieving nothing.

Had to laugh at the obnoxious Forest lot obsessing about attendances. I think last night was the most I can remember them ever bringing to Ewood and to be honest a little over 2,000 given their form of late is nothing to boast about. I also remember playing at their place not too long ago with an official gate of 18,000 in the Championship and clearly much less than that on watching on the night itself.

Still, doesn't fit the narrative.

Nothing worse than billy big balls clubs like that whose fanbase is as fickle as anyone else's. They are a bit like Boro the Forest lot it's not long ago they had sub 1k following up here for midweek.

Down there their ground has often had 10k empty seats on show but because their gates are always bigger than ours it gives them a divine right to take the piss. Conveniently ignoring the difference in population and catchment area ie 300 plus thousand and virtually a whole county to draw from.

Is under two thousand really so impressive by them all things considered ?  

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

Nothing worse than billy big balls clubs like that whose fanbase is as fickle as anyone else's. They are a bit like Boro the Forest lot it's not long ago they had sub 1k following up here for midweek.

Down there their ground has often had 10k empty seats on show but because their gates are always bigger than ours it gives them a divine right to take the piss. Conveniently ignoring the difference in population and catchment area ie 300 plus thousand and virtually a whole county to draw from.

Is under two thousand really so impressive by them all things considered ?  

A few on Twitter have pulled them up on their unimpressive 1900 following yesterday - which in my opinion is decent but not what I would expect for a 'big' club in blistering form.

Apparently it would have been much bigger had they not had so many other away games recently.

Lets see how many we take to Sheff United in a few weeks - even at pushing £28 per adult I still bet there will be over 1500 there. Does that make us a massive club?

[tomphil]

Yes i wouldn't knock their following if it wasn't for the willy waving of some of them they have very short selective memories. So a club getting 12 thousand home fans and taking 1k plus away is indeed pound for pound better supported than them.

 

[Beafo]

21 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

A million percent THIS. Just invites the opposition fans to take the piss, and gives me the impression that getting crowds of 13/14k is seen as a big achievement by the club, not a mere starting point in trying to re-build the fanbase.

And as for that PA announcer… ‘the officials have agreed 3 minutes of added time’… agreed with who?! Bring back the other (local) fella, not this fish out of water southern bloke who sounds like he’s never even been to a game of football before he somehow pitched up here.

 

But what I would say, night games pre Christmas were attracting about 8,800 home fans, so a 3k rise on that is a big positive, Boro the same, with both games on ‘proper’ Sky too.

I will labour my ongoing point, crowds are rising, and rising substantially, but from a very low base due to the terrible summer of season ticket sales were we scraped to 7k. If we still had the 10k+ ST holders of not that long ago, then last night would have seen us pushing a 17k crowd which would be plenty for a second tier night game.

This summer, we cannot, whatever division we end up in, have another sales debacle like summer 2021.

I hope you're right. If we had sold 10,000 season ticket, where would the current 3,000 extra be coming from? Surely most of them are people who decided against a season ticket in the first place. Meaning that the extra 3000 we would needed to reach 17,000 would be people who haven't started coming back.

[Mattyblue]

14 minutes ago, Beafo said:

I hope you're right. If we had sold 10,000 season ticket, where would the current 3,000 extra be coming from? Surely most of them are people who decided against a season ticket in the first place. Meaning that the extra 3000 we would needed to reach 17,000 would be people who haven't started coming back.

No, it doesn’t usually work like that. If you look at our average gates through the seasons, whatever the increase or decrease has been in ST sales that summer, the average home crowd will mirror that increase or decrease.

Which makes sense, as many floating fans aren’t interested in a ST and will buy a match ticket when they fancy, with more of said floaters getting involved when we are doing well, whilst when a ST holder doesn’t renew they often just disappear entirely. 
 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Mattyblue

[Wheelton Blue]

12 minutes ago, Beafo said:

I hope you're right. If we had sold 10,000 season ticket, where would the current 3,000 extra be coming from? Surely most of them are people who decided against a season ticket in the first place. Meaning that the extra 3000 we would needed to reach 17,000 would be people who haven't started coming back.

I agree.

If we had more season ticket holders, that increase would likely come from the 'floating fan' pool, which in turn would reduce. Hence the overall attendance wouldn't necessarily increase, rather the make up would change.

The trick to increasing attendances is to find fans who are currently not attending at all.