Wheelton Blue

For a regular home game, at 7.5k STs sold we'll be looking at gates of what, 11k or so? 'Amazeballs', as my daughter would say....

Edun is not a Championship standard footballer. A least not for a club that wants to progress upwards.

Spot on. We need 5 or 6 with Championship experience. Thinking that we can solely rely on U23s to plug all the gaps is dillusional.

A drawback with buying a ST is that you don't have to miss many games before you're better off just getting match tickets. As a ST, I know that I'll miss 2 or 3 games for whatever reasons. In seasons gone by when ST prices were lower, I'd still be in credit versus buying match tickets if I missed a handful of games; I doubt that's the case now. I'm effectively paying for convenience.

We need to sign experienced players, is what I think. Any u23's who make the step up is a bonus, IMO, and should not be relied upon.

It's not just about having a team though, is it? We need a squad.

...or perhaps, suitors, who knowing how disfunctional our 'exec team' is, were just biding their time until they could get them for free.

There may well be, but unless they are at least the equal of those departing, then the side regresses.

You didn't just share info, though did you? 'Whilst that’s but one local comparison, I thought that I’d share it to highlight the views held by some that what Rovers are doing is poor and our neighbours are doing much better. It simply isn’t true….' You made the above statement in your original post, the implication being that you don't believe that our ST sales figures are poor, and that PNE have overstated theirs. The reality is that PNE have sold c12,000 tickets (with or with out complementaries - we don't know) but that Rovers have only sold c7,000 tickets. Spin that how you like, but, to me at least, there's no hiding from the fact that PNE have done a far better job.

He doesn't get it. PNE have 12k with complementaries. We have 7k without. Therefore, we'd need to dish out 5k complementaries just to match them. But yeah, we're 'much improved'.

The vast majority haven't bought at those prices though, have they? As you say, apples and apples.

Whether some of their STs are freebies, corporates or given to staff....it matters not a jot. They will have 12,000 home fans attending each game as a minimum, before they've sold any match day tickets.

Ideas to get people down the ground earlier, mingling, creating a better pre-match atmosphere. Get some entertainment on, live bands, stuff for the kids to do, beer tents, food market....I'm sure there's a gazzillion things they could try. There's a massive car park at the back of the BBE. I don't know how full it gets on match day, but that could be used.

The idea of the club buying pubs is laughable. Why would the club invest in a failing industry and in venues which can only cater to what, a couple of hundred people? The club should focus on attracting as many fans as possible to the stadium, as early as possible, in order to maximise revenue on food/drinks and improve the overall match day experience.

Regarding prices: The problem, IMO, is not the prices of sections such as the JWU where I sit. I'm more than happy to pay a premium, for what I think is a superb vantage point. The problem is more to do with the cheapest seats (BBE,RS), as has been pointed out by other posters. These seats are priced prohibitively with regard to attracting new customers. In other words, the 'entry point' is too high.

I've no idea, I buy them on line. But to answer your question....if they don't ask for the customer's name, they flippin' well should do! That's basic stuff.

I imagine that a good number of lapsed ST holders would still buy occasional match tickets, hence would still be on the customer database, and would be contactable per GDPR rules. No excuse whatsoever to not target this group.

Exactly. In no other industry do new customers get penalised, certainly not in those which which want to grow their customer base. They really are clueless at Ewood.

Sales of season tickets is just basic 'supply and demand' economics. Unlike say Luton, the supply is effectively infinite. We'll never, ever in a million years shift 31,000 season tickets at Ewood. The demand is also evidently not there. Therefore, to increase demand, either the perceived value of the 'product' needs to increase, or the price needs to drop. Waggot either needs to add more value to the product - a free shirt for example - or reduce the price.

That's how I feel. I'm 50 odd and have been lucky to see us win things. My daughter has seen nothing but failure, though. I'd love us to get back to the PL for her generation.

It's not so much the highest prices which are the issue. Rather, it's the cheaper tickets (think BBE) whiere we are higher than the vast majority. This is where the bulk of tickets would be sold. We're the 4th most expensive, it would appear.

The club don't talk to their customers, so how can they have any real insight? I can't recall them ever contacting me for my opinion on something. Simple things, like doing a customer survey say, they just seemingly can't be bothered with.

The first signing has got to be Nyambe IMO. If he leaves, it's yet another player to find. If he stays, the problem disappears.

Manager sorted. Now get the ticket prices sorted, Waggott!!

If Im reading it right, PNE's prices are now similar to ours give or take. The difference being, as MattyBlue points out, is that they put out an attractive early bird offer which has paid off. They probably won't now sell many more, but effectively they've got their season ticket business done early through their early bird scheme. In contrast, our early bird prices are virtually the same as our late bird prices (£30 difference). The vast majority of PNE ST holders will have paid £100-£150 or so less than we have.