The club needs fans.... - Page 4

Lord Stiffupperlip · 10-11-2016, 10:47

Lord D, I admire your unbounded optimism and visions of serious amounts of commission coming your way via your pyramid scheme.
It's hard enough getting the uncommitted to even attend a game, let alone sign em up for a season ticket!
All I'm suggesting is for the club to encourage our regular fans to bring a chum along by providing an incentive, i.e. - a small discount on ticket price.
It's easier to convince a friend to give it a try when it's only going to cost them £10, as opposed to £20.
Blimey! If they're a good mate, I'd even pay for the bleeding ticket (as long as they got the drinks in!)

Chimer · 10-11-2016, 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

could say the same for a lot of us. i,ve got friends who are committed to other clubs or other sports and would no more go to stanley than i would a barry mannilo concert. i,ve got relatives in hartlepool and my son lives in rugby. i,m not knocking any ideas that people come out with to increase gates but i do think its harder than people think without promotion. we might be happy supporting a side in the 4th tier but some people will only watch football down to a certain level.

...... while some of us will probably only watch football up to a certain level (until the day Stanley make the Prem, of course

)

baldy · 10-11-2016, 21:04

"Hard to attract fans" - This why I said we should do £5 for under 16s, Not that we should forget about the adults but we've tried different things over the years to attract adults and not really succeeded, So why not start from scratch?

Like already said most adults have their own team that isn't Stanley and will be hard to change that so starting with the kids will hopefully change the cycle of it being only Blackburn, Burnley or United fans in the playground...As soon as 1 kid tells his mate about Stanley it's a domino effect that will then hopefully pay off long term!

We took the Clayton End seats out to improve the atmosphere, Before the seats were put in the front section was filled with kids who just wanted to jump and shout about Stanley, The seats killed that so why not entice them back and get the Clayton End rocking again as it's relatively empty without the seats?

Not to mention all the extra shirts we would sell as they grow out of them and every Christmas I knew what I wanted, the new Stanley shirt!

I'm not saying thousands of kids would come out of the woodwork but I'm sure there would be enough to compensate knocking it down to £5

maccawozzagod · 10-11-2016, 21:41

"Start from scratch"

How true. We've only ever had a short term plan, in fact more of a 'now plan' - but we really do need to work out the 5 year plan

Lord Didsbury · 10-11-2016, 22:13

If it's a 5 year plan then perhaps start with a target? Increase the average gate from 1,400 to 2,000? Season tickets from 700 to 1,200?
Fight on three fronts: kids as Baldy (I think) mentioned. Get them to the front of the Clayton End.
Hand out free vouchers to season ticket holders to entice friends to come along.
Get the word out generally around the area about the history and wonder of the Wham and carry on with ground improvements.
Each of those only needs to make a 2.5% increase year on year and the target is hit.

Obviously my pyramid selling scheme would treble the gates, but maybe that's to be brought in in year 6 when the new stand is in place, and I've had chance to refine it a little.

monkey hanger · 11-11-2016, 09:17

agree with baldy. kids are the future for stanley and all clubs. should be targeting the senior school kids 11 upwards as they can come with their mates and not having to have a parent with them. 5 quid is about right for all kids in full time education including 16 to 18 year olds.

Lord Stiffupperlip · 11-11-2016, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

agree with baldy. kids are the future for stanley and all clubs. should be targeting the senior school kids 11 upwards as they can come with their mates and not having to have a parent with them. 5 quid is about right for all kids in full time education including 16 to 18 year olds.

Fully agree. But I'd still do 'Kid for a quid' for say a month, to get em through the door. Once they're hooked £5 is perfect.
This would be a real pull to any boy or girl interested in football and with their obsession with social media, would be self advertising.

accybeme · 11-11-2016, 19:48

could not something be done to cut the cost for large families, with the Adult fee (£20) +
1 child (£10) Total = £30 but for a family with 4 children it would cost £60 not a very encouriging day out for the large families

monkey hanger · 12-11-2016, 08:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by accybeme

could not something be done to cut the cost for large families, with the Adult fee (£20) +
1 child (£10) Total = £30 but for a family with 4 children it would cost £60 not a very encouriging day out for the large families

compare it with going to the cinema in a warm room in winter it looks even worse.

Chrisr · 12-11-2016, 15:33

Nice to see people are waking up to the serious reality of what I have been saying for about 3 years. People who seemed to have their heads in the sand are actually waking up. It is a serious state of affairs that needs to be stemmed immediately. We all know that gates of less than 2000 is a loss. All the ideas of lowering prices have been dealt a savage blow by the senior management saying that they can't afford it. Sorry but we can't afford to let the gates keep dropping again. It does seem that greed is the rule of the day at Stanley at the moment. This is why it is so important that we have a plan and stick with it.

Lord Stiffupperlip · 12-11-2016, 17:04

Chrisr, there are non so blind as those who will not see!
There have been some positive, constructive ideas on this thread on ways we, the regular fans, feel the club could help to increase attendance.
We're not advocating letting people in for free, or offering discounts to regular fans. The ideas have all been aimed at attracting fans who would not normally attend.
It's no good the club keep repeating 'we can't afford it', the current admission prices to watch league 2 football in what is an economically depressed area, are too high.
Surely it's better getting 100 new fans through the gates paying £10 each than no new fans! As far as I'm aware, 100% of nothing is still exactly- nothing!

Chrisr · 12-11-2016, 17:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Stiffupperlip

Chrisr, there are non so blind as those who will not see!
There have been some positive, constructive ideas on this thread on ways we, the regular fans, feel the club could help to increase attendance.
We're not advocating letting people in for free, or offering discounts to regular fans. The ideas have all been aimed at attracting fans who would not normally attend.
It's no good the club keep repeating 'we can't afford it', the current admission prices to watch league 2 football in what is an economically depressed area, are too high.
Surely it's better getting 100 new fans through the gates paying £10 each than no new fans! As far as I'm aware, 100% of nothing is still exactly- nothing!

I agree that there has been some good positive ideas on this thread and welcome them. Many have been suggested previously and as I say were shot down by those in the clubs hierarchy that we can't afford it. I am delighted that the points you are making are now being given consideration. I am not blind to any of this. The simple argument for letting new fans in is the same as you have made that 100 new fans at a tenner is better than 100 empty seats. I have said that 100%of nothing is nothing several times. I have said many times it is the stay away people we need to attract. actually doing it is another task, reducing prices has not worked much in the past so we need to be a little more creative in our ideas. The wham should be the place to want to be.

maccawozzagod · 12-11-2016, 18:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisr

I agree that there has been some good positive ideas on this thread and welcome them. Many have been suggested previously and as I say were shot down by those in the clubs hierarchy that we can't afford it.

I dont know who in the clubs hierarchy has been shooting ideas down?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisr

I am delighted that the points you are making are now being given consideration.

being considered by whom?

I dont intend to have a go at you in partcularly Chris, just using quoting that before I start. Sometimes we may assume that by having a discussion on here that the club has read it and somehow joined in - and then by not acting upon it they have dismissed it.

The problem with Accrington Stanley of 2016 is that it had been neglected for many years. Ground developments other than compulsory work (ie seats put in) was 1 in 10 years (the roof). Nothing had been done regards infrastructure in that same timescale, there was no plan b. Ever.

For over a decade it was a struggle to get through the day and still have electricity to set the alarm. All of Eric's money went daily on wages, and there was nothing left to put into a fund for getting things going. The word marketing was alien to him. Post Eric we had Ilyas who was only ever an interim helmsman and had been there to fight off the wolves. He stated that he wouldn't be a fairy godmother or sugar daddy and he was right. He passed the baton to Peter who again, could only afford to put in the minimum requirements to keep the club afloat.

Now we have Andy Holt. He too has stated that he won't be a sugar daddy, but he WAS able to put in enough money to pay off all creditors and stop us wasting thousands of pounds a month on interest payments, or late payment penalties. He HAS put in tens of thousands (if not hundreds) to start tidying the place up and making it capable of retaining fans. We have lost dozens of fans due to leaky rooves and waterlogged bogs. That's no longer an option.

He HAS got a plan regarding the development of the ground to enable it start attracting and keeping new fans. He wants the ground to make money for us which it has NEVER done in the past.

So, we have an owner who is willing and capable of developing the club. He has ideas of his own and will hopefully listen to the ideas of others in how to progress the profile of the club. Every prospective fan who doesnt yet attend we must consider to be a 'no'. Yet every salesman will tell you there is no such word as no = just 'not yet'. Find the objection and then overcome it.

What are the objections?

1. crap ground, crap footy
Yes it's a crap ground but its improving. The footy is usually fairly good but is still League 2 and that is something we can do little about
2. Overpriced.
We can do something about this but unless you expect AH to keep footing the bill then we need to spend what we can at the ground rather than elsewhere. Once the club can recover the lost revenue it can start to do something about the prices - but the turnover simply HAS to improve
3. The club has a bad reputation
Yes it has. Gambling problems, poor disciplinary record over the years, bills unpaid, constant bucket rattling. This is something that we can do little to improve on other than allowing time to forget. We have to stop griping in public about the fans that dont come. They dont come because they arent fans.

The club has to be seen in a positive light to attract the attention of the potential fan. Results do this. Big cup games, strong league runs etc. But you need a strong element of luck to achieve this, particularly when you haven't got a quarter the budget of other clubs in this league.

We can attract positive attention by highlighting the good things that we do. The Community Team do a fantastic job and occasionally get stories into the press, this needs to be improved upon. Everything should be highlighted. We should, as a club, nominate a local charity that we publicly back and try to raise funds for. We frequently allow certain charities to attend a game and shake their buckets, but how about WE decide on who to raise funds for, WE shake the buckets then present to aforementioned charity. It amounts to the same thing but we also gain positive exposure. Our players must be able to spare an hour after training to go into town and do meet and greets? shake collection tins? speak to local business owners?

We all know that there is far too few staff members at the club, yet we still slate them for not doing enough. Another thread on here is for RIP Jim Shaw. He was our groundsman in the 90's and spent every single waking hour at the club. He did security, caretaker, groundsman, kitman, bar manager .... far too many hours to count. Mick Schultz was the same, and so were many others - Dave Burgess will be no different. We can't knock the man who wears many hats when we find that he doesn't suit one.

I'm hoping that we will soon have a major something to sink our collective teeth into, and will post accordingly at the time. For now though keep thinking of the ideas and the positivity, and lets try to keep a lid on the negative things. It's really not all that terrible at the moment and I personally feel its a little disrespectful to moan about the tiny irrelevant things when so much good stuff is right around the corner.

KTF
OSO
COYR
StID

Chrisr · 12-11-2016, 18:40

Well said Macca, you have reiterated much of what I have said over the last three years and drawn the conclusion for many of the same reasons. No 3 I wouldn't beat myself up over it. Much of the reasons were dealt with at the time and people have in general forgotten. You have hit a gold nail when you say the people who don't come are not fans. Why not? this is the reason we need to get to the bottom of.
You say that nobody from the club reads this forum, I can assure you they do. When I was having a go about the loss of the Dissability concession I was ferociously attacked by one or two and a new post called King Kev. I wonder who that could have been. But everything that was wrong at that time he took as a personal attack on both himself and AndyHolt. Nobody here would ever say a wrong word about AH, full stop. You have replied with a brilliant post about positivety and I am with you all the way, we hardly ever hear a word about the academy success and the the trust's great work. yes we can do better. Everything you have said has been said before. The difference is there are enough people reading and listening and evaluating the ideas. The supporters club does not seem to have the input I expected. But if we all keep at it things can change, but to change these problems we have to understand why? that is the basic starting point. I will let others have their input. please make a suggestion or observation for discussion. everybody has view on some aspect of the experience of the club. Great post Maccca.

maccawozzagod · 12-11-2016, 20:15

I suggested something to AH a few months ago with the aim of seating a thousand 11 year old bums on seats. Andy's response was that we had nowhere to put a thousand kids.

I thought it was a spot on answer. Previous Chairmen would have told me to crack on, and we'd have had a thousand disappointed kids who probably wouldnt come again.

The point is that we know what to do but the order of business has to be correct or its wasted opportunities.

Discounted games, free games ... all pointless unless you are in a position to capitalise.

I GUARANTEE that the position will be entirely different. AND TOGETHER WE WILL HELP THAT MATERIALISE