Todays Attendance

[mab]

There is intrest in Clitheroe as friends do ask how stanley have got on or how much is it to get in these days. So a little push in the right direction by the club would(could) help swell the gate at home games Get in to the schools bring winstanley along giving out free under 12's tickets out and £5 for adults whats there to lose against what could be gained

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by mab

There is intrest in Clitheroe as friends do ask how stanley have got on or how much is it to get in these days. So a little push in the right direction by the club would(could) help swell the gate at home games Get in to the schools bring winstanley along giving out free under 12's tickets out and £5 for adults whats there to lose against what could be gained

Exactly! But are the club listening to ideas like this? Maybe a word in Joe's ear might help.

[DaveinGermany]

When we travel across to Enschede on the approach road is a big Advertising billboard with FC Twente's badge on & the details of their next match.

When we visited my sister at Coventry we took her nippers to the Coventry game they'd done a voucher for a family ticket we ended up saving about a tenner on the normal price. At half time there was a 50/50 & some kind of raffle on with about 5/6 prizes (numbers were on the proggys) so anyone buying a proggy was automatically in with a chance of winning. There was also a beat the mascot penalty shoot out for the kids & I think there was also a hit the bar thingy for older participants.

[Revived Red]

When people have a very limited amount of money to spend on leisure activities, we should also be comparing ourselves against facilities available at other leisure areas. The inadequacies are immediately obvious. Leaving aside football-related issues, we really should have proper toilet and proper catering facilities.

As accybeme says, somewhere pleasant to have a drink, warm up and maybe spend the proverbial penny or two at half time would make the "match day experience" very much better.

Is it not time for the Board to formulate an action plan to address these basic issues?

[Grimps]

If we get sheff united home sell them all the ground .and just put all accy fans in clyton end . then sell all seat to them more money for club. Bk to league game bring bk 15 for pay at gate not 17 .

[stanleyhouse]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

Exactly! But are the club listening to ideas like this? Maybe a word in Joe's ear might help.

Listening or already doing?

Winstanley and I were at St John's Baxenden this morning and Green Haworth and West End Primary last week doing assemblies.

We gave away 300 tickets to kids on Saturday. 38 attended.
We average 400-500 giveaway tickets each match.
Been to Accy, Ossy, Bash, Hapton, Haslingden, Blackburn, Church, Gt Harwood, Crawshawbooth, Clayton with players and/or Winstanley.

The cub has linked with Lancashire County Council to set up the Winstanley Attendance League. See this weeks Accy Observer/ programme.

We also sent 700 discounted tickets for Express Gifts Workers recently.

Have you seen:
Football - Tickets For Troops

Our Community trust also have up to 120 discounted and free tickets for grassroots football teams each match.

Over a quarter of our 469 season ticket holders didn't appear on Saturday!

8000 leaflets were delivered to houses in Hyndburn. Inside were £10 ticket vouchers for Wycombe and Plymouth. Less than 10 have been used so far.

On a positive note we've sold more half season tickets Jan- May than ever before.

[maccawozzagod]

fantastic Rob.

Its good to see a breakdown of what is going on to promote the club. I personally have noted much increase in activity over the last few months and no doubt much of this is due to your education experience.

My primary concern is that initial return figures will see a decrease in activity but as any marketing guru will tell you this SIMPLY HAS TO CONTINUE. Cash is tight in the borough all year round but this time of year is much worse and The Crown is a very cold and unforgiving place through winter. Please ensure that the subliminal message continues to bash eardrums.

The club is more highly thought of around town that it has been for a long time and I have noticed far more people asking how they are going on and knowing things about the club - phase one is complete (ish).

I'd also like to think the powers that be are well aware of their history concerning our club. Time Immemorial will tell you that ASFC or AFC has consistently fought the same struggles. Again. And again. The only time success has ever graced our doorstep has been when the club has led the way with a stragety new to the game - such as the lottery in the early fifties. How can ASFC conjure up new and innovative ways of cornering a market? God only knows but its out there to be found.

The back end of last season and the inauguration of our large and expensively assembled board of directors saw a massive influx of new money (massive by our standards anyway) and I personally would have loved to have seen that bankroll a cheap season ticket. The worry is that this season we wont sell Andy Procter for nearly six figures, we wont get Coleman compensation money, we wont get a shed load of share sales, we wont get a new 18 man board paying their way in ... we'll start next season with a slashed budget and an increase (or freeze) in gate prices.

not good enough to be honest. Someone needs to sit down and work out where all the Rovers and Burnley fans went we left the Conference. They still have an affinity with the club, they just cant afford the prices or discomfort to watch their second team. Rovers as a club are on their arses right now and we should be doing everything financially possible to harvest their fans in come springtime.

Announce the 2013/14 season tickets nice and early, and at a price where Rovers or Burnley would have to commit suicide to compete with (potentials should never be able to say they can watch Championship football cheaper than League 2). Give 2 or 3 months for the early bird offer (march, April, May).

And further to that, let Murray Dawson show us what he is made of and give him fifty quid for every ST sold in return for his company promoting it throughout the region.

Or, value added incentives of some worth. I dont want one free pie, a free pint, and 10% off the club shop. I want a replica shirt, me dad would probably prefer a bench jacket ... be honest, the mark up on replica shirts is ridiculous and can easily be factored into value added, and you'd probably get them shedloads cheaper for a larger order than normal.

What the annual gate income equates to I can only guess, butg if we estimate it at around £500k ... is their an idea out there for sponsorship that can pull in £500k? thus enabling us to GIVE ST's away for almost nowt. Company XYZ has announced record profits and would like to share their profits with the town by giving away free football for a year. You could then have a crazy bid process for season tickets where everyone who wants one sends in their bid (of any amount), the highest 4000 bids get one. Some might bid a hundred, some might only bid a tenner .. how low dare you bid and possibly miss out ....


ha ha last parargraph I'll put down to it being late, but crazier ideas have worked in the past

[maccawozzagod]

but above else, when ever you guys sit around the big table take every idea that is presented and CONSIDER IT before throwing it away as useless. Find a way of making it work rather than finding a reason why it wont work. Negative thinking breeds negative results

[Pendle Red]

Some really good points from both Rob's, I would like to see a ceaseless and creative campaign from now to the end of the season under one banner or one name that groups everything together. one Club & One Community and keep rolling the ideas out under it.

The most important thing is feedback as to what would make people want to come to the Crown Ground why only x number of percent take up free tickets?

As fans we can play a part and already do how many season ticket holders have used their bring a season ticket holder from another club for a fiver offer?

Give us some free tickets or reduced tickets to give away for a particular game that way there is probably a better chance of them being used as they will be targeted by people bringing a mate.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by tonyalveston

If you consider the actual home crowd was 931, less season ticket holders of say 750

Originally Posted by lancsdave

Not sure what the actual figure is but I think you are at least a couple of hundred off the mark

Over a quarter of our 469 season ticket holders didn't appear on Saturday!

750 - 469 isn't a couple of hundred but I'll take it

Originally Posted by stanleyhouse

Listening or already doing?

Winstanley and I were at St John's Baxenden this morning and Green Haworth and West End Primary last week doing assemblies.

At any point were you and Winstanley in the same room together ?

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by maccawozzagod

fantastic Rob.

Its good to see a breakdown of what is going on to promote the club.

And probably half killed this thread.

We gave away 300 tickets to kids on Saturday. 38 attended.

8000 leaflets were delivered to houses in Hyndburn. Inside were £10 ticket vouchers for Wycombe and Plymouth. Less than 10 have been used so far.

Thats a hell of a poor take up

[AsFc62]

Gopod Response from StanleyHouse, I didnt know half of that was going on. Make more noise about it

Just keep at it. Keep the ongoing activities consistent, get the Bread & Butter right and we'll be fine. Bums on Seats/Feet on Stands

On Stanley On.

[AccyJay]

The basics need to be correct first. When was the last time that you saw a poster advertising Stanleys next game(s) in a local business window? I wish that I had a pound for every time that somebody has asked me who Stanley are playing at the weekend. The club needs to print these posters & deliver them to the shops, & not a case of "oh well, they can download it from OUR site". The same can be said for the away travel.

I was watching Sky Sports News yesterday & saw the Everton team delivering presents to the kids in hospital. Have ASFC done something similar?

Winstanley going round to the local schools is great. But, what about being in the town centre on a Saturday when "little Timmy" is out shopping with the family? If he's already seen Winstanley at school, then he's more likely to pester his parents. Winstanley could then give the said parents the discounted tickets for that game or the next home game.

[AccyJay]

If you really want "bums on seats", then you have to utilise then team (not just in the Crown after a game). If the team were to do a charity event, then there will be a whole lot of FREE publicity that follows.

FFS James Beattie has just joined the staff.

Charity bed push from Accy Vic to Royal Blackburn hospital in aid of the Lancashire Air Ambulance.

One of the biggest problems with ASFC, is that, they always want YOU to do things for THEM.

[Whalley Red]

I'm going to sound like a lone voice here ... maybe because I'm an economist by profession ... but I don't think that cheap season or match tickets are the answer.

Rob has proved that with his report that less than 0.1% of the 8000 £10 ticket offers have been taken up. Together with the figures on the amount of other discounted tickets that have been made available, there clearly isn't a widespread desire to come and watch Stanley in the town and the surrounding areas at the moment.

The maths are clear: for simplicity, if you get 1000 people paying £17, you would need to get 1700 people paying £10 to get the same revenue. That is, a reduction in the price of 41% would need to be matched by an increase in take-up of 70%. There is no chance that this will happen. The Club will lose money if it lowers ticket prices in an effort to raise gates.

But will it make up the money elsewhere?

Not via the food vendors as they have a fixed-price contract (as far as I know);
Maybe via programme sales but the Club will have paid more money for more programmed to be produced so the Club is exposed itself to more risk - it's break-even sales number will have risen while the effect of the ticket offer on attendance is uncertain;
To a very small degree via merchandise as I would suggest that the person who is tempted by saving £7 on his matchday ticket is unlikely to be the customer who will then spend £7+ in the Club shop;
To some degree via the 50:50 draw, but the effectiveness of that draw depends (in the Clayton End at least) upon the efforts of Liz who can't attend all home games.

What if we offer these discounted matchday tickets more times during the season? The effect is twofold. First, we make it less likely that the people who come because of the £10 price will then come when it is the normal £17. Unless they have become 'hooked' by their one discounted visit (unlikely, see later), why pay full price for a match when there will be another discounted match coming up very soon? Second, we significantly diminish the value of the season (or half-season) ticket.

What if we reduced the matchday ticket to £10 for the whole of next season (and correspondingly reduced the price of the season tickets)? That would be great for the fans! We would certainly see an increase in the number of season tickets sold as they would become more affordable and they would be better value as there would be less discounted matches during the season. But our attendances would need to rise by 70% across the entire season and not just one match. If it won't happen for one match, it certainly won't happen for the whole season and the loss of so much money could threaten the Club's existence.

Two things are obvious to me:

People who are tempted up the Club to watch a match, whether it is because of an offer or just out of interest, rarely come back.
The Club doesn't know precisely why there is such apathy within the surrounding areas towarding attendance at Stanley matches.

I have spoken to (and heard) lots of people who have come to the Crown Ground for the first time (or for the first time in a long time) and I have yet to hear one of them speak positively about their experience. They may have enjoyed the football - there have been some cracking games recently, but how many of us have been engrossed in the other games as a fan rather than as someone looking to be entertained - but the facilities have been lambasted almost every time. It is disheartening to hear 'never coming back' so many times. As diehard fans, we tolerate them, maybe even revel in them, but the facilities at our Club will not encourage occasional visitors to come back on a regular basis.

When was the last time that the Club engaged in some proper market research? Everyone in East Lancashire is a potential customer, yet the Club does not appear to know why they don't come (again) to games. At least, we no longer have a Chairman who complains about the public's apathy in the local paper, but we have no right to simply expect people to come to the Crown Ground despite the enormous benefit that we have from the 'Stanley' brand. As Rob has shown, it is not the issue of matchday prices that are keeping people away from the Crown Ground, yet we keep offering promotions in terms of price only. I suspect that the issue is one of facilities, but knowing our (potential) customers is of primary importance for the Club if it is to increase its future attendances and revenues.

Apart from the need for proper market research, could I make two suggestions, albeit for next season?

Scrap the £15/£17 distinction and just make the matchday prices a uniform £15 for adults. I know that I have just argued that a significant reduction in prices will lose money, but the prices are £15 before matchday anyway so the only people that are being penalised are the last-minute walk-on customers who are the type of people we want to attract back to the Club. Visiting fans know before the match if they are going to attend, so they will benefit from the £15 pre-matchday price and regular local fans will also benefit from the pre-matchday price, so again it is the people whom we want to attract that we are imposing a £2 surcharge upon. It may raise a few extra quid for the Club, but it is targetted at the wrong people. Just as important are the psychological effects of a price. I remember that there was quite a lot of grumbling when the price rose above £10 and it is, to a lesser extent, the same with £15 - two notes rather than two notes plus at least a couple more coins as well. The other psychological effect of the price is that we cannot be more expensive than either Rovers or Burnley. Adult matchday tickets in the Riverside Stand at Rovers are £15. I have yet to speak to any non-Stanley fan season who isn't surprised at the cost of our walk-on prices.

Enable season tickets to be paid via monthly direct debit up to the beginning of the season. I know that the additional cost of insurance has previously been raised, but the impact on the number of season tickets sold would more than offset any cost. As Rob pointed out, over 25% of our season ticket holders did not attend on Saturday. For me, it was a relief. It meant that over 120 people had already given the Club its ticket money for this game (during last summer), but didn't turn up. In other words, at least 120 people paid on the gate more than would have been expected for this level of attendance. Season tickets are vitally important for the Club. Not only do they bring in money during the summer months, but the Club receives the money whether the person turned up for the match or not. The more that can be done to increase the number of season ticket holders, the better it will be for the Club.

So what needs to be done now? I think that we all agree that the free kids tickets (with £5 for any accompanying adult) are necessary in the current climate, but they are only a very short-term answer even if they are effective. In my opinion, the Club needs to engage in some proper market research and, if the results are as I suspect, prioritise either an improvement in the facilities here at the Crown Ground or, ultimately, return to Ilyas' dream of a new stadium. When we rank last in the division in average attendances, we need to seriously improve our non-match revenue streams.