Reason for poor gates? - Page 4

Bagpuss · 14-12-2005, 21:02

I asked at work and the £12 admission charge kept coming up time and time again so I asked would they go if it was £10?
I got 5 people who said they would go if it was a tenner so I called their bluff and I'm bringing 5 new supporters and I'm paying the extra £2s, hope we play well and get them back again.

maidstoneaccy · 14-12-2005, 21:08

well good folk of accrington i stayed in accy for the weekend and made it a great weekend with a visit to the ground of a team ive come to love and a small selection of loyal fans that travle to home and away matches that i meet at all away games in the south of our great country, they have become freinds to me, when i walked into the clubhouse cheered and made me feel at home straight away and as usual i felt proud to stand with them on the terace and have a good old sing song, i hate loud music as a norm but at a footy match i find it a great asset to have the drummer and all the singing, i also as a keen supporter of stanley give up my time to go and watch the opposition down here and relay relevant information onto the club, so what im trying to say is that if a person down in kent can get off his arse and help a team like accrinngton then surely the good folk off accrington can go and support your local side. may i wish you all a hole harted merry christmas to one and all in accrington, jase and all keep up the good work and had i known you were in town doing what you did on saturday id have given you a hand

Wynonie Harris · 14-12-2005, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redraine

Quote:-Does anyone realise how heartbreaking this must be for Eric, Coley and the rest?

Of course, Wynonie, ALL posters on here realise how heartbreaking it is! You are preaching to the converted. It's no good just bleating about it ad infinitum - how about some constructive suggestions to follow the many excellent ideas in the replies above for everyone, especially the club management to take on board?

I don't have any suggestions to give to the club management because, as far as I'm concerned, they're doing a perfect job. Top of the conference by four points and all done on a limited budget. You really can't say better than that, can you?

As for us die-hards, as I've said time and time again, the only way we can boost the gates is to talk friends/relatives/workmates into going. I managed to convince an old Accy Grammar School mate to come along to the final Unibond home match and he's been coming ever since! I've also got a couple of other "prospectives" who I'm working on at the moment. I know Outback Ozzy has mentioned bringing a few along and Bagpuss's gesture in the preceding post is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing, even if it leaves us a little out of pocket. So, come on everybody, cajole, wheedle, persuade, even blackmail people into going if you have to!

Whalley Red · 14-12-2005, 22:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by JEFF

Most of the population of Accrington brag about Accrington Stanley when they are asked where they come from, but they cannot be bothered supporting the team unless there is something at stake. A big draw in the FA Cup would have attracted more 'supporters' just in case Stanley won then they could say 'I was there'. If we are top towards the end of the season these 'supporters' will come just to say 'I was there'. When we got promotion from Unibond first division - 2468 for the last match, the first home game the season after attracted just over 500 as far as I can remember. It's not the toilets, it's not the lack of roof, it's not the £12, it's just the 'can't be bothered' attitude of the population of Accrington. If we win the Conference there will be a full house at IES, the first home game next season will have a full house, but after that ??????????????

Geez! There are some depressing points of view around here. Anyone would think this is the 1998-99 season all over again and we're about to be relegated, not on the verge of making history!

"Accrington Stanley, the club that refused to die" ... sounds like it's on a ventilator by some of the comments here.

Maybe all those clever people on the confguide forum are right and we will only go bankrupt again if we get promoted to the Football League because the Accrington people are so apathetic

I've been through too many seasons, since before Shurm first put on a Stanley shirt, to not notice the tremendous progress this club has made and particularly under Coley and Eric. We have shown with the attendances that have been mentioned already in this thread what can be achieved and particularly the attendances that we sustained in the first Conference season.

Jeff is right to say that people from Accrington like to identify themselves with Stanley when talking to people from elsewhere. That is a legacy of our history, how many other Conference clubs can claim the same? Morecambe? Alty? Southport? Grays? And it is that attachment to the club, however passive, that shows that we can survive and prosper at a higher level. We may not turn everyone into hard-core committed fans, but there is a very large market out there for Accrington Stanley, the club.

Do we truly believe that we have reached as far as we can in terms of support? If so, and promotion is at best, pointless, and at worst, dangerous, what is the point of carrying on paying £12 to watch home games and spending a lot more on away games. What is football without ambition? And what a kick in the teeth is such an attitude to the likes of Jase who do so much to 'drum' up support!

Yes, Wynonie Harris, attendances have fallen in the last few games, but there is a very clear reason for this as outlined in my first post. Are attendances abnormally low for home games in Accrington in late November to mid-December? No!

2003-04
Sat 29th Nov, home vs Barnet, won 2-0, 1120 people watched
Sat 13th Dec, home vs Aldershot, won 4-2, 1407 people watched

2004-05
Sat 27th Nov, home vs Canvey Island, won 1-0, 1249 people watched
Sat 18th Dec, home vs Dagenham & Redbridge, lost 3-0, 1131 people watched

2004-05
Sat 26th Nov, home vs Southport, won 2-0, 1630 people watched
Sat 3rd Dec, home vs Atrincham, won 1-0, 1436 people watched
Sat 10th Dec, home vs Kidderminster, won 2-0, 1336 people watched

In my first post, I tried to show how compared to previous seasons, we are attracting as many people as normally do to home matches at this stage of the year, and if anything, we are bringing more people to the ground than previously.

The psychological factor of the £12 admission has been mentioned and I'd also say it's a factor, but certainly no more than the conditions that people encounter once they've paid their money, or even beforehand in terms of the conditions underfoot outside the ground.

Some simple facts. In the 1988/89 season, there was a total attendance of 18.5 million across all league games; last season the figure was 30 million.

Sky has played its part in attracting newer fans to the game of football, but the rapid rise in ticket prices has put just as many people off. The difference post-1988/89 season was the Taylor Report following the Hillsborough disaster and clubs were forced to spend money on renovating their stadiums and making the whole experience of watching a football game much more enjoyable.

The Club has made a lot of progress in that respect since I started coming to games, but there is generalised unhappiness about the conditions at the ground. As the club has progressed, we have come to expect more; as newer people have come to watch the team, they have come to expect more.

I can live without a Clayton End roof and clean toilets and stand in the rain in my mud-coated shoes so long as the money is going into the team and the dream of returning to the League becomes a reality. And with success on the pitch, more and more people from Accy will come to watch and say that they were there when we made history. We have shown that a very large number of people from Accy will come and watch us.

If 2,468 turned up for a Unibond Premier League game, how many do you think will turn up when we are about to return to the Football League?

The potential market is there, I have no doubt about that, but we will only keep a large number of them if we make a significant investment in the facilities at the club to make it more comfortable for them. The Club has announced grand designs for renovating the ground if we achieve promotion; they are long overdue IMO.

shakermaker · 14-12-2005, 22:12

now THAT is bangin the nail on the head WR

Wynonie Harris · 14-12-2005, 22:37

WR, I can see your point about the onset of cold weather affecting attendances, but things are different this season insofar as we are top of the league. Surely, that should be enough to pull in an extra few hundred? I still think that Eric and Coley have every right to be very disappointed with the current gates.

Whalley Red · 14-12-2005, 23:20

I'm also disappointed when I see how many people turn up for games, but a discussion like this needs a benchmark: how many people should we realistically expect to turn up for our home games at the moment? I refer to my first post:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whalley Red

The point is that we traditionally lose 150-400 people (or 10-19% of early season attendances) once the colder weather sets in and that does include the 2002-03 season when we started the season by winning every game. By contrast we have GAINED 364 people (or 32% of early season attendances) on average, which is something that we have not done before now. And let's face it, the number of visiting fans has been laughable at most games this season.

And in terms of how much "Eric and Coley have every right to be very disappointed with the current gates", I think Rob rather let slip some of the hidden agenda behind this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob

we have had good interest from the media since eric's comments on monday morning and hopefully more to come...

So let's not lose perspective on this. I'd expect the attendance to drop again on Saturday as season ticket holders have to fork out that extra £12 that they don't do for any home league game (as well as the usual arguments about successive Saturdays with home games, playing Alty twice in three weeks, unimportance of the FA Trophy given our history in it, etc.), but maybe some of the extra media attention this week will offset that. If it doesn't, it shouldn't mean that there is no worthwhile support for the Club in Accy. It is there and now we have a great opportunity via success on the pitch to get those people back into the ground, but it is only via continued success on the pitch and improvement in the conditions for spectators will we retain a large number of them.

garinda · 14-12-2005, 23:48

Bringing a mate does work. Lindsay Ormerod asked me to my first Stanley game in April, I was hooked from that night and have been to every home match since, as well as a few away ones. I even get a lift from Harwood Red to make sure I'll be there.

Very often we are talking to the converted on here, we need to encourage new or part time fans back, and show them what a bloody exciting time they are missing out on.

garinda · 15-12-2005, 00:04

Vitty, the Observer jouralist, pm'd me to say he'll be doing an article about why the gate is so low when our league position is so strong. He said anybody with any comments can post them here, or pm them to him direct.

Wynonie Harris · 15-12-2005, 09:44

OK, then, I'll try to take a more positive approach. I still think that personal recruitment could help to boost the gates and in some unlikely places, too.

When we look around for potential Stanley recruits, we naturally tend towards existing football fans - those who already support Blackburn, Burnley and other clubs and who might be persuaded to support the club on a part time basis. All well and good, but don't forget the "football virgins" - those who have had no interest in football up to now. I suspect that Garinda was one such virgin (if I might be permitted to use such a term in relation to him!), but, as he says, once Lindsay brought him along, he was hooked. My mate certainly had no interest in football at all until he came to his first Stanley match. Now, he can't get enough!

This type of supporter is often pleasantly surprised by their first experience of Stanley - no threat of violence, no petulant ego-trippers on the pitch - just good, honest passion, both on and off the terraces. However, this type of supporter also demands a reasonable level of facilities and this why the club must start to improve the stadium soon.

So, come on folks, ask your auntie, ask the nerd sitting in the corner of the pub, ask the quiet lad at work - they are all potential Stanley fans!

Doug · 15-12-2005, 11:08

I think the positive approach is an excellent way of responding to this issue. New blood is always the answer to growth and more often than not it’s the one people chose to ignore. I have absolute respect to the die hard fans who eat sleep and drink Accrington Stanley and for them the game is all important and if it meant climbing up the coppice to watch the team play they would undoubtedly do so and there effort would be well worth acknowledgement.

But the virgins and the might be tempted are perhaps a little more refined in what they eat, were they pee and how wet their prepared to get for a mere 90 minutes of entertainment, so yet again the facilities are highlighted. And please for god shake don’t allow these to be neglected, if we’re going to go up at the end of the season the club should be looking for funding and planning ahead now, not after it happens. Wynonie highlighted the need for a positive approach, if vitty is to do a piece for the Observer it needs to focus on not why the gates are so low, (we’ve had enough inquests on here) but on the stride forward the team as made this season and what the virgins and the might be tempted can expect in terms of entertainment if they go down to IES and watch Stanley Play there game….I might suggest that the experience is extended out and an afternoons entertainment is put on to keep families happy and make the fee for the gate worth while to them. Stanley use to open to a Pipe Band, why not now? Cheer bores? Why not if it brings people in. Food, Choice, A nice place to Pee, pee and some cover for the ladies and gentlemen with hair stiles (the pun was intended) might be helpful as well. And that’s were vitty and the club could benefit by telling the public in the piece that vitty writes what’s planned for the future of Accrington’s League Team.

Redraine · 15-12-2005, 11:45

Quote:-if vitty is to do a piece for the Observer it needs to focus on not why the gates are so low, (we’ve had enough inquests on here)

You are dead right, Doug. I can see the negative headlines already, as most journalists go for the cheap "shock/horror" approach. What on earth does Garinda mean by "pm" - how can we get hold of this journo bloke?

harwood red · 15-12-2005, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redraine

Quote:-if vitty is to do a piece for the Observer it needs to focus on not why the gates are so low, (we’ve had enough inquests on here)

You are dead right, Doug. I can see the negative headlines already, as most journalists go for the cheap "shock/horror" approach. What on earth does Garinda mean by "pm" - how can we get hold of this journo bloke?

He's a member on here and like everyone else you can "private message" (PM) him. Hope that helps

smudgie · 15-12-2005, 12:36

Some excellent points there.

In my opinion it is a number of factors, however £12 is simply to expensive to watch conference football. Yes we are top of the league which is a magnificent achievement for everyone involved in the club, yes we play great football, however in my opinion does not justify that pricetag.

£2 mite not seem alot but the amount of people ive spoke to that have said

"Its too expensive to go and watch now"

I am a full time student at Huddersfield University in my final year, and as a result only get enough time to get paid work 12 hours a week!,

Just for example i can go and watch Huddersfield town for no more than £8 every game. And quite often tickets are a fiver!

and they are 2nd in League 1.

im not trying to compare clubs but maybe if the club could come up with a discount scheme on certain games to atract more people?

or maybe take the plunge and get the price back down to £10??

garinda · 15-12-2005, 12:57

Message edited to remove foul language

Please refer to the T&Cs regarding inappropriate language. You can find them here: http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=6072

This is a family forum and such language is unacceptable.

Ok sorry. I used exactly the same language in the general chat thread except for the term puffda. Strange that.