Re: FA cup fourth round
 

City or United? Either would do :)

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

The big spoiler was the low crowd numbers, less than1800, would a reduced price have helped increase the numbers? We should be pulling 3000+ for a 3rd round game against anybody. I hope we get another home draw against a beatable team just to see if we can increase the crowd numbers. Maybe a printed questionnaire handed to all home people who come through the turnstiles simply asking why they don't attend their local club more often, Let the people tell the club what they want or don't want. is it the price or the facilities which we are improving with the fanzone. This is a great information gathering opportunity. Make sure people have pencils to use and put the paper back in a box. I know this issue has been discussed but it must not be allowed to simply drop of the agenda.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

Apart from it not being very practical, you'd be preaching to the converted handing a questionnaire out to people going into a game - they're mostly the ones who are there rain, hail or shine.
I thought the gate was quite decent given it was the week after Christmas/New Year - really didn't think there's be more than 1400, it just wasn't a very attractive fixture even if it was round 3 of the FA cup, I only made my mind up on the day to go & I'm so glad I did or I'd have kicked myself given the atmosphere & of course the result, not to mention one of the best goals scored in the whole competition yesterday

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

The sad reality is that we could barely fill the ground even for a 'local derby' cup game against Premiership Burnley earlier this season.
Truth is, more Stanley (so-called) fans would travel to an away fixture against one of the big boys than would be bothered to attend a home game against the same team.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

Thats probably as bang on as yeh can get imho.;)

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

No point debating whether £20 is too much. It's clearly a reasonable price for comparable entertainment and the club are not stupid - they want more fans but need to pay the wages.

Anyway, I really would prefer a good chance of getting through to the last 16 rather than drawing a big club but either way I will be delighted. Probably means I concur with whoever said any draw is a good un at this point.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

Not as a minimum price in the FA Cup it isn't, especially as most fans will be behind the goals and the facilities are not great. West Ham v Manchester City was £10/£15 behind the goals. Sunderland v Burnley was £10 a ticket.

Norwich fans protested at the £25 they were charged v Soton and lost half of their gate.

Stanley's cup pricing is economically myopic, as it won't attract new fans to grow the fan base. They should have learnt from the Burnley farce.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

seems silly to me, but then nowt shocks me wi yon lot running the show.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

What they did probably brought in as much gate money as charging a tenner with double the crowd but it's not just gate money that matters. If we want to build decent crowds then we have to attract people in the first place. Then there is the spin off of people spending money at the game on food, drink, programmes, merchandise etc

One thing that may also hit crowds in general is the fact that we have been in this league so long that it's the same old teams we are playing so neutrals don't have the same attraction of watching somebody different so other ways of attracting pople are required.

I gave it a miss yesterday for various reasons including that I wasn't going to pay £20 to watch Luton again. Instead I went to the Sunderland v Burnley game at the stadium of light partly because It was a new ground, it was a tenner to watch two almost full strength Premiership teams, It cost about half as much as getting to Accy and was easier to get to and I knew there was no chance of it being called off.

On the whole it was a decent game for 0-0 and a good day out to somewhere different. Would I go there again next year under the same circumstances? Probably not because now I've been and the novelty has worn off. That's what we need to avoid at Accy when trying to get more people in.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

The club have got to be realistic. The town of Accrington is dying a slow death and local people are strapped for cash.
You only have to watch televised FA Cup games to see that even non-league teams have better stadia than us.
It's commonly accepted that visiting supporters view our ground as a right s***hole, and who can blame them?
Uncovered terracing open to hail, rain & snow, with only a small basic covered area, aptly described as the 'cowshed'.
Never mind electric scoreboards, I submit that it should be a priority to improve the facilities for away fans, starting with a roof over the Coppice end.
After all, we need as many away fans to attend as much as we need our own.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

The owners more or less have a duty to make the club a success for the town. That means pricing wisely based on being able to pay wages. It's a shame, but it has to be run as a business.

Pricing is more than fair. prices for a season ticket are £200. That's unbelievable value. (How much do Take That charge to watch 90 mins of **** singing. £60? They sell out the Ethiad night after night).

Come on - no point comparing the Luton game with a tenner for, say, Sunderland/Burnley (reserves) - that was more or less meaningless cup match - this was an historic game. How often have we been in round 4? Crewe away, County away - pretty sure we shelled out more than £20 for them.

Drop the prices too much, too often and expectations are reset. Harder to raise them again. And if it has no long term effect then it's counterproductive. How much did the gates swell by when prices were slashed to £15 last Xmas? I don't believe it made any difference did it ?

Stanley invite kids in, there's lots of the usual concessions. I just cannot see in any way whatsoever that they can be accused of stupidity or ripping fans off. Yes, getting the average attendance to rise is a conundrum but I think it's pretty clear from all clubs that the best way to do this is through success on the pitch? It dwarfs all else.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

Lord Stiffupperlip - is Burnley thriving economically compared to Accrington? (I don't know the answer but suspect not much difference?) they don't have a problem getting fans...but they did in the 80s.

Ground improvements are being made: fanzone, new seats, better clubhouse and bogs and a big screen in the offing. Imagine seeing Sean's wonder goal on it. I bet even the freezing Luton fans would have liked that.

I've nowt but admiration for Andy Holt - things are going in the right direction and that's not always a given in football.

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

But the poor away facilities also work in our favour, we don't want thier fans to be comfy as they can help give the away team a boost, we need it to be as bad as we can legally get it for away fans

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

Away fans reading their forums come to stanley (1) cos its a new ground, then reading the forums, when weathers bad seems the die hards come, others give us a miss when they have been before, that says to anyone reading em our facilities for em aint the best, which we all know is fact, its common sense to me to improve facilities cos with 1200 or so home fans regular we sure as hell need Away support?

Re: FA cup fourth round
 

That's a bit short sighted IMHO.
How many away fans decide not to bother forking out on travel expenses, admission prices etc. because they know they're going to get soaked to the skin or frozen to death at the Wham?
We're talking about the type of basic standards available to all fans, even those in non-league.
Put it this way, there's no way I'd spend 90 minutes supporting Stanley in mid winter if the Clayton end had no roof.