oafckev Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Right, Corney's had his rant about fan's not turning up and maybe it was a poorly timed speech but hey he's right! So instead of our mystery marketing guy doing sod all to attract people, lets stick idea's here and lets see where we get. At least SC can't argue at the loyal fan's doing nowt. Ways to get fan's back: 1: Cheaper Tickets I don't know the math's of how to run a football club but if we could lower them then maybe fans would return. 2: Better football Everyone know's that the people of Oldham love to watch good football, get it right on the pitch then build around that. 3: Star Player Sure Scholes would be ideal but there's plenty of potential 'star players' which could attract fans imaginations. 4: Better atmosphere Bland, stale and dull. Thats what It's been like at BP for years. 5: Standing/Singing section Probably the main reason why i love away days. Get that atmosphere in the RRE next season and it would be great. 6: Better Stewards Is it me or were stewards invisible at BP till a few year ago, yet it's highly unlikely for anything to kick off at BP! 7: Better Match entertainment OK not a big thing for me but theres absolutly no entertainment pre match or at half time apart from some 8year old cheerleaders! 8: Beer at game/ people walking with beer on back Still no beer in the Chaddy! At Citeh they have people walking round with beer dispensers so you avoid the queue. 9: Better match advertising Anyone ever seen a poster/banner of who were playing on the coming Saturday? No? Me neither. 10: TV's at back with highlights Also at Citeh they have nice plasma tv's which show the highlights of the 1st half, small things like this add to the attraction of the game. 11: Betting shop at back of RRE This surely is a must for next season, £100 says they don't! (for legal reasons oafckev will not be handing over £100) 12: Big TV screen Would be a fine addition to BP. Make money from sponsorship and people love being filmed on big screens don't they! 13: Football coaches bringing in fans from local towns I know plenty of people who would love a coach to pick them up from towns like Middleton & Failsworth. 14: Friday night games - Coach to pubs/clubs after Copied from the Trannies but it helps their attendances. The coach to the clubs after is for pure selfish reasons So anybody else got idea's? Sarcastic idea's are welcome as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardlelatic Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Some excellant ideas there Kev... Star player would be nice but until we sign Scholes on the dotted line I dont think we will get one just yet .. The standing section is not allowed we are told due to BP ground safety certificate but I would like to see that myself as many grounds allow standing during a game and all league clubs have to adhere to the same rules ! I'm sure its more to do with the saftey officer thinking if one section want to do it everyone will want to stand which will brake the safety regulations. A free coach to bring in fans from Ashton and middleton area would be an excellant idea ! I would imagine that now the RRE is an home end, every availability to take the fans money off them will be added to our area - That will include betting and bars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpTheLatics Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Some excellent points made there. Thinking about it, I think Corney's made a slight mistake. Look what's already happened; we're here discussing ways to get fans back. They have to do the same. I like the free coach thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philliggi Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 I personally like the stand in oldham centre idea, with temps giving out fliers. aim at the bored husbands being dragged around the shops, im sure it would be a winner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP1960 Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 (edited) I posted this in another forum, but it may be better here. Advertising I remember many many years ago Latics used to have plenty of posters advertising upcoming fixtures in nearby towns. Nowadays you don't see any, and Latics matches are rarely advertised in the Tameside Reporter. Some Tameside (who have no league teams) towns like Mossley, Ashton under Lyne and Stalybridge may be actually closer to BP in mileage than some Boroughs of Oldham. A potential untapped source of revenue right on Latics doorstep. Edited May 8, 2008 by BP1960 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spadam Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 (edited) At the end of the day most people in Oldham are unwilling to watch Oldham. We can do a deal on season tickets like Huddersfield, Bradford etc... but we will not get the same people not getting a season ticket next season when the offer runs out. I just accept that most clubs in league 1 except Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester and MK Dons have attendances of 4000 to 6000 on average and theres nothing that can be done in the long run apart from getting promated and bocoming a successful club. Edited May 8, 2008 by spadam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philliggi Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 One thing i always say is that if we are negative about our own football club, how do we expect other fly by night fans to take an active interest. i have know a lot of people who say they look out for latics results every sat, many of these are general football fans, others are genuine supporters of other teams, but because they know i follow latics, they take an active interest in them, and this season alone, i recon i have personally got latics an extra forty tickets sold, that wouldnt have been if I didnt put latics in such a positive spin on things. Dont take this as a dig Spadam, but taking that attitude when talking to people who do not go to latics regularly, what sort of image does that give latics? Latics have a bad image in this town, and its not hard to see why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeylandLatic Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Without really thinking about how it would be introduced and what the effect would be too much, maybe the club could do a deal where you can get a cheaper season ticket if you can introduce a new season ticket holder to the club (of course their season ticket would be cheaper as well as incentive for them to buy). Surely a value could be worked out that would be tempting enough to new punters and also still financially viable for the club to make this work. Kind of the same sort of thing sky do when you introduce a new customer. This gives current supporters an incentive to go out and try and get those drifting fans they know and those who have stopped going back in on a regular basis. As I say though only came up with this on the spot so there may be a million reasons why it won't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
real Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Without really thinking about how it would be introduced and what the effect would be too much, maybe the club could do a deal where you can get a cheaper season ticket if you can introduce a new season ticket holder to the club (of course their season ticket would be cheaper as well as incentive for them to buy). Surely a value could be worked out that would be tempting enough to new punters and also still financially viable for the club to make this work. Kind of the same sort of thing sky do when you introduce a new customer. This gives current supporters an incentive to go out and try and get those drifting fans they know and those who have stopped going back in on a regular basis. As I say though only came up with this on the spot so there may be a million reasons why it won't work. Ok, now think what heppens if all the current STs decide to match each other to get it cheaper? Ok, 2 adult STs, £616. Buy one get one half price = £462. Club loses £77 per ST on average. x 3500 = £270k loss Maybe an extra 20% sales at £231 each x 700 = £162k, overall loss £108K and fewer on the day salles. Any fool can "suggest" a system that 'might' work, it takes a bit more to put some flesh (figurees) onto the bones and make it stack up. anything else is piss in the wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L1onheart Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 A bus stop in QLD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeylandLatic Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 (edited) Ok, now think what heppens if all the current STs decide to match each other to get it cheaper? Ok, 2 adult STs, £616. Buy one get one half price = £462. Club loses £77 per ST on average. x 3500 = £270k loss Maybe an extra 20% sales at £231 each x 700 = £162k, overall loss £108K and fewer on the day salles. Any fool can "suggest" a system that 'might' work, it takes a bit more to put some flesh (figurees) onto the bones and make it stack up. anything else is piss in the wind. It appears some 'fools' can't read . I think you missed the part of my post where I said they would be NEW customers, ie you can't just get the guy you sit next to at every home game and get the offer. I think that was made pretty clear where I said ' if you can introduce a NEW season ticket holder'. ST holders from the season 2007/8 would not qualify as new season ticket holders for the season coming. Therefore there is surely a way to make it viable if you retain the current ST holders and increase on that number with an offer liek this. Yes, pay on the day sales may go down but lets say it's £230 for a ST under this deal, I don't think the average 'pay on the dayer' attends over 11 games a season, but someone who attends 7 or 8 may be persuaded by this deal to get to games more frequently as would those that do attend plenty of games but pay on the day. Then you have an increase in programme sales and food etc on matchdays and with a bit of luck a fair few may just renew at the end of the season which is the actual aim. We aren't looking to make a quick buck from any deal, we want to get people hooked like we are and that means increasing the gate, improving the atmosphere, doing well on the pitch. I think it could work and the club could increase it's revenue but there are a number of things that need to be carefully thought out, just like with any scheme, but we have to look long term not just for this season. Have you got any ideas? I want a detailed report with supporting statistical data by tomorrow..... Just like to say as well, I agree with those saying we need a presence in the town. I don't live in oldham and have rarely gone into the town centre so i don't really know about this that well but if we truly have nothing advertising upcoming games etc we really are missing out. I'm living in Leeds at the moment and I can definitely say that Leeds advertise their games all over the place. For one there's a huge billboard outside my residences that often features Leeds United advertisements. Edited May 9, 2008 by LeylandLatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
help_shiny Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 At the end of the day most people in Oldham are unwilling to watch Oldham. We can do a deal on season tickets like Huddersfield, Bradford etc... but we will not get the same people not getting a season ticket next season when the offer runs out. I just accept that most clubs in league 1 except Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester and MK Dons have attendances of 4000 to 6000 on average and theres nothing that can be done in the long run apart from getting promated and bocoming a successful club. Bradford say they're on target to make a small profit - after 8 consecutive big losses - and that's by charging people next to nowt. If Bradford can do it I cant see why we cant. Historically they're no bigger than us - yes Bradford is a bigger place than Oldham but for various reasons they havent pulled in the fans - Leeds Utd,Bradford Bulls, Bradford PA back in the day etc etc. It is only in the 00's that their crowds have outstripped ours. Before that every single decade since the war we have pulled in more fans than them. By having such cheap tickets they have just racked up their 7th highest average attendance since the war - and that's with a cack League 2 side. As for people not coming back when the offer runs out - why does the offer have to finish. I'm sure Bradford's ST prices are going to be set low for years to come. Cheap footy - it's the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldhamSheridan Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 If Bradford can do it I cant see why we cant. Because we don't have the capacity. Half price season tickets means twice the crowd required. Half of c8,000 is 4,000 miles less than we need. The things I would like are pretty much suggested. Billboards in the vicinity, in Rochdale, in other local towns. They can't cost much and would raise awareness - even if only people laughing at it and going "yeah right". And then my main gripe. Kids = free. There is no point in charging them. All it does is make dad think that going to Oldham is too expensive. Get them young and they'll stay for life (well some will). Don't get them young and you won't get them at all. I would think something on the lines of: 0-16 Free 16-18 £5 18-21 £10 21-65 Full price 65+ Full price + £30 for being a God bothering drain onn society and there's no poor pensioners, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
help_shiny Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Because we don't have the capacity. Half price season tickets means twice the crowd required. Half of c8,000 is 4,000 miles less than we need. The things I would like are pretty much suggested. Billboards in the vicinity, in Rochdale, in other local towns. They can't cost much and would raise awareness - even if only people laughing at it and going "yeah right". And then my main gripe. Kids = free. There is no point in charging them. All it does is make dad think that going to Oldham is too expensive. Get them young and they'll stay for life (well some will). Don't get them young and you won't get them at all. I would think something on the lines of: 0-16 Free 16-18 £5 18-21 £10 21-65 Full price 65+ Full price + £30 for being a God bothering drain onn society and there's no poor pensioners, etc. why dont we have the capacity? How many season tickets are they going to sell this summer? If you halved the price and doubled the amount sold you're back in the same position but with a much fuller ground and you'd sell a shed more other stuff. Bigger crowds and a bigger atmosphere would then attract other people along etc etc. Every game next season as you look around all the empty seats in our 3 sided ground - think on, they could have been all filled. It's better to have those seats occupied by someone paying half price than have them empty. Another thing with the capacity - it didnt need to be so low anyway, knocking a stand down just to have things nice and ready for some unknown date in the future is completely the decision of the club, not something forced upon them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leezyverpunk Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 After the Cheltenham game, not sure free kids is a good idea - they just turned up to get on the pitch!!! Seems our town is ashamed of our football club - not proud - why else is there no mention of Latics round Oldham - basically if you are not already involved, there's nothing to want to make you stand up and notice the games coming up. There should be events arranged for all the different parts of the town to raise awareness and give more people a chance to meet players and staff - sure there are plenty of catchment areas around for new fans! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
help_shiny Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 (edited) further to the capacity/costing thing - what is our new home fan capacity for next season? About 9200? Surely they could have a good stab at filling that. Maybe not with half price tickets but something darn close to that. What was the average home attendance minus away fans for last season? Something around 5000?? edit - and yes, that would mean no improvement with the amount of money coming in as gate money/ST money but they would sell more merchandise, more food, more programmes, more beer and they'd have a good chance of adding lots more fans for the future. Edited May 9, 2008 by help_shiny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KYLEOAFC Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 This debate could run on and on forever. I think the key to getting bums on seats (And not just the big issue types), is to get it right on the pitch. It’s a sad fact that your neutrals these days couldn’t give a monkeys about history or tradition or even sentiment, they just want to pay their hard earned cash on attractive football that gets results in the comfort and surroundings of a nice stadia. To be honest who could blame them. As people have said on here though about attracting fans from Tameside it would be a great idea to increase advertisements to towns like Ashton Stalyvegas, and Mossley , you would be surprised what returns you would get as there’s loads of Latics fans live in Ashton who walk around the town in blue and tangerine as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.O.A.M Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 This debate could run on and on forever. I think the key to getting bums on seats (And not just the big issue types), is to get it right on the pitch. It’s a sad fact that your neutrals these days couldn’t give a monkeys about history or tradition or even sentiment, they just want to pay their hard earned cash on attractive football that gets results in the comfort and surroundings of a nice stadia. To be honest who could blame them. As people have said on here though about attracting fans from Tameside it would be a great idea to increase advertisements to towns like Ashton Stalyvegas, and Mossley , you would be surprised what returns you would get as there’s loads of Latics fans live in Ashton who walk around the town in blue and tangerine as it is. Hit the nail on the head! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beag_teeets Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Increased crowds would also incur increased costs, the filth costs would increase as would stewarding, more pies wouldn't be sold as there isn't the capacity now to sell to the crowds we get currently! Having to queue for as long as we do at the moment to get a coffee or a pint is bad enough, lump another 5000 on that and it would be murder. I gave up going to the bar at half time this season as it just wasn't worth it, hopefully next year whilst it will be freezing at the back of the RRE they will hopefully be more chance of getting a beer and a bit of space to drink it in without being into to frottaging. Football league clubs are competing with Jeff Stelling and the wife, this isn't a level playing field. A vast majority of people are not going to win the argument with the wife that they want to spend £320 or 2 or 3 x £20 plus associated costs which could even out about £70-£100 a month on going watching football when there are jobs that need doing around the house...etc.. or you promised we would go round to X this weekend and you can see the scores anyway as that bloody programme with them blokes with the headphones is on. Most of the people who go to football grounds these days have had these discussions and laid the ground rules for going to the games a long time ago, the footie season and the demands it places on people is taken into account and planned around. To suddenly introduce a "I can't do that on Saturday" and "We can't afford to do that as we are playing Milton Keynes on Saturday and if we win that we go 8th" into things isn't going to wash with a lot of people. We could play the most slick ball-never-going-above-knee-high football and scoring 4 goals a game and we wouldn't make a dent on most people. A quick-fix scheme like Bradford or Stoke wouldn't pack BP, a long term plan might, people have to get the habit of going to the game, people don't start on 20 fags a day they work up to by having a few off their mates on a night out then they might buy a packet out of guilt as they keep scaving off their mate then they have some left so they smoke them, then they have a crappy day and buy a packet and before you know it you are on 20 a day. Same with going to the football, a habit has to be formed and nurtured and people need to fall off the wagon and get hooked again. It isn't going to happen overnight and if people stop going this season because Eardley passed the ball in space but a forward didn't have the vision to run in to that space or some no mark team from below Birmingham somewhere shut up shop, nicked a goal and went home with a point on a wet Tuesday then be prepared to have to win the argument with the missus in the future about why you are starting going to the footie again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
help_shiny Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 further to bt's ciggy analogy.....what if they put some crack into the pies, have 'em coming back for more week after week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch_KTF Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Sounds to me like some of you fellas need to get your bloody wives/girlfriends in order!! If you wana watch the footy, watch it. If she doesnt like it let her lump it! Or drag her along as punishment for whinging like I used to do. Note the word 'used'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeslover Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Some good ideas. Free kids – absolutely. Let’s help blokes find a way to get out of the house on Saturday and gain brownie points for doing stuff with the kids without costing them money. I think 16 year olds can start to pay something, and 21 years olds can pay full price FFS, but we need to get them addicted before they realise we are crap. If it brings more families through the door free kids will pay for itself. Advertising – yes please. It doesn’t need to be huge, just something to jog the memory of punters once in a while. More beer/betting/food – will come as and when new stands are built. As BT says, the current facilities can hardly sort out those of us there at the moment. Sadly it will probably get worse before it gets better. Love that idea of walking beer stalls though. I ended up in the RRE for one of those £2 games (Northampton I think) due to a ticket office malfunction, I went to get beers about 5 minutes before half time and gave up 5 minutes before kick off. There were more people in the queue ahead of me by the time I left than when I started. There will be loads of boozers in that end next season, sort it out! Buses from strange outlying places – interesting. If there were a lot of people who might take it up it would be great, I wonder though if it wouldn’t just make it easier for existing fans who go anyway? Maybe a few pubs would sponsor the club to be made designated pick up and drop off points, it would get them a few pints sold on the day. Any chance of one from Balham? Star players/promotion push – what were we doing last season? With a “normal” level of injuries we’d have made play-offs at least. Lees and Hughes can become the star strikers of this division next season, with the chance of Alessandra/Smalley really capturing the local imagination as home grown goal machines. With a couple of good signings we could be an exciting high scoring team next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
help_shiny Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 going off on a tangent .....the queues for stuff is a common problem at football grounds. Anyone who has been to a few games at the so called super new Wembley will know what it's like getting a beer there. The worst I've ever seen was at Old Trafford (for the RL Grand Final I hasten to add). I was at Schalke a couple of months ago and saw the future - the only accepted currency in the stadium is a Knappenkarte - they sell these cards at booths around the stadium, you put money onto them. You then go to the beer stall and they have one person pouring the drinks, another to hand them out and you slot your card into a machine and the credit is removed. It's actually possible to stroll out at the halftime whistle, get a beer, get a hotdog or whatever, drink your beer, eat your sausage and get back to your seat in time for the kick off in a place with 61000 people in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
help_shiny Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 although saying that the very best set up I've ever seen is at Rochdale. Maybe there is something to be said for League 2 obscurity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordie Blue Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 At Bury they have a sign up nr the ground but on the main rd between Mcr and Bury advertising forthcoming games. Its never tempted me but with the lure of Dagenham at home what would? However League 1 would be more attractive to an armchair blue or red? Just a thought! Maybe a sign nr elk mill roundabout? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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