Sinistar Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 There's many reasons why attendances at Scottish Football are dwindling, including ours. Sadly, I think it is mostly just diehard fans who go now (and can afford to.) But is there any cost effective / simple ways to encourage more people to attend? Here's some thoughts I've had (and read from others on here) - Make it better value for money - 1/ Free pint / pie / roll + sausage (including veggie) at Aitken Suite with a home ticket bought in advance. Chances are people would also spend more £ on drinks + food when they attend. 2/ Buy 3 full price match tickets get 1 free. Surely better to sell some tickets and give away a free one than sell none at all? 3/ Free all day city transport with a match ticket. Maybe a bus / underground / train / all 3? At least ask the companies and see what they say. Improve the the match day experience - (i) Improve facilities in the ground. The North Stand concourse is covered in pigeon sh1t. A jet wash would fix this. I doubt it's ever been cleaned. And what is that moss covered urine waterfall all about at side of Main Stand you see when exiting the NS. If we can afford to install new seats for executive directors, we can afford some basic hygiene for the fans. (ii) Toilets. The first thing I'd do if I won lottery is do up the toilet and concourse facilities for fans. Until then, how about a lick of paint, some boxing in of pipes, maybe even a wall mural even? I'm sure a talented artist would do this for free to get there work noticed. The murals on the JHS walkways are fab. Creates a talking point if nothing else. (iii) Better facilities for away fans. Let's face it they're dreadful. Seen it first hand myself at Celtic game. Appreciate this might cost £ but it puts away fans off from attending, most of whom will be paying full ticket price. (iv) Make more effort to encourage away fans to come. Invite them to the Aitken suite pre-match. Have seen a few in from time to time. 99.9% of footy fans are decent and I enjoy the banter with them. (v) Better food / drinks. I've gone on about this on here before (sorry.) However many people aren't interested in the cack food that's on offer. Other sports / grounds have better choices available. More off the wall ideas - *Twinning with an English club. Arrange yearly friendlies. I have a pal who's a mad Bolton fan (he's a big Gary Fraser fan). I go and see BFC and he comes up to see Thistle. Creates more interest between fans who might never attend. Obviously doesn't need to be Bolton, but worth some consideration. *Gnomes. I still think this a mental but brilliant idea! Sponsor a gnome on the bing, if a ball hits it, win a cash prize. Maybe the big banner on the bing brings in more money but think of the publicity gnomes would bring. Everyone would be talking about PTFC and it would create a lot of interest. Alcohol and standing areas are obviously other areas to consider, definitely good ones imo; am glad there's at least been some debate about these recently. We should also learn more from other leagues, like some of the good experiences fans on here have shared about going to games in Germany. I don't think a lot of these ideas would cost the earth. Appreciate they might be a gamble or there might be reasons why they wouldn't work. Wouldn't do any harm though to think outside the box and at least try some new ideas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankey Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 I think the number fans of an adult age who come from the close surrounding areas such as Possil, Ruchill etc must be pretty minimal. I could be wrong but I'd be interested to see a break down of how many fans living in these areas we are attracting. From my experience its nil, pretty much everyone I know who follows the club came from these areas originally or have close family who did and have since long left. Can many people from these areas afford to spend £22 going to football games? Could perhaps look at doing something such as an unemployed/JSA gate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunnylaw Jag Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Win more games! It's novel but let's give it a try next season. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brodieboy Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) I'm not looking to put a dampener on any ideas. The more creative we get the better. Special offers, competitions, better facilities, better food, better laws and better communication are all musts. However, The SJ hits the nail on the head. It's a results driven entertainment business. Wins build momentum, excitement and expectancy. Look at Hearts. Even when they were going down last year, they were winning and getting good gates. Same goes for other clubs such as Hibs, Dundee, DU, Aberdeen, Motherwell and even further down the leagues like QP, Ayr and Morton (although their crowds are pretty dismal this year). If teams can manage to put together 8 or 9 home wins in relatively close sequence, crowds can increase by 40% or 50% in a matter of a few months. Throw in a cup run, an exciting young, home grown player or two and, dare I say it, a manager who shows a bit of passion (look at Ronny Deila for example) and you could really get the fans onside again. We've not seen any of those things since we were promoted. Have prices really increased that much in this country, in real terms? Has anyone compared it to the cinema, the price of a family meal or carnival? Would be interested to see some financial evidence to suggest that football clubs are ripping us off...I agree it's expensive and the excitement factor isn't as strong, but it's not the only thing to increase in price. Edited March 22, 2015 by brodieboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowenBoys Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Win more games! It's novel but let's give it a try next season. Think this idea is definitely worth following up. I think the number fans of an adult age who come from the close surrounding areas such as Possil, Ruchill etc must be pretty minimal. I could be wrong but I'd be interested to see a break down of how many fans living in these areas we are attracting. From my experience its nil, pretty much everyone I know who follows the club came from these areas originally or have close family who did and have since long left. Can many people from these areas afford to spend £22 going to football games? Could perhaps look at doing something such as an unemployed/JSA gate. Some years ago the Citizens' Theatre introduced the Gorbals Card. Once registered, with proof of address, cardholders were able to get a generous discount on tickets. The Citz is proud of its unfashionable location and has a long history of community inclusion. PTFC claim to be a community football club.This might be a good time to prove it. Such a scheme could be widened to offer benefits from other local amenities/businesses. It would be good to see the club leading on this. Offering discounts to those on your own email database is ok but reaching out to potential new local fans could be much more beneficial. I have always been fond of the Gnome idea as a means of creating publicity for the club but in terms of raising the profile of PTFC nationally and possibly internationally, the sort of work being done by Forest Green Rovers of the English Conference would be hard to beat. http://www.forestgreenroversfc.com/about-forest-green-rovers/ecotricity-and-forest-green-rovers/greening-up-football Good topic Sinistar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 I'm not looking to put a dampener on any ideas. The more creative we get the better. Special offers, competitions, better facilities, better food, better laws and better communication are all musts. However, The SJ hits the nail on the head. It's a results driven entertainment business. Wins build momentum, excitement and expectancy. Look at Hearts. Even when they were going down last year, they were winning and getting good gates. Same goes for other clubs such as Hibs, Dundee, DU, Aberdeen, Motherwell and even further down the leagues like QP, Ayr and Morton (although their crowds are pretty dismal this year). If teams can manage to put together 8 or 9 home wins in relatively close sequence, crowds can increase by 40% or 50% in a matter of a few months. Throw in a cup run, an exciting young, home grown player or two and, dare I say it, a manager who shows a bit of passion (look at Ronny Deila for example) and you could really get the fans onside again. We've not seen any of those things since we were promoted. Have prices really increased that much in this country, in real terms? Has anyone compared it to the cinema, the price of a family meal or carnival? Would be interested to see some financial evidence to suggest that football clubs are ripping us off...I agree it's expensive and the excitement factor isn't as strong, but it's not the only thing to increase in price. Find it difficult to be critical about the level of away support yesterday. I wouldn't want to have to head up and down the A9/A96 something like 20 times a season but ICT are sitting third in the league with not exactly a remote possibility of reaching 2nd place. Motherwell finished 2nd in the league last season and if I mind still were compelled to offer incentives to boost attendance. Not saying for a moment that success on the pitch won't increase turn out but I would suggest it's not nearly proportional to results. I'm more of an opinion that repetitiveness of fixtures (yesterday being ICT's third visit) has a considerable effect on both the home and away gate. One thing for absolute certain with the powers that be smugly satisfied with the status quo I can't be proved right or wrong. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Think this idea is definitely worth following up. Some years ago the Citizens' Theatre introduced the Gorbals Card. Once registered, with proof of address, cardholders were able to get a generous discount on tickets. The Citz is proud of its unfashionable location and has a long history of community inclusion. PTFC claim to be a community football club.This might be a good time to prove it. Such a scheme could be widened to offer benefits from other local amenities/businesses. It would be good to see the club leading on this. Offering discounts to those on your own email database is ok but reaching out to potential new local fans could be much more beneficial. I have always been fond of the Gnome idea as a means of creating publicity for the club but in terms of raising the profile of PTFC nationally and possibly internationally, the sort of work being done by Forest Green Rovers of the English Conference would be hard to beat. http://www.forestgre...ing-up-football Good topic Sinistar. Good link. Solar panels on the roofs of the stands would seem to be an obvious thing to do, but maybe expensive to install? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeding Gums Murphy Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Find it difficult to be critical about the level of away support yesterday. I wouldn't want to have to head up and down the A9/A96 something like 20 times a season but ICT are sitting third in the league with not exactly a remote possibility of reaching 2nd place. Motherwell finished 2nd in the league last season and if I mind still were compelled to offer incentives to boost attendance. Not saying for a moment that success on the pitch won't increase turn out but I would suggest it's not nearly proportional to results. I'm more of an opinion that repetitiveness of fixtures (yesterday being ICT's third visit) has a considerable effect on both the home and away gate. One thing for absolute certain with the powers that be smugly satisfied with the status quo I can't be proved right or wrong. ^^^^^ Agree with all of this. What I would find interesting is comments from fans that aren't nomads but regularly post on here but rarely attend games is finding out why not? I realise work commitments for many but others who don't attend regularly but live within Central Scotland (East or West), what would make you attend more regularly? Price for product is my big thing. Overpaid players another which then leads many clubs to go for the cheaper option of foreign players. I'm not necessarily talking about SPL or EPL/Championship players but I have a mutual friend who's currently playing League 1 football in England who insists that unless it's one of Celtic, Rangers or perhaps Aberdeen, it's not worth his time coming home. Personally I think it's time for a salary cap in football. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
read'n'yell Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I'm stuck there as a season ticket holder, but it would be good to get a coffee that is remotely drinkable. Never tasted anything so bad and so weak - a tub of tesco value would be better. Not too hard to make a semi-decent coffee. Getting more fans back is beyond what the board can do with maintenance issues or anything. We need excitement on the pitch (which we get every so often) and we need consistency. The fans we want to attract are those that don't go every week, so all we can do is make them think we will get a result - or else they won't waste their time coming. Firhill has been dead since Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougie247 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 They could maybe offer more deals on ticket prices as in buy tickets to 2 home games and get the 3rd free sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 You can go to the cinema for less than a tenner. A night-off-cooking family dinner for low paid households is more likely to be a take way delivery than a night in a restaurant. A gig, theatre or carnival is more of a one off event than following footbal and with each of them one has a better preconception of the level of entertainment and satisfaction. At the Big Match your team might get beat. Although such comparisons are worthy, it is not like for like. As far as pricing goes i think it is alway worthwhile in looking at potential customers and trying to offer them an attracive deal. With our price as it is someone on minimum wage is being asked to cough up around 4 hours labour for 90 mins of entertainment. If one is working a 40 hour week, that is 10% of one's weekly income. My gripe is that we have priced ourselves out of a large local market by offering a one price fro all policy. When I first went to Firhill I paid 50p into the ground, a further 20p into the enclosure. I could have gone to the main stand and paid more and if i was feeling flush paid extra for the centre stand. We have three stands now and the basic price for all three is the same, despite the view and experience, ambience of each is different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) They could maybe offer more deals on ticket prices as in buy tickets to 2 home games and get the 3rd free sort of thing. How would you square that with season ticket sales? If such offers were routine and the cost of attending all home games was cheaper buying at the gate than the cost of a season ticket then we'd truly be in the deep stuff. I do tho' agree that pre-purchasing tickets is a good route to take. It kinda commits the more fickle into attending. Two ways of increasing attendances would be to make a season ticket that attractive a purchase that the cost per game angle was almost secondary. Another would be targeting community and other sectors, business or otherwise with special offers. I do tho' as said elsewhere feel that much of the reasons folk aren't attending are more to do with football in general and not solely a PTFC issue. Thus we're powerless, or have very limited power, to affect things. Sometimes it's better just to concentrate attention on those who do turn up. Edited March 23, 2015 by lady-isobel-barnett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I whole heratedly agree we should not expect to lower prices and expet a surge in attendence. We have to be careful and respectful to our diehards and improve our service all round where possible, but also recognise that what is required to satisfy is not unilateral. I think variety is the key both with matchday admission and season tickets. £22 or hospitality is not appealing to a wide base of potential customer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Col Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Remember the days when a season ticket gave you more than just entry to home games? Entry to a cup game, discount vouchers for local businesses, discount vouchers for Jags merchandise. Why was that all dropped? For me, there are 2 factors that affect crowds - performance on the pitch and the cost. Me and the wife used to go to every away game, but these days the cost is ridiculous. Lowest cost of entry in SPFL is £20 I believe (St Mirren). Add in the ridiculous cost of a pie and a hot drink, plus travel and you're shelling out a small fortune. Plus if the team aren't playing well, or are playing a sh1t team, it's not exactly motivational. Don't have all the answers, but making the match day experience more enjoyable would help. Sort out the PA system, sack the current announcer, half time entertainment on the pitch. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I think the idea of a members/season ticket/Tag bar would be a good one. The facility is in place and various incarnations have had varied success. It might encourage a sense of a little fan ownership and lead to voluntary financial and labour investment. It need not be a no jeans and tie, gentleman's club affair, but rather a welcoming, entry by invite, signing in, home of the jaggy hardcore and hub of discussion and pride. Look at the pride and passion the North Stand has achieved in those who strived for a little piece of firhill they could call their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hosie Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Entry to a cup game, discount vouchers for local businesses, discount vouchers for Jags merchandise. Why was that all dropped? Can answer the cup game bit of that. When it came to paying the away team's share of the gate a season ticket holder was deemed to have paid whatever the admission price was for that game and the away team were entitled to a share of that 'money' even though none was actually handed over So, if you have a cup-tie that was attended by more season ticket holders than non season ticket holders (not an unlikely scenario for early season cup ties) then you could end up writing a cheque to the away team for a sum larger than you actually received through the gate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Can answer the cup game bit of that. When it came to paying the away team's share of the gate a season ticket holder was deemed to have paid whatever the admission price was for that game and the away team were entitled to a share of that 'money' even though none was actually handed over So, if you have a cup-tie that was attended by more season ticket holders than non season ticket holders (not an unlikely scenario for early season cup ties) then you could end up writing a cheque to the away team for a sum larger than you actually received through the gate. Although they had not. Sounds to me like poor or devious arithmatic and economics, and spineless screw-the-customer rather than make the effort management. Scottish football at its' commercial customer friendly best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Has the cost of a ticket Vs weekly wage really jumped that much as a % in the last 20 years or are folk spending their money differently? 20 years ago - 1 house phone, Now several mobiles and a house phone and Internet 20 years ago - 1 TV license, Now sky package and tv license Life has changed and what were luxuries are now classed as necessaries. We never had kids for free, sometimes you got a squeeze up with 2 kids getting 1 click Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggy Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Sort out the PA system, sack the current announcer, half time entertainment on the pitch. do you seriously think any of these would make a difference to the attendance?? Cost and entertainment are the only drivers for our attendance, and I don't see any logical answer for the cost, as dropping the price by say a fiver would hardly increase the crowd (tried by others like Motherwell as has been well documented) so it would likely mean a drop in revenue. Entertainment is really only there when we're winning & playing well, like 2 seasons ago, but even then attendances hardly shot up apart from the Morton game. I'm not saying do nothing, but I think we are where we are with the core home support and it would be very difficult to increase it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerjag Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) My girlfriend and I have a solution to get more fans to Firhill, create a person / people and make them support thistle thats if they dont get brainwashed by blue or green monkeys :/ Edited March 23, 2015 by Gingerjag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) I reckon there is something to be said for an improved P.A. and the extra-curricular entertainment we might offer. We've tried "flag day" and recently the "we stand together" flag was donated. The club should persue more of these types of initiatives and seek to improve on them. People cite european, particularly the german leagues as inspiration. I went to a Go Ahead Eagles (they play in red black and yellow )game once and the pre match announcer was excellent at raising the atmosphere, the P.A. was booming and played club anthem songs (none of which were particularly cool or to my taste, more traditional corny football club cup final single efforts) and everyone joined in as the mascot paraded placards with the chorus and the flares and smoke bombs were organised by and set off by stewards on the pitch.... It was a small ground, end of season nothing to play for game and the crowd was, i guess, about 3-4000 with hardly any away fans, a couple of hundred maybe . The atmosphere was terrific. I was not accompanied by a local but felt i could participate even without knowing half the words to the songs( for a dutch second tier club their fans liked to slag off others in english for some reason). I know we don't want to see fans carrying pyrotechnics but perhaps there is an opportunity to safely use the bing to turn the sky red black and yellow. Might impress a few youngsters. Edited March 23, 2015 by ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) Another dutch inspired initiative to increase the sense of community around the club might be to organise something like this.. ...(sorry not sure how to inbed video ) ... A one off pre-season barbeque/introduction to new signings/meet the manager/proper training session. Glasgow uni sports fields would make a nice venue for a Paheek Picnic. £1 admission and bring your own bottle? Edited March 23, 2015 by ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allyo Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 How about this? Stop torturing your supporters to the point that even the long suffering season ticket holders are terrified to come to the game every week, and too scared to even turn on the radio between three and five on a Saturday. Or is that just me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerjag Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 too scared to even turn on the radio between three and five thats me when I'm not at the match I often tune in to see what the score was and have to brace myself, take a few deep breaths Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allyo Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Last season I stuck on the radio at ten to five, thinking it was safe by then. We were 1-0 up on Hibs. Then they scored. Same happened this season with Accies. Twice. Same the season before against Livingston away. Now I wait til five. It makes no difference to the score (e.g. Dundee) but the pain is less extreme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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