ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Football is my game. Partick Thistle are my club. Never sure of victory. Never surer of my love. Firhill for thrills ya bas' !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerjag Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Now I wait til five. and its still stoppage time we're usually the last game in britain to finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roque Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Win more games! It's novel but let's give it a try next season. We beat St Johnstone, and then one week later, in far better weather, the home support was down about 300 fans. Sadly, winning isn't the answer. For our club, and plenty of others. As further evidenced by that absolutely pathetic Inverness following considering they're 3rd in the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 We beat St Johnstone, and then one week later, in far better weather, the home support was down about 300 fans. Sadly, winning isn't the answer. For our club, and plenty of others. As further evidenced by that absolutely pathetic Inverness following considering they're 3rd in the league. I think most home supports are up this season in the premiership, can't really blame the Caley fans the have a lot of traveling in the season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roque Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I think most home supports are up this season in the premiership, can't really blame the Caley fans the have a lot of traveling in the season Their pisspoor number of fans at our game (and most away games by the looks of things) doesn't take away from their equally rubbish home gate when you consider their current situation. Their average attendance has dropped a good 30%+ in the last few years despite continued improvement on the pitch, showing that clearly winning isn't as big a factor as you'd think. I dunno if most home supports are up, but having a quick look at overall attendances Aberdeen, Dundee, United, Accies and St Johnstone's have risen from last year, with us, Celtic, Motherwell, County and St Mirren seeing a drop, with ICT/Killie pretty much as you were. Which is pretty balanced in terms of up/down, and of course with Dundee and Accies being promoted, it's only natural theirs would rise. One thing I do know, however, is that our home support has dropped at an alarming rate. Yeah, we've lost loads of away fans due to unlucky scheduling of home/away games this year, but our own support is down far more than most would have expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allyo Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) It's a hard one to get your head around, but probably the best thing for crowds is constant relegation and promotion battles. The new set-up with all the play-offs etc encourage more teams to be involved in this. And with the more even money distribution, relegation maybe shouldn't be feared to the same extent. I'd never wish for relegation, the point must always to be to strive to be as high up in the game as possible. However, I'm not really sure that becoming another Killie, always hanging about the lower middle, for years on end, is all that attractive. It's for this reason that I'm against larger leagues. Edited March 23, 2015 by allyo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
read'n'yell Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 People are set in their ways and we are seeing the back of years in the lower leagues taking its toll on our attendances. First division championship provided real entertainment and then last year was a novelty (so both were well attended). All we can do is get kids coming along and getting them involved so that in 10 years time our crowds will be back up. Kids go free initially seemed to have a good impact with 500 odd kids per game and a noticeable difference at the games in terms of how many kids were there. Now it just seems like business as usual, but the kids still going free. Maybe need to advertise it a bit more and get working more with schools and community centres to reach out further. I used to go to a day Hearts put on each Wednesday night. 5-a-side league and they booked out all of the Pitz - must of been over a hundred kids and it was on two nights a week. The age limit was 12-14 so a good age to pick up supporters as they enter high school and start being more independant. Used to pay a few quid so probably didn't cost Hearts too much. Focus has to be on the future fans and this generation come if its interesting and stay at home if its not, regardless of facilities. Prices are what they are, only a Scotland wide change would ever reduce them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Nixon Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Slagging off Inverness for having a "piss-poor" support ... would Firhill be bursting at the seams if we were bobbing about second or third in the league? I highly doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) It's a hard one to get your head around, but probably the best thing for crowds is constant relegation and promotion battles. The new set-up with all the play-offs etc encourage more teams to be involved in this. And with the more even money distribution, relegation maybe shouldn't be feared to the same extent. I'd never wish for relegation, the point must always to be to strive to be as high up in the game as possible. However, I'm not really sure that becoming another Killie, always hanging about the lower middle, for years on end, is all that attractive. It's for this reason that I'm against larger leagues. ... I'm no so f**kin silly, but.... 20 odd years in the top flight, 4 cup finals, two trophies, four top four finishes and 4 trips into europe. ... wouldn't swap for their sh1te pies, fawlty towers and stoopid squirrels though. blue and white she ite. ... 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 People are set in their ways and we are seeing the back of years in the lower leagues taking its toll on our attendances. First division championship provided real entertainment and then last year was a novelty (so both were well attended). All we can do is get kids coming along and getting them involved so that in 10 years time our crowds will be back up. Kids go free initially seemed to have a good impact with 500 odd kids per game and a noticeable difference at the games in terms of how many kids were there. Now it just seems like business as usual, but the kids still going free. Maybe need to advertise it a bit more and get working more with schools and community centres to reach out further. I used to go to a day Hearts put on each Wednesday night. 5-a-side league and they booked out all of the Pitz - must of been over a hundred kids and it was on two nights a week. The age limit was 12-14 so a good age to pick up supporters as they enter high school and start being more independant. Used to pay a few quid so probably didn't cost Hearts too much. Focus has to be on the future fans and this generation come if its interesting and stay at home if its not, regardless of facilities. Prices are what they are, only a Scotland wide change would ever reduce them. I agree the club have to do more work on P.R. ... I'm willing to give them good grace to achieve it. Basically starting from scratch. How many admin staff did we have in the first division and how many do we have now? A few survival seasons is fine by me (even if i double my pants budget come march-april-may), if we can start to establish ourselves off field and make a more proffessional effort with initiatives like Tag and up our game with hospitality, marketing, community outreach and Thistle Weir starts to show signs of fruit. I don't mean to diminish the good work of anyone trying to do such things in the meantime, but rather sympathising with some of the difficulties they might currently face, and wishing them well. Just to be clear, I'm not saying content ourselves with bottom 6 forever, just consider that we have a considerable mountain to climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 It's a hard one to get your head around, but probably the best thing for crowds is constant relegation and promotion battles. The new set-up with all the play-offs etc encourage more teams to be involved in this. And with the more even money distribution, relegation maybe shouldn't be feared to the same extent. I'd never wish for relegation, the point must always to be to strive to be as high up in the game as possible. However, I'm not really sure that becoming another Killie, always hanging about the lower middle, for years on end, is all that attractive. It's for this reason that I'm against larger leagues. But isn't constantly worrying about relegation a sign of the fact that the team is pretty dire, losing too many matches, and so unlikely to attract crowds? After our poor recent run we were in danger (may still be) of dropping into the play-off zone, but bigger crowds weren't flocking to Firhill as a result of that. I can't say I have any easy solutions to offer. Somebody said that the rugby was a great day out; what was involved? People used to say the same about the American football matches, which ultimately proved to be financially non-viable in Scotland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjptfc Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 It's easy. Choose a group of people to dislike, sing songs about them, sing songs about killing them. Create a siege mentality, where you feel that no one likes you. Create a paranoia where you believe everyone is against you. Once success is achieved; be smug about it, show no respect to anyone and treat anyone else with contempt. Choose a country out with Scotland to align ourselves with, support them when they play Scotland to further enhance the siege mentality. It works for others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerjag Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) It's easy. Choose a group of people to dislike, sing songs about them, sing songs about killing them. Create a siege mentality, where you feel that no one likes you. Create a paranoia where you believe everyone is against you. Once success is achieved; be smug about it, show no respect to anyone and treat anyone else with contempt. Choose a country out with Scotland to align ourselves with, support them when they play Scotland to further enhance the siege mentality. It works for others. Those East Stirlingshire fans eh :/ ok lets do it we'll hate midgets and align ourselves with Wales I wna see welsh flags everywhere at Firhill Edited March 24, 2015 by Gingerjag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda-jag Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Those East Stirlingshire fans eh :/ ok lets do it we'll hate midgets and align ourselves with Wales I wna see welsh flags everywhere at Firhill will we? i resemble that remark. lets add hating gingers to the list hmmm, they're totally unacceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerjag Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) ok lets hate ginger midgets then thats fair lol sorry if I offended you matey was trying to think of the least offensive type of people and gingers crossed my mind however I cant hate myself ha.....anyway I love star wars cannot wait til new ones out! loved the teaser trailer Edited March 24, 2015 by Gingerjag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Nixon Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Let's align ourselves with Brazil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) 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 Yes. Going by these stats http://www.abcdiamon...age-and-salary/ .... best I could find on a quick google. From 1980 to 2012 average salary has incresead approximately by a multiple of 4. In season 1983-84 an adult centre stand season ticket was £35. A ground season ticket was £22. Admission was £1.30 for the shed, £1.50 for the enclosure, dunno for a seat in the stand. Kids got into the ground for 50p. If accompanied by an adult they could get a centre stand season ticket for £5 and if unaccompanied "section b" was priced the same. "Juvenilles" (I presume 17-18year olds) and OAPs £20 for the year. A season's worth of viewing from the directors' box was £70 and "executive box" £90. ... source : match programme 24/9/83. Some may say the JHS is better than the main stand, but that is almost a 10x increase to todays standard £340 and our options have vanished. .... I take your point that people may be spending their money elswhere on things we kids of the 80s could not have conceived of at the time and recognise you asked the question over 20 not my 30 year comparison. But the football, actually going to a game and supporting your club, is definately more expensive and less accessible today than it was. Remember too that technological advances have led to reduction in costs aswell. Kids no longer head to arcades with pockets of change to play Double Dragon or Outrun, people no longer spend 15quid on a CD album, costs of phone calls have dropped as people learnt to text and skype.... I'm no econonmist, and my research here is quick to prove my point. However, I think it's obvious we've priced ourselves out of a large local market. Edited March 24, 2015 by ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 By the way the price of that programe was 30p ... today x10, £3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowenBoys Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 ... From 1980 to 2012 average salary has incresead approximately by a multiple of 4... I wonder by what percentage the average salary of a Thistle footballer has increased in that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) I wonder by what percentage the average salary of a Thistle footballer has increased in that time. I don't know, but I'd guess it might be higher than the average. Whatever, it's not my intention to demonise the club. I've no doubt it is harder to run a club today than it was in the past. Red tape and regulation brings with it cost. However, I do think that our pricing strategy could be analysed and presented in a way that would perhaps be more attractive to a broader audience and not lose us any current custom or damage income revenue. Edited March 25, 2015 by ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 I wonder by what percentage the average salary of a Thistle footballer has increased in that time. It should be, in theory at least, considerably higher pro rata. Signing on fees of a significant amount were routine back then. Today at our level they're token in comparison. Same as a percentage of a transfer fee, which again pre Bosman were often a significant amount. So probably quite difficult to compare like for like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Scottish Football seems to refuse to accept the most basic theory of economics - supply and demand. Our ground is sitting 70-80% empty every week yet we INCREASED the gate price this season. It simply doesn't make sense. The crowds speak for themselves. For us as a club, the current pricing structure simply isn't working and it must be changed. For a start I think we have to stop charging people the same price for the JH and north stand. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) I think there also has to be a shift in thought about the long term use of the Main stand and housing of away fans. I know money is tight, but perhaps after securing survival this year, if we could set some longer term plans for shifting 2000 away fans back over to the JHS and re-birthing the old jewel in the crown as a family section for home and away support, varying and discounting prices (as we do now) in line with age groups and customer profile would start to make more sense. I know some amount of investment might be needed to achieve this but i think it might realise a decent return and customer satisfaction. A more easily identifiable and defined family area would be far easier to steward in terms of policies like no swearing and marketing family friendly pie stall offers or other targeted discounts and packages. "Kids go free", should not be exempt from scrutiny, review and revisal. The benefit of offering entry free to some is without doubt a powerful marketing tool and badge of encouragement to come along. However, I think a few tweaks would not lose the effect. Possibly lowering the scope of this discount to primary school aged kids and running registration for the offer through local and further afield schools might help to get our name out in the community. 12-16 years olds being charged a nominal £1-2 for entry would perhaps fund a couple of stewards to keep an eye on "the baby shed" and get them used to the idea of paying in, create a feeling of independence and stature in them and encourage a sense of value about attending. I beleive there is already a fee if you want to reseve a seat for an under 16 in the JHS. Edited March 25, 2015 by ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowenBoys Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 I don't know, but I'd guess it might be higher than the average. Whatever, it's not my intention to demonise the club. I've no doubt it is harder to run a club today than it was in the past. Red tape and regulation brings with it cost. However, I do think that our pricing strategy could be analysed and presented in a way that would perhaps be more attractive to a broader audience and not lose us any current custom or damage income revenue. Completely agree, CGMB. My earlier post was tangental to yours, didn't make that very clear. The cost of running a stadium that is used, on average, once a fortnight for nine months of the year must be a drain on resources. Imagine a theatre with two performances a month and full time admin staff, crew and actors to pay. If the twelve thousand seat auditorium was, routinely, only a quarter full for each of these irregular performances, I imagine a reassessment of ticket pricing would be high on the agenda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinny Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 So, how can the club maximise the use of the ground? We had the warriors but that's not an option considering the state of the pitch without them, nevermind that they're happy where they are. Artificial turf seems the only way, or concerts in the summer. The bar and 'conference' facilities... Well if I was planning a meeting or conference in Glasgow Firhill would be bottom of my list. If the bar was licensed for daily use, would anyone actually go? Reckon the bar would be good for a wake though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.