joekea Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 It would seem that a degree of apathy has set in at Firhill as evidenced by the dwindling home support. There have been many suggestions on how get the crowd engaged once again and one possible solution that could help would be to introduce an external smoking area for the those supporters who would like a puff at half-time. There area number of Premier clubs that allow you to go outside at half-time for a nicotine hit e.g. Motherwell, Hearts, Killie etc. This could be easily controlled by the Stewards, as it is at other grounds, and the kids could be kept away from this area in order to prevent any bad influence issues. I know a number of fans who now stay away for the majority of the games due to the restriction, preferring to do other things that are no so restrictive i.e. the pub as at least you can go out for a smoke as and when the urge takes you. I know non-smokers are of the opinion that ....."surely you can last 90 minutes without one" ....but its not as simple as that - some fans may have had a couple of beers before the game (has an effect on need!) and others like to come into the stadium earlier to soak in the atmosphere (or what once was an atmosphere!). Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firhillista Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 There isn't any 'apathy' and the support isn't 'dwindling' so.... We can have smoking areas, gnomes on the Bing and half-time rumbles between opposing mascots, none of that will get folk streaming into Firhill. If we put a team on the park that wins games, people will come to watch. End of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partick monkey Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 ..... End of. Firhillsta has spoken. No more suggestions please. Move on people... Move on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firhillista Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Firhillsta has spoken. No more suggestions please. Move on people... Move on! At last. Someone who gets it. Why can't everyone else get it? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 There isn't any 'apathy' and the support isn't 'dwindling' so.... We can have smoking areas, gnomes on the Bing and half-time rumbles between opposing mascots, none of that will get folk streaming into Firhill. If we put a team on the park that wins games, people will come to watch. End of. Really? Then how do you explain the decline in Jags fans at Firhill last season when we won four times as many home games? Even the capo de capo of marketing (whoever he/she might be) wouldn't come up with one solitary solution to increasing our attendance. He/she would however come up with a multitude of ideas. Within reason try them all, ditch the ones that don't work and keep the ones that do plus the one's you're uncertain about. Nothing's simple or it would've been done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 At last. Someone who gets it. Why can't everyone else get it? Oops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 (edited) Get on the e-cigs and vote no to EU fascism. Seriously.... was a 20-30 a day man ... 4 years "vaping" and wouldn't turn back to the evil weed unless there was no other option for the satisfaction of a good throat hit and scratchin that nicotine itch. Took alotta faffing about to get a decent bit of gear, but started on the one's that look like fags and worked up. Merrily puffing on "pralines & cream" flavour as I type here, with a strong coffee... wouldn't have thunk it 4 years ago. Was desperate to chuck the tabs, but i was hooked. Not saying they are totally safe or impeccably healthy, but they are definately the better option financially and for well being. There is no smoke without fire and with e-cigs there is no fire, so they are good for the Big Match. Edited June 29, 2015 by ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottymagoo Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Why has nobody thought of just winning loads of games before?! It seems so obvious now. Oh well probelm solved, we can all sit back and enjoy decades of domination on both the national and european stage. This is going to be brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potty trained Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Get on the e-cigs and vote no to EU fascism. Seriously.... was a 20-30 a day man ... 4 years "vaping" and wouldn't turn back to the evil weed unless there was no other option for the satisfaction of a good throat hit and scratchin that nicotine itch. Took alotta faffing about to get a decent bit of gear, but started on the one's that look like fags and worked up. Merrily puffing on "pralines & cream" flavour as I type here, with a strong coffee... wouldn't have thunk it 4 years ago. Was desperate to chuck the tabs, but i was hooked. Not saying they are totally safe or impeccably healthy, but they are definately the better option financially and for well being. There is no smoke without fire and with e-cigs there is no fire, so they are good for the Big Match. Agree with the OP, I had previously proposed a smoking shelter for the North Stand close to the gates. As has been mentioned, other clubs do it, so no reason we can't. What I would suggest is if the smokers were really that interested, get proactive, research your customer base and identify a need. Research costs of a shelter online. Would the smokers be prepared to contribute half way with the club? Of course as a "Vaper" myself, I'd suggest the post above being the best route. Especially as our club stewards are Vape Friendly, certainly in the North Stand, where quite a few stop and ask me advice on vaping. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 There isn't any 'apathy' and the support isn't 'dwindling' so.... We can have smoking areas, gnomes on the Bing and half-time rumbles between opposing mascots, none of that will get folk streaming into Firhill. If we put a team on the park that wins games, people will come to watch. End of. Aye? ... we're just a football club..... geez the money, watch the game and fook off? Come on... nobody's arguing that a winning team is not the most important thing to all of us and would boost the interest. But, do we really want to establish ourselves as a club of glory hunting part time supporters? People get bored of winning teams eventually.... just look at attendances at the graveyards recently. They aint at the forefront of the push for a return to the terraces because they loose every week. Aye, we're a football club first and foremost... but we are a business... and it's a good idea, if possible for businesses to diversify or invest in other sectors to insure against troughs in their specialist sectors in order to perpetuate peaks in their core fields. ..... or sumthin..... anyhoo.... i wanna see smokebombs and pyros on the bing! YAAAAAAAAAAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Agree with the OP, I had previously proposed a smoking shelter for the North Stand close to the gates. As has been mentioned, other clubs do it, so no reason we can't. What I would suggest is if the smokers were really that interested, get proactive, research your customer base and identify a need. Research costs of a shelter online. Would the smokers be prepared to contribute half way with the club? Of course as a "Vaper" myself, I'd suggest the post above being the best route. Especially as our club stewards are Vape Friendly, certainly in the North Stand, where quite a few stop and ask me advice on vaping. Absolutely ..... gaun the smokers.... gaun yersels! .... pralines and cream, though.. .. puff-puff.... nice.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Col Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Sorry - is this April Fools Day come early? Do people really think that having a smoking area is going to attract new fans or bring back disenchanted fans or improve the match day experience for the majority of people? It's a sad day if you can't go 2 hours without a cigarette. Crazy stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 The home support has dropped by 25% in a single season but that's fine. As long as Firhillista doesn't think there's a problem then we're fine. How's life at Murray International Holdings these days by the way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potty trained Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 (edited) Sorry - is this April Fools Day come early? Do people really think that having a smoking area is going to attract new fans or bring back disenchanted fans or improve the match day experience for the majority of people? It's a sad day if you can't go 2 hours without a cigarette. Crazy stuff. who said it would improve the match day experience for "the majority of fans"? There surely can't be any denial that it would improve the match day experience of every smoker, by providing this service. A service which many clubs already provide. ETA: infact, bugger it, i'm going to suggest it would improve the match day experience for the majority of fans. how? well, if folk still have a fly fag in the cubicles of the toilets, then removing that option will improve the match day experience for every supporter. Edited June 29, 2015 by potty trained 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firhillista Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 The home support has dropped by 25% in a single season but that's fine. As long as Firhillista doesn't think there's a problem then we're fine. How's life at Murray International Holdings these days by the way? Murray International Holdings? Do you want to explain that? I'm sure you'll enjoy being suitable patronising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potty trained Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Murray International Holdings? Do you want to explain that? I'm sure you'll enjoy being suitable patronising. Of course the irony wasn't wasted on me, after reading this: There isn't any 'apathy' and the support isn't 'dwindling' so.... We can have smoking areas, gnomes on the Bing and half-time rumbles between opposing mascots, none of that will get folk streaming into Firhill. If we put a team on the park that wins games, people will come to watch. End of. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Your language reminded me a lot of David Murray, that's all. In the sense that he refused to believe there was any problems at either Rangers or his other companies. A few months later he had sold Rangers for a quid and had lost about 70% of his total wealth. The stats are there to see. We had our most successful season in the top flight for over 20 years yet the home gate dropped by 25%. You are of course entitled to an opinion but in this case it doesn't appear to be very well informed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 The fact that we've only sold 1,322 season tickets shows we need to appeal to all our fans, if a smoking shelter brings 50 back then it's pad for itself and more. We have a kids area, a singing area why not a smoking area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mediocre Pundit Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 There is no single solution that will improve the 'matchday experience' for all fans - I would argue that even a good passing team wouldn't do it given the amount of fans that still moan when we pass it backwards. But that's fine - there is no single solution at any company to improve customer experience for all customers. The focus should be on segmenting customers (in any number of ways) and putting in place initiatives to improve customer experience for each segment - ideally through some customer engagement. That's what every other successful company - big or small - does. We should be no different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Col Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Football/sport - health Smoking - unhealthy A lot of kids are in the stadium. Do we really want them thinking it's the norm to spark up during a football match? Surely people can go for 2 hours without a smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Football/sport - health Smoking - unhealthy A lot of kids are in the stadium. Do we really want them thinking it's the norm to spark up during a football match? Surely people can go for 2 hours without a smoke. A smoking shelter out the back, away from the kids, and yes some folk find 2 hours away from the nicotine hard to do. As sports healthy let's ban pies, bovril, hot dogs etc from the ground and only sell salads 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joekea Posted June 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 I wish you would read the post before commenting....I advocated using an outside area, away from kids and controlled by stewards. I even addressed the 2 hour time scale !! The only healthy part of going to the game is the walk up the hill. Its entertainment after all and we sit on our bums for two hours and eat a mutton pie if there are any left! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 I wish you would read the post before commenting....I advocated using an outside area, away from kids and controlled by stewards. I even addressed the 2 hour time scale !! The only healthy part of going to the game is the walk up the hill. Its entertainment after all and we sit on our bums for two hours and eat a mutton pie if there are any left! If it's actually mutton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willjag Posted June 29, 2015 Members Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 It certainly couldn't do any harm! (except to the individuals health!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowenBoys Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 A smoking shelter out the back, away from the kids, and yes some folk find 2 hours away from the nicotine hard to do. As sports healthy let's ban pies, bovril, hot dogs etc from the ground and only sell salads I wouldn't mind a fag at half time but I can manage without. All for changing the menu though. Not just because I'm vegetarian, I am sure a lot of people would prefer something a little nicer than the current fare. I think that the Healthy=Salad argument is a bit last century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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