Attendances Again

[Jaggernaut]

Only 1,800+ at Firhill yesterday; probably for the first time ever we had the lowest home attendance of any match in the First Division.

 

It's clear that many if not most of those who chucked it during the Campbell era have not returned, or at best attend only sporadically. It's also clear that the overall poor performances and results in the last 10 months or so have resulted in many others deserting. Add to that the systematic neglect and running down of the stadium, and the awful board directors that we've been had to put up with until recently....

 

Yes, Scottish football is too expensive for the quality of football, but that's the same for all teams in the Division, and yet their support is holding up better than ours. I guess the bottom line is that many Thistle fans just don't care enough about their club to really support them through thick and thin.

Edited October 31, 2010 by Jaggernaut

[Steven H]

Only 1,800+ at Firhill yesterday; probably for the first time ever we had the lowest home attendance of any match in the First Division.

 

It's clear that many if not most of those who chucked it during the Campbell era have not returned, or at best attend only sporadically. It's also clear that the overall poor performances and results in the last 10 months or so have resulted in many others deserting. Add to that the systematic neglect and running down of the stadium, and the awful board directors that we've been had to put up with until recently....

 

Yes, Scottish football is too expensive for the quality of football, but that's the same for all teams in the Division, and yet their support is holding up better than ours. I guess the bottom line is that many Thistle fans just don't care enough about their club to really support them through thick and thin.

 

What is our average attendance this year? I'm guessing roundabout the 2300 mark. Cowdenbeath brought 30/40 fans at most when generally there are at least a couple of hundred away fans, that had a marked impact on yesterdays attendance. That said, 1800 Jags fans is not exactly brilliant...even allowing for the fact we were bottom of the league before yesterdays games. You only have to look at the attendances a couple of seasons ago when we finished 2nd to see there are a helluva lot of Jags fans still staying away. Here was me thinking most of the 'stay-away' fans were doing so as a protest againsts Cowan, Hughes and Prentice

[lennythistle]

What is our average attendance this year? I'm guessing roundabout the 2300 mark. Cowdenbeath brought 30/40 fans at most when generally there are at least a couple of hundred away fans, that had a marked impact on yesterdays attendance. That said, 1800 Jags fans is not exactly brilliant...even allowing for the fact we were bottom of the league before yesterdays games. You only have to look at the attendances a couple of seasons ago when we finished 2nd to see there are a helluva lot of Jags fans still staying away. Here was me thinking most of the 'stay-away' fans were doing so as a protest againsts Cowan, Hughes and Prentice

Just a thought but how many fans have season tickets but weren't there yesterday ?

 

I also know a couple of lads who have had season tickets for years but due to job insecurity couldn't buy one this season, wonder if there are many others in the same situation. still the drop in numbers is alarming and needs to be addressed.

[alx]

The relentless year-on-year drivel is whittling down the die-hards as well. In the pub yesterday some of the troops fessed up to contemplating not going. Things are rough when even season ticket holders are using excuses to do something else. Only two seasons in a row of decent results will turn this Liner round.

[Yellow & Redneck]

Too many Jags fans have not kept up there end of the bargain, I remember lots of fans on here saying they will only return when there was action in the boardroom, that has happened now, so get off your rear-ends and come and support your team. This club is filled with too many part time fans unfortunately! Yes the prices are high, but Dundee charge £19 per ticket yet they, at the moment are getting in excess of 5,000 per game. Even Morton did better than us yesterday. I pity the players running onto the field to see a 5,000 capacity stand literally over half empty, C'MON JAGS FANS!

 

So come and support your team, through thick and thin! Even our massive away supports are now a joke, lets see if the team can respond to a bigger crowd, supporting your team should be UNCONDITIONAL and not just based on where they are in the league!!! *Rant over*

[northernsoul]

Nearly a year of pish results and performances it's hardly surprising.

 

When we came down to the 1st division in 96' our attendances, on a number of occasions were below 2000 at Firhill throughout the season.

 

So bear that in mind considering the financial position of the Country and of the Club compared to 14 years ago.

[Woodstock Jag]

I pity the players running onto the field to see a 5,000 capacity stand literally over half empty, C'MON JAGS FANS!

 

It's a capacity over 6000 so it wouldn't even be 1/3 full.

Edited October 31, 2010 by Woodstock Jag

[Yellow & Redneck]

It's a capacity over 6000 so it wouldn't even be 1/3 full.

Ooooops, slight typo. Well that's even worse, where have all the Jags fans gone? There are roughly 1100 fans on this forum alone, plus a large number of fans who have not registered or don't have Internet access. I admit in these economic times it's not easy coughing up money for a football game, however I hope that even coming to a home game every 2 weeks will help the club financially and give the players a lift.

 

The atmosphere inside Firhill is like that of a funeral home, its actually unnerving for players I would have imagined, no singing, no chanting, just the mumbled ramblings of 1,800 discontented Jags fans. C'mon, remember Rangers a few seasons ago at Firhill, the JH Stand nearly full, singing all afternoon, red and yellow in every direction, where have all these people gone? Even at away games there is no singing, every fan just sits there, like it's almost illegal to sing or chant, then when a song does start from a corner of the stand it quickly teeters out.

 

We need to make Firhill a hard place to come, we need to make it more vocal, and the only way we are going to do that is to get Jags fans to get there butts on the seats! I would welcome an initiative from the board to do this.

 

However my idea is to scrap the free U-16 thing, put U-16's to £4/5, concessions to £10 then adults to £15, or something along those lines, we need to raise money from the U-16's gate in order to slightly lower the cost of an adult for a league match, we are the second highest in the division and I think that's what puts a lot of fans off! If I wasnt a season ticket holder I would admittingly grudge giving the club, what is it, £17 per match? All I'm saying something needs to be done to get the attendances up, and I dont think the answer is completely improving on the pitch performances, we need other incentives.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Too many Jags fans have not kept up there end of the bargain, I remember lots of fans on here saying they will only return when there was action in the boardroom, that has happened now, so get off your rear-ends and come and support your team.

 

Nearly a year of pish results and performances it's hardly surprising.

 

Interesting difference of views above.

 

As for myself my views on stay away fans goes from one extreme to another. Part of me says there's an element of glory hunting about those who continuously post on here about why they currently don't go to Jags games. Then there's another part of me appreciates Jags fans who take the time to post why they don't go.

But my opinions are worth little, in fact a bit hypocritical, as from time to time (often over lengthy spells) thru the decades I've stayed away.

 

In trying to be objective I kinda side with Alx's post.

I feel there's things outside of the control of our Club/Board that impact on attendances. Dating from after the 4th Sept (the Ayr game)and barring a decent run in the Scottish Cup this season we'll play 34 games against only 9 clubs . This season we'll play Falkirk, Ross Co & Stirling at least 5 times. Year in year out this repetitiveness has got to take its toll on attendances.

Edited October 31, 2010 by lady-isobel-barnett

[lennythistle]

Ooooops, slight typo. Well that's even worse, where have all the Jags fans gone? There are roughly 1100 fans on this forum alone, plus a large number of fans who have not registered or don't have Internet access. I admit in these economic times it's not easy coughing up money for a football game, however I hope that even coming to a home game every 2 weeks will help the club financially and give the players a lift.

 

The atmosphere inside Firhill is like that of a funeral home, its actually unnerving for players I would have imagined, no singing, no chanting, just the mumbled ramblings of 1,800 discontented Jags fans. C'mon, remember Rangers a few seasons ago at Firhill, the JH Stand nearly full, singing all afternoon, red and yellow in every direction, where have all these people gone? Even at away games there is no singing, every fan just sits there, like it's almost illegal to sing or chant, then when a song does start from a corner of the stand it quickly teeters out.

 

We need to make Firhill a hard place to come, we need to make it more vocal, and the only way we are going to do that is to get Jags fans to get there butts on the seats! I would welcome an initiative from the board to do this.

 

However my idea is to scrap the free U-16 thing, put U-16's to £4/5, concessions to £10 then adults to £15, or something along those lines, we need to raise money from the U-16's gate in order to slightly lower the cost of an adult for a league match, we are the second highest in the division and I think that's what puts a lot of fans off! If I wasnt a season ticket holder I would admittingly grudge giving the club, what is it, £17 per match? All I'm saying something needs to be done to get the attendances up, and I dont think the answer is completely improving on the pitch performances, we need other incentives.

The club does raise money from the U16's. Most have became "young jags" and when the parents take them, the parents end up spending a fortune on food for the kids. when i go it's usually with my wife and two kids......the day costs us £65.00 and that with the kids getting in free !!

 

I understand why you want more people to be at firhill and i understand your concern bout the drop in attendances but and this only relates to me, I can't afford that every 2nd saturday so i have to pick and chose the matches i attend.

[spider jag]

Had to admit, despite having a seasy, I didn't go yesterday, was offered the possibility of some work and was helping organise a Halloween bash in the East Coast - girlfriend sytays thru there too, sometimes just too expensive to travel back and forth constantly.

[John Blutarsky]

What is our average attendance this year? I'm guessing roundabout the 2300 mark.

 

that's about right, so far it's about 300 down from last year's average.

[Jaggernaut]

that's about right, so far it's about 300 down from last year's average.

I think there's no doubt that being down at/around the bottom of the league with terrible performances since the start of the season has resulted in a good number of those 300 or so deciding to keep their money in their pocket, spend it on something else, or simply stay home. A good run of results to get us at least in the top 4 would bring many of them back, I'm sure. Everybody has other things that sometimes mean that you can't go matches (although a season ticket-holder, I'm lucky if I can get to half of the home matches), but there are many, many Thistle fans who are part-time supporters at best, others who are only occasionally interested, and a probably even more who are Thistle fans in name only, probably having attended no more than a handful of games in years, in spite of being able to go if they wanted. I'm not sure what, if anything, could be done to get such folk to go to matches more often. I'm not at all sure that reversing the children-go-free strategy and reducing prices would do it at all.

[Collins Out!]

I think a lot of Thistle fans need to have a long hard look at themselves. Two hours a fortnight and £17 isn't much to ask if you have a job.

At worst it's two hours of abject misery sitting on filthy guano covered seats in foul weather with terrible company whilst eating disgusting food.

Get yourselves to the ******* game!

[Jaggernaut]

 

At worst it's two hours of abject misery sitting on filthy guano covered seats in foul weather with terrible company whilst eating disgusting food.

 

I get that at home, so I look forward to every match that I can make it to.

[1 John Lambie]

In the Aitken Suite yesterday, a guy comes up & asked for 5 adult tickets, price = £85, felt like a bloody robber! I know we're not much more expensive than any of our rivals, but it's a sad state of affairs that it costs that much to watch a 1st Div game. Even if we charged £10, I doubt attendances would improve much, if at all. Everyone is full of excuses as to why they won't go; Campbell, price, Cowan, Hughes, Prentice. As it's been proven, crowds don't increase when something happens that they used as their excuse, they just find another reason not to go.

 

 

A more positive story, however, a guy with an Oxford Utd jacket came in & asked for an adult & 2 kids (the kids looked youngish), so I asked their ages & they were both U-16, he was delighted to be told that they would both get in for free & that their day out was alot cheaper than expected. Hopefully he'll return at some point, we have something that no other club has, free u-16s & I believe that it should be utilised more, with posters being all over Glasgow, plugs on radio shows. Whatever is possible, for the least amount of expenditure.

Edited October 31, 2010 by 1 John Lambie

[Vom Itorium]

In the Aitken Suite yesterday, a guy comes up & asked for 5 adult tickets, price = £85, felt like a bloody robber! I know we're not much more expensive than any of our rivals, but it's a sad state of affairs that it costs that much to watch a 1st Div game. Even if we charged £10, I doubt attendances would improve much, if at all. Everyone is full of excuses as to why they won't go; Campbell, price, Cowan, Hughes, Prentice. As it's been proven, crowds don't increase when something happens that they used as their excuse, they just find another reason not to go.

 

 

A more positive story, however, a guy with an Oxford Utd jacket came in & asked for an adult & 2 kids (the kids looked youngish), so I asked their ages & they were both U-16, he was delighted to be told that they would both get in for free & that their day out was alot cheaper than expected. Hopefully he'll return at some point, we have something that no other club has, free u-16s & I believe that it should be utilising more, with posters being all over Glasgow, plugs on radio shows. Whatever is possible, for the least amount of expenditure.

This is very true, we do not make enough about this and the marketing of the club remains sporadic to pish poor. Kids for free is applauded by everyone you mention it to. £17 for an adult is laughed at and ridiculed.

[McKennan]

Eighteen hundred at the game? How could that possibly be? It cannot be because the product is rotten, could it?

[fatnallyjag]

I appreciate that our current financial situation relies alot on gate money but seems to be a distinct lack of realism here.

 

Rangers, Celtic, even Man Utd are suddenly finding themselves with spare season tickets left to sell, people just can't afford it at the moment and that is only likely to get worse over the next year or two, its been far too expensive for far too long.

 

That being said, my ticket was paid for yesterday but I couldn't be there and there may have been others like that too so might not be as bad as the numbers seem.

 

Also, my mate who is a rangers fans bought a season ticket for the jags this year so he goes to the football every week even if his team arent at home, so 3 times this seasoni've been charged with giving it to someone while he is at Ibrox, and to be honest my mates have kinda been of the opinion that even for free they could have had a more entertaining afternoon so that doesnt bode well for tempting people back.

[jaggy]

The product is rubbish (not just by us) & it will take a hell of an improvement to make me go regularly again. I don't expect world class football, but I do expect some kind entertainment when I go & see the Jags. The feeling by some that 'we played well' & 'there were good performances' by some players shows how low the level of expectation has become. We were poor & Cowdenbeath were worse, how many shots did we actually have on target?

[Jaggyman]

Personally speaking if i didnt have my season ticket i would think twice about handing over £17 every other week.

[uberteeb]

I didn't go to Stirling as nobody else could be persuaded to make the trip (never happened before) and I didn't go to the Cowdenbeath game because I was away for the weekend.

 

Did I miss it? Not really.

 

Scottish football is pish in pretty much every way, that includes us. I'm really not surprised people get out the habit of going and don't go back. It'll take more than minor tweaks or cutting 2 quid off the price to bring people back.

[Jaggernaut]

I didn't go to Stirling as nobody else could be persuaded to make the trip (never happened before) and I didn't go to the Cowdenbeath game because I was away for the weekend.

 

Did I miss it? Not really.

 

Scottish football is pish in pretty much every way, that includes us. I'm really not surprised people get out the habit of going and don't go back. It'll take more than minor tweaks or cutting 2 quid off the price to bring people back.

So what would do it? As you talk about "Scottish football" in general it's not just us. Apart from the h u n s, tims, tarts, dons and hibees, other SPL clubs' gates struggle to make 5,000, 3-4,000 is probably average. Do you think that even "major" tweaks would double those figures? Somehow I don't. And yet, the football itself is surviving, and it will survive. The shape of it, the amount of money being borrowed etc may change, but it'll survive.

[lennythistle]

I think a lot of Thistle fans need to have a long hard look at themselves. Two hours a fortnight and £17 isn't much to ask if you have a job.

At worst it's two hours of abject misery sitting on filthy guano covered seats in foul weather with terrible company whilst eating disgusting food.

Get yourselves to the ******* game!

Wish it was that simple.

 

Once household bills are paid, fuel for car sorted for the month, finances paid to ex wife, finances paid to current wife, finances paid for kid with ex wife, finances paid for kid with current wife, small contribution made to credit card, car loan paid, money put aside to take wife out (current one not the ex !!!) then................OH BUGGER I'M WORSE OFF THAN DUNDEE !!!!!

[lady-isobel-barnett]

So what would do it? As you talk about "Scottish football" in general it's not just us. Apart from the h u n s, tims, tarts, dons and hibees, other SPL clubs' gates struggle to make 5,000, 3-4,000 is probably average. Do you think that even "major" tweaks would double those figures? Somehow I don't. And yet, the football itself is surviving, and it will survive. The shape of it, the amount of money being borrowed etc may change, but it'll survive.

If we had more variation (bigger leagues, regionalised league cup mini-leagues (as we've had in the past), scrapped or revamped challenge cup) it wouldn't guarantee better (technically or pleasing) football. What it would ensure is that clubs playing each other 4 times or more a season would be the exception not the norm. Such change may not bring the fans flooding back but imo would more than stem the haemorrhaging.