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Lenziejag2
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Wir sind eine weithin bekannte Glasgow-Fußballmannschaft

If I hear the phrase “dwindling attendances” one more time, I think I’m going to kill somebody.

 

There is no hiding from the fact that Scottish football, as a product, is failing. This is evident from the dwindling attendances (oops) throughout all of the country’s professional football leagues. Something has to be done. The Old Firm are no longer able to charge their fans funny money to watch world class players, because they don’t have any.

 

It’s a vicious cycle: teams have no money; teams cannot afford better players; teams’ performances no longer meet their fans’ insane expectations; teams’ fans lose interest; teams have no money.

 

How do we fix this? Teams aren’t going to reduce ticket prices. This is too much of a gamble. A scheme such as that would require some patience. Chairmen and patience are two words that shouldn’t go together in a sentence. Except that one, right there.

 

Our own Partick Thistle have allowed children under the age of sixteen to go to games for free. This sounds fantastic but the uptake of this, in all honesty, has been slow. I can’t give a reason for this, but there must be something that is stopping children from going along to watch real, proper, football.

 

Can we, please, have a little look at what goes on in Germany? Please? I’m not expecting Dunfermline Athletic to suddenly expect an average attendance of over 19,000, matching the Bundesliga’s bottom side, Freiburg. That’s just silly considering the population of Germany compared to Scotland. There must, however, be a reason why such a large percentage of Germany’s 81 million inhabitants go to watch football week in, week out.

 

I want to find out if there is anything my beloved Partick Thistle can learn from the Germans. I’d love to see Firhill’s crowd grow from 2000 to 4000. I want to help. So, here we go.

 

“Young Generation Dortmund” is an awful translation. It is, however, an excellent idea. Borussia Dortmund arrange supporters buses for young fans to travel to and from games. The buses are alcohol free and keep the kids away from any trouble with the Ultras. Thistle, what with the business acumen on the board, could set up some sort of partnership with a minibus company and arrange well publicised pick up points around the city to transport Glasgow’s kids to games where they can gain free entry. There are plenty of student teachers and social workers who are looking for voluntary work, get them to chaperone the buses.

 

FC St Pauli’s “Fanladen” is a group of committed and passionate fans who, amongst other things, are available to help tourists and locals arrange their trips to the Millerntor. The St Pauli board recognise this group of fans and use them as a forum for ideas to take the club forward. Some of the Fanladen’s other initiatives involve producing fanzines (remember them?) more suited to children, which would tie in nicely with the Kids Go Free scheme, and other fanzines targeted at women. They also arrange football tournaments with other fans, something which Thistle have already explored with last year’s successful Firhill Cup. Thistle do have the resources to create a Fanladen within their ranks. We just need willing volunteers.

 

I wanted to stay away from the obvious in this article, but I think the issue of Biertents and Fanzones has to be addressed. Thistle have, in my opinion, a wonderful facility in the Aitken Suite. This is an area within the ground that both home and away fans can mingle pre and post match, and have a pint. Due to my commitments with the Jagscast, I can no longer visit the Aitken Suite on match days. I do recall that the numbers in the suite were falling. I cannot fully comment on why this was the case. Perhaps an overpriced bar, or a lack of atmosphere? I think the club could relaunch this idea, and inject some life into it to encourage fans to return. Perhaps, and I don’t know how realistic this is, the club could show old footage of games on a screen or two. This would give the fans something to talk about and provide them with a chance to reminisce about games from years ago. We are a club steeped in history and tradition, so why not celebrate it? If the club are keen on selling hospitality packages to more fans, then they could provide the ordinary punter with a taste of the hospitality experience. Why not get Mr. Robert Reid: club historian, or some directors into the Aitken Suite pre...

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...and post match to speak to the fans. You could even pipe through some Thistle music through the speakers in the room. All of these suggestions would help to improve the atmosphere, and encourage fans to return to a Fanzone.

 

The current board at Firhill are a cooperative bunch, and are very happy to hear suggestions from fans. The debates over standing sections and alcohol in the stands have been done to death. I’d like to think that us Jags fans can be a wee bit more inventive and look at other ways to entice fans back to Firhill. Get your thinking caps on. Why bother reinventing the wheel, though. Let us see what works in other countries, like Germany, and see what we can do here.

 

VBL

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I don’t have the figures but does Scotland not have one of the highest, if not the hightest, proportion of people attending football matches in terms of population size?

 

And despite most people in Glasgow inheriting some form of old firm deficiency from their family they can be converted. Out of the guys I go with we have 1 ex-Rangers fan who now holds a season ticket, 1 ex-Rangers fan who attends who would have a season ticket if he didn’t work shifts but who attends probably half the home games and 1 current Rangers fan who comes along a few times a season. Now they aren’t coming along for the football or anything, but they came along and enjoyed the ‘matchday experience’, by that I mean going to the pub Saturday lunchtime, spending the day with their mates, going out afterwards, etc. Most ‘old firm fans’ don’t go to Ibrox or Parkhead, same way the younger kids who only support a Premiership team, they can come be converted too. My wee brother turned up for the first time this season with a few of his Thistle supporting mates on Saturday, he’ll be giving it another go after what he witnessed.

 

And if there was an adult version of the Aitken Suite elsewhere in the ground that sold decent beer at normal prices with Ky TV and no curfew I’m sure most people would gravitate to that from the Star/Woody/Whatever.

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The university is a great opportunity to get in new fans, it attracts large numbers of students from all across the country/globe who with a bit of targeted PR and affordable tickets could be a good way of building up the fanbase. And by affordable I mean very cheap, people don’t appreciate how hard up most students are and spending £12 to go to a football match is way above the budget of most students living away from home and not always priority (the priority is booze and 19 year old girls in the student union and frankly, who can blame them?).

 

Also as someone alluded to above, kids don’t support Scottish teams any more. I take a cubs group and they all want EPL tops with Van Persie and Torres on the back for Christmas. However kids are easily star struck and the opportunity to meet a real live footballer of any team will be exciting for them and with free entry if we can provide enough entertainment for them and aid access as jagscast suggests again this is in my opinion is the way forward long term in building up the fanbase.

 

Cheap tickets to attract new fans is also something I think should be looked at. Although the faithful don’t mind paying £17, for someone who doesn’t follow the team (yet) this is an expensive way to spend a couple of hours and perhaps targeting businesses with cheap offers for their staff for one or two matches would be a good way of showing people what Firhill has to offer.

 

Now is the time to start doing these things, having a successful team playing attractive football on the pitch is the best way to encourage repeat business but more needs to be done to get people to give Firhill a try in the first place.

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I don’t have the figures but does Scotland not have one of the highest, if not the hightest, proportion of people attending football matches in terms of population size?

 

And despite most people in Glasgow inheriting some form of old firm deficiency from their family they can be converted. Out of the guys I go with we have 1 ex-Rangers fan who now holds a season ticket, 1 ex-Rangers fan who attends who would have a season ticket if he didn’t work shifts but who attends probably half the home games and 1 current Rangers fan who comes along a few times a season. Now they aren’t coming along for the football or anything, but they came along and enjoyed the ‘matchday experience’, by that I mean going to the pub Saturday lunchtime, spending the day with their mates, going out afterwards, etc. Most ‘old firm fans’ don’t go to Ibrox or Parkhead, same way the younger kids who only support a Premiership team, they can come be converted too. My wee brother turned up for the first time this season with a few of his Thistle supporting mates on Saturday, he’ll be giving it another go after what he witnessed.

 

And if there was an adult version of the Aitken Suite elsewhere in the ground that sold decent beer at normal prices with Ky TV and no curfew I’m sure most people would gravitate to that from the Star/Woody/Whatever.

 

Agree with this 100%. The view that football fans are dyed in the wool die hard fans of one club and only one club isn't true. Most fans flock like sheep to successful teams, it's just that the die hards are the ones with the loudest voices and the ones who are noticed.

 

A fried of mine who has always supported Man United used to come with us to occasional games, though he probably went mainly using my season ticket when I was working. This year he's making an effort to get to games and has probably been to half our home games so far this season. When he hasn't been there he's been posting score updates on facebook.

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NOT spending years promoting a bigoted, paranoid attitude towards a certain rival football club in order to foster the deep held feeling that if your own club gets into trouble then it is a catholic/protestant conspiracy which your fans must rally against at all costs!

 

Typical small minded comment

 

I point you in the dirction of our own song lyrics:

 

F The P.... and F The Q..... ?????

 

Bigoted? - Yes

Paranoia? - Yes

Hatred towards rivals? - Yes

 

and you wonder why the country and Scottish football is in the crisis it is??

Opening poster was spot on - there were more at Ibrox on Sunday than there were at every other ground in Scotland combined - sad facts but a mere reality!!!

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Typical small minded comment

 

I point you in the dirction of our own song lyrics:

 

F The P.... and F The Q..... ?????

 

Bigoted? - Yes

Paranoia? - Yes

Hatred towards rivals? - Yes

 

and you wonder why the country and Scottish football is in the crisis it is??

Opening poster was spot on - there were more at Ibrox on Sunday than there were at every other ground in Scotland combined - sad facts but a mere reality!!!

 

It's quite amazing there are still fans such as yourself who don't know the proper words to that song.

Edited by Pie Of The Month
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On a lighter (less controversial? ) note, my son is at school with a fair amount of kids who have one or more German parents. I've discussed the whole kids for free thing with them, and a few of them have come up to Firhill and enjoyed it. However, the thing that gets them is the idea that they can bring a German flag or wear a German top - because it's red, yellow and black.i was going to email the club to suggest that a wee translated poster to the Goethe Institute might be useful, and great PR too....

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On a lighter (less controversial? ) note, my son is at school with a fair amount of kids who have one or more German parents. I've discussed the whole kids for free thing with them, and a few of them have come up to Firhill and enjoyed it. However, the thing that gets them is the idea that they can bring a German flag or wear a German top - because it's red, yellow and black.i was going to email the club to suggest that a wee translated poster to the Goethe Institute might be useful, and great PR too....

 

My girlfriends sister works in the Geothe so if you'd like I'll ask her if we can put it up. I could even ask Frau Magoo to help out with the translation if needs be. There's a decent group of football fans go there to watch the German games on the big screen so worth a try. The Alliance Francaise is in the same building if someone could do a french poster too although they'd definitely need to leave there tricolores at home.

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On a lighter (less controversial? ) note, my son is at school with a fair amount of kids who have one or more German parents. I've discussed the whole kids for free thing with them, and a few of them have come up to Firhill and enjoyed it. However, the thing that gets them is the idea that they can bring a German flag or wear a German top - because it's red, yellow and black.i was going to email the club to suggest that a wee translated poster to the Goethe Institute might be useful, and great PR too....

My girlfriends sister works in the Geothe so if you'd like I'll ask her if we can put it up. I could even ask Frau Magoo to help out with the translation if needs be. There's a decent group of football fans go there to watch the German games on the big screen so worth a try. The Alliance Francaise is in the same building if someone could do a french poster too although they'd definitely need to leave there tricolores at home.

 

Aye this is a good idea fo shizzle. Don't forget a Korean poster for sigesige00

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I don’t have the figures but does Scotland not have one of the highest, if not the hightest, proportion of people attending football matches in terms of population size?

 

And despite most people in Glasgow inheriting some form of old firm deficiency from their family they can be converted. Out of the guys I go with we have 1 ex-Rangers fan who now holds a season ticket, 1 ex-Rangers fan who attends who would have a season ticket if he didn’t work shifts but who attends probably half the home games and 1 current Rangers fan who comes along a few times a season. Now they aren’t coming along for the football or anything, but they came along and enjoyed the ‘matchday experience’, by that I mean going to the pub Saturday lunchtime, spending the day with their mates, going out afterwards, etc. Most ‘old firm fans’ don’t go to Ibrox or Parkhead, same way the younger kids who only support a Premiership team, they can come be converted too. My wee brother turned up for the first time this season with a few of his Thistle supporting mates on Saturday, he’ll be giving it another go after what he witnessed.

 

And if there was an adult version of the Aitken Suite elsewhere in the ground that sold decent beer at normal prices with Ky TV and no curfew I’m sure most people would gravitate to that from the Star/Woody/Whatever.

 

Spot on here :thumbsup2:

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My girlfriends sister works in the Geothe so if you'd like I'll ask her if we can put it up. I could even ask Frau Magoo to help out with the translation if needs be. There's a decent group of football fans go there to watch the German games on the big screen so worth a try. The Alliance Francaise is in the same building if someone could do a french poster too although they'd definitely need to leave there tricolores at home.

 

How about one of these?:

 

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=red+and+yellow+swastika&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1587&bih=858&tbm=isch&tbnid=mk6mLrN_FGCafM:&imgrefurl=http://www.508pir.org/events/ff_reunions/reunion_04/ff_reunion_04_05.htm&docid=dyav6aQ0y2a2nM&imgurl=http://www.508pir.org/events/images/2010_reunion/45_INF_DIV_Swastika_trans.gif&w=750&h=750&ei=NbqLUPHRNKjT0QXdl4DQBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1000&vpy=129&dur=886&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=124&ty=119&sig=104172556082131435364&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=144&start=0&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:78

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just to touch on a comment I saw earlier in this thread if any of you listen to radio Clyde you'll hear plenty about the old firm in the sports bulletins, plenty about Glasgow rocks and the braehead clan(icehockey team) and they even cover the English premiership big boys, even when we gubbed Airdrie we didn't get a mention. even the local media are not interested. perhaps the club could be more pro-active with them? oh and why does my return key not work on this forum?

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It's going to be hard to change behaviour in the meeja, especially when that meeja has its head wedged up the fat arse of the Old Firm cartel.

 

Toaster has a point - open most papers and you'll get a couple of lines on the Falkirk-Thistle game and maybe three or four hundred on this weekend's Serie A games.

 

In fairness to the locals around my way (Partick), they do touch on Thistle games. Radio Clyde? Pfft! Lost cause.

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its no wonder why we have little of our support coming from the local areas.

 

has no one noticed the levels of poverty in possil, ruchill, maryhill and the like? people from these areas cant afford to pay 17 quid plus a pie and bovril every home game. bet they see the prices and say **** that and become armchair OF fans.

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My twopenceworth for what it is worth.

 

Two things we need to stop blaming 1.The Old Firm and 2.The quality of Football on the Park.

 

The Thistle Fans who no longer come are not going to watch the Old Firm and current crowds kill the arguement put forward by previous Boards that the only thing that mattered ref crowds was results on the park.

 

Both of these arguements are justifications for the lack of long term Marketing and downward spiral in Matchday Experience - it absolves those responsible for not taking action to address falling crowds.

 

There is no single answer (nor quick fix) we have lost fans in dribs and drabs -we win them back in dribs and drabs and gain a few new ones on the way.

 

This Season we have scatched at the surface on Matchday Experience - we are a million miles away and have many battles still to fight to improve it - the New Shed helps and major credit to guys like Dave J and Ian Mac in helping it become self Policed - we faced an uphill battle to get this move and its getting there.

 

The Kids Season Tickets have been a major success over 500 kids now registered with the Club ,this allows analysis of age groups ,Schools etc for future target Marketing.

 

The Players Zone - when I returned at the start of the Season we had 5 kids in the Players Zone at the Falkirk Game (out of 600 kids that day) we now average 40 -50.

 

The onethistle Matchday Team under Sandy check everything from Toilets to Catering a post match report is submitted after every home game.

 

There are regular discussions on things like Que management at turnstyles.

 

We are only scratching at the surface - to turn things around requires resource and cash - we have neither ,we do have a dedicated group of Marketing Proffessionals in Colin Scott, Charlene Docherty ,Tom Hosie - our Marketing Materials and Promo Vids are to the highest standards, but as we are limited by our day jobs any impact is very slow.

 

We are where we are ,we are getting better - far to slowly for my liking ,but we are not ignoring the fact we need to grow our fanbase.

 

One thing I keep banging on about which will seriously impact on Matchday Experience - if the Dads ( & Mums) could simply start the Thistle chants in the Thistle Futures and Thistle Ultras Sections it will have a major impact on the kids Matchday - you can see them just bursting to get involved.

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I don't think the stats are readily available, but in my experience, judging by most of the Thistle fans I know, I could count the number on one hand who are from within one of the areas surrounding Firhill or within short walking distance.

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To look at attendances now, I think you need to look at the past.

 

What I mean by that is in regard to the age groups of the hardcore support we now find ourselves with.

 

Look at the last 9 years since lambie's retirement.

 

We have seen us relegated from the SPL to the first to the second. In the second we only got promoted by the skin of our teeth. Since then we have been a middle of the road mediocre team with one season of over achieving.

 

In those 9 years, why would any new fans want to come and watch us?

 

We've effectively lost a Generation of fans. Folk who in 2003 were in the 10 to 15 age bracket would now be in their early 20's... How many of those kids from 1999-2003 who came to see thistle steam roller through the divisions and stay in the SPL stuck with us through 9 years of shit and mediocrity? Why would they go and watch us it wasn't like we were playing good football or that firhill was an enjoyable place to be.

 

Thankfully we have kids go free.

 

Say the next 10 years are the same as the last and we spend the majority as a middle table first division team going nowhere playing average football... Why will kids in their late teens come to watch that? Hopefully because they have been getting in for free for a good few years and they now see themselves as thistle fans... That kids go free has been rewarded with their loyalty.

 

If we can hold onto those 600 kids and grow the numbers, gain their loyalty. In 4 or 5 years That's 600 fans that will be paying in ontop of the 2000 fans that already do... Keep getting the kids in for free on a continuous cycle, gain their loyalty, make firhill a routine... A habit instead of a chore, and every year, the paying gate will increase as kids hit 16 years of age...

 

How do we get folk in, or back, who are part of that missing generation that I talked about earlier? An entertaining product on the pitch will get them inquisitive... They'll come to the odd game to see what it's like... Make the match day experience of value and it will be easier for them to come back every week.

 

For me, the north stand is where we should be seeing numbers increase... If that missing generation of folk in the 20 to 25 age bracket want to return, I'd imagine they'd head for the north stand.

Edited by potty trained
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If we can hold onto those 600 kids and grow the numbers, gain their loyalty. In 4 or 5 years That's 600 fans that will be paying in ontop of the 2000 fans that already do... Keep getting the kids in for free on a continuous cycle, gain their loyalty, make firhill a routine... A habit instead of a chore, and every year, the paying gate will increase as kids hit 16 years of age...

 

 

For me, the north stand is where we should be seeing numbers increase... If that missing generation of folk in the 20 to 25 age bracket want to return, I'd imagine they'd head for the north stand.

 

Where does a 16 year old get the money to go to football? It seems to me that people hang on to the hope that kids who have seen Thistle for free and have the love of following thistle will suddenly pay into games? In reality most 16 -18 year olds will have a weekend job which involves working Saturdays. If they don't then of course it will be the parents paying. I am not saying kids go free is pointless, it is good that we can offer it and I am sure we will feel the benefits of it eventually. I just don't think we should pin all our hopes on it to increase attendances in the future. Will it still be free for kids if we are in SPL?

 

The north stand has made going to Firhill enjoyable, looking forward to home games is a great feeling. We should do more to promote that to jags fans who maybe haven't been for a while who don't have kids, but unless you go or have friends who go how would you know about it?

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