Yesterday's attendance!!

[Rampant Zebra]

great idea. a free season ticket worth a couple of hundred quid to a superstar worth millions and who lives in la.

he'd jump at it & be on a plane in no time

I think you are missing the point. The free publicity in the international press would be worth far more to the club than the cost of printing the ticket.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) using the onevalefan mobile app

[Bea Smith]

I think you are missing the point. The free publicity in the international press would be worth far more to the club than the cost of printing the ticket.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) using the onevalefan mobile app

 

 

 

I think it has been forgotten that Robbie Williams did donate £250k to Vale. And that his publicity got the club name much more well known, and generated thousands of pounds worth of shop sales.

 

If he is a freeloader then can we have some more freeloaders please instead of an owner who contributes nothing but bad publicity and worse feeling ?

[Paul6754]

Correct, but I still don't think our situation compares to theirs.

 

I'm genuinely worried about how little is being done to cultivate our support for the future. It seems absolutely nothing is being done to address the issue...just look around our crowd and there's hardly anyone under 45 there.

 

My 7 year old nephew called me recently to say representatives from vale had been to his school and from memory there appeared to be a similar marketing ploy to stoke to reach out to youngsters. So stuff is being done if only a little behind time wise our more affluent neighbors.

[Paul6754]

I think you are missing the point. The free publicity in the international press would be worth far more to the club than the cost of printing the ticket.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) using the onevalefan mobile app

 

You’re on the right track there Rz, Rw should be made a “life long vale fan” or something similar, have that info on his website and some of his fans just might buy a shirt or visit the club etc.

[geosname]

Whatever product you have you have to sell it, good, bad or indifferent. The better the product the easier it is to sell.

Its not enough to sit back and wait for people to come looking for it and its not enough to just follow what others have done or are doing although it may help.

Targeting the 3,500? hardcore is weak to put it mildly.

An outdoor product will be affected by the weather, the older the customer base the larger the effect on sales

[Mattholl]

Whatever product you have you have to sell it, good, bad or indifferent. The better the product the easier it is to sell.

Its not enough to sit back and wait for people to come looking for it and its not enough to just follow what others have done or are doing although it may help.

Targeting the 3,500? hardcore is weak to put it mildly.

An outdoor product will be affected by the weather, the older the customer base the larger the effect on sales

 

yeah common sense this time of year against what is not a glamorous opponent was always going to be a struggle. Young and old fans at the two extremes of the age bracket are unlikely to go and at £23 walk up price people are likely to give it a miss. Also bearing in mind its the xmas pay packets people will cut their cloth accordingly.

[Mattholl]

The biggest issue people have is not understanding the concept that free doesnt mean people use it. Giving free tickets away isnt the answer to our issues. Firstly something free has no value, it wasnt ever worth anything so realistically if you gave out 5000 you would be lucky if 2-300 got used as people dont worry about not using something that has cost them nothing. The second issue is that if you gave them to local schools, the people who will use them are people who actually are already fans so potentially you actually pick up very few fans and loose income from those who usually pay.

 

Other issues are that we dont have peoples details to follow up on as they have the ticket and we dont know who they are so cant market to them or contact them at all.

 

The only real way we can drive attendances is schemes that are referral based. What better advocate for the vale than vale fans? So we should in my opinion be doing deals for fans Season ticket holders can bring a friend for the rest of season for £100. £8 off matchday tickets purchased via the season ticket holder, purchase Xmas bulk ticket deals or monthly league passes for £50 etc..

[CambridgeDon]

One of the biggest factors in our low attendances is the quality of the opposition and their support. This is L2 and we're going to be playing clubs with limited appeal and even fewer away supporters (like Saturday with 205 fans contributing about £4k to the club's coffers).

 

I posted last season that we would be missing out on away fans big time if we got relegated, when the likes of Plymouth, Portsmouth and Blackpool would have brought many more fans with them. So it's proving. Instead, we're playing Cambridge, Colchester, Forest Green, Barnet etc, etc hardly big name clubs and all bringing a paltry amount of fans.

 

It's obvious, I know, but the sooner we climb the table and get out of this league, the better for our attendances.

[Bea Smith]

The Yeovil game was only £12 and the Chuckitout Trophy wouldn't appeal to most fans, so I personally don't think that was the issue.

 

In fairness, he didn't say it was just the financial cost of entry, though you have to realise that even at reduced rates that would stretch some budgets.

 

It seems to be a crime not to have much money these days with some people on here who are stuck up their own backsides (not you). People should be aware that for some fans, it costs as much or more to get to the game as to pay the entrance fee.

 

. Lots of people have travel costs too, and just maybe have things that need there time as well as football - it isn't just 90 minutes for many people, can be (if you live close) a minimum of 2 and a half hours or as much as a half day or even full day for some.

 

Family commitments, work commitments baby sitters, other social duties, shopping commitments and many, many other things would make 3 games in a week tricky for a lot of people.

[bycars bootboy]

One of the biggest factors in our low attendances is the quality of the opposition and their support. This is L2 and we're going to be playing clubs with limited appeal and even fewer away supporters (like Saturday with 205 fans contributing about £4k to the club's coffers).

 

I posted last season that we would be missing out on away fans big time if we got relegated, when the likes of Plymouth, Portsmouth and Blackpool would have brought many more fans with them. So it's proving. Instead, we're playing Cambridge, Colchester, Forest Green, Barnet etc, etc hardly big name clubs and all bringing a paltry amount of fans.

 

It's obvious, I know, but the sooner we climb the table and get out of this league, the better for our attendances.

 

Portsmouth maybe decent following,but Plymouth and especially Blackpool wouldn't have brought anywhere near a big following.Blackpool!who are they?

[SuperValiant1876]

Portsmouth maybe decent following,but Plymouth and especially Blackpool wouldn't have brought anywhere near a big following.Blackpool!who are they?

 

Plymouth usually bring a good number for how far they have to travel. I can't remember a game against them where there wasn't at least 500 of them.

[t.punchard]

attendances always take a small dip leading upto christmas plus add on the weather and 3 home games in a week doesn't help either

[jjvale_03]

Think you're one of the best posters on here Smithie, but here's my view:

 

- Don't discount the demoralising effect of relegation and what that means. The euphoria of the promotion and the 'big' matches was only half a decade ago. It was the first promotion for a generation of Vale fans, the first real success since the 90's. To be back so quickly to square one, at the bottom of the entire football league has been a bitter pill to swallow and has been compounded by the feeling that it is a result of the actions of our owner.

- Couple with the above point, a generation of Vale fans had gone through childhood and teenage years clinging on for the day they'd see success. When it came it was great, but now these fans are mid-20's with wives, kids and jobs and inevitably there's some that drift away. It seems that the club hasn't been able to retain or replace these fans, which leaves a hole in our fanbase. The less 20-something's in attendance, the worse the atmosphere, the less reason for others to attend, the less 'new blood' kids and teenagers are bothered to attend and so on. Take a look at the numbers in the paddock block nearest to the away fans. Without fail there'd be a couple of hundred in there from 2000 - 2015, now on some occasions there's 20-30.

- Don't underestimate the number of Vale fans who have to get in their car to come to a game. Thanks to our success in the 90's, I suspect there's a sizeable chunk of our fanbase who don't (and have never) lived anywhere near Burslem. Couple that with our evidently ageing fanbase and you have a perfect storm where our attendance may take a greater hit then other clubs.

- Quite simply, the season is over. It's evident to see that since Aspin came in we are good enough to stay up with ease. We've given ourselves way too much to do to compete for the playoff places but there's nothing really to get the casual fan to take in a game - when the games at present are fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

- Our stadium has seen zero improvements in 20 years. I couldn't care less, but a lot of people do and it will be hitting our attendances. Not only does it mean fans have to put up with sub standard, decaying facilities, but it also shows a total lack of ambition and progressiveness from the club as a whole.

 

Keep the faith...UTV

[bycars bootboy]

Plymouth usually bring a good number for how far they have to travel. I can't remember a game against them where there wasn't at least 500 of them.

 

I would suggest that Plymouth, like Newcastle are used to long distant away travel but with a population the size of Stoke, they Should travel well but I don't think 500 constitutes a big following.

[smithie]

Think you're one of the best posters on here Smithie, but here's my view:

 

- Don't discount the demoralising effect of relegation and what that means. The euphoria of the promotion and the 'big' matches was only half a decade ago. It was the first promotion for a generation of Vale fans, the first real success since the 90's. To be back so quickly to square one, at the bottom of the entire football league has been a bitter pill to swallow and has been compounded by the feeling that it is a result of the actions of our owner.

- Couple with the above point, a generation of Vale fans had gone through childhood and teenage years clinging on for the day they'd see success. When it came it was great, but now these fans are mid-20's with wives, kids and jobs and inevitably there's some that drift away. It seems that the club hasn't been able to retain or replace these fans, which leaves a hole in our fanbase. The less 20-something's in attendance, the worse the atmosphere, the less reason for others to attend, the less 'new blood' kids and teenagers are bothered to attend and so on. Take a look at the numbers in the paddock block nearest to the away fans. Without fail there'd be a couple of hundred in there from 2000 - 2015, now on some occasions there's 20-30.

- Don't underestimate the number of Vale fans who have to get in their car to come to a game. Thanks to our success in the 90's, I suspect there's a sizeable chunk of our fanbase who don't (and have never) lived anywhere near Burslem. Couple that with our evidently ageing fanbase and you have a perfect storm where our attendance may take a greater hit then other clubs.

- Quite simply, the season is over. It's evident to see that since Aspin came in we are good enough to stay up with ease. We've given ourselves way too much to do to compete for the playoff places but there's nothing really to get the casual fan to take in a game - when the games at present are fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

- Our stadium has seen zero improvements in 20 years. I couldn't care less, but a lot of people do and it will be hitting our attendances. Not only does it mean fans have to put up with sub standard, decaying facilities, but it also shows a total lack of ambition and progressiveness from the club as a whole.

 

Keep the faith...UTV

 

Cheers - you should have left it at the first sentence:laugh:

 

I agree with everything you say. I'm one of a few people I come with who travel some distance to watch us play, and I'd blame no-one for losing interest over the last two seasons. I think I'm more frustrated that the club are either not making efforts in swelling attendances, or failing miserably with whathever they are trying. For what it's worth, I'm one of the small knot of fans who stand at the away end of the paddock because for me exchanging chants with the away fans has always been part of football for me (and I'm closer to my senior ticket than I am to a younger concessionary rate!). This doesn't make me a hooligan as far as I'm aware, as I've no interest in anything beyond singing and chanting during the game. It's not everybody's cup of tea, but in the scheme of things it's really nothing.

 

If I thought I could get heard within the club, I'd be happy to help them target a game in April (with hopefully better weather)and make it a Community Day event. I run some entertainment, I know others who do similar, and I'm sure that with decent promotion it would be a very good PR exercise.

 

Have we got the will, verve or imagination within the club to try it? I'm sorry to say that all my previous dealings suggest not.