[Cartman]

Radders, on 28 July 2014 - 02:49 PM, said:

Actually the club DO have a social responsibility - not just to us as fans, but to the community in general. Every profit making; government run enterprise has a social responsibility - whether they choose to employ it is another matter.

On the cost front - I don't think the price had a massive impact on the attendance but that does not mean I think it was fairly apportioned. For a pre-season friendly (games I attend so I can get my head around all the new faces - sadly not needed this time) I thought it was excessive. Fortunately I can afford this but, if it was a choice between watching that game or eating - I'd have probably chosen the latter. Cartman's experiences of being on the dole are nothing like the one's I experienced, so I'll bow to his far superior knowledge - I must have been doing the unemployment bit all wrong!

As someone else has mentioned elsewhere in this thread the marketing at Chesterfield is really poor and we could and should be doing more to encourage people to come to games and stop moaning at those of us that do attend - because that is what's starting to happen. If you moan about attendances you are just moaning at the people who have turned up and paid. What you actually need to do is address why some people felt the need to stay away

very good points in the last paragraph, the club does need to do more to get people to come in - also this is why I felt people reacting to Dave Allen's rallying call to get more fans as if it was a personal insult to those who go was incorrect, to me he wasn't slating those who go, he was asking for more to go - however, as you say it is the clubs responsibility to sort this - perhaps last season they thought that the calibre of player they had signed and being at the top of the league all season would be enough to draw the crowds, obviously it wasn't so they need to do more work on the marketing side and attract the stay aways

and as for my experiences on the dole - the social paid my rent (well most of it) and I had around £50 a week to live on, it wasn't easy but I managed to scrape together the £14 (or however much it was to stand on the kop 8 years ago) every 2 weeks to still watch home games - fortunately I wasn't on the dole long

[lindave]

rc1979, on 28 July 2014 - 01:12 PM, said:

Let me have a wild guess cartman that u don't have kids, probably never had a mrs and only just left home so u can probably find your £15 with ease.

Like it.
The people of Chesterfield showed the Club what they thought about the £15 charge by staying away.2000 odd showing was poor but would probably had made a 1000 more if it was down to £10. Hats off to Shrews.who put it down to £7. Then again I thought the £15 was well spent given the cracking Team performance.

[longeatonspireite]

Some supporters will never go to friendlies because they don't get any buzz from such games. Others will go if they are FREE . Some will always say its too expensive no matter what and think the ground opens itself and no staff are needed. Some don't see a friendly as a chance to see players in a different light and maybe get the chance to have a 'selfie' etc. Some people talk a good game about wanting the team to do well but when it comes to putting their hands in their pockets out come the excuses. I am not talking about supporters who only just get to games and cannot afford find that bit extra.
I think that no matter what marketing is done friendlies only appeal to some people.
We all know that some people will only come if we are top of the league and we are expected to win every game. Therefore I expect us to have some bumper crowds in the next 10 games.

[Cartman]

lindave, on 28 July 2014 - 03:37 PM, said:

Like it.
The people of Chesterfield showed the Club what they thought about the £15 charge by staying away.2000 odd showing was poor but would probably had made a 1000 more if it was down to £10. Hats off to Shrews.who put it down to £7. Then again I thought the £15 was well spent given the cracking Team performance.

ha ha

no chance that there would have been 1000 more if it had been £10

in the past friendlies have been cheaper and attendances still small (around the same, 2000 odd home fans)

2nd biggest friendly attendance every at the Proact - people hardly 'stayed away' in the context of a pre season friendly

been done to death on here now, attendances for pre season games will always be low due to people not being bothered about them, people being on holiday etc etc - price makes little difference as long as it is reasonible (as £15 was)

Probably wouldn't have got many more then 5000 if it was free!

[longeatonspireite]

lindave, on 28 July 2014 - 03:37 PM, said:

Like it.
The people of Chesterfield showed the Club what they thought about the £15 charge by staying away.2000 odd showing was poor but would probably had made a 1000 more if it was down to £10. Hats off to Shrews.who put it down to £7. Then again I thought the £15 was well spent given the cracking Team performance.

Do you know what their gate was?

[Cartman]

longeatonspireite, on 28 July 2014 - 03:58 PM, said:

Do you know what their gate was?

1683 (101 away)

http://www.shrewsbur...ck-1783850.aspx

Point proven!!!!!

[fatfrank]

Here's my view on this.
Was £15 too much? yes
Would enough extra fans turned up for the club to have made the same amount or more if it had been £10 (2000 plus extras) almost definitely not.
So financially the club probably got it right.
I was talking to a wendy at work today he went to donny yesterday (£10) he estimated there were about 500 from donny at the match so lower prices don't always bring in the crowds.

This post has been edited by fatfrank: 28 July 2014 - 04:26 PM

[Trigger]

Sammy Spireite, on 28 July 2014 - 11:55 AM, said:

And people with no mortgage, and/or on £150k a year might agree with him

you point?

My point was there's prob more town fans on £6.31 ph than £150k per year

[newboldsteve]

with the situation as it is with no new signings people wouldn't turn out even if it was a tenner . the club new this and priced it to get as much as possible from the ones that do turn up

[azul]

Sammy Spireite, on 28 July 2014 - 11:55 AM, said:

And people with no mortgage, and/or on £150k a year might agree with him

you point?

If that was meant to be "your point" then I would be think it was obvious.

As for your £150K per year brigade, the centre section of the West Stand was quite full, some might have been in there

[azul]

Cartman, on 28 July 2014 - 04:15 PM, said:

1683 (101 away)

http://www.shrewsbur...ck-1783850.aspx

Point proven!!!!!

You've proven one point but I'm sure it wasn't the one you set out to prove!

[Trigger]

By charging £15, the club prob got the most money they were going to make. As mentioned, dropping the price wouldn't have increased attendance enough (edit: to cover the short fall)

On the flip side, they could have done a family deal, I dunno, something like 2 adults, 2 children for £20. This could have encouraged more people who wouldn't normally go, to come with a regular, seen what turned out to be a good game (apparently) and been a good advert to get people in throughout the season.

Would it have been worth the gamble? I don't know. After all, DA keeps saying bring a friend - this would have been a good opportunity.

This post has been edited by not_the_freak: 28 July 2014 - 04:40 PM

[longeatonspireite]

Cartman, on 28 July 2014 - 04:15 PM, said:

1683 (101 away)

http://www.shrewsbur...ck-1783850.aspx

Point proven!!!!!

Thanks Cartman. £15 to £10 means that we would need to get at least 1250 more spectators to get the same revenue. There would be some extra on drinks etc but not enough to make up the difference.
As for Shrewsbury 1683 x 7 only gives less than £12000 assuming everyone paid £7 which wouldn't be the case. compared to 1683 x 15 = £25200 assuming everyone paid £15 which again wouldnt be the case. £13000 margin. It takes a load of money just to open the ground so any reduction means we need even more spectators to make up the shortfall And have any chance of making some money.

[Cartman]

azul, on 28 July 2014 - 04:37 PM, said:

You've proven one point but I'm sure it wasn't the one you set out to prove!

the fact that the price was correct and lower prices would not bring more fans, which is what I have been on about all along

the rubbish about those with no money etc etc and people on dole were people mis interpretting what I had put and generally making stuff up like that I had said that people 'should' spend the money, I have said that if they wanted to go they would

point all along, those that wanted to go will have gone, price was not too much, lower prices would not increase attendances (as evidence from both ourselves and other clubs of a similar size show), pre season games for our size of club will always have low attendances - all proven to be correct

if people read stuff properly instead of getting all mardy and responding to points I haven't even made then they would see that I have been right about this all along

[Cartman]

not_the_freak, on 28 July 2014 - 04:37 PM, said:

By charging £15, the club prob got the most money they were going to make. As mentioned, dropping the price wouldn't have increased attendance enough (edit: to cover the short fall)

On the flip side, they could have done a family deal, I dunno, something like 2 adults, 2 children for £20. This could have encouraged more people who wouldn't normally go, to come with a regular, seen what turned out to be a good game (apparently) and been a good advert to get people in throughout the season.

Would it have been worth the gamble? I don't know. After all, DA keeps saying bring a friend - this would have been a good opportunity.

this I agree with and ties into the marketing stuff mentioned above

Child under 16 free with paying adult etc etc

2 adult tickets for £25

But would people bring friends or would those going anyway just use the deals to get in cheaper - I think it'd be more the latter

[newboldsteve]

Cartman, on 28 July 2014 - 04:48 PM, said:

the fact that the price was correct and lower prices would not bring more fans, which is what I have been on about all along

the rubbish about those with no money etc etc and people on dole were people mis interpretting what I had put and generally making stuff up like that I had said that people 'should' spend the money, I have said that if they wanted to go they would

point all along, those that wanted to go will have gone, price was not too much, lower prices would not increase attendances (as evidence from both ourselves and other clubs of a similar size show), pre season games for our size of club will always have low attendances - all proven to be correct

if people read stuff properly instead of getting all mardy and responding to points I haven't even made then they would see that I have been right about this all along

I think all you have proved is how far this club as gone down hill friendly's were all about getting new people into the club someone who wouldn't normally bother to show them what a great day out it can be . now its all about how much money it can make

This post has been edited by newboldsteve: 28 July 2014 - 06:08 PM

[azul]

Cartman, on 28 July 2014 - 04:48 PM, said:

the fact that the price was correct and lower prices would not bring more fans, which is what I have been on about all along

the rubbish about those with no money etc etc and people on dole were people mis interpretting what I had put and generally making stuff up like that I had said that people 'should' spend the money, I have said that if they wanted to go they would

point all along, those that wanted to go will have gone, price was not too much, lower prices would not increase attendances (as evidence from both ourselves and other clubs of a similar size show), pre season games for our size of club will always have low attendances - all proven to be correct

if people read stuff properly instead of getting all mardy and responding to points I haven't even made then they would see that I have been right about this all along

Sadly you're opening post didn't really highlight that point.

You seem to have modified your attack in response to the criticism knowing most people would agree with your new line. Some might say that was the right thing to do, others might say it was cynical, I couldn't possibly comment.

However what I would like to comment on is your idea that everyone could afford/justify £15, or multiples of that is truly obscene

newboldsteve, on 28 July 2014 - 05:14 PM, said:

I think all you have proved is how far this club as gone down hill friendly's were all about getting new people into the clue someone who wouldn't normally bother to show them what a great day out it can be . now its all about how much money it can make

Nobody seems to have discussed the moral issue of charging £15, well done

This post has been edited by azul: 28 July 2014 - 05:16 PM

[Sammy Spireite]

not_the_freak, on 28 July 2014 - 04:28 PM, said:

My point was there's prob more town fans on £6.31 ph than £150k per year

Ok

I'd hazard a guess that less than 10% of our average home crowd earn NMW.

BTW, I'm not taking sides here, just balancing your view as you seem to suggest that people on NMW were the majority of our target audience?

As someone who doesn't have to pay to get in, i couldn't care less how much friendlies cost ;-)

[Cartman]

newboldsteve, on 28 July 2014 - 05:14 PM, said:

I think all you have proved is how far this club as gone down hill friendly's were all about getting new people into the clue someone who wouldn't normally bother to show them what a great day out it can be . now its all about how much money it can make

were they?

and even if they were they were still poorly attended

if fans want better players and the club to 'show ambition' then most of the clubs activities will need to be about 'how much money we can make'

sad truth of football these days

[Cartman]

azul, on 28 July 2014 - 05:16 PM, said:

Sadly you're opening post didn't really highlight that point.
You seem to have modified your attack in response to the criticism knowing most people would agree with your new line. Some might say that was the right thing to do, others might say it was cynical, I couldn't possibly comment.

However what I would like to comment on is your idea that everyone could afford/justify £15, or multiples of that is truly obscene


Nobody seems to have discussed the moral issue of charging £15, well done

it was supposed to

cynical - yeah right!

and everyone could afford/justify £15 if they really wanted to, even on £60 a week! probably wouldn't be the best idea but the game has been known about for weeks, people could have saved for it - not as if it was £50 to get in

the truth is that people would not justify £15 because it was a Pre Season friendly - not because it was too much, everyone who REALLY wanted to go would have gone

people going way over the top and acting as if £15 is a massive amount of money, it is less than 3 hours wage on NMW

£15 was a fair price for this game, 25% normal match day prices (more in some parts of ground less in others)