Reply With QuoteMove the ground to St Marys street?Originally Posted by Barry Shitpeas
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Spot on.
I doubt the missing few would be enough to get the numbers where we seem to expect though.
Premier league football or maybe a cup final .......... Now that would bring the masses back.
Its much easier getting to and fro the ground in a 16,000 crowd.
Move the ground to St Marys street?
Just off the top of my head, but I wonder if, getting to an FA CUP FINAL had anything to do with increased season ticket sales, in our first season in CCS.
Just saying like.
Surely not?
Despite football clubs being multimillion pound businesses in many cases the lack of promoting upcoming games to the general public is definitely something quite neglected.
At a lower level, when City have played away I have recently been persuaded by friends here in Taunton to attend home games of both the rugby and football club, something I have never done before despite living here for decades (and having never seen a game even advertised on even a small poster in the town). Having enjoyed both experiences I emailed both clubs suggesting that modest advertising in the town centre would probably benefit them and pay for itself. I received a reply from neither.
To be fair to the club they are pushing their promotions via twitter, facebook, emails and text messages to everyone on their database. Over the years i would imagine their address book would be quite substantial.
As well as the people who casually follow them on facebook and twitter. It may be a more effective way of targetted advertising, rather than having the cost of billboard advertising.
But a lot of "OLDIES" don't do, Twitter, Facebook, Emails and the like !
Good "Old Fashioned" posters, radio ads, even maybe a TV ad, is what is needed.
Brains (the brewery, not the fella off Thunderbirds) are supposed to be one of our major sponsors, BUT all you see in their pubs are EGG posters.
I can't imagine that TV ad campaign is going to be worth the expense. Ads on the side of buses would probably work though.
All those cost. They have 232,000 following the club on Twitter alone. Got all those names and number on their database. They know all these people already have an interest in the club.
Yeah but I don’t think jursett wants a season ticket though mate.
The figure of 26,000 has been mentioned a few times on here as if it some sort of high water mark which is not going to be reached for the foreseeable future, yet we've exceeded that figure this season and we had a gate of getting towards 29,000 as recently as April 2016. What needs to be said is that on both of these occasions there were deals for cheap or free tickets which undoubtedly played a big part in getting the crowds so high, but they do give the lie to claims that we cannot get more than the current levels of attendance because large numbers of people are not attending because of things Vincent Tan said or did - far more likely is that people either cannot afford tickets to attend games with "normal" prices (despite City's seemingly comparing well with many other Championship clubs) or they can afford the prices, but opt to pick and choose their games.
The latter would explain why we had nearly 24,000 at the Villa game in August and yet 6,000 fewer were there three days later when we played Sheffield United, despite having turned in one of our best performances at the new ground in our previous match.
If you look through our history, you will see that we've always had a core of fussy fans who are drawn to our home matches when we are playing a "big" team and then disappear again for months on end. Sometimes the lure of a Bank Holiday game draws a few of them back (I'm pretty sure we'll see a 20,000 plus gate for Fulham on Boxing Day and then we'll get a crowd about a quarter of that size less than a fortnight later when we play Mansfield in the Cup), but I'd suggest that we will have to wait until, possibly, the wurzels game in late February or Wolves' visit in early April for the next time we get as big a crowd for a normally priced match.
Those who are seemingly drawn to games because of who we are playing will watch the action with other City fans (rather than the away end) and will cheer when we score, but will they be back for what Neil Warnock would call the bread and butter game which follows next? No way!
It's been ever thus (certainly from well before Vincent Tan arrived at the club) and, in my opinion, Cardiff City has a lot more of these type of fans as a proportion of what I'll call their optimum support than most other clubs. It was a little different for our one season in the Premier League, but when we were in the old First Division, there would be wild fluctuations in attendances from one home match to another and, nearly always, the explanation would be that large numbers of people in South Wales came along to watch the opposition, then disappeared again for the following game when we were playing more mundane opponents.
Anyone too old to have an email probably isn't going to suddenly start following the city. No disrespect.
But if they are old and once supported the City, then an E mail is not going to reach them, is it.
Very ageist thing to say, lots of us oldies don't like change.
Well done to LARDY, sides & backs of busses would be great and once again they are a minor sponsor, so it should be cheap/free
The past matters, it always matters. It's amazing, and amusing, that some key events of recent years are being conveniently swept under the carpet in yet another discussion about the piss poor crowds at Cardiff. You can try to disparage my point with the pointless comparison - it would work if I were mentioning it in a thread about who is the best right-back at the club, or my favourite packet of crisps, however I think Tan's antics have had some detrimental effect on the crowds. I am not, despite TH63's assertions, claiming that Tan is responsible for the complete downward spiral of attendances - I think there are many contributing factors. People mention theirs, and I agree with some, disagree with others.What the **** does the past matter when the futures looking so bright?
Like the sad old bloke down the pub who still talks about his missus cheating on him in July 1984. **** sake let it go
If the crowds come back great. If not then sludge was right all along.
So far, we have blamed
Too many games
Too few games
Russell Slade
Ticket prices (frozen for 8 years I think)
Fickle fans (but the club are 2nd, how can fickleness apply here?)
The only point that people seem to contend is my point that some fans are staying away DUE TO Tan's antics. People here disagree, but I have yet to see any poster say they have stopped going because of prices, or because the team are winning fewer games. I have seen people say they have stopped going because of the style of football. I have seen people say that they are not going simply due to Tan's actions (Alfie Sherwood, TLG, Jordi Cule - just a few off the top of my head).
I am not going because Tan is, in my opinion, the most odious owner that the club has had. He deliberately split the fan base in order to push through his reforms, and the only thing that would see me retract that statement is if (when he leaves the club) the club are debt free at the time of his departure. Therefore, by definition, Tan has contributed to at least some of the loss of support (because I would be at the games ordinarily). The only point of contention is, how much.
Don't think it's anything to do with a lack of advertising myself - people are always aware of when there are cheaper prices or we're playing a team like Villa or Leeds and so we get thousands more turning up than normal.
End of the day, we need to look to the future and get more youngsters involved.
Bingo!
I absolutely accept that Tan has had an impact, although I would argue, and past attendance figures tend to back me up here, that that impact is minimal compared to the other factors you mention. chief among them imho is the fickleness of our fans.
For decades, we endured average attendances of about 10,000, all the while trotting out the old "sleeping giant" story, which I admit I bought into and to be fair does still hold some merit. If we go up, next season we'll average 25,000, stay up and they'll probably need to open the red section.
Exactly, so if DAD/GRANDAD goes to a game, who might they take, well behold, it maybe their son/daughter/grandson or granddaughter, simples.
The future is not all about yoof, us oldies deserve some of the future as well.
Yoof, is wasted on the young.
It would be interesting to understand the demographic of this message board. I'd wager our average age is 40+
Regularly visiting schools across the area could help, not just the odd visit but a sustained campaign. Kids with their parents for free initially, then kids free with a full price paying adult. If the kids enjoy it at first they’re a great ‘nagging’ weapon to reluctant parents. Also take this weekend (or last weekend for that matter, although the players were away), not playing until Monday, Saturday & Sunday morning free, the parks are awash with kids games. Not even trying to preach to the non football crowd here, these kids are football mad. City players & staff turning up at Splott Park, The Racecourse, parks across the valleys etc. Worth a go perhaps.
My point is, they know where the ground is. Like I said no offence intended but these are not fans I think would come back, loads of old people have email social media etc, for the ones that don't then there is a text message service I get them regular.
Many old people who don't like change probably pick up the echo..it's full of car diff city in there.
Again, not trying to be difficult but I would imagine of they wanted to come they would..I'd target the people who we would have more chance of getting there (oldies don't like change would they change Saturday routine to go watch cardiff?? )
There is loads of information on Twitter Facebook and Instagram. I agree not everyone has These, there is also email and telephone.
Busses trains and then the odd poster on train stations and by bus stops would be cheap.. agreed.
I've been to other cities with championship level clubs and seen adverts for upcoming matches on the back of buses and heard them on the radio.
Cardiff has a large non Cardiff born population, mostly from England who aren't likely to be dyed in the wool Cardiff fans, but could probably be tempted down to watch the occasional match.
Even when we have a really good price offer on tickets the club seem to rely on word of mouth to let people know about it
There is even a high student population in Cardiff, what about deals for them.
signs up in all the collages and the like.
This is where having a decent following on social media doesn't matter as only people who are already fans will follow these pages...so students like you mention wouldn't see these offers...so more could be done to get "new fans"
This is it in a nutshell
We are a poorly supported club given the size of the city and the catchment area
We have some great , passionate fans both home and away but the problem is , there are not enough of them
We are capable of attracting huge gates at times but then these fans vanish
Even when Rick Wright was in charge we would get 16000 plus for the visit of table toppers Burnley , then a few weeks later be back to 8000
Under Sam hammam our gates were no better than Plymouth had when they were in the basement
We just don't have a place in the hearts of the south Wales sporting public , except when it's Christmas or when the big teams or games come to town
It's never going to change unless we get in the greedy league and stay there for several years , getting youngsters interested in their local club
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