Judge Jules Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 I'm sitting bored out my tits so just had a wee nosey round other clubs forums. I went on Partick's and a lad has posted on there that every other clubs attendances in the SPL have went up apart from us and Caley Thistle. I can't do saturdays anymore thanks to work but to see that was disappointing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjw Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Motherwell 2012-13 = 5,362 2013-14 = 5,145 down 217 (4%) awaiting postoned game v Inverness CT, which should further depress the figure slightly (from P&B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I'm sitting bored out my tits so just had a wee nosey round other clubs forums. I went on Partick's and a lad has posted on there that every other clubs attendances in the SPL have went up apart from us and Caley Thistle. I can't do saturdays anymore thanks to work but to see that was disappointing. According to this site, Hearts, Aberdeen, Partick Thistle and St. Johnstone are the only SPFL clubs to have seen an increase this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underboyleheating Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 According to this site, Hearts, Aberdeen, Partick Thistle and St. Johnstone are the only SPFL clubs to have seen an increase this season. The attendance figures in league one and two make for interesting reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 The German teams can subsidize their gate prices. I am sure Motherwell could charge a Tenner if we got 40m Euros from TV I've said this over and over but it's basically down to us, the fans, to finance the club because there isn't much sponsorship or TV money out there. If you don't want to pay for a top division side then we'll soon find our level because the club just won't be able to afford the squad to keep us at our current level. I think Motherwell FC have always been pretty fair in terms of pricing admission and season tickets when compared to other sides. During the good times when other teams were ripping off supporters we generally had the lowest or one of the lowest admission and season ticket prices and that's more or less continued up until the present day. There is a balancing act between pricing die hard supporters like myself out of the game and keeping enough turnover to put out a competitive side and I think Motherwell have done that pretty well. Unfortunately reducing prices has been tried and failed to attract enough supporters to make up the financial short fall on a long term basis. I don't earn a lot and would like cheaper prices if it was possible but sadly I don't think it is. I'm paying close to the maximum I can really pay for football now but as I think it's necessary for people like me to put the money into the club to maintain a competitive side I do so without much complaint. Rather than thinking about increasing attendances and revenue I think we actually really need to think about maintaining our current level. My fear is that the time will come when our attendances drop further and we simply cannot raise the revenue required pay for a professional football team. Looking at clubs like Inverness and St. Johnstone I'm amazed they can actually do it on attendances that are often in the 2,000s. In the longer term the financial viability of these clubs has to be questioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweed Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Part of the reason, and a big part of the reason is that away crowds are diminishing. I remember when all the city clubs at least filled the bottom tier of the away stand and that hasn't happened for ages, outwith Aberdeen and Celtic. We should be marketing ourselves as the attractive away day to away fans so if, for example, your cash strapped St Johnstone fan had to choose between us and Ross County last week that the vast majority would come to us. Of course we need to focus on our own fans but we have worked hard there and maybe the strategy needs to be changed but I have no ideas but I have no doubt we could do more to bring away punters in, something different from everyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onthefringes Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I've said this over and over but it's basically down to us, the fans, to finance the club because there isn't much sponsorship or TV money out there. If you don't want to pay for a top division side then we'll soon find our level because the club just won't be able to afford the squad to keep us at our current level. I think Motherwell FC have always been pretty fair in terms of pricing admission and season tickets when compared to other sides. During the good times when other teams were ripping off supporters we generally had the lowest or one of the lowest admission and season ticket prices and that's more or less continued up until the present day. There is a balancing act between pricing die hard supporters like myself out of the game and keeping enough turnover to put out a competitive side and I think Motherwell have done that pretty well. Unfortunately reducing prices has been tried and failed to attract enough supporters to make up the financial short fall on a long term basis. I don't earn a lot and would like cheaper prices if it was possible but sadly I don't think it is. I'm paying close to the maximum I can really pay for football now but as I think it's necessary for people like me to put the money into the club to maintain a competitive side I do so without much complaint. Rather than thinking about increasing attendances and revenue I think we actually really need to think about maintaining our current level. My fear is that the time will come when our attendances drop further and we simply cannot raise the revenue required pay for a professional football team. Looking at clubs like Inverness and St. Johnstone I'm amazed they can actually do it on attendances that are often in the 2,000s. In the longer term the financial viability of these clubs has to be questioned. St Johnstone's McDiarmid Park has a lot of third party usage that many others do not, helping to balance their books somewhat against poorer crowd attendances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Part of the reason, and a big part of the reason is that away crowds are diminishing. I remember when all the city clubs at least filled the bottom tier of the away stand and that hasn't happened for ages, outwith Aberdeen and Celtic. We should be marketing ourselves as the attractive away day to away fans so if, for example, your cash strapped St Johnstone fan had to choose between us and Ross County last week that the vast majority would come to us. Of course we need to focus on our own fans but we have worked hard there and maybe the strategy needs to be changed but I have no ideas but I have no doubt we could do more to bring away punters in, something different from everyone else. I remember when even a team like Falkirk would bring a big support. I agree that away supporters are probably the area we could do most to try and attract. If 4,000 Motherwell fans go to a home match and less than a 1,000 go to an away match, that's 3,000 fans that, if they could afford to, would probably want to go to the game and the same could be said for other clubs supporters. It's hard to do though without charging less for away fans than home fans in which case home fans are likely to complain. Otherwise there has to be some kind of initiative between all the clubs where you could buy a sort of season ticket for away games or use a home season ticket to get discounted entry into away grounds. Can't see how any kind of consensus could be reached by the different clubs. Say I could buy a book of five or ten tickets that gained me entry to 5 or 10 away matches of my choice across the season. Depending on price of course, but that would be an attraction to someone who very rarely goes to away games now (usually only cup games). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underboyleheating Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 St Johnstone's McDiarmid Park has a lot of third party usage that many others do not, helping to balance their books somewhat against poorer crowd attendances. It is also worth noting that St Johnstone's attendances have risen this season by 17.7% this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 It is also worth noting that St Johnstone's attendances have risen this season by 17.7% this season. According to their published financial statements, St. Johnstone posted a loss of £233,464 in 2012 and £192,767 in 2013. Even with an increase in income their costs have meant they are still losing money as a club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I think when you are comparing attendances from one season to the next you have to delve a little below the headline figure. There are a few variables that will skew things from one season to the next. For example last year we had 3 home games against Celtic, you are unlikely to get that this season. Another one that springs to mind is that we had two midweek visits from Dundee Utd whilst this year we got them on a Saturday when they were on a good run. Not just as simple as counting the number of bodies through the door from one year to the next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Stall Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Totally agree Andy and if you think of Dundee United as an example, the season we all lost Rangers custom, they got a derby with Dundee to make up the short fall. This season, they have neither. Swings and roundabouts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweed Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I remember when even a team like Falkirk would bring a big support. I agree that away supporters are probably the area we could do most to try and attract. If 4,000 Motherwell fans go to a home match and less than a 1,000 go to an away match, that's 3,000 fans that, if they could afford to, would probably want to go to the game and the same could be said for other clubs supporters. It's hard to do though without charging less for away fans than home fans in which case home fans are likely to complain. Otherwise there has to be some kind of initiative between all the clubs where you could buy a sort of season ticket for away games or use a home season ticket to get discounted entry into away grounds. Can't see how any kind of consensus could be reached by the different clubs. Say I could buy a book of five or ten tickets that gained me entry to 5 or 10 away matches of my choice across the season. Depending on price of course, but that would be an attraction to someone who very rarely goes to away games now (usually only cup games). This is true. Of course it is not just the increasing cost of football that stops the away support, it is also the cost of getting there. The cost of fuel and trains and bus hire are all increasing. I always think there is something that the clubs could do and say if you produce a match ticket you get 50% off the train and that would maybe provide an increase of revenue to both Scotrail and the club. If we can't so that when the fixtures come out next season we could pick a couple of clubs, lets for example say Inverness and Dundee Utd who we should have two home games with each and say to fans of both clubs that if you come to both fixtures between the clubs you can get into the 2nd one for a fiver. It would maybe encourage fans to come to the first one so they can get a cheap day out the 2nd time. The time has come to be creative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelmaninOZ Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 This is true. Of course it is not just the increasing cost of football that stops the away support, it is also the cost of getting there. The cost of fuel and trains and bus hire are all increasing. I always think there is something that the clubs could do and say if you produce a match ticket you get 50% off the train and that would maybe provide an increase of revenue to both Scotrail and the club. If we can't so that when the fixtures come out next season we could pick a couple of clubs, lets for example say Inverness and Dundee Utd who we should have two home games with each and say to fans of both clubs that if you come to both fixtures between the clubs you can get into the 2nd one for a fiver. It would maybe encourage fans to come to the first one so they can get a cheap day out the 2nd time. The time has come to be creative. You get free train and bus travel if you have a match ticket to a game in Brisbane on the day. That goes for any sporting game that's on, cricket, Aussie Rules rugby etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Browni Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 You get free train and bus travel if you have a match ticket to a game in Brisbane on the day. That goes for any sporting game that's on, cricket, Aussie Rules rugby etc. We got that when we played BVB at the Westfalenstadion (sp) Perhaps that shows why Germany are so far in front of us for crowd attendances.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numpty Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Perhaps that shows why Germany are so far in front of us for crowd attendances.. And I'm sure if we got even half the TV revenues that either German or Australian clubs do, we'd be more than happy to pay for the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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