Kmcalpin Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 Over the past 20 years, think of all the housing developments has have boosted the local population in Motherwell, Bellshill and Wishaw, granted many will move here with existing affiliations but many will not but have they been advised of what's on offer? Good post. I agree with your overall point about marketing and new housing - we simply haven't done enough as a club. However it might surprise everyone how new housing affects the population of an area. It very much depends on how much there has been. Firstly where have incoming households moved from - many will have moved from the Motherwell/Wishaw area. Secondly an area like Motherwell will require several thousand new houses over a number of years just to maintain population levels. Information on future new housing moving forward 10/20 years can be obtained easily from the Planning Department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 I think more than anything it's resources. You can have all the great ideas in the world but if you have neither the manpower or capital to properly implement them then you are never going to make the desired gains. And I think that been a big problem at the club for a number of years. It was something that was talked about being addressed when Les Hutchinson arrived i.e.the upgrading of infrastructure and investment in people so that those facilities and people combined could better generate income going forward. It seemed to me both sensible and desirable to make that investment. People more informed than me will know if that investment has proven to be fruitful in the intervening period or whether there's still scope for further improvements commercially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punk_in_drublic Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 I think these are all a bit of a contradiction. I get fairly entertained when I am at the fitba, granted recently it's maybe not been in our favour for 18 months but I do enjoy it and there are still flashes of brillance at games. Does your Scottish miserablesness contribute to you not enjoying the games? You claim the media are pish at selling it (which I don't disagree with) but your own assessment of what you take from it isn't exactly uplifting. Lack of local pride I understand what you mean with all the religous connotations from yesteryear having an effect on who (if not how) a lot of folk are brought up supporting, probably about 90% of Lanarkshire "supports" either of the old firm. I'd extend that to local pride in our own game as a whole. I really do enjoy Scottish fitba but I do think a lot of folk put it down just cos they can. We may not have the talent or the finance of the larger nations but it is still enjoyable (for me) and can still be excitable. The endless stream of fitba available on the telly these days has certainly diluted our opinion on our own game I think. There are good points made and we all know as I said we don't have the most talented players, I just feel a lot of folk (not neccessarily you) like to put the boot into Scottish fitba for the sake of it. I'm not necessarily one for sticking the boot in. I love Saturdays where I'm out in the pub then off to the football. I think because I've been watching my daughter almost every Saturday since December 2013, I've seen the non-paying armchair fans view of the Scottish game. I don't know if that makes sense. Because I'm not there regularly (which I will be the minute I think she's old enough to be taken), I sort of see the games and the SPFL from the median view, that's the only keyhole I see through into the world of SPFL and Motherwell. And it's bleak. I'm a happy mothafucker by the way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted December 19, 2015 Report Share Posted December 19, 2015 If yer constantly told something is shite/great ye start to believe it. I can see what yer saying! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 19, 2015 Report Share Posted December 19, 2015 If yer constantly told something is shite/great ye start to believe it. I can see what yer saying! Quite. I very rarely ever watch English Premiership football on the box; the last time being maybe 3 years ago. World wide, impressionable fans are being brainwashed by English and Scots pundits into thinking every game is a classic - nonsense. A fair proportion of games are turgid, boring and predictable, sprinkled with the odd act of thuggery. I much prefer supporting our own and just wish more fans world wide would support their own games too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderpig Posted December 19, 2015 Report Share Posted December 19, 2015 Lets be honest guys in the grand scheme of things that is Football we are a relatively small club in a small country average crowds from 3.5 to 5k are about as good as we can expect. If you take in all of the various factors the main one being that in Lanarkshire 90% of the football fans support a team based on what school they went to, then we do ok. There are maybe only 6 clubs in Scotland with a larger core support than us, the ugly sisters, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and possibly Dundee untd, so we are not too bad. Yes we have dropped a bit in the last 2 seasons but thats down to the team being crap, it will pick up again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goggles & Flippers Posted December 19, 2015 Report Share Posted December 19, 2015 I think more than anything it's resources. You can have all the great ideas in the world but if you have neither the manpower or capital to properly implement them then you are never going to make the desired gains. And I think that been a big problem at the club for a number of years. I get that to a degree Andy, but if someone was taken on with a modest wage with a decent bonus structure, I don't think it would be that hard to drum up 100 new season ticket holders which would bring in £30k, even if the club didn't want to make any money from it and break even, there would be ancillary benefits from having an increased adult attendance at FP. Employ three doing this with targets and competition and I"m sure we'd see a surge, plus the club would get 3 more pair of hands to do stuff outside core ticketing activities. Win-win all round in my humble opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welldaft Mk1 Posted December 19, 2015 Report Share Posted December 19, 2015 It is down to many fans staying away because we have been sh1te. Short of losing 50 games in a row I will always turn up at FirPark and even then....... This club and this team deserve better. TOO MANY FLIGHTY FANS Talk about money, talk about the club in general. We have too many in our support prepared to sit on their arses when the going gets tough. Just SAD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted December 19, 2015 Report Share Posted December 19, 2015 Since Bosman? Too many easy options & alternatives for children now. Too many job losses in, or around, Motherwell. Price, before all seated stadium,has increased way above inflation. Missing Rangers? You're having a laugh - one of the sisters wins the league - who cares? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbcmfc Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 It is down to many fans staying away because we have been sh1te. Short of losing 50 games in a row I will always turn up at FirPark and even then....... This club and this team deserve better. TOO MANY FLIGHTY FANS Talk about money, talk about the club in general. We have too many in our support prepared to sit on their arses when the going gets tough. Just SAD. I think expecting folk to attend out of blind loyalty is part of the problem. No matter how bad the product is, how much it costs, how badly we get treated some of us will still go, but it's not a very good plan. I know john Boyle tried everything to get folk through the door, and as has been said, you literally can't give tickets away, but I always felt it was a scatter gun approach. A consistent good price, for home and away fans. It's £23 for a visiting fan, and there's no free kids with that. Make fir park the away game people mark in their diary, it's such a neglected market by all club, and it should be so simple, these are folk that already go to the football... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuwell Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 [quote name="sbcmfc" post="460112" timestamp=" A consistent good price, for home and away fans. It's £23 for a visiting fan, and there's no free kids with that. Make fir park the away game people mark in their diary, it's such a neglected market by all club, and it should be so simple, these are folk that already go to the football... Not sure if that's right, I've a mate at work who always praises MFC for their pricing policy towards away fans. The last game he attended in October, I'm sure he and his son got in for no more than £30 - he says some clubs charge £23 for each of them and his boys only 7 FFS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 Some good points being made but its not just football that has seen prices increase dramatically. I've never smoked but it seems that a packet of 20 fags is now costing a whopping £8 or so. 2 packets will cost more than a full priced adult entry to the Cove Rangers game. Beer? 2 pints will cost more than a concession for the same game. Cost of concerts - far from cheap. Cost of food? Cost of a plumber - you need a second mortgage if you can get someone? Need I go on. In terms of money, yes some folk genuinely cannot afford to go to the football but for many its a case that expectations are far higher than they were 20 or 30 years ago. There are many alternatives, but not all are cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 I can remember it being £20 or £22 for most away games 10-15 years ago so factoring in the VAT increase and inflation the real price has probably lowered. The clubs would probably like to raise prices but there is a limit to what people will pay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 To put things into a bit of context with the rest of the league STV actually did an article on average attendances last December. http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/celtic/302136-how-has-your-clubs-average-attendance-changed-in-past-20-years/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 An interesting article. Several reasons behind last season's low average. Apart from our form we only played Celtic once at home (this season we'll have had 2 home games) and that will have made a significant difference. Rangers absence from the top flight has made more of a difference to our figures than to most clubs, apart perhaps from Kilmarnock (a point raised by several pundits). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 In fairness they do note that the figure for 2014/15 is only there for context as the article was published mid-season, so it wasn't meant to be read like for like with the other data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 Said it many times but Motherwell moaning about the expense of Europe, making losses, asking the fans to dig deeper made you wonder what's the point in success and escalated the slide in home attendances. This was compounded by an increase in ST price in conjunction with £25 tickets to play Starjnan, a game we failed to prepare professional for. If crowds are going to increase, it will be due to the young players making an impact and generating excitement. I think we may be on the right track there... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Tanamo Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Lots of empty seats in middle 3 sections of East Stand compared to 5, 6 + years ago. My uncle, who got me into the Well over a decade ago, aint been in nearly 3yrs and he was a diehard all his life. Improve the product. Improve the matchday experience. Improve Fir Park, and ditch the "Thru Thick and Thin" pish. That might work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
something else Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Lots of empty seats in middle 3 sections of East Stand compared to 5, 6 + years ago. My uncle, who got me into the Well over a decade ago, aint been in nearly 3yrs and he was a diehard all his life. Improve the product. Improve the matchday experience. Improve Fir Park, and ditch the "Thru Thick and Thin" pish. That might work. Loads of guys who went with me every week in the 80's and 90's dont go at all anymore. The constant price rices through the 90's killed of a lot of die hards and we will never get them back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 What plans do you have to "improve the product" that the club hasn't tried already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Improve the product. Improve the matchday experience. Improve Fir Park, and ditch the "Thru Thick and Thin" pish. That might work. The product we have now is no worse than it was in much of the the 60s, 70s and 80s when crowds were much higher. Expectations have however increased markedly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Improve the matchday experience. When people say this I'm never really sure what they mean. What do you expect from the 'experience'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numpty Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 When people say this I'm never really sure what they mean. What do you expect from the 'experience'? Somebody wandering round the track selling macaroon bars and spearmint chewing gum. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Somebody wandering round the track selling macaroon bars and spearmint chewing gum. Chipmunk crisps and Kia-Ora, and I'm in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well_Jaggy Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 I firmly believe that 90% of it is that there is far too much football on TV. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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