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Regaining The Youth Of Today - How Do We Do It?


David
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And those guys were fans of Celtic or Rangers before that?

 

I've never known anyone in their late teens to switch alliances from either of the OF to Motherwell, with the exception of the old "ach, i'll go and watch them now and then since it's cheap this week and they are my wee local team" carry-on.

 

Mostly Rangers fans.

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When i first started going to the game I was lifted over the gate. It cost me nothig to get in until I was about 15. I appreciate that health and safety is paramount these days but that doesnt mean we need to charge kids to get in. If theyre not coming then we cant lose anything by aloowing under15's free entry. We sell more pies and crisps and merchandise, and we get kids into the way of attending games and supporting the club. The cost of football in this country is a major prohibitive factor in attending games, compounded by the the fact that it is highly unlikely anyone outside the old firm will achieve any real success in the way of trophies or finals on any kind of sustained basis.

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I think that we should be getting the players and manager/coaches out into the local schools. not only to take and coach the odd football team, but to get involved in taking PE classes. start them in the primary schools and then get them into the secondary schools. get them to make a big deal out of playing for motherwell and capture the imagination of the young kids.

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These days kids live in a different culture with so many other options.

I agree with this but it's only part of the problem. Football has become an expensive luxury and a poor value one at that. To take just one kid to the footy, you'd be lucky to have change out of £40, after you consider travel costs and being bent over and rode at the pie stall. Even watching it on the telly isn't cheap anymore. Yes kids have other distractions but this combined with being denied affordable access to the game is compounding the problem.

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When i first started going to the game I was lifted over the gate. It cost me nothig to get in until I was about 15. I appreciate that health and safety is paramount these days but that doesnt mean we need to charge kids to get in. If theyre not coming then we cant lose anything by aloowing under15's free entry. We sell more pies and crisps and merchandise, and we get kids into the way of attending games and supporting the club. The cost of football in this country is a major prohibitive factor in attending games, compounded by the the fact that it is highly unlikely anyone outside the old firm will achieve any real success in the way of trophies or finals on any kind of sustained basis.

 

 

haha!

 

<_<

 

"any chance of a lift mister??"

 

happy days .. and sure enough i was there for every home game in those days

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I think that we should be getting the players and manager/coaches out into the local schools. not only to take and coach the odd football team, but to get involved in taking PE classes. start them in the primary schools and then get them into the secondary schools. get them to make a big deal out of playing for motherwell and capture the imagination of the young kids.

 

spot on !!

 

I know one of the teachers involved with school fitba at Larkhall Academy, and he told me a while back that there used to be players that would come to the school and do a wee bit of coaching, but then it seemed to stop.

 

He seemed well impressed with that kind of gesture at the time, coupled with discounted season tickets to thje schools, it can only be good to get that going again.

 

one afternoon a week at a local school, even if its only every 3 months or so (rota type system?) can surely do no harm to the players training regime , but do the club the world of good in the long run .

 

image is everything these days, so if Motherwell can get the stars of tommorow doing a wee bit of coaching in the schools today, then maybe it'll be Well players the kids recognise instantly instead of Kris Boyd and Aiden McGeady etc.

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First time I was at Fir Park the old east stand with the fence and terracing were in place. I couldn't wait to get back the next time just because of the atmosphere and the buzz it gave me. I was about 12. That kind of experience makes you want to go back but sadly that won't happen in todays game. All the promotion of Family football and the likes with half time entertainment or whatever cannot substitute the raw, tribal, natural enjoyment of being part of a crowd trying to get the better of another. Bring that back and your onto a winner in my opinion.

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With both Celtic and Rangers being the least attractive they have been in years, and with interest in both clubs waning ever so slightly among all but the most hardcore of fans, I think the question has to be asked;

 

How can a club such as Motherwell take advantage of this?

 

Celtic still charge from £22-£25 for regular league games, whilst Rangers are somewhere around the same I reckon.

 

If anyone knows details of the concessions offered by both clubs for children/students etc, then feel free to fill us all in.

 

The truth is, with the sheer amount of fans who have been leaving Lanarkshire each and every weekend for either Parkhead or Ibrox, it would be useful to maybe try and look at some small ways to try and entice them back, especially with both Old Firm clubs not really being what they once were.

 

I know this subject may have been discussed before, but I thought that the changes to the Trust recently would maybe help any real ideas get some serious consideration at Fir Park.

 

I think it's pretty safe to assume that any fan of either Old Firm club who is over the age of 16-17 is too far gone to be shown the light, so to speak.

 

We need to concentrate on the youngsters, and have to look at better ideas than simply letting them in for free a couple of times.

 

The pricing for family/juveniles at Fir Park looks about spot on to me, so I don't really think pricing needs to be looked at.

 

Under a tenner for a kid, and under £30 for a family ticket is ideal as far as i'm concerned.

 

We need to come up with other ideas to make Motherwell more approachable and recognisable than other SPL clubs.

 

One thing i've picked up on from young family members is the fact that they "don't know who plays for Motherwell".

 

Most Scottish football fans know who Kris Boyd, Aiden McGeady, Nacho Novo etc is, and they can identify with certain players.

 

We need to find a way to do that. Some success could be found in making our players seem more like actual people to younger fans.

 

We should have young fans who want to get a certain name & number on their shirts at the start of every season.

 

How many forum members here who have 'Well supporting kids know who their favourite player is? And if so, why is that player their favourite?

 

We need to think of serious ways to get kids involved with the club in a fun way. I'm already aware of the various support programmes that we have at Fir Park, and I think they are top class, but if we want kids to come to Fir Park on a regular basis we need to think outside the usual area of ticket pricing/free tickets.

 

Any ideas folks?

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As a boy growing up I never really supported anyone although most in my village and school supported gers although one mates dad supported well and mates at school so we started going to games when we were 13 round about 1985 and what made me want to go back then was all the singing and dancing at the fence,casuals were around and whilst not everthing was great for a young lad it is exciting.I think we definatly need a singing section at fir park where all like minded people can go with some of the east end boys as the singing leaders if you like.In my experience even now although l love all things football my favourite well games are 3rd rnd cup away due to atmosphere and this is what i feel will get young lads coming back let them all in for a fiver to come with their mates and if their singing and dancing all game they will enjoy it even if it is 0-0.To back this up I know it was diff circumstances than a normal league game but I am sure anyone that was there on here will state their best game in the last how many years was nancy away in the ground even though we done hee haw during the game the singing was immense.

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When I went to primary we got a voucher that we could exchange for a ticket.A lot of people took one[who were old firm fans] and when I spoke to them ahain they were saying how good it was and that they hoped that the club done it again.The littlest things help.

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In recent years its not the home support that has dwindled but the away support. We used to get about 6500 for games with United with 4000 home fans and 2500 away fans. Whereas now we have 4000 home fans and a few hundred visitors. However Motherwell with its outlying areas (Carluke, Lanark, Wishaw, Newmains, Bellshill, even Shotts) has potential for much more than that.

 

Going to the football becomes a habit - I am 27 now and I don't imagine many folk my age are going to start going to the football so the two areas to hit are people who were regular and stopped and those at school and therefore by default their parents. Price is big and experience is big. But I think the SPL teams need to work together to encourage better away supports.

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