Sweaty Ken

[Traf]

Just now, frank_spencer said:

Fans in upper tier means less coppers + stewarding = less money spent from the clubs coffers. 

Correct.

And similar applies to selling 2,000 tickets at £30 as opposed to 4,000 at £15

[Tonge moor green jacket]

5 hours ago, Casino said:

i thought it was price

 

or is it megson?

Scoff all you want. As others have pointed out, floating fans are just that, may not be super fans like yourself, in the main that's why folk aren't going. Price does indeed come into it; but that's in context of what you get for your money.

If you pay a lot of money for a good meal out you generally except it.

If the quality drops and the price doesn't you might change your mind.

Having digs at non attendees won't bring them back nor will it get Ken his money. 

 

[radcliffe white]

28 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Scoff all you want. As others have pointed out, floating fans are just that, may not be super fans like yourself, in the main that's why folk aren't going. Price does indeed come into it; but that's in context of what you get for your money.

If you pay a lot of money for a good meal out you generally except it.

If the quality drops and the price doesn't you might change your mind.

Having digs at non attendees won't bring them back nor will it get Ken his money. 

 

Correct 

[MancWanderer]

6 hours ago, bwfcfan5 said:

My suspicion is that people who aren't going are doing so for reasons beyond any the club can easily address.

This is it for me. It's not that I don't go but I only get to half a dozen home games these days

• Midweek games are out as I can be anywhere in the UK and often am
• Family reasons - away a lot of the time during the week - grandson, 2-week old granddaughter, 81 year old mother who all need me for various reasons at the weekend
• Trains - shit excuse I know but trekking across from East Manc I want to make a day out of it with food, a few beers, etc

Yes, I'm a shitfan/floater/whatever. Ken's rants aren't going to pull me back in more often. I do admit though that the "experience" of a home match at the moment isn't making me prioritise BWFC against other saturday options

[Guest]

I don't like the idea of the red button.

 

But..........they should make it for the farthest away games.

 

Ipswich, Norwich etc, rather than Stoke

[radcliffe white]

Just now, boltondiver said:

I don't like the idea of the red button.

 

But..........they should make it for the farthest away games.

 

Ipswich, Norwich etc, rather than Stoke

Yes this should be on a Saturday thousands would go 

Ipswich and Norwich need removing from the footballing world due to an arse of a journey 

[Boothy]

7 hours ago, frank_spencer said:

Surely some of the improvement of matchday experience has to come from the fans?

Folk mock the Palace fans doing the whole 'ultras light' thing but they are making an effort to improve their enjoyment of the game.

We've been in the Reebok/Macron/unibolt for 20+ years now and there's never been a concerted effort by the fans to generate an atmosphere.

The club tried making the NSL a singing section, theyve had the drummers, fireworks, cheerleaders and even brought in the fanzone.All in an attempt to improve the off pitch experience. All have fallen by the wayside as the fans didn't buy into them.

The Club had crazy corner and have petered it out as much as they possibly can. As if a singing section was ever going to work, you need to enhance what exists not manufacture something new.

[MancWanderer]

At the end of the day we are not a big club and our attendances will always reflect our success on the pitch

After the 58 final we went into decline and look at our attendances in the 60's. They started to rise when Jimmy Armfield got us out of Div 3 and then when Greaves got us up to the top of Div 2 we started packing out Burnden - the "Burnden Bulge" vs Sunderland, Newcastle in the FA Cup, Wolves at home, etc, etc. First season back in Div 1 and we've got decent crowds but second season they start to dwindle as we get relegated and slowly make our way down the leagues until we reach the Darlington game. Crowds rise again as we make our way back up the leagues but even the Allardyce years only see an average of about 25,000 (I stand corrected that's an absolute guess). And then, as we make our way back down the leagues the attendances fall once again

As intimated somewhere above we are pulling in about what imo is a decent hardcore based on where and what we are

Be successful and the crowds will come back. It's the way it is. Dropping prices will make no difference whatsoever in terms of funding the club. In our European years there were 5 of us with season tickets - 2 adults and 3 kids - and the kids were £50 a pop for the season - not exactly a revenue-generator

I love Ken but when he whinges about attendances then I'm sorry but fuck off. We are in one of our "stabilisation" periods. Scrabbling to stay where we are with no money. It won't bring the crowds in

[Casino]

If you bought in west lower a kids season ticket with an adult one could be had for 11 a season

Ridiculous and probably a pointer to why we ended up skint!

[Zico]

20 minutes ago, Casino said:

If you bought in west lower a kids season ticket with an adult one could be had for 11 a season

Ridiculous and probably a pointer to why we ended up skint!

It's more likely that Keith Andrews on 20k a week is why we are skint

[stevieb]

Was at the match on Saturday and we were talking to some blokes who don't go any more week in week out but they went every game home and away in the 80s. 

These guys were probably like a lot of the wways elite and I think the club needs to know they've lost these lot barring big games and focus on the 16 year olds and 17 year olds leaving the cheap seats and try and get them hooked on the wanderers! 

[Alf Hartigan]

4 minutes ago, stevieb said:

Was at the match on Saturday and we were talking to some blokes who don't go any more week in week out but they went every game home and away in the 80s. 

These guys were probably like a lot of the wways elite and I think the club needs to know they've lost these lot barring big games and focus on the 16 year olds and 17 year olds leaving the cheap seats and try and get them hooked on the wanderers! 

wtf

[burnden]

Ken again

https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/2018/october/a-note-from-the-chairman2/

[bwfcfan5]

1 hour ago, burnden said:

Ken again

https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/2018/october/a-note-from-the-chairman2/

Nothing wrong there. That's what we need open dialogue. I think he lays the club's position out rather well. 

[Eavesy]

Didn’t he do a chairman’s note after match where we offered cheap tickets and it attracted bugger all new fans. One last season.

He should just reference that and says he’s tried reducing tickets and it hasnt worked

[Zico]

17 minutes ago, Eavesy said:

Didn’t he do a chairman’s note after match where we offered cheap tickets and it attracted bugger all new fans. One last season.

He should just reference that and says he’s tried reducing tickets and it hasnt worked

neither has continually moaning about crowds in his column

I would say, his best bet, would be to reduce a game that is likely to attract a bigger crowd

not Bristol City on a Friday night, or Brentford who bring less than 500 fans

reduce it to £10 or £15 for Wigan at home on December 1st, and hope we put in a performance that generates an atmosphere and that we get a good result

 

[Zico]

in fact, 4 home games in December

Wigan

Leeds

Rotherham

Stoke

any of them - appreciate Leeds / Stoke will bring a few and there's no way he's  not cashing in on their away support - but make Wigan and Rotherham on Boxing Day cheap and the crowds will be well up

[bwfcfan5]

I think Ken's point is that it is chicken and egg. If Bolton want to compete with clubs in this league they need more fans prepared to pay decent ticket prices. Our average attendance last season was 17th in the division. Yet our fans seem to think we should be competing top end of the league.

I think some realism or some more prepared to dip into their pockets is required.

We had years and years being sheltered from reality thanks to Eddie's millions. 

[Zico]

25 minutes ago, bwfcfan5 said:

I think Ken's point is that it is chicken and egg. If Bolton want to compete with clubs in this league they need more fans prepared to pay decent ticket prices. Our average attendance last season was 17th in the division. Yet our fans seem to think we should be competing top end of the league.

I think some realism or some more prepared to dip into their pockets is required.

We had years and years being sheltered from reality thanks to Eddie's millions. 

I don't think it's chicken and egg at all

crowds go up when the team is doing well and there is "something to play for", they go down when it's not, or just stumbling along as we are now

that's not a call for investment or demand that we compete for promotion, it's just the way it is

bigger, rising crowds have never come before on the field success (certainly not in my time), they come as a result of it

that's the realism, it just seems like KA feels hard done by that all his hard work in stabilizing the club is not being rewarded with bigger crowds

unfortunately for him, financial stability is not the catalyst for floating fans and part timers to come 

[Leyther_Matt]

36 minutes ago, ZicoKelly said:

in fact, 4 home games in December

Wigan

Leeds

Rotherham

Stoke

any of them - appreciate Leeds / Stoke will bring a few and there's no way he's  not cashing in on their away support - but make Wigan and Rotherham on Boxing Day cheap and the crowds will be well up

Three of the biggest away supports we’re likely to have this season and historically Boxing Day is the best attended game of the season. Hard to see one game in particular that could see prices being dropped significantly, though a multi-match package at a dirt cheap price could be a decent compromise for home fans while still cashing in on the away following. 

[Zico]

3 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Three of the biggest away supports we’re likely to have this season and historically Boxing Day is the best attended game of the season. Hard to see one game in particular that could see prices being dropped significantly, though a multi-match package at a dirt cheap price could be a decent compromise for home fans while still cashing in on the away following. 

aye, was thinking that

festive bonanza - 4 games for £80 (that being the top end price for west/east upper), even let people pay in installments if they have to

milk the fuck out of it throughout October and November

I know this won't happen though

it'll probably be the midweek Forest game when STs can being a mate for £10 or £15, but everyone will watch it on the red button and there will be 12k on, then it'll be further proof that reducing ticket prices doesn't work

[burnden]

1 minute ago, ZicoKelly said:

aye, was thinking that

festive bonanza - 4 games for £80 (that being the top end price for west/east upper), even let people pay in installments if they have to

milk the fuck out of it throughout October and November

 

Spot on ...Christmas Cracker 

[bwfcfan5]

26 minutes ago, ZicoKelly said:

I don't think it's chicken and egg at all

crowds go up when the team is doing well and there is "something to play for", they go down when it's not, or just stumbling along as we are now

that's not a call for investment or demand that we compete for promotion, it's just the way it is

bigger, rising crowds have never come before on the field success (certainly not in my time), they come as a result of it

that's the realism, it just seems like KA feels hard done by that all his hard work in stabilizing the club is not being rewarded with bigger crowds

unfortunately for him, financial stability is not the catalyst for floating fans and part timers to come 

It is chicken and egg. If our crowds are below most in this division (many of whom are stumbling along similarly) it says we are a small fish. But that isn't the reality our fans seemingly want to hear. ED's money protected them from the reality. The reality being that finishing 14th/15th is probably slightly punching above our weight.

I suspect Ken's frustration is based on a lack of real research. We are a mid-size to small club in an area surrounded by big clubs. Our fanbase down the years is pretty consistently predictable depending on the situation. 

Bolton has a large population but because of the competition club wise it does not back its football club unconditionally. Never has and never will. Save for the core support that will always be between 10 and 15 thousand at the most. 

[Zico]

2 minutes ago, bwfcfan5 said:

It is chicken and egg. If our crowds are below most in this division (many of whom are stumbling along similarly) it says we are a small fish. But that isn't the reality our fans seemingly want to hear. ED's money protected them from the reality. The reality being that finishing 14th/15th is probably slightly punching above our weight.

I suspect Ken's frustration is based on a lack of real research. We are a mid-size to small club in an area surrounded by big clubs. Our fanbase down the years is pretty consistently predictable depending on the situation. 

Bolton has a large population but because of the competition club wise it does not back its football club unconditionally. Never has and never will. Save for the core support that will always be between 10 and 15 thousand at the most. 

I'm not sure adding 2-3k a game will in turn make us more "competitive" - KA said last season if we got 20k he'd promise £3M - it might help, but it won't mean we're gunning for promotion next season

I do think that if we were to strike it lucky to a degree, like we did in the 90s and again in the early 00s (before ED became owner in 03) by becoming a club that can challenge without spending big, crowds will go up, they did then, and they would now, like they did for the last 3 games in 16/17

as you say, our fanbase is predictable, they will come if we are competing higher up the table - and I agree that KA doesn't appear to have done his research or been told this by anyone at the club, or more to the point it's the reality KA seemingly doesn't want to hear.  and he can't guarantee we will compete if we get bigger crowds either.  so he's just coming across as a moaning bastard for me.

[bwfcfan5]

2 minutes ago, ZicoKelly said:

I'm not sure adding 2-3k a game will in turn make us more "competitive" - KA said last season if we got 20k he'd promise £3M - it might help, but it won't mean we're gunning for promotion next season

I do think that if we were to strike it lucky to a degree, like we did in the 90s and again in the early 00s (before ED became owner in 03) by becoming a club that can challenge without spending big, crowds will go up, they did then, and they would now, like they did for the last 3 games in 16/17

as you say, our fanbase is predictable, they will come if we are competing higher up the table - and I agree that KA doesn't appear to have done his research or been told this by anyone at the club, or more to the point it's the reality KA seemingly doesn't want to hear.  and he can't guarantee we will compete if we get bigger crowds either.  so he's just coming across as a moaning bastard for me.

I suspect Ken feels that getting consistent 20K crowds makes the club more attractive to buyers, rather than the gate income being sufficient to propel us alone.

But equally the extra income from those tickets might bring in one or two better players in the meantime.