There is a problem on the kids front, I've said before about kids at the schools I've taught at not being City fans and that still rings truer than ever. You're battling against what I call the FIFA generation, where kids aren't bothered about their local team, they just want to support teams that win all the time and "interact" with the big name stars. Believe me, I've tried pointing out to these eight year olds that supporting their hometown club is so important, I mean ****'s sake you can see the stadium from my classroom window
. At the minute it's just endless non uniform days of PSG, Barcelona and Liverpool shirts. The issue isn't always to do with affordability, as with anything related to children, interest is the driving factor. Can you convince an eight year old that watching a Championship game against Blackpool which we aren't guaranteed to win featuring players they probably haven't heard of is more fun than sitting and playing FIFA with their friends on a Playstation? That's the main battle. Think of kids as the ultimate plastic fans, they don't have the context of tribalism or loyalty embedded so they just flit from one big name to the next. You'll see a lot more Man U "fans" at schools now that CR7 is back.
The way to get kids in and watching the team is to get schools taking kids, or give tickets away to get them their first experience. Parents will only bother if they're City fans and if they are staying away themselves, they're not gonna go just for their kids (selfish as that sounds). Like any business, you've got to hook people in and give them the best experience possible so they keep coming back. I know football is a bit different to a restaurant, but the premise is the same; you get somebody in, they enjoy the experience, they recommend it to a friend and hopefully they come back.
We could have a kids go free day, odds are that if you can get 2000 extra children, I'd reckon around 10% will want to come back and then you've got 200 kids hooked for life, they tell their friends how amazing it is and then hopefully it spreads. They have to drag their parents along, you get a small bump in attendances. Offer kids under 12 a free chips or a hot dog, a programme and a piece of tat like a clapper or even something decent like a scarf and you take the burden off the parents to buy merchandise and food plus the kids have something to take home. It's about embedding those good memories so that they associate fun with the team.
Hooking up with the university which Allam put money into and the local colleges and getting students in would also help, given just how many there are in the City.
. At the minute it's just endless non uniform days of PSG, Barcelona and Liverpool shirts. The issue isn't always to do with affordability, as with anything related to children, interest is the driving factor. Can you convince an eight year old that watching a Championship game against Blackpool which we aren't guaranteed to win featuring players they probably haven't heard of is more fun than sitting and playing FIFA with their friends on a Playstation? That's the main battle. Think of kids as the ultimate plastic fans, they don't have the context of tribalism or loyalty embedded so they just flit from one big name to the next. You'll see a lot more Man U "fans" at schools now that CR7 is back.The way to get kids in and watching the team is to get schools taking kids, or give tickets away to get them their first experience. Parents will only bother if they're City fans and if they are staying away themselves, they're not gonna go just for their kids (selfish as that sounds). Like any business, you've got to hook people in and give them the best experience possible so they keep coming back. I know football is a bit different to a restaurant, but the premise is the same; you get somebody in, they enjoy the experience, they recommend it to a friend and hopefully they come back.
We could have a kids go free day, odds are that if you can get 2000 extra children, I'd reckon around 10% will want to come back and then you've got 200 kids hooked for life, they tell their friends how amazing it is and then hopefully it spreads. They have to drag their parents along, you get a small bump in attendances. Offer kids under 12 a free chips or a hot dog, a programme and a piece of tat like a clapper or even something decent like a scarf and you take the burden off the parents to buy merchandise and food plus the kids have something to take home. It's about embedding those good memories so that they associate fun with the team.
Hooking up with the university which Allam put money into and the local colleges and getting students in would also help, given just how many there are in the City.
