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The sorry legacy of Hull City's membership scheme...

Discussion in 'Hull City' started by originallambrettaman, Feb 13, 2019.

  1. originallambrettaman

    originallambrettaman Mod Moderator
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    The sorry legacy of Hull City's membership scheme that demands action before it is too late

    Just 10,785 were in attendance for Tuesday's visit of Rotherham, the second lowest league gate at the KCOM Stadium

    In late April 2016, a month before Hull City won promotion with victory in the Championship play-off final, there was a protest inside the KCOM Stadium that made supporters’ views crystal clear.

    Thousands of red cards were held aloft ahead of City’s home win over Brentford in unanimous opposition to a new membership scheme launched in that Spring.
    The withdrawal of concession tickets for the youngest and eldest of the fan base had been universally unpopular and in every section of the KCOM Stadium there was supporters making a stand.

    City’s owners Assem and Ehab Allam carried on regardless and three years on the impact of their actions continues to be seen at every home fixture.

    Empty seats have replaced the red placards of 2016, with 2018-19 breaking all City records at the KCOM Stadium.

    Just 10,785 were officially in attendance for Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at home to Rotherham United. The suspicion is that the figure was lower still but it needed the 1,000 or so visiting fans just to keep the gate in five figures.
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    Hull City fans hold up red cards in protest against the Hull City membership scheme
    The visit of Brentford just before Christmas, when only 10,530 clicked through the turnstiles, is still the worst of City’s 353 league games since leaving Boothferry Park in 2002 but none would be surprised to see that surpassed when Millwall visit the KCOM on February 26.

    Attendances will forever be shaped by many factors, from weather to the team’s form, but there is no denying the root cause of this malaise.

    The membership scheme, now in its third season, is simply not working.

    Nine of the 10 lowest league crowds in the KCOM Stadium’s history have come in 2018-19, with the current average of 12,340 20 per cent down on last season’s mean of 15,557.


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    Just 10,785 were in attendance for Hull City's 2-2 draw at home to Rotherham
    Even winning football is not attracting supporters back. Although there was a spike to 14,102 for the visit of Sheffield Wednesday last month, the highest of the season, City’s current run of seven home games unbeaten includes three attendances below the 11,000 mark.

    Money can be tight at this time of the year, while the nights are dark and cold, but that is not the reason why one in every five supporters has walked away from the KCOM Stadium inside the last 12 months.

    There has to come a time, whether it is during the reign of the Allams or their eventual successors, when the current ticketing model is scrapped. What other business would allow a fifth of its customer base leave and do nothing to attract them back?

    There is currently no incentive for those lapsed fans to return. The cheapest ticket available for Rotherham’s visit to the KCOM this week was £18, climbing up to £27 in the sparsely populated East Stand. The same prices will be in place when Millwall visit, too.
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    Hull City's attendance against Brentford was the lowest for a league game since their move to the KCOM Stadium (Image: Focus)
    Adult fans would not begrudge paying those prices but for children and seniors it is wholly unpalatable for an unglamorous Championship fixture on a dank Tuesday night.

    City are not the only team to play in front of banks of empty seats but they might be alone in thinking it is not an issue that warrants attention.

    “In the Championship that is normal,” said Assem Allam in an interview last week. “I see on a Sunday they have the attendances for all Championship (games) and it’s within the average of attendances for Championship clubs.

    “When you are in the Premier League it’s different. If it isn’t a full house there’s something wrong in the Premier League.”

    If only City’s owners had taken note two years ago. The club’s accounts covering the most recent season in the top-flight revealed the average attendance had been 18,062. In other words a season when the KCOM Stadium was roughly three-quarters full.

    Something was wrong then and something is still wrong now.
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    Hull City fans arrive before the Championship match at the KCOM Stadium with Preston North End
    Only Rotherham, Brentford and Wigan will end this season with a lower average attendance in the Championship and two of those three clubs were in League One last season.

    There is an argument that would suggest City are merely regressing to the hard-core that would frequent Boothferry Park but that makes it all the more sad.

    This club’s attendances boomed with the move to a state-of-the-art new home 16 years ago and that new support is fast finding other things to do on every other Saturday. If they didn’t go in the 1990s, they’ll soon find reason not to in 2019.

    City have made it too easy for supporters to walk away, with the membership scheme at the heart of it all, but there is still time to admit the failings before it is too late.

    Almost 12 months have now passed since the club held a supporter ballot to decide if concession tickets would be restored only for a low vote count of 18 per cent to make it null and void. A subsequent second vote also failed to deliver the views of “an overall majority” of fans.

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    Hull City fans at the match between Hull City and Cardiff City at the KCOM Stadium
    A statement from City in May of last year suggested they would liaise with the Football Supporters’ Federation but nothing has yet changed as thoughts begin to turn to 2019-20, a season when gate receipts promise to be more significant than at any point in the last decade as the Premier League money runs dry.

    City, to their credit, have already accepted the error of their ways in restoring the club's name to the badge from next season and now comes the time to hold hands up on the failings of another unpopular move.

    Fans were against the abolition of concessions in 2016 and still are three years on. One look around the KCOM Stadium on a matchday ought to leave no-one in any doubt about that.

    https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/football/sorry-legacy-hull-citys-membership-2540626
     
    #1
    FILEYseadog, Fez, Onewaggy and 6 others like this.
  2. AlRawdah

    AlRawdah Well-Known Member

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    Excellent. Can’t disagree with much of that.
     
    #2
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  3. Cortez91

    Cortez91 Moderator
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    But just a minority of fans staying away.
     
    #3
  4. TIGERSCAVE

    TIGERSCAVE Well-Known Member

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    "the militants!!"
     
    #4
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  5. highpeak tiger

    highpeak tiger Well-Known Member

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    It must have cost them a fortune in lost revenue
     
    #5
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  6. DMD

    DMD Eh?
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  7. Sir Cheshire Ben

    Sir Cheshire Ben Well-Known Member

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    If only a local “journalist” had pushed the issue when he got to meet him last week instead of just sitting their lapping up the propaganda & lies without challenging any of it ... just so he could stay in favour.
     
    #7
  8. Gone For A Walk

    Gone For A Walk Well-Known Member

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    Except we know the attendances are nothing like the published figures. Just say it as it is ffs
     
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  9. Amin Yapusi

    Amin Yapusi Well-Known Member

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    Why not write about why there was such a low turnout in the concession ballots.

    Shame someone like David Con can’t be bothered to give all this the attention it deserves, he’d have a field day writing about our club. I know a well respected BBC sports journalist, he could give less than half a **** either.
     
    #9
  10. SW3 Chelsea Tiger

    SW3 Chelsea Tiger Well-Known Member

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    About time.... turn up the heat on the ****ers
     
    #10

  11. John Ex Aberdeen now E.R.

    John Ex Aberdeen now E.R. Well-Known Member

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    I think they know they would be wasting their time with these 2. They aren't going to change their minds and admit they got it wrong. I'm sure we will have to wait until they're gone before anything changes on this front.

    Very good piece by Phil Buckingham, he talked a lot of sense, something the Allam's seem to be short of, common sense.
     
    #11
  12. Newland Tiger

    Newland Tiger Well-Known Member

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    it does seem strange that they are still quoting those figures when they did have an article about the actual attendances
     
    #12
  13. 14 on Jack's Shirt

    14 on Jack's Shirt Active Member

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    This suggests though that the "hard core" fans from the 90s remain and it's the new fans that are lost... This is far from the mark, there are 4 (including me) that were going to City since 90/91 and stopped going when the removal of concessions came in.

    I worked it out at the time, putting my sons pass up from £74 to £630 has ultimately cost the Allams well over £2000 per year in lost revenue, x that by 4 (as we all took our sons) it has cost them probably close to £10k just from my small group!
     
    #13
  14. Putter65

    Putter65 Active Member

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    The sky 'red button' doesn't help. You have a choice.
    A - Watch the match at home in the warm.
    B - Watch the match in the cold and then travel home on bike, in all that traffic in the dark, going thru city centre when you are at work at 8am.
     
    #14
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  15. City Man

    City Man Well-Known Member

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    It's an ethical choice for some.

    Sky/BT are transforming football.

    I won't give them a penny of my money, they have cultivated millions of armchair know nowts who are discreetly encouraged to follow a Big 6 team and most get sucked in, to the detriment of 86 other clubs.
     
    #15
  16. PLT

    PLT Well-Known Member

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    I mean, the bike part isn't mandatory.
     
    #16
  17. originallambrettaman

    originallambrettaman Mod Moderator
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    Personally, I've never decided not to attended a home game due to the temperature, the fact it was on TV, the fact it was dark, the time I started work the next day, or my mode of transport, but each to their own.
     
    #17
  18. Newland Tiger

    Newland Tiger Well-Known Member

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    HDM at the cutting edge as always , it's like they've just noticed
     
    #18
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  19. Barchullona

    Barchullona Well-Known Member

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    Not to mention just before Xmas, just after Xmas, Easter, Whit, school nights and a host of others.
     
    #19
  20. Barchullona

    Barchullona Well-Known Member

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    How is SKY red button affecting other clubs? Or is it just us?
     
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