Last Saturdays attendance of just over 3000 I believe is our worst Saturday home football league attendance ever (I stand to be corrected by you statto's). We have had a few years of falling attendances, with much blamed on Steve Hayes and how we have lost our club. Many said they would come back when old Sharky had gone and yet we find ourselves as fans pretty much holding the destiny of our beloved club in our own hands and yet less and less of us attend. Am I right in thinking that the whole ownership debate is just a farce? Do we deep down really not care as long as someone is pumping money in? We have had 20 years or so of relative success and never looked likely to loose our football league status until now. Are we really that shallow? I know there are those that will protest that cannot make games due to change of location and cost etc, but prices are not so dissimilar to three or four years ago. So in summary we all wanted the trust to take over. We all were supposedly prepared for a tough year and realised that our support at the turnstiles was vital, yet in reality a lot really don't care. Guess we better start looking for a new Shark then to satisfy the missing masses for five more years
we need to lower ticket prices! then we need to make rewards for fans coming more than five times a season! and bring in some decent loans to save the club from going down to the non leauge. i honestly think someone in the trust or outside of it needs to do something now before its to late! lets get are voices across
Can we actually afford loan players. Someone has the very difficult task of ensuring income exceeds outgoings. I imagine that, with falling attendances, budgets will need some serious revision. Top priority has to be to live within our means and if that means non league football so be it. That thought didn't seem to bother anyone whilst the Hayes hate was rife. Some of our most exciting times were during the pre football league era. It would be interesting to see a demographical analysis of our attendances over the years. My gut feel is that there may be a growing tendency for the younger generation to feel a need to support a Premier League club, particularly the more successful, resulting in a decrease in the numbers who proudly support their local team come rain or come shine.
to get fans back - cheaper tickets - a cheaper day out - i know its nothing to do with the club but parkign is a problem, you either park in the top caar park and have to wait afterwards or you pay well over the odds to park in the factory car park - more publicity - walking around the town you barely see a mention of wycombe wanderers, no banners posters, ticket deals or anything - get it right on the pitch!!! - offering cheap/free tickets to children in schools is always a good start the trouble with all of these is it that it means the club does not get the same income
I wonder if a creche/childs' play area would help (wife get's some free time). Do paying spectators get any points /cheap tickets to come again? Certainly agree that more marketing is required. Based on my infrequent visits to the town one would never know we had a football team. How far out do we go to attract more supporters? Why not try to drum up support from all areas within a 15mile (say) radius.
money lost due to cheaper tickets may be re-gained in extra revenue with program sells and food and drink in the ground. plus those those who hadnt been coming before and took up the cheap ticket offer may go back again if they enjoy the game etc. meaning increased revenue for future games. your board needs to pick the right game for this. if you dominate and hammer the opposition this may help in new faces returning back. be dominated and get stuffed by the oppostion then they wont go back. the games you do this kind of offer nedds to be must win games
it does not to be looked at and changed. theirs nothing wrong with being in the non league. but it would be a massive step backwards. after all those years we took to get where we are now? and it would virtually be hard for the clubs accounts to take another dip!
When the club has a community day with free or cut price tickets the team generaly puts in a crap performance and so instead of atracting new fans it puts people off. Get it right on the pitch (and they will come) (Field of Dreams)
Ron, you have hit the nail on the head regarding the bluster pre Hayes' departure and although I was asking for comments about how we can increase our attendances. I was also hoping for some lively debate about why, the so called "rush" back to Adams Park following the demise of old Sharky hasn't happened. I saw many comments on here and the gasroom talking about the trust and how anything would be better than being under Hayes control. Many also stated that they would be happy to forfeit league positions or quality of football for some lengthy period until the trust found financial stability for the club. Yet there was no rally of support when Hayes left. Attendances are decreasing and many seem unhappy with our new financial position. I have seen many calls for loan players to come in, which we can ill afford. What has happened to our longing for trust ownership and all that it brings?
