If you are going to expend effort and money to attract new customers, it's better spent on the richer ones.
A lot of it is the parents isn’t it, I know many plastic Liverpool / Chelsea fans and they have their kids in the replica kits the minute they are born and love plastering photos of them in front of the tv watching “ the lads “ the mighty blues, etc … those kids don’t really have a chance of growing up city do they
That's definitely a reason, but surely we can try to do something about it? It's that or continue to accept that we'll never have decent crowds. Just baffles me that no one, even going back to when we had skillful and ambitious ownership, has ever really tried to tackle this.
I know what you mean, you need somebody in your life to be willing to take you down there. When I question these people and say just cos you are a plastic , don’t you think you should encourage them to support local . And they say it’s their choice , but I aren’t taking them to watch that **** , etc . My dad took me when he could , but it’s when I got friends with a lad at school who was a pass holder and his dad started taking us every week. Not sure what city could do to get these people to come , apart from get back to the premier league . It attracts the day trippers and then have to hope they enjoy it enough to keep coming back and get hooked
Surely Adam Pearson tried? He and the club really engaged with the local community. Fans forums across the whole region and more. It was a time when the area was awash with young kids in City shirts .... and it was great to see - just like things should be. Current owners haven't got a clue. Of course, they'll never do it themselves (it would have the opposite effect if they did) but as said many times, they should (have) employ(ed) someone in that 'face of the club' role.
I Agree, but then we'd need to stay in the Premier league for at least ten years. My best memories of being a City fan are from when we were losing in the fourth division. That gives you a really good grounding. I'd ****ing hate to be a top four supporter, I'd rather support Wycombe.
You are odd Kempton. So your best times supporting City were when we losing in the fourth division ? So you accepted the ****ty owners we had then with their nil investment and the club reduced to a laughing stock, not just locally but nationally and playing from a three sided ground falling to pieces because of a lack of investment ? The grounding you got cannot have been that good because it doesn't stand you in good stead now does it ?
I think people always exaggerated how awash it was. Maybe you did see more kids wearing the shirts and stuff, and there's still a legacy of that now, but they don't go to games. I think it's very normal for kids round here to have an interest in City but never go to games.
The big difference is the money, back in those days no one had any not the fans, not the owners even the players didn't have that much. Yes i remember the bucket collection to pay for a player, can you imagine what we would be able to buy now with a bucket collection from the Kcom even with crowds more than double what they were then? Would hardly cover the cost of a cleaner for a year let alone a player. Now there are mega rich owners, multi million pound players and even many fans have more disposable income (but are more selective where they spend it) The club any club has to nurture a feeling of belonging, a community spirit to entice supporters / customers. Sadly our owners despite being successful in business don't seem to get it.
-> Rose tinted specs there. The area wasn’t awash under Adam. More when we were pl -> Maybe you did see more kids wearing the shirts and stuff, No maybe's about it, and certainly no rose tinted specs. Yes, of course there was even more when we were PL. The 2000's pre-PL were the first time in my 50odd years of supporting City that I've seen kids wearing, and proud to wear, City kits and in such high numbers. And that was not just in Hull but across the whole ER too. I just don't get this ongoing criticism of, and sniping at, Adam Pearson. It's childish. It was a mutual win win, of course it was. But just because he's (unfortunately imo) no longer part of the club, and just because he now owns FC, I don't get why the facts and views around what was achieved under his leadership and as importantly the way he went about things now get blackened.
I know all that but you also forget at that time Hull City were playing from a rotting stadium, which was only just 50 years old at the time, and we were bottom of the football ladder. Meanwhile the rest of the Football League were cashing in on the Taylor Report after Hillsboro and using the many grants available to build new stadiums. I remember Martin Fish saying at the time that Hull City couldn't even compete with the likes of Birmingham City. So there was plenty of money about for football, only it all seem to by pass us. Fish was even envious of the new stand at Peterbourgh United, I was taken to City for the first time by my dad back in the early 60's as I'm sure a lot of us older ones were. I was hooked the minute I walked into the ground for the first time. He and his brother eventually stopped going when it was obvious that we were only going one way under Terry Neill a few years later, like thousands of others. I kept it up because I loved it. We then lost a generation or more in the mid 70's right through the Dol*n and Fish era up to Robinson taking over, and let's be honest the crowds were not great then either. It is that lost generation who's kids and grandkids are todays potential fans, It is that lost generation who should be buying Hull City replica shirts for their kids to wear. But the facts are the club is built on sand. Our core support is fickle. Even during the glory days of Sir Adam and Peter Taylor the club were giving tickets away by the shed load to entice the fans back. So where have they gone ? Where have the Premier League lot gone ? Didn't we gain any fans from the most successful time in the clubs history in the same way us old crusties got the bug under the Britton/Waggy and Chilton era ? The answer is in our own hands. Your either a supporter or your not.
They did lots of kids for a quid offers to schools, exactly as the Allams should be doing, but they also had 3,000 corporate members paying about £50 a game, we've got about 300 now. AP absolutely buys and sells the Allams when it comes how how a club should be promoted locally.
So where are they now ? The kids saw promotion football for a quid, and the Premier Club lot saw the most successful time in the clubs history. Where are they ? Like I said, your either a supporter or your not.
