1098 FFS, f**Cking joke!

[mrpotatohead]

We cannot continue like this indefinetly last nights attendance was actually far, far beyond a joke.

[bill ding]

We cannot continue like this indefinetly last nights attendance was actually far, far beyond a joke.

Totally agree MPH , doesnt help with only 33 away supporters (fair play to them) , even Accy had a bigger turnout (1315) !!
The sooner we get a north / south based system the better or more common sense when it comes to the fixtures for longer away trips.
But as for local support i cant see what else the club can do , if locals dont want to come they wont

[mrpotatohead]

the accrington figure is the worrying one, some of us used to mock their attendances a year or two ago, last nights fixture almost mirrored ours, i.e wimbledon obviously not bringing many fans, and as you say, there isn't much more the club or team can do?

[KenH]

Just shows how many "free" children make up the numbers. You're going to get a much lower number of kids on a school-day evening. Numbers may have been low, but probably the gate income was around the same. Very noticeable last night that there were far fewer children around in all areas.

What was more worrying was that there were no hospitality customers in the W&L. Presumably numbers were so small that they put them on the top floor in the boxes? You'd have thought they'd have tried to fill the W&L with hospitality offers, but clearly not.

Seriously you can't expect crowds to flood back on the back of a couple of good away games. It'll take a long time to build up regular attendances to sustainable levels as the word gets around again that MFC are worth watching.

In the meantime, yes, either North/South leagues or our promotion to L1 is a quicker solution. The N/S leagues will also take years to happen, so basically, the only viable option to get higher crowds is to get into L1 and get a thousand or two away supporters every game, which would also increase the home numbers too.

[Seasider9601]

And the thing that annoys me is, we have 2 chances of reaching Wembley this season.

If we do make it, all the armchair fans will be queuing for tickets.

A club is for life. Not just the good times.

[Posh]

This is not a political point more an economic reality.

Figures released yesterday showed that Lancaster City Council has more deprivation and a lower standard of living on average than when measured against five years ago. Also anyone working in the public sector will not have seen a pay rise in five years. On top of that 20,000 people in our local area will shortly get a £1,000 plus cut in their annual income through cuts in tax credits. All that money was getting spent somewhere and now it's not. Consequently for a working people's game where we can attract fans from only a small local geography our gates are going to get hit.

Inevitably issues such as lack of public transport, pricing, promotion and perception will impact too but still not as much as the simple ability or not to afford to attend games regularly.

[broadwayshrimp]

There is one more thing the club can do and they have tried but not yet succeeded. Play winning, entertaining football at home on a regular basis and if and when we start to see crowds increasing continue to do so. I have lost count of thee number of times we have had an opportunity to entertain in front of bigger than normal crowds and blown it. Let's hope last night was the turning point and we follow it up against Orient on Saturday. If winning at home regularly doesn't get more people through the gate god help us.

[Christies Minder]

Doesn't help with two home games in the week either , if choosing a game , Saturday's home game against a "Bigger" club will always win the battle of a Tuesday game against "Lesser" opponents.
European football on TV on a Tuesday night also has an effect.

[Mullin4England]

Maybe some people just can't afford to go to football anymore - its a luxury now

[Kendalshrimp]

I mentioned in the Tyson fury thread that maybe one game someone connected with the club could get him to attend a match and do a meet n greet with supporters or something like this. I know it would only be one game but it's a start and without a doubt would attract a few more people not just the locals but maybe boxing fans too. One of the most famous boxers in the world lives in the town surely could help in someway !

In the long term the only thing would be consistency and getting promoted asap. The amount of league 1 teams based in the north would attract close to 1000 away fans most weeks ! I'm not sure how much the club are down to the bare bones but i heard a couple people say last night in the lounge that this season could be make or break the future of the club in this division if attendances keep dropping or money invested from somewhere as well struggle to pay conference players wages never mind league 2

[Gone_Shrimping]

The club needs to sell more season tickets.

Try that marketing ploy that I think it was Bradford used a few years back. They announced that if a certain number of people purchased a season ticket then the price would be reduced (They reduced it to £100 which is ridiculously low).
We could try offering standing season tickets for the ground that would be reduced to say £150 if 1,000 people purchased them. Discounts could also be offered in the PMG if a certain number of people purchased season tickets.

Also make it easier for people like shift workers who wouldn't benefit from a season ticket by offering bundles of tickets that can be used for any league matches whenever they can attend. Offer 5 tickets for the price of 4.

[SolentShrimp]

On top of that 20,000 people in our local area will shortly get a £1,000 plus cut in their annual income through cuts in tax credits.

Don't tax credits affect other benefits?

https://www.gov.uk/how-tax-credits-affect-other-benefits

So if tax credits are reduced, then other benefits might go up.

[parceldave]

Maybe some people just can't afford to go to football anymore - its a luxury now

That contradicts the figures that the F.A produced a couple of weeks ago after the B.B.C survey on the cost of going to football. It stated that average attendances in all the english football leagues had gone up over last 2 seasons . Looking at Accy's attendance last night it looks like the ecconomy is only affecting Morecambe.

[parceldave]

On top of that 20,000 people in our local area will shortly get a £1,000 plus cut in their annual income through cuts in tax credits.

Don't tax credits affect other benefits?

https://www.gov.uk/how-tax-credits-affect-other-benefits

So if tax credits are reduced, then other benefits might go up.

So where would Osborne's 12 Billion reduction come from then , he's taking an average 1100 quid of tax credit off a WORKING family and giving them 80 quid back next April when the tax threshold goes up, oh but wait a minute he's raising the NI payments 1% , sneaky George.

[marky No.1]

He's relying on the feel good of the living wage, some people will be unemployable!
Don't suppose it will effect the steelworkers though, they must be so happy the Chinese are living it up in the Palace.
Funny how the Chinese always end up on top

[parceldave]

[quote="marky No.1"]He's relying on the feel good of the living wage, some people will be unemployable!
Don't suppose it will effect the steelworkers though, they must be so happy the Chinese are living it up in the Palace.
Funny how the Chinese always end up on top [/quote

Yeh Shanghi were so Clever we never saw them again.

[RedRedWine]

Very worrying and disheartening to see the ground looking and feeling so empty last night. I used to think we had a hardcore of 1400, but now it's down to 1k - a high percentage of which are existing season ticket holders.

Does anybody think the crowd last night would have been any different had we still been at Christie Park? At Christie we played a rearranged game vs Darlo on a Tuesday and got just below 2k.. I think I said then that it was a disgrace, but what the club would give for that level of interest now?!?

For me the price has gone up, the facilities are worse (in the home end) and the football is similar since our move. We're also in a more competitive division so win less frequently. There are economic factors involved, but I think it's been overstated. It's not that people don't have disposable incomes in the area to watch us, more likely they choose not to watch us or do other things IMO which is probably more concerning.

[Shrimpy]

Very worrying and disheartening to see the ground looking and feeling so empty last night. I used to think we had a hardcore of 1400, but now it's down to 1k - a high percentage of which are existing season ticket holders.

Does anybody think the crowd last night would have been any different had we still been at Christie Park? At Christie we played a rearranged game vs Darlo on a Tuesday and got just below 2k.. I think I said then that it was a disgrace, but what the club would give for that level of interest now?!?

For me the price has gone up, the facilities are worse (in the home end) and the football is similar since our move. We're also in a more competitive division so win less frequently. There are economic factors involved, but I think it's been overstated. It's not that people don't have disposable incomes in the area to watch us, more likely they choose not to watch us or do other things IMO which is probably more concerning.

The novelty of the Football League has worn off, we're now back to our Conference crowds unfortunately.

[seantheshrimp]

Playing entertaining football brings bigger gates is a myth. The only way the crowd will be bigger is a reduction in cost which is not going to happen in mid season. We could win every game between now and the end of the season and we wouldnt reach 2000 fans.

[KenH]

That the main reason being cost is a myth. I know many people who have high incomes and no shortage of money, but choose not to go to watch MFC. The usual reason is that it's simply not entertaining enough for them to make the effort to come down. One of my closest friends is a financial advisor who earns close on £200k per year (I do his tax returns!). He used to be a regular for many years. He dropped away when they moved to the Globe and has only been to about 1 match per season since, usually when he gets invited to make up numbers in hospitality by business associates. He's been unlucky in that the games he's been to have been tedious amateur games with both sides just hoofing it forwards. He's seen nothing yet to rekindle his interest. If we could get him down a few times, and if he saw entertaining football, he could easily be swayed to become a regular again.

[KenH]

We could win every game between now and the end of the season and we wouldnt reach 2000 fans.

Of course we wouldn't so quickly. It took years for the crowds to fall, and will take years to build up again. It's a long, slow, painful process to build up a business - and yes, it is a business. A promotion to L1 would get the numbers up far more quickly.

[Gone_Shrimping]

A decent FA Cup run would help to revive interest from the people that used to come.

They are depressing fixtures from an attendance viewpoint. Look at Christmas , how do we get Mansfield on Boxing day and Accrington get Carlisle. Ii should be the other way round and at least we could look forward to a 4,000 + gate.

[KenH]

Very worrying and disheartening to see the ground looking and feeling so empty last night.

Whilst I agree, I think the atmosphere was better- there seemed to be a buzz around the place, even before it was obvious we were going to win. There was a feeling of excitement when Barky or Miller went on a run, and we've just not had that in recent years. All around us we weren't hearing the usual groans (though maybe it was because Flemmo wasn't on for most of the time!)

[RedRedWine]

It's a bit of both; cost for some and/or a disconnection with the club for others. I believe that the club eroded a lot of goodwill it built up over the years by building such a poor home end with the facilities and view being poorer than at Christie. The quality of football has declined up until recently, partly because the football is more competitive, but I think we'd have held on to more supporters for a lot longer had the club attempted to replicate the North Stand at the Globe. The PMG stand is great, but it provides a comparable matchday experience to many local clubs higher up the leagues for a similar price. Some people dissatisfied with the home end migrated to the seats, other people have stopped going entirely.

[RedRedWine]

Very worrying and disheartening to see the ground looking and feeling so empty last night.

Whilst I agree, I think the atmosphere was better- there seemed to be a buzz around the place, even before it was obvious we were going to win. There was a feeling of excitement when Barky or Miller went on a run, and we've just not had that in recent years. All around us we weren't hearing the usual groans (though maybe it was because Flemmo wasn't on for most of the time!)

I thought the atmosphere was ok last night, although listening to Jimbos post match press conference on radio lancs he suggested that it was flat with both the players and fans waiting for each other to get going.