DECLINING GATES, BEYOND A JOKE.

[mrpotatohead]

The state of our attendances is now beyond a joke, our saturday games official figure was 1500 or so with 160ish from yeovil, it looked more like 1300 to me, and looking around, it seems quite clear that the stay away fans are mostly the ones behind the home end, that looks very sparse now all the time, rather than tbe regular comments regarding ''entertaining football'' , and ''financial hardship'', what do fans on here think the root of our clubs problem is, that seems to have intensified hugely this season?

Can we have positive suggestions as well as blame on this one, and hopefully opinions from fans who have stopped coming.

[marky No.1]

Stop beefing the figures up, there were 1340 on Saturday.
Looks like we will have 1000 home fans before long

[Kendalshrimp]

People need to stop moaning about the style of football and just get behind the team and enjoy this division while we're in it. With no cup run again this year the budget is likely to be cut again next season and with us looking safe from relegation this time round, that might not be the case next season if our better players decide to move on because we can't offer them the same contract due to the budget being cut.

[marky No.1]

When was the last time we needed the away end?
Playing teams from 200+ miles away and often on a Tuesday doesn't help

[Christies Child]

People need to stop moaning about the style of football and just get behind the team and enjoy this division while we're in it. With no cup run again this year the budget is likely to be cut again next season and with us looking safe from relegation this time round, that might not be the case next season if our better players decide to move on because we can't offer them the same contract due to the budget being cut.

Lack of entertainment is one reason but couple that with the outlay to attend a game has to be given serious consideration as to why gates are as they are.

Quite simply fans have turned their backs on the club due to the above and have decided that any spare pennies in their pockets can be spent elsewhere.

However if games continue to provide the level of entertainment as that of Saturday; then maybe, just maybe the word will get around that The Globe can provide entertainment and excitement. My match day guest really enjoyed his first visit v Yeovil and will be back v Mansfield, even taking time off work in Preston to come.

But talking to our Chairman the other week even he now accepts that it's going to be difficult to ever achieve his target of 2000 over the medium to short term.

[RedRedWine]

I think it is down to the results and facilities in the home end (where most of the decline appears to be occurring) coupled with price.

I think the club should actively push a season ticket promotion next season, e.g. if we can sell so many then the cost is X (e.g. if we sell 2,000 then they're £150 for terraced and £200 for seating = £350k assuming a 50/50 split) . Bradford, Port Vale and Hartlepool (probably a better example) have all done these thingds recently from memory. Once people have season tickets, they come regardless. Whats our T/O from gate receipts?

[mrpotatohead]

A target of 2000 per match was realistic last season , thiscseason its looking like 1500 is about average, we will not be a league team for much longer with these gates, the toby carvery are nicking pre match diners, and talk of a better match day experience for the terrace fans seems to evaporated, there is nothing inviting about the place for non W&L Customers, a small marquee behind the stand with a couple of tv's and efficient food and drink service would be a start, as at the moment we might as well shut the home end as well as the away end.

[mrpotatohead]

A drastic reduction in home end season ticket prices with a cast iron promise of improved facilities should be an absolute must, we employed a new commercial manager months ago and we might as well not have bothered.

[Christies Child]

Have to agree with my mate MrP BUT where does the money come from for the improvements?

We can't expect Peter McG is fund it and no other Director has shed loads of the reddies to provide funding.

[mrpotatohead]

They had a board meeting before the game last week and all members, bar one, left before kick off!

[BerlinWaller]

Then we will remain as we are, in limbo. Happy to survive, happy to get to 50 points and do not expect anything more. False hopes and silly ideas do not help the clubs image and has made us a bit of a laughing stock. We are down to the hardcore now and the club are dependent on the posh folk and the poor who show blind faith.

That mob accross the river seem to be having a bit of a mini revival and people seem to be enjoying the non league atmosphere we all used to love. We will start losing fans to them soon.

Something has to give. Either the Chairman and the board loosen the purse strings and create a buzz or we continue as we are and non league beckons.

[Freez]

For me, we are stagnating off the field. The problems identified in the first season with facilities in the home end after the move persist and as patience wears thin, people eventually find other things to do.
We are now a very small fish in a big sea, as opposed to a bigish one in the Conference.
Results are frustrating at home, the Yeovil win was possibly the best result and performance for months, we have had some high scoring games but always lost!! So the football will have a bearing.

A late push for the play offs would certainly help generate interest, but as already stated the Daggers cup defeat and subsequent lost revenue with fixture postponements have certainly stalled the season in winter. However, the better weather usually sees us perform accordingly, and maybe we are due some luck??

PMG has been good for us, as the club has been good for him, is it me or if someone came along with an offer would he snap it up if it was right.
We appear to have run out of steam in the boardroom, understandably after years of striving to achieve. The board backed Sammy and we got in the play offs, but since Sammy departed we have cut our cloth more accordingly (still not enough mind) and the reality of this living only slightly beyond our means has meant mid table with an outside tip at the play-offs.

New broom possibly? Fresh impetus with new eyes? Someone with money to buy the club but the passion to move it forward, via new ideas, schemes, incentives and shake up the format of how we operate in the business community and on and off the field?

Meanwhile, we are in a newish ground, which has alienated many but improved the facilities for the few, and have a manager who is working miracles just to keep us where we are now.

Certainly a season ticket for £150, paid in two instalments of 75 a time, with the first payable in August,advertised in the usual places, but also on lampposts, in shops, get the girls from upstairs in Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Aldi, Arndale Centre, Penny St in Lancaster, Carnforth, Kendal through he summer, like the Sky guys, stopping people and getting them signed up wouldn't hurt??
If we could sell 1500 of them, the programmes and pies and beer sales would surely justify the discount, not to mention the future sales if we manage to have a half decent season??

Speculate to accumulate??
Enthusiasm and new ideas go a long way?
The product can be great as we witnessed on Saturday, and at Notts County and Wycombe away and for one half against Exeter, we need to get people back in the habit!!

[Christies Child]

I like the idea of splitting the payment of a season ticket into 2 with a post dated cheque to cover the second payment so that people are committed.

Unfortunately from my experience of asking the Commercial Director if he would do that for me last close season the answer was a definate NO, and that even though I was prepared to give a post dated cheque for the second part.

It's this intransigence that could get up the noses of fans when they hear of other clubs having a more open mind to such proposals.

[Christies Child]

I like the idea of splitting the payment of a season ticket into 2 with a post dated cheque to cover the second payment so that people are committed.

Unfortunately from my experience of asking the Commercial Director if he would do that for me last close season the answer was a definate NO, and that even though I was prepared to give a post dated cheque for the second part.

It's this intransigence that could get up the noses of fans when they hear of other clubs having a more open mind to such proposals.

[mrpotatohead]

This is the sort of post I was fishing for, Freeze has raised a few excellent points, with good ideas, I actually like the globe, prefer my matchday in the wright and lord , and appreciate the good times the PMG years have brought us, but feel that the main cause of our declining fan base is a total failure to attract new fans and keep old ones, by chasing the corporate customers and neglecting tbe working class ''lads and dads'', that are tbe life blood of a small town club.

[marky No.1]

Newport are currently 1.1 against Blackburn in the FA Cup (remember that), who are down to 10 men, if they win then we will lose another Saturday home game

[KenH]

Lots of little things are annoying but are so simple to rectify. It's not always just the football or the prices. Minor niggles soon add up and ruin the experience.

Take catering. Asking for a M&P pie and being given a chicken one and them then refusing to swap it.
Like not having any hot dogs at the kid's open day/autograph day, and in fact, often not having any on match days either. Luke warm beer or no beer on supposedly "super sunday"

Filthy toilets before people start coming into the ground (obviously not cleaned since last game), no soap in the dispensers, no loo-roll in the toilet.

The kid's open day was pathetically quiet this year. The club failed miserably to promote it adequately especially as it was brought forward several weeks ahead of it's usual half term slot. It could have been heaving as most free events are around here - just think of the lost opportunity to sell refreshments and club shop items, not to mention potential young fans who may become regulars.

[Ntini]

I'm sorry, but stands, drinks, pies, ticket deals and the rest of the 'matchday experience' are just bells and whistles. We go to the Globe to watch football.

I work as an accountant and, as much as we try to give the best service we can, If I mess up a set of accounts the client will leave and it's almost impossible to get them back.

It's exactly the same with Morecambe FC. We are a football club. People want to come and watch football and be entertained in doing so. If they can have a great tasting pie and not have to queue for an expensive pint in nice looking, plush facilities then that's just fantastic.

The last few times I've been to see my team play (and as an exile I don't go regularly) nobody plays in the same position! I get the feeling that in the last few years Jim isn't able to find his best 11 and as a result he can't get excitement going.

For me, the best sight in football is seeing a winger take on a full back. I used to love watching Thommo back at CP be sucked down the right hand side by the North Stand. That's a nostalgic view that will live with me but it's something which hasn't been recreated.

Barky, Devitt, Ellison and Molyneaux play in 6 or 7 different positions each game, sometimes even in one game! Until the basics are done right I can't see the attendances rising and then it's just a spiralling nightmare back into non-league.

[John L]

When was the last time we needed the away end?

9th January...

[John L]

Exactly, Ntini, you go to a football ground to watch a game of football, to support YOUR local club. Everything else is just frills.

[Jettyson]

"For me, the best sight in football is seeing a winger take on a full back. I used to love watching Thommo back at CP be sucked down the right hand side by the North Stand. That's a nostalgic view that will live with me but it's something which hasn't been recreated.

Barky, Devitt, Ellison and Molyneaux play in 6 or 7 different positions each game, sometimes even in one game! "

Exactly! Barky in full flight is a joy to behold and you can almost feel a buzz of anticipation. Leave him on the wing (and NOT as a wing back).

[marky No.1]

When was the last time we needed the away end?

9th January...

9th Jan 2015, or do you mean Goodison Park

Blackburn beat Newport to play another L2 team

[John L]

When was the last time we needed the away end?

9th January...

9th Jan 2015, or do you mean Goodison Park

Blackburn beat Newport to play another L2 team

When Pompey were supposed to visit. Will they bring enough on a Tuesday night? Was last time it was used the Southend game?

[marky No.1]

Pompey didn't actually visit though. I seem to remember 30 or 40 Accy fans in there and maybe Bristol back in British Summertime

[Seasider9601]

Away end was open for Accy but closed for Bristol Rovers.

And yes, Pompey are bringing a lot up next month