No wonder the club is losing money ...........

[Moose]

Had a few, lads?

might have...

[seasonsinthesun]

I live in Preston, and am well aware of the club shop opening hours.
I have turned up in the past and found it closed.
My attitude is philosophical. If it is closed, I come back another time.
I often go into the shop on a match day, and guess what? I just arrive a little earlier, and often the shop has hardly anyone in there. No problem.
The attitude of not being prepared to go into the shop on a matchday because a pint is more important is very selfish. Just chill out.
Take personal responsibility for the situation, and make it work for you. Stop blaming others because it just doesn't suit what you are doing that day.
If the club are cost cutting, that is their prerogative. All you have to do is be flexible and adapt.

[George Dawes]

should try more to sell MFC merchandise online, via Facebook and eBay.

The amount of people overseas like Australia Canada USA Asia etc who may only return home if lucky once a year because of distance and time off work.

I once bought a Morecambe shirt for an old friend who lives in Australia in Perth, he was chuffed to bits

[mrpotatohead]

CC, you're idea's are funny

[Christies Child]

CC, you're idea's are funny

.....and yours are....

Same applies to (some) others who are quick to criticise but appear to have no suggestions of their own.....

[John L]

I live in Preston, and am well aware of the club shop opening hours.
I have turned up in the past and found it closed.
My attitude is philosophical. If it is closed, I come back another time.
I often go into the shop on a match day, and guess what? I just arrive a little earlier, and often the shop has hardly anyone in there. No problem.
The attitude of not being prepared to go into the shop on a matchday because a pint is more important is very selfish. Just chill out.
Take personal responsibility for the situation, and make it work for you. Stop blaming others because it just doesn't suit what you are doing that day.
If the club are cost cutting, that is their prerogative. All you have to do is be flexible and adapt.

I agree.

[Christies Child]

I live in Preston, and am well aware of the club shop opening hours.
I have turned up in the past and found it closed.
My attitude is philosophical. If it is closed, I come back another time.
I often go into the shop on a match day, and guess what? I just arrive a little earlier, and often the shop has hardly anyone in there. No problem.
The attitude of not being prepared to go into the shop on a matchday because a pint is more important is very selfish. Just chill out.
Take personal responsibility for the situation, and make it work for you. Stop blaming others because it just doesn't suit what you are doing that day.
If the club are cost cutting, that is their prerogative. All you have to do is be flexible and adapt.

I agree.

+1

[Gnasher]

CC, you're idea's are funny

.....and yours are....

Same applies to (some) others who are quick to criticise but appear to have no suggestions of their own.....

Wasn't criticising, just wondering how you would balance the books with the things you said the club should be doing at the current time.

[Christies Child]

CC, you're idea's are funny

.....and yours are....

Same applies to (some) others who are quick to criticise but appear to have no suggestions of their own.....

Wasn't criticising, just wondering how you would balance the books with the things you said the club should be doing at the current time.

Posted elsewhere my suggestions...which I accept some will not be popular...especially the hike in alcohol prices exclusive to the W&L suite....but the creation of a 100 club paying £10 per month is surely worth considering. Other clubs have something similar.

[morecambegeek]

And with respect, your specific suggestion was to "stop the freebies". When queried which freebies you wanted stopped by several posters, you declined to answer, on more than one occasion.

(PS I've made several suggestions for revenue generation in the past, feel free to look back over my posts to refresh your memory).

As others have said, the club need to win back the people who have walked away, and fast. There will be some hardcore fans willing to pay more, and pay into more things, but over the long term, where these things need to work, it isn't sustainable.

There have been plenty of threads recently, and more over the last few years detailing why people have walked away. Many have been shouted down, called disloyal and glory hunters, but whether you agree or disagree with their reasons, it is a load of custom the club has lost and a major contributing factor to the situation we find ourselves in. One paying punter turning up twice a month covers a lot of the points you have raised.

[Gnasher]

Hiking any price is the wrong idea, no better than a short term fix and longer term disaster. This is a football club, not a one of our short series of events. It needs supporters, it needs to keep them coming back and the club have to do something to encourage that. If, for example, every price from shirts to matchday tickets to a pint were dropped by 20% and it increased spending by 30%, you're on to a winner. You're also more likely to see those fans come back next week.

If you want to see what a price difference can do for a business, go and count the cars filling up with fuel at the garage on the coastal road in Bolton Le sands and compare that to sainsburys or asda. Try not to fall asleep between cars.

[mrpotatohead]

The main problem CC is the declining gates are because people are dissatisfied, so putting prices up will just put them off, alcohol is already expensive in the w&l, non alcoholic drinks are even worse, you cannot make people buy half time draw tickets or pledge money, fans need incentives to part with their money, not price hikes.

[Christies Child]

On the subject of freebies....it's been documented that the number of concessionary tickets given per game is too many when the club is in need of extra revenue. For me ALL concessionary tickets must be stopped... no exceptions other than those who provide care to those with disabilities. If that offends those that currently benefit.....tough!

They have to realise how serious the financial crisis is at the moment and pay like the rest of us.

Any thoughts about starting a 100 club......

With regards to an increase in the alcohol charges exclusively in the W&L...I doubt that it would have any serious effect on sales as those who purchase the corporate match day packages wouldn't in my opinion reduce their consumption as a result of an extra 10% on the price of a pint...or even on a bottle of wine.

[morecambegeek]

it's been documented that the number of concessionary tickets given per game is too many when the club is in need of extra revenue.

Where?

[mrpotatohead]

Why confine the price hike to the wright and lord CC?

Will the drinkers downstairs be ripped off too?

And who dishes out all these concessionary tickets?

[Keith]

Go the opposite way, reduce prices for alcohol at the ground to get people there. Give people a reason to stay and spend after the game. Perhaps even have a local band on after a match. Look at improving the whole experience.

[outsider]

On the subject of freebies....it's been documented that the number of concessionary tickets given per game is too many when the club is in need of extra revenue. For me ALL concessionary tickets must be stopped... no exceptions other than those who provide care to those with disabilities. If that offends those that currently benefit.....tough!

They have to realise how serious the financial crisis is at the moment and pay like the rest of us.

Any thoughts about starting a 100 club......

With regards to an increase in the alcohol charges exclusively in the W&L...I doubt that it would have any serious effect on sales as those who purchase the corporate match day packages wouldn't in my opinion reduce their consumption as a result of an extra 10% on the price of a pint...or even on a bottle of wine.

I know of at least 3 or 4 couples that now have 1 drink after the game then go into town about £5 to £6 a round cheaper. These are long time fan's who used to stay till closing tine.

[Westgate Wanderer]

Why confine the price hike to the wright and lord CC?

Will the drinkers downstairs be ripped off too?

And who dishes out all these concessionary tickets?

Buy 2 rounds of the same drinks in the downstairs bar, get served by 2 different people pay 2 different prices!! Has happened to me on more than one occassion

[Mighty Red]

lord CC

I think that's going a bit too far

[Gone_Shrimping]

I presume complimentary tickets are given to all the players etc for their friends and relatives but those are spectators who wouldn't be coming to The Globe.

Who else get free tickets ?

[mrpotatohead]

Children and disabled, what next CC, KILL THE POOR?

[Christies Child]

Children and disabled, what next CC, KILL THE POOR?

I'd have more respect for you if you'd come up with suggestions as to ways to improve our finances.

Easy to criticise but not that easy to put forward some ideas.

[mrpotatohead]

The problem is , the old owner , and probably the new one, will have their own ideas and do their own thing, fans on here and elsewhere have been putting suggestions forward for years, it's nothing new, but football is an expensive hobby already without price hikes.

[Heysham_red]

Simple question to those that say that there needs to be some patience...are you telling me that's what you would tell a 10 year old boy with £100 to burn...good luck with that one.

We cant have a club that is trying to act as commercial, top rate corporate entity one min the a small club with minimal resources the next. Someone telling me they couldn't even put a door bell on the club shop and get someone round when it rings...I'm serious. In this instance a £10 freaking door bell could of saved the club £100...but more importantly in the long run it could have lost a young loyal support who very well may have been put off by this experience. incredibly poor standard.

As for increasing prices...it's suicide.. getting the already loyal fans to pay more money might work temporary. But in the process we will lose more casual fans...then what keep upping the prices?

People need to wake up a bit. Stop being so defensive...everyone on this forum whats this club to succeed. It probably hurts everyone we are in this state. We need more fans so let's deal with that instead of What I'm hearing. Which is the semi loyal fans need to be more loyal and the loyal fans need to empty their pockets. It's just not a sustainable option.

[Phil Anderer]

I think we all know the main reason the club's losing money, and it's because it's losing fans. We will only be sustainable at this level if we get more people through the gates, and that means improving the match day experience, both on and, for many on here, off, the field. To achieve the former, we in part need more money to pay for better players, and until the current issues are resolved that's not going to happen. We also need some of the issues off the field addressing, in particular I would say the lack of a covered area behind the Omega. This has to have been the worst part of the design/cost-cutting in the development of the ground, but again, money is needed to resolve it. As a cheaper way of brightening the place up, however, get some plaster and paint on the walls, instead of the bare blockwork. Get fans to paint it as volunteers, or even get some art students in to paint murals, including on the Berlin Wall. It would just brighten the place up for a cost of a couple of grand, depending on how far you went with the plaster/render and whether there's any local trades who could be generous to their local football club.