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Post by Al on Jan 11, 2018 12:33:07 GMT
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Post by kyle on Jan 11, 2018 12:35:14 GMT
Excellent, we should do this every game bar Wrexham and Tranmere
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Post by gezzer on Jan 11, 2018 12:49:46 GMT
We are, clearly states between now and end of the season with the exception of Tranmere.
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Jan 11, 2018 12:57:36 GMT
Superb initiative but we've got to do it right. I'm sure the Community Trust are well aware that they can't sit back and wait for schools, junior clubs and community groups to come - we need to be bombarding them all, at the least monthly, to keep us in their minds.
Hopefully we also have a better way for parents and groups to actually get tickets - I dare say the faff of emailing the club to put your name down, then waiting for a response, going to the ticket office then entering the ground may put people off. A military operation to attend a non-league game! We need to make it as simple as possible for people to attend. Last time we did this people were asking where the ticket office was/South stand was etc. Simplify, man!
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Post by Lobster on Jan 11, 2018 13:11:14 GMT
Great news. Share it on social media if you can. You're bound to know someone who runs a kids' club and they'll see it. An effortless way we can all help.
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Post by sqzl on Jan 11, 2018 13:27:16 GMT
Great that this is put in place. I know we've mentioned it on here for years (including DC1 before this) and it has only happened for the odd game. Putting this in place for the rest of the season gives us a chance to bring in future fans. If this 'trial period' works i would expect us to continue this into next season too. At the end of the day, empty seats don't bring us any form of revenue.
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Post by gezzer on Jan 11, 2018 13:40:30 GMT
Superb initiative but we've got to do it right. I'm sure the Community Trust are well aware that they can't sit back and wait for schools, junior clubs and community groups to come - we need to be bombarding them all, at the least monthly, to keep us in their minds. Hopefully we also have a better way for parents and groups to actually get tickets - I dare say the faff of emailing the club to put your name down, then waiting for a response, going to the ticket office then entering the ground may put people off. A military operation to attend a non-league game! We need to make it as simple as possible for people to attend. Last time we did this people were asking where the ticket office was/South stand was etc. Simplify, man! Possible solutions? |
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Post by gezzer on Jan 11, 2018 14:01:16 GMT
Agree in principle, will average out at approx 125 free tickets per match (exc Tranmere) probably improve the atmosphere and give the players a lift and maybe add fans in the future. Also believe that it needs to be closely monitored for future promotions, as great as freebies are, they don't pay any bills.
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Jan 11, 2018 14:15:28 GMT
Superb initiative but we've got to do it right. I'm sure the Community Trust are well aware that they can't sit back and wait for schools, junior clubs and community groups to come - we need to be bombarding them all, at the least monthly, to keep us in their minds. Hopefully we also have a better way for parents and groups to actually get tickets - I dare say the faff of emailing the club to put your name down, then waiting for a response, going to the ticket office then entering the ground may put people off. A military operation to attend a non-league game! We need to make it as simple as possible for people to attend. Last time we did this people were asking where the ticket office was/South stand was etc. Simplify, man! Possible solutions? Send out the tickets with a form on the back - ticket isn't valid at the turnstile unless you have entered your email address. Or, to save on our postage etc - make these tickets available to purchase online whereby people have to register on the website. Alternatively, any tickets that are given out at schools can be taken straight to the turnstile as we can get the schools to register parents details. My point is the more steps you add, the more people will be put off. People want everything handed to them in this day and age and we should oblige if it helps us. |
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Post by alancfc on Jan 11, 2018 14:16:01 GMT
Agree in principle, will average out at approx 125 free tickets per match (exc Tranmere) probably improve the atmosphere and give the players a lift and maybe add fans in the future. Also believe that it needs to be closely monitored for future promotions, as great as freebies are, they don't pay any bills. May not on the face of it bring in any money, but kids always want a coke, a mars bar, programme, scarf, pen etc. So small amounts of money can be made. Plus in the long term how much (cynically) is a young child worth to the club, if the become a lif elong fan £20K?! All under U11's should be free at games and under U18's a fiver, need to build a younger base, because not being funny but our's currently must average 50+ |
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Post by gezzer on Jan 11, 2018 14:48:54 GMT
Agree in principle, will average out at approx 125 free tickets per match (exc Tranmere) probably improve the atmosphere and give the players a lift and maybe add fans in the future. Also believe that it needs to be closely monitored for future promotions, as great as freebies are, they don't pay any bills. May not on the face of it bring in any money, but kids always want a coke, a mars bar, programme, scarf, pen etc. So small amounts of money can be made. Plus in the long term how much (cynically) is a young child worth to the club, if the become a lif elong fan £20K?! All under U11's should be free at games and under U18's a fiver, need to build a younger base, because not being funny but our's currently must average 50+ Completely agree with this however we are struggling to be competitive with our current incoming revenue and discounts/freebies just dilute it even more. IF and when we have a regular non football income stream ie Stagecoach, 100club etc would love to see the club trying to attract more fans via a proper structured pricing system. Incidently anyone have any idea how much the "pay what you want" games some teams have hosted has brought in financially? |
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Post by alancfc on Jan 11, 2018 15:08:33 GMT
May not on the face of it bring in any money, but kids always want a coke, a mars bar, programme, scarf, pen etc. So small amounts of money can be made. Plus in the long term how much (cynically) is a young child worth to the club, if the become a lif elong fan £20K?! All under U11's should be free at games and under U18's a fiver, need to build a younger base, because not being funny but our's currently must average 50+ Completely agree with this however we are struggling to be competitive with our current incoming revenue and discounts/freebies just dilute it even more. IF and when we have a regular non football income stream ie Stagecoach, 100club etc would love to see the club trying to attract more fans via a proper structured pricing system. Incidently anyone have any idea how much the "pay what you want" games some teams have hosted has brought in financially? Mansfield did it in 2010, increased gates from circa 3000 to over 7000 at the game, not sure about revenue difference. May be a good idea for the final home game of the season? |
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Post by Rio The Ball Bag on Jan 11, 2018 15:29:39 GMT
u18's should be paying no more than 5-7 quid.
We need to set up an e-mail database that just spams peoples inboxes with e-mails, as sooner or later they'll give in. I bet people still get e-mails from Barnsley.
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Post by Rio Doherty on Jan 11, 2018 15:43:23 GMT
Brilliant. I’m really pleased that the club have listened to us supporters for once, and came up with a terrific initiative. We really need a new set of supporters with crowds dwindling, and it would be great to perform well on the pitch to get more regulars coming to watch every other week.
Well done to everyone involved!
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Post by tarvinblue on Jan 11, 2018 15:49:16 GMT
At last a step in the direction - marketing ourselves as a community club once again. As has been pointed out further up, the key will now be in the promotion of this. We can't expect schools, junior clubs etc to just show up. We need our marketing experts to co-ordinate a significant marketing strategy. However, this is a massively positive step. Well done to those involved.
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Post by gezzer on Jan 11, 2018 16:05:32 GMT
I remember the Cheshire Jets basketball team used to visit primary schools/junior clubs under their very successful Hoops for Health initiative. The community volunteers were joined by a couple of the players and the free tickets given out at the end of the session. Attended a few of their matches and the atmosphere was electric
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Post by bonecrusher on Jan 11, 2018 18:46:03 GMT
Send out the tickets with a form on the back - ticket isn't valid at the turnstile unless you have entered your email address. Or, to save on our postage etc - make these tickets available to purchase online whereby people have to register on the website. Alternatively, any tickets that are given out at schools can be taken straight to the turnstile as we can get the schools to register parents details. My point is the more steps you add, the more people will be put off. People want everything handed to them in this day and age and we should oblige if it helps us. As headteacher of a local primary school I have enough to do without registering details like this. We're a public service - we can't do that. I already go out of my way to promote the club through the local community. Happy to give tickets out at school though. |
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Post by bonecrusher on Jan 11, 2018 18:47:43 GMT
I remember the Cheshire Jets basketball team used to visit primary schools/junior clubs under their very successful Hoops for Health initiative. The community volunteers were joined by a couple of the players and the free tickets given out at the end of the session. Attended a few of their matches and the atmosphere was electric The Jets / Phoenix still do this. How about sending a couple of players in to talk to the kids, or even run a session or two and hand out some free tickets. No registration etc required, just need an adult (£10 charge) to accompany the kids. I think that would be some on the gate each week. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2018 12:20:17 GMT
Send out the tickets with a form on the back - ticket isn't valid at the turnstile unless you have entered your email address. Or, to save on our postage etc - make these tickets available to purchase online whereby people have to register on the website. Alternatively, any tickets that are given out at schools can be taken straight to the turnstile as we can get the schools to register parents details. My point is the more steps you add, the more people will be put off. People want everything handed to them in this day and age and we should oblige if it helps us. As headteacher of a local primary school I have enough to do without registering details like this. We're a public service - we can't do that. I already go out of my way to promote the club through the local community. Happy to give tickets out at school though. What, sending an email is too much trouble for you? I can imagine it is so the community trust can contact you in future over other things they wish to do? They already visit schools, so if they had your details maybe they would do so to yours? This may be of interest also? community.chesterfc.com/trust-produces-new-primary-schools-brochure/ |
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Post by happyclapper on Jan 12, 2018 13:06:05 GMT
Completely agree with this however we are struggling to be competitive with our current incoming revenue and discounts/freebies just dilute it even more. IF and when we have a regular non football income stream ie Stagecoach, 100club etc would love to see the club trying to attract more fans via a proper structured pricing system. Incidently anyone have any idea how much the "pay what you want" games some teams have hosted has brought in financially? Right okay, so we shouldn't be looking to grow the fanbase until/unless the Stagecoach and 100 club are up and running? That's a cracking idea, lets just sit on our hands eh? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2018 14:34:41 GMT
Completely agree with this however we are struggling to be competitive with our current incoming revenue and discounts/freebies just dilute it even more. IF and when we have a regular non football income stream ie Stagecoach, 100club etc would love to see the club trying to attract more fans via a proper structured pricing system. Incidently anyone have any idea how much the "pay what you want" games some teams have hosted has brought in financially? Right okay, so we shouldn't be looking to grow the fanbase until/unless the Stagecoach and 100 club are up and running? That's a cracking idea, lets just sit on our hands eh? Totally agree, should run alongside. This is a community trust driven programme to attract children to our club FOR FREE. The supporters of tomorrow and still people find fault and pick holes. The South Stand sits empty week after week, sucking any atmosphere out of the ground like a vacuum. If there are 100 noisy kids in there spending £2 each on a programme or food, there is £200 more than we got last home game from it. Plus however many £10 for the adults. As stated above, elsewhere and on countless threads before, without the next generation we may as well close the gates tomorrow. |
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Post by paulcrossleyshair on Jan 12, 2018 15:38:49 GMT
Right okay, so we shouldn't be looking to grow the fanbase until/unless the Stagecoach and 100 club are up and running? That's a cracking idea, lets just sit on our hands eh? Totally agree, should run alongside. This is a community trust driven programme to attract children to our club FOR FREE. The supporters of tomorrow and still people find fault and pick holes. The South Stand sits empty week after week, sucking any atmosphere out of the ground like a vacuum. If there are 100 noisy kids in there spending £2 each on a programme or food, there is £200 more than we got last home game from it. Plus however many £10 for the adults. As stated above, elsewhere and on countless threads before, without the next generation we may as well close the gates tomorrow. Until the ground is full to capacity every week, this is exactly what we should be doing. Get as many kids and £10 adults in as possible Load a couple of volunteers up walking round with scarves, hats, pendants, foam fingers, bloody VuVuZelas if we have to haha - all extra income into the pot |
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Post by Jack on Jan 12, 2018 18:43:00 GMT
Sounds promising, but why cap it at 1000? Surely our aim should be to fill that stand for every fixture remaining?
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Post by bonecrusher on Jan 12, 2018 18:54:39 GMT
As headteacher of a local primary school I have enough to do without registering details like this. We're a public service - we can't do that. I already go out of my way to promote the club through the local community. Happy to give tickets out at school though. What, sending an email is too much trouble for you? I can imagine it is so the community trust can contact you in future over other things they wish to do? They already visit schools, so if they had your details maybe they would do so to yours? This may be of interest also? community.chesterfc.com/trust-produces-new-primary-schools-brochure/I think we may be misunderstanding each other here. I haven't got time to register each parents individual details to be honest - and if I am reluctant to do that in my working day as a CFU member most headteachers will also not do it. I am in regular contact with the community trust and get plenty of emails from Jim Green,. I've never heard of players visiting the schools to be honest so maybe I've missed something there, However I am happy to meet with the community trust and advise them from a school point of view . I actually think the Matchday experience model that the Phoenix use is something that could work really well for the club. As I have explained in a PM to someone who contacted me, the whole process needs to be made a simple as possible in order to attract casual fans and currently I think there are too many hoops to jump through. |
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Post by bonecrusher on Jan 12, 2018 18:55:45 GMT
What, sending an email is too much trouble for you? I can imagine it is so the community trust can contact you in future over other things they wish to do? They already visit schools, so if they had your details maybe they would do so to yours? This may be of interest also? community.chesterfc.com/trust-produces-new-primary-schools-brochure/I think we may be misunderstanding each other here. I haven't got time to register each parents individual details to be honest - and if I am reluctant to do that in my working day as a CFU member most headteachers will also not do it. I am in regular contact with the community trust and get plenty of emails from Jim Green,. I've never heard of players visiting the schools to be honest so maybe I've missed something there, However I am happy to meet with the community trust and advise them from a school point of view . I actually think the Matchday experience model that the Phoenix use is something that could work really well for the club. As I have explained in a PM to someone who contacted me, the whole process needs to be made a simple as possible in order to attract casual fans and currently I think there are too many hoops to jump through. And yes I have seen the brochure. If you click on the link the kids on the green kits are from my school! |
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Post by jimgreen on Jan 12, 2018 19:15:23 GMT
Thanks to everyone for the positive response and feedback. It’s really encouraging to see and we’re getting good levels of interest.
This is the first time there has been a sustained approach to community ticketing so this is one of the reasons we agreed on 1,000 tickets. It allows us to understand who is attending, how often and attempt to demonstrate the value of the scheme.
I’m a massive advocate of this but equally I appreciate in the past schemes haven’t been managed/monitored as effectively as they could have been. I’m hopeful this will be a massive success and allow us to extend it.
The other thing I agree with is that the process has to be as user friendly as possible, but at the same time it’s important to collate data so we can develop and deliver the marketing we all agree is needed.
We’ve tried to ensure that is the case and again hopefully people find the process smooth enough.
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Post by gezzer on Jan 13, 2018 9:43:17 GMT
Right okay, so we shouldn't be looking to grow the fanbase until/unless the Stagecoach and 100 club are up and running? That's a cracking idea, lets just sit on our hands eh? Totally agree, should run alongside. This is a community trust driven programme to attract children to our club FOR FREE. The supporters of tomorrow and still people find fault and pick holes. The South Stand sits empty week after week, sucking any atmosphere out of the ground like a vacuum. If there are 100 noisy kids in there spending £2 each on a programme or food, there is £200 more than we got last home game from it. Plus however many £10 for the adults. As stated above, elsewhere and on countless threads before, without the next generation we may as well close the gates tomorrow. You still don't get it. Unless we sort out our finances there will not be a tomorrow, we already have one of the lowest player budgets and struggle to get a half decent player in. Good point regarding £10 paying adults IF they are previous non attending adults but will have a detrimental impact on finances if they were previously paying £18! I am not finding fault merely stating facts. Happyclapper, the only way to sustainably grow our fanbase is to have a competitive football team that the customer wants to pay to watch.
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Post by gone4eva on Jan 13, 2018 11:06:44 GMT
It is a great idea.
Think of these as prospective season ticket holders for years to come!
Liverpool, Everton or Man U will have them otherwise, going to the football is a habit and an early link in peoples lives.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2018 13:03:21 GMT
Totally agree, should run alongside. This is a community trust driven programme to attract children to our club FOR FREE. The supporters of tomorrow and still people find fault and pick holes. The South Stand sits empty week after week, sucking any atmosphere out of the ground like a vacuum. If there are 100 noisy kids in there spending £2 each on a programme or food, there is £200 more than we got last home game from it. Plus however many £10 for the adults. As stated above, elsewhere and on countless threads before, without the next generation we may as well close the gates tomorrow. You still don't get it. Unless we sort out our finances there will not be a tomorrow, we already have one of the lowest player budgets and struggle to get a half decent player in. Good point regarding £10 paying adults IF they are previous non attending adults but will have a detrimental impact on finances if they were previously paying £18! I am not finding fault merely stating facts. Happyclapper, the only way to sustainably grow our fanbase is to have a competitive football team that the customer wants to pay to watch.
Believe me I "get it". There is a lot of firefighting needed, but not laying the groundwork for the future will mean we will lurch from crisis to crisis. |
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Post by gone4eva on Jan 13, 2018 15:37:23 GMT
As headteacher of a local primary school I have enough to do without registering details like this. We're a public service - we can't do that. I already go out of my way to promote the club through the local community. Happy to give tickets out at school though. As a fellow Headteacher, I'm in full agreement. How on earth are schools, particularly if the staff working there aren't fans, in a position to be wasting precious administration time doing legwork like this on behalf of the club? That would set the whole scheme up to fail. Give tickets or vouchers to the schools to pass on to kids by all means. They can then be handed in at the turnstiles and then the club can easily facilitate simple opportunities to register details at the ground if any takers want to do so. Do this regularly, administer it consistently casting a wide net and then you build your database. It appears with the new plans from the board the onus is on fans to do the legwork. If you don't do it you are not a proper fan dontchaknow. If you think you can do better, why are you not paying your mortgage to the club as well as quitting your job and working for free in the bar? |
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