How do we put the fans back in football?

[LHarper]

Hi all

I'm going to be on the panel for this event on Thursday at the University of Huddersfield:



If anyone has any views on this question that I could steal and pass off as my own (or give due credit depending on how good it is) I would be interested in hearing them.

Cheers

 

[cptaidan88]

1. Safe standing
2. Cheaper Tickets, especially for 16-25 year olds.
3. Lose season card if it isnt activated in more than 67% of games (too many seem to buy a season ticket and go to games v top 6 and not bother against the others). I'm not saying you have to use it for every game, you can pass it on to someone, but so often we'll "sell out" and the ground will be half empty.
4. Allow us to drink at our seats (or hopefully standing space), like you can in every other country, and every other sport in the UK.
5. Improve public transport for both home and away games.

 

[moomba]

3. Lose season card if it isnt activated in more than 67% of games (too many seem to buy a season ticket and go to games v top 6 and not bother against the others). I'm not saying you have to use it for every game, you can pass it on to someone, but so often we'll "sell out" and the ground will be half empty.

Hate this idea. Stopping supporters from going isn't the way to bring fans back to football. Sickness, work, family commitments mean that some won't go to every game. Clubs need to make it easier for these tickets to be made available to those that do want them without punishment to the season ticket holder.

5. Improve public transport for both home and away games.

Absolutely, but very hard for clubs to influence. Driving to night games is a nightmare and public transport isn't much better.

 

[jonmcity]

Cheaper Tickets, especially for 16-21 year olds.
Allow us to drink at our seats; prices same as high street.
Free public transport for games as in Germany.
Stop early kick off times
Winter break and cup games in the summer months.

 

[Wallaceinthecheapseats.]

Cheaper tickets for people who go the odd game or ten,cheap beer and food as prices in the grounds are a joke.
Stop the stupid kick off times for television .
Re introduce pay on the gate although this may be a problem as people would never want another hillsborough.

 

[cptaidan88]

Hate this idea. Stopping supporters from going isn't the way to bring fans back to football. Sickness, work, family commitments mean that some won't go to every game. Clubs need to make it easier for these tickets to be made available to those that do want them without punishment to the season ticket holder.

Thats why I suggested 67% which I dont think is too much to ask, and it doesn't stop them from going in future - they would just have to buy the tickets on an individual basis for the games they actually can be arsed to go to. The club can have discretion for sickness, and other exceptional circumstances, but I dont think its too much to ask to ensure your ticket is activated as often as possible. If I'm not able to go I give my ticket away to a mate.

 

[moomba]

Thats why I suggested 67% which I dont think is too much to ask, and it doesn't stop them from going in future - they would just have to buy the tickets on an individual basis for the games they actually can be arsed to go to. The club can have discretion for sickness, and other exceptional circumstances, but I dont think its too much to ask to ensure your ticket is activated as often as possible. If I'm not able to go I give my ticket away to a mate.

It is too much to ask imo. Especially when individual games are so expensive. People will just stop going altogether.

The club get their money for the ticket and that money has kept us alive for decades. If they won't seats to be filled they need to find a way to make it easy for people to pass on tickets.

 

[shemnel]

- transparency of the governing bodies. Leading by example.
- max away and home ticket prices
- safe standing


however the reality is that football, in terms of making fans feel 'wanted' and 'part of their team' is gone, is dead. You need a full revolution style of max wages per squad, ticket price overhaul and community ownership to really bring people back on board. At the moment you have 20 PL owners enjoying far too much TV money and a brand enjoying far too much success to ever see this happen until it goes bust by usual capitalist boom/bust lifecycles.

so we wait in the wings until football eats itself and then we reinvent.

 

[goater1985]

1. Safe standing
2. Cheaper Tickets, especially for 16-25 year olds.
3. Lose season card if it isnt activated in more than 67% of games (too many seem to buy a season ticket and go to games v top 6 and not bother against the others). I'm not saying you have to use it for every game, you can pass it on to someone, but so often we'll "sell out" and the ground will be half empty.
4. Allow us to drink at our seats (or hopefully standing space), like you can in every other country, and every other sport in the UK.
5. Improve public transport for both home and away games.

Really agree with points 1 and 4, would improve atmosphere no end.

2. i think the price of ticketing has improved the last few years but i'm basing that on season ticket prices, not one off. i believe there's enough tickets available at lower prices. It would be nice to have say 4/5 categrories of ST prices across the league but that is just a pipe dream.

3. Just no
5. Completely agree but difficult for clubs to have a say on that, public transport in general is terrible in this country..

in addition...

- cheaper food/drink at the stadiums, its a joke currently I believe when compared to the quality you get (although city's food is decent). I think City square would be superb after games if they offered cheap food and drink, get that full after the game.

- open up certain gates at HT to smoke, like at WBA and brighton did this season, as well as after the game.

- For away games, i'd like football special trains like they used to back in the day. Too young to ever see these but think they'd be superb..

- More kid for a quid type schemes, drastically need to lower the average age of football fans.

- Each team to have a large social style club at the ground, i know there's city square but somewhere with a roof and large enough for fans to stay and mingle afterwards.

 

[cptaidan88]

It is too much to ask imo. Especially when individual games are so expensive. People will just stop going altogether.

Turning up for 2/3 games is too much to ask???? Or passing on your ticket for when you cant get there?

If someone doesn't think they can get to at least 12 games over the season why are they buying a season ticket? They're stopping other supporters from having the opportunity to go.

"Well its cheaper than buying 12 individual tickets" - revert to my suggestion about cheaper tickets.

I've said the club should have discretion for certain circumstances, but when we frequently have thousands who simply cant be arsed making the effort (they've not all got family emergencies), it needs to be addressed.