? we have sold 27-28,000 this time & people are saying its one of our our worst turnouts?
It's not dreadful, the cost and the kick off time are both against City fans, for families it's a near non starter if the kids are at school, but i think it goes to show we still have a long way to go as a club, i don't think we market ourselves very well at all, social media/twitter followers means nothing if they don't physically attend. We have 37k season ticket holders, 140K members and 400+ supporters club with those incredible numbers you would think 36000 would be easy to shift, but for whatever reason we are miles off. The club are no better at selling tickets than when Bernard Halford was running the ticket office at Maine Road. Every semi final is a slow burner, so what do City do, last to put them on sale, criteria that drips feeds availability, weekend with no new criteria, the whole process is non sensical, we also create the impression it's going to be shit by offering only a % of the top tier for a start, we don't stimulate sales on the website, and we fall into the trap of only selling to the here and now, old and lapsed fans remain that.
If we are lucky enough to make another semi final in the near future i would allow cup scheme members to buy an extra ticket from day one, a reward for committing to the scheme, and by day 3 availability would be for everyone with any form of membership/supporter number.
Finally the club should have subsidised travel for this one or offered 50% off the concession prices as they are disgraceful, for a family it may have been the difference between attending or not, we have the furthest to travel, so the most expense and the least help, it is what it is, i still think we could have done much better, i always want City to be the best on and off the pitch.