Nice post - but any modern examples of that?At this moment in time I would not rule anything out.
You can go back on here and other places and loads of people said with success would come a price to pay and we're now seeing it. Look I can't knock the club. I recently watched a Dave Bernstein interview with Ian Cheesman. He he was asked where the club would be if we hadn't beat Gillingham, moved to the new stadium and had the takeover. He said probably on a par with Everton. He's right, that's the truth.
For me I've been there since1968. I saw the glory days of Bell, Lee and Summerbee as a kid and I was stood on the terraces at Wembley in 1976 when we won the league cup, our last trophy for 35 years at the time. I've loved following City all over the country, even when we were not so good. I didn't care, it was my club and even if I was stood on those terraces alone I would have done it. I've fought on trains, buses, in pubs, on the street and on the terraces to defend my club and fellow fans. Not boasting or pretending to be a hard nut, I wasn't, but that's how it was back in the day. Those who were there know. Since the takeover this club has given me the best years of my life as a City fan in 56 years. The most exciting football and footballers I have ever seen and obviously the most trophies. I've loved every second. There is a but.... and I'm coming to that.
I totally get football is now big business and global. Luckily for us we're at the top of the tree at the moment, the hottest ticket in town. I love it. As a FOC now I can't complain. It's just over £18 a game and hey even though the local transport is on the whole shit it only costs me £10 a year to use it. Here's the but. Something doesn't feel right. It doesn't sit well with me that non season card holders are being charged £60+ a game. At a time when many people are struggling to pay bills it doesn't sit right with me we keep on increasing prices, no matter how small. It's wrong and football is unlike any other business. Football is based on emotion and loyalty. Fads and trends come and go. The hottest nightclub in town yesterday is now a block of apartments. That's trends. If you treat your football club and it's fans this way, then when the trend ends, when we're not winning trophies and no longer the hottest ticket in town, what then? I'll tell you what then, a half empty stadium and no loyal fanbase to bail you out. That's the reality. Your call City.
At this moment in time I would not rule anything out.
You can go back on here and other places and loads of people said with success would come a price to pay and we're now seeing it. Look I can't knock the club. I recently watched a Dave Bernstein interview with Ian Cheesman. He he was asked where the club would be if we hadn't beat Gillingham, moved to the new stadium and had the takeover. He said probably on a par with Everton. He's right, that's the truth.
For me I've been there since1968. I saw the glory days of Bell, Lee and Summerbee as a kid and I was stood on the terraces at Wembley in 1976 when we won the league cup, our last trophy for 35 years at the time. I've loved following City all over the country, even when we were not so good. I didn't care, it was my club and even if I was stood on those terraces alone I would have done it. I've fought on trains, buses, in pubs, on the street and on the terraces to defend my club and fellow fans. Not boasting or pretending to be a hard nut, I wasn't, but that's how it was back in the day. Those who were there know. Since the takeover this club has given me the best years of my life as a City fan in 56 years. The most exciting football and footballers I have ever seen and obviously the most trophies. I've loved every second. There is a but.... and I'm coming to that.
I totally get football is now big business and global. Luckily for us we're at the top of the tree at the moment, the hottest ticket in town. I love it. As a FOC now I can't complain. It's just over £18 a game and hey even though the local transport is on the whole shit it only costs me £10 a year to use it. Here's the but. Something doesn't feel right. It doesn't sit well with me that non season card holders are being charged £60+ a game. At a time when many people are struggling to pay bills it doesn't sit right with me we keep on increasing prices, no matter how small. It's wrong and football is unlike any other business. Football is based on emotion and loyalty. Fads and trends come and go. The hottest nightclub in town yesterday is now a block of apartments. That's trends. If you treat your football club and it's fans this way, then when the trend ends, when we're not winning trophies and no longer the hottest ticket in town, what then? I'll tell you what then, a half empty stadium and no loyal fanbase to bail you out. That's the reality. Your call City.
I suspect like many big businesses the club has a series of what are called UX Personas. At the risk of twatsplaining, these are essentially (fictional/composite) pen portraits of different types of customers that seek to illustrate their rational and emotional needs and character traits; they are used to help with design decisions about what and how you offer different types of people your services. They were typically focused online but I've seen their use broadened out to real world stuff.
I would love to see City's, how they categorise the fan base and what their strategy is for each element. I imagine they'll be one for digital fans who'll never set foot in the stadium, one for affluent tourists who come on an annual pilgrimage etc Sadly there's probably one called " "Twatface The Annoying But Popular Social Media Influencer".
But the ones I'd be most interested in seeing would be the one (probably not) called "Chapo The Legacy FOC" that represents a lot on here. I sometimes wonder if there's also one called "Priced Out Percy" which makes any assumptions about marketing to them for the shit cup games that wouldn't otherwise sell out or trying to re-engage with such fans when we have a dip and a significant proportion of the tourists fuck off.
Either way I reckon they'd make a fascinating little read.
Absolutely they do this, that's why we keep on getting all those surveys. On a personal level I have little to complain about. I get the heavily discounted season card. They even now run a bus I can get there and back if I choose to do so. All the other stuff I may find irritating is just modern life and football. Progress they call it and I guess it's here to stay. As I age further and continue my morphing into Victor Meldrew and at times decide to sack off the inconvenience of going to a game, but decide to watch it on TV, I would imagine the club are overjoyed with that decision. They give me my discounted fee back and make £50 on top. Everybody's happy.
Great Post mate, totally to the point
Nice post - but any modern examples of that?
Nited
Liverpool
Arse
Villa
?
Reached the pinnacles and then had barren spells - still got full stadiums and loyal (If weird) fans to bail them out.
That's the rub - football fans aren't a consumer commodity, they're different - it's in the blood.
Just seen on their twitter that 3 members have lost their accreditation. Funny how they’ve turned a blind eye to the advertising hoarding rule every single time until now. Not to mention the club’s big fuck off tifo which covered three lots of advertising hoardings yesterday. The club has handled this very poorly
Yesterday was embarrassing.I suspect like many big businesses the club has a series of what are called UX Personas. At the risk of twatsplaining, these are essentially (fictional/composite) pen portraits of different types of customers that seek to illustrate their rational and emotional needs and character traits; they are used to help with design decisions about what and how you offer different types of people your services. They were typically focused online but I've seen their use broadened out to real world stuff.
I would love to see City's, how they categorise the fan base and what their strategy is for each element. I imagine they'll be one for digital fans who'll never set foot in the stadium, one for affluent tourists who come on an annual pilgrimage etc Sadly there's probably one called " "Twatface The Annoying But Popular Social Media Influencer".
But the ones I'd be most interested in seeing would be the one (probably not) called "Chapo The Legacy FOC" that represents a lot on here. I sometimes wonder if there's also one called "Priced Out Percy" which makes any assumptions about marketing to them for the shit cup games that wouldn't otherwise sell out or trying to re-engage with such fans when we have a dip and a significant proportion of the tourists fuck off.
Either way I reckon they'd make a fascinating little read.
They were profiling the fanbase well before the takeover. Alistair Mackintosh said it in an interview he gave while he was CEO.I suspect like many big businesses the club has a series of what are called UX Personas. At the risk of twatsplaining, these are essentially (fictional/composite) pen portraits of different types of customers that seek to illustrate their rational and emotional needs and character traits; they are used to help with design decisions about what and how you offer different types of people your services. They were typically focused online but I've seen their use broadened out to real world stuff.
I would love to see City's, how they categorise the fan base and what their strategy is for each element. I imagine they'll be one for digital fans who'll never set foot in the stadium, one for affluent tourists who come on an annual pilgrimage etc Sadly there's probably one called " "Twatface The Annoying But Popular Social Media Influencer".
But the ones I'd be most interested in seeing would be the one (probably not) called "Chapo The Legacy FOC" that represents a lot on here. I sometimes wonder if there's also one called "Priced Out Percy" which makes any assumptions about marketing to them for the shit cup games that wouldn't otherwise sell out or trying to re-engage with such fans when we have a dip and a significant proportion of the tourists fuck off.
Either way I reckon they'd make a fascinating little read.