Dot Counting Blackpool 10k - Oct 21st

[Northstandboy]

If we have only sold just over half of the boxes that isn’t great and I’d question what the commercial department are doing to promote the boxes to the local businesses. Especially since we need to start getting companies onboard with the new stadium coming.

If it’s anything like the new structure for player sponsorship, it might be increased costs.

 

[Followtheox1]

There's usually quite a few Oxford in town in a couple of pubs before they go to the bird or k***m not this year..

I now have visions of a lonely Oxford fan, scarf around neck walking from pub to pub in town, sipping a pint of ale on his own in the Lamb and Flag.

 

[Jimmycarterxi]

My season ticket is block 23 in the family stand. Looked last night on website and around where my seat is all the seats were purchased. During the match today I counted at least 20 seats around me that were empty that showed as purchased last night.

 

[Chrisox]

My season ticket is block 23 in the family stand. Looked last night on website and around where my seat is all the seats were purchased. During the match today I counted at least 20 seats around me that were empty that showed as purchased last night.

Maybe school half term affected this.

 

[Colin B]

A few observations regarding yesterday's attendance, and apologies for the longish post.

Before analysing the final figure I'll attempt to inject a bit of context to it. As much as we all want 10,000 every week, it wasn't a bad attendance. There were 8,636 home fans in attendance, making it our biggest home fans attendance of the season, by over 400, except for the Exeter game where the two ticket promotions were in place.

I think the half term situation can be both a positive and a negative. Positive if it's a midweek game, and kids can go, as there's no school in the morning. But maybe negative this week, in that a lot of parents use this particular half term to have one last break, before winter sets in. On my long journey to the game I certainly saw a lot of people carriers, or cars with roof boxes, loaded up with families, all clearly off for a holiday.

Also it's worth looking back at the run of 10,000+ attendances that we had in 2021/2022 season, where we were very much patting ourselves on the back for the large crowds. It's worth noting that those games were against Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth, Bolton, Ipswich, and Sunderland, not Blackpool, who are hardly the same sort of draw. But the biggest difference was that those clubs all filled the away section, which at that time was 1,850 and the number of home fans in attendance for all bar the Ipswich and Sunderland games was fewer than yesterday's. I'm not trying to give any ammunition to that guy who keeps saying give the away fans more tickets, as that's a moot point here, as we could have given Blackpool 2,500 tickets, but the fact is they could only sell 781.

What I am saying is that we had a s**t season last year on the field, we had a manager that had outstayed his welcome and divided the fanbase, and we were suffering from a clear lack of direction and leadership from the (not officially in control at the time) owners. All of these things have had an effect on our home support, and it is only now beginning to come back. It is undeniably coming back though, and I believe it will continue to do so organically, week by week, as we cement our place back among the leading clubs in this division.

In relation to the boxes yesterday, and all season so far, I do think that they are not all sold, and there are probably two main reasons for this, and it's why I haven't built in the automatic 290 extras into my attendance forecasts. One is an extension of what I've just mentioned above regarding general attendances, and two is price. All of the things under the control of the commercial department have gone up in price. Some by quite a considerable amount. Everyone has a break point, and I think it's naive to push these boundaries on the back of a poor season. There are numerous examples of these price increases for everything bar the GA seats, but I'll give one personal to me (although I have posted some of this previously) as an indication of the flawed thinking at the club.

As an Associate Director I used to pay £2,500+VAT (£3,000 total) for what was a very moderate offering, not worth the money, but most of us did it as a sort of benevolent act. This season it is £3,900 total and many of the benefits have been removed. I have not renewed and instead have a SSU Premium season ticket, on the front row about ten seats along from where I used to sit, which cost me £310 as an over 65. So the club have lost £2,700 (or £3,600 if you want to look at it that way) by trying to milk it too much. When I "discussed" this with the Commercial Director his view was that you have to pay more so that we can keep the GA prices the same! Well, that went well, as even people who have the money, are aware of the value of it and won't have the P**s taken out of them. There were 26 ADs and there are now 12. I believe a similar thing has happened with boxes, sponsorships, and certain other things. I suggest this needs a massive re-think by the club as we need to draw in sponsors and premium support in the lead up to the new stadium, not drive them away with over priced poor offerings. We can't do much about some of the quality on offer at the current stadium, but we should stop trying to fleece people for it.

Lastly, I'd have been spot on with my 8,750 home attendance if we'd had our normal match day sales of 750 from previous games this season, so I'm blaming that one on half term. Bloody kids!!!

 

[OX14]

Maybe school half term affected this.

Yes I missed yesterday as I'm at Butlins for the weekend. Will be at the Wycombe game next week.

 

[LowerSouth]

A few observations regarding yesterday's attendance, and apologies for the longish post.

Before analysing the final figure I'll attempt to inject a bit of context to it. As much as we all want 10,000 every week, it wasn't a bad attendance. There were 8,636 home fans in attendance, making it our biggest home fans attendance of the season, by over 400, except for the Exeter game where the two ticket promotions were in place.

I think the half term situation can be both a positive and a negative. Positive if it's a midweek game, and kids can go, as there's no school in the morning. But maybe negative this week, in that a lot of parents use this particular half term to have one last break, before winter sets in. On my long journey to the game I certainly saw a lot of people carriers, or cars with roof boxes, loaded up with families, all clearly off for a holiday.

Also it's worth looking back at the run of 10,000+ attendances that we had in 2021/2022 season, where we were very much patting ourselves on the back for the large crowds. It's worth noting that those games were against Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth, Bolton, Ipswich, and Sunderland, not Blackpool, who are hardly the same sort of draw. But the biggest difference was that those clubs all filled the away section, which at that time was 1,850 and the number of home fans in attendance for all bar the Ipswich and Sunderland games was fewer than yesterday's. I'm not trying to give any ammunition to that guy who keeps saying give the away fans more tickets, as that's a moot point here, as we could have given Blackpool 2,500 tickets, but the fact is they could only sell 781.

What I am saying is that we had a s**t season last year on the field, we had a manager that had outstayed his welcome and divided the fanbase, and we were suffering from a clear lack of direction and leadership from the (not officially yet in control) owners. All of these things have had an effect on our home support, and it is only now beginning to come back. It is undeniably coming back though, and I believe it will continue to do so organically, week by week, as we cement our place back among the leading clubs in this division.

In relation to the boxes yesterday, and all season so far, I do think that they are not all sold, and there are probably two main reasons for this, and it's why I haven't built in the automatic 290 extras into my attendance forecasts. One is an extension of what I've just mentioned above regarding general attendances, and two is price. All of the things under the control of the commercial department have gone up in price. Some by quite a considerable amount. Everyone has a break point, and I think it's naive to push these boundaries on the back of a poor season. There are numerous examples of these price increases for everything bar the GA seats, but I'll give one personal to me (although I have posted some of this previously) as an indication of the flawed thinking at the club.

As an Associate Director I used to pay £2,500+VAT (£3,000 total) for what was a very moderate offering, not worth the money, but most of us did it as a sort of benevolent act. This season it is £3,900 total and many of the benefits have been removed. I have not renewed and instead have a SSU Premium season ticket, on the front row about ten seats along from where I used to sit, which cost me £310 as an over 65. So the club have lost £2,700 (or £3,600 if you want to look at it that way) by trying to milk it too much. When I "discussed" this with the Commercial Director his view was that you have to pay more so that we can keep the GA prices the same! Well, that went well, as even people who have the money, are aware of the value of it and won't have the P**s taken out of them. There were 26 ADs and there are now 12. I believe a similar thing has happened with boxes, sponsorships, and certain other things. I suggest this needs a massive re-think by the club as we need to draw in sponsors and premium support in the lead up to the new stadium, not drive them away with over priced poor offerings. We can't do much about some of the quality on offer at the current stadium, but we should stop trying to fleece people for it.

Lastly, I'd have been spot on with my 8,750 home attendance if we'd had our normal match day sales of 750 from previous games this season, so I'm blaming that one on half term. Bloody kids!!!

Thankyou Colin ,most interesting.
One thing that caught my eye was your observation that the owners are not yet “officially in control”.
Are you able to clarify ?

 

[Scotchegg]

Thankyou Colin ,most interesting.
One thing that caught my eye was your observation that the owners are not yet “officially in control”.
Are you able to clarify ?

I believe this was in reference to the beginning of last season rather than now.

 

[Colin B]

Thankyou Colin ,most interesting.
One thing that caught my eye was your observation that the owners are not yet “officially in control”.
Are you able to clarify ?

No, you misunderstand me.

As @Scotchegg says, it was reference to the start of last season (and in fact the latter part of the previous season), when everyone knew a change in ownership was going through but the legalities hadn't been completed. It left us as a club, and I think as a fanbase, in a state of limbo for too long, and manifested itself in the apathy that surrounded the place for far too long, and is only just beginning to lift now.

 

[LowerSouth]

No, you misunderstand me.

As @Scotchegg says, it was reference to the start of last season (and in fact the latter part of the previous season), when everyone knew a change in ownership was going through but the legalities hadn't been completed. It left us as a club, and I think as a fanbase, in a state of limbo for too long, and manifested itself in the apathy that surrounded the place for far too long, and is only just beginning to lift now.

Thanks for clarifying- I got it ,after reading your post again .

 

[Foley]

A few observations regarding yesterday's attendance, and apologies for the longish post.

Before analysing the final figure I'll attempt to inject a bit of context to it. As much as we all want 10,000 every week, it wasn't a bad attendance. There were 8,636 home fans in attendance, making it our biggest home fans attendance of the season, by over 400, except for the Exeter game where the two ticket promotions were in place.

I think the half term situation can be both a positive and a negative. Positive if it's a midweek game, and kids can go, as there's no school in the morning. But maybe negative this week, in that a lot of parents use this particular half term to have one last break, before winter sets in. On my long journey to the game I certainly saw a lot of people carriers, or cars with roof boxes, loaded up with families, all clearly off for a holiday.

Also it's worth looking back at the run of 10,000+ attendances that we had in 2021/2022 season, where we were very much patting ourselves on the back for the large crowds. It's worth noting that those games were against Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth, Bolton, Ipswich, and Sunderland, not Blackpool, who are hardly the same sort of draw. But the biggest difference was that those clubs all filled the away section, which at that time was 1,850 and the number of home fans in attendance for all bar the Ipswich and Sunderland games was fewer than yesterday's. I'm not trying to give any ammunition to that guy who keeps saying give the away fans more tickets, as that's a moot point here, as we could have given Blackpool 2,500 tickets, but the fact is they could only sell 781.

What I am saying is that we had a s**t season last year on the field, we had a manager that had outstayed his welcome and divided the fanbase, and we were suffering from a clear lack of direction and leadership from the (not officially in control at the time) owners. All of these things have had an effect on our home support, and it is only now beginning to come back. It is undeniably coming back though, and I believe it will continue to do so organically, week by week, as we cement our place back among the leading clubs in this division.

In relation to the boxes yesterday, and all season so far, I do think that they are not all sold, and there are probably two main reasons for this, and it's why I haven't built in the automatic 290 extras into my attendance forecasts. One is an extension of what I've just mentioned above regarding general attendances, and two is price. All of the things under the control of the commercial department have gone up in price. Some by quite a considerable amount. Everyone has a break point, and I think it's naive to push these boundaries on the back of a poor season. There are numerous examples of these price increases for everything bar the GA seats, but I'll give one personal to me (although I have posted some of this previously) as an indication of the flawed thinking at the club.

As an Associate Director I used to pay £2,500+VAT (£3,000 total) for what was a very moderate offering, not worth the money, but most of us did it as a sort of benevolent act. This season it is £3,900 total and many of the benefits have been removed. I have not renewed and instead have a SSU Premium season ticket, on the front row about ten seats along from where I used to sit, which cost me £310 as an over 65. So the club have lost £2,700 (or £3,600 if you want to look at it that way) by trying to milk it too much. When I "discussed" this with the Commercial Director his view was that you have to pay more so that we can keep the GA prices the same! Well, that went well, as even people who have the money, are aware of the value of it and won't have the P**s taken out of them. There were 26 ADs and there are now 12. I believe a similar thing has happened with boxes, sponsorships, and certain other things. I suggest this needs a massive re-think by the club as we need to draw in sponsors and premium support in the lead up to the new stadium, not drive them away with over priced poor offerings. We can't do much about some of the quality on offer at the current stadium, but we should stop trying to fleece people for it.

Lastly, I'd have been spot on with my 8,750 home attendance if we'd had our normal match day sales of 750 from previous games this season, so I'm blaming that one on half term. Bloody kids!!!

Excellent that the crowds are increasing. Hopefully we remain near the top and they will grow further (Cambridge boxing day, Derby then Barnsley)

Interesting comments about the price rises. I see that many players haven't been sponsored this season either (they used to be always taken)
Putting the prices up so much to reduce the amount of people spending money significantly, seems a bit like shooting yourself in the foot especially whist we are still at the Kassam

 

[holdsteady]

Sounds like one of the lino isn’t keeping up with play

Not the only one baz .