Dot Counting Bristol Rovers 10k - 7th Oct

[MJB]

If I literally cannot purchase a ticket what’s the harm on paying the club to watch it online?

If you can’t get a seat, you get up on the tree trumps behind the fence.

 

[Marked Ox]

If you can’t get a seat, you get up on the tree trumps behind the fence.

Or hire a double decker/flat bed and get there early to park up behind the fence.

 

[RgYellows]

How could there be credible evidence of that though?

If this fixture sells less than usual how would you know if that’s due to it being available on iFollow, the fact that it’s a 12:30 kickoff or just the usual fluctuation in attendances?

Look at the games shown on iFollow, look at how they sell, investigate any other obvious causes.

If you wait for what can be scientifically proven whilst removing all doubt, you won’t make very many decisions.

This would also provide far more evidence than I’ve seen for the counter point which is mostly based on people just saying what they want and hiding under a big pile of coats hoping it all works out from there.

As an aside, one simple way around that issue regarding the ban on 3pm games would be to open it up as soon as the game sells out. If I literally cannot purchase a ticket what’s the harm on paying the club to watch it online?

No problem with that.

Waiting for lower league games to sell out would mean this policy has as much impact as a Lib Dem manifesto.

 

[Scotchegg]

It's always hard to say whether someone watches on iFollow because they can't go to the game or doesn't go to the game because they can watch it on iFollow.

The issue is that whilst watching on iFollow provides an income stream for the club, it doesn't give you the atmosphere or support that the team needs on the day.

I just hope that we can all get out in good numbers tomorrow to back our team and help to make a real difference in getting the result we want. There's no more (real) football for 2 weeks after this game so let's all give it everything on and off the pitch.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Look at the games shown on iFollow, look at how they sell, investigate any other obvious causes.

If you wait for what can be scientifically proven whilst removing all doubt, you won’t make very many decisions.

This would also provide far more evidence than I’ve seen for the counter point which is mostly based on people just saying what they want and hiding under a big pile of coats hoping it all works out from there.

No problem with that.

Waiting for lower league games to sell out would mean this policy has as much impact as a Lib Dem manifesto.

That’s my point though:

Game A: Saturday 3pm vs Shrewsbury: 200 iFollow sales, 6,000 home ticket sales

Game B: Saturday 12:30 vs Bristol Rovers: 500 iFollow sales, 6,000 home ticket sales

Game C: Tuesday 7:45 vs Portsmouth: 750 iFollow sales, 5,500 home ticket sales

Did we sell more iFollow on game B because it was available in England, or because some people couldn’t make the early kickoff? Was Game C more attractive due to the opposition? It would be almost impossible to separate correlation from causation

Also there were games last season which sold out, I’d imagine there will be games this season which sell out. It would be a quick win and literally the press of a button as those games will be purchaseable for those abroad/with a VPN.

 

[bdodwell]

If I was the decision maker regarding ticket allocation we would have smashed the 10K already.
Before anyone references Orient. No - I would not have given them anymore than the minimum as we could have sold them.

 

[RgYellows]

That’s my point though:

Game A: Saturday 3pm vs Shrewsbury: 200 iFollow sales, 6,000 home ticket sales

Game B: Saturday 12:30 vs Bristol Rovers: 500 iFollow sales, 6,000 home ticket sales

Game C: Tuesday 7:45 vs Portsmouth: 750 iFollow sales, 5,500 home ticket sales

Did we sell more iFollow on game B because it was available in England, or because some people couldn’t make the early kickoff? Was Game C more attractive due to the opposition? It would be almost impossible to separate correlation from causation

It’d be pretty easy to look at how those games and games against teams of similar profile fared in past seasons, if you were inclined to change a law that could harm the viability of clubs.

For the purposes of a passive aggressive discussion on here that alters nothing, I’d say it’s enough to just note when a game broadcast on iFollow isn’t selling as well as the person counting the dots expects.

Also there were games last season which sold out, I’d imagine there will be games this season which sell out. It would be a quick win and literally the press of a button as those games will be purchaseable for those abroad/with a VPN.

And I already agreed with it, so you can drop the tone

Although it would benefit PL clubs far more than lower league ones, as they sell out much more and have far bigger fan bases to attract.

Actually, it sounds like a bad idea.

 

[Marked Ox]

It’d be pretty easy to look at how those games and games against teams of similar profile fared in past seasons, if you were inclined to change a law that could harm the viability of clubs.

For the purposes of a passive aggressive discussion on here that alters nothing, I’d say it’s enough to just note when a game broadcast on iFollow isn’t selling as well as the person counting the dots expects.

And I already agreed with it, so you can drop the tone

Although it would benefit PL clubs far more than lower league ones, as they sell out much more and have far bigger fan bases to attract.

Actually, it sounds like a bad idea.

Are you including Luton in the PL clubs benefitting?

 

[East Stand Fan]

Birmingham v West Brom is on tonight yet we have to kick off at 12:30!? Although there has been trouble in the past with Rovers, an early kick off serves no real benefit especially with drinking establishments accessible early regardless.

 

[Lincoln.yellow1]

Birmingham v West Brom is on tonight yet we have to kick off at 12:30!? Although there has been trouble in the past with Rovers, an early kick off serves no real benefit especially with drinking establishments accessible early regardless.

If the game was 3.00pm, Bristol Rovers fans would still be in the city of Oxford for 10.30am finding the nearest wetherspoons pub with 3 hours drinking before kick off.
The 12.30 kick off time will mean the Rovers fans will be in the city for 9.am ready for the first pint to be served so they will still get 2 and a half hours on the beer before the game....

On looking at the train times from Bristol to Oxford the most popular choice is leaving Bristol at 8.06am, arriving in Oxford at 9.15am so I am probably bang on....

 

[West Oxon U’s]

I suspect West Brom v B’Ham is akin to us playing Wycombe.
Villa and Wolves are their bitter rivals, aren’t they?

The last time I was at the Mem was when we were 3-1 up in extra time in an FA Cup replay in 2021.
We lost 4-3 (somehow). I left when Rovers scored their fourth only to almost walk straight into a mass brawl yards away from the car park.
There must have been at least 20 blokes beating the absolute crap out of each other. No Police anywhere when it kicked off.

 

[Colin B]

The first day of slightly lower than expected sales. We were at just over 7,150 at midnight, meaning net sales of just over 200 in the previous 24 hours. But this was affected by the club putting over 30 seats on sale in the VIP area (they were previously showing as sold) so our actual sales for the day were about 250. It's also noticeable that the club have not blanked out any areas at all for complimentary or offers, so these are all actual full price sales.

We need 1,350 today and tomorrow to hit the 8,500 home sales target, for a 10,000 attendance. We're 350 ahead of the same stage for the Port Vale game, and that ended up as 8,144 home sales, so it's arguable that we're still on target. But it's a hard one to predict, due to the early kick off time and its effect on match day sales, so I'm going to hedge my bets a little and say that we'll just miss the 10,000 mark by a couple of hundred. I'd be delighted to be wrong, but if I'm not, it's still a very good effort and an indication of our increasing home attendances, as last years TOTAL attendance for this fixture was 8,437.

No midnight count tonight, as I need to get to bed in order to be up early to travel to the match. As of just now we're at 7,550 home sales, meaning 400 today. That's normally been a reasonable Friday, but we really needed to match the 600 from the Friday before the Port Vale game to stand a chance of hitting 10,000.

I'm going to stick with my earlier estimate and say we'll miss it by 200/300. Happy to be proved wrong.

 

[bdodwell]

There's a fair few, especially tradespeople, that work Saturday mornings. Normally would knock off in time for a few beers and the match. Might be more last minutes than usual?

 

[Kiewhite]

What’s it looking like at the ticket office queue?

 

[MJB]

What do we reckon then? Looks like about 9,800 to me, as Colin predicted. Certainly doesn’t feel like 10k.

 

[Oufccraig45]

What do we reckon then? Looks like about 9,800 to me, as Colin predicted. Certainly doesn’t feel like 10k.

What was the attendance today

 

[MJB]

What was the attendance today

9400 or so from memory.

 

[Oufccraig45]

9400 or so from memory.

Thanks

 

[Northstandboy]

Disappointed we didn’t make 10k, it’s got to happen against Blackpool?!

 

[ECYellow]

Disappointing, again.