Matches Home Support Attendance.

HampshireYellow said:
Lot of passion and thought in this thread but I feel the issue is being overcomplicated - let’s not forget we’re mid table and have lost as many games as we’ve won in the league. If this run continues and we’re running away with the league at Christmas I guarantee attendances will be up. We might obsess about every run of games, every 2-3 wins put together, but the more casual fan goes by the league table and at the moment we’re 10th, that says to them boring mid table team. Go top or close and you’re mentioned much more in the national news, as a fan people start popping up messaging you about the club (I’m sure we’ve all had this) and fans who’ve drifted away start coming back.
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Again- this is not true. Do you attend based on league position? Our gates have gone down compared to a few years ago when we were less successful
 
...not forgetting that you will most likely get some deciding that they would like to go again (provided we win)?
 
RyanioBirdio said:
There are business people and then there are bean counters. Life and business needs both, but they have to be in the right chairs. I had a meeting with some people from the club nearly three years or so ago now - GBT was there so it was a good while - and I mentioned getting in gear nice and early for the 125th anniversary, which at the time was probably near on 18 months away. Some of the ideas I suggested were:

- Traditional shirt to be worn on anniversary. This was done albeit using a quite nasty looking template kit rather than a bespoke make jersey that was more in keeping with the original kit.

- Compiling an Oxford United hall of fame, where by 124 players from the club’s past would be inducted throughout the season, culminating in the player of the year being included as the 125th and final member on the last home game. This would have been something that allowed the anniversary to be given a much more season-long thread, not just centred around one specific game.

- Monthly or perhaps even bi-weekly retrospective specials with former players and managers, to be broadcast on Radio Oxford in the form of 30-60 minute episodes and also repurposed in the Oxford Mail across a spread or in the form of a pull out. This would involve a Jerome or Nathan Cooper conducting a nice, in depth interview with the relevant former figure, touching on their time at the club and discussing famous games / moments / incidents from during their time at the club. This is geared towards positive nostalgia and again, helps carry the club’s anniversary throughout the entire season.

- Active attempt to break the club’s season ticket record since moving to the current stadium. This was a bold and ambitious idea, but I think you need to be aggressive and force the issue sometimes. This included a few options for ideas to potentially boost numbers as well as reward loyal supporters, including introducing a special £125 season ticket to a specific area of the ground, to offering 125 holders a full refund on their ticket if purchased by a certain date. There was also an option to reduce the price each holder paid as more and more benchmarks were passed - ie with each thousand ST holders the price came down by £10-20, and potentially a special £1.25 ticket for concessions to a specific game during the season.

The tag line for the entire season of activity in whatever form it took was going to be: We aren’t just celebrating history, we’re making it.

As I said previously, this was suggested in the summer of 2017, before the 17/18 season had begun, let alone the 18/19 season that this activity would have run throughout. This would have served as a constant, year long stream of activity, interest and publicity, engaging the existing fan base but also using nostalgia to reconnect with supporters who have perhaps drifted away over time, as well as attempting to draw in new and younger fans due to the increase in visibility. There was a huge opportunity to be had that actually meant something, not just throwing the words “proud history, bright future” on to the end of every programme note or email begging people to come to a match.

On top of this, I also suggested that they take the opportunity to launch the 1893 range, which was a line of more general, every day clothing to be sold in the club shop. Clothing that people can wear on a night out, but also to work in an office environment. Polo shirts, button up shirts, trousers and so forth (no chinos...) that contained next to no branding, but that people could buy and wear knowing that they were supporting the club. Eventually this could be expanded to modern streetwear, which is a rapidly increasing sector particularly in e-commerce. It was also suggested that there could be a nostalgia brand launched - named RetrOUFC - where the club release classic kits from the club’s past eras on a limited time only basis. Limited run is the most popular type of selling for merchandising nowadays, especially in music, where designs are made available for a set number of days before disappearing forever. This would have once again provided a season long source of revenue and tied into the narrative of the campaign, and players and managers from the eras going on sale could have come down to do meet and greets, signings, Q&A sessions and so on both before the game in the shop, and also afterwards for commercial and corporate purposes. It also provides new ranges and business models that serve the club beyond the celebration, as well as maximising them on the basis of the anniversary itself.

Furthermore (yes, there were a LOT of ideas) there was also a suggestion of getting some club greats together to do a walk of the old Manor in Headington, taking in the club’s roots with fans in tow before making their way to the current stadium for a match. This would’ve allowed television content to be made on local but also probably a national level. EFL on Quest, Sky, south today - it’s great fodder for them.

There were and continue to be A LOT of great ways to market the club while engaging supporters, raising visibility and even expanding future revenue channels, but you have to actually WANT to do it, plan ahead and get stuck in. What happens on the pitch is of course important and can make a big difference, but you can’t just sit there and pray for some good results to get the begging bowl out. Go and earn your customers.
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Some very good ideas and a good read. Could you suggest these again as lots of these could be done regardless of anniversaries.
 
HampshireYellow said:
Lot of passion and thought in this thread but I feel the issue is being overcomplicated - let’s not forget we’re mid table and have lost as many games as we’ve won in the league. If this run continues and we’re running away with the league at Christmas I guarantee attendances will be up. We might obsess about every run of games, every 2-3 wins put together, but the more casual fan goes by the league table and at the moment we’re 10th, that says to them boring mid table team. Go top or close and you’re mentioned much more in the national news, as a fan people start popping up messaging you about the club (I’m sure we’ve all had this) and fans who’ve drifted away start coming back.
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I don't think I can agree with that. Doesn't the casual fan watch the goal highlights somewhere (TV or on-line). Surely they will have seen the results. Lincoln 6-0. West Ham 4-0. Gillingham 3-0. If they can't then work out that this isn't boring form then their understanding of football is so limited that they'll never become regular fans.
 
Paul B said:
I don't think I can agree with that. Doesn't the casual fan watch the goal highlights somewhere (TV or on-line). Surely they will have seen the results. Lincoln 6-0. West Ham 4-0. Gillingham 3-0. If they can't then work out that this isn't boring form then their understanding of football is so limited that they'll never become regular fans.
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Our highlights have been harder to come by this year. Gills I had to get off the Gills website. They used to all go on YouTube
 
Agree about the American stuff. Lots I don’t like about it but still some things we could learn about the experience BEFORE the game. They create a carnival atmosphere outside the stadium with drinking, eating, dancing, music. It really pumps you up and you get way more value for your money. Given oxford don’t really have to compete with loads of good pubs, using the car park near the roundabout to have something going on would be fantastic. Also small things like painting the pavement yellow and blue, bunting, some sort of mural on the fence where you can take photos of yourself. I mean there really has to be so much more we can do right?
 
Ricky Otto said:
Agree about the American stuff. Lots I don’t like about it but still some things we could learn about the experience BEFORE the game. They create a carnival atmosphere outside the stadium with drinking, eating, dancing, music. It really pumps you up and you get way more value for your money. Given oxford don’t really have to compete with loads of good pubs, using the car park near the roundabout to have something going on would be fantastic. Also small things like painting the pavement yellow and blue, bunting, some sort of mural on the fence where you can take photos of yourself. I mean there really has to be so much more we can do right?
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Indeed, the surroundings of the stadium are very glum before a game. I guess not owning the ground makes it harder to do too much
 
The club should take note, There are some great initiatives and positive thoughts and ideas on this thread for the club to take forward.
Innovative, informed advice (free, from the fans themselves) that the club can use to improve sales, bring in more fans and get the ‘brand’ out there.
 
AbbeyOx said:
use the oxford utd app - extended highlights on there, usually about 10 minutes
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I think that's kind of the point though - highlights would get more clicks if freely available.

I've no idea whether that makes sound business sense.
 
Paul B said:
I don't think I can agree with that. Doesn't the casual fan watch the goal highlights somewhere (TV or on-line). Surely they will have seen the results. Lincoln 6-0. West Ham 4-0. Gillingham 3-0. If they can't then work out that this isn't boring form then their understanding of football is so limited that they'll never become regular fans.
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Well hopefully we will be top by Christmas and we can test my hypothesis! But I’d be willing to bet, even if we get there with 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws, we’ll have noticeably higher attendances if we’re top or close.
 
m said:
I think that's kind of the point though - highlights would get more clicks if freely available.

I've no idea whether that makes sound business sense.
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i think they’re still put on youtube but maybe bit later than they used to be
 
AbbeyOx said:
use the oxford utd app - extended highlights on there, usually about 10 minutes
Click to expand...

That is good for the regular but is the casual fan going to be looking for that. They have started putting short highlights back on Youtube after it seems sacking it off earlier in the season. And by putting more content (ie. after a certain timeframe (a week or something) put the extended highlights, interviews etc from iFollow on the other social media outlets as in time this might help turn casual supporters into regulars.
 
I think a really good point made on this thread is that the family demographic shouldn’t be the only target.

Young men are the core of the support, the atmosphere, the tradition and one day they’ll have families. The perfect example of how we are not doing this well was the ultras who were vilified rather than embraced. People have different ways of watching, and standing up to shout, sing, be noisy and maybe swear a little shouldn’t be seen as a nuisance. That’s why we have a separate family stand.

And like me those young men will one day have kids, who buy merchandise and go to games. Really excited (as is she) about bringing my 7 year old “soccer” playing daughter over from the USA at Christmas and taking in a home game and her first away game up at Donnie.
 
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