Is our support growing ?

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cahill said:
While i’m sure you’re right about the state of the kop, I feel emotionally attached to it, as that’s where i’ve always’s watched my football, first as a child right through to old age ( relatively speaking). Obviously there have been alterations over the decades but the atmosphere, spirit, soul, esprit de corp, if you like, remains the same.
At the back of the kop where the fag addicts continue to cough splutter and generally ruin their health at half time,and small gaggles of mates discuss the match and whatever else it’s just like it was back in the mid sixties when I first went to matches. If it got all mod conned and updated I’d miss it just like I miss the Green Un.
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My sentiments exactly.
 



alcoblade said:
So even the best seats need to be cheap then, because my view isn't good enough for them? (I could afford more but personally love it on the kop)

It sounds like we're accommodating the day trippers here, at the expense of raising revenue to keep us competitive.

Anyone who would choose to miss a game that they could afford to attend but didn't because the kop isn't for them isn't really a "fan", just a spectator. I don't think pricing policy should be based around them.
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Would I take my daughter or niece/nephew onto the kop?

No.

So John Street... Two adults and two kids was 90 quid for Brentford.

Yes we should be accommodating day trippers more.
 
Kuwaiti_blade said:
Would I take my daughter or niece/nephew onto the kop?

No.

So John Street... Two adults and two kids was 90 quid for Brentford.

Yes we should be accommodating day trippers more.
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Your personal choice, but not remotely necessary.

I've taken both my lads on the kop since they were about five, without a single problem in 15 years.

The club has accommodated me, and many others much more poorly paid than me, magnificently.

And as the numbers confirm, the day trippers do just fine too.
 
alcoblade said:
Your personal choice, but not remotely necessary.

I've taken both my lads on the kop since they were about five, without a single problem in 15 years.

The club has accommodated me, and many others much more poorly paid than me, magnificently.

And as the numbers confirm, the day trippers do just fine too.
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Just as a comparison, it would have been just over half the cost for two adults and two children at Cardiff.

And yes it is a choice, and a choice that people won't take up if prices stay as they are.
 
Kuwaiti_blade said:
Just as a comparison, it would have been just over half the cost for two adults and two children at Cardiff.

And yes it is a choice, and a choice that people won't take up if prices stay as they are.
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Fair enough, but at £10 for the cheapest child ticket and £20 for the cheapest adult, I suggest those who can't afford it need to find something else to do.

I want my club to compete, and that means raising money. There are no examples of unsuccessful clubs packing out stadiums because of cheap prices. It just doesn't work.

Given our highest crowds since the premiership, and for decdes before that, it seems a strange fight to pick right now.
 
alcoblade said:
Fair enough, but at £10 for the cheapest child ticket and £20 for the cheapest adult, I suggest those who can't afford it need to find something else to do.

I want my club to compete, and that means raising money. There are no examples of unsuccessful clubs packing out stadiums because of cheap prices. It just doesn't work.

Given our highest crowds since the premiership, and for decdes before that, it seems a strange fight to pick right now.
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Not picking any fight. Just giving my view on why attendances aren't higher. It's purely price.

In a time where real wages are lower than 7 years ago, and inflation raising prices, should we really be hiking our prices up?

United have always been good with prices, but they have it wrong this year.
 
Kuwaiti_blade said:
United have always been good with prices, but they have it wrong this year.......
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.........yet they are getting the highest crowds for a decade and higher crowds than most of the last umpteen decades.

I get that you subjectively think it's expensive, but the market objectively thinks otherwise.
 
26k is good solid average so far. Probably in the top 6. What were you expecting?
 
alcoblade said:
.........yet they are getting the highest crowds for a decade and higher crowds than most of the last umpteen decades.

I get that you subjectively think it's expensive, but the market objectively thinks otherwise.
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It's going to interesting when Corbyn becomes PM and the market charges £ 3.50 to sit on't kop?
 
Kenilworth said:
Think it's quid a kid for the Ipshize match isn't it.
That should add a couple.

What peeves me more is the tiny allocation we are getting to away fixtures.

I don't have a ST and don't get to as many games as I'd like to do and that rules me out of a lot of away games too.
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Must agree. I have a ST and had earmarked a good dozen away this season........ Zero so far. Just not quick enough I guess.
No MK Dons sized allocations this season.
 
EddieColquhoun said:
Before "bouncing day" we were averaging more than our neighbours who have delusions of being "Massive". I think our average will be boosted by the games in the New Year.
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But they are charging substantially more and therefore are making more money on gate receipts. It’s something we need to be aware of because we either need to drive more folks in through the turnstiles or put the prices up.

I hope we drive more folks in and the Premiership would see to that.
 
Cerberus Blade said:
But they are charging substantially more and therefore are making more money on gate receipts. It’s something we need to be aware of because we either need to drive more folks in through the turnstiles or put the prices up.......
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.......or not pay shit players £40,000 per week.
 



I don't see where anyone can say the prices are too high at the lane although I do think they got it wrong for the Barnsley game local team yes top draw not at all no more than Rotherham or Chesterfield would be. I doubt kop improvements would draw in more fans you only have to pay a couple of quid more to go on the lane end and enjoy the best views in the ground. Crowds will grow as the season progresses we are still a bit of an unknown quantity people who don't go much don't realise we are playing fantastic football and are waiting for the bubble to burst as the pigs have so loudly predicted since the day we won at Northampton, building a large fan base takes time unless you spend millions on players and pay them millions, handing out free deludamol pills helps too. Watch how quick the crowds fall at S6 if they fail to win promotion for a third time and start to realise they have fell for a load of bullshit from Tuna man. The bouncing day massacre and loss at Brum dropped 4k of the previous attendance despite allowing Leeds to have 2500 more fans than us attend, you will not see our support drop like that.
 
IOM Blade said:
I was one of the extra 5k Vs Chezzie. My first game this season will be Hull in a few weeks.
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I was one of the extra 5k as well ,
fuckall wrong with our gates , getting very " piggish " all this talk of crowds ,
Leave all this shite to the massive , it's all they fucking have .
 
Thanks for some really interesting responses everyone. My question was just that - a question , not a criticism , so there was no need for some to be so defensive. Like any true Blade , I hope for success and a ground full of loyal fans (not prawn-sandwich tourists). Whether this benefits the Club financially is secondary to my enjoyment of a terrifically supportive atmosphere at my spiritual home.
Last season there was some idiot on here saying "build a 60,000 stadium, because Arsenal did and they doubled their gates overnight".
This was patent codswallop and I told him so at the time.
The consensus of this thread is that support takes time to build. I agree.
There is no way the Club are going to spend money without a financial return , so there is no immediate prospect of the kop being altered , except perhaps for the addition of some faster-serving money-spinning bars.
If the Club can't find a way to sell the empty seats in BLUT , I also doubt they are going to do anything with the SS , unless there would be enough takers for a row of corporate boxes within the stand itself (with the displaced fans going over to JSS or BLUT).
If i were the owner , with the team playing as they are , I would see the empty seats in BLUT as either :
a)My own failure to market them properly ; or
b)Proof that I can forget about building extra capacity until we actually reach the Prem , if ever.
I would certainly NOT admit defeat and give them to away fans , particularly in view of the small allocations we are getting at opponent's grounds this season.
I am a ST holder at the back of the kop , have followed the Blades all over the country since the 70s , but because I haven't always had an ST ( due to not living in Sheffield since 1975) , my points total means I will get to barely any away matches this season.
But I wouldn't be disappointed about that IF the corresponding small allocations we give to away fans at the Lane , LEADS TO our home support growing (with fans , not spectators).
 
itsinyerblood said:
Fair points, and I do appreciate the need to hold onto what's familiar, even comforting......but.....we're not talking about getting rid of the kop, just replacing it with a design that's more fitting for the 21st century. Personally I see no benefits in cramped leg room, especially if you have mobility issues such as I do, and a sympathetically, tiered new stand would improve what we've all become accustomed to......perhaps a corner can be incorporated where traditionalists gather and breath in the scent of woodbine, capstan, or whatever the weed of choice happens to be, at least that should act as reminder of what once acted as a temple for a bygone generation.
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Not saying I smoke like, but you get my general meaning. The smokers reference was just to help paint the picture. It’s more the familiarity that I like
 
Keen Blade said:
Thanks for some really interesting responses everyone. My question was just that - a question , not a criticism , so there was no need for some to be so defensive. Like any true Blade , I hope for success and a ground full of loyal fans (not prawn-sandwich tourists). Whether this benefits the Club financially is secondary to my enjoyment of a terrifically supportive atmosphere at my spiritual home.
Last season there was some idiot on here saying "build a 60,000 stadium, because Arsenal did and they doubled their gates overnight".
This was patent codswallop and I told him so at the time.
The consensus of this thread is that support takes time to build. I agree.
There is no way the Club are going to spend money without a financial return , so there is no immediate prospect of the kop being altered , except perhaps for the addition of some faster-serving money-spinning bars.
If the Club can't find a way to sell the empty seats in BLUT , I also doubt they are going to do anything with the SS , unless there would be enough takers for a row of corporate boxes within the stand itself (with the displaced fans going over to JSS or BLUT).
If i were the owner , with the team playing as they are , I would see the empty seats in BLUT as either :
a)My own failure to market them properly ; or
b)Proof that I can forget about building extra capacity until we actually reach the Prem , if ever.
I would certainly NOT admit defeat and give them to away fans , particularly in view of the small allocations we are getting at opponent's grounds this season.
I am a ST holder at the back of the kop , have followed the Blades all over the country since the 70s , but because I haven't always had an ST ( due to not living in Sheffield since 1975) , my points total means I will get to barely any away matches this season.
But I wouldn't be disappointed about that IF the corresponding small allocations we give to away fans at the Lane , LEADS TO our home support growing (with fans , not spectators).
Click to expand...

Some good points
 
alcoblade said:
There are no examples of unsuccessful clubs packing out stadiums because of cheap prices. It just doesn't work.
Click to expand...

Not so sure. Bradford City have been offering (ridiculously) cheap ST's for a couple of years now. Obviously, they failed to win promotion last season, but they've managed to keep a very good level of support this season - 20,430 v Donny. 18,799 v Fleetwood (Tuesday night) and 19,284 v Bristol Rovers.

It's a toughie, do we want cheap tickets but failure to sign 'statement' players?

Keen Blade said:
so there is no immediate prospect of the kop being altered , except perhaps for the addition of some faster-serving money-spinning bars.
Click to expand...

I'll only go on the kop if we have a fromagerie. :D
 
I think our support is fantastic this season after the last 7 years of massive under performance and disappointment. If we can continue how we have started this season I have no doubt the home crowd numbers will start to increase if we can stay in the top 6
. Need to keep Brooks for definite he looks fantastic and can only make coming to BL more enjoyable and entertaining, keep the momentum going with out doubt the support base will increase over the season.
 
Cerberus Blade said:
But they are charging substantially more and therefore are making more money on gate receipts. It’s something we need to be aware of because we either need to drive more folks in through the turnstiles or put the prices up.
Click to expand...

They had a good offer on 3 year season tickets and their 1 year season tickets weren't ridiculously priced.
After the summer they claimed they had 22,000 season ticket holders.
They have a members scheme which reduces £5 off matchday prices.
It's the away fans who get the brunt of their pricing policy. On bouncing day they failed to sell-out the home allocation. The attendances for other games (Brentford and Leeds) suggests they're getting barely any home fans paying for one game.
They have barely sold any corporate boxes because of the price hike ( a caller on Radio Sheffield claimed a friend of his had switched his to the Lane).
They have tried to launch a scheme where fans get to put a plaque on their seat for the rest of the season, before taking it home to keep at a cost of £1500-£2100. Not surprisingly it has had little interest.
By the end of the season it wouldn't surprise me if more fans have watched us. Although our prices are lower, the fact that our fans are able to attend much cheaper on a one match basis (and our fans can purchase a strip) must work for us on a short and long term basis.
 



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