Quid A Kid

[shorehamview]

Seriously, if they do it again I'll try & grab you a couple. She told me after the event, once she was home.

You'll all have to wear your shorts and try and look young. I think Nick may well struggle to convinve the stewards at the turnstiles that he is a schoolkid though.....

 

[Nick Jansky]

You'll all have to wear your shorts and try and look young. I think Nick may well struggle to convinve the stewards at the turnstiles that he is a schoolkid though.....

Oi!! If Jimmy Krankie can pull it off, there's got to be hope for me!!

 

[Tuns]

I guess I am one of the 'lost fans' that the marketing should be targetting to entice back this season.

I was an ST holder for 30 years, still am in Blades Revival and a shareholder.

I'd have thought some £10 games early in the season to get the missing 5,000 ST holders in the groove before the habit of not going really kicked in would have been sensible instead of the pathetic 6 games for 5 as a cover for trying to get you to switch your energy supply to Npower. Maybe something like 2 games for the price of one would have been better.

Quid a kid is great and should be encouraged but is it the kids that are missing? I know several Blades who only bought STs this year cos the offer for the kids ST was so good so I'd suspect we've lost more of the older fans than the kids.

The marketing and pricing lacks the imagniation and urgency required and as for trying to buy online...I gave up when I tried and refused on principle to ring a premium rate number so they lost one match ticket.

I am interested in seeing the team evolve under Speed aznd could be tempted back but won't and can't pay the high admission prices on a match by match basis.

I'm not saying Unietd should base thier marketing and pricing strategy around me or let me in for free, I'm just saying what would do it for me and I guess a few other missing fans.

As time goes on it will get harder and harder for United to get people back.

 

[raul]

I hear you and I'm with you Tuns, but I think the policies are set in stone now. Better than expected ST renewals mean they can't really start chopping prices to attract the minority like us back without incurring their wrath and I think the club is taking the gamble that we'll all fall back in line if performances pick up. Time will tell.

 

[lenners]

Top post Tuns and mirrors what another lapsed season ticket holder said to me - particularly the £10 games bit.
They would go for that and then there's the possibility they might come back into the fold.
Not using that option early doesn't make sense.

---------- Post added at 10:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ----------

I hear you and I'm with you Tuns, but I think the policies are set in stone now. Better than expected ST renewals mean they can't really start chopping prices to attract the minority like us back without incurring their wrath and I think the club is taking the gamble that we'll all fall back in line if performances pick up. Time will tell.

They were definitely worse than expected Raul, hence the freebie panic from day one.
There's no problem with freebies and student promos etc but they should really be looking hard at lapsed season ticket holders and the tenner tickets would be an ideal move.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

It will be interesting to see what they do with the half-season tickets available from Xmas. There are better looking fixtures in the 2nd half of the season at home and if there are signs that the team are picking up, that would be a perfect opportunity to get some of the fans back.

I got my e-mail from the club yesterday advertising 'quid a kid' by the way

 

[Tuns]

I hear you and I'm with you Tuns, but I think the policies are set in stone now. Better than expected ST renewals mean they can't really start chopping prices to attract the minority like us back without incurring their wrath and I think the club is taking the gamble that we'll all fall back in line if performances pick up. Time will tell.

I know ST holders will moan when offers are on but we've had offers every season and I just think some good ones early on were the way to go this season. And I'm not sure a so-called progressive forward thinking club can't come up with a way of chopping prices mid season for the benefit of the club and ultimatley it's existing ST holders in the longer term.

The culture has changed since I were a lad when pay on the day was a way of life for many fans and gates fluctuated massively depending on where you were in the league and who the opposition was but that's all changed. ST sales are everything cos it's so hard even if we start doing well - to get 5 or 6 thousand fans to pay £25 every week on the gate. It just won't happen.

You have to somehow get them back to being ST holders and sharpish. I'd suggest some great offers between now and xmas and then (hopefully helped by better performances on the pitch) then some amazing half price ST deals well marketed and targeted at the 5,000 lapsed ST holders on the database.

 

[ghandi]

I know ST holders will moan when offers are on but we've had offers every season and I just think some good ones early on were the way to go this season. And I'm not sure a so-called progressive forward thinking club can't come up with a way of chopping prices mid season for the benefit of the club and ultimatley it's existing ST holders in the longer term.

The culture has changed since I were a lad when pay on the day was a way of life for many fans and gates fluctuated massively depending on where you were in the league and who the opposition was but that's all changed. ST sales are everything cos it's so hard even if we start doing well - to get 5 or 6 thousand fans to pay £25 every week on the gate. It just won't happen.

You have to somehow get them back to being ST holders and sharpish. I'd suggest some great offers between now and xmas and then (hopefully helped by better performances on the pitch) then some amazing half price ST deals well marketed and targeted at the 5,000 lapsed ST holders on the database.

So what you're actually saying is you don't think that the full season ticket renewal price was a good deal but you would like rewarding with an amazing half price ST deal because you didn't renew.

 

[Micalijo]

Must admit Tuns that if people were paying say £140 for a half season ticket in South stand the last thing on my mind would be this is for the long term benefit of the club.

Best way to get em back - irrespective of price - is by getting a few exciting footballers in the side. Speedo is doing a great job but the problems McCabe has re selling tickets is that we now know that quality players will be sold very quickly (not because people aren't renewing - although that doesn't help - but I think because Valad is shafted and his coffers are relatively empty). As such, I don't think marketing is going to make much of a difference, however good it is.

 

[madeinsheffield]

They could send offers to the missing 5000 from last season, we are playing better and lets be honest that's why they don't come anymore, even offer them a free game to see things are starting to look up, yes I know its going to be a very slow process, but those 5000 people will soon be finding other ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, then when that becomes a habit how do you get them back then??

Get them back at the Lane, it will lift the atmosphere and that helps everything

 

[Nick Jansky]

They could send offers to the missing 5000 from last season, we are playing better and lets be honest that's why they don't come anymore, even offer them a free game to see things are starting to look up, yes I know its going to be a very slow process, but those 5000 people will soon be finding other ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, then when that becomes a habit how do you get them back then??

Get them back at the Lane, it will lift the atmosphere and that helps everything

They'll come back when we are back in the PL. That's what attracted a lot of them in the first place. At the moment we are slowly drifting back to our historically core level of support for this level of football.

 

[raul]

Too easy that for me Nick. Of everyone who I know who's drifted away in the last two years I'm the "new" fan. Only been going fifteen years....

If it were an on/off Pl/Champ thing, why did we retain average of 25k + in the three years since?

 

[Nick Jansky]

Too easy that for me Nick. Of everyone who I know who's drifted away in the last two years I'm the "new" fan. Only been going fifteen years....

If it were an on/off Pl/Champ thing, why did we retain average of 25k + in the three years since?

I didn't say all or most of them, I said a lot of them. I'm sure we will have lost some glory hunters.

Of the people like you and me, I would say it is down to a combination of crap football last year, the hike in prices, and (in my case) the threat of redundancy. Thankfully I survived, and will be getting a half ST, but at the moment I'm paying match by match, although I have been very lucky with freebies so far.

I reckon we kept so many from the PL season because they had got into the habit of coming & renewing was relatively cheap.

 

[lenners]

They'll come back when we are back in the PL. That's what attracted a lot of them in the first place. At the moment we are slowly drifting back to our historically core level of support for this level of football.

That's way out. Two that I know had season tickets for circa 20 years.
A big chunk are long-standing fans who'd had enough but could probably still be tempted back.

 

[Nick Jansky]

That's way out. Two that I know had season tickets for circa 20 years.
A big chunk are long-standing fans who'd had enough but could probably still be tempted back.

I would refer the honourable gentleman to my reply to Raul.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

That's way out. Two that I know had season tickets for circa 20 years.
A big chunk are long-standing fans who'd had enough but could probably still be tempted back.

At the end of the day, it'll be performing on the pitch that matters and whilst the club can certainly help, the fans will only return if the product on offer tempts them back. Those that have turned their backs after 15, 20, 25 years have had much worse times than this to endure so merely reducing the games to £10 wouldn't make that much difference short term I don't think.

As you've said yourself, there's more to it than just cost, we need improvement on the pitch, a show from the management that they mean business again and then some bl**dy good offers next Summer !

 

[lenners]

At the end of the day, it'll be performing on the pitch that matters and whilst the club can certainly help, the fans will only return if the product on offer tempts them back. Those that have turned their backs after 15, 20, 25 years have had much worse times than this to endure so merely reducing the games to £10 wouldn't make that much difference short term I don't think.

As you've said yourself, there's more to it than just cost, we need improvement on the pitch, a show from the management that they mean business again and then some bl**dy good offers next Summer !

At least one of them would definitely go to the tenner match but I don't actually think it's about enduring worse times before.
Something happened over the last two or three years with United which was soul-destroying, some of it to do with the style of play, some of it the economy with the truth from the board, some of it the gut-wrenching no-show at Wembley, some of it the whole culture of modern-day football and some of it selling off players, particularly the youngsters.
A lot of factors came together for a perfect storm which led quite a few long-timers to say sod it at the same time.

 

[raul]

Good point Len,

Set me thinking back a decade or so. The initial excitment of the Macdonald era was already a distant memory, but the internecine struggles that symbolised the long drawn out process of his departure were not. The battle for the heart and soul of the club had taken it's toll on the support and we seemed forever to be playing Stockport, Grimsby or Tranmere in front of 12/13000 loyalists who knew their club was in poor shape and that all they could do was turn up. I remember the "big" games, when Brum or Wolves were in town and the place looked packed to the rafters with about 17000 in and looking at the away fans thinking "poor sods, think they are a big club, but we're bigger" despite all the available evidence. But, slowly, slowly, slowly, we got the 12's to 14's and the 14's to 16's until the miracle of 02/03 took hold - bizarrely in 03/04- and we had a bedrock of support worthy of building upon.

I look at it now and can't find the same feelings for the leisure arm of Scarborough Holdings PLC.

 

[SwissBlade]

At least one of them would definitely go to the tenner match but I don't actually think it's about enduring worse times before.
Something happened over the last two or three years with United which was soul-destroying, some of it to do with the style of play, some of it the economy with the truth from the board, some of it the gut-wrenching no-show at Wembley, some of it the whole culture of modern-day football and some of it selling off players, particularly the youngsters.
A lot of factors came together for a perfect storm which led quite a few long-timers to say sod it at the same time.

Yep, but some of us are still prepared to channel our support for the club in a positive way. Yes we like to moan and whinge to our mates, in the pub, on phone ins and internet forums but we also realise that as supporters of the club we can do our bit to ensure that there will be a football club in S2 for the next few years. Do we have to constantly get the "i told you so" from people who've never run a football club?

Saturday at Leeds was one of the best days out i've had at the football for years and that includes the Premier League times. We didn't exactly inspire the support on the pitch (some would say we didn't deserve it either) but the 2000+ of us there gave our all and supported the club, even if it was just for 90 mins.

Personally I'm sick and tired of a lot of the stuff on here. The club has no doubt made mistakes from the ball boy to the Boardroom, but so what. Does that mean that we should just stand and shake our heads forever more, refusing to step foot in the ground until there is a revolution? Give it a rest. Lets get back to praising the club when they do right, even if like the quid a kid sometimes the execution of the idea is very late in the day. The club should learn from its mistakes, but sadly we don't always do that. But if the initiatives from within the walls of the lane are aimed at turning the club in the right direction then surely as Blades we can back the club we love.

A good scottish friend of mine said to me after the World cup. "At least in Scotland, we know were crap"...

 

[Tuns]

Apologies for the typo - I meant amazing half ST prices - not half price.

I do think offering some really attractive deals and then half season ticket deals is bound to help the club propsper on and off the pitch in the future.I'm trying to suggest some positive ways for the club to attract back at least some of the 5,000 fans that will make the difference between us being an attractive proposition for investment, for players and to give us more revenue over the next few years. That's obviously good news all round.

I've watched United in front of some pretty low gates in my time and the club worked hard to get ST numbers up and of course a seaon in the prem helped so it pains me to watch them throw it all away becuase I know how hard it is going to be to get them back (let alone to try to cling to the 14k ST holders we have next summer).

And no I didn't think the ST deal in the summer was good - it was pathetic in the context of the apathy and anger amongst fans that the club just didn't seem to pick up on.

I don't regeret not getting a ST in the summer I am just saying that I am tempted to watch the odd game (as I knew I would be) but the club are failing to make that easy or attractive for me and for others in the same boat and it's existing ST holders who will suffer just as much from that when the club start budgeting for players etc in January and next season.

I get the feeling the dynamic McCabe of a few years ago just would not have let this happen but he seems a different and less interested character these days.

 

[Micalijo]

Apologies for the typo - I meant amazing half ST prices - not half price.

I do think offering some really attractive deals and then half season ticket deals is bound to help the club propsper on and off the pitch in the future.I'm trying to suggest some positive ways for the club to attract back at least some of the 5,000 fans that will make the difference between us being an attractive proposition for investment, for players and to give us more revenue over the next few years. That's obviously good news all round.

I've watched United in front of some pretty low gates in my time and the club worked hard to get ST numbers up and of course a seaon in the prem helped so it pains me to watch them throw it all away becuase I know how hard it is going to be to get them back (let alone to try to cling to the 14k ST holders we have next summer).

And no I didn't think the ST deal in the summer was good - it was pathetic in the context of the apathy and anger amongst fans that the club just didn't seem to pick up on.

I don't regeret not getting a ST in the summer I am just saying that I am tempted to watch the odd game (as I knew I would be) but the club are failing to make that easy or attractive for me and for others in the same boat and it's existing ST holders who will suffer just as much from that when the club start budgeting for players etc in January and next season.

I get the feeling the dynamic McCabe of a few years ago just would not have let this happen but he seems a different and less interested character these days.

I'm not quite with you on this. You are pleased you haven't got a season ticket, which is fine - perfectly understandable, yet you seem to expect the club to reduce prices so as to make it easier for you and others to go.

You knew the prices last May or so when the prices were announced. I totally agree that they are too high but unfortunately they are in line with the going rate at similar clubs in our section and much as I love to criticise McCabe I don't see what he has done wrong here short of not saying season tickets are 300 max and matchday tickets are £20 max. I'd love that to happen next summer but it just smacks to me that you want your cake and to eat it a bit. Totally understand that the club benefits from a full ground etc and the loss of season ticket holders is alarming but I'm not sure you should be accommodated quite as easily as what you are suggesting. If I thought that I could get in cheaper each week than by buying a season ticket then what incentive do ihave to buy one next May?

How about non-season ticket holders who go to 7 matches or so get the access to reduced prices next May? Key thing for me is the quality on show, which speedo is sorting out.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

They can't really offer the half ST's for any less than half the renewal price but that would be a decent offer and could tempt some back. The real test will be next Summer but as I said above, they've got no chance unless the fans can see something worth supporting on the pitch, or at least some signs of hope.

I still think there's more to it than just cost and our style of play and as Len added, general disillusionment (is that a word !) with football in general has affected quite a few in which case any amount of discounts won't make a difference.

 

[Tuns]

I'm not quite with you on this. You are pleased you haven't got a season ticket, which is fine - perfectly understandable, yet you seem to expect the club to reduce prices so as to make it easier for you and others to go.

You knew the prices last May or so when the prices were announced. I totally agree that they are too high but unfortunately they are in line with the going rate at similar clubs in our section and much as I love to criticise McCabe I don't see what he has done wrong here short of not saying season tickets are 300 max and matchday tickets are £20 max. I'd love that to happen next summer but it just smacks to me that you want your cake and to eat it a bit. Totally understand that the club benefits from a full ground etc and the loss of season ticket holders is alarming but I'm not sure you should be accommodated quite as easily as what you are suggesting. If I thought that I could get in cheaper each week than by buying a season ticket then what incentive do ihave to buy one next May?

How about non-season ticket holders who go to 7 matches or so get the access to reduced prices next May? Key thing for me is the quality on show, which speedo is sorting out.

I'm not exactly pleased I don't have a ST but I don't regret not getting one.

The point I am trying to make is that United lost a lot of fans in the summer and they will probably lose a few more this summer. That means a poorer, smaller club with all the implications that will have on and off the pitch.

The club can either accept that's just going to be the way it is - apathy seems to be McCabe's way - or they can try and do something dynamic and imaginative about it.

It's not about wanting my cake and eating it I am just saying from my perspective as one of the fans I assume the club would like to tempt back as part of it's plan to be successful in the future - so far they have done nothing to target or tempt me back.

I don't want to watch all the games for less than a ST holder has paid either. I am talking about some excellent half season offers or one or 2 match packages. I am not a marketing man, I am not being paid over 100k to run the club but if I was I would be tryiing to come up with some far better ideas and pretty quickly to get these fans back.

As I said earlier - product on the pitch won't do it - yes gates will sneak up a bit - but do you really think 5,000 former ST holders will start paying match by match with all the cost and hassle that involves? It doesn't happen in modern day football - it's a ST culture now not a walk up on the day culture.

Anyway for someone who doesn't go any more I think I am starting to care far too much!