Stayaways

[ghandi]

Tell us more. Myself & Mrs Travelling are considering going tomorrow night (we couldn't go on saturday, or any other saturday because we are working in our own shop) and we don't want to travel over 100 miles to turn up tomorrow night and be asked to join a membership scheme and pay £70 extra before we can watch the Blades play.

You don't have to pay for membership to purchase tickets you just don't get the £2.00 per match discount.

 

[Tuns]

17,000 was a good gate. If you think a run of good results will mean that gate will go up significantly then you are sadly mistaken.

I'm not sure what bit of this the fans or the club find hard to understand but United fans will not pay out £20 and £30 every week.

You either come up with enticing season ticket offers or work your balls off as a club during the season with offers etc to keep people going regularly or indeed at all. We've decided to give up and do neither.

There's a myth that lapsed ST holders like myself see a result like Saturdays and hear about the performance and cry into our beer wishing we had been there before rushing down to the Lane to secure my £30 ticket for the next match kicking myself for not getting a ST.

My experience last season of not having a ST for the first time in around 30 years was that when I missed a good or dramatic game that it dawned on me that my world didn't end. Sure I wished I'd been there but you actually realise you can survive without it.

I'm afraid we need to put the true blade rubbish to one side and accept that the club does have to work a bit at getting and keeping supporters.

Good results is part of it but that has to go hand in hand with imaginative marketing and ticket packages.

The irony is that early in McCabe's reign he realised this and worked hard at increasing attendances it really paid off. Yet he seems content to sit by whilst all this is undone.

If I was head of marketing I'd be going crazy at the thought of having the golden opportunity of 10,000 lapsed ST holders sitting on the database and not being allowed to try and tempt them back as the season goes on.

Everyone is loser of the fanbase shrinks.

 

[alcoblade]

17,000 was a good gate. If you think a run of good results will mean that gate will go up significantly then you are sadly mistaken.

I'm not sure what bit of this the fans or the club find hard to understand but United fans will not pay out £20 and £30 every week.

You either come up with enticing season ticket offers or work your balls off as a club during the season with offers etc to keep people going regularly or indeed at all. We've decided to give up and do neither.

There's a myth that lapsed ST holders like myself see a result like Saturdays and hear about the performance and cry into our beer wishing we had been there before rushing down to the Lane to secure my £30 ticket for the next match kicking myself for not getting a ST.

My experience last season of not having a ST for the first time in around 30 years was that when I missed a good or dramatic game that it dawned on me that my world didn't end. Sure I wished I'd been there but you actually realise you can survive without it.

I'm afraid we need to put the true blade rubbish to one side and accept that the club does have to work a bit at getting and keeping supporters.

Good results is part of it but that has to go hand in hand with imaginative marketing and ticket packages.

The irony is that early in McCabe's reign he realised this and worked hard at increasing attendances it really paid off. Yet he seems content to sit by whilst all this is undone.

If I was head of marketing I'd be going crazy at the thought of having the golden opportunity of 10,000 lapsed ST holders sitting on the database and not being allowed to try and tempt them back as the season goes on.

Everyone is loser of the fanbase shrinks.

You make some excellent points and I agree with the thrust that average crowds will be heavily correlated to season ticket sales, and less so on actual performance.

In terms of the lost 10,000 season ticket holders, despite McCabe demonstarting that he can't run a piss up in a brewery (in the footballing world), there is very little the club could have done to have prevented the loss on ">80%" of that, other than improved performance on the pitch.

A third division Sheffield United is never going to attract 20,000 season ticket holders, without giving them away for next to nothing. That's the approach Bradfordf have taken, and aside from the patroninsing "aren't their crowds good" remarks, that club is practically broke.

UTB

 

[Micalijo]

17,000 was a good gate. If you think a run of good results will mean that gate will go up significantly then you are sadly mistaken.

I'm not sure what bit of this the fans or the club find hard to understand but United fans will not pay out £20 and £30 every week.

You either come up with enticing season ticket offers or work your balls off as a club during the season with offers etc to keep people going regularly or indeed at all. We've decided to give up and do neither.

There's a myth that lapsed ST holders like myself see a result like Saturdays and hear about the performance and cry into our beer wishing we had been there before rushing down to the Lane to secure my £30 ticket for the next match kicking myself for not getting a ST.

My experience last season of not having a ST for the first time in around 30 years was that when I missed a good or dramatic game that it dawned on me that my world didn't end. Sure I wished I'd been there but you actually realise you can survive without it.

I'm afraid we need to put the true blade rubbish to one side and accept that the club does have to work a bit at getting and keeping supporters.

Good results is part of it but that has to go hand in hand with imaginative marketing and ticket packages.

The irony is that early in McCabe's reign he realised this and worked hard at increasing attendances it really paid off. Yet he seems content to sit by whilst all this is undone.

If I was head of marketing I'd be going crazy at the thought of having the golden opportunity of 10,000 lapsed ST holders sitting on the database and not being allowed to try and tempt them back as the season goes on.

Everyone is loser of the fanbase shrinks.

Tunsy - good stuff as always but I am still struggling to reconcile your 'I am not missing it' comments with your eloquent please for marketing strategies which is to me your way of saying 'I want to have the option to turn up and pay a tenner'. As Alco says, I aint sure we could shift 20k season tickets at say £200 a time. Remember it is only £13 a game on kop - that is good even to watch little more than fit pub footballers like Monty and Collins.

 

[Bladesway]

Tunsy - good stuff as always but I am still struggling to reconcile your 'I am not missing it' comments with your eloquent please for marketing strategies which is to me your way of saying 'I want to have the option to turn up and pay a tenner'. As Alco says, I aint sure we could shift 20k season tickets at say £200 a time. Remember it is only £13 a game on kop - that is good even to watch little more than fit pub footballers like Monty and Collins.

But you don't need to get 20k season ticket holders to get a 20k attendance do you? And as Tuns says, recently some people who have 30 years plus service under their belts have said enough is enough. It isn't the True Blades are at the Lane, it isn't the Membership Scheme, it isn't League One Football or any of the other things in isolation. Its the whole package that means many people have reached their tipping point. Perhaps the club owes these people a bit of goodwill as much as anything.

 

[Bert]

Bert can only assume that we no longer have a Marketing Department, there's nothing for them to do until the end of the season.
Presumably they have all been made redundant due to the new policy of no longer trying to attract customers during the season.

 

[Kenilworth]

Bert can only assume that we no longer have a Marketing Department, there's nothing for them to do until the end of the season.
Presumably they have all been made redundant due to the new policy of no longer trying to attract customers during the season.

Bert speaks a lot less on the forum than he used to. Kenilworth used to enjoy Bert's muses and his unique style but must conclude that Bert has lost a lot of his passion about the Blades or else he is keeping his powder dry these days. Bert is about as Silent as Silent Blades these days - maybe they frequent another internet space that Kenilworth does not.

Hey Silent - Mrs Kenilworth is learning BSL and she is awaiting results from examinations for level 2.
Clever girl Mrs Kenilworth and very good with her hands.

 

[Micalijo]

But you don't need to get 20k season ticket holders to get a 20k attendance do you? And as Tuns says, recently some people who have 30 years plus service under their belts have said enough is enough. It isn't the True Blades are at the Lane, it isn't the Membership Scheme, it isn't League One Football or any of the other things in isolation. Its the whole package that means many people have reached their tipping point. Perhaps the club owes these people a bit of goodwill as much as anything.

I know you don't - never said that. But I don't want to pay £409 for mine, amongst 10k others, and then watch you, Tuns and Raul etc roll up whenever you like and pay peanuts in order to get 20k in the ground.

Enough is enough - fair play - they've decided that and don't want to go anymore - cost was not the issue imo - Blackwell, McCabe, Alehouse, Birch etc have tipped many over the edge. If they change their mind then they know where the ground is and what the price is. I'd love a full bdtbl and would be very happy to see us get huge crowds in any division but if yiou are right - and I;m sure you are - that 1,000s have had enough, why are you so sure that cheap tickets would fill the ground?

I don't think the clubs owes them anything - sorry to be so blunt. As Linz once said, they put on 23 games of football a season and are very clear how much that will cost in various circumstances of being a season ticket holder or not.

 

[Woodwaaard]

Our "marketing department" was culled some time ago because his salary package was deemed to be too high

He now works for the dark side, which is an utter crying shame

We now pay (relative) peanuts.............................

 

[Bert]

Bert speaks a lot less on the forum than he used to. Kenilworth used to enjoy Bert's muses and his unique style but must conclude that Bert has lost a lot of his passion about the Blades or else he is keeping his powder dry these days. Bert is about as Silent as Silent Blades these days - maybe they frequent another internet space that Kenilworth does not.

Hey Silent - Mrs Kenilworth is learning BSL and she is awaiting results from examinations for level 2.
Clever girl Mrs Kenilworth and very good with her hands.

Bert still has the same enthusiasm as he did when he first walked up Shoreham street to see United in the 1960's, he was at the Lane last Saturday in his Block B enclave and he will be there tomorrow night. What he hasn't done this season is buy a season ticket for the first time in many years. Due to Bert's commitments with a sun lounger and rum cocktails in the Caribbean he missed four or five home games last season and he expects that this season will be likewise therefore he is better off by not buying a season ticket. Last Saturday Bert sat one seat away from where he used to sit, not having a season ticket isn't a problem, there are plenty of empty seats all over the ground and when it comes to a Tuesday night in December against the likes of Rochdale or Exeter there will be even more.

Up the Blades etc...

 

[JohnDenver]

Due to Bert's commitments with a sun lounger and rum cocktails in the Caribbean he missed four or five home games last season and he expects that this season will be likewise therefore he is better off by not buying a season ticket.

Revisionist history telling that Stalin would have blushed at.

I'll miss a similar number of games for similar reasons but don't mind lending my ticket to mates (though even that was hard to do last year).

Basically, having a season ticket is so much more civilised than faffing about each week. I make up the cost by not buying Macron's "fat bloke" sportswear.

 

[alcoblade]

It costs £13 per match with a season ticket on the kop. If that's too much then there's very little that the football club in the world in which it has to operate, can do for you.

The club and all of us know that if it were to return to the Premeirship, then all the reasons for not going would miraculously disappear.

UTB

---------- Post added at 05:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:47 PM ----------

Bert still has the same enthusiasm as he did when he first walked up Shoreham street to see United in the 1960's, he was at the Lane last Saturday in his Block B enclave and he will be there tomorrow night. What he hasn't done this season is buy a season ticket for the first time in many years. Due to Bert's commitments with a sun lounger and rum cocktails in the Caribbean he missed four or five home games last season and he expects that this season will be likewise therefore he is better off by not buying a season ticket. Last Saturday Bert sat one seat away from where he used to sit, not having a season ticket isn't a problem, there are plenty of empty seats all over the ground and when it comes to a Tuesday night in December against the likes of Rochdale or Exeter there will be even more.

Up the Blades etc...

I'm rather suprised that a man of your stature, and your love for the blades, would make such a decsion in order to save himself a few tens of pounds.

Personally I'd be happy to support the club with the extra money. Each to their own.

UTB

 

[Bladesway]

I know you don't - never said that. But I don't want to pay £409 for mine, amongst 10k others, and then watch you, Tuns and Raul etc roll up whenever you like and pay peanuts in order to get 20k in the ground.

Enough is enough - fair play - they've decided that and don't want to go anymore - cost was not the issue imo - Blackwell, McCabe, Alehouse, Birch etc have tipped many over the edge. If they change their mind then they know where the ground is and what the price is. I'd love a full bdtbl and would be very happy to see us get huge crowds in any division but if yiou are right - and I;m sure you are - that 1,000s have had enough, why are you so sure that cheap tickets would fill the ground?

I don't think the clubs owes them anything - sorry to be so blunt. As Linz once said, they put on 23 games of football a season and are very clear how much that will cost in various circumstances of being a season ticket holder or not.

If I accept everything you say and I do, it still doesn't square one particular circle. When I was a kid cheap tickets were your only chance of watching the Blades. I was once part of that conveyor belt of fans who, when the old and cynical drop off, there is a new breed who are younger, hungrier and have bottomless optimism. If we don't offer cheap tickets (not to me, Tuns etc) but to kids with parents, school parties and "events" (i.e shit games no one wants to see in January) then who fills that void when the likes of Raul et al tune out. In short, our club is starving itself of the very oxygen it needs to exist.

 

[alcoblade]

If I accept everything you say and I do, it still doesn't square one particular circle. When I was a kid cheap tickets were your only chance of watching the Blades. I was once part of that conveyor belt of fans who, when the old and cynical drop off, there is a new breed who are younger, hungrier and have bottomless optimism. If we don't offer cheap tickets (not to me, Tuns etc) but to kids with parents, school parties and "events" (i.e shit games no one wants to see in January) then who fills that void when the likes of Raul et al tune out. In short, our club is starving itself of the very oxygen it needs to exist.

Some truth in that - but the better supported teams will always be the succesful ones, not the ones with the best marketing strategies. You can't pay 'em in washers.

UTB

 

[Foxy]

I think your missing the point of the people who don't go. Its not down to one thing, but an entire catalogue of things. McCabe and his frugal ways, the way the club has slipped over the edge of the abbyss and into a league it hasn't frequented for over 20 years. Perhaps the way we are told how it hurts him as much as it hurts the fans and yet it obviously doesn't, otherwise he would do something about it. The way we sell any saleable asset within minutes of an offer being tabled (this is the rule with us). Add to that we are paying more to watch Walsall than we were to watch Man United and that doesn't help either.

Isn't being a Blade about supporting and following the club, not the individuals who are currently lucky enough to be employed by it? That's how I've always seen it.

We could have slipped into the abyss of the Blue Square, but I'd still be going as long as we were Sheffield United.

Is it really paying more for the Walsall match?

All that is a real pisser, but then it really takes the piss when the marketing campaign for the club is "Real Blades are at the Lane". Which by definition is a slap in the kisser for anyone who isn't there. Now when it comes to putting medals on tables, many of these people have been there through worse times. Some of them were there that day Walsall sent us down to Division 4. Some of them witnessed us bumbling around in the mid 80's with a team of old men sucking the life out of the club. Some of them witnessed Dave Bassett keep the team in the highest league in spite of the board doing their upmost to pull the rug from under him (and finally succeed).

I always thought the "True Blades" campaign would get a negative reaction from many who would see it as a pop at them rather than an attempt to create a sense of belonging and a strength of togetherness. I even raised that concern to the people that created the campaign.

However, I do agree with what others have said, they weren't trying to say "if you don't by a season ticket then sod you", it was a marketing ploy to create a sense of belonging and perhaps encourage people who were unsure to be a part of it, whether that be physically on a weekly basis or in spirit. Clearly, it didn't come across that way to many and perhaps it's easy for me to not be offended by it given that there was never any question as to whether or not I'd be renewing my season ticket.

Following Sheffield United in any shape or form makes you a true blade in my book. Its not something anyone does for glory. Its more a trial of hope over expectation. That isn't like following Man United or Liverpool. I don't care whether you live in S2 or Exeter. If you follow Sheffield United you are a true blade.

Correct, and I think that most (including those at the club) consider anyone with their thoughts on the Lane every Saturday as True Blades.

I think the problem is, people are very tetchy over their perceived position as a supporter, this is why some are against the loyalty points system. Personally, I think it's a much fairer way of running things, even if there are years and years of potential points I and those around me missed out on by having to have a start from 0 date!

If you want to lure people to the club, get them back or even get them interested then the club really needs to change its marketing strategy. Of course ultimately winning games will be the best way but all those disaffected fans (and christ there are a lot of them) just want a reason to return. If thats a couple of £10 tickets and they enjoy themselves then isn't that a better way to win them back?

But isn't that what we've been doing for years? We built up a larger regular following through sensible prices and prudent improvements to the infrastructure and in some cases on the pitch (however short term). As a long term season ticket holder and having missed hardly any away matches for years, I got very little benefit last year over those who didn't commit to the season, in fact in some cases the temporary visitor's wear treated better. We've had some fantastic offers for kids (which again, I missed out on as I was long past a kid when these came in ), these were abused big time by people who thought it was fine to take the piss out of the majority who pay the price they are supposed to.

I haven't got a problem with attracting new people and trying to bend over backwards for those who rock up now and again, I don't expect anything other than guaranteeing my seat, but there does have to be a balance. The offers put in place last season were near enough the savings you'd get by purchasing a discounted season ticket. That's all fine, but you can't risk offending the core income, who like it or not are those who are there week in week out, whatever the circumstances.

 

[Barr]

17,500 - Its better than what Wigan get LOL.

 

[Linz]

If I accept everything you say and I do, it still doesn't square one particular circle. When I was a kid cheap tickets were your only chance of watching the Blades. I was once part of that conveyor belt of fans who, when the old and cynical drop off, there is a new breed who are younger, hungrier and have bottomless optimism. If we don't offer cheap tickets (not to me, Tuns etc) but to kids with parents, school parties and "events" (i.e shit games no one wants to see in January) then who fills that void when the likes of Raul et al tune out.

You mean like the £90 season tickets for juniors which are actually cheaper than my ST when I was under 16?

 

[blade too long]

its better than QPR got too

Truth is some just wont turn up this season , fair weather supporters will and do only come in the good times
All the moaning in the world wont get them back in
only being in a level higher