St Mikey Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Just what is happening at McDiarmid? Our support is getting worse, almost to the point do we deserve to be in the SPL and be asking for better players and European competition football. Our attendance today was 2,816. Pretty pathetic considering where we are in the league now. Fair enough the level of performance today was dreadful but a wins a win. Scored one and a clean sheet that we can't really complain about. Someone said let folk in for free!! Even if that were the case I doubt the attendances would change. For comparison from Dingwall plus lower divisions that arguably play at a lesser standard we had the following. County 3-0 Motherwell - 3,797 Dunfermline 1-4 Morton - 2,720. Partick 1-0 Airdrie - 3,021. It's getting quite bad now and all I can see is a cull of our best players as if theres no fans putting money in then I doubt we can maintain this for the near or distant future. junniguoulk, Quiercepede and Biakeronroomo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryangordon86 Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Do we need a new attendance thread after every home game? Nick, mainstand, David123 and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Christmas Jones Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Just dont mention reducing the prices as it sends some people over the edge. Just shows that all seated stadia with very little atmosphere is nt the answer. It helped the city and the team for a while and we would nt of had the success we ve had without McDiarmid,That is a fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy rhodes fancy watch Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Well i never went yesterday and i am a ST holder . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Christmas Jones Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Same here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlickDT Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 I never usually say this, but I think the club needs to take a risk and employ someone who's sole job is attracting more punters. Use some of the money sitting in the bank, pay a basic wage with bonuses related to their success. As much as I think alot of the people of Perth don't deserve the club we have, I still reckon we could get home crowds to 4000 with the right ideas/ promotions. As I've said in other threads, I've got 101 ideas, someone that is in that line of work could come up with plenty of ways if attracting fans. Windross180 and dan loves saints 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy rhodes fancy watch Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 As much as I think alot of the people of Perth don't deserve the club we have, I still reckon we could get home crowds to 4000 with the right ideas/ promotions. Perth doesn't deserve the club we have ? Condescending pish . This attitude is exactly what is holding saints back . Wendy Saints 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broon Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Well i never went yesterday and i am a ST holder . Nor having a dig but was this through choice? Same question to Dr C? If Saints are alienating season ticket holders we're in big trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mongy Max Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Wouldn't take county's crowd as gospel, them and caley are well know for creative accounting on that front Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy rhodes fancy watch Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Nor having a dig but was this through choice? Same question to Dr C? If Saints are alienating season ticket holders we're in big trouble. My situation was that i couldn't really be arsed , think we all have spells like that . The docs situation is different , he chose not to go because of persecution from stewards i think . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 (edited) County 3-0 Motherwell - 3,797 Ross County average attendance - 4,103 - DOWN 306 Dunfermline 1-4 Morton - 2,720. Dunfermline average attendance - 3,750 - DOWN 1,030 Partick 1-0 Airdrie - 3,021. Partick average attendance - 3,157 - DOWN 136 So they all lost fans aswell, shame as I was under the illusion only we had slipping attendances while everyone else was filling their stadiums EDIT: As a sidenote we have a higher average attendance than every single First Division team this season, so what point were you trying to make? Edited February 24, 2013 by RandomGuy john1962, The ghost of Jim Morton, Saintdunc and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin James Is On Stilts Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 I never usually say this, but I think the club needs to take a risk and employ someone who's sole job is attracting more punters. Use some of the money sitting in the bank, pay a basic wage with bonuses related to their success. I always thought that Paul Smith was Marketing guy but now see from the website that he's 'Football Administrator', so I guess there is no longer somebody working specifically to market the club anymore, which is a real shame to see and also a massive surprise considering the size and potential reach of the business. You're spot on Slick, it's a role that somebody should be doing. If Saints for whatever reason feel that it's not an area that they can afford to invest in (which in its self is a ridiculous notion) then somebody needs to be thinking out the box a bit in terms of advertising the club. If there's no/minimal cash being made available to promote the club, then why not look into something a bit different, like starting up some kind of Saints 'Street Team'. This is something that is used to great effect by loads of nightclubs and live bands in order to get young people invested in the brand but also has the main aim of trying to fill their venues/gigs etc. It's essentially the equivalent of hiring a commission-based PR team, so Saints' only outlay would be linked to how many people the team members get through the turnstiles. Get a small number of people involved and give them a bunch of £1/£2 off entry price vouchers, or something along those lines. For every person that comes through the turnstile with one of these, the team member who distributed the voucher gets £1/£2 themselves. Target ages 16-20 for your team members - when I was that age I was always looking for a quick buck, big circle of friends, loads of free time. Get them dishing out the vouchers around town, in school/college, let them leave them at shops counters (like those circus discount vouchers you always see), post them through doors, get them pushing it online, encourage them to use their own initiative to get them out there. The more that are out there then the more chance they have of making some cash, and the more chance that you'll get extra bodies into McD. Total up each person's vouchers at the end of the month, dish out a wee commission cheque and bosh, there's a nice bit of extra pocket money for your team members, and a nice boost in crowds for the club. Throw in a wee incentive like a signed top or something like that for the person with the highest numbers every now and again, and you've got a motivated promo team that make more cash depending on the number of people they get into the ground. I know plenty of 18-20 year olds that spend half their day posting nightclub entry discounts on Facebook because they stand to make a couple of quid out of it, there's no reason why something like this wouldn't have the same effect. Even just by them posting online that they have vouchers to dish out, it's raising the profile of the club to their own circle of friends online, and maybe reminding somebody that Saints exist, and they're doing well - and 'oh, some of my mates are going to this game, I might go too'. Casual fans, especially younger ones, will go along if it seems that everybody else is going. That's obviously a very simplistic way of looking at a street team, but it's an idea that I have seen work in principal many many times, and has minimal admin attached to it. If you've got a team of 50 young folk spread across the city and shire, each bringing in around 15/20 extra people to a home game (a pretty realistic number), that's around an extra 1000 people in the ground. Gets young people invested in Saints, earns them cash, gets crowd numbers up. Windross180 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlickDT Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Perth doesn't deserve the club we have ? Condescending pish . This attitude is exactly what is holding saints back . We didn't even come close to filling the ground against EsEs our first European game in years on a nice afternoon. I know football in Scotland is dire and cost is an issue, but that game in particular made it clear to me the interest the majority of Perth have in their local team. Don't tell me there wasn't a few thousand 'football fans' sitting at home, with £20 or so to catch a one-off game? Quite simply most of Perth doesn't care. It's the clubs job to attract those that do or did in the past and for whatever reason are no longer attanding. The club needs to do more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Goran Stanic Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 The lack of marketing and PR at McD is embarrassing. Facebook and twitter only reach out to existing fans. Okay it may have x amount of likes but that is meaningless. People like things all the time and pay no attention to them after a day or 2. We need to bring someone in who can change the prehistoric way the club operates in this area. I would rather invest heavily in PR and pay a someone good wages to do that than waste money on terrible players like Moon, Adams etc. we really are at the stage where we are scraping the bottom of our barrel of fans. Are the club aware how dire their efforts to get fans through the turnstiles are? There must be some graduates out there who can't find a job who would jump at the chance to bring some ideas and gain some experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rik2304 Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Perth College is sitting 5 minutes away. Could the club not tie up with them for various internships? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin James Is On Stilts Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Perth College is sitting 5 minutes away. Could the club not tie up with them for various internships? They worked with the College back when we were in the First Division for the website highlights didn't they? The links between the club and College must obviously be there, it'd just be a case of finding a way to capitalise. They do Business with Marketing courses at Perth College, make it a project for final year students and you'll no doubt get 10/20/30 new ideas or initiatives that might not have been thought of. And even if the ideas are pish, by just putting their name to a project like that the club would be raising its profile amongst a hugely desirable potential customer base - students with loans and bursaries to blow. dan loves saints, rammsteinally and Windross180 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ex-montrosesaintee Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Instead of reducing gate prices, Saints should do generous deals on returning fans. I go WHEN I can afford it, which is probably once a month. If Saints did a 'go to two consecutive home games, get a third free' I would probably go to three games a month. Saints are getting twice the money from me, and three times the attendance, and it costs me and my son £23 more. Windross180 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin James Is On Stilts Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 (edited) Instead of reducing gate prices, Saints should do generous deals on returning fans. I go WHEN I can afford it, which is probably once a month. If Saints did a 'go to two consecutive home games, get a third free' I would probably go to three games a month. Saints are getting twice the money from me, and three times the attendance, and it costs me and my son £23 more. Got to be careful though, if you start giving away free games all over the place then you risk losing season ticket sales at the start of the year. But the principle is spot on, the club should not only be working hard to get new fans through the gates, but also working just as hard to keep them coming back. Edited February 24, 2013 by Kevin James Is On Stilts Windross180 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ex-montrosesaintee Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Yup, that's the concern, alienating ST holders. However, I wonder how many season ticket holders would walk away if such pay at the gate incentives were outlined in the ST renewal/application letters. e.g. You are paying £360 for a season ticket and this money is invaluable for the clubs ongoing success, however, we will be running incentives for pay at the gate fans in the interests of maximising income for club. Just a thought, I know some ST holders would be pissed off about it, but the bottom line is that it is raising income for THEIR club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indicator Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 I never usually say this, but I think the club needs to take a risk and employ someone who's sole job is attracting more punters. Use some of the money sitting in the bank, pay a basic wage with bonuses related to their success. As much as I think alot of the people of Perth don't deserve the club we have, I still reckon we could get home crowds to 4000 with the right ideas/ promotions. As I've said in other threads, I've got 101 ideas, someone that is in that line of work could come up with plenty of ways if attracting fans. Is one of those ideas 'How to keep warm whilst being forced to sit on one's a*** throughout the entire 90mins (less hauf time) of a football match in Scotland in the depths of winter in freezing cold conditions' by any chance? Dr Christmas Jones 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ancientsaint Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 They worked with the College back when we were in the First Division for the website highlights didn't they? The links between the club and College must obviously be there, it'd just be a case of finding a way to capitalise. They do Business with Marketing courses at Perth College, make it a project for final year students and you'll no doubt get 10/20/30 new ideas or initiatives that might not have been thought of. And even if the ideas are pish, by just putting their name to a project like that the club would be raising its profile amongst a hugely desirable potential customer base - students with loans and bursaries to blow. The Ghost is a chef/cook down there -maybe he can drum up some mair support Homcrolfcc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windross180 Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 i know this maybe a bad idea but ive had a beer and sounds good in my head! season ticket holders get a free shirt home or away when they buy a season ticket, so when and or if saints do an offer to get more fans into the mcd then they have nothing to moan about, i myself cant get to many games a season which is dissapointing but i work most saturdays and im saving up for a wedding, but if there was a decent offer on on a mid week game id get to more games! in my oppinian the away games are brilliant, £5 on the supporters bus to all away games thats fantastic and makes me want to go to away games more if i could so they should do the same for home games once a month make a game £10 for adults and get it well advertised facebook twitter the local newspapers, everybodys a winner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rik2304 Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 I dunno about all the ticket prices etc, but I would like it if the club had more of a handle on its own merchandise. The Christmas shop was a great idea but beanies etc are very seasonal. Retro stuff is all the rage these days. Imagine how many "Roddy legend" t shirts they could sell. Or t shirts about famous games. 3-3 Monaco, 5-0 Aberdeen, 7-2 Dundee etc. ARMYSAINTEE, The ghost of Jim Morton, cristo and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havana Saint Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 As a club our attendance have always been pretty poor, except for the first couple of seasons at McDiarmid. But throw a recession into the mix and you have attendances liek yesterday. Look how empty Celtic park was today. It must be pretty soul destroying as a player, playing in a stadium which is 75% empty. We have all gone over this in threads before, but collectively we have not found an answer. The free seats for under 12's should be a huge incentive for punters through the door.... but isn't. It would be interesting to see the geographical make up of where our home support comes from, that way we can identify populations with significantly low figures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windross180 Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 I dunno about all the ticket prices etc, but I would like it if the club had more of a handle on its own merchandise. The Christmas shop was a great idea but beanies etc are very seasonal. Retro stuff is all the rage these days. Imagine how many "Roddy legend" t shirts they could sell. Or t shirts about famous games. 3-3 Monaco, 5-0 Aberdeen, 7-2 Dundee etc. that would work for a couple of games and thats it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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