Has our recent success on the field affected the size of our support?


Gas Monkey
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1 hour ago, double deluxe said:

It'll be years, probably a generation or two, before we see any significant rise in attendances from people moving to Bertha Park, etc, from outside of Perth(shire).  If at all!

Re Bertha Park, perhaps the club sending a one game family ticket to every new house would encourage attendance?

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I think the free kids initiative is excellent and hopefully wear bear fruit a few years down the line.

Perhaps though this could be extended to high school age kids given a season ticket.

I know my own personal commitment was started at latter years of primary school when I had to find someone “responsible” to go with, by the time I was at High School my interest grew to something bordering obsession with quite a few Saintees around. Give 12-16 year olds a season ticket (obviously this would be withdrawn if there was any unacceptable behaviour) and let the interest grow from there.

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3 hours ago, double deluxe said:

It'll be years, probably a generation or two, before we see any significant rise in attendances from people moving to Bertha Park, etc, from outside of Perth(shire).  If at all!

Don't see why it should take generations. I mean folk moving to Perth might just think one day ach lets go to the football. Yeah folk moving here might not be interested in football, or are fans of other clubs, but you can only hope that some of the additional population are neutrals and go along a few times and then get into the habit of going.

The club are at fault no matter what way you look at it, but they're not alone in Scotland. Marketing for our club is non-existent. They'll no doubt blame it on a lack of funds, but you've got to spend money to make money. The club needs a right good wake up call. You can live in Perth and not know Saints exist unless you drive by the ground or buy the PA. There's literally no effort to have any kind of presence in the town, no fixture lists on show anywhere....just nothing to catch anyone's attention.

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This is a great thread, wish there was more discussion like this on here.

I think there are a huge number of different factors affecting Saints attendances and everything people have mentioned above is relevant.

I come at it from the perspective of someone who now lives down south so can only make occasional games, but I used to go week in, week out to every game when I still lived locally. For me, entertainment level was never especially important. If we can be successful by grinding out wins then that's what I'm entertained by, and I'd even go as far as to say I miss those days as it feels to me like we've slightly lost that element to our team this season (which isn't meant as any slight on the current side who I feel are growing and will go on to get a strong finishing position this season).

But just a few thoughts from my side on this...

- So much of this dates back to the failure to capitalise on the build-up to the Cup final and its immediate aftermath - that could yet turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime missed opportunity. 

- The club isn't forward thinking enough, doesn't do enough with social media, doesn't come up with enough innovative ideas to make people sit up and take notice and think "ooh that's happening at McDiarmid Park this weekend, I need to be at that". The club's image is - sadly - a little safe, plodding, dour, don't-take-any-risks. Internally those things are great and have put us on the safe financial footing that has brought us our success - but couldn't the external image be a bit more, I dunno, fun? Saints could really do with a bit of an image overhaul.

- I keep hearing that the price packages are great, but how do they benefit an adult without kids? For me, going to Saints games is very, very expensive, and I don't really mind it because a Saints game is now an occasional treat for me anyway, but if I was still living locally there's no way I'd be able to afford to go every week like I used to.

- I watch a lot of English non-league football now. Over the last few years my local non-league club has grown its average support from less than 500 to pushing 2,000... on a couple of Saturdays in the last season or two they've actually had bigger crowds than some Scottish Premiership games. They've done that by engaging with the local community, by exciting people, by trying to offer something different, by encouraging fans to be noisy and create an atmosphere, by offering a weekly event that people talk about and want to experience. Saints tick some of those boxes, but do they tick all of them? Are they trying to?

I think we all give Saints a hard time sometimes and let's not forget this is our golden age - we have a fantastic manager and the club's in a great position, and that's all due to a ton of hard work from a lot of people. Just think - we could be still playing at Muirton Park or we could be another Morton or Ayr or one of those other clubs who are apparently from "football towns" but achieve precisely nothing year after year after year. I think some of the blame is also on locals who just can't be arsed to get out there and support their local team, because they're content watching Arsenal or Barcelona on their arses in their living rooms. But that doesn't mean Saints couldn't do more, and I think that's the really frustrating thing.

 

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6 hours ago, saintee in exile said:

From the moment the FCF got bumped the atmosphere died..before that there was a buzz and a growing excitement about attending home games.The whole experience has before boring and poor value for money ever since IMHO

We all know they never got 'bumped'. It got to the point where the club couldn't ignore their behaviour on away tips. That was clearly put over by the club. Agree that they are missed but it was their own doing.

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I think Blueheaven has really opened up a great stream there about the lack of profile for the club. Where is our presence in the city? There is none, yes Campus Sport promote the club but they are now in a relatively backwoods part of the town so visitors do not get to see this. The promotion outside the ground is good but doesn't smack you between the eyes and with the new road we could do with more advertising at the top of the slip-road now. There should be more promotional work in town, apart from the lotto sellers you don't see much about the club or promotion for forthcoming matches. It is almost like the club do not want to be found......

I am sure we will see the table in Tesco again nearer Christmas but how about something in the markets each month or even one of the empty shops being used as a Saints shop, just need one paid employee and some volunteers but it would actually be visible to the visiting public and could offer stadium tours and sell tickets to forthcoming games, bit of club history etc....

Come on Saints, let's burst out of the cocoon and fly high like a blue and white butterfly to show the world who we are

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On 10/31/2018 at 1:42 PM, Ginger Bakers rebel army said:

Attending matches for many becomes a habit. 

Once the habit is broken it is very difficult to replicate that behaviour in the future. 

I think there are a lot of saints fans that have broken the habit and that will be difficult to reverse. 

There are endless excuses for not attending. 

I think a large factor is the lack of a strong Chairman. Yes Tommy has had better backing this season but a strong Chairman making the right impression on the fan base and local community would help the overall feel good factor. 

Some of the public admissions about running the board as a dictatorship and only putting in a couple of half days a week are complete own goals. 

 

100% correct Gus,  

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On 10/30/2018 at 1:54 PM, Kevin said:

I was talking to a couple of guys I know who used to go to games but haven't bothered recently and the one concerning thing for me was their belief that the club had no interest in them. Citing things such as family tickets and concessions whereas they are 40's and no kids interested in going to the game and were saying things along the line already on here that where is the incentive to go? They support Saints but get nothing back for it apart from the occasional exciting game. Their suggestions were also along the lines of a rewards card so like the coffee shops, pay for 5 games and get the 6th free, hospitality at a reasonable price and, this is something I agree with, a decent programme for the money you pay. How do other clubs produce programmes that you can read all week and all we get are 6-8 pages with hardly any editorial content. There was a time back in the day when I used to help out with the programme production and we made sure thee was plenty to read in it and you got value for money out of it.

 

To me Beve does a great job in her liaison role but nobody else appears to be doing anything sadly

I know what you are saying about some adult regulars feeling they get nothing back for it. Last season we had an offer for hospitality for one of the less attractive games (possibly Accies?). Season ticket holders could get the hospitality for £50 but could bring along non-season ticket holders for £60, which included their match admission, which ST holders have obviously already paid for.

Made me think a ST holder is there every week and is getting a poorer deal than folk that potentially only come along occasionally.

Its a tough one, as if you don't do deals like reduced entry to occasional fans for OF games, then how are you going to entice more people along? But on the flip side, I think it's probably already quite tempting for many to pick and choose games rather than keep the season ticket on, and we don't want to give more season ticket holders reason to not renew.

 

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7 hours ago, Kevin said:

I think Blueheaven has really opened up a great stream there about the lack of profile for the club. Where is our presence in the city? There is none, yes Campus Sport promote the club but they are now in a relatively backwoods part of the town so visitors do not get to see this. The promotion outside the ground is good but doesn't smack you between the eyes and with the new road we could do with more advertising at the top of the slip-road now. There should be more promotional work in town, apart from the lotto sellers you don't see much about the club or promotion for forthcoming matches. It is almost like the club do not want to be found......

I am sure we will see the table in Tesco again nearer Christmas but how about something in the markets each month or even one of the empty shops being used as a Saints shop, just need one paid employee and some volunteers but it would actually be visible to the visiting public and could offer stadium tours and sell tickets to forthcoming games, bit of club history etc....

Come on Saints, let's burst out of the cocoon and fly high like a blue and white butterfly to show the world who we are

I suggested Stadium Tours when I was part of S7

Was dismissed completely as unworkable 

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19 hours ago, THE LARK SAINT said:

I suggested Stadium Tours when I was part of S7

Was dismissed completely as unworkable 

I got a stadium tour years ago, Stuart Duff greeted then opened the main door for me, got an escorted tour down the stadium stairs, into the tunnel, then Into the police office, was ****ing expensive I'll tell you!!

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On 11/4/2018 at 11:47 AM, Strawman said:

While an adult and two 12 or unders is fantastic value at £16

An adult and two 13 year olds becomes £41 and £56 if against either of the old firm.

Its a big jump.

If you remain in the Ormond it goes from £16 to £34 (16 + 9 + 9) and in the East stand from £23 to £41. Admittedly a large increase but still a lot cheaper than most clubs.

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Should we join other clubs in artificially inflating our attendances? 

Add all the season ticket holders as present before counting cash sales? 

People are sheep, you’re more likely to get folk in if they notice crowds are on the up, whether they actually are or not. 

If you can get people back in the door for games like yesterday, retaining them will be much easier!

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34 minutes ago, Pat McGroin said:

Should we join other clubs in artificially inflating our attendances? 

Add all the season ticket holders as present before counting cash sales? 

People are sheep, you’re more likely to get folk in if they notice crowds are on the up, whether they actually are or not. 

If you can get people back in the door for games like yesterday, retaining them will be much easier!

That's a personal bugbear of mine. The attendance should be how many were actually there! I hate the way clubs do that, eveen worse when the likes of Ross County include all the free tickets they've given away to schools even if they don't get used.

Hopefully word spreads about how good yesterday's performance was and more come along in a fortnight. Somebody suggested turning the killie game into a blue & white day, or possibly in the week leading up to the game the club do a PLUSone push in the media, where they encourage everyone who attended the Accies game to bring at least one lapsed Saints fan along with them.

killie will bring a great support through, so it should be a great atmosphere, as well as a cracking match.

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3 hours ago, Pat McGroin said:

Should we join other clubs in artificially inflating our attendances? 

Add all the season ticket holders as present before counting cash sales? 

People are sheep, you’re more likely to get folk in if they notice crowds are on the up, whether they actually are or not. 

If you can get people back in the door for games like yesterday, retaining them will be much easier!

Just do a Celtic,don’t tell anyone the crowd.

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4 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

That's a personal bugbear of mine. The attendance should be how many were actually there! I hate the way clubs do that, eveen worse when the likes of Ross County include all the free tickets they've given away to schools even if they don't get used.

Hopefully word spreads about how good yesterday's performance was and more come along in a fortnight. Somebody suggested turning the killie game into a blue & white day, or possibly in the week leading up to the game the club do a PLUSone push in the media, where they encourage everyone who attended the Accies game to bring at least one lapsed Saints fan along with them.

killie will bring a great support through, so it should be a great atmosphere, as well as a cracking match.

Well my brother and probably my nephew are coming through for the Killie game and if they enjoy a win then the Hearts game the following week. This will be their first game of the season. They fall into the category of people who have fallen out of the habit so hopefully a couple of good games will see them return. Now I just have to persuade my other brother to come through from Edinburgh. His last game was the cup final though.

Edited by Norsaint
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