I didn’t mean fickle! Casual, floating, occasional fans!
They may be but it is hard to see how a player being recalled from a loan is a lack of ambition in that the club could do nothing at all about it.
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Slow take up of tickets is probably more to do with it being just after Christmas and people are still waiting for that January wages day, that takes an absolute age to come, after the excess of the seasonal period. Hopefully there’ll be a boost again as the season progresses and promotion becomes more of a reality.
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Been reading this thread now for a week or more .my take on this is ,like everything nowadays entertainment, going down the pub having a meal out.going to a football match .for the average family is very expensive .this is Walsall not the most affluent area in the midland .games can come 2 a week the cost of one game for a family say dad and two kids is extremely expensive.when family income is tight .I know there are discounts and such but nevertheless food transport still comes at a cost .think personally this is the main issue as opposed to some of the others put forward on her .perhaps they could reduce ticket prices for say 6 games see if that would increase the gate and offer a good discount to season ticket holders on hospitality and at the bar for this period as compensation for the same period .
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Sounds like your after Ben sadlers job yowd be a good assistant till you got a bit more experience
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Got to say i want to attend more games when health lets me, but i have to pay for a career to come with me as my family would be worried if i attend games due to cancer not sure if walsall has a career scheme in place.
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I know a lot of saddlers fans who go occasionally when the offers are on.
They have ( through no fault of there own) been priced out of football at the lowest level unfortunately. Which is really sad tbh.
I just hope that the club’s aim next year is to make it more accessible for those supporters and build a fan base with no increases in admission prices.
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I think they do mate and all the best with your treatment
Wolves fans tonight at Newcastle. You would literally have thought there wasn’t a single one there unless you knew better. Zero noise… not a peep…almost other worldly to see such a silent away following. I’ve never seen nowt like it in all my days.
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They haven’t got much to shout about, bless them.
I expect Moyes to improve Everton slightly, so it looks like a straight shootout between them and Ipswich to stay up.
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One of the issues with the over demand for PL games is that loyalty points equals assurance over tickets.
Which means that people more or less feel obliged to buy away tickets to maintain their points tally. Plenty shift them on, but plenty fulfill the obligation with little zeal or zest.
My uncle had similar with Villa. Trying to stay in the top 3,000 or so to guarantee first dibs. Got too expensive so he knocked it on the head to demote himself to mere ST status. Of course he’s now in the “but what of we get to the UCL final? stage of delusion.
I’ve told him he has nothing to worry about.
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From the MK Dons thread.
I’d say there is little evidence to support the ‘build it and they will come’, it’s a huge worry in my opinion! Fingers crossed we can market the half season tickets well! This will be an amazing spring.
I’m 35 this year and I have never seen Walsall this dominant, I’m going to be at every game now until the middle of march because of it. It might be a slight strain on my family and my poor car but it’s worth it.
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I’m a bit concerned too.
I’ve said before that getting into the third division is actually easier than becoming a bone fide third division club.
Those who’s playing exploits transcend their “size” (proxy measure attendances) either require massive benevolence from an owner, ridiculous financial risk taking otherwise a sharpish return to the fourth division awaits.
Despite our playing exploits this season we still sit 13th in the league on attendances at 5,700 or so. We’re around 300 behind 12th placed Grimsby. And whilst our players have us comfortably top three in the league we’re about 3,000 off being top three for crowds and a similar amount off for the average third division crowd.
The hardest task Ben Sadler and Trivela have is getting us to a competitive size off the pitch. For me, any notion of price increases next season would be hugely counter productive in the medium to long term ambition of the club. Regardless of division I’d also be considering a reduction. Because until we get 7,500 odd Walsall fans to turn up every week well either be a fourth division club sitting exactly where it should be or a third division club fighting gravity every season.
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I’m still a bit intrigued by the fans who turned up for the fa cup game v Leicester. Logic dictates there must be 3 to 4 thousand non regular attendees who turned up that day. Obviously a large part was to see Premier league players, but are these folk potential regular supporters? Or would they never turn up again unless we play premier league opposition.
Thoughts?
I agree - with the competition from the other clubs on our doorstep we will only attract more fans if our offer is competitive enough - a winning team playing attractive, entertaining football, owners investing in the team, decent facilities seeing some investment and a feeling that they appreciate the fans. And a competitive price point. I think we are making great strides on most of these. But the price has to be right. If like in the bonsor days it is as expensive or more expensive to watch 4th division football than to go to a top or 2nd tier game then we won’t progress!
Don’t really see any ‘intrigue’ in this - I’d suggest every smaller club that draws a PL team (or much bigger club) in a cup game is certain to get a bigger crowd than their average (just happens doesn’t it?)
The fact is that we are a smaller club with smaller attendances and we have to focus on growing in a progressive and consistent way (say, 500/600 more for league games over a given period) rather than sit here contemplating how do we get those 3/4k floaters back for the next game etc…
Clearly this stuff isn’t easy but it’s not impossible either - others have done it and we can too but it takes time and of course as other posters have already said, the product on offer has to be of sufficient quality and potential to get the bums on seats…
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I guess my intrigue is why these folk are happy to turn up to see us lose against premier league opposition but why there seems little interest in a record breaking side that’s storming the league.
To put it another way I felt happier and got more value for my money when we beat Tranmere 5-1 the other day than when we lost to Leicester 0-1. I know you don’t know you’ll win 5-1 before the game but you’d think there’d be folk thinking (‘I’ll pop along to Walsall this Saturday, good chance they’ll win and score a few”) but there doesn’t seem to be.
It’s not that it was a Premier League Club as such, more the occasion.
For example, we averaged around 4600 in 1987/88 in a promotion season, the good old days at Fellows Park eh? But had 16000 for the play-off Final, or something around that.
All clubs have big game fans, every game fans, and a lot in between.
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Ok, but then I’m asking is there any chance these big game fans can be persuaded to attend more often, or is it a futile cause?
Great post, totally agree but there is also a market for the disgruntled with PL / VAR / Unrelatable ownership just trying to fleece fans . The type of person that comes from Walsall anyway, still wanting to support a local club isn’t as unpalatable as going off to support a glory hunter club. It’s kinda hipster or trendy and speaks to a younger 30s generation. All football supporting is addictive if you get the feeling right and we can work on that with ease.
Target people who can’t get on a waiting list and draw them into their own local club with ticket incentives to keep them coming back. This can be done with mates tickets or other such ideas.
We have a USP at the moment, local club, not trying to rip off fans, local talented players and attractive attacking football with no VAR.
I reckon there is a large supporter base who have moved out of area. I think they come back for these games because they can make arrangements to visit as an occasion. Sweeping generalisation but could the traditional core supporter (white professional class / public sector) have moved out of the town within the past few decades as wages rise etc.
I think we’re seeing the result in that but it’s just a guess. I lived between the Delves palfrey and Caldmore, all of the lads I grew up with have left, all the lads we played football with from Pelsall and Blocko moved to Litchfield or further into Shropshire/ Staffordshire.
I agree about season tickets but I think if you get more for the money, let people feel like they are getting a bargain without it costing the club any additional overheads.
Make it cheaper to come back,
Family tickets
Reduced tickets per people you bring, ABIT like a ticketing pyramid scheme!