Good point they can’t cope with crowds of 4-5 thousand let alone double even then the staff wouldn’t know what a double was.
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But what if Jimmy was to play as well, would that help? 
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So as it stands we feel that we wouldn’t fill the place if it was only a quid. It would be a struggle but we just might if it were free but to guarantee it, we’d need to actually pay people to come and watch us.
That is an awfully sad indictment of how attractive a prospect it is to come and watch us these days.
I’ll leave the poll open for a bit to see if this changes.
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Not sure he could fill it. Isn’t The Wonder Stuff still our record crowd at the Bezla?
Ooooh good question, and I don’t know.
That was when Bescot was in full stanchion mode too.
That’s one of the reasons he will always be a hero to me 
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I remember the player that DID score, he over celebrated so much i wanted to jump on the pitch to kill him 
Perhaps if the club offered travel expenses?
My company was the match ball sponsor that day. Organised it (and the away game) at the start of the season so didn’t know the significance. Had 20 guests at the game and had to be in customer mode all day and evening even though I just wanted to go home and drink myself asleep.
I still have the signed match ball.
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If the team were in better form I think there would’ve been 7k there on Saturday. It’s a difficult one to sell when a team have lost six on the bounce and a 6-0 win over a youth team in the cup wasn’t going to tempt a thousand for a walk up.
If the team as it should now remains in league two perhaps it would be more logical to do the fiver offer for the first league home game next season. Better weather, less negativity with barely a game played (or lost) and chance to identify with the new signings so that could maybe tempt whoever takes up the offer to come to a few more home games afterwards.
It has to be remembered the club is at its lowest point for decades, if the club were a solid mid table league one club still then yes barely 5.5k for a fiver game would be a huge disappointment, for a side who could’ve been bottom of the whole football league if the game had been lost it’s about par.
When Orient did the offer last month there was over 1k empty seats in their smaller capacity ground and this is club very much on the up over last year. Also interesting to me despite people on here saying Cambridge were in decent form and were taking close to 1k for a few aways this season the away end was half empty (of course not an easy away trip for them).
Only way 10k is turning up at Bescot this season is if club gets to 3rd round and draws a name.
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Oh I agree, clubs seems to do bare minimum in terms of community engagement and then claim that’s all they can do. Was quite telling in one of the emails Rob Harvey sent the club when he was trying to raise the questions about Bonser’s future and Gamble’s reply about club’s ticketing was basically “what more can we do?”
I was hoping the likes of Gamble and Mole would get a new lease of life from having a more positive owner in charge but so far it does seem old habits die hard. Who actually is the marketing guy at the club? A few years ago the social media for the level Walsall were at was pretty good, Saddlers TV and Dale Moon running that side very well. Since he went to Blues it seems they’ve replaced him on the cheap and I wouldn’t have a clue who the media guy is this season, haven’t checked the youtube channel for ages either.
As for attracting the casual fan, casual events get them interested. Semi finals in competitions to get to Wembley, league games v Wolves, cup games v top 6 premier league, play off semi finals, all those home matches since 2015 have attracted 8-10k but over the last 15 years hardly any of that has happened bar 15-16. Compare it to likes of Rochdale or Newport who seem to have a cup run every year.
Late 90s/early 2000s Walsall were either in promotion or relegation battle for a 6 year period, had lots of “star” names playing and were generally seen as a progressive club playing decent football at affordable prices so perfect alternative to anyone turned off by top level football. Can only hope in 5 years time the club can be in a position to attempt to reach that level again.
How the hell they would cope if the ground was ever full is beyond me they can’t cope with 4/5000 home fans currently can they ?
The problems do seem over the last year as I can’t remember threads about queues for beers and tickets in the 2014/16 period when there were actually 3-4 full houses.
You stretch resources like Saddlers club and Bescot Bar. They encounter different problems and both have to close for a period so everyone then has to pile in into the upper tier which is actually pretty good facility for this level but can only take so much footfall so it’s putting issues off and then it rebounds on the club and the paying customer.
I must admit I have been puzzled by all these complaints. Is it simply with the closure of the Saddlers club and Bescot bar that the stadium suite simply cannot cater for the numbers wanting drinks just before KO or at half time? The former, of course ,was a separate body which went bust although the Club clearly has an interest in what happens to the building. I notice the adjoining Hotel is doing very well with numerous away fans in there…maybe the Club should look to reopen the saddlers club in some form to help cater for those wanting drinks and food before hand. The question is would it generate enough income to cover the running costs of a building which ,unless another use could be found, would stand idle for most of the year.
He was clean through, slowed down and literally stared at the defender as if to say “come and tackle me then” . Never seen anything like it or since
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It was brilliant. I’m almost certain he gave a cheeky smile/wink to the Alsop shortly after it too.
The first priority is to make those who do attend feel special something we failed to do miserably last Saturday.Customer retention is vital in any business.
I believe even free entry would not fill the ground.A few weeks ago Solihull Moors tried an idea of letting supporters just make a voluntary donation as they entered the ground if they wished.I believe this was a great success and more than doubled their normal attendance.Would be worth a try if we could get our act together inside the ground.
On the subject of the thread, firstly the club has to shake off its loser image. What’s the first thing people think when you say Walsall FC. I guarantee you it’s “crap”.
Secondly it would take a decade of success, a better experience all round and maybe a bit of luck with the big boys doing crap. I’m not sure we could ever fill it every week, However I do think aiming to average 7 thousand one day is a realistic aim.
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It’s a combination of things.
Up until a season or so ago the Stadium Suite has regular staff that had been there for a good few seasons and seemed to know what was going on and were organised. They’ve since been replaced by new staff, mostly kids who don’t appear to have had training and they’ve been thrown in at the deep end. On top of this you then get extra fans from the Saddlers Club and Bescot Bar going in. And then on top of that when we have discount games even more people coming in.
It just needs better training and organisation.
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The Club is already up against it with all the football that is live on tv. When you are doing rubbish like we are, Nobody is going to go. When we start climbing the table the crowds will start going up. We should not be in this division.