Casson

[Colin Appleton]

The reason crowds are low is because it's overpriced. On Tuesday night people could have gone to the pub and watched Champions League football , bought a couple of drinks and still had change from a tenner or instead braved the rain and watched us play the mighty Guiseley.

The club's marketing is appalling it needs to do more to attract people that aren't regulars. Putting the prices up this season wasn't the way forward reducing them was. If you were running a corner shop and a product wasn't selling well what would you do to get more people buying it. Increase the price, no, you'd make it dirt cheap, get people hooked on it and then steadily increase the price.

Life is all about routine, people are no longer in the habit of going to Holker Street. You only have to go back to the early eighties when the rugby regularly had crowds of around three and a half thousand plus, people got in the habit of going but once they'd stopped it was hard to ever get them back.

Come on marketing team come up with some off beat ideas that would attract a few more people. Here's one idea any person who on proof of their driving license that was born in October can come and watch a match for half price during that month.

Also the club needs to control the food outlets in the ground. That way, if say you let a lot of people in at a cheaper rate you get most of your money back when they buy food.

I would be giving out three or four hundred free kids tickets every week. Tickets where the kids DON'T have to come with a paying adult. I bet 90 percent of those kids would buy chips etc and that's where you get your money back when you control the food outlets...

[Steeley]

Let kids in for free. Unlikely to lose money as it will likely be offset by more parents coming along with kids who otherwise wouldn't have gone. Free tickets in schools/in the evening mail.

[Ste Story]

Let kids in for free. Unlikely to lose money as it will likely be offset by more parents coming along with kids who otherwise wouldn't have gone. Free tickets in schools/in the evening mail.

+1

[Lowtower]

Was talking about the price with another regular the other day and we were trying to work out if the price today was around the same (in real terms) in the 80s and 90s ?

[BoltonBlue]

Let kids in for free. Unlikely to lose money as it will likely be offset by more parents coming along with kids who otherwise wouldn't have gone. Free tickets in schools/in the evening mail.

Massive +1. Barrow AFC has become hugely unfashionable for kids in the town now, It's an absolute no brainer how to change that trend again.

[mikemarshhewasgood]

Pretty sure any childen under the age of 12 are already free entry when accompanied by a paying adult. This applies both to the ground and the stand

[walney rock]

The crowds are down mainly to do with HS and it doesn't help with PC offering everything and delivering Nothing (apart from the floodlights) that we're a must, Time to start backing your works up with actions Mr Casson

[Jonty]

Just to balance the pricing argument. Barrow introduced some very good season ticket deals right from the end of last season including a new young adult 18-22 pricing tier for this season at €8 on the gate £7 if bought in advance. That is instantly a better deal for this age group, sadly we still don't seem to be attract this age group in the numbers you would hope to see which is plainly obvious when you look around on match day.
i don't know how cheap some expect the club to set the pricing and be sustainable at this level. Those who say it's too expensive what are you comparing our prices with - in live sport watching terms.

[Jonty]

Let kids in for free. Unlikely to lose money as it will likely be offset by more parents coming along with kids who otherwise wouldn't have gone. Free tickets in schools/in the evening mail.

+1

Kids are let in for free with a paying adult. What do you realistically expect the club to do more in terms of trying to make things as affordable as possible whilst trying to balance the books. It's not the pricing it's the lack of support in general and that has been apparent right over the 30 years I've watched them on and off. I think we have had perhaps 2 seasons averaging over 1500 in all this time. Or putting it another way, less than 2% of the so called 100 000 catchment area population. It's not enough. One lad who I used to work with, regularly asks me about what's happening "down the soccer" yet when I ask him if he would like to come down to a game and see for himself he gives me a reaction as if I've just asked him to climb Everest.

I'm on me rant box now. Cheers.

[bigmac95]

Just to balance the pricing argument. Barrow introduced some very good season ticket deals right from the end of last season including a new young adult 18-22 pricing tier for this season at €8 on the gate £7 if bought in advance. That is instantly a better deal for this age group, sadly we still don't seem to be attract this age group in the numbers you would hope to see which is plainly obvious when you look around on match day.
i don't know how cheap some expect the club to set the pricing and be sustainable at this level. Those who say it's too expensive what are you comparing our prices with - in live sport watching terms.

I agree with your sentiment, but I would add that I don't think it matters whether it's £8 or £15, the club need to market much better, take out a billboard, do a projection onto the side of a building, have posters and signs our outside schools etc, I think we need to get fans of all ages engaged, make the players proper community actors who people know and recognise. I think it's too late for this season, I think this has to be done over the summer period and get people interested again.

At the moment it seems the club expect fans to just turn up and pay there money and be grateful for the experience of it. The 215 kids quoted in the mail as being in the youth team should be told and expected to come support the first team - tell them that they get in for free and there parents a fiver (or words to that effect). That is a ready made base of young fans who actually have a stake in the club - if we can't attract 80/90% of them on a Saturday then we are really struggling and there's no way your average kid will engage with the club. Start there, get players into schools, then market the shit of of each Saturday game - make it an event!

[SwearFilter] me I don't know how many times I and others have wrote the sentiment above, it's frustrating as hell.

[Steeley]

+1

Kids are let in for free with a paying adult.

Fair enough, that's good, but there's nothing out there to force the parents in. Give tickets out at school and a few parents will think its a cheapish day out and its football. At the moment its all in the adults hands and obviously floaters aren't going out of their way to visit HS.

On a side note, I think to an average armchair fan football is expensive to attend. Arguments that they would spend more sat in a pub for 90 minutes watching Chelsea v west brom but they must see that as value as they get [SwearFilter].

[dyson]

I have 3 kids and we go in the stand. Match day £18 adult + 1 child accompanied £8 +2 free + 3 x icecream x £2 = £6 + chips £1 = £33 + transport. Not cheap at all to try and recruit future supporters.

[Jonty]

Just to balance the pricing argument. Barrow introduced some very good season ticket deals right from the end of last season including a new young adult 18-22 pricing tier for this season at €8 on the gate £7 if bought in advance. That is instantly a better deal for this age group, sadly we still don't seem to be attract this age group in the numbers you would hope to see which is plainly obvious when you look around on match day.
i don't know how cheap some expect the club to set the pricing and be sustainable at this level. Those who say it's too expensive what are you comparing our prices with - in live sport watching terms.

I agree with your sentiment, but I would add that I don't think it matters whether it's £8 or £15, the club need to market much better, take out a billboard, do a projection onto the side of a building, have posters and signs our outside schools etc, I think we need to get fans of all ages engaged, make the players proper community actors who people know and recognise. I think it's too late for this season, I think this has to be done over the summer period and get people interested again.

At the moment it seems the club expect fans to just turn up and pay there money and be grateful for the experience of it. The 215 kids quoted in the mail as being in the youth team should be told and expected to come support the first team - tell them that they get in for free and there parents a fiver (or words to that effect). That is a ready made base of young fans who actually have a stake in the club - if we can't attract 80/90% of them on a Saturday then we are really struggling and there's no way your average kid will engage with the club. Start there, get players into schools, then market the shit of of each Saturday game - make it an event!

[SwearFilter] me I don't know how many times I and others have wrote the sentiment above, it's frustrating as hell.

It's not sentiment, it's fact. I am talking solely about pricing here. I agree with the selling of the club could be more but that is a different argument.

[Alley_Cat]

When supporters only have a limited amount of available cash for themselves and their families then clearly choices have to be made. If it were a choice between taking my family out for a meal or going to the football I wouldn't have any hesitation in putting my family first - and I say this as a delusional if committed BAFC supporter.

There is a grey area however between being able to afford the football and wanting to watch the football. Its not a great example but take Newcastle or Sunderland. Now you cant really argue that standards of living on Tyneside or Wearside or materially much different than those in South West Cumbria. Yet as we know each of those clubs fills their grounds with tens of thousands of fans each week and the bulk of these cannot be prawn sandwich wielding members of the Geordie middle class. I've known a few in my time and they have been the most working class and cash limited borasic members of society you'll find. Yet thousands of them will travel to away games never mind at home. Without questioning the rationale.

Of course, these clubs are playing at much higher levels - at which there are vast amounts of money available. Generally however this rarely finds its way to supporters of any club let alone the least wealthy. Despite this Sunderland fans during the close season voted not to accept an offer from their club to reduce gate prices following their relegation.

I'm not trying to make any political points here. But a number of things strike me. Firstly is that whatever Paul Casson's financial capability is, then it is. Before he was at the club money was a very serious drawback to any progress we could make. Now it would appear that with a reasonably affluent but not fabulously wealthy owner on board, money for many people (including our previous manager) is still an issue. There is a tendency to value his contribution in purely financial terms at the end of the day and when comparisons are made with other clubs (close by) that comparison always comes down to the financial investment. Clearly any judgement made on such a comparison is futile unless we've got a queue of even wealthier millionaires waiting in the wings with even bigger bank accounts.

Secondly and a point that's been made before many times, because of these limitations the club needs to consider the quality of the customer experience as being as important as the quantity of the investment. People and kids in particular need to want to come to games. Kids need to be pestering reluctant parents to go to games even if funds are limited. The club needs to compete for your attention and money. Whilst the club does seem to be reaching out to the community in this respect what is it actually doing to make you want to spend your money - with them?

Undoubtedly a key factor in this is and has always been HS itself. Personally I love it to bits but it has absolutely no pulling power. It has been around for a 100 years but it has never been seen in my memory as any kind of community asset. Because of this the affinity between the club and its community broadly is poor. and by this I mean the basic attitudes and behaviours of the Community to the club are poor. In times of trouble, people turn away from the club rather than gather round it, placing the blame on the club itself and demanding that it reform itself before they are willing to give back if only with their presence. This attitude actually pervades this forum so ingrained is it in even the most hardy BAFC supporter.

There's no one group responsible for this and in fact its a classic vicious circle in which the club and its supporters are pitted against each other. Until this circle can be broken we will not feel any progress even if its actually being made.

Genuinely the most sensible post i've ever seen on this forum.

There are so many positive things going on at the club like the pitch, lights, social media, corporate, community and junior sports that is quickly brushed to one side so people can focus on the lack of promotion. I truly believe that we (Casson) are building the base of this pyramid that has actually never been built before. This club has never ever been run properly with a long term vision so PC has one hell of a job to do. I'll give him at least another 10 years before i start calling for his head

[Soulboy]

Unfortunately non league players and managers demand more these days. The premier league effect downwards. We as other clubs in our league are now full time. This wasn't the case a few years ago. We have the pressures of economy and television now. Live soccer didn't exist not too long ago. The attraction of getting out of the house or pub to spend £ watching non league football is less appealing than it used to be. This means a different strategy .
Yes the price of admission needs looking at along with the marketing. Free kids a good one..... maybe a free bus that collects on a route and returns? Corporate deals in a wider sense that deliver additional tickets for firms to distribute. Control of fast food.... with decent suppliers that the town is famous for? A few ideas.