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Crowd V Killie


Auld Jag
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One thing the club should be doing is making more noise about the Fan Cards getting people in for £20 instead of £22. Its not a huge difference in the overall picture but it may entice a few more along if they know its a wee bit cheaper for them.

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Cost is (or may be) an issue but it's not the only one, scheduling and late rescheduling of games, repeatability of matches against the same team, stadium conditions, communication with fans, folk working shifts, folk moving away, less students, more choice of alternative entertainment, smoking ban, bus service reductions from likes of Drumchapel and Milgavie, more football on Telly. These will all play onto the attendance figures by varying degrees

Every club has competition, geographical constraints, fans with other commitments and so on yet we seem to be the only one alongside Celtic that are losing significant numbers. This despite the team performing better a year on! Winning football didn't seem to have any impact on bringing people back towards the end of the season.

 

 

I personally struggle to enjoy the atmosphere at Firhill, even with the improvement the north stand has brought. Too big of a ground and an open end covered in weeds, dirt and barbed wire. An obvious solution is to flatten the bing and put a terracing on it, but we're stuck between a rock and a hard place in regards to that without the money to do so, and to be fair the club seem to be trying. Kids go free, excellent social media engagement, the fan card, doing up the Aitken Suite. Even the JH toilets have finally had a good scrub.

Edited by Hankey
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Agreed, in reality Firhill is just too big. A 7500, four sided stadium would be ideal for our purposes. Firhill is a total mess. The Bing is a disgrace. The Main is a disgrace. The JHS is far too big and the facilities are getting worse from what I hear from mates that go there. I love the NS because you can stand when you want and there is a bit of atmosphere and singing. There ain't no solutions unfortunately, unless Colin Weir, or someone similar gets more involved

Edited by Lindau
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JAF, if you don't know how the numbers are calculated how fo you know what the problem is?

 

how do you know the drop isn't soley KGF? Or concessions? Or both?

 

I don't think anyone disagrees re the numbers but what problem are we trying to solve? No one seems to know/some seem to be making it up.

 

Higher attendances themselves mean little. As PT pointed out we had high attendances in early 90's -and nearly went bust. Fixation on numbers is just daft, if you have no idea who is paying what( if anything)

 

Edited to add: additionally you don't know how other clubs are calculated. There numbers going up could be solely/majorly as a result of kids go free/ other loss leading incentives.

Edited by La Scimmia Rossa
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Ultimately, if you don't think there's a problem then fine - you can always find an excuse if you look hard enough for one.

 

Personally, I think we need to have a serious look at all aspects of this decline and halt it before we find ourselves in "Armageddon" once again.

 

This is based on the assumption that there is a decline. Ok, there certainly was a reduction last season, but so far this season both games at Firhill have had higher attendances than the corresponding fixture last season. Of course that is not say that we shouldn't be trying to increase the attendances however we can.

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Maybe we need to get ONETHISTLE dusted off and brought back out, attendances dropped after the club decided it no longer needed their free service and would pay people instead.

 

ONETHISTLE got the fans engaged, this leads to more regular attendees with more wanting involved, start of an upward spiral, we need to reverse the drop in fans and cut costs (allegedly), these guys done it for free compared to paying persons to do it, it worked, atmosphere and crowds improved.

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I don't buy the repetitive games excuse.

 

barring the post split single game fck up, we'll not play a team more than twice at Firhill. A few we will only play once.

 

Any effect of "repetitive" games should only be felt in cup games and by the nature of it being a knock out competition, that excuse should be nullified.

 

Maybe it's deemed repetitive because our travelling support is so big. So the majority of fans see us home and away?

 

 

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Every club has competition, geographical constraints, fans with other commitments and so on yet we seem to be the only one alongside Celtic that are losing significant numbers. This despite the team performing better a year on! Winning football didn't seem to have any impact on bringing people back towards the end of the season.

 

 

I personally struggle to enjoy the atmosphere at Firhill, even with the improvement the north stand has brought. Too big of a ground and an open end covered in weeds, dirt and barbed wire. An obvious solution is to flatten the bing and put a terracing on it, but we're stuck between a rock and a hard place in regards to that without the money to do so, and to be fair the club seem to be trying. Kids go free, excellent social media engagement, the fan card, doing up the Aitken Suite. Even the JH toilets have finally had a good scrub.

 

Pity the north stands covered in bird shit.

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One thing I believe we can agree on is that nobody is certain why folk are staying away or attending less often (we don't even know whether it's the former or latter). Stands to reason till we discover the real cause(s) the Club would be well advised to attend to those that do turn up.

I'd venture to say if you were a fan returning to the fold and decided to give the Club bar a pre-match visit you wouldn't be too chuffed at having last orders three quarters of an hour before kick off. Still you'd be able to saunter up to the JHS/North Stand pick a seat at leisure and listen to the announcements etc over the tannoy. If of course you could actually hear what was being announced in the first place.

 

Get the basics right. If the early chucking out is as I suspect a legal/licensing issue make sure the punters know why they can't get a drink. Just don't try and inform them using that feckin' tannoy.

Edited by lady-isobel-barnett
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One thing I believe we can agree on is that nobody is certain why folk are staying away or attending less often (we don't even know whether it's the former or latter). Stands to reason till we discover the real cause(s) the Club would be well advised to attend to those that do turn up.

I'd venture to say if you were a fan returning to the fold and decided to give the Club bar a pre-match visit you wouldn't be too chuffed at having last orders three quarters of an hour before kick off. Still you'd be able to saunter up to the JHS/North Stand pick a seat at leisure and listen to the announcements etc over the tannoy. If of course you could actually hear what was being announced in the first place.

 

Get the basics right. If the early chucking out is as I suspect a legal/licensing issue make sure the punters know why they can't get a drink. Just don't try and inform them using that feckin' tannoy.

 

It beats me why the club cannot rig up an electronic notice-board. I've seen a clear, sophisticated one at an amateur football side's ground in Germany. Why can't we get something similar to back up the loudspeaker?

 

(The one I saw changed display, showing the time, time expired during play, the score and the temperature. A larger one would be needed to display the names of players, although they could then be scrolled.)

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Lindau - those clubs ALL had higher attendances than us last season - so their budgets probably would have been bigger than ours anyway.

 

Only Hamilton had lower crowds than us last season.

Inverness and Ross County had lower average attendances than us last season , think everyone is getting carried away a little bit. The main difference from the previous season is that Hibs and Hearts weren't in the league and their away supports would undoubtedly put our average crowd figures up a lot.

Don't disagree with a lot of the points , the key point is the Club has to engage with the fans to make them feel a part of things, that appears to be something they don't appear to be very good at . The Centenary Fund should have earned good revenue for the Club but know for a fact local businesses ( pubs etc ) have pulled out due to the disorganised way they go about things and TAG should have been pulled as we've probably spent more to get it up and running just to save face . As regards the cost of going to games was a minimum price not set by the SPFL ?

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JAF, if you don't know how the numbers are calculated how fo you know what the problem is?

 

how do you know the drop isn't soley KGF? Or concessions? Or both?

 

I don't think anyone disagrees re the numbers but what problem are we trying to solve? No one seems to know/some seem to be making it up.

 

Higher attendances themselves mean little. As PT pointed out we had high attendances in early 90's -and nearly went bust. Fixation on numbers is just daft, if you have no idea who is paying what( if anything)

 

Edited to add: additionally you don't know how other clubs are calculated. There numbers going up could be solely/majorly as a result of kids go free/ other loss leading incentives.

 

Colin

 

Fortunately, it's not our problem to solve!

 

What I do know is I have taken lots of people to games from far afield and closer and every single one independently (and some have attended terrible games!) have told me they have a enjoyed the experience and b that the best thing about coming to the game is the fans.

 

I don't think the board realise that our fans are actually a key asset which could be/should be exploited. Not in a taking us for granted as cash cows type of way I hasten to add.

 

I think that the key thing is that although ultimately it's the board (who have all the facts and figures colin) job to devise strategies to preserve or boost attendances, we all have a responsibility to do our best to help that happen. I sometimes don't think the board would ever acknowledge that.

 

Sandy

 

 

 

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As an elderly long time supporter I feel that we will always have the problems attracting and keeping support while we share Glasgow with the gruesome twosome with all their baggage, but short of carrying out a pogrom of mass sterilisation!!! we are stuck with the status quo forever more. When our younger supporters get married have family's, mortgages, and all the calls on their disposable income going to a football match can become hard to justify. Losing 10% of your support for the old firm is an inconvenience but for Thistle its a real problem.

So many youngsters today have other interests that keep them away from football, t'internet as they say in't North, as well as endless meaningless football on TV. For me personally I don't give a shit about the English premier league, the only football outside Scotland worth watching is the Bundisliga highlights on a Monday night,lots of goals,flair, an apart from the bloody Bavarians very competitive. Sorry about my ramble I think on the whole Archie is doing an excellent job on a very limited budget, I do agree with those who think that he doesn't make best use of Stevenson he is really an attacking midfielder not by any stretch of the imagination a striker, hopefully Pogba will be fit soon.

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I think the issue with the two a*se cheeks that are in our city is a valid one, but it seems to me that the key here is to find a way to tap into the constituency of football supporters who live here who don't want to be associated with that pair. My son goes to a school with kids from a lot of different backgrounds, but the common denominator among those with European (e.g. German) parents is that, although they are interested in football and would like to visit a game, they don't want to got to Ibrox or Parkhead. However, despite telling them about the kids for free thing , the ones that have come along haven't become 'repeat customers. The reason seem to be that we fit in with the whole spectrum of entertainment. Also that the kids are at an age where, although they might enjoy some of the football, the whole ninety minutes doesn't really engage them in a way it does us as diehard supporters. Maybe the best way forward is to try to encourage the casual visitor and hope that within that we get a few diehards emerging.

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Perhaps if we did get the simple things right for people visiting Firhill(regular and occasional) it would entice people back and keep coming.Now, I don't like knocking the administrative aspects of the club, but something like making sure the Tannoy system works, that the loos are clean and well maintained, that the concourse is a pleasant ? place to be and that the food is warm and of good quality.

 

Now, I am not saying that there are issues with all of these things and they don't all matter to everybody but I am sure they matter to somebody that attends.

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One thing I believe we can agree on is that nobody is certain why folk are staying away or attending less often (we don't even know whether it's the former or latter). Stands to reason till we discover the real cause(s) the Club would be well advised to attend to those that do turn up.

I'd venture to say if you were a fan returning to the fold and decided to give the Club bar a pre-match visit you wouldn't be too chuffed at having last orders three quarters of an hour before kick off. Still you'd be able to saunter up to the JHS/North Stand pick a seat at leisure and listen to the announcements etc over the tannoy. If of course you could actually hear what was being announced in the first place.

 

Get the basics right. If the early chucking out is as I suspect a legal/licensing issue make sure the punters know why they can't get a drink. Just don't try and inform them using that feckin' tannoy.

 

The club would probably argue that scarce resources should be spent elsewhere than improving the sound system/radio mics. I would argue that is precisely where money should be spent. Couldn't even announce the f**king team before the Killie game. An embarrassment. We have to get these things right or the casual visitor to Firhill is going to remain just that.

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The club would probably argue that scarce resources should be spent elsewhere than improving the sound system/radio mics. I would argue that is precisely where money should be spent. Couldn't even announce the f**king team before the Killie game. An embarrassment. We have to get these things right or the casual visitor to Firhill is going to remain just that.

 

As pointed out on Saturday it appears the polis one works OK. You know the one that tells you "if you hear this strange noise, leave in an orderly manner" or whatever. Our game at Cappielow a few seasons ago was close to getting called off when thieves/vandals made off with their tannoy (the time their mascot got decapitated). If in our case it was the same sound system then we'd have an H & S problem.

Edited by lady-isobel-barnett
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The club would probably argue that scarce resources should be spent elsewhere than improving the sound system/radio mics. I would argue that is precisely where money should be spent. Couldn't even announce the f**king team before the Killie game. An embarrassment. We have to get these things right or the casual visitor to Firhill is going to remain just that.

 

can't recall the particular game, but last season (or was it previous one?) there was a game where the tannoy wasn't working at all ..... no pre-match music, no run out music, no annoying announcer ..... sure it was for a game the club had made a big song and dance about getting a big crowd in and making quite big noise too, just can't recall the specific match right now ..... that was just one of many embarrassments that is our tannoy system.

 

no tannoy, no party :crazy:

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As pointed out on Saturday it appears the polis one works OK. You know the one that tells you "if you hear this strange noise, leave in an orderly manner" or whatever. Our game at Cappielow a few seasons ago was close to getting called off when thieves/vandals made off with their tannoy (the time their mascot got decapitated). If in our case it was the same sound system then we'd have an H & S problem.

 

sometimes wish an enterprising jakey thief would make off with our tannoy system, if only to force the board to install a new one ..... knowing our luck, they'd install something as equally bad though.

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Perhaps if we did get the simple things right for people visiting Firhill(regular and occasional) it would entice people back and keep coming.Now, I don't like knocking the administrative aspects of the club, but something like making sure the Tannoy system works, that the loos are clean and well maintained, that the concourse is a pleasant ? place to be and that the food is warm and of good quality.

 

Now, I am not saying that there are issues with all of these things and they don't all matter to everybody but I am sure they matter to somebody that attends.

 

This is spot on.

The North Stand is minging. I'd be willing to bet the stairwells haven't been cleaned properly since it was built. If the club can't afford to clean it I'd be willing to help do it for free it someone has a jet wash thing. Keeping the place clean is a basic and I'm sure the directors area isn't minging. And as for the stuttering tannoy system, ooft, it's actually laughable.

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As pointed out on Saturday it appears the polis one works OK. You know the one that tells you "if you hear this strange noise, leave in an orderly manner" or whatever. Our game at Cappielow a few seasons ago was close to getting called off when thieves/vandals made off with their tannoy (the time their mascot got decapitated). If in our case it was the same sound system then we'd have an H & S problem.

 

 

The sound system is pretty poor but the main problem seems to be with the radio mic transmitter/receiver. The problem on Saturday and the farcical John Lambie interview both took place with the mic on the Main Stand side of the ground i.e. a great distance between transmitter & receiver. I'm no expert mind you. I'm sure our boardroom communications expert will get it sorted.

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The sound system is pretty poor but the main problem seems to be with the radio mic transmitter/receiver. The problem on Saturday and the farcical John Lambie interview both took place with the mic on the Main Stand side of the ground i.e. a great distance between transmitter & receiver. I'm no expert mind you. I'm sure our boardroom communications expert will get it sorted.

 

https://flagexpressions.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/semaphore-flag-codes3.jpg

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Re tannoy and the North Stand, the really annoying aspect at half time is that the announcer after speaking in a normal voice when introducing whoever is doing the draw suddenly shouts the name in a way that makes it totally indistinct and leaves me asking "Who?" and wondering how keenly to applaud. The name is never repeated so the identity of the guest remains a mystery. A simple repeat of the name in a normal voice should do the trick!

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The club would probably argue that scarce resources should be spent elsewhere than improving the sound system/radio mics. I would argue that is precisely where money should be spent. Couldn't even announce the f**king team before the Killie game. An embarrassment. We have to get these things right or the casual visitor to Firhill is going to remain just that.

 

I sometimes think the club does it just tannoy the supporters.

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