ATTENDANCES LAST SEASON

[portugull]

The average crowd at Plainmoor in 2010/11 was 2630 compared to 2855 in 2009/2010.
This is a drop of 8% and again begs the question when are the club going to make a serios effort to arrest the decline.
There must be some fans in Torbay who are retired with a marketing background who could help the club on a voluntary basis.
Why dont the Board hold an OPEN DAY in June to see how many suitable volenteers would show up to work for the club say 2 days a week?
I see the future for community clubs like Torquay as more and more relying on voluntary support. Anyone agree?

[basil75]

I wouldn't worry too much about the drop in attendance this year. A congested midweek schedule from mid January due to the particularly horrid winter this year. Midweek games attract less than weekend games at the best of times, make the midweek games a weekly occurrence and you'll see enthusiasm drop significantly - as the nice occasional change of having a midweek game becomes arduous and inconvenient for many supporters when you have so many of them.

We also lost the games over the festive period which usually delivers above average attendances - and were rescheduled to midweek February - which deliver below average attendances.

These factors would account for most, if not all, the drop in average attendance this year I think. However, I am nevertheless a strong believer that the board should be doing more to address attendances.

[yellowforever]

Agreed about midweek, the Crawley match didn't help either, that really got a lot of fans giving it a break for a while. I can remember the game afterwards against Hereford ('robinsongate') and it was a ghost town.

[SilverIntoSteel]

It's a real shame, It might sound kind of obvious/silly considering, but it could be a money thing, i'm sure many clubs are seeing a similar decline in attendance. Anyways, I for one am making a solemn promise to myself to attend a lot more next season. So there's 1 extra.

[Modgull]

It's a real shame, It might sound kind of obvious/silly considering, but it could be a money thing, i'm sure many clubs are seeing a similar decline in attendance. Anyways, I for one am making a solemn promise to myself to attend a lot more next season. So there's 1 extra.

Why not get a season ticket with the early bird offer extended.

[Smithys]

ticket prices are too high! I know plenty of blokes who said they'd pay a tenner every week, but come rarely because 15 quid is too dear, also give out 1000 free tickets too schools and workplaces, people come, like what they see, come again, and if not, they might buy something when they come like food, a programme or a scarf!

[SantaCruzScotty]

I aggree with Smithy.
I spend £60 train fare to turn up to Torquay, to spend £10 min on food, I then spend £26 on tickets.
£98 without taxis, bus's, and a magazine for the train.
Like OT, i spent £60 on a coach for me and my girfreind, £60 on two tickets £120 without food or something to help us get to OT.

Id like the club to actually say to me "Thanks for your support heres a free-bee because your a loyal supporter, you turn up every season, buy a shirt every season, by bits and bobs from our shop.


PAH, Torquay are in it for the money thats why most of the attendace is low per season. Low money more crowed which means more money for them.

[Fonda]

You'll probably find that lower prices wouldn't increase the attendances by much, so the club would lose money because all that would result is the regulars pay less. I continue to be amazed by the suggestion the club wouldn't have considered such things. If they thought by lowering prices, we'd have increased attendances AND more money, they'd do it. They aren't stupid. Our prices are in line with every other club in our League. Let's not try and pick fault with everything, for the sake of it.

[MuzDog]

I wouldn't worry too much about the drop in attendance this year. A congested midweek schedule from mid January due to the particularly horrid winter this year. Midweek games attract less than weekend games at the best of times, make the midweek games a weekly occurrence and you'll see enthusiasm drop significantly - as the nice occasional change of having a midweek game becomes arduous and inconvenient for many supporters when you have so many of them.

We also lost the games over the festive period which usually delivers above average attendances - and were rescheduled to midweek February - which deliver below average attendances.

These factors would account for most, if not all, the drop in average attendance this year I think. However, I am nevertheless a strong believer that the board should be doing more to address attendances.

Totally agree. Last season we had three league games midweek and this year we had six due to the bad weather.

Our average gate on a Tuesday this year was 1,851 while on a Saturday it is 2,906 - over 1,000 more. Our average Saturday attendance in 2009/10 was 2,957, so we're only 51 down on that figure.

This, in my view, can be put down to a couple of factors.

* For 2009/10 we had the cheap season ticket offer which boosted attendances.

* We lost our Christmas fixture due to the weather. In 2009/10 this was the Hereford game which had a crowd of 3,792. This year the corresponding fixture was rearranged to a Tuesday and only 1,680 turned up. This on its own knocks 93 off the average attendance alone.

* Our other "derby" against Bournemouth was also lost. This attracted a gate of 3,881 in 2009/10.

Thereagain, this season was far more successful than the one before so you'd have expected some improvement. But having said that, it's not as bad as the headline figures show.

Also, next season we have fixtures against Plymouth, Swindon and Bristol Rovers which you'd expect to give us an average of 4,000 from those games. So with a good winter and fewer postponements, we can perhaps expect gates to get back up to to an average of 2,900 next year.

[happytorq]

Assuming we can put together a halfway decent team, I can see us averaging over 3,000 next season. of course, thats also dependent on things beyond the club's control, like weather postponements - losing a Christmas/New Year game that is reschedule for a tuesday night in february (Champions League night, even) will probably mean the attendance is at 1,000 down on what it would be.

I don't ascribe to the theory that we should be reducing the prices either - it's been tried many times. Simple maths. if you knock a fiver off the prices, you'll have to get an extra 1000 paying people through the gate. We're never going to do that overnight. The best way is surely to make efforts to reach out to the local community and increase attendances slowly. Do some community events involving the players, get kids excited about football on their doorstep. It's a long process but there's no overnight solution.

Also I think we could be doing more to encourage away fans - Torquay is a very appealing away trip for fans so more information about where to stay, things to do - coming directly from the club - would surely be a good move. You could maybe even get local business to pay for advertising in this way. Not much, but it'd be a start.

[SilverIntoSteel]

Why not get a season ticket with the early bird offer extended.

I probably would, but my job often includes working weekends, so i'd probably not be able to make it enough to warrant it. Though i'll take a look at the prices, it'd be nice to have.

[Dave]

For a start the club have vey much been looking into atendances and ways of increasing them,the club have had a working group looking into ways of marketing the club ,and i know this group has met with with counterparts from other league 2 club last season to disscuss idea's.

Reducing gate prices is a total non-starter the club overall would lose money doing this and that can not happen,that said i was more than a little dissapointed the club did not annouce a family ticket price for next season,think the club have missed a trick there to be honest.

Marketing as we all know is about your product being visible,and this is where Torquay united fall down in a big way ,you can not rely on the back page of the hearld express ,the web site and the odd 5 minute annuocment on Palm FM to do the job for you,the only poeple that will read or listen with any intrest are the fans that already go,the club need more and new fans,you have to push the product into people's faces,around Torbay,Newton Abbot and surounding area our club is no where near visible enough.

If i had a £1 for every time someone i know had asked me "are Torquay home or away this weekend" i would be a very happy man right now,and it just proves the point ,there are a lot of people around this area who just do not know what our club are up to,or when they playing.

I know the working group have picked up on an idea from Exeter,they have big advertising banners up all over the place,i am on Matford once or twice every week,and on the first big roundabout,its right there a big banner with the strap line"its better to be there" and the date and time of there next home match,its really so simple and gets my goat that they are doing this and we are not.

I know there was a suggetion about our club having a similar "united at plainmoor" advertising campaign,and the club had asked for people who were prepared to have removable magnetic advertising on there cars,and estate agent style boards up in there gardens.

Maybe if your reading this Budliegh,can you give us an update as to whether are going ahead with this idea,or any other's that the club might be pressing ahead with.

Sorry forgot to add there is the new grandstand,when it finaly is built,the club need in my opinion to make a huge song and dance over it,the new grandstand will be a huge marketing tool,i really hope the club use it.

[portugull]

Forevertufc I have just read your excellent post which I must say surprised and delighted me
It is so good to know the club are actually thinking about marketing! There are so many ways in which we could "sell the product". It will be very interesting to see what the Board introduce.

[clemy1989]

its been mentioned before but i think a structured system needs to be in place. ie class a class b class c. class a being the most pricey for games like argyle bristol swindon and any other 6 pointers/ key games. class b for games which may not be derbies but that could be feiry and higher away followings where i would include crawley town and oxford maybe a few more. then the majority class c. i would make it £12 class C £14 class B and finally £18 Class A. yes a 4 pound jump for the big games but the demand is there simple business economics

[Fletch]

its been mentioned before but i think a structured system needs to be in place. ie class a class b class c. class a being the most pricey for games like argyle bristol swindon and any other 6 pointers/ key games. class b for games which may not be derbies but that could be feiry and higher away followings where i would include crawley town and oxford maybe a few more. then the majority class c. i would make it £12 class C £14 class B and finally £18 Class A. yes a 4 pound jump for the big games but the demand is there simple business economics

Perhaps a look at the club site might be a good idea Clem? They have already got a extra pound added on for "high value" matches, presumably for policing/extra stewards.
Supply and demand only works in this case assuming demand outstrips supply. I would like to think we would have plenty of sell outs but realistically cant see it happening, even with reduced capacity...