7000 crowds

[eghambee]

What, if anything is being done off the field to attract the size of crowds some people on GPG are looking for?

We know BFC of old, and only if Brentford win the first 6-7 matches scoring a hatful of goals will the stragglers come in.

 

[Simon C]

 

[beesbeesbarmyarmy]

I may be naive, but good football and results gets good crowds in. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Edmundo]

A bit of promotion of the kids' price wouldn't go amiss, IMHO.

 

[The Walrus]

A bit of promotion of the kids' price wouldn't go amiss, IMHO.

as of next season, imm 16 on august 11th so got a child season ticket

 

[eghambee]

Exactly Ed.

Good football and results get the crowds eventually, but it takes a few months for people to believe!

August, people are on holiday so if there is a break even number you have to do the hard work at the start, not when it is too late.

 

[Luton Bee]

I have no doubt we'll be employing an expensive consultant again if we get to an exciting phase of the season!

 

[Boston Bee]

You're extremely naive, I hope. Big crowds come from promotion, hospitality, advertisement, plus face-time in the community, in the paper, on tv. It comes from positive news, a sense that something's happening that you want to be part of.

You can say , but if no one knows that he's returned (or in fact that he is 'returning') then it's a bit pointless.

The fact that Brentford has to go through months before anyone takes a chance on GP suggests that the promotion just isn't good enough. Fans don't come because the experience previously wasn't good enough (ie "I was ankle deep in sewage!") and they have read nothing that suggests that times are changing. And in the absence of front office staff we'll continue to do little to promote a young hungry manager and an exciting new squad.

I may be naive, but good football and results gets good crowds in. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Simon T]

I have no doubt we'll be employing an expensive consultant again if we get to an exciting phase of the season!

I'm prepared to do this for a discount £300 a day. All we have to do is give away hundreds of tickets to people with no interest in being paying customers and the gates will rise. Who do I fax my invoice through to

 

[NorthamptonBee]

Last season we stuttered in the early away days. I think we lost momentum and a cracking start is needed. No 3-1's at Saltergate and that 3-0 sould have been 10-0 at London Road.

 

[Simon C]

Last season we stuttered in the early away days. I think we lost momentum and a cracking start is needed. No 3-1's at Saltergate and that 3-0 sould have been 10-0 at London Road.

A home game first up before any disappointing away days should get us off to a good start, if we make the most of that......

 

[Beesnut]

Success brings in crowds,that's the fact of the matter

 

[Boston Bee]

...If people are made aware it's happening!

We're a product, and the sooner we start marketing ourselves like a product the better.

Success brings in crowds,that's the fact of the matter

 

[eghambee]

Success brings in crowds,that's the fact of the matter

What is success? and what are crowds?

If the club is budgeting on an average figure for home games then it must have plans in place to achieve that, AND contingiency plans.

First two home games would not pull in a crowd over 7000, let alone during the school holidays.

Unless anything is done to advertise the game etc, we will get the 5-5500.

 

[fencer/bee]

another, good signing, ... could... get more people in

 

[Simon T]

Last season we had a budgeted attendance of 6000. Without the cup run an average gate of 5998 would have seen us in administration if you assume the two missing punters were adults paying to sit, not a big margin of error. I know there is another thread talking about betting on the bees but I wouldn't bet on us until I know we have the cash to get through the season. Maybe Stephen Callen will let us know whether we are budgeted to have more than £500 left of our overdraft limit at the end of the season in an early program article.

 

[rg12bee]

success and winning at home......... Also you need a stadium that makes the experience of watching football welcoming.... I can`t see us getting a new stadium so GP badly needs the proposed redevelopment to actually start,something we can see for our own eyes....
Sorry but are we ready for success, promotion and 7`000+ crowds. Going up and then trying to improve the facilities is a massive gamble for a club of our current stature.

 

[keefor]

Emmm

Not sure in what order but;

Nice shiney new stadium.
Sustained success (not a cup run or unbeaten run of 'x' matches) but seasons of success.
Attractive, skilful and flowing football.
Good customer relations.
No hassles with getting tickets, food, toilets, etc. In short none of the crap that committed supporters frequently put up with.

or we could allow more opposition fans in when we play a 'bigger' club at GP.

 

[Boston Bee]

I tend to think that Martin Allen would say that if you're ambitious for success and determined to work for it, then you're ready for it. The club needs to work hard on improving the match day experience - but this so do-able. Simple things, things that fans have been going on about for years, need to be solved.

I want to believe that this club has an ambition to be bigger than this - and that the window is here. No talk of "are we ready"; the future is now.

Sorry but are we ready for success, promotion and 7`000+ crowds. Going up and then trying to improve the facilities is a massive gamble for a club of our current stature.

 

[rebus]

First two home games would not pull in a crowd over 7000, let alone during the school holidays.

But why not. Some clubs get really good crowds on the opening day. Why don't we?

 

[Beesnut]

What is success? and what are crowds?

If the club is budgeting on an average figure for home games then it must have plans in place to achieve that, AND contingiency plans.

Success is wins/big games. Good crowds are anything in excess of the 7000 mark

Planning isn't a word I would really associate with BFC management

 

[Edmundo]

But why not. Some clubs get really good crowds on the opening day. Why don't we?

I don't know, but we never do. In fact it seems that there are around 700 or so Bees fans who think the season doesn't start till September!

 

[The Walrus]

I don't know, but we never do. In fact it seems that there are around 700 or so Bees fans who think the season doesn't start till September!

some are in families who go on holiday in august during the school holidays

 

[Boston Bee]

Because we don't start thinking seriously about attendance issues until the night before the first match. Generally not even then.

Ankle-deep in sewage again it is, then.

Why don't we?

 

[AB]

I'd rather we got the crowds back gradually as the team gathers its inexorable momentum to the championship than doing a big marketing blitz now to bring 8000 in to the opening game.

This is because the former will lead to old fans rediscovering the club and seeing something good is happening and to new attendees getting hooked (plenty of the younger fans on this board who started coming along around our last promotion to the next level). The latter scenario for me runs the risk of a relatively weak performance by a team short on match fitness who don't know each other losing to a fired up opposition having a sunny away day from their grimy Lincolnshire caravan park, and then we don't see the 2500 new faces again until the next Premiership team we draw in the Cup.

This doesn't mean that I'm pessimistic about our chances (I think we could well do a Luton this season and charge up the league early on and march triumphant into the Championship) but just that there are too many non-regulars who are ready to moan "same old Brentford" and we need to do more than mere marketing to get them back. These are people who know all about the atmosphere and the pubs and need something more concrete than the optimism that drives the regular fan before they'll commit to the team again.

MA has done a great job so far and looks to be assembling an even better team for this season but that is not enough to bring the punters in until we can be seen to be making a real challenge for promotion which won't end in disappointment. Noades thought that heavy investment (or so it appeared on the outside to the fans) in players and winning a championship would be enough to enthuse fans out of the woodwork and he was dead wrong. Part of that was that the promotion was from Div 3 and that the expectation was for 10k crowds rather than the 7k we are talking about here, but it wasn't a lot different. If buying an established but young Premiership player, the captain of a rival team, the cream of the non-leaguers (Owusu, Powell, Rowlands), and the main striker of a team which was challenging you for promotion (Leo!!) wasn't enough to make Bees fans think we were really motoring, picking up some canny free transfers and being entertaining in a tank top on the touchline aint going to do it just yet either.

 

[eghambee]

But why not. Some clubs get really good crowds on the opening day. Why don't we?

Which clubs?

I only ask, because unless they have just been promoted, they must be doing something we don't. Like advertise!

I believe people who may go to Brentford need to be reminded the season is starting.
After a few good wins and coverage they will come.

You will know a lot better than me what is/has, been/not been done at the club .

The club may having a plan to cover what ever the budgeted number is! But maybe not.!

As Boston says start thinking about it before it hits the club.

Critical decisions are made earlier rather than later to ensure minimum achievement of the budget in any company.

I heard comments from directors last season about attendance figures like - 'well we're almost there' etc.


Lets hope there is something planned!

 

[JTofBFC]

A bit of promotion of the kids' price wouldn't go amiss, IMHO.

No thanks.

Theres quite enough of the little blighters running round not watching the game as it is. GP is just a cheap creche on a Saturday afternoon.

2000 more kids at each game means £6000 more gate money and about £6000 more on the police bill.

£3 is too cheap

 

[fencer/bee]

jt.......you forget,, they are our fans of the future

 

[JTofBFC]

jt.......you forget,, they are our fans of the future

Oh yeah..............

That assumes we have a future...................

 

[mattbee]

Another point is Brentford rarely get a home match first game of the season from my memory. Wasnt the last time 1998 and Mansfield when we won the third division. Thats 7 years we have waited for that! Does anyone at bfc ever ask questions of the fa about issues like this/ lodge a complaint or at least bring it up? Surely when you add it up this has cost us a fair amount over time?

 

[Luton Bee]

I believe we have requested our first match to be away beuase of the pitch repair works. I am slightly surprised we didn't again this year with the Broncos tearing it up for us.

 

[Ace Face]

Sorry to be a broken record, but more work needs to be done with local education authorities to launch a schools promotion scheme for the £3 kids admission - remember most of them have to come with an adult. Stedders did some great stuff on this and it is easy to set up and have downloadable posters and flyers etc.

 

[TOMOGP]

Some good points stated but

I will miss the first game at home because iys the day I come back from holiday, same as many others who will be away ot going away fact August crowds are invariably low.

Points taken about Kids and future and do not diagree, also fair to say the sewage and poor catering access, but we need firstly a winning team on a sustained basis.

There are many out there who used to come and got fed up up with many promising situations leading to let downs.

It used to be said that the directors didnt want promotion so why should we bother,
look at the last few years Forster Bent and Mahon sold on deadline day Asaba being played out of position 3 playoffs plus 2 playof finals

no they will let us down again if we could run away like luton maybe they will return earlier

 

[JTofBFC]

Sorry to be a broken record, but more work needs to be done with local education authorities to launch a schools promotion scheme for the £3 kids admission - remember most of them have to come with an adult. Stedders did some great stuff on this and it is easy to set up and have downloadable posters and flyers etc.

You can bet your life if its a schools promotion the token adult will be getting in free.

We already have probably the highest pro rata percentage of kids/adults of any team in the legaue because of our excellent pricing structure.

Maybe its time to try something else like encouraging some of the thousands of Eastern Europeans or Asians in the area to take an interest. In the case of Poles for example, in my experience they are all footy mad.

Cue disquiet !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Maybe its time to try something else like encouraging some of the thousands of Eastern Europeans or Asians in the area to take an interest. In the case of Poles for example, in my experience they are all footy mad.

Cue disquiet !!!!!!!!!!!!

Might open up the market for cheap imports from Poland as well. Good footballing pedigree on affordable incomes.

 

[rick lovesey]

Some very good suggestions to bring the crowds in, but may I suggest another one - goals!!! If the Bees at home are scoring several goals per game the crowds will come along as people get back on the bandwagon again.
Don't get me wrong MA has done wonders, but winning at home by the odd goal will please the diehards but not attract significantly more support.
If we have a couple of strikers hammering in the goals, it really won't matter how bad your hotdog tastes and how much **** you have to stand in!

 

[WarrenBee]

Naked women at half time playing Twister and hide the StrapaDicktoMe. I hope this helps.

:brow: :brow: :brow: :brow: :brow: :brow: :brow: :brow:

 

[beetee]

anyone know how the season ticket sales are going?

i bought 5 for my family for the first time (we usually pay on the day)
i cant wait for the new season and really feel we can win the league.
its about time things went our way.after all the bad luck we have had over the years this is going to be our year!
the way martin allen has turned the club around is amazing and deserves success.

while we are at it why dont we give ma a five year contract? even if things go wrong from here he deserves it for the money and success he has bought to the club so far ( we would only have to sell one of his signings to cover it)
and if he does decide to leave we would get some good compensation.

 

[Stanley]

I'd rather we got the crowds back gradually as the team gathers its inexorable momentum to the championship than doing a big marketing blitz now to bring 8000 in to the opening game.

This doesn't mean that I'm pessimistic about our chances (I think we could well do a Luton this season and charge up the league early on and march triumphant into the Championship) but just that there are too many non-regulars who are ready to moan "same old Brentford" and we need to do more than mere marketing to get them back. These are people who know all about the atmosphere and the pubs and need something more concrete than the optimism that drives the regular fan before they'll commit to the team again..

I agree...40+ years of largely underachievement (91/92 excepted) has led to low crowds, it will take a sustained belief by the floating public that there is a consistent successful side, to come down more than just to the odd big game. Something us thick pratts always knew but the SP never fathomed out.

I have lost count the number of times we have blown it on big occasions when the big crowds turn up....over to you MA!!

 

[JANORAK]

Who do I fax my invoice through to

Peter Ridsdale? He apparently pays them without reading them.....

 

[JANORAK]

Re: Low start of season attendances

I believe we suffer unduly from the 'London & SouthEast' factor, ie generally greater affluence & competing attractions at the back end of summer for those with family commitments. (I've missed the 1st couple of games many seasons because of family hols, trying to find the World Service or paying over the odds for a 2 day old paper to check our results whilst in far-flung parts.)

Joe Bloggs, in the frozen North, only has the choice of walking the whippet or going to the match.

As others have stated, promotion of upcoming fixtures (something we only seem to play at half-heartedly), allied to attractive football, would start an earlier trend of increasing attendances & more opportunity to raise the season's average.

 

[longdistancebee]

Nice shiney new stadium.
Sustained success (not a cup run or unbeaten run of 'x' matches) but seasons of success.
Attractive, skilful and flowing football.
Good customer relations.
No hassles with getting tickets, food, toilets, etc. In short none of the crap that committed supporters frequently put up with.

I support the 'let the football speak for itself' lobby. I accept that the above items are important and I thoroughly supports Boston's assertion that we are a product. But MA is now rewriting our brand, and we are slowly moving away from being everybody's favourite losers (most people, when learning that I support Brentford, pat me on the head like I am some terminally ill spaniel) to being a team who are going places. But if we win, and look like we should win too (ie., no flukey 1-0's) then I think we can see the prodigals return. Nothing gets people into a football ground more than a team that plays good football and wins. It really is that blindingly simple.

 

[eghambee]

I repeat my first post, what if anything is being done to increase the crowds?

We have been top since day 1, and yet we get about 5500 Bees fans there today! So winning matches hasnt bought the crowds in.

Is the CEO waiting until his superman Commercial Manager comes in before anything is done? If so , shame on him.

The Premiership scheme is a good initiative but has limited affect.

(by the way, when i sent this question to Q&A it was mysteriously left off)

 

[brighton bee]

there was 7000 there today wasnt there?

 

[Edmundo]

Just under. But I understand that the gate was a few hundred down on the budgeted figure.

 

[BeeAlzibub]

there was 7000 there today wasnt there?

As Boston Bee I think it was, correctly said back in July (?) it will take some time & many facets to build support up to a level of even say 10,000 week after week.

This season to date.
Scunthorpe 5,900 , maybe 800 Scunts
Tranmere 5.500 , with no more than 400 Trannies
Today 6967, perhaps 12/1300 from Kent.

That then is an extra 600/700 Bees floaters who came to watch today.

It may take 5 years of reasonable success on the pitch with promotion a must & many many improvements in the way the club is run just to pull in regular decent crowds that give us even a chance of surviving at Championship level.

Unlike small town clubs such as Macclesfield, Mansfield or Shewsbury, at least we have the possibility of achieving that however long it takes

 

[Nick Hester]

I reckon there were at least 1800 Gills there today and the crowd was more than 8,000.

When we are selling the fanzine, we can normally tell to the 200/300 on sales we do, today we had a very good day. Braemar Road fanzines sold out at 2.50pm..

There had to be over 8,000 in the ground, I don't care what anyone says..

 

[Brickie Chap]

Had hoped Gills would bring more, pretty poor support from them I thought

 

[eghambee]

As Boston Bee I think it was, correctly said back in July (?) it will take some time & many facets to build support up to a level of even say 10,000 week after week.

This season to date.
Scunthorpe 5,900 , maybe 800 Scunts
Tranmere 5.500 , with no more than 400 Trannies
Today 6967, perhaps 12/1300 from Kent.

That then is an extra 600/700 Bees floaters who came to watch today.

It may take 5 years of reasonable success on the pitch with promotion a must & many many improvements in the way the club is run just to pull in regular decent crowds that give us even a chance of surviving at Championship level.

Unlike small town clubs such as Macclesfield, Mansfield or Shewsbury, at least we have the possibility of achieving that however long it takes

Fair point re success over time.
However, in the mean time i think the club should be advertising the prices more etc.

My point is really about the club achieveing its budgeted attendance figure, what ever that is.

Budgets run over 12 months, and too often in business non activity in the early months makes the overall achievement either nigh on impossible or expensive.

I think, for early games there should be more adverts about.
I can here it now though - 'that costs too much money - line to be drawn...'

 

[sonofabee]

I reckon there were at least 1800 Gills there today and the crowd was more than 8,000.

When we are selling the fanzine, we can normally tell to the 200/300 on sales we do, today we had a very good day. Braemar Road fanzines sold out at 2.50pm..

There had to be over 8,000 in the ground, I don't care what anyone says..

That's what I thought as well, they virtually filled the Ealing road and that top bit of the Braemar, and apart from the usual empty block, very few gaps so no way less than 7000!