New Kings Park Stadium

NornIron said:
Yeah. If your kid has zero points and is a paid up JC you can enter them in a draw for each game. They give a few out each game. Two of my three got to see a league game last year and I was able to change my seats to be sat beside them. Pretty handy really.
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I guess the only downside is the adult may not have any and then no one to take them to games!
 
AFCB_REPUBLICAN said:
Listen Moosh, it wasn't long ago that this football club was staring oblivion in the face and yet you were nowhere to be seen. I find that difficult to fathom considering that you are such an opinionated c unt.
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Do you know who I am? Obviously not because you're talking utter shite. I'll repeat it for you if you like - not being on vitals is neither here nor there in terms of supporting AFCB. If I gave a toss what you thought of me I might bother to argue with you about how long I've been going... but I don't.

Thanks for the history lesson though. Tell me, was Derek Holmes as fast in the flesh as they all say? :thumbup:
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Do you know who I am? .
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Apologies..couldn't resist :grinning:

SlowDownDerek said:
Sure but all this talk of 25k gates is based on nothing more than fans having a reckon. The people who are expected to invest actual money in it will have proper market research and don't seem to fancy it. Plenty of evidence to suggest that our level of support isn't quite what people claim - including actual championship attendances, half-full cup games and the tickets on sale at 1 point as we speak.
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I reckon we could do a Reading but lets be honest you're probably correct in the market research. Not so much we couldn't fill a 23K ground more it just isn't worth it when TV revenue exceeds bums on seats. Our model of low rent,small ground and overheads, massive external income is probably spot on for the money men right now.
 
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The problem is that when you look at that football finances article someone posted (the one that Al said proved a £25m black hole) most of the clubs that had 20k-25k attendances were only taking a couple of million a year more than we are now. These numbers don't look good unless someone is going to dig deep and fund it without getting a decent return.
 
It's not just a straight numbers game though - it's what those numbers spend.

I compare it with airplanes - they don't make their money from the 200 seats at the back. They make it from the 20 at the front.

Our club is the same. Our "hospitality" income is nothing and it sells out in no time. Maybe 5,000 more punters at £32 a head won't amount to much but 5000 more £32 punters plus another 500 @ £200 a head, plus another 20 boxes at £40k a season plus ...... plus......
 
NornIron said:
It's not just a straight numbers game though - it's what those numbers spend.

I compare it with airplanes - they don't make their money from the 200 seats at the back. They make it from the 20 at the front.

Our club is the same. Our "hospitality" income is nothing and it sells out in no time. Maybe 5,000 more punters at £32 a head won't amount to much but 5000 more £32 punters plus another 500 @ £200 a head, plus another 20 boxes at £40k a season plus ...... plus......
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Fair enough but can we expect to make more than Swansea, Watford, WBA etc in hospitality as their matchday income was something like £7m compared to our £5m (from memory). Maybe being in a more affluent area than 2/3 those would help. In fairness Saints were taking £20m so maybe there's a chance. I still think our potential support is reasonably decent but it has to be said that occasionally the indications don't back this up - such as tickets dropping to one point for big games.
 
Quote to me today whilst visiting a NTrust Park;

Bristol City fan said " Christ, if we could get Eddie Howe at Ashton Gate we would build a ground the size of Old Trafford....what the f##k is going on down there? We love watching you guys play when your on Sky but how the hell didn't they build you a bigger ground in 2016 "
 
It's needed. The untapped potential is massive and the location is a selling point.

We have a Conurbation population of 500k -at least 5% of the population should be supporting the club which is 25k. You could even make a case for the whole of Dorset supporting us which is 850k. There is no other team in Dorset. And we don't even have any cities or towns below us like many clubs do. I know that alot more than 5% of population do have an interest in the club and if we can build something I think they would come if we provide incentives( affordable tickets etc) and good transport links.

It's not just an extra couple of million either with extra seats, a bigger stadium provides better facilities and infrastructure for local area. It can raise extra revenue through sponsors, advertising, corporates and by being multi-purpose - conferences, music events, local clubs etc.

The club needs to stop bottling big decisions and make one very soon before Eddie leaves because of the lack of investment in infrastructure and a future legacy.

Funny you mention them Bill as I think the Bristol clubs both have enormous potential but have massively underachieved when you look at the size of their population and the leagues they have played in throughout their history. They could both do with a new stadium aswell.
 
Liz & Neil are free to send me monthly reports from the last 5 years for what they've actually done to better the club and what they plan to do in the next few years to grow it. If they can prove me wrong and help get the stadium and training ground built I'll put my hands up but I know they won't prove me wrong.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Sure but all this talk of 25k gates is based on nothing more than fans having a reckon. The people who are expected to invest actual money in it will have proper market research and don't seem to fancy it. Plenty of evidence to suggest that our level of support isn't quite what people claim - including actual championship attendances, half-full cup games and the tickets on sale at 1 point as we speak.
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Whilst I agree with most of your point, how do you do research and analyse how often the kids who are currently locked out would go?

When we were promoted to the Championship, a typical 13 year old would have been at an age to catch the “bug” and start to go regularly.

That 13 year old would now be 18 and wanting to go with a group of mates have one or two too many beers and be part of the atmosphere.

Some mates might tag along as they’ve never been before and catch the “bug” late.

But he probably can’t go with his group of mates as it’s singular tickets only, so doesn’t bother.

That mate who would have only tagged along with his friends never catches the bug.

In a few years time those 18 year olds may have found a partners and want to bring them along...few years after that kids...etc and so on.

How do you measure that?
 
Demand is not static : if we found that we were regularly failing to sell thousands of seats, then there are many highly effective marketing techniques that could be employed to remedy this. But I believe that we are underestimating potential demand for a successful Eddie team in the PL. Demand is artificially depressed at the moment because all those thousands who have been excluded have basically given up.
 
It does concern me that some at the top end of the club concerned with day to day running are out of their depth. These millions need to be invested in the infrastructure as EH explained will leave the legacy. The biggest proof of this would be a new Dean Court able to hold 25000 plus. I would go for 35000 myself, means just one bit of planning instead of an expansion years later.

EH has a plan I think of where he wants to take the club next but it's not going to be sustainable should we not have the stadium being built at least. It will also provide the biggest platform to bounce back when we do go down (it's going to happen to every club in there at some point)

I hate to say it but this something that lot up the road have always got right. The whole marketing aspect. They do get on with things. I hated seeing their adverts on the back of the Echo advertising matches at St Fairies (they also did the same in the Reading Evening Post) so would love to see AFCB slap an ad in the Southampton Echo preferably with the words "Watch the best Premier League on the South Coast".
 
Resevoir_Red said:
Liz & Neil are free to send me monthly reports from the last 5 years for what they've actually done to better the club and what they plan to do in the next few years to grow it. If they can prove me wrong and help get the stadium and training ground built I'll put my hands up but I know they won't prove me wrong.
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Unless you are a shareholder, Director, or Senior Management at the club, they don't have to.

They are not answerable to you, or any of us who do not fit those descriptions above.

It doesn't matter how many years you have supported the club, how many miles you have traveled, or even how much money you have put in buckets to keep the club running in the past.

In fact, they are almost certainly NOT free to send you monthly reports - that will be confidential information - for the eyes of those I have listed above only.

We all feel like it is "OUR" club - and we have invested in it in terms of blood sweat and tears - but we are at best, stakeholders, at worst, punters.

We do not own the club. Max and some Americans do. Liz and Neil are answerable to them, not us.
 
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