Attendance Apathy | Vital Football

Attendance Apathy

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How many games unbeaten do we need to go before the people of Kent finally realise the team is decent, they work hard and deserve more than 4.5k per game.

Its Wimbledon on Saturday so they should bring a decent following so lets gets behind them for the final 6 games. We should be above 6K with the run we are on.
 
How many games unbeaten do we need to go before the people of Kent finally realise the team is decent, they work hard and deserve more than 4.5k per game.

Its Wimbledon on Saturday so they should bring a decent following so lets gets behind them for the final 6 games. We should be above 6K with the run we are on.

Must be pretty depressing for Scally.

He’s slashed season ticket prices, had plenty of good non-season ticket deals, brought in a good manager, the team is on one of the best runs in GFC history, the kids’ section is winning plaudits, social media coverage has been excellent and we’ve had a good run in the cup.
 
If we can get 15% of our average home attendance making the long trip to Lincoln we should be able to crack 5000 home fans on Saturday. Performances need drastic improvement over the last two games to get people to stay beyond the one game.
 
There are signs that the tide is turning: the away attendance of over 680 for the long trip to Lincoln was a large number and surprised quite a few.
 
Must be pretty depressing for Scally.
He’s slashed season ticket prices.

Problem is the Directors Remuneration in the annual accounts consistently goes in the other direction.

Same reason anyone with any sense has never been willing to invest in the club.
Same reason that if an avid fan was to win the lottery, they might as well transfer money direct in to his personal account as he will never release his full grip unless someone pays well over the odds.

I don't have any problem with that, but he is not in a position to moan. He makes a handsome living all from one source at present.
 
Regular fans who have stopped going for a few years will now have found other ways to spend Saturdays. It will take a lot to get them back if ever they want to come back. As for the increase in fans going to away matches they are almost certainly ones who go to home games anyway. I doubt if the appointment of Steve Evans or the presence of Paul Scally has very much to do with fans not attending, beyond a few dozen.
 
Problem is the Directors Remuneration in the annual accounts consistently goes in the other direction.

Same reason anyone with any sense has never been willing to invest in the club.
Same reason that if an avid fan was to win the lottery, they might as well transfer money direct in to his personal account as he will never release his full grip unless someone pays well over the odds.

I don't have any problem with that, but he is not in a position to moan. He makes a handsome living all from one source at present.

Sorry - but this is BS.

Do you seriously think the the casual fan is factoring in Scally’s remuneration when deciding whether to attend a football match? Most of them wouldn’t know or care.

Do you think football supporters are boycotting Bet365 because Denise Coates pays herself $424m per year?

Are people refusing to renew their Sky Sports subscriptions because Murdoch is rich?

As mentioned a billion times, Scally’s remuneration is in keeping with a company of the size of GFC. Unlike many other owners, he is not extremely wealthy and can not afford to bankroll the club.
 
. As for the increase in fans going to away matches they are almost certainly ones who go to home games anyway. .

Of course they are, the vast majority, anyway. But I don`t see it as meaningless. It`s a real illustration of increased and incremental positivity; those extra away fans are a product of the good vibe around the Club and they`re doing their tangible bit to "sell GFC". Eventually, that will rub off on those thinking about getting themselves back to Priestfield.
Had we been in the bottom six or seven then the following to Lincoln would have been 60% less. It`s a really good sign and is a plus in the fight against apathy.
 
Regular fans who have stopped going for a few years will now have found other ways to spend Saturdays. It will take a lot to get them back if ever they want to come back. As for the increase in fans going to away matches they are almost certainly ones who go to home games anyway. I doubt if the appointment of Steve Evans or the presence of Paul Scally has very much to do with fans not attending, beyond a few dozen.

Spot on.
 
Not that we've ever had massive gates but IMO there are no doubt a whole host of reasons as to why people have stopped going over the years ranging from personal finances, the standard of football, the lack if investment in the team, other outside interests, family, ticket prices, work without even going into the other things on offer for families or the yoof of today to do, some of which they don't even have to leave the house to do. I'm sure there's more than a few that I've forgotten to. It's a tough market and Gills have to make themselves as attractive and accessible as possible, as we've discussed many a time on here our ticketing system is certainly is not that.

The one thing that is certain is that it is damn sight easier to lose supporters than it is to get them back on a regular basis. When I had a ST if I couldn't go I struggled to give my seat away. There is an apathy around the Medway towns for the club and how that's changed I'm not sure, but the first place to start is by getting a winning team on the pitch consistently and showing ambition and potential, not just by talking about it, something that the Chairman has been good at over recent years.

I had a ST for 27 years up til 3 years ago but due to family and work commitments I couldn't justify the financial outlay, especially when I wasn't enjoying going and a lot of the time coming home from games more pissed off or stressed than I was before I went. The enjoyment factor had gone.

What could the club do to get me back regularly and buy a ST?Currently not a lot, as I work most Saturdays I can't commit to the financial or time taken up by having one. I've got to about 8-10 games a season for the last 3 seasons, but that's when it's been convenient for me and I can afford it or have nothing else on but if they opened up a cash turnstile on matchday they'd probably get me through it 3 or 4 times more a season.
 
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How many games unbeaten do we need to go before the people of Kent finally realise the team is decent, they work hard and deserve more than 4.5k per game.

Its Wimbledon on Saturday so they should bring a decent following so lets gets behind them for the final 6 games. We should be above 6K with the run we are on.
When they start playing attractive football perhaps. We have a solid defence but, at this stage, surely we don't need to fill the midfield with similar players.

You've got to do much more than just have an unbeaten run bearing in mind football crowds in the lower divisions seem to be shrinking year on year.
 
Sorry - but this is BS.

Do you seriously think the the casual fan is factoring in Scally’s remuneration when deciding whether to attend a football match? Most of them wouldn’t know or care.

Do you think football supporters are boycotting Bet365 because Denise Coates pays herself $424m per year?

Are people refusing to renew their Sky Sports subscriptions because Murdoch is rich?

As mentioned a billion times, Scally’s remuneration is in keeping with a company of the size of GFC. Unlike many other owners, he is not extremely wealthy and can not afford to bankroll the club.

Agreed. That is why I said that I have no problem with that, in the same way that I am realistic about where we are in the football pyramid.

I was not responding to the title of this thread but your comment that the attendance figures will be depressing for Scally.

I just find it a bit rich when he moans in between his trips to Dubai over many years which have so far come up with 0% investment as his remuneration sky rockets.

I am also left wondering what action Scally the owner would take if Scally the employee/salesman was a different person, based on performance.
 
We have had this subject before. The reasons so many fans no longer go is simply because of the absolute horse shit served up at home under Pennock, Taylor and Lovell for the previous 3 seasons. This alienated a lot of the diehard fans who will not return because they saw no signs of Scally wanting to invest in the side but simply to take out his £300k per year. Many may disagree but GFC is fighting an uphill battle to ever get even some of them to return and the damage has been done.
 
We've actuallyy won a few games where dads have brought their kids along. That has to pay off further down the line. ST holders all should make sure to use our vouchers to get more bodies in before we get to the play offs. Haven't been to Wembley for a couple of years and getting withdrawl symptoms not sitting in 30 to 40k Gills crowds.
 
There is of course all sorts of reasons. When you have a manager who keep repeating that we have the lowest budget or one of the lowest in league one.It hardly gives the casual fan the impression that we are championship material. Scally has plenty to do with the low gates there are many fans who have given up going to home games for that very reason. Having nobody to answer the phone could also piss off a good few .Scally in trying to look after the few seasons ticket holders has also pissed off some of those who buy individual tickets.Pay at the turnstiles the same as the day before might solve that one as has been said.Some I know stop going for health reasons. If they are not replaced and let's face it they are not.Investment just has not happened in the last decade or so.It has got harder to run a lower division side .With transfer fees harder to recoup good players walk away now.
Nobody really believes that Scally can take us to the next level and keep us there .So while that is the case many will come and go and crowds will probably remain much the same.
 
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Apart from that time he took us to the next level and we stayed for a few seasons of course.
As you well know the goal post have moved a considerable amount since then.Even if we doubled our average crowd we would still have a massive deficit to make up and that is without clubs getting massive parachute payments. In those days we would have had the lowest budget in the Championship. Not the lowest in league one or whatever it was called then.