Realistic season ticket target 5k

I flipping really hope pen penfras is NOT involved in anything to do with running the club. Talk about negative.

The new ground will NEVER happen without someone finding £20m. That will only come if there is a good reliable revenue stream. Sure there’s all sorts of other potential ways of attracting income with a new ground compared to our old one, but the core business is people through the turnstiles. You can prove the potential for that by reference to the current gate. If we can’t fill BP the new ground will never happen.

So we need to have the negativity cut out at the top and find ways to fill the ground. Innovative thinking. Spending a bit of money.*

* trivial example: last time I took my daughters to BP, they said never again because of the bogs. They’re not committed Town fans. Or even football fans particularly. But it’s the uncommitted that need to be attracted. And I can’t believe girls who have a DN postcode have different biological needs to ones with KT postcodes.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

I flipping really hope pen penfras is NOT involved in anything to do with running the club. Talk about negative.

The new ground will NEVER happen without someone finding £20m. That will only come if there is a good reliable revenue stream. Sure there’s all sorts of other potential ways of attracting income with a new ground compared to our old one, but the core business is people through the turnstiles. You can prove the potential for that by reference to the current gate. If we can’t fill BP the new ground will never happen.

So we need to have the negativity cut out at the top and find ways to fill the ground. Innovative thinking. Spending a bit of money.*

* trivial example: last time I took my daughters to BP, they said never again because of the bogs. They’re not committed Town fans. Or even football fans particularly. But it’s the uncommitted that need to be attracted. And I can’t believe girls who have a DN postcode have different biological needs to ones with KT postcodes.

I think you’re right but I do suspect they work or are at least related to someone to be so pro club.

The way they jumped on the comment about not capitalising on our Wembley win but then banging on like a new stadium will see ya double our numbers says a lot.

Fact is the club, or it’s custodians have been chasing a dream for far too long, a dream that has never gone anywhere other than a discussion about flipping food on, a Roy of the Rovers style drawing and some flimsy plans. Zero concrete developments.

In the mean time they’ve generally ignored the opportunity to at least keep BP, which aside from possibly toilets, isn’t anywhere near a shithole. Our intrepid leader banged on, and still does about not devaluing the product get here we are...a simple bit of TLC and tidying up might have helped drag a few more in...

And anyone that doesn’t think we’d have shifted another 500/1000 that Monday or Tuesday after wembley is deluded...but hey, the lack of ambition and excuse making is rife and we should be happy with what we’ve got. Sod ambition. Sod new ideas. We should know our place.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

I don't mean this as a personal criticism of Rancido or Pen Penfras but when I read your posts I see in microcosm the worst things about the way that the club has been run - it'll never work, we couldn't do that, stop moaning, be grateful for what you get etc etc

I just want to see some innovation and feel like the club care whether I buy one or and that doesn't have to mean reducing prices. I would highlight the work the family coordinator has done this season as demonstrating how you can make a difference without throwing money at it - the flag bearers etc doesn't cost a penny but kids love it.

Seeing as I'm mentioned in this post I felt I had to reply. Far from having a, quote " It'll never work, we couldn't do that" attitude , the fact that I am 100% in favour of a new ground demonstrates the completely opposite point of  view. I cannot see the point in spending unnecessary investment in BP , apart from day-to-day repairs and legal requirements. A simple analogy would be a comparison with my car. It is 13 years old and runs well but is sadly lacking on a lot of the modern technology we now expect from a motor vehicle. I pay for the necessary requirements ie new exhaust , tyres, servicing etc and all is well. But it is not getting any younger and every repair involves an appraisal as to whether the costs justify more expenditure. There will come a time when a major repair could cost me more than the car is worth. This is a situation that I feel we are at, as regards BP. I admit I don't know where the funding for a new ground is coming from but I do believe the board do and we have to go with that. I'm also convinced that Ollie will also be privy to that as he is also a board member. Whatever you do to BP, even if the whole area was razed to the ground and we built a new stadium on site wouldn't address most of it's problems. The footprint of the site wouldn't alter and as such we would still be trying to " shoehorn " a new stadium into an inadequate site. We have very poor toilet facilities, both in size and structure. Although I have never seen them I am lead to believe the changing facilities are archaic. The Main Stand is of wood construction, with poor visibility due to numerous support beams and , IMO, far too gentle a slope to give a good view of the pitch. There is totally inadequate parking, and before some posters jump in and say you can park in the surrounding streets, that is not a satisfactory solution. In fact only recently we had a supporter struck by a car , although thankfully he wasn't seriously hurt. But imagine the uproar from local residents and fans alike if this had been fatal? The whole proximity of the club to a densely populated area with only narrow streets servicing those residents would have come into question.
I truly believe that the only solution to the long term survival of GTFC is a new ground and , apart from temporary solutions like porta toilets and pop-up catering facilities, any money spent on BP would be throwing " good money after bad ". And again I re-iterate, I am not a " It'll never work, we couldn't do that, stop moaning, be grateful of what we have " kind of person, just one that believes the only way forward is a new ground.

But we’ve ignored and done as little as possible to BP (minus the lights which probably should been done long ago) on a whimsical notion that we’ll be in a new ground.

It’s been going on for twenty years or more...you simply can’t ignore the fact things needing someone TLC and a little reinvestment.

One can argue that we have to trust the club but surely anyway can see why some are cynical. Literally zero mention of funding streams, Christ, didn’t Day even tell us they’re not entirely sure who owns it now.

So even if we are guaranteed a new stadium in 5 years, the sheer arrogance of focusing on a new ground whilst ignoring any opportunity for even a small redevelopment (whilst said new ground remains only a design on a homosexual packet) could have actually cost us long term revenue...if we believe that amenities and facilities are a key factor in folk not getting a ST.

We’re talking about now. Not some pipe dream. So what are the club doing now, sitting back and relying on a stadium whilst moaning about the current one isn’t enough.

That was the original focus of the topic. How do we push for 5k ST without making flimsy excuses...

Quoted from aldi_01

But we’ve ignored and done as little as possible to BP (minus the lights which probably should been done long ago) on a whimsical notion that we’ll be in a new ground.

It’s been going on for twenty years or more...you simply can’t ignore the fact things needing someone TLC and a little reinvestment.

One can argue that we have to trust the club but surely anyway can see why some are cynical. Literally zero mention of funding streams, Christ, didn’t Day even tell us they’re not entirely sure who owns it now.

So even if we are guaranteed a new stadium in 5 years, the sheer arrogance of focusing on a new ground whilst ignoring any opportunity for even a small redevelopment (whilst said new ground remains only a design on a homosexual packet) could have actually cost us long term revenue...if we believe that amenities and facilities are a key factor in folk not getting a ST.

We’re talking about now. Not some pipe dream. So what are the club doing now, sitting back and relying on a stadium whilst moaning about the current one isn’t enough.

That was the original focus of the topic. How do we push for 5k ST without making flimsy excuses...

We all want a new stadium but we will be years in BP yet. The board cannot expect another few years to pass without some improvements to be made. It is an historic stadium that could and should be improved in line with improvements on the pitch.

Unless something verifiable is said at the fans forum I wouldn't expect a new stadium to be delivered at all. I hope I am wrong but I cannot see where the funding of £20+million is coming from.

Going off what I've read on the internet, our best season was 83/84. Nearly made it to the top flight
The following season in what was the championship with some big clubs, even with all the optimism of the previous season our average attendance was only 6400. Long before 24/7 football the internet and the ability to watch all our games on the tv
In my living memory it was 94/95 season. 10th in the championship. Great team. Good football. Lots of optimism, could we push for the premiership. It doesnt get much better. The season that followed our average was 6200. Crap.
Forgotten what I was getting at actually  
Crap story but I'll tell it anyway. Cos I can.  I remember we played Norwich about 96ish. Good times. Norwich had a really good exciting team,  a premiership team, i think they won the league that year They sold out the osmond. Loud. Probably some in the home ends too. Attendance? 5400. Basically, to answer the op question. 5400 minus 2000..... surely we were selling more than 3k season tickets?  
In the championship under Buckley we were getting less home fans that we had last week against Morecambe. Fact. It was embarrassing/annoying for alot of games. Really bad atmosphere unless we were playing one of the big clubs on a warm sunny day - otherwise most football fans weren't interested
Attendances have been crap for at least 40years

Before the new cinema was built people would travel to Dull or Scunny to watch films rather than go to the Freeman St. cinema. Now they go to Meridian Point to watch their films. Ask yourself what is the difference? Would this be the same in a new stadium?

In my view we now demand better and modern facilities before they part with our hard earned. We won't put up with second rate facilities any more, especially when we are taking our families

Time have moved on. Blundell Park for all its nostalgia is a dump. You have to queue up up in a tiny office just to get a ticket to get through the turnstile on match day. The whole match day experience for the casual fan is woeful and off putting, especially in winter.

Once the new stadium is up and running, you will be wondering what all the fuss was about.

No one’s arguing (on this thread at least) about NOT wanting to move to a new stadium. But we have to live in the here and now. Have we got a viable method of funding a new stadium? It certainly doesn’t look like it otherwise they’re be talking about it. Without clear site of a plan and funding we have to make the most of what we have and do something now.

Saying you support the idea of a new stadium without a clue as to what is going on behind the scenes, whilst saying money spent on BP is wasted, isn’t positive or pragmatic. It’s just idle day dreaming.

The op was about having the ambition to drive up season ticket sales. It’d be nice to hear about some initiatives in that direction for a change instead of claptrap like ‘if England do well we’ll sell more tickets’. Seeing the club do better on that front is in the fans’ interest and it IS the fans’ business.

I’ve always wondered how much it’d cost to block up the sides of the Pontoon and Main Stand, like how the Main used to be -

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/VN3jLPB7/C04-C769-B-BAB2-427-E-A761-DEDB700039-B0.jpg[/img]

Half the atmosphere created disappears straight out the open side of the Pontoon, plus it’s not a nice place to be sat if the wind gets up. All you’d need is the frames welding in and some acrylic sheets, you could do the same thing on the side of the Osmond too. Atmosphere would be 10 times better and it’d be warmer, drier and more inviting in the two stands that are always last to sell out. Probably a non-starter in the upper Findus as it might impact the views, but I think people are always more inclined to go when there’s a decent atmosphere and we want to make the place as intimidating as possible.

Mr penfras, build up that wall.

Who you bring up a god point about the pontoon.. Is this something the club could get a quote for and we fans look into funding?? The majority of fans wouldnt be happy for the club to throw money at it.