League Two and other Play-Offs

Mr Fenty admits our player budget needs to be more competitive next season, so OK...season ticket prices have increased to help but after the dross we have had to endure this season I'm fully expecting the drop in season tickets sold next season to nullify this.

So where's the extra money going to come from?

Clearly, we'll romp to the top of the table drawing larger crowds for subsequent matches.*

(*OK, probably not)

Quoted from promotion plaice

Mr Fenty admits our player budget needs to be more competitive next season, so OK...season ticket prices have increased to help but after the dross we have had to endure this season I'm fully expecting the drop in season tickets sold next season to nullify this.

So where's the extra money going to come from?

And therein lies the fundamental problem with GTFC for the last god knows how many years.

Budget isn't good enough so we can neither compete or entertain.  The clubs knee-jerk reaction is to increase ticket prices, believing that the fans will take the hit without any incentive or conviction in what they're investing in.

If the club want us to invest, they need to tell us the vision.  It's not good enough to have Steve Wraith come out with his usual lazy garbage every summer in a failed bid to drum up interest.  It's not good enough to just throw out the odd Tweet believing that the Grimsby folk will come in their droves to buy tickets.

The club, quite rightly, need to get extra investment from the people associated with the club, i.e the fans.  We can argue until the end of time about how dependent Town are on investment from individuals and benign loads etc.  But the bottom line is that the club can only truly grow if increases its income streams.  Money = better players/coaches/facilities = success.  At this moment in time the club have, at a guess, a core base of about 3,500.  They'll sell that many tickets for each game be it season tickets or match day tickets.  Pack of a beer mat workings - if they add £40 per person a season onto those ticket sales it = £140,000.  That's quite a generous working too because it's assuming that every one of those 3,500 is neither a child, student or OAP.  Another point is that the fans only have a finite amount of disposable income.  It's arguably a false economy in upping the season tickets by £40 because what you gain on those sales, you probably lose on replica shirts etc.  But that's fine, let's still go with it.  £140,000 a season.  Totally ignoring the risk that by upping the prices you actually turn more people away, especially in the light of a turgid season just gone and general apathy towards the running of the club.  Let's not forget that it's only 15 months ago that protests against the ownership of the club were held in the car park before a home game, which conveniently was the point where Fenty decided to throw Russell Slade out the window as a sacrificial lamb.  

That mood hasn't dissipated.  The fan base are still largely at odds with the running of the club.   But even so, let's still be positive and assume that all is rosy in the garden and by increasing ticket prices we've got an extra £140,000 in the bank this summer.

Or....

The club could have actually worked really, really hard and tried to drum up some actual new support.  Some fresh blood.  

To get an extra £140,000 you would need 1400 young adults at £100 a pop.  Or 466 adults at £300 a pop.  We averaged under 4,500 this season, which I reckon equates to about 4,000 seats to play with (top of my head I don't know the capacity these days).  Why not do a family ticket at £500.  2 Adults an 2 Juniors included in that.  You only need to sell 280 of those to make £140,000 .  You've then got 560 young fans who you've access to for a season and can get them hooked for future seasons, plus their spends.  What have we lost?  Just over a thousand seats that we wouldn't have filled anyway.

The club don't think anywhere near enough, never mind thinking outside the box.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Well done Newport and congratulations on doing it with a limited budget, great application and a board made up of fans.

Achieved with our throw always, who next will we give away that will.play in higher leagues

Quoted from diehardmariner

And therein lies the fundamental problem with GTFC for the last god knows how many years.

Budget isn't good enough so we can neither compete or entertain.  The clubs knee-jerk reaction is to increase ticket prices, believing that the fans will take the hit without any incentive or conviction in what they're investing in.

If the club want us to invest, they need to tell us the vision.  It's not good enough to have Steve Wraith come out with his usual lazy garbage every summer in a failed bid to drum up interest.  It's not good enough to just throw out the odd Tweet believing that the Grimsby folk will come in their droves to buy tickets.

The club, quite rightly, need to get extra investment from the people associated with the club, i.e the fans.  We can argue until the end of time about how dependent Town are on investment from individuals and benign loads etc.  But the bottom line is that the club can only truly grow if increases its income streams.  Money = better players/coaches/facilities = success.  At this moment in time the club have, at a guess, a core base of about 3,500.  They'll sell that many tickets for each game be it season tickets or match day tickets.  Pack of a beer mat workings - if they add £40 per person a season onto those ticket sales it = £140,000.  That's quite a generous working too because it's assuming that every one of those 3,500 is neither a child, student or OAP.  Another point is that the fans only have a finite amount of disposable income.  It's arguably a false economy in upping the season tickets by £40 because what you gain on those sales, you probably lose on replica shirts etc.  But that's fine, let's still go with it.  £140,000 a season.  Totally ignoring the risk that by upping the prices you actually turn more people away, especially in the light of a turgid season just gone and general apathy towards the running of the club.  Let's not forget that it's only 15 months ago that protests against the ownership of the club were held in the car park before a home game, which conveniently was the point where Fenty decided to throw Russell Slade out the window as a sacrificial lamb.  

That mood hasn't dissipated.  The fan base are still largely at odds with the running of the club.   But even so, let's still be positive and assume that all is rosy in the garden and by increasing ticket prices we've got an extra £140,000 in the bank this summer.

Or....

The club could have actually worked really, really hard and tried to drum up some actual new support.  Some fresh blood.  

To get an extra £140,000 you would need 1400 young adults at £100 a pop.  Or 466 adults at £300 a pop.  We averaged under 4,500 this season, which I reckon equates to about 4,000 seats to play with (top of my head I don't know the capacity these days).  Why not do a family ticket at £500.  2 Adults an 2 Juniors included in that.  You only need to sell 280 of those to make £140,000 .  You've then got 560 young fans who you've access to for a season and can get them hooked for future seasons, plus their spends.  What have we lost?  Just over a thousand seats that we wouldn't have filled anyway.

The club don't think anywhere near enough, never mind thinking outside the box.

While it is hard to argue about your figures, surely you have to factor in VAT and any other taxes on that £140,000? It could easily be that the amount available is closer to £100,000. Still a tidy sum but some of the " shine " is taken off it. I agree we need to get more in BP but I don't think offering these kind of deals will attract " younger fans " whose allegiance to Premiersh*t teams , because of tv and the " glamour " of top class footballers, is hard to break.

Quoted from Ipswin

So Newport v Tranmere or Forest Green for a spot in Div !. All recently promoted from the Conference.and on the verge of yet another promotion. Bristol Rovers have already made it. Just leaves us and Cambridge as going nowhere also- rans. What went wrong or rather how did they manage it?

We should have won that one the ref bottled it early doors, Their keeper stopping a certain goal bound effort from Palmer outside his box.

He only got booked FFS. the ref  later admitted he should have sent him off.

That still riles me we outplayed and out sung them at WEMBLEY.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

We should have won that one the ref bottled it early doors, Their keeper stopping a certain goal bound effort from Palmer outside his box.

He only got booked FFS. the ref  later admitted he should have sent him off.

That still riles me we outplayed and out sung them at WEMBLEY.

FFS please let's not go on about that AGAIN!

My point was that having got back into the FL Bristol Rovers achieved promotion to Div 1 while we continue to struggle to stay in Div 2 and Newport or Tranmere or FGR are about to go up another level

That said Hurst immediately took our promotion team apart while I think Bristol kept theirs together and went up immediately. Have Tranmere done the same?

Quoted from moosey_club

Maybe you could switch allegiances ?    

No way! Well not to Ipswich Town if that's what you mean, In fact ! am rather hoping we will be playing them in 2020/1 season or better still that we will be in a division above them

If I was to swap clubs it could be to Orient or preferably to a Dutch side so I could have an excuse to get over there more often

Quoted from Garth

Achieved with our throw always, who next will we give away that will.play in higher leagues

One player

Quoted from Ipswin

My point was that having got back into the FL Bristol Rovers achieved promotion to Div 1 while we continue to struggle to stay in Div 2 and Newport or Tranmere or FGR are about to go up another level

Luton in the championship too