Our official average attendance for the season completed was 3,558.

Approx 11% down on last season and our lowest ever 'top flight' figure (and broadly similar to the average in our 1st Division promotion year).

 

In real terms, it means 480 less fans, on average, turning up for each home league fixture. It has nothing to do with 'the Rangers' factor as last season actually saw us marginally increase our home average gate. It's probably a blessing that County are still in the top-league.

 

480 fans disappeared every game, this season.

Over 19 home ties equates to around 9,120 fewer spectators coming to the games.

 

How much does a punter spend at the ground? Programmes, raffle-tickets, food/drink etc.

Lets say, conservatively £25 per head? It might not sound a lot but equates to a loss of close to a quarter of a million pounds.

 

That's the real cost to the club of those empty seats next to us that used to have bums on them.

Don't wish to scaremonger, but long-term, crowds of 3,500 won't be able to sustain us, long-term, as a Premiership club.

Last time we were in this division we had the benefit of two home derbies and the likes of Adam Rooney and Jonny Hayes.

This time there are no local rivals and, although it has improved in recent weeks, the football and the players delivering it are not nearly so skilful, positive and entertaining.

Play better football, climb the table and have a cup run are the only things that will bring back extra punters. I know quite a few away team fans who have or will be making the trek to Sneck as it is a throwback to them and a new day out. Next season will be different.

11 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Play better football, climb the table and have a cup run are the only things that will bring back extra punters.

I would love to think that might be the case IHE, but look what happens, compared with earlier seasons, to the attendance stats across the years of finishing 3rd in the SPL, playing in Europe, reaching the League Cup final and winning the Scottish Cup 

Edited December 3, 20178 yr by Charles Bannerman

The club handled relegation better last time. They made a commitment to get the team straight back up and made funds available to back up the promise.

All we got this time was a howler of a renewal (more like begging) letter that insulted the intelligence of the fans.

A lot of promises made to try and play to the crowd, but little actual substance and people (rightly) didn't buy it. They still don't.

I actually am happy that we may be in the Championship for a couple of seasons.

22 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Play better football, climb the table and have a cup run are the only things that will bring back extra punters. I know quite a few away team fans who have or will be making the trek to Sneck as it is a throwback to them and a new day out. Next season will be different.

Hopefully you know a few hundred that will be coming along to make up for the shortfall in crowds! An expensive round in the Caley Club awaits  

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by RiG

Poor value for money and failing to capitalise on previous success. Asking fans to pay £20+ for a ticket to watch lower tier football in the middle of winter is what's killing the Scottish game. As a club we were playing attractive football, winning and storming up the league a few seasons ago yet the club never put together a strategy to get a bounce in crowd numbers - never used the winning of the cup as a strong marketing tool and never looked outside the 4 walls at what being part of Inverness & the Highlands could bring for local and external investment. Too much time patting each other on the back and in-fighting with management than looking forwards IMO.

If we want crowds to increase now, we need to improve the quality of entertainment, style of play and the overall match day experience. We need some young players to be near the team that fans can get excited about and look forward to investing in their development - not like we usually do and freeze them out before scrapping them off - this does not help. 

 

 

1 hour ago, bdu98196 said:

Poor value for money and failing to capitalise on previous success. Asking fans to pay £20+ for a ticket to watch lower tier football in the middle of winter is what's killing the Scottish game. As a club we were playing attractive football, winning and storming up the league a few seasons ago yet the club never put together a strategy to get a bounce in crowd numbers - never used the winning of the cup as a strong marketing tool and never looked outside the 4 walls at what being part of Inverness & the Highlands could bring for local and external investment. Too much time patting each other on the back and in-fighting with management than looking forwards IMO.

 

 

 

Spot on. Being run by a group of plonkers sitting round a table talking about a product they new nothing about has murdered this club.

1 hour ago, bdu98196 said:

Asking fans to pay £20+ for a ticket to watch lower tier football in the middle of winter is what's killing the Scottish game.

To a fair extent, you are right, bdu, but I think you also highlight the fundamental, possibly intractable issue of professional football outwith the absolute elite. When you take your well resourced upper English leagues and the Old Firm (well actually maybe not Rangers since they can't make ends meet either) out of the equation, you are left with a substantial rump which struggles to make full time professional football viable.

What boards have to do is to maximise ticket revenue - indeed maximise every kind of revenue under the sun - simply in order to pay players at levels well above their realistic market value. Presumably enough market research has been done to show that the price levels in question are the ones which maximise revenue (= ticket price x attendance). The modern day football market directs the vast majority of fan expenditure, and hence club revenue, towards a tiny elite of bigger clubs. The added, artificial effect of Scotland's ongoing failure to come to terms with the Reformation allied with the preferential policies of the Scottish governing bodies pushes this on another step still. This gives us the Old Firm duopoly and then the rest who continue to subsist on the scraps and leftovers.

The rest of Scottish football is trying to chase its tail finding resources to pay A - sometimes not very good players B - far more than their market value. This, unfortunately, appears to have been taken to extremes in both categories A and B over the previous couple of seasons at ICT.

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by Charles Bannerman

23 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Presumably enough market research has been done 

While I accept that books have to balance and there is a trade off between pricing and footfall, it is also true that pricing cannot be continually increased or kept at inflated levels just to compensate for negligence in building a business and expanding the customer base.

The citing of market research is fine, but is it ever listened to? Fans can sit inside any night of the week and watch domestic or foreign football on TV in a warm atmosphere instead of venturing out - we (Scottish football) need to find the niche, which is summer football with a focus on accessible kick off times - make it an fun atmosphere to draw fans, kids & families along. The fans have been saying this for years, surveys conducted and results presented but nothing changes. Yes, research is done but sadly nobody in Scottish football really gives a sh1t unless its the OF calling for it.  

I was speaking to someone a while back who told me they'd been speaking to a former member of the board (I think) around the start of last season.  He asked said former board member how they planned on taking the club forward.  The response was - 'We won the Scottish Cup, everything's fine'.

There was no desire whatsoever to try and capitalise on the cup win.  Nothing to try and really push the club forward in the community and use the time we were at our highest to truly take the club forward.  We've hugely paid the price.

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by Renegade

The last 5 or 6 posts say it all. That old summer football chestnut has come up again too, but I'm not convinced it is the answer given that we barely get 1000 for July League Cup matches nor do we have the lucrative pre-season friendlies against bigger clubs to pull in the potential new fans at that time of year. 

On the bright side, our newly appointed Director, Gordie Fyfe, may have some good PR ideas and help with better communications between the Board and the fans.   

It's all about making the supporters feel like they're part of the club, or an integral part of the whole ICT experience.

I don't feel this has been the case for many years now.

23 hours ago, RiG said:

Hopefully you know a few hundred that will be coming along to make up for the shortfall in crowds! An expensive round in the Caley Club awaits  

How do we attract the Refuseniks back ?

1 hour ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

How do we attract the Refuseniks back ?

On the wind-up I'm sure, IHE, but you do presumably mean all 6,000 of the 226 who were eventually assembled in the cause of dissent 23 years ago?

Edited December 5, 20178 yr by Charles Bannerman