Can we make Saturday a near sell out

[Sneckboy]

 

I think they're played on the weekends of the 12th, 19th and 26th April and the 3rd and 10th of May. (11th May for top-6). But TV schedules will doubtless dictate the specific date and kick-off times. They're not normally released until after the split, but with the top 6 known definitively at this early stage, there's actually no reason they can't publish the fixtures much sooner!

19th and 26th April. 3rd, 7th and 10th May. 12th/13th April Scottish Cup semis

 

 

I stand corrected.

[SMEE]

So our first home game since the final and we seem to have lost 5k missing fans

Let's be honest here this just highlights that they weren't fans at all, one game a season glory hunting vermin IMO

Invernessians hate ICT we need to accept we have about 3k loyal fans albeit consisting a large amount of incomers but without them we would be in a right pickle

Our terrible home crowds are what they are let's just accept and move on as these threads are getting boring

Dougal

I wouldnt worrytoo much........Aberdeen will be wondering where 30 000+ of their supporters have gone

[gordieict]

Must be very frustrating for the club to see such a poor attendance despite the excellent offers.

[Sneckboy]

 

So our first home game since the final and we seem to have lost 5k missing fans

Let's be honest here this just highlights that they weren't fans at all, one game a season glory hunting vermin IMO

Invernessians hate ICT we need to accept we have about 3k loyal fans albeit consisting a large amount of incomers but without them we would be in a right pickle

Our terrible home crowds are what they are let's just accept and move on as these threads are getting boring

Dougal

I wouldnt worrytoo much........Aberdeen will be wondering where 30 000+ of their supporters have gone

 

 

It's all relative, SMEE. They had around 35% of their Cup Final crowd attending, as did we. However, they're parading a cup around Aberdeen today and likely 'capturing the imagination' of a few interested observers. All great Public Relations.

 

Actually, to be fair, they increased their attendance on their previous home game v. Kilmarnock.

Unfortunately we didn't with our crowd vs. Partick Thistle.

 

An indictment indeed, but particularly embarrassing for us, as I will explain.

 

Although a hackneyed topic, attendances are very relevant to a club's health.

 

What I cannot fathom is this: 

 

Just picture being at the Partick game back in October.

 

At the Sunday lunchtime kick-off, when we'd not even played our League Cup quarter-final at that stage, you turn to your mate and query...

 

"looking at my crystal-ball, the next time Partick come calling, it'll be a more traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off: We'll have a new manager who'd likely appreciate a big crowd to spur the team onto his first home league win..."

 

"We'll have all our key players signed up by then on extended contracts and we'll have just secured our 2nd consecutive top-6 finish..."

 

"Oh, I forgot to mention, We'll have, just 6 days ago, played in our first major cup final (!!!) and taken nearly 8,000 fans to Glasgow!"

 

"One last thing, the club will have put an incentive into place (as if it was needed after our pervious weekend's cup final), whereby major discounting incentives, free admissions and concessions will be aggressively advertised to entice the fans in."

 

"So...let's just speculate that, what I've (probably unrealistically) prophesised, somehow came to light..., then surely we'd expect a higher crowd than today?"

 

Answer: Obviously, YES, naturally, of course!! (swear words removed).

 

Reality: NO.

 

Sadly, part-time football will be the reality at this rate.

[Caleyjag157]

If you look at the 2 games against Rangers in a season that has the potential to pull in almost 15000 fans, next season there will be no hearts which is another big crowd. Ross county may be joining them the way they are playing. So looking at the near future things could get worse before they get better. Getting bigger crowds is not something that will happen overnight at TCS however the seed has been planted and we have to nurture it and watch it grow through success on the pitch and all the excellent work with the community and through the kids that are now coming along to TCS.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Caleyjag157

[Sneckboy]

With due respect, we're on a pretty sticky-wicket if our sustainability depends on whether-or not we're in the same league as that grotesque Govan outfit.

 

[Huisdean]

We are not but as the saying goes, every little helps.

[cantankerousoldgit]

So our first home game since the final and we seem to have lost 5k missing fans

Let's be honest here this just highlights that they weren't fans at all, one game a season glory hunting vermin IMO

Invernessians hate ICT we need to accept we have about 3k loyal fans albeit consisting a large amount of incomers but without them we would be in a right pickle

Our terrible home crowds are what they are let's just accept and move on as these threads are getting boring

Dougal

Making distinctions between fans based on your prejudices is the sort of attitude that will only result in potential fans staying away. Anyone who pays their money and cheers the team on is a real fan and should be made to feel more welcome than at times seems to be the case judging from previous posts. Time to ditch these chip on the shoulder insular attitudes. And yes I was born in the central belt but my kids are born and bred here have been brought up to support ICT. Is that not what we want?

[us2]

Most fans actually work on weekends so can't attend I took weekend off just for the final and now working next 4 weekends. Price of football also makes it hard. Yeah the offer was brilliant and would have taken it but oh yeah I was working....

[IBM]

All the teams except the old firm will struggle to get supporters to go to the game for various reasons.  We have to thank all who attended the cup final and encourage them to attend more games if they can.  Some people make various excuses for not supporting their local team when they are just not interested and that won't change.  Last week I was speaking to a neighbor who was asking if I was down for the final.  He watched it on TV and was moaning about Charlie Christie talking about Caley!  He added that is why Inverness people don't support ICT, he is from Inverness and supports Ross County but does not go to games .  We have to build up our young fan base and hope that will help in another 20 years.

[Sneckboy]

Most fans actually work on weekends so can't attend I took weekend off just for the final and now working next 4 weekends. Price of football also makes it hard. Yeah the offer was brilliant and would have taken it but oh yeah I was working....

 

'Most fans actually work on weekends' is simply inaccurate. But I sympathise with your plight; I too have to work some weekends and even xmas days at times. However, I'm aware I'm in the vast minority when doing so.

 

To suggest that 'weekend work' is a valid reason for our dreadful attendances borders on farcical. Supermarkets report their highest 'foot-fall' of the week as occurring between 2.30 and 4pm on Saturday afternoons.

[ForzaCaley]

Not at all sneckboy. I wasnt there on sat due to working and sadly havnt been to a home game since the new years derby because of work. I can think of a number of lads who usually stand up at the back of section E but miss the odd game because of saturday shifts.

Another suggestion i would like to make is poor stadium design. The location has never helped but we are where we are so thats the end of it. The fact is all the stands are open and miles from the pitch. Ive heard many people complain about soullessness, poor views and p1sh facilities at TCS. Personally i feel the club need to invest in a decent stadium in which fans feel happy to be in. Why pay £21 when you are getting nothing from it! i would like it if the club could take away the temporaray stands and build better long lasting stands, that are closer to the pitch and have far better facilities!! Also open up the west side as a terrace would be nice too ;)

[gordieict]

I go to games to watch my team and to say the 21 pound I pay is for nothing is not true it goes towards keeping my team financially stable while I get to watch my team.

Building another stadium or upgrading ours in the hope it would attract more fans would be pure folly.

Edited March 24, 2014 by gordieict

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

It has not really changed since the merger has it ?

[12th Man]

What would be genuine realistic suggestions to improve the atmosphere and match day experience at the club.

 

Balance cost against the feel the good factor.

[TopSix]

Summer football with Saturday evening kickoffs at 5pm would be great.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

So our first home game since the final and we seem to have lost 5k missing fans

Let's be honest here this just highlights that they weren't fans at all, one game a season glory hunting vermin IMO

Invernessians hate ICT we need to accept we have about 3k loyal fans albeit consisting a large amount of incomers but without them we would be in a right pickle

Our terrible home crowds are what they are let's just accept and move on as these threads are getting boring

Dougal

I wouldnt worrytoo much........Aberdeen will be wondering where 30 000+ of their supporters have gone

 

It's all relative, SMEE. They had around 35% of their Cup Final crowd attending, as did we. However, they're parading a cup around Aberdeen today and likely 'capturing the imagination' of a few interested observers. All great Public Relations.

 

Actually, to be fair, they increased their attendance on their previous home game v. Kilmarnock.

Unfortunately we didn't with our crowd vs. Partick Thistle.

 

An indictment indeed, but particularly embarrassing for us, as I will explain.

 

Although a hackneyed topic, attendances are very relevant to a club's health.

 

What I cannot fathom is this: 

 

Just picture being at the Partick game back in October.

 

At the Sunday lunchtime kick-off, when we'd not even played our League Cup quarter-final at that stage, you turn to your mate and query...

 

"looking at my crystal-ball, the next time Partick come calling, it'll be a more traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off: We'll have a new manager who'd likely appreciate a big crowd to spur the team onto his first home league win..."

 

"We'll have all our key players signed up by then on extended contracts and we'll have just secured our 2nd consecutive top-6 finish..."

 

"Oh, I forgot to mention, We'll have, just 6 days ago, played in our first major cup final (!!!) and taken nearly 8,000 fans to Glasgow!"

 

"One last thing, the club will have put an incentive into place (as if it was needed after our pervious weekend's cup final), whereby major discounting incentives, free admissions and concessions will be aggressively advertised to entice the fans in."

 

"So...let's just speculate that, what I've (probably unrealistically) prophesised, somehow came to light..., then surely we'd expect a higher crowd than today?"

 

Answer: Obviously, YES, naturally, of course!! (swear words removed).

 

Reality: NO.

 

Sadly, part-time football will be the reality at this rate.

That is exactly what I said

[gingerjaggy]

Everything that has been said is true but i want to know where our extra fans for the derby games go to. Celtic we all know the attendance is up because of full away stand and obvious Celtic fans in the home ends to swell the crowd up. But we get bigger Derby crowds and yes they do bring more than the average away crowd but we still manage to increase our gate slightly. So if people turn up to the Derby why do they not for other games? The derby is a Derby and so is slightly different to the average run of mill game but if most people hate the stadium location and believe it lack soul and atmosphere how does it differ that much against County. 

[Alex MacLeod]

Everything that has been said is true but i want to know where our extra fans for the derby games go to. Celtic we all know the attendance is up because of full away stand and obvious Celtic fans in the home ends to swell the crowd up. But we get bigger Derby crowds and yes they do bring more than the average away crowd but we still manage to increase our gate slightly. So if people turn up to the Derby why do they not for other games? The derby is a Derby and so is slightly different to the average run of mill game but if most people hate the stadium location and believe it lack soul and atmosphere how does it differ that much against County. 

4400 at the last derby game is hardly a big crowd but to answer your first question I'd think they probably go back to Dingwall. I dont think ICT take more fans to a derby, or indeed a Celtic match, than they do to any other game.

[caleyboy]

As in every business (and don't say football is different) it is the directors responsibility to sell the product to the paying public at a price they are willing to pay. Are they achieving this? No. Can they maybe tell us what exactly they are doing about it? Don't get blinkered by this old Caley and Thistle nonsense, it's a smoke screen, I will always refer to the team as Caley but there is absolutely noting stopping ex Thistle fans calling the team Jags or Thistle! The product needs funding and sold at a cost affordable to the public.

[Alex MacLeod]

As in every business (and don't say football is different) it is the directors responsibility to sell the product to the paying public at a price they are willing to pay. Are they achieving this? No. Can they maybe tell us what exactly they are doing about it? Don't get blinkered by this old Caley and Thistle nonsense, it's a smoke screen, I will always refer to the team as Caley but there is absolutely noting stopping ex Thistle fans calling the team Jags or Thistle! The product needs funding and sold at a cost affordable to the public.

Everybody seems to know whats needed yet nobody seems able to suggest how thats achieved Where does your funding come from? Gate reciepts at the moment account for less than half the total operating costs. They are also pretty much in line with what other clubs charge. The directors took the responsibility of pricing the PT game at a level they thought would boost crowds. Didn't happen. What more can they do without making losses?

[PerfICT]

 

As in every business (and don't say football is different) it is the directors responsibility to sell the product to the paying public at a price they are willing to pay. Are they achieving this? No. Can they maybe tell us what exactly they are doing about it? Don't get blinkered by this old Caley and Thistle nonsense, it's a smoke screen, I will always refer to the team as Caley but there is absolutely noting stopping ex Thistle fans calling the team Jags or Thistle! The product needs funding and sold at a cost affordable to the public.

Everybody seems to know whats needed yet nobody seems able to suggest how thats achieved Where does your funding come from? Gate reciepts at the moment account for less than half the total operating costs. They are also pretty much in line with what other clubs charge. The directors took the responsibility of pricing the PT game at a level they thought would boost crowds. Didn't happen. What more can they do without making losses?

 

...and reducing the cost + other incentives didn't have any impact on Saturday!

 

I don't think cost is actually the issue here - I think it is the competition for supporters' time. As I said on another thread, midweek games in the face of champions league competition are a farce and should be scrapped, or at least forbid them on champions league nights. The next question is how to get the Saturday gate up. I don't think pricing is the core problem here, nor is it the product on the pitch, which has been better than ever for ICT, whatever way you measure it. Match day experience could definitely be improved and better marketing would not go amiss. However, summer football (much as I hate the concept) has got to stand a chance - if nothing else, the weather is better and there is no English/European football to compete with. might even get more telly money.

Edited March 25, 2014 by PerfICT

[Alex MacLeod]

Would be interesting to see how our gates fair if County were relegated. They are such a big club and all that. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26722861

 

"For me, the first thing is to help Ross County stay in the Premiership," the 22-year-old told BBC Scotland.

"This is a very big club. If I do well at Ross County, maybe I'll get the ticket to the World Cup."

 

"This is a very big club and I think they've been unlucky in the first half of the season," he said.

 

"In the last few years, Ross County have improved every year and I think they're going to be regularly in the top six of this league."

Edited March 25, 2014 by Alex MacLeod

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

Would be interesting to see how our gates fair if County were relegated. They are such a big club and all that. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26722861

 

"For me, the first thing is to help Ross County stay in the Premiership," the 22-year-old told BBC Scotland.

"This is a very big club. If I do well at Ross County, maybe I'll get the ticket to the World Cup."

 

"This is a very big club and I think they've been unlucky in the first half of the season," he said.

 

"In the last few years, Ross County have improved every year and I think they're going to be regularly in the top six of this league."

 

I assume Adams is prayimg that this guy is not drug-tested any time soon. Even IHE at his stamp-licking best wouldn't come out with that guff.

[davie]

We've been over this ground so many times I sometimes think a furrow has been ploughed. I know that many people think that football is too expensive, but it's relative cost is much the same as twenty years ago. You earn more, you pay more and in Caley Thistle's case that's less than all other SPFL clubs (for a matchday inclusive cost) according to this year's BBC survey. If ticketing is discounted, does it result in an upsurge of attendance? Not really. In Inverness' case, the majority of support come from a relatively affluent area, although there are areas of deprivation so if cost were the factor you would expect that to be reflected elsewhere in the leisure sector and it's not happening. So cost, despite what people might feel, isn't the issue for the majority.

The matchday experience is continually being surveyed as being value for money, despite the obvious limitations of the stadium. Sure it's out of the centre of town but no more of a walk than to Parkhead or Tannadice or Tynecastle from the centres of Glasgow, Dundee or Edinburgh - although there the similarity ends. Hospitality at Caley Thistle frequently earns good reviews and marketing is becoming more and more effective - look at the stats for website hits etc. The Club knows it is an entertainment business and lives or dies by the product it markets, so I don't think that's the issue.

 It will always be cold, windy and sometimes wet at TCS, we live in Scotland after all so the only way to address that and make the football better to watch  is to move to summer football, move the stadium or install an artificial surface that compensates for the battered pitch at this time of the year. But I don't get the impression that this is the issue, and in any case could the Club fund a move of stadium (which would cost millions) on the back of attracting a couple of thousand more fans every month?

I meet a lot of football fans, especially Caley Thistle ones. I meet a lot of non-football supporting locals as well and in all of the conversations that I've had - and there have been thousands - I've only ever met three merger refuseniks. Three. I keep looking for objective evidence that these Caley Thistle resenting thousands are out there but they simply aren't. Inverness doesn't hate Caley Thistle, it simply doesn't engage and that is the issue.

The Club is not enmeshed in the community in ways that are true even of our neighbours over the water and that's simply down to the amount of time we've been on the planet. Putting down roots takes time. Caley Thistle does a vast amount of community work that is aimed especially at younger people and that is starting to make a diference, but it won't in the short term and that's what people are concerned with in this thread. What will make a difference is taking a personal stake in making things better. Make it your responsibility - not the guy in the next seat, or the ones in the main/ north stand - to take just one person along with you for a home game. If they think it's garbage, at least you've tried. But not all will. Some will come back regularly or irregularly and that's where the issue lies and that's where you can make a difference.