PAY WHAT YOU WANT - ST JOHNSTONE 20TH JANUARY

[12th Man]

Well no one can fault the club for the amount of effort put in.

[12th Man]

Well no one can fault the club for the amount of effort put in.

[TheKarl]

I don't understand how quality of opposition is being thought as reason that the turnout may be a fair average?

Surely, folk like seeing there team win and if it's perceived as a lesser opponent.. then our chances are higher.. so what's not to like?

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

3161 - WELL feckin done to all those who put in an effort - that must be at least 1000 +

[Yngwie]

Aye, I was thinking the same, we'd have struggled to break 2,000 for this particular fixture at normal prices. 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

158 in the away end = 3000 = excellent - will be told what came through in £'s ?

[Sneckboy]

Aye, I was thinking the same, we'd have struggled to break 2,000 for this particular fixture at normal prices. 

We got 3,000 v St Johnstone the last time we played them on a Tuesday night - full fare!

And 3,700 on a £20 Friday fixture!

Hate to rock-the-boat but I think we should have been looking at higher than tonight's attendance!

Great effort from the club - but the apathy around Inverness is apparent.

Fantastic win tonight - made a very decent Perth club look decidedly ordinary!

[rocky1]

That crowd on one of coldest spells of the year at the end of most expensive periods in terms of extra available cash and a Tuesday night was a great result . However as long as it did not cost the club money in overall projected takings for this match then the extra fans watching makes it a success

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Aye, I was thinking the same, we'd have struggled to break 2,000 for this particular fixture at normal prices.

We got 3,000 v St Johnstone the last time we played them on a Tuesday night - full fare!

And 3,700 on a £20 Friday fixture!

Hate to rock-the-boat but I think we should have been looking at higher than tonight's attendance!

Great effort from the club - but the apathy around Inverness is apparent.

Fantastic win tonight - made a very decent Perth club look decidedly ordinary!

And was the weather and road conditions comparable - was there a bigger away support ?

[Scarlet Pimple]

Of course it is a success. Absolutely, because it was  a positive initiative that attracted  a very respectable crowd who showed willing.

 

Fantastic event and result. Yogi will be very pleased.

[WYNESS101]

Lets hope the club will give it ago on a Saturday. Maybe 21st of Feb when Kilmarnock come to town???

[PerfICT]

Excellent initiative from the club: I agree that this was 1000 more than would have turned up otherwise. Well done to the Saints fan who paid £30 because he thought it was such a good idea! Respect...

[Sneckboy]

I suppose only the club can decide if it was a 'success' or not - we can all form our own opinions.

 

All home SPL/Premiership games v St Johnstone average 3,488

All home league games v St Johnstone average 3,442

All home 'non-Saturday' league games v St Johnstone average 3,300

All home midweek evening-kick-off league games v St Johnstone average 3,390

PWYC experiment 3,161

 

But I wouldn't be taking these figures to an accountant or Dragon's Den claiming it's a successful business model.

 

Edited to correct formatting.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Sneckboy

[+roarer]

Well no one can fault the club for the amount of effort put in.

Well no one can fault the club for the amount of effort put in.

I heartily agree with both of the above sentiments.

[gordieict]

Considering the baltic conditions I believe that the initiative did add a decent number to the crowd, 

[Sir C the 3rd]

Rather than compare to previous games v st.johnstone, just compare previous home games midweek at this time of year. January-February-march time. Without seeing the actual figures I'm certain it'll be more and also compared to some Saturday home games earlier in the season we also got more last night. Good initiative from the club and hopefully they'll try it again

[+DoofersDad]

Without the initiative I doubt the crowd would have been much more than 2500 if that.  Clearly it has attracted a lot of extra folk but that in itself does not make it a success.  Success will be measured in 2 respects: firstly on whether we got improved gate money and secondly on how many of the extra crowd were new or very infrequent attenders and who may be persuaded to come more regularly.

 

On the first point it really goes without saying that if the overall income from the game (including 50:50 sales etc) is less than for a full price game, there is no point doing this regularly.  If income was down then it might still be worth doing as a loss leader occasionally if it can be shown that it brings in more folk to other games.  Had I not been a season ticket holder I would have still paid full price and it will be interesting to know how many paying customers actually did that (or more!)

 

On the 2nd point it is important to recognise that just because the gate might have been 500 -1000 more, that does not mean that all these extra folk were potentially new supporters.  There are a lot of people who go to a few matches each year and I suspect that the initiative will have persuaded a lot of these folk to choose last night's game as one to go to.  The club will get more money out of these folk if they took in this game as an extra, but less if it was just part of their annual "ration".

 

Of course, the initiative was aimed primarily at folk who have never been before or who have only been occasionally.  The hope is that these folk will have liked what they saw and will come back.  There were undoubtedly a good number of new folk in the crowd yesterday, but did they like what they saw?  The person next to me brought 2 mates with him and from the comments I was hearing they certainly won't be back.  Despite the favourable comments on the matchday thread, these folk were not impressed.  They had no time for the patient build up play and generally felt it was all a bit boring.  Watching top level football on TV was what they preferred.

 

I think the last point is important because TV tends to spoil folk and lead to unrealistic expectations.  If people simply want to be entertained by watching the highest quality football then the fact is that we are never going to be able to offer that.  But what the club can offer is good football with the added emotional attachment of supporting "our" club.  It is that sense of belonging and engagement that enriches the overall experience.  If these folk can somehow be persuaded that ICT is their team and they can develop that emotional attachment then they will come back.  That is is easier said than done and I guess that the club just has to keep plugging away at all levels in the hope that bit by more people will begin to feel that ICT is their club.  Whether last night will be judged a success or not, it was certainly a very positive intiative.  Well done to the Board and well done to Yogi and the boys for a decent performance.

 

 

[NormaStitz]

I sat with a Dunfermline fan who had come from Rafford (Nr Forres) and his mate from Inverness who'd only been to 2 games in the past, both against Celtic. They made a night of it with a curry in town and paid a tenner each. So that's +£20 for starters, and 2 very impressed spectators who said they will be back.

[CaleyD]

It was pretty amazing the international interest we had in the "Pay What You Can" initiative and Al Jazeera even sent a reporter to the game to do a short feature on it.

 

Anyone make the video reel?

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/football/2015/01/what-you-can-at-football-stadium-2015121123927397657.html

[closed]

I was disappointed by the turnout and was hoping for a much better response. Sneckboy's stats tell the story of the numbers we should have been beating. Personally I wouldn't risk it for a Saturday game any time soon. Still believe one of the keys to our commercial success is county demise to the lower leagues.

[bdu98196]

Damned if they try something new to get fans in and then damned if they don't bother. #thanklesstask

[12th Man]

What exactly does a St Johnstone average consist of, I drove to a Motherwel midweek game once because I felt that staying in Dundee was close enough, we dont have the luxury of a decent turnout for away fans to boost the average figures.

 

It was a midweek evening match so wont get a great deal of attention form kids, its just after Christmas and just above zero degs.

 

 

1326 turned out to see us beat St Mirren in the cup, I expect well over 1000 extra attended last night that wouldnt have done without the offer, did the club make any extra, probably not but the club has started the ball rolling with cheaper offers elsewhere giving the team a stronger away support at important DU and Hamilton matches. The timing of the 10p for a match offer also would have lowered the mental minimum price that someone could get away with paying to get in.

 

There were faces at the match who hadnt been there for a good while because they got fed up with watching boring football from a few seasons back.

There would have been 1st timers too and the club got great publicity.

 

If a mixture of only 100  new and returning adult fans bought adult season tickets then its an extra  £35,000 year on year.

 

Was it worth it for an evening match in January then I would say yes.

 

Compare the two home County matches, last one 3741  (it might be the last derby match for a while), then you can see if anything positive has emerged from the effort put in.

Edited January 22, 2015 by 12th Man

[+DoofersDad]

What is relevant here is last night's crowds.  St Mirren, boosted by their victory OTB in the last match, had their lowest crowd of the season.  Partick's previous season's low was 2914 but last night only 2138 turned out to watch them thrash Hamilton.  There is no doubt that crowds are reduced on a cold January evening and on that evidence our crowd was clearly 500-1000 better than it would have been had the pay what you want initiative not been in place.

[+bughtmaster]

It was pretty amazing the international interest we had in the "Pay What You Can" initiative and Al Jazeera even sent a reporter to the game to do a short feature on it.

 

Anyone make the video reel?

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/football/2015/01/what-you-can-at-football-stadium-2015121123927397657.html

Such great publicity always welcome, It was a success !

[CaleyD]

 

It was pretty amazing the international interest we had in the "Pay What You Can" initiative and Al Jazeera even sent a reporter to the game to do a short feature on it.

 

Anyone make the video reel?

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/football/2015/01/what-you-can-at-football-stadium-2015121123927397657.html

Such great publicity always welcome, It was a success !

 

 

Al Jazeera transmit to 270 Million homes in over 140 countries, so it truly is one of those "money can't buy" type deals.

 

I'll also add the Lee Wellings and his cameraman (who's name shamefully escapes me right now) are the nicest reporters I have had the pleasure of meeting. They showed a real interest in, and total respect for, what ICTFC are achieving....and had clearly done their homework....more than can be said for some of those who are more regular visitors to TCS!

 

Granted, they did keep me hostage until 1:30am due to a tech glitch, but they were such great guys to chat with that it was far more of a pleasure than a pain to spend time with them and they have an open invite to return whenever they like.