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Reigniting the spark.


Joonya

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3 hours ago, Caman said:

Three to four hours in the warmth of Houston is not the same as Longman, Inverness. 

The cultural differences between USA and Scottish/UK folk are well known. 

I don't think the two locations are comparable.

However, I do agree the catering could be better.  But, Scottish football has a 'pie and bovril' mentality which will never change imo. I can't see many folk wanting a Prawn Cocktail or Avacado, with freshly squeezed Pomegranate juice snack at half time. 

One sure fire way to ensure it never changes is to take the attitude that it will never change.

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3 hours ago, Caman said:

Three to four hours in the warmth of Houston is not the same as Longman, Inverness. 

The cultural differences between USA and Scottish/UK folk are well known. 

I don't think the two locations are comparable.

However, I do agree the catering could be better.  But, Scottish football has a 'pie and bovril' mentality which will never change imo. I can't see many folk wanting a Prawn Cocktail or Avacado, with freshly squeezed Pomegranate juice snack at half time. 

You miss the point of the statement. What is comparable is fans with an interest in the game and potential customers for the club to make money from. The climate may not be the same but we have areas around the stadium we can use - get a large covered area or marquee at the front (doesn't even need heated) just a suitable space that's dry with some seating for fans - have some big screens up to watch games (instead of a single 30in TV down in the foyer of the Main stand), pre-match build up, some music etc - something to build up an atmosphere. Have snack bars/drinks in them and encourage fans to come early and hang around for the build up rather than at bars in town.

Nobody is suggesting Prawn Cocktail - pies and tea/bovril still have a place but really is he pricing reflective for the quality of goods on offer good value? The quality can be improved by offering external catering the opportunity to rent a stall outside the ground - plenty of small companies doing great quality foods for comparable prices - just visit game fairs/food events to see that. Helps the provide better local community ties & links to business. With games on at 3pm, having catering and facilities that can get folks out there at 12 or 1 - taps into a lunch market not just game time snacks - but people need to want to be there and entertained in that time.

You dismiss all this yet there are clubs in England with areas doing this so why cant we?

 

Edited by bdu98196
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16 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

......You dismiss all this yet there are clubs in England with areas doing this so why cant we?

 

Some nice ideas there but I think the costs of putting on a show will be the stumbling so far as the club is concerned. I can't really see many fans patronising it either as they will be stuck in their ways and have their pre match events at the likes of the Caley Club. Well worth a try though I reckon.

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Wetherspoons have imo cracked the market in value for money. A curry and 5 pints (if you can take as much) for £20 and 3 to 4 hours craic with your mates in a really busy pub. Football needs to learn how to provide real value for money from sources who know how to do it.

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Forgive me if you have read my previous posts and It sounds like I am covering old ground however I wanted to add my two cents to this thread.

Near my folks theres a small lowland league club called Kelty Hearts that have been able to create a community focused club with a really positive energy surrounding it, they post Regular messages on their Social media surrounding developments of their stadium and other parts of the club which I wonder if someone from Caley could visit and see of we could learn a few pointers to try and generate a bit of positive energy of our own.

Im also quite disappointed that the Inverness Caley Stadium Development facebook page only got about 300 likes and fairly recently just died off with no new updates, they posted some good ideas which I thought the club could have posted officially instead. 

What happened to the buy a tile for the tunnel offer from years ago? If they never sold them all why not try again since its our 25th anniversary?

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2 hours ago, LairdMattie said:

Forgive me if you have read my previous posts and It sounds like I am covering old ground however I wanted to add my two cents to this thread.

Near my folks theres a small lowland league club called Kelty Hearts that have been able to create a community focused club with a really positive energy surrounding it, they post Regular messages on their Social media surrounding developments of their stadium and other parts of the club which I wonder if someone from Caley could visit and see of we could learn a few pointers to try and generate a bit of positive energy of our own.

Im also quite disappointed that the Inverness Caley Stadium Development facebook page only got about 300 likes and fairly recently just died off with no new updates, they posted some good ideas which I thought the club could have posted officially instead. 

What happened to the buy a tile for the tunnel offer from years ago? If they never sold them all why not try again since its our 25th anniversary?

I believe that the chap who started that page was the carwash guy who, going by the last few times I've been by is no longer on site. I assume there will be no further interest. 

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10 hours ago, caleyboy said:

Wetherspoons have imo cracked the market in value for money. A curry and 5 pints (if you can take as much) for £20 and 3 to 4 hours craic with your mates in a really busy pub. Football needs to learn how to provide real value for money from sources who know how to do it.

Economies of scale and all that, but certainly insofar as competition - yes.  It is very expensive to run a full time club and realistically needs 5000 fans.  While I agree, I also see how tricky more outlay must be in this particular situation.  It needs a lot of imagination and creative, outside the box thinking to move beyond. Some of which is coming from the posts above and that is encouraging to see positive input and constructive ideas.

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10 hours ago, Glover said:

Economies of scale and all that, but certainly insofar as competition - yes.  It is very expensive to run a full time club and realistically needs 5000 fans.  While I agree, I also see how tricky more outlay must be in this particular situation.  It needs a lot of imagination and creative, outside the box thinking to move beyond. Some of which is coming from the posts above and that is encouraging to see positive input and constructive ideas.

Imagination and outside the box creative thinking is exactly what we need or we stagnate and become a part-time lower league club. I wish I had that gift and the club could have it for free.

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On 7/29/2018 at 11:34 AM, caleyboy said:

Wetherspoons have imo cracked the market in value for money. A curry and 5 pints (if you can take as much) for £20 and 3 to 4 hours craic with your mates in a really busy pub. Football needs to learn how to provide real value for money from sources who know how to do it.

Wetherspoons have two million customers a week and 1000 locations.  That's why it's cheap, as well as the food being microwaved garbage.

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On 7/28/2018 at 8:06 AM, Caman said:

Three to four hours in the warmth of Houston is not the same as Longman, Inverness. 
The cultural differences between USA and Scottish/UK folk are well known. 
I don't think the two locations are comparable.
However, I do agree the catering could be better.  But, Scottish football has a 'pie and bovril' mentality which will never change imo. I can't see many folk wanting a Prawn Cocktail or Avacado, with freshly squeezed Pomegranate juice snack at half time

 

On 7/28/2018 at 11:55 AM, bdu98196 said:

You miss the point of the statement. What is comparable is fans with an interest in the game and potential customers for the club to make money from. The climate may not be the same but we have areas around the stadium we can use - get a large covered area or marquee at the front (doesn't even need heated) just a suitable space that's dry with some seating for fans - have some big screens up to watch games (instead of a single 30in TV down in the foyer of the Main stand), pre-match build up, some music etc - something to build up an atmosphere. Have snack bars/drinks in them and encourage fans to come early and hang around for the build up rather than at bars in town.

Nobody is suggesting Prawn Cocktail - pies and tea/bovril still have a place but really is he pricing reflective for the quality of goods on offer good value? The quality can be improved by offering external catering the opportunity to rent a stall outside the ground - plenty of small companies doing great quality foods for comparable prices - just visit game fairs/food events to see that. Helps the provide better local community ties & links to business. With games on at 3pm, having catering and facilities that can get folks out there at 12 or 1 - taps into a lunch market not just game time snacks - but people need to want to be there and entertained in that time.

You dismiss all this yet there are clubs in England with areas doing this so why cant we?

 

agree with what I have highlighted from BDU. That is the main point in all of this. No-one is saying the American way of doing everything should be recreated, but one thing North Americans - and their sports leagues - do and know how to do is marketing, merchandising and squeezing as many pennies out of you as they can while still leaving you smiling !!! 

Three to four hours in the warmth of Houston is not the same as Longman, Inverness. 
As a season ticket holder at Toronto since inception in 2007 I think I can safely say that I have enough experience to comment that 3 or 4 hours in Toronto in the early or late part of the season is far worse than the Longman for temperature. The coldest I had ever been at a stadium for many years was actually the first ever game at the Caledonian Stadium where we played an RAF / Services select on a cold midweek night. That night was absolutely brutal and well below zero with a biting wind coming right up the glen and into your face. I swear I could hear the clang of the brass monkeys all around me .... HOWEVER, that was eclipsed in each of the last two years at the MLS Cup Final in Toronto, in mid December ! We lost the first and won it last year. The temperature was about the same both times at around -7 but the first year, with the dreaded 'windchill' factor it was closer to -20. For some reason I didnt feel it so bad last year !! Try standing on metal stands for 2 hours in that temperature and freezing from the soles of your feet upwards and the TCS will seem balmy at any game !   And its not just Toronto ... you could add Montreal, Minnesota, New York (2), New England, Philadelphia, Chicago, Colorado, and others into that mix for severe weather and of course Houston, Dallas, LA (2), San Jose and others into the mix for extreme hot weather in the summer months. Sitting in extreme heat can be as bad - if not worse - than sitting in extreme cold ! 

The cultural differences between USA and Scottish/UK folk are well known...... Scottish football has a 'pie and bovril' mentality which will never change imo. I can't see many folk wanting a Prawn Cocktail or Avacado, with freshly squeezed Pomegranate juice snack at half time
Cultural differences ? MLS is a weird league in some ways thats for sure, but what it does have everywhere is a mixture of cultures not just 'Americans'. It varies by location and the cultural and immigrant makeup of the city in question but in Toronto the group i belong to has people from virtually every continent in the world. Plenty of UK ex-pats but also Bulgarians, Italians, Brazilians, Chinese, Australian etc .. you name it we got it. These people all bring their own passion but as a group it is great as everyone feeds off each other. Maybe that's why there are so many options at the stadium for stuff to eat (and drink) from 3rd party companies who rent space ..... https://bmofield.com/plan-your-visit/food-beverages/ ... and not a Prawn Cocktail or Avocado in sight !!  ... I think you can still also get a pie and a bovril if you want it ... you could certainly get that along with chip butties and Cornish pasties and such like the first couple of years. I do tend to eat before I go to the stadium though as the pricing is typical North American stadium pricing which is ridiculous .... but if you want it, it is there and plentiful ... I mentioned the -20 weather above ... they sold a lot of hot beverages that day including soup, cocoa, chocolate, and of course coffee and tea (not your fancy starbucks stuff, just a good old fashioned large cup of steaming coffee). I am told they had 'hot beef drinks' too but I never found them .... 

The game on the pitch is always live on TV and they have that playing all over the concourse on big TVs while you wait for the toilet or for your next round of food or drink at the concession stands.

 

7 hours ago, caleyboy said:

Imagination and outside the box creative thinking is exactly what we need or we stagnate and become a part-time lower league club. I wish I had that gift and the club could have it for free.

exactly. The SFA for many years said things could not change 'because we have always done it this way' . That is a sure fire kiss of death in almost any business or career. As Shrek once said (and I dont mean Wayne Rooney) ... 'Change is good donkey !!' I dont have any showstoppers here but I'll throw a couple of ideas into the hat and see if that inspires others .... 

 

Start small - tidy up the place. We cant do much about the car park as the lack of paving means the rates are lower but perhaps we can plan it a bit better. Even something as simple as having one side of the car park as the "express" line and the other as the more leisurely line. How many times have you come out of the stadium only to find the driver for the car in front is in hospitality or taking their time around the stadium. Make the left side express and the far right side the slow side ! Charge less for the slow side if you want to incentivise it. 

Behind the North Stand allow some food trucks to congregate and 'compete' with each other. Competition usually brings better quality and pricing. Let them do this for a while for a nominal fee and have the fans vote on their favourites. The favourites can be invited to occupy prime spots in the stadium such as the space between main and North stand, the main concourse of the stadium (outside) or even the inside food area for the regular rates. With the advent of electronic ticketing it should not be a problem to allow exit and re-entry to the stadium using the QR or bar-code from the ticket to access these vans. If it is, then on a matchday you simply put up crush barriers and extend the footprint of the stadium to include those areas. 

With those crush barriers in place (or not) have a few things kid related around the stadium area. At TFC we routinely see other businesses (banks, car companies, food companies) setup bouncy castles or 'beat the goalie' or other such stuff. The kids love it and of course the reps can badger the parents to subscribe to or buy their services as they stand there.

This one might be controversial - but on a matchday close of all side-street road access along Stadium Road from the harbour mini-roundabout all the way to the TCS. Make this a 2 lane one-way street (to the TCS) until 3PM and a 2 lane one-way street (to the town) after the game. This may not be viable in the championship but may be worht talking to the council about when we get back to the Premiership and crowds are higher.

I am sure I can think of others - but thats a first thought before we even get inside the stadium !!! 

 

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1 hour ago, ictchris said:

Wetherspoons have two million customers a week and 1000 locations.  That's why it's cheap, as well as the food being microwaved garbage.

If 2 million customers like eating "microwaved garbage" then it is a good business model to provide it.  Too many businesses fail because they offer what they want to provide rather than what the customer wants.  There have been some nice ideas for how the club might raise some more money and attract new people to the ground, but for most of this there is probably very little evidence for there being a demand.  I think a little market research amongst the existing and potential fan base might be in order.

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48 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

If 2 million customers like eating "microwaved garbage" then it is a good business model to provide it.  Too many businesses fail because they offer what they want to provide rather than what the customer wants.  There have been some nice ideas for how the club might raise some more money and attract new people to the ground, but for most of this there is probably very little evidence for there being a demand.  I think a little market research amongst the existing and potential fan base might be in order.

I think the club could do worse than reach out to current and former season ticket holders by means of some sort of survey to get opinions on what they like / don't like about going to games at TCS, why some folk didn't renew and so on. There could well be data issues here I don't know but it seems like an obvious thing to do if there aren't any barriers to it.

At the end of the day the best way to get folk along to TCS is to get a successful team on the pitch that wins games regularly.

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23 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Perhaps it was actually only reignited today ?

Funny how a 5-0 defeat can get you excited for the next game, if only a little bit.

Perhaps its the injustice of being knocked out on goal difference to a team who effectively cheated in an earlier round? A sort of 'we're better than that' mentality?

 

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IMO, Scottish Football is already squeezing every penny it can out of the fans who still attend...so any plan based on getting more from them is destined to fail.

First thing that needs done is to stop the rot.  Having taken part in, and seen the results from, fan satisfaction surveys...and what keeps them coming back (or not)...I can say with certainty that positive results on the park come a pretty long way down the list.  It's an often given reason, but when you drill down into it you realise that it's actually just an easy excuse and the cause is a bit more complex......lacked identity with the club, didn't feel valued, poor treatment by club, poor value from the matchday experience etc.

Deal with those things and you then have a more positive, engaged support who do the next bit for you...mostly...and that is to encourage more people to attend more regularly.

From there on it's about tweaking the offering to ensure that resources are concentrated where they provide the biggest benefit...to club and fans.  That's inevitably going to be supporting families and attracting new young supporters to the club.

Build from the bottom up : 40+ yr old fans who have been attending since 1994 and who have weathered the good and the bad aren't going to need as much convincing/pampering to keep supporting the club as an 8 yr old who's having his head turned towards following a Champions League team that he'll never likely get to see live in person.

Not saying the older fans should be ignored, just that it's easier/cheaper to find things to improve their matchday experience.

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True story the youngsters they need to try and hook maybe the players can go to schools interact with the young bucks dish out a few freebies! My wee mans a die hard but even he was scunnered by Sunday's surrender thought the BT remote was going thro the TV results like that defo won't sway youngsters out way!

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The 100 fans game is a great idea. Reckon it may grow and grow as more kids want to experience what their mates have been boasting about. Could do it over 2 days as I'm sure it's not that taxing on the players. 

Instead of the players going out to the school. The club could invite classes to the stadium for a P.E related session which involves a quick tour of the changing rooms etc and a Q and A session with the players. Perhaps use the minibus to transport them. Take them round the shop in case they have any pennies. Free tickets for the next home game aswell. There will be a slight cost to the club but I presume it will be offset if any kids are hooked from this. 

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There's a company in the central belt which runs trips to matches in England. They buy a block of season seats at certain grounds. One club they've bought season tickets for is Sunderland. The rep told me they were renewing the season books for Sunderland due to "the match experience being so good". Food for thought. I like Scotty's idea about beat the goalie and bouncy castles. We'd need an artificial pitch though?The strange thing is ICTFC is big into saying it's a family club, but there's next to nothing for kids at the ground on match day for kids.

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3 minutes ago, Stirling Observer said:

The 100 fans game is a great idea. Reckon it may grow and grow as more kids want to experience what their mates have been boasting about. Could do it over 2 days as I'm sure it's not that taxing on the players. 

Instead of the players going out to the school. The club could invite classes to the stadium for a P.E related session which involves a quick tour of the changing rooms etc and a Q and A session with the players. Perhaps use the minibus to transport them. Take them round the shop in case they have any pennies. Free tickets for the next home game aswell. There will be a slight cost to the club but I presume it will be offset if any kids are hooked from this. 

Good ideas. 

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