the missing 2000 fans

[BornCaley]

Hey

I took my nephew to his first ICT game on Saturday...by doing that i believe he will go back and not fall into the " i support Celtic or Rangers" trap...so we need a couple of thousand others like me to take their kids/nephews/neices to ICT games and get them hooked

I think the recent free season tix for under 8's. And i hope they have more incentives to generate the next generation of ICt fans...

[gordyfromsneck]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was about the exaggerated attendance count on Saturday. This was what we used to tease County about.

[SMEE]

The so called initiative for the under 8's isnt that fair. Its only for those adults who already have a season ticket themselves. What about poor average joe who just pays at the gate and has to pay full whack for his kid/kids?

And another thing....I dont like the under 8's season tickets part when it comes to Old Firm games, where as far as the club is concerned, they can go take a hike, but apart from that, they are welcome at all other games. THAT STINKS!! :020: :33:

[Kingsmills]

I can understand where he club are coming from in that respect, they have to maximise revenue if we are to remain competitive in the SPL.

[DJS]

It strikes me as a good idea and BornCaley has the right idea  :022:

[CaleyD]

It's a great move in the right direction, but I too think it would be good for them to extend it to "walk-up" customers on a match by match basis.

[buckett]

The trouble is kids get bored awfully easily. They need to see goals and unfortunately they need to see big-name teams i.e Celtic and Rangers.

I took my 9-year-old to the Falkirk game and he was bored to tears after about 20 minutes. Fortunately I didn't take him to yesterday's game, which lacked both of the aforementioned qualities. I just wish I'd taken him to the Gretna game.

Taking young kids to see 0-0 draws or 1-0 scorelines against the likes of St. Mirren or Falkirk may not be the best way to indoctrinate them into the way of supporting their local team - in fact it may have quite the opposite effect.

All kids are different of course, but I know I'm walking a fine line between encouraging mine to support the team and driving him away from it, having to carefully ration our joint visits to TCS. Having said that, he is keen on supporting the team and I think if I'm careful, he'll want to go more often when he's older. And he's got a healthy hatred of BOTH Celtic and Rangers, which is unusual in this north western corner!

[BornCaley]

you know what...I really should read these things before opening my mouth. I didnt realise that the under 8 deal was for the kids of Adult ST holders... So im gonna change my mind slightly on this matter. I agree that it looks a tad unfair, but its on the right path....the club need to attract kids to these games and there was a lot of young kids at the St Mirren game which was great to see...

My nephew wasnt bored and sang along with some of the singing and asked questions about players...he even spotted the photographer getting his laptop smacked by the ball...v funny

but my point of the thread is how do we attract  more fans...i thought being the last game of the seaon that the crowd would be more than 3,500 people..ok the FA cup was on. But i thought at least there would be free entry deal for kids at the last game..but no

shame really

[Guest TinCanFan]

The so called initiative for the under 8's isnt that fair. Its only for those adults who already have a season ticket themselves. What about poor average joe who just pays at the gate and has to pay full whack for his kid/kids?

And another thing....I dont like the under 8's season tickets part when it comes to Old Firm games, where as far as the club is concerned, they can go take a hike, but apart from that, they are welcome at all other games. THAT STINKS!! :020: :33:

Even though I believe ICT intentions are good, the lack of the Old Firm games in this package is the fatal flaw.  What do kids want to see?  They want to see the players they see on the telly, and the fact that the tickets won't cover this may mean that this idea will fail.

[MacBandy]

I think this is a much better Idea than the occasional 'free tickets for all' idea which allows those with no loyalty or interest to occasionally get a freebee and makes me feel cheated for buying a season ticket for me an my wee un.

This is saying to those regulars who are thinking of a season ticket but might not, and who have to look after their kids on a Sat, who are perhaps a we bit too young to get it fully, and so what is the point of forking out....

"have a bit of faith, spend your money up front and as a thank you we will give the seats that would have been spare in most games to you for your kids, if they want to come. Now; we don't want to penalise paying customers; and cut our own noses off in terms of revenue, for the big games where that seat would have been taken... however; as a season ticket holder you can get first dibs at buying it and hey...your wee un may want it as they may be hooked by then."

It seems a very sound business idea to me that will benefit regular (not yet season ticket) fans and deepen their interest and loyalty.

[SMEE]

Av yet to hear of a season ticket ANYWHERE where it lets you get into all games...................except those where the club decide they don't need your custom on that day. They don't do it to other season ticket holders, so why penalise under 8s? Its a pile of ****!

[CaleyD]

I actually fail to see the problem with excluding OF games and I think the club would do well to extend the range of Season Tickets on offer across all sectors to include an option to purchase a ticket without them included as I know a few peopke who just can't be ersed with attending OF games and listening to the 90 mins of bile from the away end.

It's a win/win situation.  Parents get the chance to introduce their kids to the football for free and the club get the chance to recoup some of the cost of that if those kids are then taken to the OF games.

My Nephew asked me the other day if I would take him to some games (he's 7).  I'm not sure he'll take to going to the football or has the attention span to sit through 90 minutes, but this offer gives me the chance to find out.  If he's keen on keeping on going then I have no problem whatsoever giving the club money for him to attend the OF games.  Even if I take him to two OF games and pay ?15 per ticket, that's still only ?30 for a seasons football.

[Scotty]

There was another thread discussing this and i made my comments in there ... but basically I think its a great incentive marred by one quirk of pricing which I queried and was told was correct.

I do not have a problem with excluding the OF games from the offer. The adults get their tickets for that game and the kids get first refusal on the ticket for their seat so for a total of 3 premium games of the season the club are asking the kids to pay, the other 16 games are FREE.

If you cannot cope with that problem, and happen to be eligible for a concession ST, then I suggest you take advantage of the "pricing quirk" which will allow you to buy a concession and child ticket for the Family enclosure (including OF tickets) for 180 as opposed to buying an adult and free child for 210 and having to pay for child tickets for the 3 OF games !!!