Wembley

[Filo]

There are a whole new cohort of fans that were either too young or not born since we beat Leeds

[Colin C No.3]

They’ll be 13,000+ in attendance on Friday, I reckon you could easily double that figure for a trip to Wembley.

[drfcsteve]

If it’s us and Crawley in the final we’ll outnumber them, which isn’t a bad effort to say they’re 120 miles closer to Wembley than we are!

[Campsall rover]

If it’s us and Crawley in the final we’ll outnumber them, which isn’t a bad effort to say they’re 120 miles closer to Wembley than we are!

Crawley have a much smaller fan base than we do.

Yes our ave is 7.100 this season but it looks like 12500 to 13.000 home fans are turning up on Friday.
We have a huge number of shall we call it glory hunter / get on the success bandwagon supporters.

We will take at least 20.000 to Wembley.

The cost though will be prohibitive to many I fear. Travel and tickets combined is going to be very expensive. 
It is going to be a minimum of £75 to £100 + per person for ticket and travel.
This is a very expensive day out for a family of 4/5

[IDM]

I'm confident we'll take 25000 if we get there.

Trains are practically sold out. Not a chance now that supporters coaches have been announced at £55

If it’s us and Crawley in the final we’ll outnumber them, which isn’t a bad effort to say they’re 120 miles closer to Wembley than we are!

Crawley have a much smaller fan base than we do.

Yes our ave is 7.100 this season but it looks like 12500 to 13.000 home fans are turning up on Friday.
We have a huge number of shall we call it glory hunter / get on the success bandwagon supporters.

We will take at least 20.000 to Wembley.

The cost though will be prohibitive to many I fear. Travel and tickets combined is going to be very expensive. 
It is going to be a minimum of £75 to £100 + per person for ticket and travel.
This is a very expensive day out for a family of 4/5

OK I get that not everyone drives or has a car, but maybe folks can blag a lift off their mates who do?

There's 3 of us, possibly 5, who for a variety of reasons haven't been this season but would be going to Wembley.  We only need the one car. 

I wouldn't call additional family/friends of regular fans glory hunters either.  For a variety of reasons I've been to few games since the pandemic, before that was a ST holder since 2006.

[normal rules]

Social Media can come into its own here with lift sharing offered etc. getting to Wembley doesn’t have to be expensive if people club together

[GazLaz]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

[Campsall rover]

When I say glory hunters, I mean it in the politest way. 

My son in law will be going to Wembley but he only goes to a handful of league games.
My daughter would go if she could but is at a dancing competition that my granddaughter is at that weekend.
Can’t persuade my wife to go though. Just a TV glory hunter 

Yes there are a large number of family members that will go along to this match with the family members who are die hard fans.

Just a foot note as I don’t want to jinx it.

WE ARE NOT AT WEMBLEY YET.   

Quietly confident. YES

[CJK]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

This is something I've always been aware of. I'm 37 and when you look around, I wouldn't put a high proportion of our fan base in the 30-40 year old bracket. The reason? The mid-nineties and Richardson didn't help, additionally this generations parents probably supported other clubs. Further, SKY bringing the Premier League into everyone's homes in 1992 didn't help either.

[drfcsteve]

It’d be interesting to know how many fans we have on the system with purchase history. I’m sure we have fans that would go to more games if they could but can’t for various reasons, cost, work, kids etc.

You could try and work out the number of “day trippers” at Wembley by subtracting our fans with purchase history from the number attending.

I think the majority of those that go to Wembley will be “real fans” rather than those just out for a one off trip.

[Chris Black come back]

The majority of those going on Friday night will either be season ticket holders or regular attendees. Next up are the engaged part-timers. Once you get past that group you are running into thinner territory.

Yes people like a day out at Wembley and to be associated with success, but the marginal fan over that 10,000 is going to have to shell out around £100 per person and get down to Wembley without being a regular at doing this or likely attending our games. That’s a lot to ask people who aren’t engaged.

The marginal fan is a difficult beast to understand, and people shouldn’t think the first 10,000 (season ticket holders, engaged part-timers) are anything like the next 10,000 (god only knows what these people are like). We have high engagement at the front end and much lower engagement at the back end.

Those incremental fans over 10,000 will be harder to convince to shell out and go to Wembley. Not impossible, but harder.

[normal rules]

If it’s us and Crawley in the final we’ll outnumber them, which isn’t a bad effort to say they’re 120 miles closer to Wembley than we are!

Crawley have a decent following within the Chelsea support group. They get Chelsea at home games due to tickets not being available at Stamford bridge .id imagine they would attract a few of them
To Wembley. It’s a cheap day at Wembley compared to an f a cup final.

[normal rules]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

It will be a short day on the piss with a 1pm kick off

[IDM]

The majority of those going on Friday night will either be season ticket holders or regular attendees. Next up are the engaged part-timers. Once you get past that group you are running into thinner territory.

Yes people like a day out at Wembley and to be associated with success, but the marginal fan over that 10,000 is going to have to shell out around £100 per person and get down to Wembley without being a regular at doing this or likely attending our games. That’s a lot to ask people who aren’t engaged.

The marginal fan is a difficult beast to understand, and people shouldn’t think the first 10,000 (season ticket holders, engaged part-timers) are anything like the next 10,000 (god only knows what these people are like). We have high engagement at the front end and much lower engagement at the back end.

Those incremental fans over 10,000 will be harder to convince to shell out and go to Wembley. Not impossible, but harder.

Why the assumption that folks would need to pay £100 each?  Not everyone will rely on coach or trains to get there.  Is there a shortage of cars in and around Doncaster?

[mushRTID]

The majority of those going on Friday night will either be season ticket holders or regular attendees. Next up are the engaged part-timers. Once you get past that group you are running into thinner territory.

Yes people like a day out at Wembley and to be associated with success, but the marginal fan over that 10,000 is going to have to shell out around £100 per person and get down to Wembley without being a regular at doing this or likely attending our games. That’s a lot to ask people who aren’t engaged.

The marginal fan is a difficult beast to understand, and people shouldn’t think the first 10,000 (season ticket holders, engaged part-timers) are anything like the next 10,000 (god only knows what these people are like). We have high engagement at the front end and much lower engagement at the back end.

Those incremental fans over 10,000 will be harder to convince to shell out and go to Wembley. Not impossible, but harder.

Why the assumption that folks would need to pay £100 each?  Not everyone will rely on coach or trains to get there.  Is there a shortage of cars in and around Doncaster?

Exactly, I will be filling my car (4 people) and parking at Stanmore. Bet that works out £60-£70 in fuel and parking for 4 of us. Although CBCB was likely including the match ticket in that £100.

[GazLaz]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

This is something I've always been aware of. I'm 37 and when you look around, I wouldn't put a high proportion of our fan base in the 30-40 year old bracket. The reason? The mid-nineties and Richardson didn't help, additionally this generations parents probably supported other clubs. Further, SKY bringing the Premier League into everyone's homes in 1992 didn't help either.

I’m 40 and started going in the 90s. There aren’t too many that fall into that category.


The ones that started going 20 years ago, when things improved, are just creeping into their early 30s now.

[IDM]

Plus if you park near the stadium there's no tube costs either.

If folks want some time in London as well, so be it.  Some will go down on Saturday and make a weekend of it, and why not!

We still need to get through friday first, but no harm in planning.

[DonnyOsmond]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

This is something I've always been aware of. I'm 37 and when you look around, I wouldn't put a high proportion of our fan base in the 30-40 year old bracket. The reason? The mid-nineties and Richardson didn't help, additionally this generations parents probably supported other clubs. Further, SKY bringing the Premier League into everyone's homes in 1992 didn't help either.

I'm in my mid thirties and remember being in school in the early noughties and I could have counted on both hands the number of lads who supported Rovers. Majority were bigger local clubs or Premier League clubs.

[keyser_soze]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

This is something I've always been aware of. I'm 37 and when you look around, I wouldn't put a high proportion of our fan base in the 30-40 year old bracket. The reason? The mid-nineties and Richardson didn't help, additionally this generations parents probably supported other clubs. Further, SKY bringing the Premier League into everyone's homes in 1992 didn't help either.

I’m 40 and started going in the 90s. There aren’t too many that fall into that category.


The ones that started going 20 years ago, when things improved, are just creeping into their early 30s now.

I'm in my late 40's and started going in the early 90's, mostly misery for years but was season ticket holder until 2008 when I moved away. I'm only an hour and a half away but since having kids etc and wife working Saturdays for years I only make a few games a season now but still watch the goals go in and keep up to date on here and on socials. Certainly class myself as a full time fan but a very rare attendee, when I do come I usually bring my dad who has attended many games over the years without having more than a passing interest and my lad comes too these days so we will make up three of the extra number. i guess there will be a few in my bracket.

[silent majority]

The age of DRFC supporters has been a regular topic in the meetings I've had with the club over the years.

If you look at our ST holders you will see that the larger numbers are either 60+ or under 18's. That's quite a problem building for the club. The lack of numbers in that middle ground is obviously the result of the Richardson years and the very poor performances of the club leading up to that also. The heyday, if you want to call it that, was in the mid to late '60's where most of our current support were younger supporters in those days, me included.

The club have done well in attracting the younger element as ST holders in recent years but that begs the question of can we keep them? Will they grow up and bring their kids? Or will they, because of changing tastes, move on to other activities? Will Doncaster as a City keep them here fully employed?

All questions that we don't know the answers to. But what we do know is that the generation of older supporters that currently make up the largest part of our ST base isn't going to be there for much longer, me included.

[Superspy]

That's really interesting stuff SM, thanks for sharing. Do you know if the club see a significant drop off at age 24/25 where the pricing jumps up to the full adult price or is our retention rate at that point pretty good?

[Superspy]

Well I’ve just reserved a parking spot here https://www.wembleycarparking.org.uk/secure-parking

A refund given up to a day before, 5-10 min walk to stadium, fill ya boots before any potential opponents get in there

Thanks for sharing this Filo. Just quoting you to bump the link again for others. I've just booked my spot here too....pretty sure this is exactly where I parked for the Leeds match...history repeating itself?

[Filo]

Well I’ve just reserved a parking spot here https://www.wembleycarparking.org.uk/secure-parking

A refund given up to a day before, 5-10 min walk to stadium, fill ya boots before any potential opponents get in there

Thanks for sharing this Filo. Just quoting you to bump the link again for others. I've just booked my spot here too....pretty sure this is exactly where I parked for the Leeds match...history repeating itself?

No problem the refund bit sealed the deal for mee

[Chris Black come back]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

This is something I've always been aware of. I'm 37 and when you look around, I wouldn't put a high proportion of our fan base in the 30-40 year old bracket. The reason? The mid-nineties and Richardson didn't help, additionally this generations parents probably supported other clubs. Further, SKY bringing the Premier League into everyone's homes in 1992 didn't help either.

I’m 40 and started going in the 90s. There aren’t too many that fall into that category.


The ones that started going 20 years ago, when things improved, are just creeping into their early 30s now.

I'm in my late 40's and started going in the early 90's, mostly misery for years but was season ticket holder until 2008 when I moved away. I'm only an hour and a half away but since having kids etc and wife working Saturdays for years I only make a few games a season now but still watch the goals go in and keep up to date on here and on socials. Certainly class myself as a full time fan but a very rare attendee, when I do come I usually bring my dad who has attended many games over the years without having more than a passing interest and my lad comes too these days so we will make up three of the extra number. i guess there will be a few in my bracket.

That was my journey also. Started going at schooo when crowds were sub-2000. For more than a decade it was absolute shite and continuous failure. How we got from Belle Vue to the Keepmoat and Wembley is almost unfathomable. As grim as the conference years were, it was the decade prior that was worse. No direction, running on fumes and crowds struggling over 1000.

[silent majority]

That's really interesting stuff SM, thanks for sharing. Do you know if the club see a significant drop off at age 24/25 where the pricing jumps up to the full adult price or is our retention rate at that point pretty good?

No, we can retain them. Its 16+ that becomes the problem, leaving for university and other reasons seems to b ethe major issue. Will they come back? Not if the jobs in the area remain elusive.

[Superspy]

That's really interesting stuff SM, thanks for sharing. Do you know if the club see a significant drop off at age 24/25 where the pricing jumps up to the full adult price or is our retention rate at that point pretty good?

No, we can retain them. Its 16+ that becomes the problem, leaving for university and other reasons seems to b ethe major issue. Will they come back? Not if the jobs in the area remain elusive.

Yeah that's why I was wondering, 16 and 18 are major points of change in people's lives where other things can get in the way of football as you've said, but if we were seeing a significant drop off at 24/25 that would suggest that price is the main issue - the fact that ISN'T the case is a positive, at least

[Chris Black come back]

Young people have had a terrible deal the last decade. Forking out for a season ticket however competitively priced is going to be an issue especially when they go from being a teenager to a 20-something. Only so much the club can do - get the Tories out to do the rest.

[DRFC-Hanksie]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

I'd be interesting in seeing a study of this too.

Had to hold myself back from saying a lot of things in someones Facebook status yesterday, a Barnsley fan from Donny saying 'where have all these Rovers fans come from? They've not been seen for the last 16 years'. 2 brothers piped up (one supports Leeds, and the other Blades [bonkers, I know]) saying it's laughable that they've all crawled out the woodwork.

I grew up a stones throw away from these 2 brothers, and cannot really remember any similar aged kids from our area wearing Rovers shirts in the late 90s. Only really started seeing Rovers shirts in the early 00's by the time i'd reached secondary school. For me, this time of the late 90s is where we missed out on a generation of fans.

Great to see so many more young'uns out and about in Rovers shirts nowadays, we're back on the up again!

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

One thing that really stood out to me at Crewe was the demographic of our support that day. Certainly the highest percentage of 20-40 year olds I’ve ever seen at a Donny match. Historically it was generally the case of either really old or really young. 

It’s probably this age group that are likely to bring a few more “day trippers” along with them for a day in London on the piss.

I’d certainly like to look at the data of our supporter base since we were promoted back into the football league, it would make an interesting study.

This is something I've always been aware of. I'm 37 and when you look around, I wouldn't put a high proportion of our fan base in the 30-40 year old bracket. The reason? The mid-nineties and Richardson didn't help, additionally this generations parents probably supported other clubs. Further, SKY bringing the Premier League into everyone's homes in 1992 didn't help either.

I’m 40 and started going in the 90s. There aren’t too many that fall into that category.


The ones that started going 20 years ago, when things improved, are just creeping into their early 30s now.

36 and started going in 2002 myself not long after moving back to Doncaster.  Got my first season ticket when we were promoted to division 3 and had one ever since.

BUT, as SM alludes to the 4 of us that go together of a similar age are in a minority and all of us have actually lived outside Doncaster quite a lot since.  It's really difficult to stay in Doncaster post school if you're in any sort of academic fields etc as there's just not the opportunity and frankly other places are better places to live as a youngster.  I now for the first time actually live and work in Doncaster which is good but there's not a huge amount of opportunities, much more further afield.  The rest of the guys who went with us as youngsters have largely moved a long way away.

The only way that changes is by making big strides forward as a now city and I don't see that appetite enough from the politicians and council in this area.

[Scooter]

I’m 46 and been going regularly since 1991. A few of us from school used to go but most lost their way. Out of our group only @bigbadjack still goes when he can be bothered