Leyton Orient

[Dare to dream!]

Giving 1500 free season tickets away to people aged between 14-18 and students 18-21. What does everyone think about this? good idea or not?

[RedJ]

Yes in that it's bums on seats, no in that they'll be losing out on a fair amount of cash.

Bradford's idea of really cheap STs was better IMO.

[uros-predic]

West ham's proposed move into the olympic stadium has probably encouraged this. I suppose they're trying to make the fans stick rather than fecking off to watch the hammers

[hoolahoop]

West ham's proposed move into the olympic stadium has probably encouraged this. I suppose they're trying to make the fans stick rather than fecking off to watch the hammers

That's true, I do hope they can hold onto their fanbase. Good on them anticipating and  reacting to future possible erosion of some of their supporters to their bigger neighbours.

[nice one rovers]

One team, I think it's L.O, or maybe Walsall, charge £46.00 for youth season tickets, and give them a £2 coin back as they go though the turnstile. If you dont attend, they get your £46.00. If you do attend, you'll probably spend the £2 plus some. Brilliant idea I think.
The club doesn't lose out, because it fills the place up with people who probably wouldn't have been there otherwise. Another plus is that it's the youth who do all the singing that makes for a better atmosphere.


Just checked, it's Walsall, and it's very successful.

[hoolahoop]

One team, I think it's L.O, charge £46.00 for youth season tickets, and give them a £2 coin back as they go though the turnstile. If you dont attend, they get your £46.00. If you do attend, you'll probably spend the £2 plus some. Brilliant idea I think.
The club doesn't lose out, because it fills the place up with people who probably wouldn't have been there otherwise. Another plus is that it's the youth who do all the singing that makes for a better atmosphere.

What a brilliant idea.....genius. 

[GazLaz]

I'd love to see us get 9k+ home fans in every week next season somehow. Targeting kids is probably the key.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

It's the youth age group that are missing by proportion to what it was historically.

I'm sure many of us, from 14 to 21 etc, used to go in groups with our mates. May be it's a different society with 'kids' hanging on to their parents coat tails for longer or, parents no trusting their teens to venture to matches on their own?

In my day cost wasn't an issue. My pocket money would easily cover the 50p or 75p entrance whatever it was. It was a spontaneous transaction where groups of lads and lasses could just turn up and stand together. We might 'hang out' in the Frenchgate (Arndale) as it was then, grap some fish and chips for dinner and then mosey up to Belle Vue.

Nowadays, there has to be some planning ahead both financially and in terms of sitting together. Reserved seating has killed off that spontaneity.

We know the VSC has successfully campaigned for the return of cash turnstiles and if managed well logistically, then we could see a return of the spontaneous groups of fans who can sit together in an unreserved seating area. 

 

[colincramb]

The Walsall idea is top notch. Absolute genius.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I recently suggested an alternative ticket proposal where by

1. You pay say £100 deposit for your seat
2. You pay say £10 for each game you attend
3. The more games you attend the cheaper it becomes

Basically you're paying your instalments as you go!

The club rejected it at this stage due to the many other ticketing options that are available at the moment but in principle it's not far off the instalment options they offer now.

[colincramb]

Another good idea. In my view, we should be offering as many options as we can to grow the fan base. Either way, a lot of the seats will be empty for the majority of games next year so it would be good to experiment and still make money at the same time

[DonnyBazR0ver]

To be fair, the club have taken on-board quite a lot, and if we're not careful, we'll undermine one of the things we campaigned for, and that's simplicity.

One someone asks you how much is it to go to Rovers these days, the last thing you want is their enthusiasm being killed with a 10 minute explanation of all the options.

The club have also acknowledged that the traditional ST could be a thing of the past with people having so many other working commitments and lifestyles that make a ST less practical. Going forward, we may see more of the above types of 'membership' and multi-ticket options.

[ditch_drfc]

To be fair I think there's two things that puts people off spending money inside the stadium.

1) Long queues. In the age of fast food, nobody wants to spend all half time queuing up and miss some of the second half.

2) Expensive prices. Why can't a cuppa cost the same as what you'd expect from Cooplands? Or a bag of sweets the same as what you'd get from a newsagents? At the end of the day extortionate prices give the impression the club just wants to rip us off. IRWT presents a good opportunity for us to break the mould.

Easy to say, but crack both of those and we'd see revenue rise exponentially.

[nice one rovers]

To be fair I think there's two things that puts people off spending money inside the stadium.

1) Long queues. In the age of fast food, nobody wants to spend all half time queuing up and miss some of the second half.

2) Expensive prices. Why can't a cuppa cost the same as what you'd expect from Cooplands? Or a bag of sweets the same as what you'd get from a newsagents? At the end of the day extortionate prices give the impression the club just wants to rip us off. IRWT presents a good opportunity for us to break the mould.

Easy to say, but crack both of those and we'd see revenue rise exponentially.

I must admit, you never see queues at any ground I've been to ,like the ones at ours. I send the kids down to beat the rush at about 35 minutes.
If not, you're queueing for the entire half time.

[SoundbiteBarmyArmy]

I really do feel for Leyton Orient! They get something like 3000 attendances a week? What happens when West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium? In 10-20 Leyton orient may not have a team, stadium or a fan base as the next generation will pick WH you'd imagine!?

RIP too another Football League team.

 

[andysly]

I'd disagree in our queues being worse than other, most of the time away from home it's a pointless exercise trying to get something at HT, possibly because we have a far larger away support than most. We never struggle at KM but I guess it depends on where in ground you are, I've noticed it seems busier towards South of West stand than the North.

[Mr1Croft]

I know at FC United you choose you what you pay for your Season Ticket, with a minimun of £100. It works for them (because they are fan owned) but I doubt it would work at many other clubs.

[RedJ]

To be fair I think there's two things that puts people off spending money inside the stadium.

1) Long queues. In the age of fast food, nobody wants to spend all half time queuing up and miss some of the second half.

2) Expensive prices. Why can't a cuppa cost the same as what you'd expect from Cooplands? Or a bag of sweets the same as what you'd get from a newsagents? At the end of the day extortionate prices give the impression the club just wants to rip us off. IRWT presents a good opportunity for us to break the mould.

Easy to say, but crack both of those and we'd see revenue rise exponentially.

I must admit, you never see queues at any ground I've been to ,like the ones at ours. I send the kids down to beat the rush at about 35 minutes.
If not, you're queueing for the entire half time.

The Ricoh is far worse for queuing than ours.

[mrfrostsdad]

IMO Walsall's idea is tosh.
They average 4200 at home, which considering the home run they had recently is not particularly good. How can they afford to give money away? Well simply, they can't.
They interviewed the Chairman on TV recently and he said they had the lowest playing budget in the league, some of it down to basically letting fans in for free.
All in favour of cheap season tickets for kids - if they are accompanied by a full paying adult season ticket. Or even a 2nd 'cheaper' season ticket when purchased with a full priced one (take the missus? - or someone else's missus!) but giving them away?