by under the tin »
15 Apr 2010 14:18
My feeling about RFC's attitude towards retaining and developing the fanbase is encapsulated in a lot of my old school reports: C+ could do better.
In any business, it is good to monitor and learn from the experiences of your competitors.
I think Charlton Athletic could be considered an appropriate "peer club" for us.
In the seventies, when I started attending at Elm Park, Charlton were about our level, pulling in around 6-8000 weekly. (not exact parity, but near enough)
I've researched this, and by 1984, their average attendance had dropped to 5104, and they realised that they had to do something to get bums on seats.
In 1989/90, they were the second worst supported side in the first division, with gates from as low as 5000, to a high of 10798.
The "Target 10,000" initiative was launched in 94/5, to get the average up to that figure, and things like "kids for a quid" were for nearly all fixtures, and not just cherry picked games against banal opposition. The club introduced free travel from outlying areas, Maidstone complained to the league, IIRC.
In 98/99, the momentum was maintained with the "Target 20,000" initiative. They did not sit on their laurels, because in April 2007, this appeared in the local press there:
"The Charlton board has decided that fans who buy their 2007/08 season tickets on or before April 30th will, if the club is relegated at the end of this season, get a Premiership season ticket for the same seat for the 2008/09 campaign absolutely free if the club then gains promotion at the first attempt."
You have got to give that club some credit for effort, eh?
I'm no closet Addick, but the legacy of all that effort, year on year, is a club that despite being in a league below us has a higher average attendance. Does anybody on here think that we would average 17000-odd next season had we been relegated?
I recall Charlton supplying free coach travel for nearly 6000 at a crucial away game some years back. So did Pompey at Selhurst, and 10,000 travelled. Wigan did the same thing in the P/O semi against us.
I know that it didn't necessarily affect the outcome of the matches concerned, but at the very least, it was a tangible recognition by the clubs of the role that supporters have to play.
That, in my view, is good PR.
JM calling for fans to "rally round the flag" each season is all we seem to get. Clubs like Charlton are playing the long game and working at it. When the last phase of redevelopment is completed at the Valley, they will have a bigger stadium than the Essex national side, West Ham.
This year's ST was was cheaper than last wasn't it? And apart from the prem years my ST didn't go up for quite a few years. Still always good to see the E-Po researching their piece!
