Empty seats @ Macron

[Aanvalluh]

TV viewers in particular can't have failed to notice that half the home seats appeared empty. Assuming around 14000-14500 of the gate were home fans, what percentage are season-ticket holders?

Thinking if that number's high, let's say more than 50%, then there aren't that many walk-in fans on the day.

What are the club doing to increase the number of walk-in fans, apart from almost treble the cost of the buses from a couple of years ago?

[LeverEnd]

TV viewers in particular can't have failed to notice that half the home seats appeared empty. Assuming around 14000-14500 of the gate were home fans, what percentage are season-ticket holders?

Thinking if that number's high, let's say more than 50%, then there aren't that many walk-in fans on the day.

What are the club doing to increase the number of walk-in fans, apart from almost treble the cost of the buses from a couple of years ago?

Less than 13000 were home fans on Saturday. I expect a crowd of less than that tomorrow night. The number of walk-in fans is tiny.
No idea what they are doing in answer to your question. There's one obvious thing they could do of course!

[Aanvalluh]

Last time I went to the Macron - I'm neutral (just a watcher/voyeur!) I found all the faffing around trying to get a ticket was a turn-off, ie. no pay-on-the-gate. Allowing for the walk-in punters being a small fraction, surely it would make sense if they simply turned up and paid at the turnstile?

[EverSoYouri]

Last time I went to the Macron - I'm neutral (just a watcher/voyeur!) I found all the faffing around trying to get a ticket was a turn-off, ie. no pay-on-the-gate. Allowing for the walk-in punters being a small fraction, surely it would make sense if they simply turned up and paid at the turnstile?

Walk-ins got harder since they moved the pay booths indoors. Suspect the clubs policy is to focus on season ticket sales (and the half-season ticket sales) - financially, once they've got your money, they don't care if you don't turn up.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

How many STs did we sell? Have the club announced it?

And if we did, what's that number subtracted from 12,776 - the officially tweeted number of home fans on Saturday?

An attendance of 15,799 here this afternoon with 3,023 travelling fans

[Bruce Rioja]

One thing I've noticed around me is that we now have a situation whereby season ticket holders aren't bothering to turn up.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

...and they can't all be welcoming their grandkids, WtW-style.

Gartside wrote in the programme for the pre-season friendly vs Arnhem that ST sales were "on par" with the previous year, which Iles reports were "approaching the 10,000 mark" in early August 2013.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/11 ... ket_sales/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[LeverEnd]

One thing I've noticed around me is that we now have a situation whereby season ticket holders aren't bothering to turn up.

A number of times when I couldn't make it last season I couldn't give it away. And I tried very hard, stubbornly unwilling to accept we were that unattractive a proposition.

[Bruce Rioja]

One thing I've noticed around me is that we now have a situation whereby season ticket holders aren't bothering to turn up.

A number of times when I couldn't make it last season I couldn't give it away. And I tried very hard, stubbornly unwilling to accept we were that unattractive a proposition.

Yep - I've struggled to give mine away a time or two. The thing is now though, whereas previously I'd plan work around Wanderers matches I really couldn't be arsed anymore, and if it means that I miss a few games then so be it!

[Aanvalluh]

Rotherham could, arguably, be the least attractive fixture of the season both to neutrals, fans and season ticket holders. Put it on a Tuesday evening and that knocks even more off the gate, especially if ticket holders don't bother to turn up. If Bolton did go down...this is a taste of things to come next season?

Looking for the club to put on incentives to go > there aren't any?

[William the White]

...and they can't all be welcoming their grandkids, WtW-style.

Gartside wrote in the programme for the pre-season friendly vs Arnhem that ST sales were "on par" with the previous year, which Iles reports were "approaching the 10,000 mark" in early August 2013.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/11 ... ket_sales/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Didn't T n T report on a season when ST sales were just over 400 (four hundred!). Maybe an article by the lovely Very Worried Swinton White.

[officer_dibble]

Whats the lowest league crowd there? Another record coming the dougsters way I think!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Rotherham could, arguably, be the least attractive fixture of the season both to neutrals, fans and season ticket holders. Put it on a Tuesday evening and that knocks even more off the gate, especially if ticket holders don't bother to turn up. If Bolton did go down...this is a taste of things to come next season?

Looking for the club to put on incentives to go > there aren't any?

You'd be hard pushed to find an incentive big enough. Free car?

Add to your list of non-incentives the fact that the side just played a home match three days before. Oh and that it produced a performance so inept that the visiting goalkeeper had one shot to save, and our sub striker who was on for half an hour touched the ball twice.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Whats the lowest league crowd there? Another record coming the dougsters way I think!

Very quick Wiki check (start here and click for previous seasons) suggests he'd be breaking his own record of 13,847 for the Boro game. Needs a second source though.

[journojonesy]

Rotherham could, arguably, be the least attractive fixture of the season both to neutrals, fans and season ticket holders. Put it on a Tuesday evening and that knocks even more off the gate, especially if ticket holders don't bother to turn up. If Bolton did go down...this is a taste of things to come next season?

Looking for the club to put on incentives to go > there aren't any?

£23 a ticket on general sale. I won't be going. I've been tempted by a few of the midweek games, I work in Oldham so drive reasonably close to the Macron-ara on my way home. If they were £10/£15 I'd probably have gone to most of the home midweek games. As it is, I probably won't go to many.

Surely it isn't beyond the realms of business or common sense to charge less money to attract more fans. Even if they make the same money through the turnstiles, it would generate more money through the concession stands.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Trouble with that, Jonesy, is that it really pisses off the folks who've shelled out for full-price STs... the loyalty-card-wielding "core customers" who have to sit through this shit all year... or cut their losses.

[SmokinFrazier]

Like many Bolton fans, I won't attend again until things change because I've got absolutely no interest in wasting an afternoon watching horrible football. I'll always support Bolton but it's such a miserable experience, what's the point? The more attendances shrink, the sooner the board will realise that they need a change at the club.

[William the White]

Like many Bolton fans, I won't attend again until things change because I've got absolutely no interest in wasting an afternoon watching horrible football. I'll always support Bolton but it's such a miserable experience, what's the point? The more attendances shrink, the sooner the board will realise that they need a change at the club.

Poor decision. Very poor. I didn't have you down as a customer, SF. Had you down as a genuine supporter.

[SmokinFrazier]

Like many Bolton fans, I won't attend again until things change because I've got absolutely no interest in wasting an afternoon watching horrible football. I'll always support Bolton but it's such a miserable experience, what's the point? The more attendances shrink, the sooner the board will realise that they need a change at the club.

Poor decision. Very poor. I didn't have you down as a customer, SF. Had you down as a genuine supporter.

I don't see choosing not to attend as a lack of support though, it's a statement of protest against the way the club is run. I'll never show anything but absolute support for what is best for the club I love, though I think the best way to do that right now is to not attend because whilst I support the club, I don't support the manager or those in charge and if I do attend like always, what incentive is there for change? The lower the attendances go, the more the pressure increases and that's what I think is best for Bolton in the long run.

I'm not a fair weather fan and I don't like not attending, but I don't want to contribute in perpetuating the problems we have. I know I can't make any difference alone but I'd rather not show support for a current system, on and off the field, that I'm so against. I love Bolton, not those who are ruining it.

[bwfcdan94]

What many of you fail to realise is that it makes very little to our finances whether we pull 20,000 or 10,000 presuming that 3/4 of those in both scenarios' are ST holders. Say we managed somehow to get 2500 people to pay on the day, assuming some are concessions and youngsters lets say on average the sale price of those 2500 people is £17.50. So £17.50x2500=£43,750. That is only 2 players wages, given how many players we have got out on loan, given that we make losses on so many players, given how many players we are paying despite them never featuring/slogging it in the reserves/injured for a substantial period of time, given how much we owe to ED. What difference does 43k a week make? given that most of the people that go have already paid up until May, what incentive is there for the club to do anything to stop the number of fans going reducing, when nearly everyone that goes at the moment does so out of getting value for money and loyalty rather than because they enjoy going to watch us play.