Not if they;wattsville_boy wrote:The only problem is that even if County are still in the same position come Jan/Feb they may not attract extra fans due to the weather and the issue of the stadium being a wind tunnel and most of it not offering protection from any rains that falls. If you have the option of going to see the County and freezing your tits off or spending the money going somewhere warm and dry instead many would choose the latter option...pembsexile wrote:Good post this. Whilst you are stating the obvious, you are also obviously correct. Look at the recent history of the club. Whilst we were in oblivion our gates were a reflection of that. As we climbed up the leagues back into the EFL, our gates rose accordingly.newgroundrodney wrote:Obviously people only have a certain amount of disposable income that they're prepared to use on leisure. The challenge is to make NCAFC an attractive destination, to the extent it gets given a high priority in people's list of leisure activities.
Take myself as an example. Here are some leisure activities that I could take up if I so wished, and including football and where they are placed price-wise. It's a matter of priorities, and like I said, we need to find a way of making NCAFC high in people's lists.
In each case, I've used an honest average adult price, including the cost of travel by public transport:
QPR Home game................£56.20
Cardiff City home game.......£38.00
NCAFC Home game...........£28.60
Cardiff Blues home game...£27.80
Greyhound Racing.............£16.00
Ten-pin Bowling..................£12.00
Movie..................................£7.80
People will have their own lists of course, whether written down or not, their PERCEPTION is of the price against value for money.
We need to keep talking about how well the County are playing, how rocking the atmosphere gets at RP, how we need every £ we can get, etc etc.....
Looking at my list above, County looks quite expensive, but I honestly don't see how much more the Board can do on pricing, on top of the good work already done in keeping the cost of the pricing structure overall, as low as possible, for as long as possible. The Board have done a good job on pricing, attracting kids, school groups, community visits etc, etc....
I think it's just down to results on the pitch now, to elevate NCAFC in people's priorities.
Thank heavens we have a very good (albeit learning) manager. He has managed to gather together a good crop of players and is getting relative success.
I agree with a previous poster who said that if we are still in this position at Christmas our gates will rise as well. If we can continue into Feb/Mar they will rise again.
The trick will be for the club to tap into the psyche of the Newport public and get as many people as possible to attend. Use the success to make people feel uncomfortable as to why they would want to stay away. Then, don't feel guilty about it, spread the word. Overcoming apathy is a long process and success is one tool in the armoury for overcoming it. The Newport footballing public need to feel guilty for not supporting a successful local team and stuff those people who don't agree with the methods.
Have an inherent interest in Newport
Are a football fan
Have a (suppressed) interest in the County
The trick for a professional administrator would be a knowledge of how to flick the switch in the waverers heads.