Poll - Bigger Away Supporter Numbers?

Are you happy to maximise away attendance to increase revenue andsupport the East Stand development

  • Yes

    Votes: 93 73.2%

  • No

    Votes: 26 20.5%

  • Undecided

    Votes: 8 6.3%
  • Total voters
    127
Phil_bfc deux said:
But they wouldn't if away clubs had as many fans as us

I hated Boro and their last min winner, the last thing we want to see if a full stand of away fans bouncing up and down
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Agree not easy to take a loss but it works the other way as well. If we win there is nothing better than watching away fans trudge off early
 
I read that yeah, wouldn't it be better to start with our fan base first ?
I get what you are saying and how it makes sense for some.
would be good for the local economy too.
More home fans encourage more away fans also from my experience, that's the first hurdle the club should get over and most other things would fall into place. The heart of a football club is your own .
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
The bit where twice I’ve stated that we should already be developing our own fanbase as a prerequisite….
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John Deary me said:
I read that yeah, wouldn't it be better to start with our fan base first ?
I get what you are saying and how it makes sense for some.
would be good for the local economy too.
More home fans encourage more away fans also from my experience, that's the first hurdle the club should get over and most other things would fall into place. The heart of a football club is your own .
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What exactly do you think ‘Doing that as a pre-requisite ‘ means?

Yes I do think that we should be prioritising our own fans first… However it might take 5-10 years to build our own fanbase, in which time we may well well have empty stands and be missing out on revenue opportunities.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
What exactly do you think ‘Doing that as a pre-requisite ‘ means?

Yes I do think that we should be prioritising our own fans first… However it might take 5-10 years to build our own fanbase, in which time we may well well have empty stands and be missing out on revenue opportunities.
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Sorting one load of shit out before addressing the other in this case.
5-10 years to build our fan base? Actually you are probably correct with this shower .
 
basilrobbie3 said:
The "ground is a fortress" argument is a myth. There is very little evidence to back it up.

If our support can't fill the ground, it makes commercial sense to get more visiting fans in. I suspect the major inhibiting factor to that this season has been the FA action plan. We fans only have ourselves to blame for that.

The argument against here is mounted largely by people who see it as an affront to their masculinity to have large numbers of visiting supporters in the town. Plus those who don't want the club to maximise its revenue, but equally will spend the entire summer bitching if season ticket prices go up.
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its a good job your lot at BST didn't get the club with that ludicrous offer you put in, you'd be letting away fans have 3/4 of the ground to maximise revenue

As I've said before the price of season tickets doesn't matter to me, the reason i spend the entire summer 'bitching' is more about getting more home fans into the ground, you never know more home fans might even break the 'myth' you are on about

I can't believe the secretary of BST is so anti Blackpool fans, aren't you supposed to represent the Blackpool fanbase?
 
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John Deary me said:
Yep this shower, nothing to do with the stains this current predicament. The club is flatlining and has no feelgood about the place whatsoever.
Surely you can see that ?
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I think you are blowing things out of proportion if I’m being totally honest. There’s certainly things that we might be able to do better and results have been hit and miss, but a lot of it is more about mindset.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
its a good job your lot at BST didn't get the club with that ludicrous offer you put in, you'd be letting away fans have 3/4 of the ground to maximise revenue

As I've said before the price of season tickets doesn't matter to me, the reason i spend the entire summer 'bitching' is more about getting more home fans into the ground, you never know more home fans might even break the 'myth' you are on about

I can't believe the secretary of BST is so anti Blackpool fans, aren't you supposed to represent the Blackpool fanbase?
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I don't represent anyone, as I'm not elected. But of course you know this.

I am merely pointing out that the behaviour of some of our supporters is limiting the club's options. Behaviour which you try to justify on a regular basis.
 
I'd be happy to give them extra tickets provided it didn't restrict home fans (i.e. those with a purchase history or FY postcode)

However if we play PNE or Bolton, I'd give them the lowest allocation we're legally allowed to
 
basilrobbie3 said:
I don't represent anyone, as I'm not elected. But of course you know this.

I am merely pointing out that the behaviour of some of our supporters is limiting the club's options. Behaviour which you try to justify on a regular basis.
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Quite right you don't represent anybody except for yourself, strange behaviour emailing the club for meetings for BST then

What was it 3 times you had meetings, without the wider fanbase knowing (until after the event that was)
 
Voted yes but not fully for the reasons stated, football is for the fans/supporters without them it is lacking it's main selling point atmosphere. If there is space which can be filled by away fans fill it, why should we stop someone supporting their team?
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I think you are blowing things out of proportion if I’m being totally honest. There’s certainly things that we might be able to do better and results have been hit and miss, but a lot of it is more about mindset.
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We've gone from playing great football in the championship, with a Bloomfield Road that was a buzzing place to be for home or away fans to a bang average league one club with no identity. That's not mindset it's facts. A bit more enthusiasm from the board would do wonders.
 
Yes we should be pushing to get more fans in but empty seat brings FA in the till.
Two games we've sold out since back from the boycott so until there is demand sell the bloody seats,we could even leave it to under 2 weeks to offer the extra's to away fans.

Harping on to the past about away teams taking the piss is exactly that in the past,two of the best atmosphere's last season top of the league Burnley(draw) & Stoke(win) filled both sides of the East.
Wins against Blackburn,Barnsley and putting 6 past Birmingham the previous season also had both sides.

Getting beat has nothing to do with how many away's come but throwing up to 50k down the toilet is insane.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Quite right you don't represent anybody except for yourself, strange behaviour emailing the club for meetings for BST then

What was it 3 times you had meetings, without the wider fanbase knowing (until after the event that was)
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I'm sure you know that Secretaries of organisations often email external partners about all manner of things. Like the mascot programme, for instance, that relies upon regular communication between BST and BFC about practicalities to make it work as well as it does.

As for your second point, Members of BST were kept fully in the loop. You should rejoin, you would be very welcome and much better informed.
 
tangerinespud said:
In league 1 you probadly have to maximise revenue & allow some teams extra capacity. Though only if additional costs allow (eg police / stewarding / health & safety) & make sense.
Slightly different in the championship as most teams, we saw over the last 2 years, brought generally over a thousand. We’ve had Cheltenham / Shrewsbury / Stevenage etc bring barely 200 this year. Few more poor away followers to come this season - Cambridge/wycombe & fishwood.
Only Barnsley, maybe Portsmouth, after Bolton will bring full initial allocations this season.
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💯 Pompey will mate
 
basilrobbie3 said:
I'm sure you know that Secretaries of organisations often email external partners about all manner of things. Like the mascot programme, for instance, that relies upon regular communication between BST and BFC about practicalities to make it work as well as it does.

As for your second point, Members of BST were kept fully in the loop. You should rejoin, you would be very welcome and much better informed.
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It really doesn't work though, you have alienated a large section of our fanbase with your secret Zoom meetings and general meddling

I think i may still be a member as i get the monthly waffle sent to me on email, must have ticked the auto renew box, my mistake
 
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BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I’m interested to see what the consensus on here is to this question. Last Season, the club adopted a policy of allowing Away Supporters much bigger allocations… This was obviously good for revenue and it also boosted our attendance numbers and saw the ground full and buzzing.

In the aftermath of a defeat against Derby I seem to recall and during a pretty challenging season, it was a point picked up by Raggy in his ‘chat’ to the players and something many of us objected to at the time…. SS immediately responded to his ‘most vocal’ members of his customer base and curtailing the numbers moving forward.

Personally having reflected on it,…. I think it was a bit (well actually a lot) shortsighted on the part of us supporters.

I do think (in an ideal world) you might choose to position the Away Supporters differently… Ideally not the full length of one side, but nonetheless I think it’s in our best interests to get the ground packed and revenue maximised wherever possible…. And it’s on our supporters to out-do any vocal away following!!

However the main reason I’m asking the question, is that the ability to capitalise on bigger away followings (at least in the shorter term) may well have an impact on the viability of the East Stand and the scale of the development.

Interested in your views as well as choice in the Poll..
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I get what you’re saying but unlike most of the posts that I’ve read below I think limiting the away fans such as Bolton would give us that slight edge in games regarding the 12th man scenario
The revenue for creeping into the playoffs would far outweigh the revenue lost, lose to Bolton with other results going against us and as far as I’m concerned opposing team can have as many tickets as they want
 
poolseasider said:
Yes we should be pushing to get more fans in but empty seat brings FA in the till.
Two games we've sold out since back from the boycott so until there is demand sell the bloody seats,we could even leave it to under 2 weeks to offer the extra's to away fans.

Harping on to the past about away teams taking the piss is exactly that in the past,two of the best atmosphere's last season top of the league Burnley(draw) & Stoke(win) filled both sides of the East.
Wins against Blackburn,Barnsley and putting 6 past Birmingham the previous season also had both sides.

Getting beat has nothing to do with how many away's come but throwing up to 50k down the toilet is insane.
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We've have one of the best home records this season and for the most part the atmosphere has been poor until recently really.

The other night aginst Peterborough we had far more fans, but they completely outplayed us and it made little difference.

We can help and encourage to a degree, but we can do that anyway and we can outsing anyone on our day, just need the encouragement from the pitch.

By the time this stand is built, if we got things right, this could be less of a debate anyway.

This season in league 1 with a manager that split opinion from the moment of return and with not a great season we've been pushing 10k fans.

We could easily be getting 11k with a low price strategy and or a new exciting manager, a season at or near the top. Then in the championship you can add another 1k+ to that. That would, for me, mean 3k away fans at about a quarter of the home fan crowd is reasonable.

I hope this stand can be built in 2 stages so we don't lose capacity at a crucial time...
 
JJpool said:
We've have one of the best home records this season and for the most part the atmosphere has been poor until recently really.

The other night aginst Peterborough we had far more fans, but they completely outplayed us and it made little difference.

We can help and encourage to a degree, but we can do that anyway and we can outsing anyone on our day, just need the encouragement from the pitch.

By the time this stand is built, if we got things right, this could be less of a debate anyway.

This season in league 1 with a manager that split opinion from the moment of return and with not a great season we've been pushing 10k fans.

We could easily be getting 11k with a low price strategy and or a new exciting manager, a season at or near the top. Then in the championship you can add another 1k+ to that. That would, for me, mean 3k away fans at about a quarter of the home fan crowd is reasonable.

I hope this stand can be built in 2 stages so we don't lose capacity at a crucial time...
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That's all fine JJ but the here and now is what is important not a stand which will be built at some point.
We've an empty stand not being used and wanted by away fans so it's stupid not to make money off them.

I've friends run local businesses who benefit from football footfall be it hotels and pubs cafe's etc so a holiday town big away followings certainly help Nov-March the biggest part of the season and their quietest time.
 
poolseasider said:
That's all fine JJ but the here and now is what is important not a stand which will be built at some point.
We've an empty stand not being used and wanted by away fans so it's stupid not to make money off them.

I've friends run local businesses who benefit from football footfall be it hotels and pubs cafe's etc so a holiday town big away followings certainly help Nov-March the biggest part of the season and their quietest time.
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The here and now has been covered and it'll be down to the fa charge and not risking further issues, doubt it'll be anything else.

This thread is saying about a new East, which will be a couple of years away, by which point, if we get things right, we will have grown again and this debate would be less relevant.

It would be fairly easy with some success and things mentioned above to turn 10k into 11 or 12k.

3k away fans and the bit for segregation, you need a 16k stadium to get that.

We'd be nearly full then, depending on the stand size.
 
Maybe we should consider putting away fans in the South ( maybe just W&X blocks ) and then have them fanning out from there to the half way line in the east

That way we keep the NE as overspill and wouldn’t have away fans all the way down one side

You might get a bit more atmosphere in the south as well
 
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TwelveAngryMen said:
Maybe we should consider putting away fans in the South ( maybe just W&X blocks ) and then have them fanning out from there to the half way line in the east

That way we keep the NE as overspill and wouldn’t have away fans all the way down one side

You might get a bit more atmosphere in the south as well
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Then you’d have to have V block as segregation which I know wouldn’t go down well with st holders that have sat in them stands since the south opened. For now they could always give them a few extra blocks in the east and close the first block in the north east as segregation
 
BFC4EVA said:
Then you’d have to have V block as segregation which I know wouldn’t go down well with st holders that have sat in them stands since the south opened. For now they could always give them a few extra blocks in the east and close the first block in the north east as segregation
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You can’t based decisions on whether a few farties might get upset. If it’s the right decision, then they’ll have to sit somewhere else.
 
fcblackpool said:
I'd build the East on the same basis as Camp Nou or The Mestella, have it about 200m high and stick the away fans at the top so they can't be heard. They'd have lovely sea views and sandblasted faces. What's not to like?
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I agree, plus they’d have a great view of the illuminations so the club could market that to sell tickets when the League One football is getting drab.
 
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