The Realist wrote:
True it doesn't look good with one stand closed this week and undoubtedly two stands closed next week and I agree we need more attendees. but (and I am not one of them) what must Season Ticket Holders make of the constant dishing out of free tickets when they have paid for a full season yet it's possible for me to get in free every week?!
To increase the support base of the club is vital, but also probably THE most difficult thing to achieve , one way would be to have a winning team topping the league and getting trophies on a regular basis , but that is unlikely and still not a guarantee to increase your support
So, what can you do?
Lets look at what you have?
1, Relatively no money to spend
2, A team that will most likely finish in the bottom half of SL
3, A nice shiny new stadium ( although parts arent quite that ' shiny '
)
4 , A SL licence
So how can you best use the above to increase you support base?
You mention that free tickets would get abused? , true, if you dont control their usage properly, this you can do by only having them in the East stand , use your community dept, get into the schools around Irlam,Cadishead,Sale,Trafford and the other local area's
All tickets given out to be family tickets only, no kids no entrance, early entrance coupled with activities organised through the community dept, no transfers to the other stands , no alcohol sales in the ' family ' stand
Quite simply ' get them in ' , only then can you sell your club to them, you need to get them in in big numbers, its no good putting 200 in, get 1500 in all at one go, find cheap merchandise, t shirts , hats, bloody vuvuzelas if you have to and get them making noise, collect their ' data ' do this 3 times, 4 th game offer them all a cheap ticket, 20 quid for 2 adults and up to 4 kids
Show faith in your coaching staff, their ' remit ' should be attacking RL, even if it costs you the odd loss, their job is to , ' entertain ' as much as win , you cannot be relegated, use that fact especially at home matches
Continue to do this season upon season, there is no magic wand you can wave, only by taking risks, showing initiative and hard work will you get what you want, just having a team playing every other week is no longer enough