Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 11:53 am  

PopTart wrote:

Well we don't know the scores from the RFL audit but the criteria is clear and you can work it out if you have all the info, which JM has.

One thing I can’t work out, and wish I’d asked at the meeting is, How will IMG authenticate the match day attendance of each club. Not every season ticket holder goes to every home game but will the total number of ST sold by a club be counted every home game? How will a club prove the numbers they have sold match day tickets to home and away fans, I feel this criteria will be manipulated, even now some clubs don’t publicly announce attendance figures.
How many times do fans of some clubs (Bradford for example) express surprise at the higher attendance announced when they attend the game believing the crowd was much less.

[PopTart]

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 1:23 pm  

Dunkirk Spirit wrote:

One thing I can’t work out, and wish I’d asked at the meeting is, How will IMG authenticate the match day attendance of each club. Not every season ticket holder goes to every home game but will the total number of ST sold by a club be counted every home game? How will a club prove the numbers they have sold match day tickets to home and away fans, I feel this criteria will be manipulated, even now some clubs don’t publicly announce attendance figures.
How many times do fans of some clubs (Bradford for example) express surprise at the higher attendance announced when they attend the game believing the crowd was much less.

Last time we spoke he was saying he challenged it so that it was only actual people in the stadium rather than tickets sold.
I think.....but don't know for sure.....that is how they are measuring now.

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 1:36 pm  

PopTart wrote:

Last time we spoke he was saying he challenged it so that it was only actual people in the stadium rather than tickets sold.
I think.....but don't know for sure.....that is how they are measuring now.

This was explicitly stated in the IMG Grading Handbook when it was released in July.

"The definition of match attendance is the average number of fans attending regular season home games in person
(this total therefore must exclude season ticket holders / club members not in attendance at matches)"

Bradford have announced five attendances of over 4,700 for league games this season, but claimed only 2,738 attended their play-off game against York, which is a shared gate and doesn't count for IMG average purposes.

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 2:12 pm  

Remember our attendances during the Glover period? We apparently had over 6000 for a Catalan home game.....

They were handing out free tickets left right and centre, they must have counted those towards the attendance even if the ticket holder didn't show up.

No doubt the tax man would want his money based off of the announced attendance.....

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 2:18 pm  

charlie wrote:

Remember our attendances during the Glover period? We apparently had over 6000 for a Catalan home game.....

They were handing out free tickets left right and centre, they must have counted those towards the attendance even if the ticket holder didn't show up.

No doubt the tax man would want his money based off of the announced attendance.....

The taxman would want his money based on income into the club.
If there was no one in the ground and nobody had paid but, we "declared" a 10,000 attendance, the taxman wouldn't be bothered.

Do you think that the tax authorities keep a check on attendances etc ?

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 3:39 pm  

I imagine a fully auditable digital ticketing system. You see the young lads with the Samsung phones at home games - I imagine a more grown up version of that (I say that because sometimes when mine doesn't scan they will look at it and say "in you go mate it's ok just my phone playing up". Season ticket or not that would capture who is at the game.

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 3:40 pm  

I've seen them with their clipboards. They count everyone.

I'm not paranoid, you're paranoid.

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 6:19 pm  

No doubt many clubs massage their gates. The smart thing to do is use their tactics and do the same.

Re: Takeover updates : Thu Oct 05, 2023 8:35 pm  

I imagine they will do unannounced spot checks on each club throughout the year, if the number declared by the club is close to the figure they got, they will do fewer checks, if it's wildly different they will do further indepth checks

Re: Takeover updates : Fri Oct 06, 2023 11:58 am  

News section Barnsley chronicle reports deal complete.