Most liked posts in thread: Tennis balls Saturday

No, very childish

 

Sparks would somehow turn it round and make it out to be “Goth Saturday” and announce a new £500 sponsorship with a black eyeliner company.

 

No chance, Smallwood would just pass them all back.

 

Whilst the game is on we should be 100% behind the team. We all want the win, as anything else just adds to the pressure and gives any new manager an even harder task than needs be. Before and after, then protest until your hearts content. I also don’t agree with targeting the younger players, who are probably either acting on instruction or at the current level of their abilities.

 

Because we’d rather have 17,000 crowds at £200 than 10,000 crowds at £330.

It’s not lack of money that’s stopping us progress. Hughes and Gent have had large enough budgets to build a promotion squad. But we’ve lacked a clear direction on recruitment. We’ve gone for quantity over quality - too many injury prone (Clayton, McDonald) or unmotivated, past their best (Smallwood, Taylor) old timers and hopeful punts on untried academy youngsters (the list’s too long to bother with).
Everyone could see that we needed proven replacement wingers for Banks and Wright, a dominant midfield playmaker, a proven, experienced striker as cover/competition to Cook and maybe a second, quicker striker to play off Cook if we wanted to go two up top (one who actually knows where the net is, unlike Smith). Those acquisitions would have turned the squad from a playoff one to an auto promotion one. Instead of which we’ve once again packed a bloated squad full of unproven or not good enough players, several of whom aren’t even good enough for the bench.
As this WOAP article points out, there appears to have been a mismatch going on between Gent, who seems focused on bringing in young, undiscovered ‘talent’ and Hughes, who wants steady players that he knows and trusts. We need to decide what kind of team we’re trying to build and recruit the right players for that style. I don’t believe that quality players (for this level) can’t be attracted to Bradford City; it’s about spending the money available more wisely.

https://widthofapost.com/2023/10/04/mark-hughes-leaves-bradford-city-as-the-club-tries-to-reverse-a-sudden-slide-in-the-wrong-direction/

 

You've answered your own question we have a stadium that can get 23,000 in it would be criminal not to make the best return with regard season ticket holders, I don't know why you find it so hard to grasp 17,000 at £200 is far better than 8,000 at £300, then take the add ons into consideration drink, food, merchandise, it would be a gamble to go down your route.

 

The issue is how the revenue is spent on team strengthening. Hughes had the biggest budget we’ve provided in the bottom tier, yet it was spent foolishly. Get someone in who knows what they’re doing and the crowd size, season ticket issue goes away.

 

Of course it’s not guaranteed promotion but fans protesting to the owners about lack of investment is a tad hypocritical.
It’s like complaining about the quality of the beef at McDonalds when you’ve paid £0.99 for it.

 

Better to do a no colours/dress in black game.

That would be visually striking.

 

Tough talking and a clear message from the CEO would be more apt.
Are we sticking with what we've got Ryan?
Yes or No it's that simple then the fanbase can make their own minds up based on a factual statement from the board not the regurgtated rubbish mushrooms spout in this situation.
Major announcements are always to long in coming but our money and backing seems to be a given.
I for one am sick and tired of the shenanigans coming out of VP these days.
Try and be upfront and honest for once stop the silence and make some noise with your mouth.

 

No, not only is it childish, and frightening for children, its also illegal and given we have had numerous issues with the EFL over away fans behaviour, could result in a points deduction.

 

I know it's probably revolutionary but, how about just not attending like me.

 

This article makes clear that, this season, Hughes was given the biggest player budget of any City manager at L2 level and up there with the other big budgets in the league (apart from Wrexham). So lack of money is clearly not the issue. It’s a combination of failure to spend it well, poor tactics and scattergun selection that see us where we are now.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/23834794.mark-hughes-bantams-fans-never-got-carlisle-defeat/?ref=suit

 

Another good article that sums up where we are very accurately.

 

Never recovered from Carlisle away in playoffs. Which as usual he never admitted he got it wrong.

 

Millwall ran riot at Wembley = no points deduction.
It's a threat but never happens.

When was the last time a team got a points deduction for the behaviour of it's supporters?

 

Because these clubs don't have the capacity to make up for the revenue lost. How could a club getting 10,000 gates with a 15,000 capacity half the cost when they can't double the capacity.

The simple economics are that if you double our prices we would lose potentially half our customers and just stand still, it would be nieve to think increasing the price to the levels other charge would increase revenue.

We have the capacity to do it, so why does it disadvantage us in any way - 7,000 sold at £400 is the same money as 14,000 sold at £200.

 

It’s consistent with his attitude to away tickets. Everything must be geared to the wishes of the hardcore ‘travelling faithful’ who go to every away game. Never mind if your finances, or work or domestic circumstances only allow you to attend the occasional away game; or if you’re a Bantams fan living down south whose only chance to watch City live is at a southern ground with small away capacity. Nothing must be done to impede the hardcore mob from attending every single game that they want to go to. It’s all about demonstrating your unswerving, unwavering commitment, week in week out.
Similarly, he appears to resent the fact that we have some home attendees who aren’t 100% committed and prepared to fork out bigger sums to watch games. He’d rather have 8,000 hardcore ultras in the stadium paying top whack than attract the less committed fans with lower ticket prices, even if it reduced our total revenue.

 

Club revenue doesn't just come from ticket sales. The more fans we have attending games = the more:

• Merchandise we sell
• Food and drink we sell at games
• Advertising revenue (companies will pay more to advertise in front of 17k fans compared to 8k)
• Sponsorships

Imo our model is very good. We have lots of problems with our club, but this isn't one of them. The proof is in the pudding. Commercial revenue has grown massively over the last few years.

Football should also be affordable. We don't live in an affluent city and there should be a low barrier of entry for fans to support the club. Increasing prices would price out some of our fan base.

One thing the club could do better is generate more revenue from the supporters who can afford to spend more on supporting the club. To do this they need to offer a value proposition to fans. Something like a supporters clubs scheme where you pay an annual subscription and get access to exclusive experiences or to vote on simple matchday related things (what food/drink choices are available) would be good imo.

 

Because they’d still have an empty stadium at £149.
Most football fans in MK support Arsenal, Tottenham, Luton, Watford, Northampton or whoever they were supporting before they had a displaced club parachuted onto them. The population of MK is heavily based on families who’ve moved out of London so already have strong family club loyalties other than MK Dons. As @vin weasel pointed out, MK is half our size so their crowds aren’t bad. It’s highly unlikely they’d increase attendance much by dropping prices.