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What needs to be done to grow the support and attendance


Dylan
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The main issue IMO is the product is hampered by the overbearing restrive tentacles of the FFA, and the poor quality of refereeing.

FFA need to step back, allow clubs to build genuine ACL quality teams, import quality refs and introduce a 2nd tier promotion competition. Once the league has the suffient number of teams through the promotion model, then introduce relegation via a playoff system.

Improve the overall product comparative to the most popular leagues globally andĀ the market will respond.

Simple.

Edited by Torn Asunder
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44 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

The main issue IMO is the product is hampered by the overbearing restrive tentacles of the FFA, and the poor quality of refereeing.

FFA need to step back, allow clubs to build genuine ACL quality teams, import quality refs and introduce a 2nd tier promotion competition. Once the league has the suffient number of teams through the promotion model, then introduce relegation via a playoff system.

Improve the overall product comparative to the most popular leagues globally andĀ the market will respond.

Simple.

Without getting into a salary cap debate, the restrictions and allowances on squad composition, in addition to the byzantine regulations on transfers make it difficult toĀ build a competitive squad andĀ keep it together, especially for the ACL. The ACL is now a huge competition with a big prize pool. It is vital that our clubsĀ are competing strongly for it. Ā Ā 

If I was in charge of the FFA (but had to keep the cap), I'd do away with all of the various transfer rules so that Oz clubs could buy and sell players freely at market rate. I'd then do away with the various allowances like the guest player,Ā loyalty, homegrown, scholarship and rookie concessions and just increase the cap so that clubs could opt to bring in better quality players instead of trying to fit everything in like a jigsaw puzzle.Ā 

Move to a bigger squad cap of 25 andĀ allowĀ a maximum ofĀ two marqueesĀ and five foreigners as we do nowĀ (or maybe three plus one Asian player).

They also will need to think about the fixture when they do bring in two new teams. Playing everyone three times is less than ideal, but will they keep that with 12 teams? 33 rounds plus finals would be a long season but maybe that's the way we need to go.Ā I also don't like the finals system generallyĀ but I can't see them scrapping that.Ā 

Ā 

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1 hour ago, Imtellingyou said:

We should stop winging about current low attendance.Ā  If one of aĀ new licence will be given to Melbourne group, then we can brace for 5 thousand crowd.Ā 

What makes you say that? If that is the case, the fans that leave were never really fans anyway.

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3 hours ago, Torn Asunder said:

The main issue IMO is the product is hampered by the overbearing restrive tentacles of the FFA, and the poor quality of refereeing.

FFA need to step back, allow clubs to build genuine ACL quality teams, import quality refs and introduce a 2nd tier promotion competition. Once the league has the suffient number of teams through the promotion model, then introduce relegation via a playoff system.

Improve the overall product comparative to the most popular leagues globally andĀ the market will respond.

Simple.

Yes, but that's the macro side of things - what FFA needs to do, or part of what it needs to do, to grow the game as a whole.

Within that, Melbourne City needs to take steps to improve its appeal in a tight market, both within the football andĀ the general entertainment markets. We need to focus on the latter, because that's within our control.

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19 hours ago, SF33 said:

We need to be consistently better than Victory, for a start. The opposite has been true for all but - what - two years of our existence? Why would new A-League supporters sign with City, rather than Victory for next season? We don't have too many obvious competitive advantages.

I'm also very turned off by the scheduling. From memory, our earliest home kick off time this season was 4:30pm. Not coincidentally, with a young family, that was the only game all season that I was able to attend. If you want families to come, balance out the start times.

The start times definitely killed a thousand or two. City predominantely has younger supporters or supporters with young kids. My bro and his 3 kids won't be signing up next season if the times are shit like last seasons. But I was told by an A-league fan at my work that the FFA will be reviewing the kick off times.

Edited by Tony999
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44 minutes ago, Tony999 said:

The start times definitely killed a thousand or two. City predominantely has younger supporters or supporters with young kids. My bro and his 3 kids won't be signing up next season if the times are shit like last seasons. But I was told by an A-league fan at my work that the FFA will be reviewing the kick off times.

If you're going to play football in the Australian summer then I can't see how you can avoid evening kick-offs. Perhaps not as late as 7.50 p.m. though. Not only that, FFA is beholden to the TV deal. Whatever time is chosen there will be at least one group of people who will not like it.

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4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

If you're going to play football in the Australian summer then I can't see how you can avoid evening kick-offs. Perhaps not as late as 7.50 p.m. though. Not only that, FFA is beholden to the TV deal. Whatever time is chosen there will be at least one group of people who will not like it.

Even kicking off 20min earlier (7:30PM) would be better than 7:50PM. Not to mention 7PM kick offs on a Sunday!

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Main thing is just the prices. If any a-league club can afford to slash the prices for tickets & memberships, it's us. This needs to be a point of difference between us and victory and any other expansion sides.Ā 

I believe lots of the other problems like the player merry-go-round, and boredom of playing the same 9 teams will sort itself out as the league expands.Ā 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/21/2018 at 7:57 PM, SF33 said:

We need to be consistently better than Victory, for a start. The opposite has been true for all but - what - two years of our existence? Why would new A-League supporters sign with City, rather than Victory for next season? We don't have too many obvious competitive advantages.

I'm also very turned off by the scheduling. From memory, our earliest home kick off time this season was 4:30pm. Not coincidentally, with a young family, that was the only game all season that I was able to attend. If you want families to come, balance out the start times.

To answer that you will have to persuade FOXTEL as they rule the timesheet .

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  • 4 weeks later...
51 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

You can listen to the message or you can have a dig at the messenger. I'd rather do the former.

Digging aside, there is merit in most points made, but they are fairly minor points that wouldn't grow support or attendance to any significant degree.

MCTF does a lot of work for supporters and should be applauded for it. But the message loses credibility with claims of "football department lies", "disgruntled fans" and the disconnect between "those who sit it suits and those who pay to support the club".Ā 

Ā 

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12 minutes ago, bellydrum said:

Digging aside, there is merit in most points made, but they are fairly minor points that wouldn't grow support or attendance to any significant degree.

MCTF does a lot of work for supporters and should be applauded for it. But the message loses credibility with claims of "football department lies", "disgruntled fans" and the disconnect between "those who sit it suits and those who pay to support the club".Ā 

Ā 

Agreed. I guess those things happen when you feel frustrated for whatever reason. So that's the real message - frustration. I've seen it many times in my working life.

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On 5/22/2018 at 1:13 PM, Imtellingyou said:

We should stop winging about current low attendance.Ā  If one of aĀ new licence will be given to Melbourne group, then we can brace for 5 thousand crowd.Ā 

I think this is a big risk. I think since the take over there has been a greater distance between the fans and the club hierarchy. We were told this won't be a mini-Man City but it has in most of the negative areas (re-branding colours, club songs etc) but hasn't seen the big name marque many of us had hoped we would see.

There are three Melbourne clubs in the running:

  • Team 11 (Melbourne) - they have a big soccer scene out there, I'm not sure how many are City fans
  • South Melbourne FC - obviously a big established club. Many people would have been supporting South Melbourne a lot longer than Heart/City
  • Western Melbourne Group - my general gut feel is a decent percentage of our fans are from the North and Western suburbs. This may see us lose a chunk of fans.

Ā 

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IMO a new team will see us lose a few hundred members tops, but serve to rekindle the interest many of our former members have lost. I think the club will have a net gain from the introduction of a new team tbh.

Team 11 look the clear front runner to me.

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2 hours ago, bt50 said:

IMO a new team will see us lose a few hundred members tops, but serve to rekindle the interest many of our former members have lost. I think the club will have a net gain from the introduction of a new team tbh.

Team 11 look the clear front runner to me.

If a third Melbourne club comes in IMO the effect on our City membership will depend on how committed each member feels to the club, and part of that is, as expressed by @DeemingĀ on what you feel about City's commitment to you.Ā If you're a rusted-on City fan there's a good chanceĀ have been with the club since the Heart days, and you're not likely to quit the club, despite some of the past decisions the club has taken (which do still rankle, whatever anyone says). However, if you're the sort of fan who just wants a regular fix of decent live football, and the new club is more convenient for you, or cheaper, or has some other benefit to you, then you might very well switch. If Team11 gets up then someone like meĀ will simply join up with them in addition to my City membership and get double the fix of football that I get at present.

Ā 

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1 hour ago, rass said:

Why on earth would you bring South Melbourne in if they're struggling to even stay in the NPL?

Tbf i don;t think their current playing list would in any way reflect what they would haveĀ if they came up, however it does probably say something about the people running the club etc that they can't put a half decent side together under far easier circumstances, esp considering the recruiting pull you might have with the potential of A League there in the coming seasons.

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  • 1 month later...

honestly, the only thing is gonna rise attendance is going to be results. Ā IF we win the league/ qualify for ACL/ make the grandfinal/ win the Cup again, people will consistently come back each game, and will stay each season. Thats honestly the only reason I can imagine people stay with victory is that they get results consistently over the leagues history.Ā they have not done as much in the community, I dont think they engage as Ā much as we do at grass roots. Only other factor is that they have the historical advantage. I was originally a victory supporter, but when Heart came around, it was a breath of fresh air. I imagine that was the basis of other supporters. Ā I dont think when city was created, there was the same fresh air at the club. Ā All we can do is win win win, that will grow the club

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27 minutes ago, Originalmeme said:

honestly, the only thing is gonna rise attendance is going to be results. Ā IF we win the league/ qualify for ACL/ make the grandfinal/ win the Cup again, people will consistently come back each game, and will stay each season. Thats honestly the only reason I can imagine people stay with victory is that they get results consistently over the leagues history.Ā they have not done as much in the community, I dont think they engage as Ā much as we do at grass roots. Only other factor is that they have the historical advantage. I was originally a victory supporter, but when Heart came around, it was a breath of fresh air. I imagine that was the basis of other supporters. Ā I dont think when city was created, there was the same fresh air at the club. Ā All we can do is win win win, that will grow the club

Well, that... and for 5 years they were they only choice for Melbourne football followers.

They could have called themselves the Melbourne Sex-Offenders and the membership numbers would be similar to now.

Once people have a team it is very hard to change that.

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A couple of ways St Johnstone attracted membership was to have free entry for under 16 years two games a season (they gave the tickets out at local schools) and they also gave free entry to under 16 years accompanied by an adult at a number of games and finally they got the PA (public address) announcer to play certain songs at specific times to get the crowd involved. Can't remember the name of the tune that went down well it was a Spanish trumpet with the supporters joining in with a Mexican wave ole. The kids and adults enjoyed that.

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4 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

A couple of ways St Johnstone attracted membership was to have free entry for under 16 years two games a season (they gave the tickets out at local schools) and they also gave free entry to under 16 years accompanied by an adult at a number of games and finally they got the PA (public address) announcer to play certain songs at specific times to get the crowd involved. Can't remember the name of the tune that went down well it was a Spanish trumpet with the supporters joining in with a Mexican wave ole. The kids and adults enjoyed that.

Giveaways here have hadĀ no measurable impact on attendances.

If you do not qualify for a concession, then the full adult cost of membership in the more expensive categories is...pretty bloody expensive.

IMO the only answer is to win more matches, win the ones that count, and be a lot more consistent than we have been in our 8 seasons. We cough up points all too frequently, and choke in the important matches.

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Itā€™ll be interesting how the whole Honda vs ā€œlate arrival of discount 2nd division Polish marqueeā€ goes down.

HondaĀ is a big name amongst football nuts but those who know who he is would already have a club I reckon, so Iā€™m not sure heā€™ll actually put bums on seats. Not at first anyway.

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2 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Itā€™ll be interesting how the whole Honda vs ā€œlate arrival of discount 2nd division Polish marqueeā€ goes down.

HondaĀ is a big name amongst football nuts but those who know who he is would already have a club I reckon, so Iā€™m not sure heā€™ll actually put bums on seats. Not at first anyway.

Controversial though this opinion may be, I think the effect of these so-called big names is grossly over-estimated.

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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Giveaways here have hadĀ no measurable impact on attendances.

If you do not qualify for a concession, then the full adult cost of membership in the more expensive categories is...pretty bloody expensive.

IMO the only answer is to win more matches, win the ones that count, and be a lot more consistent than we have been in our 8 seasons. We cough up points all too frequently, and choke in the important matches.

The free admission did one thing it increased the number on the day and help to create a better atmosphere. But what works in Perth (Scotland) may not work Australia. We like Melbourne City have a small captive audience. In Perth winning the Scottish cup did not add a great number to our membership. So in Scotland winning games did not add bums to seats. I hope Melbourne is different and when City win the league the membership increases by a large number.

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