| Latest Figures 06:13 - Mar 30 with 12115 views | R17ALE |
Have arrived to shareholders and they show a healthy profit from our relegation season, but scratching beneath the surface they are also alarming. We received £985,715 in transfer fees (£477,664 the previous year) and we showed a profit of £350,000.
However, the contributaries to the cause, ie the commercial department all showed a decrease in every area. Goldbond looks to be down by about £300 per week and we have got to close the shop. It is costing us a player to keep it open!
Brace yourselves....
Shop sales fell from £130,000 to £80,000. Cost of shop purchases was £58,000. You can take out £12,000 at least from the £80,000 as that is coach travel money which continues to be accounted for incorrectly. So we've basically spent £58k to produce £68k and we've paid someone £x to do it.
And the board wonder why fans are staying away, and constantly wonder "what problem?"
FFS, it's there in black and white. Again. |  |
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| Latest Figures on 19:08 - Mar 31 with 1452 views | TalkingSutty |
| Latest Figures on 13:21 - Mar 31 by Dalenet |
If you think people are boasting about not buying a season ticket then you are stupid. There are many people that are frustrated and disillushioned and that needs sorting. The club has been in rapid decline for 2 years now and little has been done to address it despite the help and offers of help to sort it. But to suggest that people are boasting about the state we are in is simply stupid.
ps - are you sure we get £1m from the League as a league two club. I thought that figure was relevant for a league one club - I think league two clubs get half of that unless you have evidence to the contrary |
The off field failures have been going on for years and years so nothings changed in that respect.
It does make me wonder though when you see these posts regarding people stopping supporting the club or not buying season tickets what their real reason is for giving up on the club.
Is it a coincidence that none of these threats of withdrawal of support surfaced when we gained promotion or played so well in league one ? These posts never surfaced when we regularly battled for play off places, no everything was sweetness and light and those extra 1500 supporters all pledged their undying love to the club.
I reckon now we are a bit crap on the pitch and struggling, a lot of fly by nights conveniantly use the problems in the commercial department etc to do a bunk from the club. In reality a lot of those people just jumped on the bandwaggon when we had our best team in history. When the going got tough and the club needed their support they walked away like rats deserting a sinking ship!!
I can understand people not going to matches for financial reasons but not supporting the team because we are pretty dire at the moment isnt what being a football fan is about.
Its very frustrating to see our lack of ambition regarding off field/commercial matters but to use that as a excuse for not going to games or not buying a season ticket just doesnt ring right. Wait until we get a Premiership team at home in the FA cup, they will all be back then. |  | | |
| Latest Figures on 19:46 - Mar 31 with 1423 views | olympicdale |
| Latest Figures on 18:34 - Mar 31 by off2div1 |
Moving sandy fans would increase the cost to them of £5 we would lose fans, putting away fans in sandy we would lose £5 per away fan lose income..
Why don't we just open main stand because we could fill that and get rid of stewards in other stands. Ha Ha
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speaking of stands, have we just stopped the idea of letting Dale fans into the Willbuts lane now? nice to see the club stuck by it for all of 6 weeks. |  |
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| Latest Figures on 20:34 - Mar 31 with 1400 views | TVOS1907 |
| Latest Figures on 19:08 - Mar 31 by TalkingSutty |
The off field failures have been going on for years and years so nothings changed in that respect.
It does make me wonder though when you see these posts regarding people stopping supporting the club or not buying season tickets what their real reason is for giving up on the club.
Is it a coincidence that none of these threats of withdrawal of support surfaced when we gained promotion or played so well in league one ? These posts never surfaced when we regularly battled for play off places, no everything was sweetness and light and those extra 1500 supporters all pledged their undying love to the club.
I reckon now we are a bit crap on the pitch and struggling, a lot of fly by nights conveniantly use the problems in the commercial department etc to do a bunk from the club. In reality a lot of those people just jumped on the bandwaggon when we had our best team in history. When the going got tough and the club needed their support they walked away like rats deserting a sinking ship!!
I can understand people not going to matches for financial reasons but not supporting the team because we are pretty dire at the moment isnt what being a football fan is about.
Its very frustrating to see our lack of ambition regarding off field/commercial matters but to use that as a excuse for not going to games or not buying a season ticket just doesnt ring right. Wait until we get a Premiership team at home in the FA cup, they will all be back then. |
Hmm, some valid points, but where do people who have religiously travelled all over for 30 years, in addition to doing countless other things for the club, fit into your theory?
I'd also hazard a guess that many of the 'fly by nights' don't even know this board exists. |  |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Latest Figures on 21:01 - Mar 31 with 1379 views | sandylaner1 |
| Latest Figures on 18:34 - Mar 31 by off2div1 |
Moving sandy fans would increase the cost to them of £5 we would lose fans, putting away fans in sandy we would lose £5 per away fan lose income..
Why don't we just open main stand because we could fill that and get rid of stewards in other stands. Ha Ha
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solid points from you and 442... it was just a point off the top of my head really
by the time some on here tried to get people down from the sandy organised in the wilbutts it was too late and the trial run was over |  | | |
| Latest Figures on 21:05 - Mar 31 with 1372 views | Dalenet |
| Latest Figures on 19:08 - Mar 31 by TalkingSutty |
The off field failures have been going on for years and years so nothings changed in that respect.
It does make me wonder though when you see these posts regarding people stopping supporting the club or not buying season tickets what their real reason is for giving up on the club.
Is it a coincidence that none of these threats of withdrawal of support surfaced when we gained promotion or played so well in league one ? These posts never surfaced when we regularly battled for play off places, no everything was sweetness and light and those extra 1500 supporters all pledged their undying love to the club.
I reckon now we are a bit crap on the pitch and struggling, a lot of fly by nights conveniantly use the problems in the commercial department etc to do a bunk from the club. In reality a lot of those people just jumped on the bandwaggon when we had our best team in history. When the going got tough and the club needed their support they walked away like rats deserting a sinking ship!!
I can understand people not going to matches for financial reasons but not supporting the team because we are pretty dire at the moment isnt what being a football fan is about.
Its very frustrating to see our lack of ambition regarding off field/commercial matters but to use that as a excuse for not going to games or not buying a season ticket just doesnt ring right. Wait until we get a Premiership team at home in the FA cup, they will all be back then. |
A very sad and blinkered post there TS. It could almost be written by a Board member. "Call themselves fans" and "They will be back when we get a premiership club in the cup" is just so 1980s and the very reason we are where we are. I don't think they will be back. The attendance issue isn't a last two years issue. We had bigger home attendances in 2004 than we had when we got promoted. The fact is that people have more pressure on their time than they had 20 years ago. Most modern men don't leave their families and go boozing and watching footie all day on a Saturday anymore. As a club we need to engage with the fans and make their precious time enjoyable. We need to appeal to the modern man and his kids and get them involved. To assume that they will come is just niave. To poke fun at them when they don't is ridiculous.
The feel good factor has gone and that's a shame. But it can come back...but we shouldn't just expect people to walk through the gate. In the absence of a decent marketing effort by the club 5 years ago this message Board and the Dale Trust activity was booming. Both of these are a shadow of their former self. The Trust membership has halved.
As somebody that has been a messageboard regular for a long time (and I think Dale Trust committee member too) I am surprised by your post. It is true I am disillushioned, fed up of paying a fortune to drive 300 miles to Spotland to watch the shite we have had to watch, and I am sorry if that makes me a glory hunter. I have taken SuddenLads advice to not buy a season ticket next year after 12 years and will pick my games. But I am not the only one. But lets hope that somebody does something to get the 1500 or so lost fans back with more than a hope for a future cup run. |  | | |
| Latest Figures on 21:44 - Mar 31 with 1326 views | TalkingSutty |
| Latest Figures on 21:05 - Mar 31 by Dalenet |
A very sad and blinkered post there TS. It could almost be written by a Board member. "Call themselves fans" and "They will be back when we get a premiership club in the cup" is just so 1980s and the very reason we are where we are. I don't think they will be back. The attendance issue isn't a last two years issue. We had bigger home attendances in 2004 than we had when we got promoted. The fact is that people have more pressure on their time than they had 20 years ago. Most modern men don't leave their families and go boozing and watching footie all day on a Saturday anymore. As a club we need to engage with the fans and make their precious time enjoyable. We need to appeal to the modern man and his kids and get them involved. To assume that they will come is just niave. To poke fun at them when they don't is ridiculous.
The feel good factor has gone and that's a shame. But it can come back...but we shouldn't just expect people to walk through the gate. In the absence of a decent marketing effort by the club 5 years ago this message Board and the Dale Trust activity was booming. Both of these are a shadow of their former self. The Trust membership has halved.
As somebody that has been a messageboard regular for a long time (and I think Dale Trust committee member too) I am surprised by your post. It is true I am disillushioned, fed up of paying a fortune to drive 300 miles to Spotland to watch the shite we have had to watch, and I am sorry if that makes me a glory hunter. I have taken SuddenLads advice to not buy a season ticket next year after 12 years and will pick my games. But I am not the only one. But lets hope that somebody does something to get the 1500 or so lost fans back with more than a hope for a future cup run. |
I think you missed my point. I was pointing out that the inadequacies of the commercial department shouldnt be cited as a reason not to buy a season ticket or support the team.
Apart from our decline on the pitch, what as happened since our promotion year that suddenly makes fans not want to attend games, the commercial dept and club shop have been naff for years and years so thats nothing new.
Stopping watching home games because we have a poor team is a poor excuse,thats football and all teams go through good and bad periods. If your fed up of travelling 300 miles to watch it then i can see where you are coming from with that one.
[Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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| Latest Figures on 21:59 - Mar 31 with 1314 views | TalkingSutty |
| Latest Figures on 20:34 - Mar 31 by TVOS1907 |
Hmm, some valid points, but where do people who have religiously travelled all over for 30 years, in addition to doing countless other things for the club, fit into your theory?
I'd also hazard a guess that many of the 'fly by nights' don't even know this board exists. |
But 20 /30 years ago the commercial dept and club shop was a laughing stock then (before Franny and Richard) and it didnt deter those same people from sticking with the club. I find it hard to fathom how supporters can jack in watching the team because people in the commercial dept and club shop are not very good at their job.
The off field shananigans are a big frustration to everybody but i dont buy into the idea that fans have stopped attending games because of whats happening off the pitch.
Perhaps the club take the volunteers for granted and if it gets to breaking point withdraw the labour and let them get on with it. | | | |
| Latest Figures on 22:04 - Mar 31 with 1296 views | TVOS1907 |
| Latest Figures on 21:59 - Mar 31 by TalkingSutty |
But 20 /30 years ago the commercial dept and club shop was a laughing stock then (before Franny and Richard) and it didnt deter those same people from sticking with the club. I find it hard to fathom how supporters can jack in watching the team because people in the commercial dept and club shop are not very good at their job.
The off field shananigans are a big frustration to everybody but i dont buy into the idea that fans have stopped attending games because of whats happening off the pitch.
Perhaps the club take the volunteers for granted and if it gets to breaking point withdraw the labour and let them get on with it. |
But that doesn't answer my admittedly leading question. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Latest Figures on 22:26 - Mar 31 with 1268 views | TalkingSutty |
| Latest Figures on 22:04 - Mar 31 by TVOS1907 |
But that doesn't answer my admittedly leading question. |
You asked the question about long serving fans fitting into my "theory".
It doesnt matter if you are a David Clough or somebody who as just started their Dale supporting career, to stop supporting the club and turn your back on them because we have a inadequate commercial department /shop isnt right .
Do you support Rochdale because you like going to the games and getting behind the team or do you get your pleasure from producing the matchday programme (I know you rightly feel proud of the production)
I would hazard a guess producing the programme is secondary, so if volunteers (not specifically you) feel as though they are taken for granted by the club whats wrong with giving up your particular role and resorting back to the main thing and just enjoying supporting your team.
I find it hard to equate the failings of the commercial dept with stopping going to the games (I know its frustrating as hell), perhaps some people are too close to the club and the politics of it all actually take away from the basic enjoyment of being a football fan. Thats the best way i can explain it, hope it helps. | | | |
| Latest Figures on 22:35 - Mar 31 with 1253 views | TVOS1907 |
| Latest Figures on 22:26 - Mar 31 by TalkingSutty |
You asked the question about long serving fans fitting into my "theory".
It doesnt matter if you are a David Clough or somebody who as just started their Dale supporting career, to stop supporting the club and turn your back on them because we have a inadequate commercial department /shop isnt right .
Do you support Rochdale because you like going to the games and getting behind the team or do you get your pleasure from producing the matchday programme (I know you rightly feel proud of the production)
I would hazard a guess producing the programme is secondary, so if volunteers (not specifically you) feel as though they are taken for granted by the club whats wrong with giving up your particular role and resorting back to the main thing and just enjoying supporting your team.
I find it hard to equate the failings of the commercial dept with stopping going to the games (I know its frustrating as hell), perhaps some people are too close to the club and the politics of it all actually take away from the basic enjoyment of being a football fan. Thats the best way i can explain it, hope it helps. |
I wasn't referring to myself.
I've been to every game this season (for the first time ever) and have never considered turning my back on watching the team, regardless of how hard it has been at times since August.
My question was about other people who were there long before the 'fly by nights' you mentioned.
Their decision to stop watching is more complex than the fact they can't buy a beach towel!
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| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Latest Figures on 22:43 - Mar 31 with 1244 views | R17ALE |
| Latest Figures on 21:59 - Mar 31 by TalkingSutty |
But 20 /30 years ago the commercial dept and club shop was a laughing stock then (before Franny and Richard) and it didnt deter those same people from sticking with the club. I find it hard to fathom how supporters can jack in watching the team because people in the commercial dept and club shop are not very good at their job.
The off field shananigans are a big frustration to everybody but i dont buy into the idea that fans have stopped attending games because of whats happening off the pitch.
Perhaps the club take the volunteers for granted and if it gets to breaking point withdraw the labour and let them get on with it. |
This is from the heart, and I hope it explains things clearly.
I bumped into a former box holder, 46 games a season chap a couple of years ago. In conversation he revealed his last game was Wembley. Staggered, I asked him why. His simple answer came back, "they stopped caring about me, so I stopped caring about them."
Now if that doesn't send a message out, nothing will.
But, from a personal perspective, you have to look at the ethos of what it is to be a Daley, what it is exactly that makes us all put our lives on hold to support the club.
It's impossible to separate the team from the club, they beat together as one, inextricably linked like twins.
When I first walked through the doors (1983), I felt immediately wanted. There was a natural warmth expressed to me by strangers. My patronage was valued. And there was this dark gallows humour that no matter how much I was wanted, I was still signing up for hell.
I bought into that believing I could help and make a difference. Perhaps a bit like the young men who eagerly signed up for WW1. My support never wavered, and I'm one of the very few who never missed any game during the Barrow era (possibly the only other person was Barrow himself!). Plus I'm one of the Swansea 45.
That burning feeling that I could help the stricken club flourish, and make something of itself continued to burn brightly.
And then, something changed. It wasn't the team. It was the change in attitude off the pitch. It was the promotion of the them and us attitude in which this message board has admittedly played a part. It was the cba attitude of people to whom I contribute wages, and my club started to drift away from me in a manner in which I never thought possible.
Gone were the days of a friendly supporters club official finding you on the Sandy to advise you of a new product in the shop. Hello the days of an army of staff mostly doing jack shit to try and grow the club, and pull in the same direction.
Now, having had a stern talking to from your good self prior to Rotherham away, I am managing to equate my mixed feelings and continue, and I thank you for your good advice, but for others (as mentioned earlier) they've simply had enough.
And my umbilical cord has been cut, but Dale is still my Mum! | |
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| Latest Figures on 22:44 - Mar 31 with 1241 views | TalkingSutty |
| Latest Figures on 22:35 - Mar 31 by TVOS1907 |
I wasn't referring to myself.
I've been to every game this season (for the first time ever) and have never considered turning my back on watching the team, regardless of how hard it has been at times since August.
My question was about other people who were there long before the 'fly by nights' you mentioned.
Their decision to stop watching is more complex than the fact they can't buy a beach towel!
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Well i honestly dont have the answer to that because in those days both on and off the field, it was season after season of misery and they didnt walk away then.
I would guess its a financial decision for a lot of folk, i also think the departure of Hillcroft and the subsequent decline and all that entailed as flattened a lot of die hards, the realisation that we are back to square one maybe?
I would be very surprised if the commercial/club shop side of things as been the main reason. Why do you think some of the die hards have stopped coming to games? [Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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| Latest Figures on 22:56 - Mar 31 with 1222 views | TVOS1907 |
| Latest Figures on 22:44 - Mar 31 by TalkingSutty |
Well i honestly dont have the answer to that because in those days both on and off the field, it was season after season of misery and they didnt walk away then.
I would guess its a financial decision for a lot of folk, i also think the departure of Hillcroft and the subsequent decline and all that entailed as flattened a lot of die hards, the realisation that we are back to square one maybe?
I would be very surprised if the commercial/club shop side of things as been the main reason. Why do you think some of the die hards have stopped coming to games? [Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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Many reasons, I imagine. Everyone's circumstances are different, but it wouldn't really be right for me to publicly comment on what some of them are for those I was referring to. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Latest Figures on 23:00 - Mar 31 with 1216 views | TalkingSutty |
| Latest Figures on 22:43 - Mar 31 by R17ALE |
This is from the heart, and I hope it explains things clearly.
I bumped into a former box holder, 46 games a season chap a couple of years ago. In conversation he revealed his last game was Wembley. Staggered, I asked him why. His simple answer came back, "they stopped caring about me, so I stopped caring about them."
Now if that doesn't send a message out, nothing will.
But, from a personal perspective, you have to look at the ethos of what it is to be a Daley, what it is exactly that makes us all put our lives on hold to support the club.
It's impossible to separate the team from the club, they beat together as one, inextricably linked like twins.
When I first walked through the doors (1983), I felt immediately wanted. There was a natural warmth expressed to me by strangers. My patronage was valued. And there was this dark gallows humour that no matter how much I was wanted, I was still signing up for hell.
I bought into that believing I could help and make a difference. Perhaps a bit like the young men who eagerly signed up for WW1. My support never wavered, and I'm one of the very few who never missed any game during the Barrow era (possibly the only other person was Barrow himself!). Plus I'm one of the Swansea 45.
That burning feeling that I could help the stricken club flourish, and make something of itself continued to burn brightly.
And then, something changed. It wasn't the team. It was the change in attitude off the pitch. It was the promotion of the them and us attitude in which this message board has admittedly played a part. It was the cba attitude of people to whom I contribute wages, and my club started to drift away from me in a manner in which I never thought possible.
Gone were the days of a friendly supporters club official finding you on the Sandy to advise you of a new product in the shop. Hello the days of an army of staff mostly doing jack shit to try and grow the club, and pull in the same direction.
Now, having had a stern talking to from your good self prior to Rotherham away, I am managing to equate my mixed feelings and continue, and I thank you for your good advice, but for others (as mentioned earlier) they've simply had enough.
And my umbilical cord has been cut, but Dale is still my Mum! |
I mentioned in one of my posts about some fans perhaps being too close to the club and the internal politics, over the years you have at times been over exposed to that and like i stated,its easy to lose sight of why you made that fateful first trip up to Spotland in the first place.
We can all drive ourselves insane pondering about the lunatics running the asylum but sometimes i think its a good thing just to realise what our core function is and thats to part with some brass in the misguided hope that we might see a good game of football.
Concentrate on the football because i dont think a lot of the staff and i include some Directors are bothered about the fans anyway, they see us as a hinderence. Its our club though not theirs !! [Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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| Latest Figures on 23:03 - Mar 31 with 1209 views | R17ALE |
| Latest Figures on 23:00 - Mar 31 by TalkingSutty |
I mentioned in one of my posts about some fans perhaps being too close to the club and the internal politics, over the years you have at times been over exposed to that and like i stated,its easy to lose sight of why you made that fateful first trip up to Spotland in the first place.
We can all drive ourselves insane pondering about the lunatics running the asylum but sometimes i think its a good thing just to realise what our core function is and thats to part with some brass in the misguided hope that we might see a good game of football.
Concentrate on the football because i dont think a lot of the staff and i include some Directors are bothered about the fans anyway, they see us as a hinderence. Its our club though not theirs !! [Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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Your last sentence sums it up in a nutshell.
No warmth.
And I will try and continue to focus on the football! But the club and the team must beat as one. | |
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| Latest Figures on 00:15 - Apr 1 with 1158 views | D_Alien |
Its impossible to separate the activity within the club from what happens on the field.
The idea that for a supporter to be "genuine" they have to turn up and pay their money whatever the standard of football on offer is - given just a moment's reflection - ludicrous.
Most of us support what we believe to be the Rochdale that we can be proud to call our team. Many of us weren't proud to watch the antics during Coleman's reign. The team became, quite simply, unrecognisable from one that was worthy of support. The "sadness" that KH refers to finding on his return is a reflection of both the on-field slippage of standards and the off-field malaise that failed to build upon the years of his success. That's what we've been feeling too.
He will want to know that any future improvements he might bring and income generated through player development won't simply be used as an excuse for the board to sit on their arses and smirk at the fans. |  |
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| Latest Figures on 09:31 - Apr 1 with 1084 views | R17ALE |
| Latest Figures on 09:04 - Apr 1 by TalkingSutty |
I know where you are coming from but if we all stopped going to matches because of how things have panned out over the last couple of seasons then what happens to the club?
Over the last 10 years in general we have done very well on the pitch and been privileged to see some very good footballers at the club,the last couple of years we have been in decline but i dont fathom how that means supporters should throw the towel in and stop going to matches because we have a poor team.
The coleman fiasco is now history and we have the right man back at the club in my opinion so its important fans stick with the club and if they can afford to attend games get back up to Spotland.
I reckon a few fans have left because of the frustrations regarding the inability of the commercial department to show any sort of progression but that cant be the case for the overwhelming majority of stay aways. I would say its a mixture of lack of finances (understandable)/ Dont want to support a poor team.
Staying away from the club that you purport to love because we have a crap commercial department and a chairman and board who dont seem to want to sort out the problem just brings the club to its knees and in the end kills the club,indirectly you contribute to its demise.
I didnt use the term "Genuine fans" when i was refering to those that stay away from Spotland because we now have a poor team, but if that doesnt sit right with some fans then tough. You cant just support a team when they are doing well and then as soon as they go through a poor couple of seasons withdraw your support, this club would have folded decades ago if we all followed that example.
Anyway i sound like a fishwife,thats my last post on the subject (Tazzy style  ) [Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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"I reckon a few fans have left because of the frustrations regarding the inability of the commercial department to show any sort of progression but that cant be the case for the overwhelming majority of stay aways. I would say its a mixture of lack of finances (understandable)/ Dont want to support a poor team."
I really think you and others are under-estimating the long term knock on effect of having a commercial team who are, in the main, stealing a living out of our pockets.
There are plenty of fans I know who stress their non attendance is solely to sleep well in the knowledge that they are not contributing to the wages of certain off field staff.
We can debate the percentages of this ad infinitum, but the one stat we cannot argue on is that around 1500 fans have stopped coming regularly in the last 2 to 3 years. Now that is not just down to the football. It is partly due to the club's inabilaty to capture these people's data and work a charm offensive on them making them part of the Spotland family.
And that, is just laziness. And smacks of a department with no blueprint for the future, no plan or vision. And that, is poor form from the Board who should be all over this thread.
But we've been here before, several times! | |
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| Latest Figures on 10:11 - Apr 1 with 1046 views | SuddenLad |
| Latest Figures on 21:05 - Mar 31 by Dalenet |
A very sad and blinkered post there TS. It could almost be written by a Board member. "Call themselves fans" and "They will be back when we get a premiership club in the cup" is just so 1980s and the very reason we are where we are. I don't think they will be back. The attendance issue isn't a last two years issue. We had bigger home attendances in 2004 than we had when we got promoted. The fact is that people have more pressure on their time than they had 20 years ago. Most modern men don't leave their families and go boozing and watching footie all day on a Saturday anymore. As a club we need to engage with the fans and make their precious time enjoyable. We need to appeal to the modern man and his kids and get them involved. To assume that they will come is just niave. To poke fun at them when they don't is ridiculous.
The feel good factor has gone and that's a shame. But it can come back...but we shouldn't just expect people to walk through the gate. In the absence of a decent marketing effort by the club 5 years ago this message Board and the Dale Trust activity was booming. Both of these are a shadow of their former self. The Trust membership has halved.
As somebody that has been a messageboard regular for a long time (and I think Dale Trust committee member too) I am surprised by your post. It is true I am disillushioned, fed up of paying a fortune to drive 300 miles to Spotland to watch the shite we have had to watch, and I am sorry if that makes me a glory hunter. I have taken SuddenLads advice to not buy a season ticket next year after 12 years and will pick my games. But I am not the only one. But lets hope that somebody does something to get the 1500 or so lost fans back with more than a hope for a future cup run. |
My last jaunt to Spotland (with an 11-year old in tow), cost £34 admission fee for the two of us into the main stand. (£20 + £14). That's before any refreshments, programme, Golden Gamble etc..........
Whatever reasons people have for not attending games (and I accept that there are many) the admission price is probably the biggest single factor. Dress it up how you like, but pressure on personal/household budgets is a bigger factor today than ever before. Whatever and whether other clubs charge similar amounts is largely irrelevant. This is Rochdale and the Board of this club needs to tailor their ideas and policies primarily to their own supporter base.
(How many season tickets did Hartlepool sell at £100 each ? Over 5,000 if my memory serves me correctly. It may not have been a perfect or even a long term solution but it was innovative and generated some money for the club beyond their normal expected budget. Credit to them for trying to do something different and at least showing that they are prepared to 'think outside the box')
If the Spotland powers that be haven't got the message about the commercial side of the operation after all the man hours spent telling them, (on here and elsewhere) then we all need to accept and presume that they are happy with the state of affairs as they stand.
We can all hark back to the days when the club was a laughing stock on and off the field and how we trudged like zombies to Spotland because that's what we unfailingly did on Saturdays - whatever the weather - but the club have simply failed to compete in an ever-changing market and even worse have treated some of their supporters with contempt.
I've lost count of the number of people I speak to who are now content to wait for Jeff Stelling to announce the scores and watch the Sky vide-printer bring news of games up and down the country. Many of those regular supporters will now be lost forever, save the odd cup match against 'better' opposition. The club have consistently failed to implement even the basic changes necessary and whilst they were (are) dithering, even the die-hards are waking up to the fact that they are probably no longer appreciated. No wonder Keith Hill is reported to be 'saddened'. I know how he feels.
For me, I think the wake up call came when me, my wife and grandson were all physically frisked before entering the ground (last season) and my wife had her handbag contents inspected. Thankfully, they didn't x-ray her walking stick.
Quite what these club-hired goons were hoping to find remains a mystery. Whatever the purpose of the exercise, it wasted a few minutes for us all. Perhaps they suspected we were smuggling in a bag of chips from Willbutts chippy (another ridiculous club policy) or an illicit tin of Rola-Cola purchased from elsewhere. God forbid ! All this crap about 'ground rules' and 'conditions of entry' may well be valid in certain areas of only a few grounds in Britain. The main stand at Spotland isn't one of them. Directors please note.
If the club want people to attend games, whoever they may be, don't treat them like sh!t. That applies whether it is that supporters' first visit or whether it's someone who has been travelling the length and breadth of the country for 50 years or more. Respect for the customer is paramount.
The match day experience is supposed to be an enjoyable, family event, something to look forward to and to be enjoyed.
The club would do well to remember that. |  |
| “It is easier to fool people, than to convince them that they have been fooled†|
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| Latest Figures on 10:36 - Apr 1 with 1028 views | fitzochris |
When I first starting going to watch Dale, we'd not long survived one half of Cannon and Ball doing his utmost to ruin is. As an eight year old boy, such things were beyond me and I was there solely to watch live football (Man Utd was too expensive apparently).
As time progressed and I became more aware of the politics of football, off the field issues did begin to interest me but, again, the main reason I attended games was to support the team.
I know the club could do a hell of a lot more behind the scenes to make us feel more valued, but the long and short of it, as far as I'm concerned, is my passion for Dale will always boil down to supporting the manager and the players he puts on the pitch. That is where my joy and ire has, and will continue to be, directed.
I don't fault those who look deeper into what goes on behind the scenes. In fact I think it's important that people do. Too many clubs have gone to the wall as a result of fans being blissfully ignorant.
But I think it will always be the brand of football and the success of the team that will attract or repel supporters above all else. |  |
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| Latest Figures on 10:38 - Apr 1 with 1022 views | SalwaDale |
A very interesting thread but one that can never really be fully understood as there is no way we can test out all the variables. While I agree about the club shop etc that wouldn't be the factor that stops me watching my team. Price might, and the last few seasons I've missed away games purely on price. I know I could certainly spend a season watching Premier League football for significantly less.
I eagerly await the crash in English football but I doubt it will happen. In the meantime I expect I'll get my season tickets again. |  |
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| Latest Figures on 11:09 - Apr 1 with 980 views | D_Alien |
"Staying away from the club that you purport to love because we have a crap commercial department and a chairman and board who dont seem to want to sort out the problem just brings the club to its knees and in the end kills the club,indirectly you contribute to its demise."
What I was trying to point out is that its not about staying away because of a crap commercial dept. etc but that the team on the pitch is inextricably linked, performance-wise, to the wages we can afford.
When the club had the opportunity to make hay during 2006-10 period and establish a higher income base from which to operate but instead chose (and I use that word deliberately) not to do so, we now have the current situation where long-term supporters, who've stood by the club through decades of dross on the pitch, can no longer stomach that type of dinosaur mentality from the board of directors.
This is my last post on the subject (in this thread at any rate!) and I understand your concerns about the potential demise of the club, but this would hardly be down to the week-on-week decisions made by individual fans who'd be more than willing to cough up their money at the turnstile if they could see a plan for the future in place.
If CD's plan is simply "let KH raise some money from transfer fees" we're stuffed - and I suspect that's exactly what KH thinks too! | |
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| Latest Figures on 11:53 - Apr 1 with 948 views | BigDaveMyCock |
| Latest Figures on 13:16 - Mar 31 by olympicdale |
this is an outrage...
I never backed the boards decisions, course if I was sent said figures by post as required i could comment more, but i am legally required not to do so.
now for a game of find the sarcasm mrcock, < is that sarcasm too... |
Oh come on now, just a bit of gentle ribbing in relation to the fact that your opinions tend to oscillate ever so slightly.
Don't form an extreme view out the outset when all facts, figures and opinions etc have not been revealed. If you do this, you then, more often than not, have to back-track a little and climb down from your original post.
Your original Ashley Grimes post might very well have been tongue-in-cheek, but your posts tend to swing to and from a variety of opinons that it's difficult to sometimes tell. Or maybe it's just me.
No offence old chap, Happy Easter.
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| Latest Figures on 12:03 - Apr 1 with 935 views | R17ALE |
| Latest Figures on 11:09 - Apr 1 by D_Alien |
"Staying away from the club that you purport to love because we have a crap commercial department and a chairman and board who dont seem to want to sort out the problem just brings the club to its knees and in the end kills the club,indirectly you contribute to its demise."
What I was trying to point out is that its not about staying away because of a crap commercial dept. etc but that the team on the pitch is inextricably linked, performance-wise, to the wages we can afford.
When the club had the opportunity to make hay during 2006-10 period and establish a higher income base from which to operate but instead chose (and I use that word deliberately) not to do so, we now have the current situation where long-term supporters, who've stood by the club through decades of dross on the pitch, can no longer stomach that type of dinosaur mentality from the board of directors.
This is my last post on the subject (in this thread at any rate!) and I understand your concerns about the potential demise of the club, but this would hardly be down to the week-on-week decisions made by individual fans who'd be more than willing to cough up their money at the turnstile if they could see a plan for the future in place.
If CD's plan is simply "let KH raise some money from transfer fees" we're stuffed - and I suspect that's exactly what KH thinks too! |
You've hit the nail rather neatly on the head there D_Alien.
1. We failed to grasp the opportunity to turn our club, permanently, into a bigger club with different aspirations. This was a commercial opportunity missed, along with all the others.
2. I dread the scenario in the summer that the Board feel unable to match Hill's budget requests, and he leaves under a cloud. A cloud that an extra £100,000 in the coffers might have lifted.
It's so typically Dale that a mammoth thread bemoaning so much, comes after our 2 most profitable years ever! You really couldn't make it up! I remember the joys of the 1980's when there was celebration at turning in a profit of around £2000 and avoiding re-election. So, on reflection, we've done a lot right too. | |
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