A bit worrying

[Huntley & Palmer]

Be interested to hear about how many Chelsea fans were in the home ends tomorrow

[Skyline]

But they did sell out and Everton could do the same so you could say the demand is there. Obviously it's just one game though so not proof of anything really.

Yes, but they only sold out just before the game, my point is, if there's another 10,000+ people desperate to see us play, I'm surprised they didn't try to buy a ticket much earlier, to secure their seat.

Tell you what, come back to this argument at the end of September / beginning of October when everyone has returned from holiday. If the team is doing well and we're still getting to general sales then, then you might have a point.

[Behindu]

my point is, if there's another 10,000+ people desperate to see us play, I'm surprised they didn't try to buy a ticket much earlier, to secure their seat.

Where did the idea that there are 10,000 people desperate to see us come from ?

The plan is to expand by 6000 to start with.
That would allow an extra 2000 away fans.
So phase 1 would give about 4000 home tickets.
They don;t need to be sold to people 'desperate' to see us play, but it would give more casual fans the chance to come and the club the chance to be more creative.
We are selling out the 24,000 seats every week, and have done for well over a season now.
What do you need as evidence that the capacity can be expanded to allow more people to come ?

[Schards#2]

my point is, if there's another 10,000+ people desperate to see us play, I'm surprised they didn't try to buy a ticket much earlier, to secure their seat.

Where did the idea that there are 10,000 people desperate to see us come from ?

The plan is to expand by 6000 to start with.
That would allow an extra 2000 away fans.
So phase 1 would give about 4000 home tickets.
They don;t need to be sold to people 'desperate' to see us play, but it would give more casual fans the chance to come and the club the chance to be more creative.
We are selling out the 24,000 seats every week, and have done for well over a season now.
What do you need as evidence that the capacity can be expanded to allow more people to come ?

Evidence that week in week out sell outs of the existing capacity will be more than a first premiership season phenomenon.

[Wycombe Royal]

my point is, if there's another 10,000+ people desperate to see us play, I'm surprised they didn't try to buy a ticket much earlier, to secure their seat.

Where did the idea that there are 10,000 people desperate to see us come from ?

The plan is to expand by 6000 to start with.
That would allow an extra 2000 away fans.
So phase 1 would give about 4000 home tickets.
They don;t need to be sold to people 'desperate' to see us play, but it would give more casual fans the chance to come and the club the chance to be more creative.
We are selling out the 24,000 seats every week, and have done for well over a season now.
What do you need as evidence that the capacity can be expanded to allow more people to come ?

Evidence that week in week out sell outs of the existing capacity will be more than a first premiership season phenomenon.

They will have that by the time the expansion works begin at the end of the season.

[Woodcote Royal]

my point is, if there's another 10,000+ people desperate to see us play, I'm surprised they didn't try to buy a ticket much earlier, to secure their seat.

Where did the idea that there are 10,000 people desperate to see us come from ?

The plan is to expand by 6000 to start with.
That would allow an extra 2000 away fans.
So phase 1 would give about 4000 home tickets.
They don;t need to be sold to people 'desperate' to see us play, but it would give more casual fans the chance to come and the club the chance to be more creative.
We are selling out the 24,000 seats every week, and have done for well over a season now.
What do you need as evidence that the capacity can be expanded to allow more people to come ?

Evidence that week in week out sell outs of the existing capacity will be more than a first premiership season phenomenon.

Tonights attendance was larger than we had for our first home game of last season .

Applying your own shortsighted yardstick, surely this means demand is on the increase and that a new "phenomenon" is upon us

[Royal Lady]

Not really no. I suspect some people with member cards decided to come as it was Chelsea rather than wanting to be part of the RFC "experience" every week, personally. I think this thread will run and run.....

[The 17 Bus]

Poor reply RL, last season M'boro did not sell out the away hence the lower crowd, so similar demand in home ends, except that the Boro game sold out well in advance and last nights did not.

Is all in your favour at the moment.

[Behindu]

Not really no. I suspect some people with member cards decided to come as it was Chelsea rather than wanting to be part of the RFC "experience" every week, personally. I think this thread will run and run.....

Sadly it probably will !
If every sell out is going to be countered by 'well OK it was sold out but only because....' then we'll never agree !
People wanting to come to see us play Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal, SPurs, West Ham, Newcastle are still people wanting to see us play.
Over a season and half of sellouts now but still it seems there isn't justification for 6000 extra seats !!!

[Schards#2]

Where did the idea that there are 10,000 people desperate to see us come from ?

The plan is to expand by 6000 to start with.
That would allow an extra 2000 away fans.
So phase 1 would give about 4000 home tickets.
They don;t need to be sold to people 'desperate' to see us play, but it would give more casual fans the chance to come and the club the chance to be more creative.
We are selling out the 24,000 seats every week, and have done for well over a season now.
What do you need as evidence that the capacity can be expanded to allow more people to come ?

Evidence that week in week out sell outs of the existing capacity will be more than a first premiership season phenomenon.

Tonights attendance was larger than we had for our first home game of last season .

Applying your own shortsighted yardstick, surely this means demand is on the increase and that a new "phenomenon" is upon us

I've tried to be polite here but you really are a complete w@nker Woodcote.

1. There were plenty of empty seats yesterday. I presume the attendance announced includes season ticket holders who didn't turn up

2. The home tickets were sold out for the first game of last season

3. Chelsea is one of, if not THE biggest game of the season and tickets were still available a couple of days before the game. The Middlesborough game sold out long before

4. I believe I said we need evidence of sell outs "Week on week". We have had one game so far and the evidence from that is demand has fallen.

Have a day off from being the blinkered tosser you truely are and wait until you have some genuine evidence to support your assertions before replying again on this thread.

Twat

[Stranded]

Evidence that week in week out sell outs of the existing capacity will be more than a first premiership season phenomenon.

Tonights attendance was larger than we had for our first home game of last season .

Applying your own shortsighted yardstick, surely this means demand is on the increase and that a new "phenomenon" is upon us

I've tried to be polite here but you really are a complete w@nker Woodcote.

1. There were plenty of empty seats yesterday. I presume the attendance announced includes season ticket holders who didn't turn up

2. The home tickets were sold out for the first game of last season

3. Chelsea is one of, if not THE biggest game of the season and tickets were still available a couple of days before the game. The Middlesborough game sold out long before

4. I believe I said we need evidence of sell outs "Week on week". We have had one game so far and the evidence from that is demand has fallen.

Have a day off from being the blinkered tosser you truely are and wait until you have some genuine evidence to support your assertions before replying again on this thread.

Twat

The evidence does not show that demand has fallen at all. Esp if you are trying to compare it to last season's opener - in fact the official attendence for this game was bigger than both the opening fixture and the Chelsea game last year.

[Schards#2]

Tonights attendance was larger than we had for our first home game of last season .

Applying your own shortsighted yardstick, surely this means demand is on the increase and that a new "phenomenon" is upon us

I've tried to be polite here but you really are a complete w@nker Woodcote.

1. There were plenty of empty seats yesterday. I presume the attendance announced includes season ticket holders who didn't turn up

2. The home tickets were sold out for the first game of last season

3. Chelsea is one of, if not THE biggest game of the season and tickets were still available a couple of days before the game. The Middlesborough game sold out long before

4. I believe I said we need evidence of sell outs "Week on week". We have had one game so far and the evidence from that is demand has fallen.

Have a day off from being the blinkered tosser you truely are and wait until you have some genuine evidence to support your assertions before replying again on this thread.

Twat

The evidence does not show that demand has fallen at all. Esp if you are trying to compare it to last season's opener - in fact the official attendence for this game was bigger than both the opening fixture and the Chelsea game last year.

So all those empty seats, have we installed them in the close season?

[Stranded]

People bought the seats. Quite possibly ST holders that couldn't make it, quite common early in the season.

The tickets were sold though and the official attendence (the only one figure that matters really) was bigger than both the opening game last season and that for the Chelsea game last season. I can't see how that is evidence of a lack of demand.

[The 17 Bus]

Hmmmm first ever game in the Prem was bound to be high demand, same as first game at the ground.

As has been pointed out we have had 1 1/2 seasons of sellouts, with demand higher for many of the games.

I was surprised that the Chelsea game did not sell out faster, then £35 is too much for many people and they will not pay it, as has also been pointed out the extra 6k seats will allow the club to market the tickets in ways they cannot now.

JM is no fool, he knows we can get more income from a larger stadium, and he knows the risk of relegation as well, for some reason there seems to be a mega demand for football in this country and worldwide at the moment, we can be part of it or not, and being part of it means taking risks, extending the ground will not bankrupt the club, doing it sooner rather than later means income increases earlier, obvious I know, so JM has decided not to wait.

What he has done is to plan it so that should we get relegated or look extremely likey too by Xmas they might be able to cancel it.

In the 70's clubs like Bristol C Swindon Ipswich and others built new stands, we did not, and we were stuck in the lower reaches for a long time while they went on to success, now it may not have lasted for them, but it was there, now is the time to push on, and JM's brick by brick approach is about right, IMHO

[Schards#2]

People bought the seats. Quite possibly ST holders that couldn't make it, quite common early in the season.

The tickets were sold though and the official attendence (the only one figure that matters really) was bigger than both the opening game last season and that for the Chelsea game last season. I can't see how that is evidence of a lack of demand.

So the attendance - i.e the number of people that attended the game, was less than last year.

The evidence was in the fact that Chelsea are one of the biggest draws in the league and the few thousand tickets available went on general sale and only sold out a day or two before the game.

This was not the case for the game against Chelsea last year, or the first home game of the season last year.

Therefore, the evidence so far is that demand has fallen. Whether this continues to be the case, time will tell.

[Stranded]

People bought the seats. Quite possibly ST holders that couldn't make it, quite common early in the season.

The tickets were sold though and the official attendence (the only one figure that matters really) was bigger than both the opening game last season and that for the Chelsea game last season. I can't see how that is evidence of a lack of demand.

So the attendance - i.e the number of people that attended the game, was less than last year.

The evidence was in the fact that Chelsea are one of the biggest draws in the league and the few thousand tickets available went on general sale and only sold out a day or two before the game.

This was not the case for the game against Chelsea last year, or the first home game of the season last year.

Therefore, the evidence so far is that demand has fallen. Whether this continues to be the case, time will tell.

I have no idea, as I have no numbers on how many chose not to turn up last night compared to last season.

When tickets actually sell out is fairly irrelevant - if they sell they sell. You could actually argue that selling out later is better as it means the tickets are going to newer fans who couldn't get in last season widening the amount of people who attend and would attend further games if more seats were available.

[Behindu]

Schards you are a spin doctor !!

Trying to claim that 'thousands' of tickets went on general sale is unworthy, however desperate you are to prove whatever point it is you are making.

There are only about 3000 tickets available for sale anyway. SOME ended up on general sale, as far as I know the number has not been published but if it was more than a couple of hundred I would be surprised.

I think you need to be a little more honest in your presentation of your argument !

IIRC there was also much debate last season (right from the start - inlcuding Boro) about supposed sell outs and empty seats so it's not a new debate and doesn;t add much to your case. If the seats were sold but people didn;t attend it doesn;t change the fact that they were sold !

I still find it odd that on the basis of a sell out you can claim demand has fallen.

I thank the Lord that decisions are in the hands of competant businessmen as opposed to others. JM / NH etc haven't made too many bad business decisions and I rather suspect they will judge this one right. It's not in their interest to build seats no one will sit in. Luckily they didn;t build an 8000 stadium to start with (which I imagine you would have argued for) !!

As I have said before, you have no real basis on which to make your arguement, and I have no access to business projections either. Debate is fine, although resorting to personal abuse is (as usual) the sign of a loser.

[Schards#2]

When tickets sell out is very relevent if the argument is about the level of demand.

Clearly, the sooner they sell out, the higher the level of demand.

[Behindu]

When tickets sell out is very relevent if the argument is about the level of demand.

Clearly, the sooner they sell out, the higher the level of demand.

Not when demand is artificially constrained as it is at the Mad Stad.
Your case would be correct if tickets went straight to open sale.
There could be massive demand from non members who cannot buy until all members have had a chance. if 5000 members don;t want tickets but 50000 non members do then your case is shot - not that I'm arguing that was the case, just pointing out the error of your point

[The 17 Bus]

When tickets sell out is very relevent if the argument is about the level of demand.

Clearly, the sooner they sell out, the higher the level of demand.

Surely the sooner they sell out it shows that the most committed fans have them and the rest of the card holders do not?