A bit worrying

[AF1]

If there's not a flurry of 'Liverpool fans in the East Stand' etc threads tomorrow I shall buy a hat and eat it.

Just sarnies for lunch then.


Naturally I didn't go so can't comment on numbers but there was a visable burst of celabration in the north stand after the first Liverpool goal on the telly.

[brendywendy]

there were alot of kids and families in last night
most supporting reading
that can only be a good thing for the club, even if it made starting any chants a bit hard
and meant i had to try and cut out the swearing

[Schards#2]

Hmmm.....

4,000 Liverpool fans in the away end

1,000 (conservatively) Liverpool fans in the home ends

a game against one of the biggest clubs in Europe

Reduced ticket prices to make it, probably, the cheapest game of the season

Free membership card for first timers

...and it still didn't sell out.


And this is cited as firm evidence to expand the stadium?

All I can say is....

[The 17 Bus]

YAWN

[Schards#2]

Well i'm so sorry my voicing my opinion bores you.

[The 17 Bus]

I doubt you are sorry at all, however it has been said, no idea if true, that 7000 st holders did not go, had they all attened I would assume that demand could have been 30k and a bit for this game, now even you must see that should be correct, therefore 30k as most on here say can be filled often enough to warrant it.

[Schards#2]

But they didn't attend and it didn't sell out.

Had the entire population of Belgium decided to go to the game it would have been oversubscribed 1,000's of times over. But they didn't and it didn't sell out so what your point?

[Behindu]

As I have mentioned elsewhere I believe the game did actually sell out...

[Dirk Gently]

What hasn't been mentioned (I don't think) is the latent demand for people who go to matches anyway to be able to introduce extra people to matches - friends, family and so on.

When we're at or very nearly sold out, there's just no way to bring anyone new along - because no-one is going to bring someone and not be able to sit with them. So we're in a situation where the people who ought to be the best salespeople for the club (the 18.5k STHs) are unable to bring anyone new.

From the people I've spoken to, I'm sure that as long as there is an easy way to move seats for a match then the demand from existing attenders to bring extra people on would be significant.

I'm not going to guess at numbers or get involved in "should we/shouldn't we" arguments - and I'm especially not going to trawl through past posts to find a specific word that someone with a different opinion might have posted 2 months ago..... but I do think that this is one area of demand that people just haven't taken into account in their arguments.

[The 17 Bus]

But they didn't attend and it didn't sell out.

Had the entire population of Belgium decided to go to the game it would have been oversubscribed 1,000's of times over. But they didn't and it didn't sell out so what your point?

The point is that it shows that there are thousands of fans that might go to games if it is easier to get tickets, last night is the first game in a long time that multiple seats together in all stands have been available to non ST holders, along with attractive pricing as well.

ANd all with it being available free on tv in a pub or elsewhere.

[Schards#2]

I thought the announced gate was 23,000 and something?

Even if it did sell out shortly before kick off, I can't see how, given that a large percentage of the crowd were away supporters, this game can be seen as evidence to support the extension.

[Schards#2]

What hasn't been mentioned (I don't think) is the latent demand for people who go to matches anyway to be able to introduce extra people to matches - friends, family and so on.

When we're at or very nearly sold out, there's just no way to bring anyone new along - because no-one is going to bring someone and not be able to sit with them. So we're in a situation where the people who ought to be the best salespeople for the club (the 18.5k STHs) are unable to bring anyone new.

From the people I've spoken to, I'm sure that as long as there is an easy way to move seats for a match then the demand from existing attenders to bring extra people on would be significant.

I'm not going to guess at numbers or get involved in "should we/shouldn't we" arguments - and I'm especially not going to trawl through past posts to find a specific word that someone with a different opinion might have posted 2 months ago..... but I do think that this is one area of demand that people just haven't taken into account in their arguments.

That's just lazy Dirkers!

[The 17 Bus]

What hasn't been mentioned (I don't think) .

It has been mentioned, and ignored by certain people, same as just about every other arguemwnt put forward for expansion at this time, but only in the East at the moment.

[Dirk Gently]

What hasn't been mentioned (I don't think) .

It has been mentioned, and ignored by certain people, same as just about every other arguemwnt put forward for expansion at this time, but only in the East at the moment.

Apologies - since about 80% of the thread turned into gain-saying and points-scoring I've not been reading it in full detail.

[Behindu]

I thought the announced gate was 23,000 and something?

Even if it did sell out shortly before kick off, I can't see how, given that a large percentage of the crowd were away supporters, this game can be seen as evidence to support the extension.

The attendance was something over 23,500. I believe some of the areas had slightly reduced capacity last night for reasons I don;t know plus I know for a fact quite a few people gave up trying to collect tickets because of the queues. There were a 6 coach loads of Liverpool fans caught in bad traffic on the M40 and I believe at least 2 and maybe more diverted off to pubs in Oxford to watch the game.

There were over 3500 new member cards issued ahead of the game - all probably to people who had never been to the ground before. There were loads of family groups at their first game which means the pool of people likely to come to future games has grown once again.

I am absolutely not getting into debates as to whether another 95%+ attendance has any bearing on the expansion !!

[The 17 Bus]

I thought the announced gate was 23,000 and something?

Even if it did sell out shortly before kick off, I can't see how, given that a large percentage of the crowd were away supporters, this game can be seen as evidence to support the extension.

So as has been said previously giving the full south stand to away fans for the bigger teams, would fill over 2000 of the seats as home fans move into the east from the south,

When the ground was originally built we were told with crowds of an average of 17 for 3 years and it would be paid for, as we know things did not go to plan and we got relegated making that time longer, now tickets are a lot dearer, but building costs will not have risen by the same percentage, making the extension much easier to afford, I would guess that in 2 years at about 60% capacity it will be paid for, its a bit like having no mortgage, makes the rest of life much easier to afford.

[Woodcote Royal]

Next week on http://www.readingfc.co.uk:

Club waive member card fee and the chairman agrees to send his chauffeur-driven Bentley to pick up the extra four supporters this exciting new scheme has attracted.



Woodcote Royal bemoans the holiday season.

I'm of the opinion that this piece of "informed" wisdom, from a typical source, is worthy of a wider audience

[Daniella]

Next week on http://www.readingfc.co.uk:

Club waive member card fee and the chairman agrees to send his chauffeur-driven Bentley to pick up the extra four supporters this exciting new scheme has attracted.



Woodcote Royal bemoans the holiday season

POTY

[Skyline]

Hmmm.....

4,000 Liverpool fans in the away end

1,000 (conservatively) Liverpool fans in the home ends

a game against one of the biggest clubs in Europe

Reduced ticket prices to make it, probably, the cheapest game of the season

Free membership card for first timers

...and it still didn't sell out.


And this is cited as firm evidence to expand the stadium?

All I can say is....

Attendance 23,563.

Ground capacity 24200.

637 seats unfilled = stadium at >97% capacity.

League cup game.

Midweek.

Being shown live on TV.

Ticketing problems probably resulted in a fair number of people giving up.

(I'm just trying to see if adopting Schards' technique of writing one short sentence per line works better to get a point across. Not that it works for him...)

[M Brook]

According to Andy West on BBCRB yesterday morning, around 10,000 ST holders did not attend Tuesday's match. Nevertheless, the ground was nearly full. Surely that shows the latent demand for tickets among the casual fan who would want to attend on a casual basis if they could get tickets fairly easily.

I would suggest this proves that the decision to extend to 30,000 is a sensible one that will see attendances increase from 24K for most games, provided we can keep a base of 18K ST holders.

Extending to 38K is another argument entirely though.