Can Southend follow Swansea's lead

[Aberdeen Shrimper]

Not sure if there has been a thread on this but on SSN they were just talking to the Swansea Manager Roberto Martinez about an initiative that Swansea have brought in to encourage more of the youngsters to go along to the Liberty Stadium.

They are kicking of at 7pm instead of 7:45pm and also have a "Kids go free" night, this is the second time that they have adopted this initiative with very positive results which seems to be attracting a lot more of the younger supporters.

Is this maybe something Southend could consider trailing? Would it work? After all the young ones are the Blue Voice of the future.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

A lot of people will moan at a 7pm KO, it wasn't so long ago people were clamouring for all evening games to KO at 8pm!

 

[Aberdeen Shrimper]

A lot of people will moan at a 7pm KO, it wasn't so long ago people were clamouring for all evening games to KO at 8pm!

I have posted this in Chit chat to get more of a response??

 

[Pubey]

A lot of people will moan at a 7pm KO, it wasn't so long ago people were clamouring for all evening games to KO at 8pm!

very true, for a commuter town like southend i don't think moving the kick offs earlier is very smart

 

[OldBlueLady]

I think there is less of a commuter population in Swansea which is why it wouldn't work for us!

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

I have posted this in Chit chat to get more of a response??

Maybe the mods should merge the threads?

 

[OldBlueLady]

SNAP! Exactly the same thought, at exactly the same time!

 

[Aberdeen Shrimper]

Mods....can you do that?????

would be a better discusion in Chit chat than in here???

 

[SUFCEssex]

in the early rounds of the LDV or JPT i noticed a lot of teams starting at 7pm with all sorts of deals for kids.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

No way 7pm kick-offs.

Yes, the club has to look to expand support amongst the young, but not at the cost of their full price paying fan base. By moving KO to 7pm you are constricting the catchment area significantly - fewer fans from surrounding areas such as Chelmsford, Wickford etc will be able to make it. Fans working outside the area would be cut off - in a commuter town this would be a key demographic. Remember some of this commuters would be taking their children anyway, so you'd potentially lose some of your existing support anyway.

Fans will also be battling the rush hour traffic, so I'm not sure how popular it would be anyway.

I'd suggest trying to make reserve games more school friendly - get players playing in front of crowds, introduce the yougsters early to Southend.