Catchment and support

[Jam_Man]

Oh yeah there are boundaries of course.

 

[les@donr]

Similar problem with my team Doncaster Rovers. A lot of Donny folk either support the Sheffield clubs or Leeds. You see more Rovers shirts around town now than 20 years ago, but still more needs to be done to attract new fans and keep them.

 

[united we stand]

My son's school have plenty of activity in his school in prittlewell less than a mile from the ground. Free tickets, Southend training schooles etc Yet he is the only one who ever wears a Southend shirt and we rarely ever see anyone from his school in the family enclosure. Same was when my daughter was there too. Get a few on the family days when they give tickets away, but they rarely come back.

Due to where we live there are a lot of football parties at Chase High which my lad goes to, again no one wears Southend kits at the ones he goes but him.

If it doesnt make that much of an impact in a school that close then its not going to make much to those further out unfortunately.



Indeed, if giving people free tickets doesnt grab their attention other than the one game I dont know what they can do. Kids tickets are already cheap, I go to games for the same price with a kid than I did on my own, albeit have to go in the family stand.

Form you cant account for, after all no team will always be in good form other wise you would be top of the premiership. If peoples' rekquirement is for the team to constantly be winning games there are few teams they would ever be happy attending.

That just leaves the facilities. Theres nothing wrong fundamentally with Roots Hall, it suits its purpose for football, the seats work. However a shiny new stadium would make a difference to attracting those people who turn up for one free game and never go again.

Until the new stadium gets completed (not 3 sides) then I cant see what else the club can do.

nothing is ever going to be 100% successful. We used to have 3 out is 10 in SUFC shirts ( and me in shorts) and across the park with there were lots is SUFC shirts- this was back when we were running the "blues country" advertising which I thought really raised awareness of SUFC

 

[Ironshrimper]

Hammers get a hard time, but we have a Totenham shop, right smack in the middle of our Southend High Street... great.

 

[Fairport]

There is no doubt that we have a large catchment area and if we had a decent new stadium then we could increase our attendances. The fact is that the population increase in South East Essex over the past few decades has been mainly due to the migration of people who do not wish to live in East London, commonly known as the white flight. The reasons why they don't want to live in London is another debate. Very few West Ham, Tottenham and Leyton Orient fans actually live where their clubs are based. I doubt that West Ham or Orient have more than 2% of their attendance coming from Newham or Leyton, and yet they often try to class themselves as Community Clubs! I cant think of any other clubs out of 92 that are in a similar situation.The Liverpool and Manchester clubs have plenty of local support, as do most other clubs, it is the London clubs whose fans mostly travel in from other areas. It is amazing really. Our task is to get some of these people to start following us, the best chance of that happening is to get a new stadium built and have Championship football on offer.

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

A lot of the problem stems from cost of tickets at Premier Clubs in our catchment area.If Southend or Colchester for that matter offered tickets at their clubs it might persaude some of these floaters to attend our games.

I have a friend who supports West Ham born and brought up in Chelmsford he has a young son who is football mad.He nevers go to a live game with his son chooses to watch games on TV instead,the reason he says is the cost.

As a ST holder will endeavour to give them the ticket option that we have and hopefully will be at RH very soon:thumbsup:

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

A lot of the problem stems from cost of tickets at Premier Clubs in our catchment area.If Southend or Colchester for that matter offered tickets at their clubs it might persaude some of these floaters to attend our games.

I have a friend who supports West Ham born and brought up in Chelmsford he has a young son who is football mad.He nevers go to a live game with his son chooses to watch games on TV instead,the reason he says is the cost.

As a ST holder will endeavour to give them the ticket option that we have and hopefully will be at RH very soon:thumbsup:

As I mentioned earlier, you can go in the family block for £22 total for an adult ticket and an U16s ticket, P, Q and R in the West Stand, or anywhere South lower, if booked in advance to match day. It's £25 on match day. It might be worth mentioning this to your friend.

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

As I mentioned earlier, you can go in the family block for £22 total for an adult ticket and an U16s ticket, P, Q and R in the West Stand, or anywhere South lower, if booked in advance to match day. It's £25 on match day. It might be worth mentioning this to your friend.

Thanks SNB for the info its something i will persue,but i regret i think he is brainwashed in supporting the Spanners but i can only try:unsure:

 

[londonblue]

Yeah its all dependent on what sort of parent you are and your interest in football. Theres no reason why my son should support Southend for life if we moved now. If I moved and my son then chose to support the local team then I wouldnt have an issue with it, Id probably go myself now and again anyway.

As I said earlier I grew up with Arsenal because my family come from there, but I was born in Benfleet so no actual bind to them so over the years Southend took over completely.

Indeed. I live close to Watford these days, but my sons support Arsenal and Tottenham, both of which are more local than Southend. We actually live about a 5 minute drive from both Arsenal and Watford's training grounds (they're literally next door to each other). That said, they both have season tickets at Roots Hall and both talk about Southend using the term "we". My eldest even told me he only supports Arsenal as well because he would get teased at school for supporting Southend. Bearing in mind where I live that isn't unexpected.

How long that will continue I don't know. When they get older driving down to Southend and back rather than a quick hop on the train to Arsenal (for example) might be too much to expect...which is why I'm doing all the groundwork now. The issue, however, isn't what I'm doing, it's what the team does on the pitch.

At the beginning of last season we nearly lost them because of our poor run. We nearly did the same this season too. I have, however, promised them that once all our defenders come back from injury we'll fly up the table. My eldest even said yesterday that I was clever because that is exactly what is happening. I didn't bother explaining that it could all go wrong in an instant any time soon, let him believe a) that Southend are going to have a good season, and b) his dad is a genius!

Edit: My sons have just got home from school and have opened their new FIFA 18 game. The first thing my eldest said was, "I'm Southend". Good boy!

 

[Uncle Leo]

Indeed. I live close to Watford these days, but my sons support Arsenal and Tottenham, both of which are more local than Southend. We actually live about a 5 minute drive from both Arsenal and Watford's training grounds (they're literally next door to each other). That said, they both have season tickets at Roots Hall and both talk about Southend using the term "we". My eldest even told me he only supports Arsenal as well because he would get teased at school for supporting Southend. Bearing in mind where I live that isn't unexpected.

How long that will continue I don't know. When they get older driving down to Southend and back rather than a quick hop on the train to Arsenal (for example) might be too much to expect...which is why I'm doing all the groundwork now. The issue, however, isn't what I'm doing, it's what the team does on the pitch.

At the beginning of last season we nearly lost them because of our poor run. We nearly did the same this season too. I have, however, promised them that once all our defenders come back from injury we'll fly up the table. My eldest even said yesterday that I was clever because that is exactly what is happening. I didn't bother explaining that it could all go wrong in an instant any time soon, let him believe a) that Southend are going to have a good season, and b) his dad is a genius!

Edit: My sons have just got home from school and have opened their new FIFA 18 game. The first thing my eldest said was, "I'm Southend". Good boy!

Well it looks like you're doing your bit!

The section I have highlighted actually plays in to Southend's hands - or indeed the hands of other 'smaller' teams. Unless your son has a really lucrative paper round, getting tickets to Arsenal games and going when he fancies just won't be an option. Clubs like ours can still give young lads an opportunity to go to a game for a decent price.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

There is no doubt that we have a large catchment area and if we had a decent new stadium then we could increase our attendances. The fact is that the population increase in South East Essex over the past few decades has been mainly due to the migration of people who do not wish to live in East London, commonly known as the white flight. The reasons why they don't want to live in London is another debate. Very few West Ham, Tottenham and Leyton Orient fans actually live where their clubs are based. I doubt that West Ham or Orient have more than 2% of their attendance coming from Newham or Leyton, and yet they often try to class themselves as Community Clubs! I cant think of any other clubs out of 92 that are in a similar situation.The Liverpool and Manchester clubs have plenty of local support, as do most other clubs, it is the London clubs whose fans mostly travel in from other areas. It is amazing really. Our task is to get some of these people to start following us, the best chance of that happening is to get a new stadium built and have Championship football on offer.

Way back in the 80's I was talking to an Ex-Shrimpers coach, Jack Burkett. He was coaching Fulham at the time and told me the fear that the club had. Property prices and wealthy stockbroker types were rapidly populating the Fulham and Putney areas pushing Old skool Fulham fans way out into the 'burbs. The club was concerned that far less new fans would emerge from the new "wealthy elite" residents.
Fulham now have much larger attendances than they did back then.
People follow their club from wherever and generations of supporters follow on supporting "their" team.
We as a club need to continue growing Southend United as focal point of interest to the people of South East Essex...and beyond.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Thanks SNB for the info its something i will persue,but i regret i think he is brainwashed in supporting the Spanners but i can only try:unsure:

Oh I'm not saying he should ever give up supporting Spam, giving up their main team for Southend is unrealistic. He was talking about the cost of a live game with his son by his side. I'm sure his son is dying to see a live game, and for £22, that is affordable. We could then become his other club to support. Over half of Southend fans have another club they support.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Way back in the 80's I was talking to an Ex-Shrimpers coach, Jack Burkett. He was coaching Fulham at the time and told me the fear that the club had. Property prices and wealthy stockbroker types were rapidly populating the Fulham and Putney areas pushing Old skool Fulham fans way out into the 'burbs. The club was concerned that far less new fans would emerge from the new "wealthy elite" residents.
Fulham now have much larger attendances than they did back then.
People follow their club from wherever and generations of supporters follow on supporting "their" team.
We as a club need to continue growing Southend United as focal point of interest to the people of South East Essex...and beyond.

I have read your post twice Kevin and I can not see a suggestion in it as to how this "growing" is to happen?
From my view point the club have done very well with the steady improvements on and off field BUT without a new ground
the next steps forward are going to be small.
The match day experience is, IMO, for an uncommitted person, less than likely to encourage a strong desire to return (unless we score a hat full of goals ever game etc).
Without FF the best solution I can make/offer for increased attendance is returning the North Bank to Home fans and standing at £12 for adults.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Oh I'm not saying he should ever give up supporting Spam, giving up their main team for Southend is unrealistic. He was talking about the cost of a live game with his son by his side. I'm sure his son is dying to see a live game, and for £22, that is affordable. We could then become his other club to support. Over half of Southend fans have another club they support.

and 78.6% of statistics are made up on the spot:winking:

 

[AndyT]

Great thread, this.

Some really good thoughts and comments. :thumbsup:

 

[Uncle Leo]

Way back in the 80's I was talking to an Ex-Shrimpers coach, Jack Burkett. He was coaching Fulham at the time and told me the fear that the club had. Property prices and wealthy stockbroker types were rapidly populating the Fulham and Putney areas pushing Old skool Fulham fans way out into the 'burbs. The club was concerned that far less new fans would emerge from the new "wealthy elite" residents.
Fulham now have much larger attendances than they did back then.
People follow their club from wherever and generations of supporters follow on supporting "their" team.
We as a club need to continue growing Southend United as focal point of interest to the people of South East Essex...and beyond.

Al-Fayed pumping loads of money in to the club and them being in the top flight for over a decade probably helped.

One thing Fulham have done, which people may or may not approve of, is become something of a destination for the 'neutral' fan in London. When in the PL, they marketed their games more as an opportunity to see Arsenal/Man Utd/Liverpool rather than as a chance to see Steed Malbranque strutting his stuff.

Tickets in the 'neutral zone', even for PL games, were invariably fairly easy to get hold (I went a couple of times and really enjoyed it) of and I assume it worked very well for Fulham. Not sure we could ever use that particular marketing tool though.

 

[WickfordShrimper]

Al-Fayed pumping loads of money in to the club and them being in the top flight for over a decade probably helped.

One thing Fulham have done, which people may or may not approve of, is become something of a destination for the 'neutral' fan in London. When in the PL, they marketed their games more as an opportunity to see Arsenal/Man Utd/Liverpool rather than as a chance to see Steed Malbranque strutting his stuff.

Tickets in the 'neutral zone', even for PL games, were invariably fairly easy to get hold of and I assume it worked very well for Fulham. Not sure we could ever use that particular marketing tool though.

Exactly what I was thinking ..... hahahahaha

For our support go grow to 20k plus say, we need a New Ground, Billionaire backer and Premier**** football :-)

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

maybe a run to Wembly in the Check a trade would bring in some support; especially nice if we could win it.:net:

 

[DCC]

Way back in the 80's I was talking to an Ex-Shrimpers coach, Jack Burkett. He was coaching Fulham at the time and told me the fear that the club had. Property prices and wealthy stockbroker types were rapidly populating the Fulham and Putney areas pushing Old skool Fulham fans way out into the 'burbs. The club was concerned that far less new fans would emerge from the new "wealthy elite" residents.
Fulham now have much larger attendances than they did back then.
People follow their club from wherever and generations of supporters follow on supporting "their" team.
We as a club need to continue growing Southend United as focal point of interest to the people of South East Essex...and beyond.

But hasn't the opposite actually been the case with Fulham - i.e. their growth in fanbase has actually come largely from the "wealthy elite" residents that your man thought wouldn't be interested in football? If you go to a game at Craven Cottage nowadays it is the poshest fanbase you'll see around the whole country. Just shows you can break into non-traditional areas of the population if you make the package/brand/[insert modern marketing phrase] attractive enough.

 

[Big Bad Barry Corr]

Even Canvey Island have a banner advertising their games at Benfleet Station as you come off the platform. Concord Rangers have a board doing the same thing by the side of the road as you come onto Canvey by road. No effort whatsoever to publicise any Southend games there however? :unsure: