Spamsters leaflet Leyton - WE WILL BE NEXT

[fbm]

I'd like to see the football league start a general TV campaign to get people to support their local FL club, for instance to see predominantly British players and ones they can relate to. Know that their money is directly helping the club survive in the community rather than pay the over inflated wages of under-performing International players.

I'm not overly concerned. If we are doing well on the pitch, we will have good crowds. Simple.

 

[Fairport]

Just been listening to BBC Essex and today the local Southend MP, David Amess, stood up in the Commons telling everyone he was a Spammers fan and how wonderful they are. This just proves what we are up against when an elected MP starts banging on about a team from another area rather than his local team! Pretty outrageous behaviour from him, but to be expected from a Spammer I suppose.

 

[Richard Hearn]

Just been listening to BBC Essex and today the local Southend MP, David Amess, stood up in the Commons telling everyone he was a Spammers fan and how wonderful they are. This just proves what we are up against when an elected MP starts banging on about a team from another area rather than his local team! Pretty outrageous behaviour from him, but to be expected from a Spammer I suppose.

I'm not surprised, the man is an a**e. I'm not aTory but the best local MP Southend has ever had was Teddy Taylor.

 

[Mick]

Just been listening to BBC Essex and today the local Southend MP, David Amess, stood up in the Commons telling everyone he was a Spammers fan and how wonderful they are. This just proves what we are up against when an elected MP starts banging on about a team from another area rather than his local team! Pretty outrageous behaviour from him, but to be expected from a Spammer I suppose.

Being a West Ham fan ? The trouble is that's just about the least of his faults !

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

By road...



Taken from the AA route planner.

0.6m to Roots Hall, 0.9m to Boots & Laces

That takes you via Fairfax Drive. If you use the main entrance it's 0.4miles.

 

[CocklesShrimps&Whiteweed]

Success and the club being 'fashionable' go hand in hand. We are just at the very tail-end of the flag-waving and interest that Tilly and Co brought to the club. All those youngsters (my son included) who grew up with nothing but good times on the pitch were thoroughly spoilt and heads might start to turn if our fortunes do not change sharpish. West Ham are a threat to us and that is why we played a lot on a Friday evening...so punters could then go to Upton Park on a Saturday. We managed to ride out the storm of having their tacky shop in our town - even though at the time we struggled to get 6000 through the gates in the second tier of English football. I think we are in a more healthy position (fan wise) than we were back then? But we do need to watch out for these filthy underhand tactics.

 

[Tommy2holes]

I think west hams cheapest adult season card is £650 which is more than £30 per game. When they move to stratford it will make the journey from basildon and the like harder. We are a cheaper option.

Play attractive football and do well and we will have fans. They haven't hurt our fan base for years. In fact in the last ten seasons I'd wager we well above the previous 10.

 

[AshleyL]

They may be offering 'cheap' tickets but it won't be cheaper than £30. People still have a £20 rail fare on top. I think the trend is the other way. More and more people are getting disheartened with the cost of Premier League football. I spoke to two Arsenal fans at a barbecue the other day. One has stopped going and has started following his local rugby club, and the other who has a one-year-old says instead of taking his son to the Emirates when he is older, he will take him to Southend because it's easier and cheaper.

I agree though we need to do more in Southend to attract people. Not just to games either, we need to get some more pride in the club locally in general. Pubs with Southend United memorabilia, posters in shops, continental-style murals on disused buildings (with permission of course) - we need to do more to change the culture of our town. The goal should be that it seems weird to support anyone else but Southend United if you live in Southend.

They sold tickets for there home match against man city(league) for a fiver to newham residents!

 

[RHB]

The thing is with all this that we have about 4.5k - 5k card carrying die hards that will always (normally) turn up for home matches. There is then the next layer of, maybe 1- 1.5k sometimesers that will attend dependent on results and other things to do. Then you have the rest, inhabitants of the town and surrounding area who do prem clubs and the Spammers or don't give a toss unless a big cup match is in the offing at the Hall. Ever since I have been watching Southend there have always been West Ham fans coming to Roots Hall when not occupied at Upton Park and I'm happy for them to pay their money for the privilege . I don't think the club should be complacent at WH's latest marketing, but I don't see them making major inroads into our support base. The best defence is attack - Lets get out of this sh*t-hole of a division this time round, that will increase our crowds.

 

[ozzie]

They may be offering 'cheap' tickets but it won't be cheaper than £30. People still have a £20 rail fare on top. I think the trend is the other way. More and more people are getting disheartened with the cost of Premier League football. I spoke to two Arsenal fans at a barbecue the other day. One has stopped going and has started following his local rugby club, and the other who has a one-year-old says instead of taking his son to the Emirates when he is older, he will take him to Southend because it's easier and cheaper.

I agree though we need to do more in Southend to attract people. Not just to games either, we need to get some more pride in the club locally in general. Pubs with Southend United memorabilia, posters in shops, continental-style murals on disused buildings (with permission of course) - we need to do more to change the culture of our town. The goal should be that it seems weird to support anyone else but Southend United if you live in Southend.

spot on jai,we should show more pride in our club(local area that is)..the only other thing we have is the pier (and old leigh)

 

[Nick Prawnby]

https://twitter.com/orihicks83/status/491328590181851138/photo/1

this is the leaflet dropped around Leyton.
Just in case anyone is complacent.... fancy this thru your door?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I think west hams cheapest adult season card is £650 which is more than £30 per game. When they move to stratford it will make the journey from basildon and the like harder. We are a cheaper option.

Play attractive football and do well and we will have fans. They haven't hurt our fan base for years. In fact in the last ten seasons I'd wager we well above the previous 10.

£30 is for their current stadium. When they move they'll need to discount their tickets more heavily to get anywhere near to capacity.

It'll make the journey easier from Hockley, Rayleigh, Wickford, Rochford etc

The thing is with all this that we have about 4.5k - 5k card carrying die hards that will always (normally) turn up for home matches. There is then the next layer of, maybe 1- 1.5k sometimesers that will attend dependent on results and other things to do. Then you have the rest, inhabitants of the town and surrounding area who do prem clubs and the Spammers or don't give a toss unless a big cup match is in the offing at the Hall. Ever since I have been watching Southend there have always been West Ham fans coming to Roots Hall when not occupied at Upton Park and I'm happy for them to pay their money for the privilege . I don't think the club should be complacent at WH's latest marketing, but I don't see them making major inroads into our support base. The best defence is attack - Lets get out of this sh*t-hole of a division this time round, that will increase our crowds.

It's not our current support base they will be making inroads into, it's our potential supporter base.

 

[South Bank Hank]

I may be going out on a limb here but I've got absolutely NO problem with West Ham going after our potential supporter base. I don't like it - of course - but it's life and all's fair in love and war. I only wish we were as focused on doing the same. Don't believe for a second we're not doing it out of respect to Great Wakering and all the other smaller clubs in the surrounding areas that provide a fair proportion of our supporters.

Should we only look at Southend for our supporters?

 

[RHB]

I may be going out on a limb here but I've got absolutely NO problem with West Ham going after our potential supporter base. I don't like it - of course - but it's life and all's fair in love and war. I only wish we were as focused on doing the same. Don't believe for a second we're not doing it out of respect to Great Wakering and all the other smaller clubs in the surrounding areas that provide a fair proportion of our supporters.

Should we only look at Southend for our supporters?

No, of course we shouldn't. We must get a fair few of our fans from the outer reaches of South Essex, but the further out you go, the more chance there is that West Ham and other Prems will also be an attractive proposition. So, what is it that will attract our potential supporter base? The answer has to be attractive football which achieves consistently successful results. No amount of marketing without a successful product is going to work long term. Obviously a new ground will help, and attract new bums on seats, but at the end of the day its about results.

 

[Jam_Man]

No, of course we shouldn't. We must get a fair few of our fans from the outer reaches of South Essex, but the further out you go, the more chance there is that West Ham and other Prems will also be an attractive proposition. So, what is it that will attract our potential supporter base? The answer has to be attractive football which achieves consistently successful results. No amount of marketing without a successful product is going to work long term. Obviously a new ground will help, and attract new bums on seats, but at the end of the day its about results.

So the obvious question is why is it a big deal West Ham look outside of their area? We will be looking to pull supporters in from Basildon ourselves, as SBH says do we care about the clubs around there?

With regards to our appeal obviously attractive successful football is the biggest factor to day to day gates, but unless we are going to become Barcelona thats not going to be possible to sustain. Even if we had a good couple of seasons we will eventually hit our ceiling and struggle, thats the way of the lower leagues.

The stadium and image of the club will play a big part, kids are attracted to Premier League clubs and will always be. I grew up in an Arsenal family ( we originally came from Islington pre my birth!), and I supported Arsenal as a kid (and still second team although have little interest these days). When I was old enough I started getting taken to Southend by my dad and a next door neighbour, and as soon as I could go on my own I went to Roots Hall. Why? Not because it was better football or we were getting results but purely because it was accessible.

West Ham are not far away, but for much of the people in the Southend area SUFC will still feel more convenient and feel like "their club" and put a great stadium into the mix and kids wont be as put off of going as they may be now.

Sadly put a 3 sided stadium into the mix and its going to do more harm than good, youll probably be able to see West Hams ground from our stand...

 

[Beefy]

We shouldn't be worrying about what West Ham get up to. We should be going out and getting kids in the area to want to watch Southend United.

 

[fbm]

We shouldn't be worrying about what West Ham get up to. We should be going out and getting kids in the area to want to watch Southend United.

Absolutely this.

 

[RHB]

We shouldn't be worrying about what West Ham get up to. We should be going out and getting kids in the area to want to watch Southend United.

Totally agree. What is it that needed for that to happen?

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

I think west hams cheapest adult season card is £650 which is more than £30 per game. When they move to stratford it will make the journey from basildon and the like harder. We are a cheaper option.

The pornmongers will be dishing out £100 season tickets to fill the OS. For a number of reasons we've got a lot more to worry about than you re: crowds being affected, but I'd be surprised if you escaped Scott free.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Hmmm strange thread this.
Of course Southend United should promote itself as the footballing heartbeat of South East Essex whilst keeping an eye on the competition ...and that lot in claret n blue are competition.

However. Surely it is the most obvious marketing ploy in the world to target the area around your new stadium after a lifetime at Upton Park. That is simple logic. Why is it sparking a thread on SZ???? Is WHU business in what is WHU country and will be their new home.

Yes they are a threat and always have been. No..offering deals in the area they will possibly call home for the next 100 years - is no threat to us!