Thought I share a brief conversation I over heard this morning at the Dome gym between two senior'ish guys. It got me wondering what the club have to do to retrain support.
I've got to confess I'm still angry about Saturdays result and in particular the second half performance. I'd like to bang a few heads together however whatever happens I couldn't turm my back on the club like this.
One of the guys went to the game and gave a reasonable assessment of what was served up. Then he proceded to say "I won't be going again". His mate asked "even if you get a free ticket" his reply was a definitive, "No". At this point I just had to say yes it was very dissapointing but the club needs your support. His response was yes I know but then shrugged his sholuders.
How do we encourage supporters both new and old to keep turning up especially when we currently have a team, not even a squad, that's work in progress and it's not exactly exciting fare currently.
As a minimum I suppose we need to keep winning especially at home and hopefully this type of supporter will think again.
I'm sure I don't need to highlight this to most on here but we've got a long way to go to add significant numbers to our core support.
Come on Doncaster it's your team give them your support, turn up in numbers and get behind your team. If you don't there is only one way we are heading.
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Fickle Support
posted on 27/8/12
In a little back to back in Hyde park, just around the end of World War 2.
posted on 27/8/12
Understand the sentiment completely but I can't help looking at it from a consumer point of view. What other entertainment thinks it should be able keep customers even if they serve them poor quality due to some kind of contract of loyalty? It's a strange idea and it doesn't work as there's nothing like bad results/performances to drive the customers away. But at Donny, they seem to need less to convince them to stop away.
I think clubs need to do more to reward loyalty. The best idea I can think of is something like ticket stubs adding up to eventual free-tickets. Say 5 ticket stubs get a free ticket. That doesn't solve the issue of the guy in 1Pel's story. The daft thing is, we all know should we win 3 in a row, he'll be back!
posted on 27/8/12
Exactly Fuzzy, so to be honest, why are we wasting our time giving credance to what was said. Football and sport in general is not like entertainment, you are either a supporter or you are not.
You go in bad weather and good, you go when they play well or badly, this gives you the right to be critical if you want to be. It's like politics in a way, if you vote you have a right to criticise the lawmakers, if you don't, again through apathy you have thrown away your right to critcise.
There will always be people who go and say never again after a defeat, but there are also many who say, let's put that behind us and get onto the next game. These people are supporters, not the former.
posted on 27/8/12
The bloke will be back if we are winning.
Therr are loads of floating supportrrs who will turn oit when we are doing well.
If you think our fans are fickle just take a look at Leeds.
posted on 27/8/12
Talking of fickle, what is going on here: https://p.twimg.com/A1T1HIjCIAATJ4y.jpg
posted on 27/8/12
He should have caught fire before the shot was taken shouldn't he?
I've been thinking about fickle/loyal. Are fickle fans as passionate as us? Saturday's result put me in a foul-mood the next day made doubly worse because I couldn't go and see Winti due to booking to see a concert without thinking. Triple bad when Winti lost. Thank God the concert was very good!
My conclusion is that I am a bad-loser. Are fickle fans such bad losers that they can't take losing and so drop the club like a stone if it loses in their presence? When they win, back come supporters because they like to win.
Thing is, every team loses some games. Somehow to send the fans home with a winning feeling, independent of the result would probably eliminate the fickle fan problem in football, which I would imagine would cost millions.
Now ask me how to do it. If I did know, I'd be selling it!
posted on 27/8/12
The trouble is that when a team is losing, that is when they need the extra support behind them to push them on.
posted on 27/8/12
Correct - you actually get that here. Winti and other Swiss teams do actually have fans who get louder when they go a goal down. I need to bottle some of that and send it over
posted on 27/8/12
Apathy was the word that came to my mind.
I've no idea how that can be smashed.
Throwing money at it doesn't seem to be the answer. Give tickets away and we always seem to disappoint.
Rewarding loyalty must have some merit but mine and many more, the core support, simply understand there are ups and downs in football, many don't seem to want to recognise his fact.
Value for money is what it's about and a sence of being one pulling in the same direction and most importantly enjoyment regardless of the result.
Anybody got a magic wand or should we start giving away free meals, one or both may work until the pheonix rises.
Up the Rovers.
posted on 27/8/12
The frustrating thing about Saturday is the manner of the defeat. Man for man we are better than Crawley. That's my view anyway, but whilst we underperformed as a TEAM, Crawley made the best of what they have to do a "smash and grab" to take the points. The guy at the Dome is free to do what he wants with his money but as others have said also, this Rovers team is a work in progress. Overall, we have done well so far this season, but the team has to gel properly within 10 games or many more fans really will start to lose patience. If performances improve as we hope they will and as Deano is indicating, then I'm sure that within a couple of months we'll be a real force to be reckoned with in this league and we'll all be proud of what the team is achieving. Hopefully fans like the guy at the Dome will then be happy to return.