Interesting discussing in the Paternoster last night.....

[London Calling]

with Dandy man, "Tony" Clapham, and his brother.

It was basically on what is the goal of our club and our supporters.

Do we want to be a Prem side or is the Championship our goal.

We believed with a Football Trust in control we can achieve Championship status. But to be settled in the Prem, the present Board would have to sell out a huge number of shares and even control. We could still have a Trust, but the big money (vultures was the teriminology we used) would control.

We generally felt that the Championship was our level, especially in the next few years. Though we can satisfactory be compared and are to the equal to the Bolton's, Wigan's, Blackburn's. We have to travel a long way at huge costs to catch up. And the last 7-10 years have lost a generation of young fans, who we must get back to support and WATCH our club.

LC

 

[Gully]

You are right, in the short term we have to win over the generation who have by and large been denied professional football in Sussex and either gone to watch other sports or taken their allegience elsewhere. I can remember growing up in West Sussex when the majority of people who displayed a football allegience followed the Albion, there were not that many who supported anyone else. In the digital age it is easy for kids to say that they follow this club or that club, without ever going to see them play or in many cases be able to pinpoint their location on a map, we must give local people a club to be proud of and one they want to follow.

I suppose that it can easily be summed up by the marriage vows "For richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part", once a footy team gets under your skin it really is that simple.

 

[Beach Hut]

And the last 7-10 years have lost a generation of young fans, who we must get back to support and WATCH our club.

LC

This is a very stark fact that the club must address immediately Falmer is built.

We must start from the youngest up with promotions ensuring as many seats as possible are filled and also that the season ticket reflects an attractive price.

 

[Gully]

...was talking with my brother the other day, about life in general but the Albion in particular, he was suggesting that we get season tickets for the first season at Falmer, he was also saying that he wants to take his daughter to games (she is 2 years old and was born in Warwick, nowhere near Brighton), it is up to the older generation to drag their kids along and encourage them to follow the right team.

 

[Beach Hut]

This may hurt some egos but the club will need to go and learn some basic marketing priciples from other clubs on how to maximise revenue.

There is a huge potential with Falmer and it must be exploited commercially and not with the same 7K Withdean ethos.

 

[London Calling]

We thought £20 a seat was a fair price, obviously £8 aka German clubs would be fantastic.

But kids should be around £4-5. Family deals would be a great way forward. And across Sussex a school goes along free to the game.

Great marketing and get the supporters in the ground is essential.

Why not sell the equivalent of a "Bobby" burgher, sell beer inside the ground, shirts, pictures, marketing packages, xmas specials.

 

[London Irish]

I think even to compete at the right end of the Championship would require wholesale changes at the playing side of the club, so I say let's not run before we can crawl. Maintaining Championship status until Falmer would be an an amazing acheivement, consolidation as a mid-table team would be another step forward after that.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

This may hurt some egos but the club will need to go and learn some basic marketing priciples from other clubs on how to maximise revenue.

There is a huge potential with Falmer and it must be exploited commercially and not with the same 7K Withdean ethos.

I think the club's marketing has improved drastically since we arrived at Withdean. In the Goldstone days, where was the town centre shop, for example? Or the education and training thingies, or the community work? (The Football in the COmmunity thing was in its infancy in the Lloyd/Brady days)

No, we don't do special offers for kids but that's because we can't afford to. I'm sure the club have got that in hand for Falmer.

 

[looney]

I dont see a generational problem just a loss of habit.

We need a bout of success when falmer starts not a mk dons job.

 

[Gully]

TCOB makes a valid point, things have changed almost totally in the last 5-6 years, how many people on here can remember local lads being coached well enough to even appear in the team, let alone hold down a regular place, or (sadly) be sold on for a decent fee.

It might sound like regurgitating old ideas but surely we must aim to do what Watford did 15-20 years ago, the kids they attracted to the club have now grown up and presumably now take their own offspring to games, their crowds have remained respectable despite their modest level of success.

 

[Scoffers]

My twins boys will be 5 around the time Falmer is ready, plus I'm expecting another in a couple of weeks so he'll be about 3, I'd like to think I'd take the older 2, and maybe even my wife and younger boy, I think I'll need a Box

Which begs the question, what are the facilities planned for Falmer, things like Hospitality Boxes, a Creche? Is there a list somewhere?

 

[Gully]

...I meant TCOPB...

 

[Gully]

...if Millwall can manage a creche then I am sure it can't be beyond a progressive club like Brighton!

 

[RexCathedra]

if Millwall can manage a creche....

A Millwall creche? The mind boggles...

Apparently petty crime, like a foreign language, is easier to pick up when you start instruction young.

 

[Beach Hut]

I think the club's marketing has improved drastically since we arrived at Withdean. In the Goldstone days, where was the town centre shop, for example? Or the education and training thingies, or the community work? (The Football in the COmmunity thing was in its infancy in the Lloyd/Brady days)

No, we don't do special offers for kids but that's because we can't afford to. I'm sure the club have got that in hand for Falmer.

Yes it has improved but the fact of the matter is every seat filled is revenue and there will be some 23,000 seats as opposed to 7,000.

A very big challenge to say the least.