Another Full House at Portman Road
Written by Pessimistic on Wednesday, 10th Apr 2013 15:42

It is not as crazy as it sounds. Instead of ticket manager John Ford offering season ticket holders the chance to claim up to four tickets for friends at 10 quid per person or Â£3 for juniors, why not go the whole hog? Business enterprise is all about common sense but common sense is sadly lacking in the world of football, as we all know.

A few months back I had a brainstorm of an idea that I thought would benefit most stayaway supporters, who, through no fault of their own, could no longer afford to attend matches at Portman Road. I broached this subject with an email to the commercial office at the club, outlining in some detail what I thought could be done to boost attendances. Sadly, I did not receive a reply.

"Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon."

It was Winston Churchill who said this and whilst mixing politics and sport is always a bad idea, I have to say I can empathise with his comment.

Our club badge depicts a horse that personifies tirelessness and that is why it is so appropriate to include this quote. And this one too, from Wikipedia: "The Suffolk Punch, also historically known as the Suffolk Horse or Suffolk Sorrel, is an English breed of draught horse. The breed takes the first part of its name from the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, and the name 'Punch' from its solid appearance and strength.

"It is a heavy draught horse which is always chestnut in colour, although the colour is traditionally spelled 'chesnut' by the breed registries. Suffolk Punches are known as good doers, and tend to have energetic gaits."

Now then where am I going with this I hear you ask? Good doers and energetic gaits and a horse that packs a punch! Let me elaborate upon a theme. Getting bums on seats should always be the primary aim of any football club and the bigger the crowd normally suggests the better the atmosphere!

The downside of the proposition, however, is that if people get to a game only because it is easy to do so we may run the risk of inviting more of those fairweather supporters and the fickle nature of football being what it is, we must naturally guard against a collective cynicism impacting upon the players.

Town have a proud reputation of giving players a chance and not getting on their backs - unless there is very good reason to do so. Long may this continue and that perhaps is the only discernible stumbling block to my proposition. You may not wholeheartedly agree with it and you may have your own personal reservations but I want to air it in public because it has fallen on deaf ears so far via head office at Portman Road.

And finally, here is my suggestion! With on average, a minimum of 17,000 seats going unoccupied, isn't it about time we changed all that! I am not just talking about raising attendance figures by a few thousand but instead raising the roof again. And more remarkably perhaps it can be done!

All the club need to do us to promote the 50/50 raffle! You buy your lottery ticket, which gives you a 50/50 chance of getting into Portman Road for free! Lottery tickets would cost anything between Â£2 to Â£5 and 50 percent of them would guarantee you a place for the next home game.

You could call it something like the The Ref's A Tosser competition - heads you win - tails you lose! At Â£5 a ticket for example, Town would cull potentially Â£85,000 and sell out Portman Road in the process. In effect the club would be getting Â£42,500 for nothing at all, except perhaps administration and printing costs because only half of those tickets would be winners. It may need a bit of fine-tuning but this is the idea in principle.

They say some of the best ideas are the simple ones and with this in mind, I think the club should give this idea very serious thought. We all want a fantastic atmosphere at home games again and perhaps this way everyone could be a winner.

There is no risk of resentment either if the person next to you has won a raffle ticket fairly and squarely. And the place could be rocking again whilst the club ears an extra 85,000 quid, they could not have obtained easily otherwise.

Multiply this amount throughout the whole season's home games and it becomes a mega windfall. If a full house is worth an extra point or two, who knows were this might lead? Fortress Portman Road here we come and it would be revolutionary too because as far as I am aware, it has not been tried elsewhere!

As I have intimated, I did not even receive an automated reply from the club on this initiative so I would be grateful to hear what you think. After all, wouldn't we all like another full house at Portman Road!

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debenturedave added 16:44 - Apr 10 Good idea.... nothing to lose with so many empty seats to fill... and alot to gain, especially some atmosphere and some new supporters... but too revolutionary for our ticket office I fear... they won't even do Kids for a quid for Special promotion games or cup games !
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Kingston added 17:07 - Apr 10

Nice idea, but its flawed unfortunately. The season ticket number is around 13000, and where we get around 17000 per game on average, 4000 people are paying full price for their tickets. But in this scenario these people wouldn't pay full price for their tickets, they'd just do the offer. In your idea, the club would be missing out on 4000 x say Â£30 for a ticket... Â£120000.

alfromcol added 17:49 - Apr 10 Good thinking, but highly unlikely that the Football League would sanction the raffling of tickets. Even having offers like Saturdays one, are restricted in number per season
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BillBlue added 18:07 - Apr 10 Interesting to say the least. It might interest you to know that I too wrote to the club and about something I considered important and didn't even receive the courtesy of an acknowledgment. Try again, you never know and times are changing!
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Pessimistic added 20:03 - Apr 10

I get the drift Kingston but is it as simple as that? Of those 4,000 regular goers that you speak of, I would say that the vast majority would take a gamble on the lottery as you suggest, which would only cost about 5 quid and if they lost they would go to the game regardless because it would only cost them 5 pounds more than normal anyway! If even 50 percent of those 4,000 thought this way then the total would be 2000 x thirty quid which would amount to 60,000. Town would still stand to gain on this premise an extra 25,000 pounds, at a conservative estimate, plus the normal entry fee. Wade in with more points on the subject please.

Jeff_winger added 20:19 - Apr 10

Good to think of ideas to boost attendance so well done.
there are some flaws which means i think it is unworkable.
1) season ticket holders would complain and rightfully so as they are paying 5 times as much to see the same game every week.
2) this would mean season tickets would fall to more or less nothing as why pay for one just do lottery every week and still grt to see 50% of games for just Â£5 a go.
3) itfc only need to sell 1500 tickets to make Â£45000 so they are going to be well out of pocket once season tickets and match day tickets drop like a stone.
4) people like to go to footie with mates I go with 4 mates and wouldnt be same if only 1 or 2 of us won tickets.

Having said this maybe this idea has legs just need to overcome major stumbling block of falling season tickets

dirtyboy added 09:59 - Apr 11

I'm with Scowie, you get your hardcore supporters, there each week. They're the foundations of any club and need to be looked after.

Then you get the casuals (i'm in this bracket) who can only make a few games a season, and when I go, make a day of it, train, beers and mates.

I wouldn't bother with a raffle ticket.

Cost is a fair point in issue. For us Lowestoft and surrounding area supporters, it's an expensive day, and also, not just a few hours in the afternoon being used up, pretty much a full day when you include 2 hours travelling.

Maybe small adjustment on the offers? Â£5 tickets for season ticket holders, non season ticket holders can grab a ticket for a tenner?

Still passing the majority of savings to our loyal supporters, but encouraging those who don't have a season ticket holding friend.

Pessimistic added 10:06 - Apr 11

I see your point Scowie but I think your concerns could be easily overcome. The main objective that you raise seems to involve season ticket holders but I am the first to admit that this idea needs some fine tuning and this is where everyone can help!

Realistically, this promotion would have to be geared towards the back end of the season - say from January onwards, which is when most promotions begin anyway. ( Take for example Ipswich Player!) The main objective is to encourage stay-away supporters and not to deter season tickets holders naturally. Town would have to focus on this window of opportunity at the back end of the season with no guarantee that it would ever be repeated and how could they promise that anyway because no one knows just how successful it would be?

And what would a full-house bring back to Portman Road?

1. The fear factor that ever away team dreads!
2. A few extra points through penalties given when a referee is swayed!
3. Much more passion-power that is conveyed to the players!
4. A few extra points as Town supporters again become the "extra man."
5. Turning Portman Road into a cauldron of noise and not a morgue!

I think you might agree that there are some very persuasive arguments for giving this a try and yet the club refuse to even respond to my idea which is very disappointing. I know it has its faults but between us I am sure we could make this brainstorm a viable proposition and unlike the club itself, all of you contributors on here have not only responded but addressed the issues too which I am grateful for. Thanks a lot everyone and come on you blues!

Fatcatevans added 23:10 - Apr 11

I'm not sure that your idea is the perfect fit and probably nor do you, but i salute your efforts to find a workable solution.What is disconcerting however is that no one at ITFC seems prepared to 'think outside the box' (awful phrase I know) and the matter of empty seats isn't addressed apart from a couple of ten pound offers. I'm not sure I know of any other business where the organisation is so slow to react to a downturn and where the customers seem to have more ideas than any Marketing man from within. It seems all the more perverse when we are told we are owned by a successful businessman. To not acknowledge all or any ideas is both rude and smacks of arrogance. Who knows, if attendances continue to decline they just might be pleased to receive any form of correspondence. Keep the faith.

Nthsuffolkblue added 09:22 - Apr 12

I agree with the bulk of the comments here. Please do pass on suggestions to the club although this one is not a goer for reasons given above, plus once you suggest "ref's a tosser" as a name I would imagine whoever received the idea thought you were not serious!

The main quote I would take issue with is "Town have a proud reputation of giving players a chance and not getting on their backs - unless there is very good reason to do so." I am not sure Tommy Smith, Luke Hyam, Grant Leadbitter, Matt Richards, Andy Marshall and a whole host of other players would agree! I guess you would say these are the players for whom there was a very good reason to do so!

Pessimistic added 11:47 - Apr 12

Yes folks, you all make valid points but North Suffolk Blue, " The Ref's a Tosser, " was not the name I sent to the club. If I recall I think I referred to it as "The Ref's The Tosser." Subtle I know but it puts the emphasis elsewhere and after all that is what he does! It was one of many suggestions which included, "Heads You Win!" but what was most disappointing was the lack of response form the club. they could have had the courtesy to reply - even if it was an automated message!

As for the barracking of Luke Hyam and Tommy Smith, I don't hear them complaining and if what you say is true that it hasn't persuaded them to seek pastures new. I guess it is where you are located in the stadium that makes all the difference here and I was only really quoting Brenner Whooley from BBC Radio Suffolk, who intimated as much very recently and was supported on the subject I recall by Mick Mills.

Thanks Fatcatevans for your input too and you are right this is not the perfect article and needs a lot of fine tuning but I still think it has potential. Thanks too to Bill Blue and Alf from Colchester for your encouraging remarks and Scowie and dirty boy and Kingston of course too. I think this website is an excellent debating tool and Phil Ham, Gav and the crew do a truly outstanding job.

At the end of the day this is all about using our imagination and you have all responded in one way or another - unlike the club itself sadly. This tells me all I really need to know. The idea is still in its infancy but perhaps together we could turn it into a viable business proposition - who knows? Otherwise, let's put our football heads together and think of a better one! In truth, if we look at the club's commercial enterprise office this should not be to hard to do.

Pessimistic added 12:07 - Apr 12 Foot Note : For legal reasons I must stress that with reference to my remarks concerning Brenner Whooley and Mick Mills, I was merely echoing their thoughts and NOT quoting as I inadvertently suggested.
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