We play attractive football, prices are low yet we cant sell our home games?

[BlondeArtist - karl.thornhill@gmail.com]

check out those fulham defenders

that.is.a.beautiful.goal

wheres the fulham midfield?

 

[BoysInBlue]

Someone else nailed it earlier - the title of this thread is too provocative and simplistic. There are loads of reasons why we don't sell out. The two main ones are as follows.

1. The main being is the obvious - the home seats empty are usually the worst ones, the ones with the worst view, behind posts, at the very top of the top balcony, etc. Now I love Goodison, and I'm not one for backing the clubs' infamous 'the ground will fail its' safety certificate soon' stuff, but it's undeniable - we have over 3000+ obstructed view seats scattered around the ground. If you're paying £30+ for a ticket, you're not going to settle for that.

2. Another major thing is the lack of away fans. On numerous occasions this season, the away team have brought a shockingly low number of fans. Wigan spring to mind, both in the league and in the FA Cup. Fulham are infamous for it, but Saturday was absolutely taking the piss, the worst ever. This was actually during the game:

The entire upper tier there could have been put on sale to Everton fans; prime seats with no obstructed views (well, apart from the one post). However, the Fulham allocation was sold to Fulham on a 100% sale/no return basis. I.e. Fulham paid up front for the entire 3000 batch of tickets (upper & lower tier), in the hope that they could sell them to their fans. The terms of the deal where they couldn't return the unsold tickets for us to resell to Evertonians. Obviously Fulham failed miserably to sell their allocation, as they nearly always do. Everton weren't bothered because they got the money for the tickets up front. However, the actual attendance suffered because of it. This is often the case and happens numerous times, which is why you often see the upper tier of the away end empty and going to waste - clubs failing to sell their tickets.

The average attendance this season at Goodison is currently 36,183, which is nearly 3000 up on last season, and the highest average attendance for three seasons. So it's not all doom and gloom.

36,000/37,000 is our limit for non-Man Utd/Liverpool games, where the away team brings their full allocations of fans. The few thousand under capacity is as a result of the poor quality of the remaining seats on offer. 34,000 is the limit for teams like Fulham, who don't bring any fans.

It'll always be that way until we build a new ground, if that ever happens. At which point we could then look to grow our matchgoing fanbase in the same manner Man City did - better facilities attracts more fans. City averaged 32000 in their last season at Maine Road. In their first season at Eastlands, they averaged 47000, an increase of 15000 - this when they were rubbish with no money under Keegan and then Pearce.

 

[BoysInBlue]

Kind of on this topic, Moyes comments here on the Bundersliga, referencing German stadiums:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/apr/30/david-moyes-bundesliga?

"Nearly every club has a modern, up-to-date stadium, whether it's a bowl or a square-sided one. They've really progressed since the World Cup in 2006. I think they're all important factors in modern life. If you want to go to the game now, you don't want to pay too much but you also want a good seat with an unrestricted view where you can see the pitch. Generally I think that's what they do over there."

 

[TraffordBlue]

Someone else nailed it earlier - the title of this thread is too provocative and simplistic. There are loads of reasons why we don't sell out. The two main ones are as follows.

1. The main being is the obvious - the home seats empty are usually the worst ones, the ones with the worst view, behind posts, at the very top of the top balcony, etc. Now I love Goodison, and I'm not one for backing the clubs' infamous 'the ground will fail its' safety certificate soon' stuff, but it's undeniable - we have over 3000+ obstructed view seats scattered around the ground. If you're paying £30+ for a ticket, you're not going to settle for that.

2. Another major thing is the lack of away fans. On numerous occasions this season, the away team have brought a shockingly low number of fans. Wigan spring to mind, both in the league and in the FA Cup. Fulham are infamous for it, but Saturday was absolutely taking the piss, the worst ever. This was actually during the game:

The entire upper tier there could have been put on sale to Everton fans; prime seats with no obstructed views (well, apart from the one post). However, the Fulham allocation was sold to Fulham on a 100% sale/no return basis. I.e. Fulham paid up front for the entire 3000 batch of tickets (upper & lower tier), in the hope that they could sell them to their fans. The terms of the deal where they couldn't return the unsold tickets for us to resell to Evertonians. Obviously Fulham failed miserably to sell their allocation, as they nearly always do. Everton weren't bothered because they got the money for the tickets up front. However, the actual attendance suffered because of it. This is often the case and happens numerous times, which is why you often see the upper tier of the away end empty and going to waste - clubs failing to sell their tickets.

The average attendance this season at Goodison is currently 36,183, which is nearly 3000 up on last season, and the highest average attendance for three seasons. So it's not all doom and gloom.

36,000/37,000 is our limit for non-Man Utd/Liverpool games, where the away team brings their full allocations of fans. The few thousand under capacity is as a result of the poor quality of the remaining seats on offer. 34,000 is the limit for teams like Fulham, who don't bring any fans.

It'll always be that way until we build a new ground, if that ever happens. At which point we could then look to grow our matchgoing fanbase in the same manner Man City did - better facilities attracts more fans. City averaged 32000 in their last season at Maine Road. In their first season at Eastlands, they averaged 47000, an increase of 15000 - this when they were rubbish with no money under Keegan and then Pearce.

Good post but I don't think the bit in bold is correct. Fulham have one of the worst followings in the league and their club will know this. There is no way they would ever have brought more than the lower tier so wouldn't have paid for 3,000 tickets in the hope they could sell them. I think it would be Everton's choice not to sell tickets to home fans in the upper tier of the away section.

 

[TraffordBlue]

Our seasons tickets range from 399 to 560 pounds, QPR from 499 to 949.

Man city is 465 to 745 mind which isn't bad. Arsenal the worst at 985 to 1,984. Wigan the best at 255 to 300 but it is wigan. West brom 349 to 459 is alright as well.

But we're cheaper than places like stoke or fulham or west ham or sunderland or norwich or newcastle.

As someone else mentioned, our tickets in general are much higher than Sunderland's over the whole season. Sunderland often have deals on like kids for a quid and when they have 2/3 game offers they give tickets away for a tenner. When we have our deals on we have 3 games for £90. If we had those types of deals on where we gave adult league tickets away for £10 we would sell way more tickets. If we had a ground like Sunderland that was fairly new with no obstructed views we would average a lot higher too. I'm sure Sunderland's match day revenue is lower than ours because of how cheap everything is and also a lot lower than other clubs too.

£1 off for obstructed view tickets is the main reason for our crowds being lower than expected and the other reasons are that we are in one of the poorest areas in the country and the away followings are usually ****e that come to Goodison.

 

[noharmdone]

That pic of the Fulham fans is just ridiculous !
Do we actually lose money in this instance ?

 

[Jeff Jones]

I'm in no position to debate this as I live in Melbourne, but I'm curious to find out if you actually know that you've bought, or are going to get an obstructed view ticket. And what constitutes obstructed view, because it seems to me that there must be far more than 3000 of them.

The last time I went I was in Main Stand North, Block MS2, Row MM, Seat 96 - (I've still got the ticket). I only mention that for those who know where it is. It was roughly in the middle of the bottom deck and one post blocked off half the penalty area at
the Gwladys St.

The last time I was a regular you paid at the turnstile except for all ticket matches. Can you still do that, or do you have to get a ticket? I mean, if there are, say 34,000 in and you want to go, can you get in on the day?

I'm probably wrong, but it seems complicated to me unless you live in or around Liverpool. What is the process if you want to go to the West Ham match and you live in, say, Stafford? Or Melbourne.

 

[Housequake]

It always surprises me to find out that White Hart Lane can only hold 36'000.

 

[blueser]

i can only speak for myself , id love to come to more games and even bring the family some time , but the area the stadium is in isnt the most pleasant for an outsider who doesnt know the city. parking is terrible too.

Never had a problem getting a free spec and when i bought a car worth more than £200 i use Stanley Park never once had a problem in 15 years.

the stadium itself is a bit of a 1960s public toilet inside , compared to say old trafford. its dated and not appealing . even though were are cheaper than some , id pay more and attend more for a nicer cleaner safer enviroment.

Its a footy match as long as your not in an obstructed view its great. "Cleaner Safer enviroment"? do you honestly worry for your safety at the match? Is it the working class surroundings?

Cleaner as in nicer toilets? your only there for watching a match not getting the head down for a couple of nights!

i also have to agree the food is pants and overpriced. again id pay more for decent quality . a half cold hotdog served in a stale bun handed to me by a miserable git , crap.

Fair enough the food is crap, but again i am their with my friends and family to watch the game.

its an expensive trip for me , yes the love of the club the goodison atmosphere and the football is a big pull , but it would just be more worth while and worth the expense if there was a bit more quality in the services and environment.

Could have fooled me.

Some of us look for completely different experiences when going to a match. I don't think about what the half time food is, how are the toilets, the surrounding area. Maybe the club should distribute surveys to all supporters clubs to gauge opinion.

 

[Julian Carax]

That pic of the Fulham fans is just ridiculous !
Do we actually lose money in this instance ?

Everton Chile brought more fans over than Fulham did the season they played us.

 

[Housequake]

Everton Chile brought more fans over than Fulham did the season they played us.

That was a very special occasion for both clubs, though.

Fulham haven't won at Goodison since the f*cking Battle of Hastings so you wouldn't be too arsed in travelling from London to watch it, would you?

 

[Titus Bramble]

There are only a few league games a season we will sell out simply because of the away fans. Anybody knowhow often the home end sells out a season?

 

[steken1]

That was a very special occasion for both clubs, though.

Fulham haven't won at Goodison since the f*cking Battle of Hastings so you wouldn't be too arsed in travelling from London to watch it, would you?

We don't win much at loads of places. Doesn't mean we all just jib it!