Firday night football?

[Batch]

OK, it's only a twinkle in the eye of the boardroom but...

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

That is all.

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/display.var.2149276.0.0.php

FRIDAY night football could be coming to the County Ground next season as an ambitious Town look to raise the stakes for a concerted promotion push.

In a bid to increase attendances for the 2008/09 campaign and generate a hostile home atmosphere, preliminary talks have already started to discuss the option of switching some weekend games to Friday nights.

Various clubs all round the country have already experimented with the idea in the past with huge success, most notably Tranmere who Town travel to tomorrow night, and Swindon chiefs believe it could have a similar revitalising effect in Wiltshire.

Town chief executive Nick Watkins, pictured, exclusively told the Swindon Advertiser how the idea was still at an "embryonic stage" but admitted it was a serious consideration for the future.

He said: "I can't deny the idea has been discussed. We clearly need to wait and see what the fixture list looks like and whether it would be possible to play some Friday night fixtures.

"We have only had embryonic thoughts about it so far but it will continue to be discussed and we will investigate its feasibility, practicality and availability.
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"We are at the moment talking about ticketing pricing for next season and this latest thought is for us just another way of getting the club back to the heart of the community."

The main argument for Friday night football, which has also been successfully implemented at West Country rivals Bristol City, is to attract those fans lost at weekends by other commitments like local football.

Some of the more traditionalists would argue football's rightful place is at 3pm on a Saturday but Watkins assured all supporters every effort would be made to ensure they took the right decision.

He said: "We will look at the things that compete with football on a Saturday and see if moving it to Friday will make the club more accessible.

"We are looking to raise the stakes and raise the atmosphere at the County Ground next season.

"I suppose I am going back to my mantra of trying to get this club back to being a family club.

"If Friday night football happened we would make sure meticulous planning was put in to make it a real family event.

"We would arrange other things around the game for all the family and it could be a way of making it a real event for everyone to come to."

James Neighbour, Football Liaison Officer for Swindon Police, said: "As long as there is a dialogue between the club and the police, we should be able to come to some arrangement.

"We would look at each match on an individual basis and make an informed decision.

"We want the football club to do well, and we want the supporters to enjoy going to the games."

[flammableBen]

They should shorten each day by about 17min 8.5secs. Then play the football match in the 2 hours we'd have save up over the week. That way I could watch the game without missing any drinking time.

[ronnie21]

Not on a regular basis for me either, just when I was thinking of getting a season ticket for the first time in six seasons, Friday nights are a no no for me.

[Power to people]

This has been tried in games in previous seasons and the attendances were always very poor, we have a lot of people that have to travel quite a distance for games so would not help them.

Football should traditionally be played at 3pm on a Saturday, not on a sunday or Friday - keep it traditional

[stfctownenda]

Saw this earlier I reckon they will lose more than they gain as people playing for local clubs on saturday or watching other sports on the box have very little interest in the club.  Also there is the strong possibility of losing people who live far away, people with really young kids and those that just like to go out on the lash on Friday's.  It's good there looking into this kind of thing but just restructure the pricing for games (keep them on Saturdays), get the team winning again and they will soon see numbers returning through the gates.

[Batch]

Breaking tradition is fine with me as long as it is for the good of the club, and from a selfish point of view doesn't detract from my own "Swindon Experience".

In this case i can't see attendance increasing, and it would be a pain for a lot of travelling fans (home and away).  

In short, it's good that they are looking at everything to improve the club. I'm sure they will listen to the feedback too. It's only an idea after all, not set in stone.

[STFCBird]

us out of towners would be able to attend even fewer games if that happened  

[Luci]

I'd definitely have to get another hobby then if they did this as otherwise weekends would be dull!

[Ardiles]

A move like this creates winners and losers, and the club obviously think that there would be more winners out there than losers.

Unfortunately for me, and the many other people I know who travel from London and elsewhere, I would be a loser.  I would not be able to make a game on a Friday night for the same reason I have not been to a Tuesday night game in years...I couldn't get there after work.

We would also be making ourselves very unpopular with other clubs and their fans.  Unless the game is one of our few local derbies, away attendances would be minimal.

[janaage]

It's a family fortunes "ut-arrrrrr" from me to.  Keep it real, keep it on Saturday.

I think it's like admitting your a shit club by playing your matches regularly on a Friday.

[ghanimah]

It's good to see the club thinking of different ideas to improve attendences, but as with all ideas there are good ones and not so good ones. I think this comes in the latter category.

I won't object particularly at a couple of Friday night games but on a regular basis it would, for me, detract from 'The Swindon Experience' that the club are trying to create.

As been mentioned, those that live outside Swindon will lose out with this, even more so as traveling either by road or rail on a Friday night is generally a nightmare.

I think there's better ways of improving attendances without alienating those fans that are already here.

[janaage]

I wouldn't have thought away fans will be arriving in their hundreds either!! (not that they do today) but Leeds/Forest fans won't turn up in the same numbers as this season!

[returnofthereds]

Sack Malpas and reduce prices.
That should get more people going.
Friday is a no no. :evil:  :evil:

[RobertT]

A no for me, can't see it working at this club.  There are obvious reasons at Tranmere why it would work, but for this club the very make-up of the fans as it stands would mean it could be a problem.  Presumably work has been done, or is being done, comparing midweek attendances vs weekend attendances.  The fact that they mention the amount of work they will do before coming to any decision though is good.  It also shows a spark of creativity exists to look at things like this (in the proper manner unlike the game 39 idea from the PL) but be humble enough to know it might not be right.

[Frasier3]

Don't like the idea of Friday at all. Ironically some of the children I know who go on a Saturday wouldn't attend on a Friday as they are at scouts etc.

On the upside I appreciate this may appeal to some and at least the club have drawn our attention to the idea before it is set in stone.