How to turn plastic fans into proper fans?

[Greenman2013]

Evening all, Bristol City fan here (In peace) but been living in Swindon for four years now so just curious on your thoughts on trying to get plastics into proper fans.

Now, the reason I ask this is, like Bristol, Swindon seems to have this issue where not many fans from the area want to support the home team - Even to the stage where I have tried to encourage fans who say they support Newcastle, Man Utd, Chelsea etc to go to the cheaper home games (And sadly, it seems to be a challenge - Even I as a fan as another team I have tickets to watch you against Brentford tomorrow)

My question is, why is it such a challenge for teams like Swindon, City etc to get home fans through the gates (apart from when the plastics who want the trip to Wembley)? And how do you think clubs should change it?

I personally think that even if Swindon for example done super cheap tickets, people would still try and find a excuse not to come as it requires more effort rather then 'supporting' a team which 90% of the time wins and they can do it from home.

Good luck tomorrow of course, hopefully it is a awesome atmosphere.  I obviously want you lot to lose as next season would be boring for me if you go up

[Ardiles]

I think most people who fall in to the 'plastic' category don't really see themselves that way.  For the most part, they're quite happy to go along to a handful of games a season - presumably the ones they find the most interesting - and to give the others a miss.  They might have other interests, or they might simply not want to devote every other weekend to supporting a football team.  They might not want or aspire to be regulars.  And good luck to them.  Ideally, it would be great for the club if they did start going more regularly - but I think there's only so much you can do to encourage it.

Swindon is an interesting case in that a significant proportion of the population has only been there for a couple of generations at best.  In recent decades families have moved in to the area in their tens of thousands, and have often brought their football allegiances with them.  Gradually, STFC will mop up new fans...but it will take time.  Have to admit that I know less about Bristol, but I have the impression that its growth post-WW2 has been more organic than Swindon's.  You would know more about that then me.

I think the best thing that any club can do is make going to football fun, entice potential new fans in with attractively priced tickets, get out there in the community and - most importantly - keep winning games.  STFC haven't done badly on some of those counts in the last few years - and crowds have picked up significantly since the dark days of the early 2000s, but have plateaued at around 8,500 for the last 4 or 5 seasons.  In all honesty, we are going to need a well-executed ground redevelopment and a promotion for further progress to be made in terms of crowd numbers.

[Greenman2013]

To be honest, I didn't actually think of the fact that most people would be somewhat new coming to the area - I suppose it would always take time for people who are 'born and bred' into a area to start supporting a club.

I would actually totally agree with getting out there in the community - With the amount of schools/secondary places there is around here, it would totally make sense for the club to get into them and giveaway so many tickets for free - Hopefully getting a few more fans in the process.

Interestingly, I think Swindon has somewhat a advantage over both Bristol clubs which is having a stadium in a decent position - The fact it is so close to bus routes and to town is something I think City and Rovers both envy. As for a ground development, it really does surprise me with how places like Swindon and Bristol seem to be in the dark ages with not pushing stuff like this through (All be it that Bristol is different as a City of it's size, it should have decent infrastructure in place) - The amount of difference I think it would make would be incredible - Hopefully one day it happens!

[kerry red]

Take a leaf out of Bradford City - mega cheap tickets = average 10,000 in League 2.

Prices are too high across the board.

Really don't get all this 'plastic fans' business. Anything that becomes successful will attract new people.

End of

[4D]

Swindon and City (plus rovers, chelts etc) have never had sustained success in the top flight hence why we have a smaller to average support compared to other clubs around the country. If you look at Barnsley, they used to get 4k crowds in a stadium of 22k, but their crowds have gone up over the years due to consolidating in the higher leagues. City get pretty good crowds really but for a city the size of bristol i think they should be a bit higher. Swindon has a big population of 209k, but i would guess less than half have a wiltshire history going back more than 40 years, with a big migration from London etc.

[Joycie]

I went out of my own free will. 

More to do with my enjoyment of being able to walk to a game on a saturday afternoon than Swindon doing anything in particular...

[4D]

Towns tartan army 

[Joycie]

Towns tartan army 

I'd totally get a nice wee stfc saltire going but if this place is anything to go by I'd get moaned at and called a junkie.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

The community side thing has improved I guess. The old board had helped slowly improve the reputation and perception of the club amongst the town's general public but it was always and will always be a very slow process. Slowly but surely crowds seem to be rising. When you look back to some of the early naughty crowds of 5,000 sometimes even below that for some games we have made good progress.

The trouble is we have fallen so far behind in terms of redevelopment of the CG and other income streams as well as failure to get promoted beyond this level for a number years that we have probably hit our peak in terms of what the club as we know it today can achieve in terms of building it's fan base. The CG is dated and although many of us love it compared to the modern day bowls we see in the football league it's not exactly the best experience for watching football.

Cheaper prices in better facilities will attract people for certain as will Championship football. I honestly think the next few weeks are huge for the club. If we go up we have a much better case for redeveloping the CG and for the fan base to increase ever so slightly with the higher quality of football on offer. It's a springboard to moving into the right direction.

On the flip side I worry that failure to go up would see us stuck in a viscous circle of a L1/L2 yoyo club with a dated ground and a fan base of no more than 9,000 tops.

I also feel it's not just the local population's views on the club. It's probably the Town's rep itself which puts people off. Some people who live here slag Swindon off. They don't like the town so why on earth would they consider supporting it's football team? Until the town centre is regenerated properly (and I don't just mean new car parks and flats) the view towards the town will never change and more than likely unless success is more common place views on STFC probably won't change any time soon either.

[4D]

Not by me, I'm 25% scottish.

[Honkytonk]

I also feel it's not just the local population's views on the club. It's probably the Town's rep itself which puts people off. Some people who live here slag Swindon off. They don't like the town so why on earth would they consider supporting it's football team? Until the town centre is regenerated properly (and I don't just mean new car parks and flats) the view towards the town will never change and more than likely unless success is more common place views on STFC probably won't change any time soon either.

I agree, the fact the town is a shithole does make supporting the football club a less attractive regular option. As I've said elsewhere, I do think the success of the football club can have an effect on the rejuvenation of the town. If people have got something to take pride in regarding their town, they're more likely to want to support the local club. I suppose short of getting Honda to sponsor kit, there's not a lot currently in Swindon to be proud of.

[4D]

It's the fact that the town has a rough feel is one of the things I enjoy about following STFC. I like the trudge to the ground, walking past places with razor wire in their back garden and the floodlights in the distance. It reminds me of seventies football, the football I grew up with watching MOTD; pitches like ploughed fields, players twatting each other, and surging terraces. Sod the sofa feel of some of these prem clubs, I like it raw 

[Levi lapper]

This "plastic fan" bollocks really pisses me off. I go,to a few games a season, but live a long way away and have a family. It's just not that easy to get to games. If that makes me less of a fan than a20 something swindonian who,goes to every home game because he's got,fuck all else going on in his life then I must be some lesser fan than them. What a load of old bollocks.

[Ardiles]

I'd totally get a nice wee stfc saltire going but if this place is anything to go by I'd get moaned at and called a junkie.

No you wouldn't.  That would be fucking class.

[Ardiles]

This "plastic fan" bollocks really pisses me off. I go,to a few games a season, but live a long way away and have a family. It's just not that easy to get to games. If that makes me less of a fan than a20 something swindonian who,goes to every home game because he's got,fuck all else going on in his life then I must be some lesser fan than them. What a load of old bollocks.

Amen brother.