Thanks to 2K fans who completed our recent short survey.
A resounding verdict that L1 prices at The Valley are not good value for money and that the cost is the main reason putting non-season ticket holders off attending more regularly.
We will share with the club and have offered more analysis - with such a large number of respondents, we can easily drill down into more detail - if the club wish to take notice.
https://www.castrust.org/2022/08/results-of-match-day-attendance-survey/ 
Comments
Doesn't personally effect me, but I would like the club to grow the fanbase not kill it off.
Perhaps TS would be more likely to recognise the word " customers" when describing what we really are...and as such can vote with our feet.
And perhaps he should be reminded of that old saying " The customer's always right " although this could be something he hasn't come across before, being from across the Pond.....
I await the outcome from this with bated breath...but am not exactly holding it !
Would it also be useful to ask what pricing would make them more likely to attend and differentiate between midweek and weekend games?
We used to do random walk up surveys (around a hundred) to validate the online responses.
good work by the trust here, it is this kind of work that should be the backbone of FTV
This. Absolutely. Bet loads would say about £20-25. Which ironically is the price they could buy one in the Lower North. Trouble is people have been banging on about £35 or whatever the top price is as though it is the only price available.
improvements on the footballing side with genuine enthusiasm for a push for more support with fans like in the 90s without everything aligned you could offer the whole ground free and the interest just isn’t there.
Even if we go up and stay up apathy would eventually set in and our crowds would not improve by too much .
our hardcore 7-8k will be there come what may we might add 2-3k to that with a promotion and with more attractive fixtures in the championship combined with better away numbers (oooooerrrr) it’ll puff up a bit but we probably won’t average much over 16k without a play off push .
TS is having to smell the reality that his increased income x2 or x3 is just pie in the sky and not achievable in league one ever .
Who are the 17% of rich fuckers who feel those prices are good value?
He can dress it up however he wants but at the end of the day it's 3rd division football.
The match day price should reflect on what league we are in and 30 odd quid for watching a 3rd division game of football is too much.
The people who are making these decisions are clearly not the sort of people we need advising him.
Let's face it he can make enough bad decisions on his own without this lot helping out.
Need a rethink and start again.
We are now in a position where we need a bit of investment to give the squad a chance, not of exceeding where it should be but getting back to where it should be, and it is not forthcoming despite money being wasted in previous seasons. Crowds will improve if we are up there fighting with the top teams but despite getting a good manager in and some excellent players for the level, most of us feel we will come up short without squad strengthening in a couple of key areas. Sandgaard has to realise that you can't polish a turd and any revenue increasing plans rely on success on the pitch.
My local group of around twenty regular season ticket holders has dwindled to about 6 in the last couple of years, with only three of us attending regularly. Some have moved across a block to save 100 quid but mostly it's because the football has been too dire to justify the considerable overall expense.
I'm trying to clap that little bit more loudly to compensate and maintain the AC stand's reputation for enthusiasm but it's getting harder!
*club logic not mine
I filled in the survey as a season ticket holder but answered as though I weren't as the questions were partly worded to take into account friends and family who might go. Seems like I agreed with the majority.
The main problem is that most seats that were £23 last season are now £29 - a 26% increase - if bought early. That is beyond the point at which many previous purchasers will buy them and most will not sit in the lower Covered End.
We therefore specifically based this survey on attendance at a recent match to understand the barriers - we assumed cost was the biggest turn-off and the survey has now proven and quantified this. The results for the Plymouth match are indisputable. It shows a clear difference between non-season ticket holders where price was far and away the biggest issue compared with season ticket holders who were more likely not to attend due to holidays and other commitments - they have already paid in advance of course so price is not relevant for individual match attendance.
Asking a more general Q on whether or not something is value for money gives much clearer results than trying to ask hypothetically about a price. To compare to these figures, we sometimes include this question in surveys for the holiday company I run. We would get very worried if more than a very small % (low single figures) said our holidays were not VFM. That doesn't mean they are cheap but it does mean people feel they are getting what they pay for in terms of product, quality and service.
I assume that you're changing your IP address.