Unofficial Halesowen Town FC Forum

This is the first season I'd consider myself a Yeltz regular, until this season I was always willing to go but unless I went out my way to find out fixtures I wouldn't know when we're playing.

In essence I feel that fixtures when Albion etc. aren't playing should be advertised more.

Or even a little thing like producing a fixture card (I used to have an Albion fixture card which handily fitted in my wallet) placed at the bars of local pubs just to put the fixture list out more.

I know it's quick and easy nowadays to log onto the internet but people still need to be pushed in the right direction.

Just feel, without wanting to offend and upset anyone, maybe more could be done by way of advertisements to attract more fans.

On a final note, even if Albion, Villa etc are playing on away on a Sat 15:00, people will still go to a pub to watch on the TV rather than go down the Grove, sadly. Just a couple of thoughts, there are people out there that like to go down the Grove, that clip showing the recent Scottish international scoring, there were over 600 people. Compare that to just over 200 Sat. It's a case of how many know when we play?

We do try and push it as much as we can through various social media/websites etc but its very difficult. Ultimately people start to come more when we are performing well.

We have seen a 25% increase so far this season with attendances which is fantastic and the activity on here has been great.

I have done some posters for pubs etc in the area which can go up but fixtures change all the time. Fixture cards are a good idea also as you say.

With the 600 people that were down The Grove that day, we were a league higher and it was before everything fell apart. I feel that now everything is coming together both on and off the pitch we are seeing people return again and need to try doing all we can to make sure this continues.

At our level a fixture card is a cost which would be a waste. As you can see already fixtures are changing because of cup matches. FA Cup means our league match week on Saturday rearranged Wolves Match October rearranged.

I remember the club gave cards out a few seasons ago but only to those coming through the gate.

Good reports in Halesowen News and Express and Star or Chronicle can but only help.

As said ALL the positives at the moment will help.

When I started watching the yeltz regularly at the start of last season we'd be lucky to get an attendance of 150. This was off the back of the near demise of the club which I will never fully appreciate even after long conversations with stalwart supporters.

JH has started the revolution (albeit from a shaky start) and it's lovely to see the attendances slowly creeping up.

Think it's a matter of patience and commitment from the fans

Whilst I may be 'Old Git' I'm still of an age that uses computers and the internet.
The problem we have as a club is that approx 45% of our supporters are OAP, and I'm willing to bet that over half of that 45% have never switched a PC on in their lives.
Now that's probably 40 - 50 folks that we do not get information to via internet.
So my challenge to all of you who know an 'old git' is to ask them how they could best get news of fixtures/postponements/fixture changes etc.
If you can feed the results back to me I'll undertake to try and arrange something for them.

OG,
I think that there are two issues here. The first whch you have identified, is keeping some our less tech-savvy supporters up to date. I don't think this s particulalrly big problem as these tend to be fairly committed supporters and will take the effort to find out anyway - they have always done so

The other issue is locals who would enjoy the Yeltz if they tried it, but the challenge is to to reach out to them in a timely manner. We have seen from recent new visitors to The Grove and to this site that we have a lot to offer, especially in contrast to "showbiz football".

That I would lke to hear particularly from newcomers if what would have attracted them earlier? What is missing in terms of publicity that would have caught their attention sooner? (bearing in mind that cash and bodies are always at a premium, of course)

A few years ago The Yeltz fixtures were available on a credit card sized piece of light cardboard which were given out at the start of the season with, I believe, a sponsors advert on the reverse side. These may have been in conjunction with the Southern League sponsors of the day.

They were a good idea and generally prevented supporters agreeing with the Mrs to seeing The Lion King or similar when their preference would surely to be at The Grove.

Indeed it was almost a badge of honour to have a large collection of these from consecutive seasons within ones wallet!

Still got yours YeltzDoc?

Just and idea, before I get shot down, I know every penny counts...but would a one time offer of say anyone with a Villa / Albion or Blues season ticket (towards the end of the year when they start to think of renewing) get's in for free.

The idea being that during a period when they're deciding whether to renew, get them down the Grove and show them what it's like. You never know it may turn even more away from top flight football and point them towards the grove.

Again I know how much entry fee's etc mean to us.

You could try it with a 'pay as much as you think you should' type thing as I know that's been relatively successful on a small scale at lots of non league clubs who've tried it. You could add the season ticket thing if you want but not sure that would be anymore successful.
Of course you'd get some idiots trying a penny or the like but most decent local folk would surely try a fiver as a minimum and then see how that goes.
1,000 gate paying an average of £3-£5 would be over and above our usual income from the 250-300 diehards. You'd need to pick your weekends to make sure the most people took advantage.

An excellent idea RaidenYeltz, cost is low and the potential gains significant.

Just one point, did you deliberately exclude Wolves on the basis that we might be playing league games against them in the near future?