Season Tickets 2014/15

[ddsa2787]

Thanks for all the replies, im not having a dig at anyone or the club I just want to know more about how things are run at a lower level and how they compare to the high flyers. I am a big believer in grass roots football and i know how important non-league football is to keep this going. To many league clubs ruin the game by buying new upcoming talent for ridiculous prices and then letting them keep the bench warm.

However I do still believe that people that know where there money is going will be more inclined to part with it, not necessarily needing figures but an idea of how its spent. I think going towards maintenance costs is abit vague and most people wouldn’t bat an eyelid.

Ideally from this post I’d like to know what is being done to promote the club and how they plan to bring in new supporters/sponsorships?

Thanks all for the replies,

Much appreciated

Have a perusal of the club website and you'll see the work the commercial guys have done in gaining additional sponsorship this season, things like match day and programme sponsorship are just two. Even as a 'part time Yeltz fan' you'll have noticed the extra advertising boards around the ground compared to previous seasons? How about the goalmouths that were dug up and replaced with sports turf?

As for regular outgoings, consider things like...

Player wages/expenses
Stock - Food/drink
Electric/water/gas bills
Footballs (How many do we lose every game at £20+ a go?)
Kit (Including getting it washed)
Travel -
Training costs (Remember if our pitch is being used by Causeway for a match we have to pay to train elsewhere)
Removal of waste.
Repairs/maintenance to the ground. Things like toilet rolls & cleaning materials

For the pitch alone you need - White line paint (The line marker was replaced in the summer) fertiliser, seed, top soil and petrol for the mowers. There are also the costs of repairs to the equipment or hire of specialist equipment. The fllodlights are Championshp standard, they're expensive to replace I would have thought.

To be honest, the list could go on forever of the outgoings. I'm sure there are things I've not considered. Personally, I think there are two types of fan at non-league. Those that rock up for a match and pay their money and watch the game and moan because the price has gone up a couple of quid and those can see that to run a football club it isn't just about what happens at 3pm on a Saturday.

Thanks for the reply AVFCYELTZ, dont think im having a dig at how the club is run because i have no issues and i know people do a fantastic job there. I think more however could be done to bring new fans to The Grove and then not having to settle so much on relying for the regulars to turn up week in, week out.

For instance, 72% of a sales average from league clubs are pre-paid tickets before a match. Why dont non-league clubs offer this? Would be easier to push promotional offers and rope in new supporters.

[yeltz85]

As with new supporters to the club, how much time do our volunteers themselves have to actively promote the club.

I myself personally have helped with the following this season,
- Help assisting and selling season tickets. - Chris Lambert sent a letter to everyone who has had a season ticket the past few years to encourage them and others to sign up.
- Help organise and promote non league day.
- Help keep active social media accounts, Facebook, Twitter etc.
- Run an active and up to date website along with very detailed match previews for current and potential new fans, are there any other clubs in this league that go into so much detail? http://ht-fc.com/halesowen-town-first-t ... -2014.html
- Assist with distribution of media via the newspapers etc. eg. The FA Cup coming to The Grove was huge and we had many fans come who have not been to the ground for a number of years.

Dave Hawley produces promo posters that go our on social media also.

Without physically dragging people out of their houses, without an advertising budget not really sure what else we could do as a football club. Its always been the case of many hands make light work, but there are not many hands. Any other suggestions to increase and get new people into the ground would be most welcome though.

In the past we gave out over 180 season tickets to all the Halesowen Town Colts players, only 1 or 2 actually used them.

Guesty

[yeltz85]

Thanks for all the replies, im not having a dig at anyone or the club I just want to know more about how things are run at a lower level and how they compare to the high flyers. I am a big believer in grass roots football and i know how important non-league football is to keep this going. To many league clubs ruin the game by buying new upcoming talent for ridiculous prices and then letting them keep the bench warm.

However I do still believe that people that know where there money is going will be more inclined to part with it, not necessarily needing figures but an idea of how its spent. I think going towards maintenance costs is abit vague and most people wouldn’t bat an eyelid.

Ideally from this post I’d like to know what is being done to promote the club and how they plan to bring in new supporters/sponsorships?

Thanks all for the replies,

Much appreciated

Have a perusal of the club website and you'll see the work the commercial guys have done in gaining additional sponsorship this season, things like match day and programme sponsorship are just two. Even as a 'part time Yeltz fan' you'll have noticed the extra advertising boards around the ground compared to previous seasons? How about the goalmouths that were dug up and replaced with sports turf?

As for regular outgoings, consider things like...

Player wages/expenses
Stock - Food/drink
Electric/water/gas bills
Footballs (How many do we lose every game at £20+ a go?)
Kit (Including getting it washed)
Travel -
Training costs (Remember if our pitch is being used by Causeway for a match we have to pay to train elsewhere)
Removal of waste.
Repairs/maintenance to the ground. Things like toilet rolls & cleaning materials

For the pitch alone you need - White line paint (The line marker was replaced in the summer) fertiliser, seed, top soil and petrol for the mowers. There are also the costs of repairs to the equipment or hire of specialist equipment. The fllodlights are Championshp standard, they're expensive to replace I would have thought.

To be honest, the list could go on forever of the outgoings. I'm sure there are things I've not considered. Personally, I think there are two types of fan at non-league. Those that rock up for a match and pay their money and watch the game and moan because the price has gone up a couple of quid and those can see that to run a football club it isn't just about what happens at 3pm on a Saturday.

Thanks for the reply AVFCYELTZ, dont think im having a dig at how the club is run because i have no issues and i know people do a fantastic job there. I think more however could be done to bring new fans to The Grove and then not having to settle so much on relying for the regulars to turn up week in, week out.

For instance, 72% of a sales average from league clubs are pre-paid tickets before a match. Why dont non-league clubs offer this? Would be easier to push promotional offers and rope in new supporters.

Quite simple, league clubs have paid staff who can sit in the office all day selling pre-match tickets. Most of these are sales personnel who will actively call supporters to sell them tickets. (WBA do it).

Not sure of any non-league sides who sell tickets prior to a match other than big FA Cup games/Play Off Finals etc.

[ddsa2787]

I do think advertising the same way as everybody else and not doing things because others dont etc is a cop out. Someone always has to be first to try something so why not Halesowen?

I still think people are thinking i am having a go but im just thinking of new ways to do things. If there is anything i can do to help out id be more then happy to get involved and im sure others would knowing more and more about how the club is run. After just a few responses this afternoon i already feel like you have explained more to me then there is ever on show at The Grove and thats all i wanted to know.

[RobYeltz]

I think volunteers are the key really. During the summer numerous appeals were put out asking for fans to turn up and help with the working parties on the ground. The most we had at any one time was 10 I think. On most occasions we had no more than 5/6 of us. Some folk didn't bother, or couldn't manage to find the time to help.

As I say, clubs like Halesowen Town rely on people giving their time AND hopefully their money. If people can't give both, then giving EITHER their time or money is appreciated.

Not a criticism, but some fans want to just turn up and watch the game, I have no problem with that as all of our circumstances are different but for the club to move forward more hands are needed in whatever area of expertise supporters can offer.

[yeltz85]

I do think advertising the same way as everybody else and not doing things because others dont etc is a cop out. Someone always has to be first to try something so why not Halesowen?

I still think people are thinking i am having a go but im just thinking of new ways to do things. If there is anything i can do to help out id be more then happy to get involved and im sure others would knowing more and more about how the club is run. After just a few responses this afternoon i already feel like you have explained more to me then there is ever on show at The Grove and thats all i wanted to know.

We are not having a go. As you quite rightly state, a lot of people dont know what goes on behind the scenes or how much work it takes.

I'm sure if you would like to meet at a match (this weekend good?) we can talk through some of your ideas and if you would like to get involved then great!

[valenciayeltz]

Probably not fair to compare the price of a mighty Yeltz ticket with the likes of Bayern Munich etc. for all reasons stated above (but out of interest to compare with Albion, Villa etc ...my Valencia season ticket costs 190 Euros - 150 quid - including cup and european games except semi finals and final - ie all Champions League group games a couple of years ago and Europa league games included for free....).

So I had a look at our two local teams who play in equivalent league to Halesowen - over here that would be "la tercera". Paterna and Ribarroja are the local ones. Both clubs (run in much the same way as Halesowen - volunteers etc) charge 20 euros for a season ticket (which seems cheap) and between 5 and 10 euros for a matchday ticket (which seems expensive - the cheapest matchday ticket at Valencia is also 10 Euros).

[ddsa2787]

Probably not fair to compare the price of a mighty Yeltz ticket with the likes of Bayern Munich etc. for all reasons stated above (but out of interest to compare with Albion, Villa etc ...my Valencia season ticket costs 190 Euros - 150 quid - including cup and european games except semi finals and final - ie all Champions League group games a couple of years ago and Europa league games included for free....).

So I had a look at our two local teams who play in equivalent league to Halesowen - over here that would be "la tercera". Paterna and Ribarroja are the local ones. Both clubs (run in much the same way as Halesowen - volunteers etc) charge 20 euros for a season ticket (which seems cheap) and between 5 and 10 euros for a matchday ticket (which seems expensive - the cheapest matchday ticket at Valencia is also 10 Euros).

It wasnt really a comparison as such, just trying to work out how clubs come to these kind of prices. A lot of them just seem to pick a figure and keep pushing because they know a serious fan will pay pretty much anything to follow there team and i wanted to know how Halesowen got theres, which has been answered now

The inflation between countries i imagine is a lot to do with the demand, football is our game in this country and for a male not to like football is rare (although not wrong). Other countries tend to follow a bigger variety of sports and its more socially acceptable not to like sport at all. I imagine most of us have been brought up with football, going to games from very young and it quickly becoming the normal thing to do.
Hopefully the government will look into the inflation of prices now its the hot topic and will at least match this with the cost of living in future.