Commercial Manager

[MFC-Manc]

The premier league and sky is sucking the life out of small clubs.....my kids are only interested in messi, city, United etc etc
Also morecambe is in an area that has so many teams within 50 miles..... City, United,Liverpool,Everton,Preston,Bolton,Wigan,Blackpool,fleetwood,bury,Oldham, Rochdale,Carlisle,burnley , Blackburn,fc United etc etc
It's just the state of football at the moment

[George Dawes]

Can someone please point to the exact point we played free flowing football and had crowds down Lancaster road?

Bollocks its jims tactics. We had the worst anti football hoofball when we finished 4th.

The games after Christmas sre pretty meaningless as we don't ever had the squad to truly threaten either end of the table so people don't care.

We don't get the squad as we have a tiny fan base.

We were playing exciting football at the start of this season right up until the Mansfield game, when we had Paul Mullin on fire shooting on sight, what was getting people talking spreading the word looking forward to the next game and goal mouth action, and thats where my frustration comes into things and on threads on here, just like other people, cos we know what we can do.

Also you refer to free flowing football and hoofball, the season we finished 4th , I think the difference is, we had the players back then who were dominant in the air, like the other Paul Mullin(a proper target man) with Jevons and Craney getting on the knockdowns aswell as David Artel and Jim Bentley, at set pieces, where now we are often Hoofing it to the likes of Redshaw against bigger sides than us, that's what's pissing people off.

[Joel Ninety]

Can someone please point to the exact point we played free flowing football and had crowds down Lancaster road?

1999/2000 and Morecambe 5-2 Telford stands out in particular for me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999%E2%80 ... Conference.

[Keith]

Can someone please point to the exact point we played free flowing football and had crowds down Lancaster road?

Seventh straight win, total domination, five different players scoring in the same game, in the play-offs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 398172.stm

Whatever happened to Bournemouth?

[halftimeresults]

Can someone please point to the exact point we played free flowing football and had crowds down Lancaster road?

Bollocks its jims tactics. We had the worst anti football hoofball when we finished 4th.

The games after Christmas sre pretty meaningless as we don't ever had the squad to truly threaten either end of the table so people don't care.



We don't get the squad as we have a tiny fan base.

Nothing constructive has ever been done to truly change this in 20 years (aggressively market towards kids basically) as it's far too much effort as its much easier to cobble together a weird pricing plan and promotions to stick it on a website that no one reads except the people that are going anyway and just end up spending less.

I could get us averaging 2500 at home but I doubt they'd pay me what I want and I'm not relocating back north any time soon!

We did put 5 in against a Bournemouth side that would go onto gain promotion...honestly now if we went 1-0 up against Bournemouth we would park the bus!

[Shrimpy]

Can someone please point to the exact point we played free flowing football and had crowds down Lancaster road?

Seventh straight win, total domination, five different players scoring in the same game, in the play-offs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 398172.stm

Whatever happened to Bournemouth?

That was also in a season where we had a competitive budget for the league resulting in a squad full of experienced players and strength in depth to be able to sustain a promotion push.

As has been alluded to already, the football that season was more "effective" than it was "entertaining". Sticking 5 past Chester with all goals coming from set pieces for example.

My point being it's unfair to compare that with what Jim is able to achieve these days considering the difference in ability of player the managers are able to sign. Sammy could bring in the likes of Jevons, Mullin, Artell, Wainwright, Panther, Moss etc etc, experienced players who had operated at higher levels whereas Jim is having to bring in the likes of Kenyon (20 year old from a side that just got relegated from the Conference) and Sampson (teenager released from bigger club with very little first team experience). Nothing against both players who I think have done good jobs for us but just trying to highlight we've gone from shopping at Sainsburys to now shopping at Lidl and shouldn't be surprised if the end result is of lower quality!

[Seasider9601]

The premier league and sky is sucking the life out of small clubs.....my kids are only interested in messi, city, United etc etc
Also morecambe is in an area that has so many teams within 50 miles..... City, United,Liverpool,Everton,Preston,Bolton,Wigan,Blackpool,fleetwood,bury,Oldham, Rochdale,Carlisle,burnley , Blackburn,fc United etc etc
It's just the state of football at the moment

And hereby lies the problem, in my opinion.

Kids grow up not supporting their local team as their "main" team any more. They follow the herds, not down to Greece (Blur), but to Citeh', United, Liverpool etc etc.

Here's a thought. How many of our hardcore fanbase, percentage wise, would say they support Morecambe as their main/first club?

Very, very small. And this folks, is the problem. In my humble opinion.

[Shrimpy]

The premier league and sky is sucking the life out of small clubs.....my kids are only interested in messi, city, United etc etc
Also morecambe is in an area that has so many teams within 50 miles..... City, United,Liverpool,Everton,Preston,Bolton,Wigan,Blackpool,fleetwood,bury,Oldham, Rochdale,Carlisle,burnley , Blackburn,fc United etc etc
It's just the state of football at the moment

And hereby lies the problem, in my opinion.

Kids grow up not supporting their local team as their "main" team any more. They follow the herds, not down to Greece (Blur), but to Citeh', United, Liverpool etc etc.

Here's a thought. How many of our hardcore fanbase, percentage wise, would say they support Morecambe as their main/first club?

Very, very small. And this folks, is the problem. In my humble opinion.

If that is the case then how do you explain us getting crowds of a few hundred pre Sky Sports yet our "core" has at the very least quadrupled since then.

[Seasider9601]

When did Sky Sports / Premier League start - 1992 ?

We were in the Northern Premier League then, attracting 3 figure crowds.

We have since gone up into the Conference and the FL where our crowds have increased with the appeal of higher league football, naturally.

My main point being though that kids aren't supporting their local teams as their main teams. Once they are at school they are led down the path of the riches to support a BIG club. That you cannot deny.

[marky No.1]

we've gone from shopping at Sainsburys to now shopping at Lidl and shouldn't be surprised if the end result is of lower quality!

Yes but even if you go shopping at Lidl or Aldi you still have a weekly or monthly basket of goodies to bring back, whereas we visit the Spar shop every few months.
As Jimbo said "it's like going to the supermarket for a fine red wine, then having to come back with a bottle of water"

We are what we are, it is what it is

[BoroRedShrimp]

Be interesting to know after this charity match with Shanghai Clever whether all this promises put some people off coming again. People buy merchandise from this fixture then investment to our knowledge doesn't materialise so this may well have put a few off coming again. Several other reasons as others have pointed out with lack of entertainment, atmosphere, ground change & expensive.

[Shrimpy]

we've gone from shopping at Sainsburys to now shopping at Lidl and shouldn't be surprised if the end result is of lower quality!

Yes but even if you go shopping at Lidl or Aldi you still have a weekly or monthly basket of goodies to bring back, whereas we visit the Spar shop every few months.
As Jimbo said "it's like going to the supermarket for a fine red wine, then having to come back with a bottle of water"

We are what we are, it is what it is

Exactly, we are what we are, which isn't anywhere near comparable to what we were, hence comparisons with the season we finished 4th are unfair in my opinion.

[Wild Bill]

Here's a thought. How many of our hardcore fanbase, percentage wise, would say they support Morecambe as their main/first club?

Very, very small. And this folks, is the problem. In my humble opinion.

Compared to back in the early 90s when I first started following the Shrimps I would say now we have a much higher number of home fans that would say Morecambe are their team over anything in the premiership.

I used to call myself a Liverpool fan until we got in the Conference and started attending regularly. If we played them now my eligience to the the Shrimps would not even come into question and I imagine this would be the same for almost all the 1200 hardcore that turn up most weeks.

[Gnasher]

When I go down Morecambe Road into Lancaster about 6-30pm any night of the week , there is a Stagecoach double decker bus full of people coming out of Lancaster in the opposite direction and the destination according to the sign is "Gala Bingo Morecambe".

This may be part of the deal when they shut down "Gala Bingo" in Lancaster to enable Lancaster people to continue playing bingo at Gala.

I am not sure whether it is a free bus for the passengers with Gala picking up the bill for chartering it or if they take the Bingo players and charge them a commercial bus fare.

But if it means 40 or 50 extra fans @ £15 or £20 a head it could be worth our Commercial Department looking into.

I can't see the point of this argument, the bus is bringing people to Morecambe following the closure of bingo in Lancaster. What are we to do? Shut down Giant Axe and hire a Smart ForTwo to bring him over the river?

There's no single or few solutions to the attendance problem but everything contributes - better home results & performance, price reductions, special offers, marketing, NHS / Military discount, etc. There's no magic formulae to follow but it'll all come together at some point. It's great being keyboard warriors and I don't envy anyone at MFC working on this.

Would anyone here give up their job to work at MFC and sort out the problems everyone can see?

[BoroRedShrimp]

When I go down Morecambe Road into Lancaster about 6-30pm any night of the week , there is a Stagecoach double decker bus full of people coming out of Lancaster in the opposite direction and the destination according to the sign is "Gala Bingo Morecambe".

This may be part of the deal when they shut down "Gala Bingo" in Lancaster to enable Lancaster people to continue playing bingo at Gala.

I am not sure whether it is a free bus for the passengers with Gala picking up the bill for chartering it or if they take the Bingo players and charge them a commercial bus fare.

But if it means 40 or 50 extra fans @ £15 or £20 a head it could be worth our Commercial Department looking into.

I can't see the point of this argument, the bus is bringing people to Morecambe following the closure of bingo in Lancaster. What are we to do? Shut down Giant Axe and hire a Smart ForTwo to bring him over the river?

There's no single or few solutions to the attendance problem but everything contributes - better home results & performance, price reductions, special offers, marketing, NHS / Military discount, etc. There's no magic formulae to follow but it'll all come together at some point. It's great being keyboard warriors and I don't envy anyone at MFC working on this.

Would anyone here give up their job to work at MFC and sort out the problems everyone can see?

I totally agree 100%

[Heysham_Shrimp]

When I go down Morecambe Road into Lancaster about 6-30pm any night of the week , there is a Stagecoach double decker bus full of people coming out of Lancaster in the opposite direction and the destination according to the sign is "Gala Bingo Morecambe".

This may be part of the deal when they shut down "Gala Bingo" in Lancaster to enable Lancaster people to continue playing bingo at Gala.

I am not sure whether it is a free bus for the passengers with Gala picking up the bill for chartering it or if they take the Bingo players and charge them a commercial bus fare.

But if it means 40 or 50 extra fans @ £15 or £20 a head it could be worth our Commercial Department looking into.

I can't see the point of this argument, the bus is bringing people to Morecambe following the closure of bingo in Lancaster. What are we to do? Shut down Giant Axe and hire a Smart ForTwo to bring him over the river?

There's no single or few solutions to the attendance problem but everything contributes - better home results & performance, price reductions, special offers, marketing, NHS / Military discount, etc. There's no magic formulae to follow but it'll all come together at some point. It's great being keyboard warriors and I don't envy anyone at MFC working on this.

Would anyone here give up their job to work at MFC and sort out the problems everyone can see?

I wasn't suggesting that although shutting Giant Axe does have some appeal

[Wild Bill]

Would anyone here give up their job to work at MFC and sort out the problems everyone can see?

Depends how much they are offering? Ha ha!

There are probably quite a few fans that have useful skills who could potentially give some time and ideas to work on some initiatives.