Our 'hard core' support and how to improve it??
Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 10:48 am
Our 'hard core' support and how to improve it??
I have supported City over 40 years and I have seen our crowds grow massively in that period. From a 4000 hard core when we were shit in the lower divisions we doubled that to 8000 hard core fans before we left Ninian Park.
Now I am not talking average crowds I am talking loyal supporters who will turn up week in week out. Currently our hard core support I estimate to be between 12 - 14000 which is a good base. We are definitely not a big Club but this is because we have never had a sustained period of success in our recent history unlike teams like Leeds, Derby, Middlesboro, Aston Villa etc all who spent long periods in the old 1st or Premiership and built their hard core support base up to between 20 - 30,000.
So although we have substantially increased our fan base we are still lagging way behind those teams mentioned. We do however have huge potential I believe we have a massive data base of people who have previously attended games, fans turn out for the big games and Wembley.
These are Cardiff fans who do not turn in week in week out for a multitude of reasons. I don't think Warnock and the team can do any more on the field and to currently be 2nd when you see teams below us who have huge squads and big budgets is a testimony to Warnock and his squad.
Could the Club do more?? I think the answer is definitely yes I think the marketing is poor I live in Aberdare and if I wasn't a Season Ticket holder I wouldn't have known we had 2 home games this week just gone!
We have to get the message out there posters with fixture lists placed in pubs, colleges, schools and large work places in Cardiff the surrounding areas and the Valleys.
Players and coaching staff visiting schools to spread the message and give out free tickets to the children. These children are our future and if we were to give out say 4000 tickets to schools for each game it would hopefully give those kids the bug hopefully some will come back in the future with a parent and some would certainly become long term supporters and help to increase our hard core support.
However I think the only way we will realistically increase our support and add to the hard core in the short term is a sustained period of success. That means promotion to the Premiership and STAYING there for a long period of time that way we might get our hard core base to around 20 - 25K and keep it around that Mark even if we eventually did end up back in the Championship.
I have supported City over 40 years and I have seen our crowds grow massively in that period. From a 4000 hard core when we were shit in the lower divisions we doubled that to 8000 hard core fans before we left Ninian Park.
Now I am not talking average crowds I am talking loyal supporters who will turn up week in week out. Currently our hard core support I estimate to be between 12 - 14000 which is a good base. We are definitely not a big Club but this is because we have never had a sustained period of success in our recent history unlike teams like Leeds, Derby, Middlesboro, Aston Villa etc all who spent long periods in the old 1st or Premiership and built their hard core support base up to between 20 - 30,000.
So although we have substantially increased our fan base we are still lagging way behind those teams mentioned. We do however have huge potential I believe we have a massive data base of people who have previously attended games, fans turn out for the big games and Wembley.
These are Cardiff fans who do not turn in week in week out for a multitude of reasons. I don't think Warnock and the team can do any more on the field and to currently be 2nd when you see teams below us who have huge squads and big budgets is a testimony to Warnock and his squad.
Could the Club do more?? I think the answer is definitely yes I think the marketing is poor I live in Aberdare and if I wasn't a Season Ticket holder I wouldn't have known we had 2 home games this week just gone!
We have to get the message out there posters with fixture lists placed in pubs, colleges, schools and large work places in Cardiff the surrounding areas and the Valleys.
Players and coaching staff visiting schools to spread the message and give out free tickets to the children. These children are our future and if we were to give out say 4000 tickets to schools for each game it would hopefully give those kids the bug hopefully some will come back in the future with a parent and some would certainly become long term supporters and help to increase our hard core support.
However I think the only way we will realistically increase our support and add to the hard core in the short term is a sustained period of success. That means promotion to the Premiership and STAYING there for a long period of time that way we might get our hard core base to around 20 - 25K and keep it around that Mark even if we eventually did end up back in the Championship.