Charlton

[Yellow Bungle]

The advertising posters around Benfleet and Canvey are quite noticeable. Perhaps they should include admission prices.

[CIFC - Y.A]

I'm sure that people who have thought less of the club by going to the friendlies and being ripped off are convinced the prices won't change, and it's time to get them back... Too late?

[wayno]

When a club bring a first team squad for a preseason friendly they charge for coming (some a lot more than others). You can work out which clubs dont charge with the £5 & £3 charge this season. The reason information has been slow coming out of the club is that most of the admin staff have been on holiday, now we are back you should find out soon enough whats going on.

In an earlier thread someone asked why we cant attract big clubs for friendlies. In February i sent out close to 50 letters to clubs requesting friendlies, (some of the so called bigger clubs cant even be bothered to respond). Non league clubs who do attract premiership sides normally have an association with each other ie (reserves, womens teams play at the ground etc.

 

I dont normally respond to people slagging the club off etc as you can see by my post count as i prefer to talk to people instead of hiding behind a name. A lot of people work extremely hard to achieve success at our club and if all we get wrong is the website and pricing we cant be doing too bad.

Anyway thats my moan, back to letter writing. **** is that the time.

[THEROCK]

well i cannot see the Charlton side bringing down there first team,ive looked at the website and there playing colchester tonight,and it mentions that..The is no mention of Charlton playing Canvey.I think its the same old we will get 3 or 4 crappy fringe players and see the likes of simon Royce in goal for Charlton...

[ken]

lets face it the club needs to do a massive drive to enchant new fans, we are gonna have one of the lowest fan bases in the league and we need to get some more people turning up, and a few boards around town saying when our next home game is isnt gonna be enough. im hoping that now our name will be read out on the bbc every week a few people might sit up and take notice.

[THEROCK]

well to be honest its a small club that has improved dramtically over the past years,although its our image that is the problem..With a pikey reputation and people hardly being social towards others we need to encourage others to respect people from different areas.But i think a mention on Soccer saturday & constant media coverage with improve the crowds.Unfortunatly if we stuggle this season and i think we to be realistic a mid table finish would be a good season.We will no longer be winning games 3-0/4-0/5-0 on a sat.We have to be aware there are at least 4/5 former league sides in this division which have a historic back ground,we however were playing in the essex senoir league 15 yrs ago.So the hangers on that loved coming over last season watching us punish teams,will they be over in 6 months when exeter come to us and say they beat us 4-0,do those fans return the following week.I think our crowds will improve from the start but i would like to see around october/November to see how we are placed in the league to view how the crowd situ has changed.

[ronin]

I personally don`t care what team Charlton bring down, their reserves or even youth team are still going to be a quality side. All i want to be able to do is answer peoples questions as to who`s playing and maybe encourage them to attend the game.

[cangull]

Wayno - if you carefully read the messages on here regarding admissions you will notice that most of us are ok about the league entrance fee. We are not directly slagging the club or its staff off(as you mentioned), the worry amongst most of us, is, has the club done itself any favoures in the long term by overpricing the friendlies regarding attracting a larger fan base. Surely, friendlies should also be used as a shop window. The club supporters are concerned about our attendances for this coming term!!

[CIFC - Y.A]

Wayne - I wasn't moaning, just saying that when I was entering the ground on the Gillingham friendly there was a lot of huffing and puffing when they saw the admission prices. Great to see they have gone down a lot for this game.

 

Sorry if you did think I was bitching at the club but I was just saying that from peoples attitudes it seemed they'd quite easily turn away. Maybe im wrong <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> (Most probably <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />)

[wayno]

No problem YA.

 

I can understand peoples frustrations but unfortunately if you want the best it has to be paid for. I wouldn't even like to guess what a Premiership club would charge for a full strength squad turn out.

[THEROCK]

I agree the moaning should stop.The club has risen from a [***!!***] league's to the Top of Non league football.Now the club is no longer abit of fun its serious we will be playing top clubs in the Conference of which alot are previous league side.We now have to pay up to be in this enviroment..

[Guest]

Wayno

 

Can you answer my points about young people, last year I bought a season ticket and every home game brought between 3 & 7 youngsters.

 

I have not yet bought my season ticket as the price structure means I cannot afford to bring the boys with me.

 

I am not moaning but just highlighting the point. Al these boys play for a football team and we saw the trip to Canvey as a reward for working hard at training on saturday morning. As their manager I could use the game to point out different things to the boys. I will still attend most home games without the boys.

[ronin]

Mobrien i don`t think it is fair to ask Wayno these sort of questions, he is the secretary not the chairman.

 

Have you tried speaking to the chairman Keith Johnson or maybe going through the supporters club and putting your point across.I have looked at kids prices through the conference and we are neither the cheapest or the dearest.

 

No one would argue about the point you are trying to put across but i can`t see it changing this season, maybe with a word to the right people something can be put in place for next season.

[wayno]

Hope this helps to clarify the position Mo.

 

Last season the standard entry price for an U16 was £4, this has increased by £1 for the coming season.

 

The Kid for a quid scheme has been dropped due to a number of problems that we had last season, however at some games this coming year it may be reintroduced. Some of the problems were:

 

1. Unaccompanied children pestering supporers to bring them into the ground was a major complaint that we received many times last season. In some cases elderly supporters felt threatened when they were approached or received verbal comments when they refused to take them in.

 

2. When they were in the ground we found that many of the youngsters, not all, were not interested in the football and had just come to play football at the back of the stand (especially evening games with the lights).

 

3. Some were not best behaved at times and were proving a problem to the stewards, who work voluntarily as you probably know. When the culprits were spoken to by the stewards they just received a volley of abuse. In fact on one occasion last season a group of youths were ejected from the ground and proceeded to throw rocks and stones etc on to the pitch and stands.

 

With regards to your bringing many children to the game, you were actually getting a good deal at the time as you were only supposed to bring 1 child per adult to qualify. This obviously proved a problem if a father bought 2 children with him so they too were allowed in for the same. The club could have charged the full amount.

 

Our prices are about average overall for the coming season,some more than others some less. We aren't going to please everyone and get everything right and I hope you do keep coming down to the ground and indeed making constructive criticism when its needed. We are trying.

 

Wayno

[Guest]

enuff said !!

[CANV EFM]

cant argue with that!

[Yellow Bungle]

Nice to have a explanation. With a small club like ours it's important not to lose contact with the fans - can we have similar info in the future?

[CIFCislander]

As people have said before we will have some of the smallest attendeces in the league but its our job as fans who do turn up to get behind the lads when there playing and sing our hearts out. clubs are not going to enjoy coming to the fortress that is park lane, so if we can be that 12th man and help the lads get those important points i think it would be much appreciated by every one connected to the club

[CIFCislander]

Also its good to see that the hornchurch game is a fiver 0r £3. would be nice to see a big crowd for our last PSF before we start the serious stuff week on saturday.

i have heard the hornchuch game is going to be segregated. has anyone else heard this atall?.

I reckon it is a good idea as it will start to get us used to what we will be experiencing every week

[Guest]

Ronin are you Wayno's mum.

 

I can ask him anything I like. Watch this!!!

 

Wayno whats the weather like today?

 

The fact that he is not the chairman means nothing I asked a sensible chap a sensible question and got a sensible answer.

 

I am sure being such a sensible chap if he felt unable to answer he could have said, "I dont know, I suggest you ask the Chairman maybe he can help", however we managed to communicate from one person to another un aided.

 

Were are rather clever dont ya think wayno.