crashmon wrote:Agree we are in a better position than last year
Are we though?
This time last year we'd finished 7th with 11 wins and a draw and 8 losses. This year we've played 7 more games but lost 17 and we finished 11th.
This time last year it was odds on we were moving to a new stadium and there was some (not from here) belief that we might see an upswing in crowds, whereas now we are wondering out loud if the club even care about the match day experience after a season of ZERO effort to engage with fans other than sorting Twitter out in June. No kids or community stuff on the pitch, no push to get folk to the Ladies games, cancelled Reserve and academy matches due to lack of staff......and at every turn, not one sign that lessons have been learnt and mistakes will not be repeated.
There were some nicely rounded attendance figures given through the season with Dewsbury still missing altogether, but it is fair to assume that we have struggled to match the gates achieved in 2018 and that was with 2 inflated crowds of Wimbledon freebies.
This time last year and in the run up to the new season there was a serious worry about the squad and dicing with relegation. At this stage, we know that Keighley look to be a stronger proposition that either Dewsbury or Town were this year and we will again be reliant on the likes of Newcastle and Bradford to struggle to ensure our safety. My gut feeling is that it will again be July before we will be mathematically safe.
This "one club" malarkey is a poor effort at an apology and I sincerely hope that they drop this infatuation with the Gold and Silver lounges....if Hughes, Loubser and Kemp really want 2023 to be an improvement on this shambles of a year then they really need to take down paywalls and barriers and open the club up to everyone. We know they look upon fans on forums as a nuisance and not indicative of "the real world' but the reality is Hughes has 26 more home games to achieve his 5k average target......he's 4k short at the moment. With discounting etc, it is fair to assume that matchday ticketing revenue this year has been sub £10,000 a game. With little if any funding from anywhere else, Hughes will again be footing the bills for wages, rent, insurance etc....with gate receipts barely covering Kemp and Loubser's wages.
It does look like Cakeman has secured some additional funding from Hughes for back-room staff and medics, which is a positive, but if we get to February and a half arsed appeal for volunteers again because Hughes won't bankroll office staff, then I see us ending 2023 with a sub 500 average and having the same inquest next september saying "2024 will be better'.......