Uplifting plans in place at Dale
RUSS Green won’t be stepping on Keith Hill’s toes but he has set his heart on lifting Rochdale up the league rankings.
The Dale chief executive admitted he was ‘embarrassed’ to see the club ranked near the bottom of the Football League’s attendances table last weekend, despite the fact Dale were entertaining a big name club in Charlton Athletic. The 3-3 draw was hugely entertaining – but precious few townsfolk saw it.
With that in mind, Green has introduced the ‘pound anywhere in the ground’ initiative for Tuesday’s clash against Port Vale at the Crown Oil Arena.
“Anybody can turn up to Tuesday’s game and it’s a pound entry for adults, children, everybody,” he explained.
“Attendances have been pretty poor. On Saturday we had a top side in Charlton come here and we had the third lowest attendance in the Football League, which is embarrassing and it’s something I feel we need to address urgently to give us a chance at this level.
“We are competing with teams in our division like Sheffield United, Bradford City, Bolton and they are getting between eighteen and twenty two thousand. It’s a huge imbalance.
“I did an initiative over the Christmas period for the Chesterfield and Shrewsbury games where season ticket holders came along and brought a friend for a reduced price. We had season ticket holders coming in and buying twenty tickets, it was a great response and we got the gates up to four thousand, which was fantastic and it showed that there is some potential out there.
“We have a population in the town of 230,000 – we are actually getting one per cent of the population! It’s crazy, and it would be terrific if we could double it to two per cent.
“So, how do we get out to these people? I have something going out next week to every single householder in Rochdale, 100,000 houses receiving one of these flyers inviting them along to our Easter games where we’re offering a family package – two adults and three kids for a tenner.
“We have just got to address the people in Rochdale who just don’t know there’s a club here! They’ve never been. And if we could get them along and feel the atmosphere and feel it’s a family club now, it could be an afternoon event. It’s another way of finding out what potential is out there.
“The Port Vale game falls on a Tuesday night, just after the half term school holidays, Vale are bottom four – if we didn’t do anything we’d be getting 1,700 in. So we want to see how many extra fans are out there that we can target with these initiatives and see if the plans I am putting in place for next season are viable.”
Green accepts mistakes have been made in the past with initiatives but is trying to address the issues.
“I know we had issues with season tickets last year and I have tried to address the pricing structure,” he said. “I know the under 11s season ticket was quite an issue – they were free to under 11s but then there was a £10 admin charge.
“So I’ve tried to address that kind of thing and we have a great package next season going out to under 11s and I believe that will take away all the negativity so we can get the younger end involved in the club.”
One thing Green is keen to promote is simplicity with the initiatives which have at times in the past been somewhat convoluted.
“Look at the season ticket book last year – there were 11 different vouchers. It was complicated and we have got to make it simple. Like Tuesday night – a pound for everybody, anywhere in the ground, a pound.
“It’s one of the angles I’m coming from with the season ticket for next season – make it easy, don’t put barriers up, let’s make it open.”
And while such incentives may cause upset among a small per-centage of season ticket regulars, Green feel the majority are behind plans to increase the gate.
“I’ve spoken with a lot of supporters since I came here and I’ve asked them ‘how would you feel if we try this or that?’ A lot of the feedback related to how season ticket holders had been treated in the past and they were very critical of the way the club had failed to put enough offers and incentives on.
“The loyalty side of it came across loud and clear to me and I would like to stress the fact we really appreciate the loyalty shown by the existing season ticket holders and they will be rewarded when the new season ticket is launched next season.
“Another thing that came through was that, if we could fill this ground on these initiatives, then brilliant.
“What they said to me was that we need better attendances – we’ve paid for our season tickets but at the end of the day, if you can bring more fans in, then we don’t mind.
“I think the majority of fans at this club are crying out for increased attendances. I know I am going to get some who are bit negative about it, but the majority of people in town and the club want better attendances because I suppose they do what I did last Sunday and look at the attendances league table and see we are bottom – which doesn’t reflect the football we are playing.”