[Tigermatty 2.0]

As good as community projects and giving away free tickets are I'd love to see how many people have become regular fans because of that approach. It's a nice try but never seems to be all that it's cracked up to be.

And I think it's unfair on AP to not mention the Gloucester Sport brand. That was a different approach that might've had a better impact.

Someone posted on social media that their son was coached by Joe Parker ten years ago and they still come and watch. It’s not a quick win, which is why it’s something that needs to be built up over time, and at the moment we are way behind. It’s about building up the reputation and visibility of the club. The more people we interact with the more become aware of us, trust us, might come and watch us. The alternative is doing nothing. With respect to Gloucester Sport, no one is interested in basketball so it was doomed from the start.

[Paul]

Jim Hart used to have a role in that. I'm not sure what it entailed but as far as I remember that could be considered one. I'm sure others can elaborate more what he did.

I used to work with Jim delivering some community work (not for any club) and did some mentor training years back for Matt Liddiard and a few players. The issue we have is that there is no structure in place at or attached to the club to put together and deliver a community programme. It really needs a CIC/ charity set up along the lines of C********m and numerous other clubs.

[Neil]

Someone posted on social media that their son was coached by Joe Parker ten years ago and they still come and watch. It’s not a quick win, which is why it’s something that needs to be built up over time, and at the moment we are way behind. It’s about building up the reputation and visibility of the club. The more people we interact with the more become aware of us, trust us, might come and watch us. The alternative is doing nothing. With respect to Gloucester Sport, no one is interested in basketball so it was doomed from the start.

The point being with Gloucester Sport is that it was a different approach. I'm not convinced that community programs work. For me the only way to get people interested in City is results on the pitch. Get a winning team and people will come. That's how it happened for me.

[Kitto]

Regarding basketball (from my limited understanding)...we went all in with a professional basketball team under the Gloucester Sport brand, and it's fair to say that part didn't work. However what Jay is doing now (as Gloucester Sport is no more but the basketball continues) is putting a lot of effort into growing the basketball organically, getting into schools, promoting the youth teams and the aforementioned summer camps. He's creating young basketball fans.

And this is exactly what we should have been doing over the last few years. I know it's easy to say with hindsight, but we'd have been a lot better off if we never got rid of Cook and those players back in 2019, and concentrated on building the foundations of a club as we returned home. What is the long term legacy of the Rowe, or even the King era? I genuinely don't think we'd have been any worst off now if they'd never happened. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but for me the most important thing we've done since we've come home is to create a thriving women's & girls programme which is going from strength to strength. On the men's side, we don't seem to have gained many new regular fans, and our existing fanbase has felt divided, dispirited and despondent.

We can't change the past now, but the important thing is we learn from it.

FWIW I think the only way a Gloucester Sport brand would work is if it was led by the rugby. There is unfortunately a certain ignorance within some rugby circles which sees them look down on football, but IMO there would definitely be a business case to be made for rugby club to buy the football club, and using it's leverage & resources to help the football club realise it's potential (and who knows, the basketball club too maybe - Bristol Sport is all three sports). But please no cherry and white.

[Tigermatty 2.0]

The point being with Gloucester Sport is that it was a different approach. I'm not convinced that community programs work. For me the only way to get people interested in City is results on the pitch. Get a winning team and people will come. That's how it happened for me.

But with community programmes you can get funding. No club is doing this stuff out of the goodness of their own heart, it’s a marketing opportunity disguised as social responsibility. 

Ironically despite social media I think it’s harder for us to reach local people these days. Back when you started watching, people bought the local paper out of habit and would’ve been exposed to us whether they were interested or not. Now people have to either actively search us out or we need to be doing something that results in being not just newsworthy, but interesting enough for people to want to click.

---

Regarding basketball (from my limited understanding)...we went all in with a professional basketball team under the Gloucester Sport brand, and it's fair to say that part didn't work. However what Jay is doing now (as Gloucester Sport is no more but the basketball continues) is putting a lot of effort into growing the basketball organically, getting into schools, promoting the youth teams and the aforementioned summer camps. He's creating young basketball fans.

And this is exactly what we should have been doing over the last few years. I know it's easy to say with hindsight, but we'd have been a lot better off if we never got rid of Cook and those players back in 2019, and concentrated on building the foundations of a club as we returned home. What is the long term legacy of the Rowe, or even the King era? I genuinely don't think we'd have been any worst off now if they'd never happened. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but for me the most important thing we've done since we've come home is to create a thriving women's & girls programme which is going from strength to strength. On the men's side, we don't seem to have gained many new regular fans, and our existing fanbase has felt divided, dispirited and despondent.

We can't change the past now, but the important thing is we learn from it.

FWIW I think the only way a Gloucester Sport brand would work is if it was led by the rugby. There is unfortunately a certain ignorance within some rugby circles which sees them look down on football, but IMO there would definitely be a business case to be made for rugby club to buy the football club, and using it's leverage & resources to help the football club realise it's potential (and who knows, the basketball club too maybe - Bristol Sport is all three sports). But please no cherry and white.

This is why I think we can only progress with new ownership

[Kitto]

The point being with Gloucester Sport is that it was a different approach. I'm not convinced that community programs work. For me the only way to get people interested in City is results on the pitch. Get a winning team and people will come. That's how it happened for me.

The problem with that is approach is that when we stop winning, people don't stay (in general). I've never seen us promoted, I became a fan in the exile years and never saw any sustained period of exciting football - until Fab came along. Main reason I stuck around was because of my unrequited love for Lee, so I'm a bit of an outlier there.

[Si Robin]

But with community programmes you can get funding. No club is doing this stuff out of the goodness of their own heart, it’s a marketing opportunity disguised as social responsibility. 

Ironically despite social media I think it’s harder for us to reach local people these days. Back when you started watching, people bought the local paper out of habit and would’ve been exposed to us whether they were interested or not. Now people have to either actively search us out or we need to be doing something that results in being not just newsworthy, but interesting enough for people to want to click.

---

This is why I think we can only progress with new ownership

You mean like create a burger and make it go viral (in internet terms of course)?

[Tigermatty 2.0]

You mean like create a burger and make it go viral (in internet terms of course)?

Ding ding ding

[HeathBrewer]

This incident further shows me staying up is imperative. Does the Club survive as an entity if we go down? I fear the Clement cat may have foresight and nobody should want that.
All that time in exile and everything this historic club has been through...

[Neil]

If only we could avoid relegation like the rugby club do.