what a time to announce it, minutes after being dumped out of the cup.... hadnt even heard from woolford post match, unbelievable.

apparently thewlis was confronted about the 'free' deal too by a fan... think we have done the thewlis saga to death.

this stunt is nothing new, we have done it before for a catalans game, didnt it attract 10k?

cant see it being anywhere near that this time, it will also attract opposition fans that will come to support catalans such is the apathy towards the giants.

gives oppo fans more bullets to fire spouting this 'free' tickets rubbish, people just arent interested

but anyway stay away fans have no excuse now do they??? oh hang on its friday night

That’s the spirit

Just proves whatever the club try there will be folk willing to pull it to shreds straight away.

its nothing new, been tried before. where are these new fans now?

at least get the post match conference out the way before announcing something like this! fans were already upset with the result. then like nothing has happened just announce this... maybe a lesson for next time.

sure the new fans will be snapping up the cheap season tickets for 2019

then again the club will get details from fans which will help them sell the details to third parties

I would imagine this was all ready to go with the expectation of a win. As for where they are- possibly some are still coming-I know a friend of mine who dips in and out- she can’t come to many but does when she has nothing else on including in her busy social life - but it seems unless you have been coming for a million years and go home and away you aren’t a worthy (“true”) fan.
It’s no wonder we can’t get folk to come with fans like you turning up their noses - bearing in mind that if my friend pays for her and her partner comes to 3 games this year she has already contributed as much as one season ticket holder like you!!!!

not bothered about the free part, can have all games for free for me and id still pay for a season ticket

the announcement was wrong when it was done, hope they learn in future, no wonder there was a back lash from some

it also devalues the 'product' we are trying to sell, it doesnt work this way... as has already been proven as we have done it before, only gives oppo fans more ammo to slate our attendances and cheap tickets etc

lets hope its a success and we get 15k in the stadium and even if a small percentage of that 15k buy a season ticket then it may be a success but then again we wont get 15k and then again they prob wont buy a season tickets as they came for free.

what attendance will the club deem a success??

cant see over 10k... anything below that will just get the usual 'no fans' from others.

should be over 4k in anycase just with season ticket holders.

I honestly can’t believe people are moaning about this!

Numbers don't matter as the club would LOSE money from this game anyway, the idea is to get more potential fans and lapsed fans back on the marketing list to try and win them back, people moan at EVERYTHING the club does so they may as well try things.
If only 2,000 take up the offer it's 2,000 more to back the team on the day and 2,000 potential new supporters to target !!

is it the best way to do it?? alot of people dont think so.

the club can only know what it brought the last time they did this.

it will bring extra support for catalans that evening for sure.

the numbers do matter... will be very interesting to see how much interest there is in the giants in this town.

no one seems to know what attendance figure will be a good one... suppose we can only go by last time we did this, sure it was 10k...

One thing is for sure- no matter the numbers you will still have a go about it!

I have no problem with the club taking the steps to entice some fans back to the club.
My issue is that the club seems to lack any sort of strategy on the direction in which to go and what today and as a result we have a lot of haphazard things happening without any clear direction or a leadership.

I find it bizarre that part of the reason motivated about the free ticket offer is to allow them to get email addresses to add to their emailing list.

FFS this should have been in place for years. They should have a List and be emailing everyone anyway..

Roping off sections of the stand to improve the presentation and atmosphere . It is obviously a good idea so just do it. Don’t use the SA as a tool to ask the fans. Do it . There was nothing to stop them doing it. It is called leadership.
Some of us suggested this to the club yeears ago !!.

It is easy for the SA to just criticise those who criticise the club which is sad because it suggests that HGSA has now just become the megaphone through which Thewlis talks to fans.

One off offers will not address the years of mismanagement the club has experienced.

The club needs to have a strategy and a plan and leaders who can implement it.

A few years ago it was get kids in. When that died due to sky and the changes to Fridays and Mondays and Thursday nights the club did very little to address this. It was like oh well there is our family strategy down the drain what do we do now that can be different. the answer was NOTHING. NO half season tickets no tickets to watch 6 games a season no tickets for Friday nights only. Nothing about reducing walk up prices for those who said I WONT GET A SEASON TICKET BECAUSE I DONT KNOW HOW MANY GAMES I WILL SEE BECAUSE I CANNOT ATTEND Monday, *Thursday* Friday *Saturday *or Sunday* games * delete as appropriate.

During WW1 it was said that the soldiers were Lions led by Donkeys.

In 2018 it seems like we have the home guard led by Donkeys with Teflon armour.

See there’s the problem- people moaning about what they know nothing about!
It can’t have escaped your notice that the new GDPR regulations came into force last week. Consent required to hold data.
This way when people get their free tickets they have to tick a consent box to get them- easy peasy compliance. It means the club don’t have to try and recontact thousands of people to get consent who haven’t because details have changed or email isn’t seen as it goes to spam folder.
Due to the new restrictions on salary cap (thanks to Bradford) In order to sort out finances regarding how much they will have available to spend on the salary cap the club need to have an idea of how much money they are going to take on ST - so offering half year season tickets at the start isn’t really helpful- however they HAVE offered packages for later on the year that are similar to a part year ticket. And of course all the other offers available.
They tried to solve the problem of moved games be firstly- offering money back on any game that had to be moved, then changing to fridays (different demographic) and as a result changed a lot of their marketing strategies to connect with those more likely to attend on Fridays- eg Instagram and other social media platforms.
Just because they don’t do things the way YOU want doesn’t mean it’s not the best all round!
I know your miffed because the club didn’t take on board your suggestions- but ken didn’t become a multi millionaire by not knowing how to run a business.

They don’t need to collect new email information under GDPR THEY JUST NEEDED TO EMAIL everyone already on their list to ask to use or keep their information.

With. ST if they offer a half one at the beginning of the season and someone purchases it then they know how many they have sold. 2 half tickets plus one full ticket means they have sold two full season tickets at whatever price they have sold at.

Your argument about offers later in the years misses the mark.

They need to give flexibility at the beginning to tempt people to buy in advance. Give people options that way they buy in advance rather than throw in the odd offer here and there when people have already made their club.

It is about developing brand loyalty and creating a dynamic.

But I am not going to argue about marketing strategies.

The club has been badly run for years no matter how much money ken has made from his businesses.

You are either in the camp that the club has been run badly backed up by arguements or in the camp that it has been run well.

I know where I stand.

Interesting jools, I have often said the same thing about KD but in my mind there is little doubt that he would not be a multi millionaire if he had run his other businesses like the Giants. The whole club brings to mind panicked headless chickens and i wonder if Rugby really matters or if it's just a necessity or condition of being part of the stadium and future developments.
Either way It's his business and as fans we have to be, and are, grateful for what he has done for the Giants but I would say he is just poring money down the tubes, Only he knows why and as fans we can only give opinions.

sometimes you can do all the marketing in the world but still not be able to sell the product, the on field product for the past few years hasnt been good enough to sell to new fans, we have even lost current fans! not being on sky much hasnt helped wither, but then again we have been on twice now this season and lost both!

we used to be on sky alot and were a top 4 team every season but the crowds didnt really improve much then but better than the levels we are at now

crabtree say over 1000 free tickets sold

so thats the attendance upto 5k at least so far!

The club has had no coherent brand strategy for years. Their attempts at marketing have been utterly laughable.

Their are companies in the town who would be able to help them, but it will cost money

Clueless got some stick apparently last thursday according to League Weekly with his latest botched strategy?

He got stuck from a fan who’s bought a season ticket who was angry that as he’d paid a massive £8 a game he felt badly done to that others were getting a freebie- it beggars belief!!!!!
Get a load of floaters in the ground with some interest in RL then at half time announce season ticket deals for next season/ part ticket deals for this. seems a good way to get the message to those already amenable.

It’s all very well people complaining about our marketing -but as I’ve said before I havent a clue how much the round ball tickets are- and during the season no idea when town are playing at home- even when I’m attending the stadium at the time- because I ignore all marketing about things that don’t interest me.

Not accurate reporting then from someone in the press box.

nows the time to really start pushing this out there

Managed to rustle up an extra 10 bods who don't usually go. Hopefully going to be a good night.

I chose to get a season ticket so accept that I’ve prepaid for this game that’s not a problem.

However my season ticket came with a guaranteed seat for the season where I sit amongst people that I have known for a fair old while.

It’s the ‘unreserved seating’ that gets me so if I get delayed and arrive late and the seat I paid for has gone to someone with a free ticket then it’s ‘tough tittys’

That seems a great way to have happy ST holders in the ground on Friday as one of the benefits of that ticket is if you arrive late your seat is still there especially if you work in York like me for example and are dependent on a clear route home then to Huddersfield.

No thought for the current fan base is the problem cos whoever thought they’d thought this through is wrong !!

yes seen this 'unreserved seating'

surely if you are a season ticket holder you can keep your seat

needs clarifying by the club