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Northwich Guardian this week

J

John LILBURN

I Live Here
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May 16, 2014
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I was reading the latest Northwich Guardian and 1874 had a lot of coverage in the sports pages particularly with reference to our recent promotion but I was very interested in the comments of "The Fly" who is one of the regular columnists and his observations about 1874 and the issue of local football generally.

"The Fly" was very complimentary about the ethos of 1874 and how he couldn't understand the sniping and undermining by others of a club such as 1874 which was run by local people, accountable to them and for their benefit which must be a "good thing" and he also drew comparisons with other clubs which rely on a "Sugar Daddy" on whose largesse and generosity the clubs survival depends.

His final comment was that he couldn't understand the plethora of local clubs in Northwich when one club representing the town would make more sense and I felt that it echoed a comment made by Board member Tony Fallows at the meeting on Tuesday when he noted that the demographic changes in the town over the past forty years.

Northwich has grown and will continue to grow dramatically over the next few years and many newer residents are not local and do not have the traditional allegiances to local clubs such as Witton, Barnton, and even Flixton Victoria that many of the older and more established families have and this may be a great opportunity for 1874 to tap into the footballing seam of the newer arrivals by emphasizing the local, solvent and accountable nature of OUR club as distinct from the excesses of FIFA and the Premier League.

On the run-up to the start of the new season Tony suggested that it is up to the owners of 1874 to publicize OUR club by word of mouth, advertising, and other incentives to get the newer arrivals to the games and establish a rapport and allegiances to 1874 and the town of Northwich.
 
I know that Chubbs has printed an advertisement for the FCUM game and I wondered if we could get some printed off and put into shops and the public display cases in the Northwich market area and if so who is prepared to take it on board?
 
The issue of promoting the club around the town is an issue close to my heart and which was raised at the supporters meeting this week. I suggest that we should approach all the local barbers, supermarkets and pubs in the town in asking for permission to display promotional material on a week to week basis, starting with the FCUM game. I am happy to organise this. I know that Jonnos would be happy to display a poster.

I would float the idea as to whether we could string up some advertising at the major roundabouts going out of town. I am thinking of the Kingsmead roundabout where I often see temporary advertising for the likes of local school fairs etc displayed. However, I wouldn't want us to break the law if this is not legal.

The bottom line, however, is to keep spreading the good news about our club by word of mouth and perhaps we could think about another leeaflet drop through the doors of Northwich, although I accept that this is a time comsuming excercise and might not be of any great cost benefit.

Perhaps we need to get out on the streets of Northwich (say once a month on the Artisan's market day) to publicise the club and to hand out fixture lists to anybody who is interested.

This is just a few of my thoughts, but one thing for sure is that we have the potential to grow our club with the people of Northwich with the hard work of all our supporters, although I accept that this would be a much easier task in the years to come when we eventually find a home back in Northwich which will happen one day.

Hopefully, if the club continues to be successful, then we will grow our support over the next few years. I am sure that there are still a number of ex VICS fans out there who still remain to be convinced that it is worthwhile supporting our club. I am confident that we will attract more fans, although I am keen to look at ways in which we can attract a lot more younger fans to support our club and to come to games as they will become the lifeblood of the club in the future.

Thanks to everbody for their support of the club last season and hopefully looking forward to your continued support next season.

Gaz.
 
Apologies for harping on about my local club down here, but Wimborne Town have a sort of semi-permanent board positioned on the various strategic access routes into the town which advertises when their next game is and who against, plus one slap bang in the town centre. Some of these are on private land, but others are fixed into the grass verges (or with the town centre one, fixed to the railings outside the town council office!), so I presume the council will have been consulted and will have given permission. I think 'as long as it doesn't distract the driver at a key point in the road' is probably a central concern, so the roundabout idea might not go down too well in official quarters, but it's possibly worth asking whichever council has the jurisdiction over certain key roads. After all, we are supposed to have laws based on precedent, and there is a clear precedent down here. They can only say no. Or maybe yes.
 
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Alan Marshall said:
Apologies for harping on about my local club down here, but Wimborne Town have a sort of semi-permanent board positioned on the various strategic access routes into the town which advertises when their next game is and who against, plus one slap bang in the town centre. Some of these are on private land, but others are fixed into the grass verges (or with the town centre one, fixed to the railings outside the town council office!), so I presume the council will have been consulted and will have given permission. I think 'as long as it doesn't distract the driver at a key point in the road' is probably a central concern, so the roundabout idea might not go down too well in official quarters, but it's possibly worth asking whichever council has the jurisdiction over certain key roads. After all, we are supposed to have laws based on precedent, and there is a clear precedent down here. They can only say no. Or maybe yes.
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Alan - as a former Highways Area Manager for the now defunct Cheshire County Council, I can advise you that all 'unofficial' signs on the highway are exactly that and could be removed at any time, particularly if as you say they were deemed as being a distraction to road users. Strictly speaking, you would need to obtain a licence from the local highway authority to erect a permanent or even temporary sign on the highway - for which you would have to pay for! However, in practice, there are often 'unofficial' signs dotted all over the place that are either left there for some time or are put there for a specific event. Most highway authorities simply don't have the staff to keep on top of all these 'illegal' signs so it often isn't a high priority. Some Councils have developed specific policies which do permit 'non-highway' signs on the highway and indeed I played a major role in doing this for CCC when I was employed by them a decade or so ago. However, if they do permit 'illegal' signs, then they tend only to allow ones that advertise 'community' events such as fetes etc.

Even signs on private land are subject to the planning regulations so that isn't an easy one to persue either!

The whole issue of highway law is actually really fascinating (no, honestly, it is!) and something I took a keen interest in when I worked in the industry.

Anyhow, here endeth the lecture.....
 
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Whist not discounting the idea, I have found door to door leafleting not to be a particularly effective advertising medium. Business returns for door to door drops normally only average a 1 to 2 percent enquiry return and can prove expensive both in printing costs and distribution time.
Currently I find that a good website and social media are providing the best enquiry return rate.
 
Peter Hollinshead said:
The comments on the Guardian website provide some interesting reading. Witton fans are certainly helping with the debate and indirectly helping with the promotion of 1874

http://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/sport/1874northwich/11248765.1874_to_go_up_after_all/

:scarf:
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Just read all the above from the Guardian.
Isnt it great to be talking football in the town again. I have never had a problem with Witton and wish them all the best, however me thinks one or two. may now be looking over their shoulders.
 
Door to door advertising must be a no.
Letter box banging ever 5 bloody minutes, picking up fliers advertising all kinds of offers, its frustrating, annoying and a complete waste of paper.

Posters displayed around town in prominent areas, shop windows/pubs is a much better idea but they must be poster size, eye catching, straight to the point, updated and replaced when out of date or it starts to look unprofessional.
 
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Some kind of big show for the first game of the season maybe a goood idea? Take the match ball on a tour of northich for example, something that gets the guardian inolved but towards the front of the paper
 
I think the hardest thing in getting new fans from the Northwich area is getting them to watch a 'Northwich' team that plays in Winsford!
We are technically only a Northwich team in name.
Look at it as a neutral. Would you be interested in travelling out of town to watch us?
At the moment it's going to be hard to convince them to watch us as their local team when we're not local.
I think we have some great selling points and for now we should advertise them as best we can, but I also think it will be easier to gain fans from all the new housing that is being built in Northwich when we are based in Northwich.
 
There is no harm from attracting fans from the Cheshire area in total or further afield, I have friends who have come too a few games from Chester, Liverpool, middlewich. 1874 becoming their second team. Its more a buy into 1874 as a whole. I am sure FCUM fans aren't all living on the door step.
 
Richard Stockton said:
There is no harm from attracting fans from the Cheshire area in total or further afield, I have friends who have come too a few games from Chester, Liverpool, middlewich. 1874 becoming their second team. Its more a buy into 1874 as a whole. I am sure FCUM fans aren't all living on the door step.
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Very true Richard, as I said, let's promote the positives our club has for now and get as many new faces as we can and then, hopefully, when we are based locally we will be in a great position to push on further and gain as many new local fans as possible.
 
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