Ludo*1 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Admittedly this thread is partly inspired by the fact I've taken on a new job that will mean I'll miss quite a lot of Dundee games this season. However, thinking about it, we live in a culture that now works through Saturdays. For a large percentage, Saturday's could be their busiest day of the week. We talk about pricing the family out, but in some cases, Saturday is only the real chance families can spend time together since the kids are off school - is football with its ridiculous pricing really in the top 3 choices for a young family's day out on a Saturday? Also, 3pm - it's a bit of a day killer, is it not? Bit too early to plan anything major beforehand and is one of those times where the whole day is just a wait for the game! What's the alternative? Well, there's pros and cons to any time slot. Would a half 7 kick-off on a Friday be more convenient? More people would be off work, but younger children would perhaps miss out. Would an earlier kick-off be better? Pubs would miss out on some business you'd think due to the times they'd be able to serve alcohol from. We're also in a horrible situation in which we're directly competing with the EPL and their televised matches, so if we moved our schedule to say a Friday for example (Not that I'm saying Friday's are the way forward or that!) there's maybe the armchair fanbase to tap into, fans that used to support their club but realised it was easier to just stay in on a Saturday and watch 3 EPL games rather than fork out for a ticket. We always complain about people comparing the product we have on offer to the EPL due to them being in just a different league monetary wise compared to them, but it's going to continue to happen if we put our matches on at the same time as their games and give them the choice of choosing EPL at home, or Scottish football at a dearer cost. This thread is obviously not taking into account televised Scottish matches, I'm just meaning in general by the way! Are we just a bit too keen on Saturday 3pm due to nostalgic reasons when we're living in more of a 24/7 world than we ever have been or is it still the best time to put our matches on at, despite it being in direct competition with the prime time EPL games? ETA: For what it's worth, I genuinely don't know if Saturday at 3pm is the perfect time or not. I'd be open to suggestions and debate, but not against Saturday 3pm either even if it seems like it from the thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Youve far too much time on your hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 RandomGuy., on 05 Aug 2015 - 21:03, said:Youve far too much time on your hands Yes, because you and your 18,258 posts in 2 years is time well spent! Bit pot, kettle! P&B is a time waster, I think that's the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 I hate weekend games,would rather always play Friday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFAANW Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Monday morning games would be a laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerrdavidson95 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Saturday 3pm is perfect. Can go into town in the morning, have a roll & sausage and have a few pints before the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFAANW Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Saturday 3pm is perfect. Can go into town in the morning, have a roll & sausage and have a few pints before the game. Who looks after the boat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 I think if I had to choose, push come to shove, I prefer Friday night games to Saturday games. Then again, I love most games that are played under floodlights for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alert Mongoose Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Saturday afternoon, evening and Friday night are the only acceptable answers here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 I'd go for 2pm, still time for a relaxed couple of pints and a chat about the game before going home for tea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Evidence from crowds would seem to indicate fairly solidly that Saturday afternoon remains the optimal time for football games in Scotland - and within that it is unlikely that moving away from 3pm to something like 2pm / 2:30pm / 3:30pm (which was the time up to WWI) / 4pm would make enough of a difference to be worth the hassle. Evening matches - particularly Friday evenings - are tough for away fans to get to, poor for public transport (as are Sundays) and plenty people go out. SPL and SFL experimented with Friday games, but after an initial novelty factor they didn't seem to get better crowds than Saturdays - and sometimes worse. They're still used for TV matches but it's been a couple of seasons since clubs chose to move a Saturday game to Friday night, IIRC. Sunday afternoon games seem to get worse crowds than Saturday afternoon games. Admittedly a lot of them are on TV but games which aren't, such as those moved due to EL matches or the other big club in the city being at home, also seem to reflect this. Lunchtime is probably the worst of all times. Monday evenings are probably the worst of all days. Plus if you moved away from Saturday afternoons you'd clash with live EPL games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR96 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Saturday 3pm is perfect IMO. Can hit the pub at about midday for some lunch/pints beforehand. Time for a few more pints after the game before heading up the road and getting changed to go out again. I like midweek games because it gives you something to look forward to during the day, but I work backshift so always end up to take a few hours off to go to the game. Sunday games are fucking dreadful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Our culture does not actually "work through Saturdays"; you just have a shit job that forces you to do so. Deal with it. Glad we managed to clear this thread up so quickly tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Saturday 3pm is perfect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Monday morning games would be a laugh. Worth recalling that before floodlights, it was quite common to have afternoon games during the week... cup replays (or first ties which got postponed), midweek internationals (after a while only England-Scotland was played on a Saturday) and league internationals, most rearranged league games and so on. Things were worst before 1916 as no British Summer Time made games even in August & April-May hard after about teatime. Crowds suffered of course but absenteeism from work flourished. Midweek football was banned during the wars and in the late 1940s. During the autumn of 1912 a theory gained currency that shop-keepers and others who worked Saturday afternoons would turn-out in decent numbers during their day off during the week. Our 6 largest clubs formed an Inter-City Midweek League and 7 smaller ones a Glasgow District Midweek League. Poor crowds meant both weren't completed. http://scottish-football-historical-archive.com/icml.htm http://scottish-football-historical-archive.com/gdml.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 vikingTON, on 05 Aug 2015 - 21:31, said:vikingTON, on 05 Aug 2015 - 21:31, said: Our culture does not actually "work through Saturdays"; you just have a shit job that forces you to do so. Deal with it. Glad we managed to clear this thread up so quickly tbh. I was in a good enough position to not take it if it was shit. Missing out on Dundee games were the only downside of taking the new job tbh (There's an easy tap in for you if I ever seen one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gav-ffc Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Sunday afternoon games are fucking woeful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addie Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 3pm on a Saturday has always been the way. If folk are too stupid to work weekends then that's their look out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 This is like one of those Facebook conversations with the OP desperate for someone to ask them what their new job is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.