Market this!

In most football leagues and most sports in general, every fan at some point is an armchair coach. Sitting in you recliner watching your teams away game yelling at the screen - "SUB THAT USELESS TWAT OFF AND BRING ON _______!"

Some of you may even be armchair owners deep in discussions with your mates about who to buy and sell at Arsenal, or whether this or that club really can afford its new stadium.

In Australia amongst the followers of our A-League we have a new breed of armchair occupation, the Armchair Marketing guru. There is a clear reason why they exist as the marketing of the league has been negligible since season two which was followed by diminishing crowds. This spawned a legion of un-trained and un-qualified armchair marketeers who all knew how to get the turnstiles clicking.

To be perfectly fair, most of their ideas seemed logical and easy to implement.

Gold Coast fans wanted more community involvement as they felt the club had alienated too many people before it had even kicked its first ball. Newcastle fans claimed that their fan base was hard done by with constant Sunday fixtures. Melbourne Victory fans suggested a "bring a flare day" at the stadium every month was the answer, in hindsight that one was never going to work.

Fans all across Australia called for reduced ticket pricing as the answer, and just as many pleaded for free entry to children or those who played at grass roots level.

Well here is the thing, sometimes the obvious things just don't work the way logic would tell us.

Last season Sydney FC did what some had asked, and opened the gates for registered players. The idea was that these kids would come for free and drag along paying adults to bring them and supervise them. The result was an average crowd of 12,987 in 2009/10 reduced down to 7990 for 2010/11. Obviously form was a factor between the two, but essentially the teams were the same except that the 2010/11 team had the benefit of being the reigning double champions. Even with their miserable season, they should have attracted at least a 10,000 average despite their miserable season turning the less loyal away.

Clive Palmer opened his gates for free on the Gold Coast, but ironically this is viewed not as a bold attempt to win over the public but as another point to relentlessly talk the club down - armchair marketers hey, go figure. In the end all Clive proved to me is that people are willing to come if they think the price is fair. I commented to a fellow fan at last nigh'ts GCU preseason trial game, that if Palmer had announced at the time $5 admission for everyone, instead of free admission he would have still pulled in around 10,000 people. Unfortunately the club did not make enough of an impact into the market following this initiative or perhaps didn't capitalise on it correctly, as the status quo of crowds continued much the same after it.

All these efforts have been smashed by Tinkler's Newcastle Jets who are almost giving their home passes away. A family of three can go see the Jets play all year for the same money my single membership has cost me this year. That is very significant. Ticket pricing is what you - the armchair marketing gurus - have cited as the number one factor keeping people away. But will it work?

I don't want to be pessimistic but history and logic do not seem to be on our side.

Logic tells me this is a deadset certainty, and hopefully for once logic prevails. But besides the Gold Coast, who else can afford to do this? Will it lead to a revolution in the way our game is priced? Will the Jets prove that 10,000 people at $8.85 a pop is better than GCU's 3500 at $30 a pop.

Regardless of Newcastle's fortunes this year, the last thought has to be laid at the feet of the FFA. They have made some bold claims after the accusations that the A-league starved in the shadow of the World Cup bid, with a new marketing team and a huge budget to spread the good word across Australia. Will this new firm and FFA come up with the goods?

Again, I don't want to be pessimistic but history and logic do not seem to be on our side.