ok victory guys calm down

we have to admit since the comp has started victory has lead the league off the pitch with members. 

While sydney went with dwight yorke victory went with returning melbourne players and exciting youth players.

What has really helped them?

Apart from creatting an identity from the start . Victory have always done excellent community  engagement. 

I think sustained success (for the most part) has been vital also, there hasn't been many seasons were we haven't been up there competing for the top few spots.

But sydney has been as successful even adelaide has and even WSW won the acl but victory has really not lost many fans over the years 

Ooops just realised I missed the point, you said "off field" my bad.

In that case, from a memberships stand point, MV's communication (via email, text, postal) is really good and the few times I've considered letting my membership lapse, there's generally been a nice contact or communication that triggers me to re-sign.

Last season for example, I received a call and was happy to chat with the person about membership. I basically said I was going to struggle to get to games this season with two little ones in the mix and work commitments on top. She sold me on the supporter membership as a way to keep it going and support the club at a cheaper rate for me. Worked a charm as this season I'm back in as normal.

So it's those little things, that impact individuals, that can make a big difference.

They're not owned by the City Group.  That's always a good off field start. Plus they have fans. 

To be fair, all they had to do is win some trophies (or at least be contenders for trophies) and they were going to succeed from a fans/members perspective. The population density and central location meant it was always going to work.

Although they are very good at community engagement they are even better at the corporate side of things. 'Victory in Business' is the largest sporting network group in the country and hugely successful. 

They were the only ones who made an aggressive push towards targeting football fans whilst the rest followed the ffa into thinking they had some sort of bogan golden ticket. Look at the inaugural membership board, it’s wog central. Anyone they didn’t capture originally  they lured in within 2 years.

i hated the, for it because they ran on an enti ethnic club platform which absolutely butchered clubs like mine but you can’t argue with the results. 

When their sponsors have sponsors 😂😂😂

General community engagement seems to be top notch. Victory in Business is a good example of commercial outreach too.

Beat me to it.

Victory was considered a one stop shop for all Victorian fans at the leagues inception.
Basically by season 3 the club had hooked in a majority of the football market in the state and had a huge market share.

They signed the better ADP

Victory has always operated as a big club and have continuously confirmed that status through membership, commercial and operational success which has meant the on-field performance has been a bonus to their overall brand. They just know what to do and have perfected it.

Compare that to Sydney who for as long as I can remember have been trying to convince themselves and other people how much of a big club (they think) they are... I remember when the A-League started and the whole Bling FC tag was their claim to fame which basically turned off many people, myself included, in Western Sydney - which they made minimal effort to engage with I might add. Along with the fact that I knew people involved at the Mariners, that was probably the biggest reason I never followed them but instead took up regular free tickets to attend Mariners games until WSW were founded. I think Arnie went a long way towards scrapping that mentality when he took over at Sydney by making them winners rather than posers, though I can't help but feel that mentality still creeps back from time to time since he left. 

I've always wondered how big WSW would be right now (in comparison to Victory) if they were the lone foundation Sydney team back in 2005. I may be biased but I think our potential for further growth is enormous and we have proved during our existence to date that we can reach that tier Victory are in, especially in terms of membership/following.

Who was that? danny allsopp 

He's referring to Anthony Di Pietro.

Victory in business has been a huge success. having a massive influence on getting AAMI park built has also been huge. but overall, the events on the pitch in season 2 has probably made the club what it is today. we were the talk of the town in those days. 

But I have to say, the club has dropped the ball over the last few years. lack of active support. GA ticket prices. re-classifying reserved seats. Refusing to reduce the amount of games at Marvel is really hurting the club I reckon. membership numbers and average crowd numbers are stagnant. some of this can be contributed to the downfall of the league as a whole,no doubt, but the club isn't really doing a lot to grow right now. its more about maintaining the status quo.  

I will add that there were a couple of good initiatives last week. The player figurines (which sold out) and home game posters are both new ideas.


Anthony Di Pietro.

touche 

His first season  in charge, he literally nearly destroyed the club.  Sacked merrick, hired mehms, got  Harry but had a novice and  over his head coach.  Hired magilton.  Signed up enegery watch as a sponsor and had that god ugly hi vis  kit

Re Marvel I think you will find that Victory very unwisely locked themselves into a long term contract way back in the days when they were pulling much bigger crowds.  No room to move there.

They also make more money due to lower fees and higher attendances. As much as AAMI is better for football, money making opportunities should always be explored.

They chose to extend that deal years later, despite it being half empty by then.

They locked in a long term deal just before it got handed over to the AFL. Smart, if you ask me. Leaves options open for the club when otherwise they'd be negotiating with the AFL who aren't exactly our friends.

I'd have preferred that we just tell them to fuck off permanently and not care about options.

We can't just keep putting off a full move to AAMI Park just to indefinitely keep foot in the door of a shit stadium.

Off field they’ve engaged with local community clubs.
Every season senior players regularly go out and attend training sessions for junior teams at local clubs.

Every home match has miniroo teams from local clubs. Free entry and little gifts. My kid has played on AAMI twice and delivered the match ball to the ref once.

Host citizenship ceremonies every year.

Partnered with SEDA to deliver educational courses in sports management/performance.

They are trying to start a community football facility, but struggling with planning.

I thought the only reason we keep persisting with that soulless husk of a stadium is because the deal is so good that it's the only thing keeping us in the black. I recall reading that we only need about 2k people to rock up and we make a match-day profit. 

Yeah and at the last member's forum ADP was saying we lose money most times playing at AAMI. If we can't afford to have all our games there, then that's just reality.

What we need, of course, is our own stadium at the E-Gate site, before the last suitable land for a stadium in the city centre is gone.

You and I both know  that egate  will  end up with the afl 

Fighting with a bunch of hippies over a rubbish tip?

Have to agree with this. Every year ADP makes a big speech about targeting 30k members, being the biggest club in Asia, developing an academy etc. but nothing much gets done. I would like to see some concrete steps taken and more engagement from the higher ups. Danny Townsend is on Twitter and constantly engages with their fans, while there's virtually no correspondence from our board as to how the club is growing.