Gor Mahia membership drive falls below expectations
The Gor Mahia membership recruitment drive was officially launched on May 13 2014 amid pomp and circumstance. The officials even went as far as predicting that they would reach a target of 1 million members which to most people seems impossible. A more reasoble target would have been 25,000 to 30,000, about the amount of people it would take to fill Nyayo stadium.
However as secretary general Chris Omondi tells goal.com, the initiative has been a flop as fans have not shown interest. “The take up has been very poor. Many fans have not taken it up and we are thinking of re-launching it again,” Gor Mahia Secretary General Chris Omondi admitted to Goal.
So what could the reasons be ?
It is likely that some fans think that the club still has not done enough to assuage their concerns for accountability. It is also true that the club has not been aggressive enough in promoting the membership drive. There has been nothing about it in the newspapers recently. There have been no officials trying to promote the membership drive. They simply kicked off the drive and waited for fans to register.
Aside from membership, the club has not pursued other revenue ventures such as re-introducing the original “Gor Mahia” jerseys that used to sell like hot cakes before the Tuzo jerseys took over. With the club in dire need of additional revenue, there has been no attempt to sell other club merchandize.
I don’t understand how the officials thought that launching a product is all that is required for a brand to be succesfull. Remember that Tusker Lager and Mercedes Benz despite their success are always being marketed.
Get slots on radio, TV newspapers and even do roadshws and you will see the uptake go up. Also practice some transparency by constantly letting fans know what is going on in the club.
even EUROBOND was marketed
Market it to the diaspora !
I had suggested before that the membership forms should be deposited with chase bank. I once went to hurlingham chase bank to pay but they did not have the membership application form hence did not take my membership fee. I could not obtain the application forms at Olympic and kibera fort Jesus Gor Mahia offices. The forms should be easily available. Gor Mahia should also launch the membership drive with a bank which can be found in estates like kibera such as KCB, Equity, cooperative bank etc. Gor Mahia followers who do not go to the stadium are more than those who go to the stadium. Gor Mahia membership drive should get away of getting these followers who don’t go to the stadium. Last, what is the latest update? How many people have registered and how much has been raised through the pay bill number 3501000?
What happened to 350100?
The brand will only be vibrant when we separate the EC and the daily operations of the club.Lets have employees/proffesionals with set targets running the club not these EC which seems clueless in marketing matters.Gradually they will kill all the initiatives and we will go back to the dogs e.g how do you contribute continue contributing to 350100 when nobody bothers to update you on the progress?
Let supporters know more of what is going on inside the club office, so far how are you handling the case with kra. How did the kra issues come and what are your planA, B and C to get out of this problem before the next office.
We also need updates on transfers. Just read that Ssentogo’s transfer has hit a wall due to his differences with his club, URA. more updates will help us make informed decisions.
On Chase Bank and membership let’s have the bank to come and register us during our matches
Brothers, this is a self inflicted pain where players and fans are the ones suffering. The EC has no problem. seriously, no one bothers to update us on the ongoings of the club. I have just read on futaa.com about the Ugandan striker whose deal might hit a snug. I think I miss George Bwana. With his heckling atleast we got to know what was happening.
This people Rachier included do not have development ideas, they might be good administrators or lawyers but they can not salvage a sinking boat.
Give proffessionals a chance EC.
Mr Chris Omondi, stop apportioning blame. Don’t do things same way and expect different results. Look further than the club members my dear. I can assure you of something, you will struggle to go past the 60,000 mark!!
PRIORITIES, PRIORITIES, PRIORITIES.
First & foremost soccer is all about entertainment ( & winning). Our beloved club is no longer playing entertaining soccer and goals are hard to come by.
Also GM fans hunger for regional/continental success. Winning derbies (& grudge matches) is also very high on the fans list. Achieve these & stamp out hooliganism and fans will troop to GM matches.
Next is gate charges. Have terrace charges not higher than 150bob and VIP not more than 500bob. I say better charge 150 and have an average attendance of 15,000 fans whereby you raise kshs.2.25M per game & at least kshs.33.75M for the 15 league home games.
Thirdly is accountability. Maybe the only option left for GM is the cooperative way. The the only way a membership of 20,000 persons will make sense if members are contributing 250-500bob monthly.
Otherwise 30,000 members @ 100 per annum raises 3,000,000 enough to run the club for 1 month only.
20,000 members contributing 250/month for 12 months is kshs 60,000,000 per year. The membership can be payable 1/4ly in advance. All other commercial engagements by the club controlled by the GM cooperative. Revenue/profits realised by these ventures can be shared by the club/members.
Finally maybe its time to this EC to resign (yes even AR) since fans simply don’t trust them. How will they engage in marketing when the club is broke.
The club needs an SGM but the executive community will most likely not allow this.
The worst thing for us is to give up. Like soldiers we must march on. We cannot abandon our beloved club jut because of a few idea-less people at the helm. Just like I have not heard of a single kenyan migrating to UG or TZ because of the many issues we have in the country. All these bad things will come to pass.
In the short term we need to have non-EC members with marketing or PR experience to move the club forward as the elected EC enjoy their term in office.
@Dan Original and ODUOR12 ; i totally agree with your posts above.We all know the main source of our problems is the bloated and ineffective EC of which legally their is little we can do.
WE MUST SOLDIER ON SINCE GM WILL BE THEIR TO STAY AS THESE OFFICIALS COME AND GO.
hyo thao ni mingi na m’hustlers warudishe chini or ikuwe like za 200. 500. na za 1k
Ndio mafisi wakule pesa yangu. If there was enuf accountability all would have been fine
Moderation pliz!!