Wolves' managing director targets new generation of fans

Dalrymple launched a new season ticket initiative on Monday in which all fans will be entitled to a partial refund of up to £119 should Wolves shift 16,500 season tickets before the end of May.

Adult prices have been frozen from last season, while kids tickets have been slashed.

And 1,700 have been sold already – a 400 per cent increase on this time last year.

Crowds dipped to 20,156 on average last season, down 2,300 from 2014/15, but are now back on the up with the average for 2016/17 currently 21,799.

Dalrymple, though, wants to see the 31,700 stadium full. And while performances on the pitch will of course largely dictate that, he hopes cheaper prices for youngsters and an increased sense of transparency and togetherness at Molineux will help get the masses back on board.

In an extensive interview with the Express & Star, the second part of which will be published next week, Dalrymple said: "We've got a responsibility to start developing the fans of tomorrow.

"We're really pleased with the reaction and pleased with the numbers.

"To be over 400 per cent up is really encouraging.

"The other crucial statistic is that 38 per cent of those are new.

"There's a real fundamental desire to broaden our fanbase – I wouldn't go as far as saying we've got an ageing fanbase but it veers more towards the 30-60-year-old age range.

"We've talked to a lot of fans who said their first game was with their granddad, or their dad, Barnsley at home in 1953 type-of-thing. I wonder if we've lost a bit of that.

"There's a real element of wanting to get that back and we're also conscious that we have had a bit of disengagement with fans over the past few seasons and we need to work hard to get that back.

"And it's also loyalty to the group that have stuck with us through thick and thin, to say how much we appreciate it.

"Due to fixture changes it bounces around a bit but we want that "it's 3pm at Molineux on a Saturday, I'm with my dad, my mum, my mates, whoever, and it's football time".

"I think that's there to a point. But we want to grow that feeling and that togetherness."

Wolves currently have 13,500 season ticket holders, meaning it'll take a considerable jump to hit that 16,500 target before the end of May.

But Dalrymple, who took over as managing director in the wake of former chief executive Jez Moxey's departure last summer, is very confident the figure will be hit.

He cites the current feelgood factor around Molineux, plus recent good results, as well as an inventive offer of a partial refund.

"We've got a financial model where ticketing delivers such a large part of our income that we can't remodel that too much to the point where we have any less income from ticketing," Dalrymple added.

"But we've got 8,000-10,000 empty seats and we want more fans in the stadium.

"We're really confident we can hit that figure. It won't be easy but I think we will get there.

"We've got a responsibility to deliver a good fan experience that's worthy of that payment to us – and a quality viewing spectacle on the field of play.

"I'd be really disappointed if we didn't.

"And I mean this genuinely – nothing would give me greater pleasure than to get to 16,500 and start the refunds."

Dalrymple, formerly head of commercial affairs, said the possibility of a partial refund should Wolves fall short of the 16,500 figure was a 'question for a later date' but hoped it wasn't a bridge they would have to cross.

Reaction to the season ticket initiative from a fanbase that could be described as cynical at the best of times was overwhelmingly positive.

Dalrymple is keen for Wolves to be as transparent as possible – and to both reward existing fans and encourage new ones at the same time.

"The social media reaction was rewarding," he said. "We've worked on it for quite some time and we knew we wanted to have a robust plan that coincided with strong performances.

"Back in August we made a statement that we wanted to fill Molineux again. At the time we placed a bit of the onus on the priority being playing good football – and I still believe that's a huge part of getting bums on seats.

"We could give it away for free and if the football's dire people wouldn't sit and watch it.

"We've always felt we've got a real responsibility to price it appropriately. I don't think the pricing structure we have now is massively fractured anyway. When you come to the 4-4 Fulham game it's more than value for money.

"But I'm acutely aware of the empty seats so we have to do something reasonably evolution to get those fans back in.

"There is a strategy behind it. Fortuitously we've got some really big games in the second half of the season.

"If we get through the next few games with some good results, then in terms of where we are, not just in terms of ticket sales but where we finish the season, the next month is massive for us."