tom
Youth Team
Posts: 35 
|
Post by tom on Apr 2, 2023 20:09:54 GMT
My view about the complaints about season ticket prices is that as a fan base you need to decide. Do we want a successful team to challenge to go up and be sustainable or do we want cheap football but that’ll reflect in the club we have on and off the pitch.
Realistically to get promoted particularly with just the two spaces, my belief is we would need to have at least half a squad of league 1 standard players with the rest league 2 and a back up of national league standard to get the quality and consistency to perform and get results week in and week out. These players are not cheap and in demand!
The EFL will have stricter ground and facilities criteria and I imagine quite a bit of work will be required (a lot of the work may not be visible to the average supporter) and more personnel off the field will be needed to be recruited.
Do I think everything’s been planned and communicated right? No, Should Tom have been doing interviews for web and social media regarding the season tickets and also the local media rounds to give more context rather than hiding away yes.
So we have a choice be part of the journey to progress but do it being sustainable and the club won’t get it right all the time (no club does) and I think the current club and Stewart do have a lot to learn.
Or we can off load our high earners and decent players replace them with cheaper players and have a lower national league/nls/southern league standard squad and pay £5/6 a time and have more local fixtures? With players who try hard, may not be the best but you can have a pint with after the game
|
|
|
|
Post by sotonspitfire on Apr 2, 2023 20:29:23 GMT
This is my 2nd season as a st holder and I'm pretty happy with how we have had it for the last 2 years but am resigned to the price increase if we wanna try and be successful.
|
|
|
|
Post by usspitfire on Apr 3, 2023 2:21:28 GMT
Unless anyone has a couple of semi famous Hollywood actors laying around in a cupboard at home, the club had no option but to increase ST prices to help raise funds to try to make the team competitive. Hopefully they can play a more attractive brand of football next season to make the price increase an easier pill to swallow.
|
|
|
|
Post by loudnproud on Apr 3, 2023 4:14:36 GMT
The one that pisses me off is the rise in concession age without any chat about the fans stuck in the ages in between the rise. If the club had said 64 for new season ticket holders. But the fans renewing between 61 and 63 will still get the concession. That would have been ok with me.
Could have done without the 15 quid charge for paying on the drip. But that is what it is i suppose.
Apart form that still cheap as chips.
|
|
|
|
Post by hantslondoner on Apr 3, 2023 8:36:41 GMT
Let's say we have 1500 S/T holders. If the price goes up by, say, £50 per person, then that's £75000. What's that going to buy us?
Paul Mullin, for example, is on a reported £4500 per week so that would pay his salary for a few months. It might just about pay for a League 2 standard player (I've seen reports that on average they earn c£1500 a week).
I think we need a bit more than this! The 'big three', and others, have budgets we will never be able to compete with, unless someone like Stewart Donald comes back.
We have done very well to lie sixth in the league, with a fair chance of the playoffs, against all this.
As Tom says above:
'Do I think everything’s been planned and communicated right? No, Should Tom have been doing interviews for web and social media regarding the season tickets and also the local media rounds to give more context rather than hiding away yes.'
I'd like to have seen a 'fan focus group' being consulted about the new S/T and parking price changes first, to see what they thought. A lot of businesses would have done that. The concession thing referred to by loudandproud, for example, may have been reconsidered if they had got proper feedback. I'd like to have seen discussions on parking (yes, I know) and movement around the ground.
It would have been nice for the club to get 'buy-in' from the fans and for them to understand how the extra money generated was going to be used.
|
|
|
|
Post by callumefc on Apr 3, 2023 9:38:42 GMT
I'd like to have seen a 'fan focus group' being consulted about the new S/T and parking price changes first, to see what they thought. A lot of businesses would have done that. The concession thing referred to by loudandproud, for example, may have been reconsidered if they had got proper feedback. I'd like to have seen discussions on parking (yes, I know) and movement around the ground.
Spot on, however I think part of the issue is that the people in charge of the club are actual fans, so green light things thinking that's what the masses will like. Think the concessions group have been let down massively I would say they make up a good 30-40% of our attendees. Ultimately things will probably only change if people stay away next season.
|
|
|
|
Post by callumefc on Apr 3, 2023 9:45:38 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by hantslondoner on Apr 3, 2023 10:02:04 GMT
I think Wrexham need to go up!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by westendspitfire on Apr 3, 2023 16:40:54 GMT
Realistically I cannot see how the increase in ticket prices will push us into real promotion contenders. Financially unless we have a very rich benefactor, I suspect the increased prices will allow us to compete where we are, but we will need some very good wheeling and dealing in recruitment to have as successful a season as we are currently having. Managing the club on a day to day basis must be costing at least 20% more then it was forecast 12 months ago so there goes the majority of the increase before you factor in any future increases.
Obviously if SD comes back all bets are off but there will always be clubs at this level with fanbases 3 times the size of ours and they are already paying higher prices so not sure how we compete financially with them.
|
|
|
|
Post by newspitfire on Apr 3, 2023 17:14:49 GMT
Realistically I cannot see how the increase in ticket prices will push us into real promotion contenders. Financially unless we have a very rich benefactor, I suspect the increased prices will allow us to compete where we are, but we will need some very good wheeling and dealing in recruitment to have as successful a season as we are currently having. Managing the club on a day to day basis must be costing at least 20% more then it was forecast 12 months ago so there goes the majority of the increase before you factor in any future increases. Obviously if SD comes back all bets are off but there will always be clubs at this level with fanbases 3 times the size of ours and they are already paying higher prices so not sure how we compete financially with them. Viscous circle really, personally I’d be doing everything I could to encourage the younger generation to attend games. They’re the ones that Make the atmosphere more lively . |
|
|
|
Post by usspitfire on Apr 3, 2023 18:10:37 GMT
The one that pisses me off is the rise in concession age without any chat about the fans stuck in the ages in between the rise. If the club had said 64 for new season ticket holders. But the fans renewing between 61 and 63 will still get the concession. That would have been ok with me. Could have done without the 15 quid charge for paying on the drip. But that is what it is i suppose. Apart form that still cheap as chips. I agree. They should have Grandfathered in (no pun intended) anyone who had a 60+ season ticket this season. |
|
