eardun

Surprised Knight on the bench - although perhaps a last look at James 

Dear oh dear, cheer up everyone! People moan when we don’t sign someone, moan when we do, and when we sign someone who looks promising, they worry that he might change his mind  

22 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Anyone else getting this?  Ok on Mac and iPhone.

I did on my iPhone earlier. I reset the link on my Home Screen. 

12 minutes ago, Waffleflap said:

Cheers Dave. Still , I bet he regrets leaving a bigger club with more potential to go further than we ever will 

But Derby are our feeder club!

22 minutes ago, Waffleflap said:

Watch Derby overtake us next season 

Makes a change from people still worrying about Sheff Utd overtaking us. 

6 minutes ago, BS3_RED said:

Just scored a screamer

Hope to see some of that next season. 

6 minutes ago, INCRED said:

Just watching Derby v Carlisle and Max has just launched a screamer into the net for what is likely to be his last game for Derby 

Look forward to seeing him in our team next season 

Great strike. Going out with a bang. 

1 hour ago, mozo said:

Yep, and they certainly weren't meaningless for Manning, who was under pressure at that stage.

Or for the players, for various reasons. 

25 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

It does. However, having Leeds still down here makes it a tougher division next season.

If Ipswich don’t make it, McKenna won’t be there much longer.

That’s my view too. Would have preferred the parachute clubs out of the way for next season - Leeds have blown it though. 

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

15k is presumably THIS seasons figure? As it stands we have something over 12k for next season. With people not renewing I can’t see us reaching 14k, in fact nearer 13k would be my guess. Unless we really splash the cash he won’t need to worry about applying an upper limit for sales.

Yes 15k is this season’s figure - and that includes half season tickets. So 3k haven’t renewed. So final total will depend on how many new season tickets are sold now and how many half season tickets are sold in December. 

1 hour ago, Sleepy1968 said:

1. 12k+

2. Two reasons: They are trying to increase bums on seats, seeing as the South Stand attendances have been hugely under capacity for many games, with all tickets sold to ST holders (as in Sold Out). Also gives us cheaper POTD alternative.

3. I think some people got the wrong end of the stick. Ain't no way the Club would limit ST sales below the proscribed limit (there have to be a certain percent of POTD tickets available.)

Waits for people to disagree ...

 

On point 3, we’re just going on what Gavin Marshall said in the FBC podcast when he says we have 15k season ticket holders currently and (direct quote) “we probably don’t want to have that many more season ticket holders”.

He then goes onto talk about getting POTD seats in the SS by reducing season tickets there (ensures a mix of different fans in the SS like in the other stands) which is your point 2. This is consistent with what they said when they launched season tickets which was this:

“Following feedback at the Fans Forum in November, where there was a collective desire to improve matchday atmosphere, we have made a number of changes to try and increase matchday attendance, particularly in the South Stand by capping the number of Season Tickets to enable more match tickets to be made available here.”

I think someone said there is an EFL cap on percentage of season tickets but I’ve not seen it. However City themselves don’t seem to want to sell many more than 15k (if you take what GM says at face value) which would leave around 8k for POTD (home fans only). Their comms keep stating that there are limited tickets available. Of course they might be tested if people keep buying even after they get to, say, 16k - are they really going to say ‘no thanks’?! Not convinced they will sell that many though. 

The club could solve most of its problems by appointing a strong experienced comms person who could guide on the public messaging (assuming SL and JL would listen to that guidance of course). The comms around the removal of Alexander, the sacking of Pearson and reasons given for the sacking of Pearson after the event have all been so poor. 

2 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

Not sure the first march will be a great barometer. Early August, people still on holiday, match will be live on Sky.

I guess the club could boost numbers by making it a Mates Rates game.

No I’m not referring to how it looks in the ground. I mean by looking at how many POTD tickets go on sale online for the first match - that’s when we’ll see how many non season ticket holder seats are available in the SS.

2 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Personally I don't think it will have any material impact. 

Yes I’m not so sure either. Indeed some may have renewed precisely because of the ‘renewals- only’ policy, i.e. they may be concerned that if they leave the SS now, they might never be able to go back there again in the future. As I say, though, it will be interesting to see when tickets go on sale for the first match.

8 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

As the SS is constantly sold out, couldn't they implement this system on a stand by stand basis? 

Eventually the plan is for us to be successful so these issues will pop up. Why not future proof ourselves now whilst also dealing with a current issue? 

It will be interesting to see how many POTD tickets are available for sale in the SS for the first match of the season - I presume that will be the first time we will know how many SS ticket holders have not renewed/have moved to the family stand.

This is the Spurs rule for example:

1.5 Seat Utilisation

With huge demand for tickets to our home matches, and in order to maximise access to tickets, we shall continue to monitor the utilisation of Season Tickets throughout the 2024/25 season.

In an effort to increase ticket availability to One Hotspur Members, Season Ticket Holders will be responsible for ensuring that every effort is made for their Season Ticket seat to be occupied at home Premier League fixtures.

As well as attendance in person, a seat will be considered utilised if it is listed for sale on Ticket Exchange or shared with a friend or family member by using Ticket Share or Ticket Upgrade (see Section 6.3).

To be guaranteed a Season Ticket for the 2025/26 season, supporters will need to ensure that their seat has been utilised, as detailed above, for no less than 15 of the 19 home Premier League fixtures. The Club will work with any supporter at risk of not meeting this threshold during the season.

The Club will also be providing an amnesty period during the 2024/25 season for Season Ticket Holders who do not regularly attend matches themselves to transfer the ownership of their seat.

8 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I think there are many ways to do it. Miss 5 games in a row and you get your ticket deactivated for one game for example. Losing the seat would only happen following lots of periods of missed games. Pretty sure it's Brighton that does this. 

I think the big issue is these kids tickets. I don't think the increase will stop people buying them just to have a spare seat next to them. Because ultimately if they upgrade the shirt to an adults shirt then they are still only paying what 60 quid for the seat? 

Also there is the issue of adults are using these kids tickets. I've seen many people openly boast about it on various platforms. 

For the genuine people these people are spoiling it for them. 

No mate. Didn't watch it. Was engaged doing something else over the weekend. 

From what I have seen, clubs who have a use it or lose it policy re season tickets tend to combine it with one important caveat - they say if you advertise the seat for sale on their ticket exchange site, that is classed as using it (whether anyone buys it or not). Same if you forward it to a mate. That feels entirely appropriate/reasonable and it would be good if City create a site like this in the future. As @phantom has said though, it is unlikely to happen until there are regular sell outs as until then it makes more commercial sense for City to focus on selling the seats that haven’t been sold yet rather then spend money reselling the ones that have already been sold. 

Just now, Rocking Red Cyril said:

So has the club done anything to avoid the empty seats of unused season tickets 

The focus is on the South Stand. They are hopping that the following works:

1. Higher % price increase in the SS v other stands (to discourage purchase if not going to use it).

2. Even higher price increase for kids in the SS to discourage unused kids’ tickets there (can move to cheaper family stand).

3. No new season tickets in SS. 

4. All of the above to free up tickets for POTD fans.

Time will tell if that will work. Plus if the TV deal moves a lot of kick off times around, there may be more season tickets holders who can’t attend which may negate some of the above.

17 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Its slightly vague - as it could also be barbed to insinuate that JL had spoken to BT, thereby that BT should or would have backed NP.
The latter didn't happen; and I'd be shocked if, as appointed technical director, that BT hadn't known NP was going to be sacked before it was announced.

Nige was just commenting on the deconditioned point.

Of course BT would have been told about the sacking before it was announced but 1. that’s a different point, 2. It would have been ridiculous if he wasn’t told and 3. there is no way that the decision to sack was anyone’s other than the Lansdowns. 

1 hour ago, LondonBristolian said:

Really interesting points Allardyce makes about the confidentiality clause. Quite shocking that Pearson learned about the views and results on deconditioning via the interviews rather than anyone raising it before...

Actually that points the finger at JL rather than BT as NP says that if JL had any issues re deconditioning he could have spoken to BT to understand the position. 

12 minutes ago, Cov 77 said:

I don’t think they want to sell anything like 18k if previous utterings are anything to go by, I think nearer 15k tops , whatever their reasoning . 
 

To be fair I think fans groups have also pushed the changes regarding the south stand as a way to improve the atmosphere, to many cheap kids tickets not always attending for whatever reason leaving big gaps . 

Yes Gavin Marshall said they want to increase sales to just over 15k on the FBC podcast. 

23 minutes ago, Coombsy said:

Could you not have renewed your season ticket and do a seat move yesterday?

 

South Stand only available to those who already have a season ticket in the South Stand. 

14 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

And tbh that kind of worries me. I’ve not seen enough in Twine over his games to date that he’s a worthwhile signing. I don’t concur that he’s “unlocked” Knight - his movement isn’t great, he’s not drifting into spaces, he’s just “there” - no more than any other AM (or even AM) would be. A presser like today was Liam giving “come here” vibes to Twine and Burnley will have picked up on that and negotiate accordingly - and I’m not sure Scott is worth what they will want.

And again, in terms of results, correlation doesn’t equal causation. Scott has shown a real lack of desire at times and has also tended to be - in short - a bit of a whiner. He gets fouls but it’s not a “Scott” in drawing fouls - it’s going to ground easy, getting some, and not getting others and being affronted by it.

I said when we signed Twine that the best case may have been an underwhelming loan spell which kept the price down. We’ve got that. But we’ve also got a head coach making “**** me” eyes at him which pushes the price back up. Worst of all worlds.

Not sure that I agree that his movement isn’t great - I think that aspect has looked quite positive (although team mates don’t always seem to be able to pick the pass to him). I don’t think he lacks desire. And he’s unlocked Knight in the sense that Knight can play deeper (and better) with Twine in the team. But yes he’s not been world beating by any stretch and he lacks physicality. For me it should come down the price he will cost (if Burnley want to sell him), whether we are likely to get anyone better/similar for that price, and whether if we go for Twine we can still afford to get a number 9 who will bring the physicality that others in the squad, including Twine, lack. 

14 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

That made my notes!  Laying his cards on the table.

And possibly also linked to Twine - he wants him. 

I particularly liked the bit where he said that we can talk about being ambitious (which is why he joined us) but we have to show that in terms of our actions re the squad in the summer. Over to you SL.