Season Ticket Prices, Good News?

[Kibs]

Our main souce of income is Season tickets, our income is now linked to our playing staff wage budget.

So what would people prefer?

A significant reduction in ST prices potentially resulting in us having to reduce the playing staff budget even further, price us out of certain transfer targets, probably be far less competitive in the league and transfer market.

or

A slight reduction in prices, that are now on a par or cheaper than most of similar sized clubs (and some of the smaller) in our division that will hopefully enable us to sign players that can compete at the right end of leauge 1?

I'm not saying success can't be achieved on a small budget, look at Yeovil but a reduction in our main source of income through reduced prices would certainly be a risk.

If you slash your prices, you could also be slashing your chances of success.

[Nogbad the Bad]

If season ticket in dolman is £375, that works out about £17 a game.

Can't see potd being less than £22 otherwise what's the point of a season ticket.

Club have got a problem in who will pay £22 as an example to watch 3rd tier football constantly.

If season ticket price was lower then potd could be lower, guy who lives on my street was a rochdale s/t holder and he doesn't renew anymore. The club put s/t price up so much and potd so low that if he missed 2 games potd was cheaper so he's given up buying a s/t.

I know prices have to be so high to cover turnover but maybe the sell them cheap and pack the ground policy may of been better, that way potd could of been lower.

My Dolman ticket works out at £16.30 per game.

As a STH I hope the club charge a maximum of £20 per game POTD.

I expect a saving from buying a ST, but I don't expect, or want, a huge one, and anything over £20 and people simply won't turn up.

[Cider red]

My Dolman ticket works out at £16.30 per game.

As a STH I hope the club charge a maximum of £20 per game POTD.

I expect a saving from buying a ST, but I don't expect, or want, a huge one, and anything over £20 and people simply won't turn up.

This. 20 quid potd is more likely to put a few thousand on the gate. Anything over we lose out on money.

[ollywhyte]

Having just turned 18 the prices are pretty gutting, having said that overall the prices are fairly decent and advertise towards a younger generation.

Just a shame that any chances of me getting a season ticket are gone, especially as I live in Plymouth as well.

[Monkeh]

This. 20 quid potd is more likely to put a few thousand on the gate. Anything over we lose out on money.

no it won't, sucsess on the field will put a few thousend on the attendance 20 quid tickst may add 800 or 900,

No one complains as much when you are playing well challenging crowds will be up, when you struggle crowds will be down regardless of prices,

The club have to balance it, remain competitive and try not to price people out 20 - 23 quid for an adult in the main stands (not including the EE) is prob the best we can hope for,

[Opeth67]

My Dad, who is a senior citizen thinks he paid £280 last season for block C in the Dolman. That was an early bird ticket. It is £289 this year, an increase of 2.2%.

Can he be right? And he is right is it fair that the club can announce a 5% reduction in ticket prices yet puts the OAP prices up? Or is my Dad mistaken on what he paid last year?

[wayne allisons tongues]

My Dolman ticket works out at £16.30 per game.

As a STH I hope the club charge a maximum of £20 per game POTD.

I expect a saving from buying a ST, but I don't expect, or want, a huge one, and anything over £20 and people simply won't turn up.

This is the trouble if you pay £16 as st and then it's £20 potd you have saved £80 roughly.

If you potd and use a friends free ticket offer and a couple of £10 games like last year. You've paid nearly same as a s/t holder.

Potd prices greater than £20 you won't get people in. Anything lower s/t holders lose out, I think the prices for s/t are reasonable being offered. It just seems potd is ridiculously high.

When club does £10 offers or like Middlesbrough adult and child in atyeo for £15 it's popular which shows people will play it if price is right.

Because s/t are set at a certain price potd has to be higher if s/t were lower potd be lower.

Would we make more money?

More people in ground means more food drink programmes and merchandise being sold, could club get money back that way each week.

It's a tough one and whatever the club do there will always be people saying the clubs wrong. Just hope they've priced it right this year if not the club will be in trouble financially.

[Nogbad the Bad]

no it won't, sucsess on the field will put a few thousend on the attendance 20 quid tickst may add 800 or 900,

No one complains as much when you are playing well challenging crowds will be up, when you struggle crowds will be down regardless of prices,

The club have to balance it, remain competitive and try not to price people out 20 - 23 quid for an adult in the main stands (not including the EE) is prob the best we can hope for,

Why should there be a mark up of almost £7 for POTD? It's just ridiculous, £20 is plenty for L1 football.

As STH's we want to guarantee our seat and get a reasonable reduction for paying for the season up front.

But we don't need or expect such increases for POTD fans that actively discourages those who can't invest in a ST.

These POTD'ers are more than likely friends and family of STH's and we, and the club, should want them to attend when possible and therefore make it affordable.

The club must make swingeing cuts to POTD if they want decent crowds and as long as pricing still makes ST's a better deal (£20 would still be an almost £4 mark up on my match cost) then no one should be complaining.

[Monkeh]

Why should there be a mark up of almost £7 for POTD? It's just ridiculous, £20 is plenty for L1 football.

As STH's we want to guarantee our seat and get a reasonable reduction for paying for the season up front.

But we don't need or expect such increases for POTD fans that actively discourages those who can't invest in a ST.

These POTD'ers are more than likely friends and family of STH's and we, and the club, should want them to attend when possible and therefore make it affordable.

The club must make swingeing cuts to POTD if they want decent crowds and as long as pricing still makes ST's a better deal (£20 would still be an almost £4 mark up on my match cost) then no one should be complaining.

ST pays for the transfer fees and player wages PoTD prob pays for Stadium Staff bills food & drink etc,

thats why a £7 mark up,

If the club was making massive proffits or even a proffit then yes I would agree but we are we are making massive losses they have to make as much money where they can

[Monkeh]

My Dad, who is a senior citizen thinks he paid £280 last season for block C in the Dolman. That was an early bird ticket. It is £289 this year, an increase of 2.2%.

Can he be right? And he is right is it fair that the club can announce a 5% reduction in ticket prices yet puts the OAP prices up? Or is my Dad mistaken on what he paid last year?

there were no early birds last season

[Nogbad the Bad]

ST pays for the transfer fees and player wages PoTD prob pays for Stadium Staff bills food & drink etc,

thats why a £7 mark up,

If the club was making massive proffits or even a proffit then yes I would agree but we are we are making massive losses they have to make as much money where they can

The ONLY excuse for any mark up at all on POTD is to encourage fans to buy ST's in the first place. There is no good reason to charge POTD fans considerably more per match than STH's. A few pounds more per match would be quite enough - any more than that would be inappropriate, greedy, and undoubtedly backfire on the club.

£7 more would be in the region of a 40% increase - absolutely unjustifiable.

The club will get almost no POTD if they don't make the walk up prices reasonable as I. and others, suggest, nor will they deserve to.

[Opeth67]

Thanks Monkeh! I think he must be thinking of the previous season then! That would answer it - thanks.

[Red Exile]

Spot on Noggers.

The reality of renewing a ST before 1st July is that either you believe you are certain to attend enough matches, however the side performs, to make it worth your while and you don't mind putting the money up even if you don't know how the team will perform...

...or even what the team will be...

or, as has been the case with me in the past, you know you'll never get to enough games to make it pay but you'd like to reserve a seat with friends & family and you don't mind giving the money to the club.

The reality if you are a POTD fan is this...you've not committed before the season starts, you're not counted in the attendance figures unless your behind is actually on a seat and your decision to buy a ticket can be influenced by the performance of the team as the season progresses. I'm in the latter camp now.

Last season I looked, game by game, at the price and what was on offer...and I stayed away and followed the match on here. I'm sure I can't have been alone. I'll look again next season, and if things are going well on the pitch I'll look at the price. All I can say is that if it's above £20 for Div 3 football we'll have to be performing very well on the park for many people to think it's worth getting down there...

[wayne allisons tongues]

ST pays for the transfer fees and player wages PoTD prob pays for Stadium Staff bills food & drink etc,

thats why a £7 mark up,

If the club was making massive proffits or even a proffit then yes I would agree but we are we are making massive losses they have to make as much money where they can

If we sell 7k season tickets and get gates of 13k with the mark up on potd tickets these 6k are paying more than the st holders give to the club. Wages are paid monthly and that's what season tickets are for cover the summer months.

If not one person potd during the season where would the club get the money from to run the club.

If the club signed a player in January what money went towards that signing ( Decembers potd money), the club have a set figure to break even this year and will know how much they need.

No potd prices at the moment means I guess club are seeing how many st holders they get and then hope to recoup the rest during the season from potd.

Every single fans money is as important as each others, when we get the I am a st holder I pay for players transfers attitude that annoys me. Not everyone can commit to every game or live in the area, but I suspect they support the club as passionately as someone who lives local.

[Harry]

Our main souce of income is Season tickets, our income is now linked to our playing staff wage budget.

So what would people prefer?

A significant reduction in ST prices potentially resulting in us having to reduce the playing staff budget even further, price us out of certain transfer targets, probably be far less competitive in the league and transfer market.

or

A slight reduction in prices, that are now on a par or cheaper than most of similar sized clubs (and some of the smaller) in our division that will hopefully enable us to sign players that can compete at the right end of leauge 1?

I'm not saying success can't be achieved on a small budget, look at Yeovil but a reduction in our main source of income through reduced prices would certainly be a risk.

If you slash your prices, you could also be slashing your chances of success.

ST pays for the transfer fees and player wages PoTD prob pays for Stadium Staff bills food & drink etc,

thats why a £7 mark up,

If the club was making massive proffits or even a proffit then yes I would agree but we are we are making massive losses they have to make as much money where they can

You've both made the mistake often made by most football fans.

Kibs - You've said that Season Tickets are the clubs main source of income.

Monkeh - You've said that ST's pay for transfer fees and players wages.

Sadly, we no longer live in such times. Football changed a long time ago and fans can no longer claim to pay the players wages.

Yes, we do put a fair portion in, but one look at the last 2 years accounts will tell you that ST money is not the be-all and end-all :

2011 Turnover = £11,994,669. 2011 ST Revenue = £2,429,402 = 20.25% of Turnover

2012 Turnover = £11,876,923. 2012 ST Revenue = £2,003,273 = 16.87% of Turnover.

So basically, in 2012, not even one fifth of the Season Ticket money made up the total incomings. The fans no longer pay the wages (or at least pay only a very small proportion of them).

Kibs - you also argued that slashing prices will slash the chance of success. My post on Page 2 of this thread suggested a lower pricing structure that would only need the club to sell an additional 1,500 season tickets to break even on the structure they've designed.

I still maintain that if we sold at the prices I suggested earlier, we would easily sell 10k instead of the clubs target of 8k.

More fans in the ground but the same season ticket income. Oh, and those 1500 or so more fans would each spend something extra at the Gate too during the course of the season, so the situation is one of only 'Win' for the club.

Considering the fact that the ST income only makes up about one fifth of our revenue, I feel an opportunity has been missed to entice the fans back in with a cheaper deal, at a time when patience is being called for & our support is being called for during what will be a significant rebuild of the club.

The higher ST price simply means a higher POTD price, and a lot of folks out there will not be parting with £25 to watch us play Crawley, Stevenage, Shrewsbury, Orient, Carlisle, Colchester etc.....

[You Do The Dziekanowski]

You've both made the mistake often made by most football fans.

Kibs - You've said that Season Tickets are the clubs main source of income.

Monkeh - You've said that ST's pay for transfer fees and players wages.

Sadly, we no longer live in such times. Football changed a long time ago and fans can no longer claim to pay the players wages.

Yes, we do put a fair portion in, but one look at the last 2 years accounts will tell you that ST money is not the be-all and end-all :

2011 Turnover = £11,994,669. 2011 ST Revenue = £2,429,402 = 20.25% of Turnover

2012 Turnover = £11,876,923. 2012 ST Revenue = £2,003,273 = 16.87% of Turnover.

So basically, in 2012, not even one fifth of the Season Ticket money made up the total incomings. The fans no longer pay the wages (or at least pay only a very small proportion of them).

Kibs - you also argued that slashing prices will slash the chance of success. My post on Page 2 of this thread suggested a lower pricing structure that would only need the club to sell an additional 1,500 season tickets to break even on the structure they've designed.

I still maintain that if we sold at the prices I suggested earlier, we would easily sell 10k instead of the clubs target of 8k.

More fans in the ground but the same season ticket income. Oh, and those 1500 or so more fans would each spend something extra at the Gate too during the course of the season, so the situation is one of only 'Win' for the club.

Considering the fact that the ST income only makes up about one fifth of our revenue, I feel an opportunity has been missed to entice the fans back in with a cheaper deal, at a time when patience is being called for & our support is being called for during what will be a significant rebuild of the club.

The higher ST price simply means a higher POTD price, and a lot of folks out there will not be parting with £25 to watch us play Crawley, Stevenage, Shrewsbury, Orient, Carlisle, Colchester etc.....

You know too much!

[Calculus]

You've both made the mistake often made by most football fans.

Kibs - You've said that Season Tickets are the clubs main source of income.

Monkeh - You've said that ST's pay for transfer fees and players wages.

Sadly, we no longer live in such times. Football changed a long time ago and fans can no longer claim to pay the players wages.

Yes, we do put a fair portion in, but one look at the last 2 years accounts will tell you that ST money is not the be-all and end-all :

2011 Turnover = £11,994,669. 2011 ST Revenue = £2,429,402 = 20.25% of Turnover

2012 Turnover = £11,876,923. 2012 ST Revenue = £2,003,273 = 16.87% of Turnover.

So basically, in 2012, not even one fifth of the Season Ticket money made up the total incomings. The fans no longer pay the wages (or at least pay only a very small proportion of them).

Kibs - you also argued that slashing prices will slash the chance of success. My post on Page 2 of this thread suggested a lower pricing structure that would only need the club to sell an additional 1,500 season tickets to break even on the structure they've designed.

I still maintain that if we sold at the prices I suggested earlier, we would easily sell 10k instead of the clubs target of 8k.

More fans in the ground but the same season ticket income. Oh, and those 1500 or so more fans would each spend something extra at the Gate too during the course of the season, so the situation is one of only 'Win' for the club.

Considering the fact that the ST income only makes up about one fifth of our revenue, I feel an opportunity has been missed to entice the fans back in with a cheaper deal, at a time when patience is being called for & our support is being called for during what will be a significant rebuild of the club.

The higher ST price simply means a higher POTD price, and a lot of folks out there will not be parting with £25 to watch us play Crawley, Stevenage, Shrewsbury, Orient, Carlisle, Colchester etc.....

Unfortunately our 'non-ticket income' next year will not be at the levels available in the championship but at league one levels, ie massively less. Factor that in and you'll find that ticket sales will be more significant next year...

[Harry]

Unfortunately our 'non-ticket income' next year will not be at the levels available in the championship but at league one levels, ie massively less. Factor that in and you'll find that ticket sales will be more significant next year...

Yep, I do agree with this, but it'll only increase from nearly one sixth of turnover to maybe one quarter at best.

ST income is not the be-all and end-all that a lot of people think it is and the opportunity should have been taken to sell in excess of 10k ST's to get more people in the ground contributing more to the "non-ticket income".

Instead we'll have 8k ST's at best and very little matchday walk-up.

[Calculus]

Yep, I do agree with this, but it'll only increase from nearly one sixth of turnover to maybe one quarter at best.

ST income is not the be-all and end-all that a lot of people think it is and the opportunity should have been taken to sell in excess of 10k ST's to get more people in the ground contributing more to the "non-ticket income".

Instead we'll have 8k ST's at best and very little matchday walk-up.

Don't disagree with the thrust of what you're saying.

A few years ago both Huddersfield and Bradford offered one-off very large reductions in ST prices and ended up with a huge response. Over time, their prices have got back to normal levels but they seem to have kept quite a few of their newbies. Worth a shot I think, but you can see that there's a risk involved - if the club was to offer large discouts/reductions and not enough people took them up then, with new turn-over related rules coming in, the club would be royally scr3wed.

The other thing I find a little odd about some of the noises coming out now is the idea of ST discounts for loyalty. All fine on the surface, but then how would the club attract new supporters? Imagine it - you're thinking of buying a ST for the first time and then you discover that 8000 already get a much better deal than the one you're being offered. How would you feel about that? Not good, IMO. Normal business practice, although I find it annoying, is to offer incentives to attract new customers rather than discounts to people who mostly are going to renew anyway.

[Harry]

Unfortunately our 'non-ticket income' next year will not be at the levels available in the championship but at league one levels, ie massively less. Factor that in and you'll find that ticket sales will be more significant next year...

To add further to this, I'd envisage our Premiership Solidarity Payment to reduce by circa £1.5m

I'm also not 100% on exactly what we'd get from the Football League Pool but of course this will also be reduced. We'll also get less TV money.

However, whichever way we sell ST's, whether you go for the current 5% reduction or a swathing 30% reduction, you aren't going to get much more than approx £2m or so income. So surely it's better to sell more tickets at a cheaper price to attain roughly the same revenue, and then entice as many of those supporters to contribute more in non-ticketing costs.

If 8000 people spent £3 each at all 23 games on booze or food that would be £550k over the season.

If 11000 people spent the same you'd reap £760k.

[Harry]

Don't disagree with the thrust of what you're saying.

A few years ago both Huddersfield and Bradford offered one-off very large reductions in ST prices and ended up with a huge response. Over time, their prices have got back to normal levels but they seem to have kept quite a few of their newbies. Worth a shot I think, but you can see that there's a risk involved - if the club was to offer large discouts/reductions and not enough people took them up then, with new turn-over related rules coming in, the club would be royally scr3wed.

The other thing I find a little odd about some of the noises coming out now is the idea of ST discounts for loyalty. All fine on the surface, but then how would the club attract new supporters? Imagine it - you're thinking of buying a ST for the first time and then you discover that 8000 already get a much better deal than the one you're being offered. How would you feel about that? Not good, IMO. Normal business practice, although I find it annoying, is to offer incentives to attract new customers rather than discounts to people who mostly are going to renew anyway.

Bradford are still offering all adult tickets for £199.

Of course there's a risk, but we sold 10k last season. A lot of folk are wavering. Offer it to them at 30% reduction and I'd say most would take you up on it. Suddenly you've sold 10k ST's again and your ST revenue is equivalent to what they'd targeted on 5% reduction on 8k sales.

For me, it's worth the risk.

The club can then turn around legitimately to it's supporters and say "Look what we've done for you - now take us up on it and support our rebuild" Puts the onus on the fans. If it doesn't work, go back to the norm next year. We can then legitimately turn around to all of us as fans and say "We didn't do our bit".

I for one know loads of guys who can't afford to buy at the prices given, but would be able to at a lower price. If the lower prices were out there, I would be encouraging all of my wavering mates to get down there.

[Calculus]

Bradford are still offering all adult tickets for £199.

Of course there's a risk, but we sold 10k last season. A lot of folk are wavering. Offer it to them at 30% reduction and I'd say most would take you up on it. Suddenly you've sold 10k ST's again and your ST revenue is equivalent to what they'd targeted on 5% reduction on 8k sales.

For me, it's worth the risk.

The club can then turn around legitimately to it's supporters and say "Look what we've done for you - now take us up on it and support our rebuild" Puts the onus on the fans. If it doesn't work, go back to the norm next year. We can then legitimately turn around to all of us as fans and say "We didn't do our bit".

I for one know loads of guys who can't afford to buy at the prices given, but would be able to at a lower price. If the lower prices were out there, I would be encouraging all of my wavering mates to get down there.

I don't know whether any football clubs do it, but my golf club (boring, I know) offers members discounts on their fees if they introduce someone new. Introduce 5 and, in effect, you get your own membership for free. Maybe something like that might be a good move, although care would be needed to prevent abuse.

Also, I do agree that the gap between POTD and ST prices is madness. I am a ST holder myself firstly because of convenience, after that I can sit with the people I normally go with. Price is the least of my concerns. Last year I think I paid around £425 for my seat in Dolman block D - about £18 per game. When i took my son to see the Peterboriugh game around Christmas his seat cost me £28 - a £10 difference for Peterborough!! Not surpising that so few walk up. (Mind you, if more did then we'd have to employ more than a man and his dog in the ticket office - you'd hope that wasn't the plan to get rid of match day ticket staff but I suspect it might have been).

[XJAP]

Bradford are still offering all adult tickets for £199.

Of course there's a risk, but we sold 10k last season. A lot of folk are wavering. Offer it to them at 30% reduction and I'd say most would take you up on it. Suddenly you've sold 10k ST's again and your ST revenue is equivalent to what they'd targeted on 5% reduction on 8k sales.

For me, it's worth the risk.

The club can then turn around legitimately to it's supporters and say "Look what we've done for you - now take us up on it and support our rebuild" Puts the onus on the fans. If it doesn't work, go back to the norm next year. We can then legitimately turn around to all of us as fans and say "We didn't do our bit".

I for one know loads of guys who can't afford to buy at the prices given, but would be able to at a lower price. If the lower prices were out there, I would be encouraging all of my wavering mates to get down there.

Very good posts mate.

We can only hope the officials, Dave L etc don't ignore these posts but instead look to consider them. They need to see its the way forward, at cheap prices and larger numbers they can still make profit, the math isn't hard.

[Ian M]

Would we benefit from a poll on here asking what everyone considers a reasonable mark up on ST prices for POTD as we know the club monitors the forum?

I'd set it up but I'm at work and it's a bitch to do on my phone

[friendlygas]

Personally I think your season tickets are very fairly priced all round taking into account you are a division above us and all seater they seem to be very competitive all round.

[You Do The Dziekanowski]

Personally I think your season tickets are very fairly priced all round taking into account you are a division above us and all seater they seem to be very competitive all round.

You're a gashead what do you know, Are prices are **** and we know it.

I'm joking (about the last bit anyway) I feel the are fairly priced, Bit shocked by a Dolman ticket though didn't realise the Central blocks were that expensive,

Apart from that I think there really good, What people don't understand is many Parents will go with there children to the games, Let's be honest would you let your 10 year old child go to a football match by themselves?

[Kibs]

You've both made the mistake often made by most football fans.

Kibs - You've said that Season Tickets are the clubs main source of income.

Monkeh - You've said that ST's pay for transfer fees and players wages.

Sadly, we no longer live in such times. Football changed a long time ago and fans can no longer claim to pay the players wages.

Yes, we do put a fair portion in, but one look at the last 2 years accounts will tell you that ST money is not the be-all and end-all :

2011 Turnover = £11,994,669. 2011 ST Revenue = £2,429,402 = 20.25% of Turnover

2012 Turnover = £11,876,923. 2012 ST Revenue = £2,003,273 = 16.87% of Turnover.

So basically, in 2012, not even one fifth of the Season Ticket money made up the total incomings. The fans no longer pay the wages (or at least pay only a very small proportion of them).

Kibs - you also argued that slashing prices will slash the chance of success. My post on Page 2 of this thread suggested a lower pricing structure that would only need the club to sell an additional 1,500 season tickets to break even on the structure they've designed.

I still maintain that if we sold at the prices I suggested earlier, we would easily sell 10k instead of the clubs target of 8k.

More fans in the ground but the same season ticket income. Oh, and those 1500 or so more fans would each spend something extra at the Gate too during the course of the season, so the situation is one of only 'Win' for the club.

Considering the fact that the ST income only makes up about one fifth of our revenue, I feel an opportunity has been missed to entice the fans back in with a cheaper deal, at a time when patience is being called for & our support is being called for during what will be a significant rebuild of the club.

The higher ST price simply means a higher POTD price, and a lot of folks out there will not be parting with £25 to watch us play Crawley, Stevenage, Shrewsbury, Orient, Carlisle, Colchester etc.....

Na, good points but I said slashing prices "could", not "would" reduce chances of success. It's a gamble at the end of the day.

I don't believing knocking another few quid off season tickets would bring in a load more season ticket holders.

We have a core support IMO and that won't fluctuate much unless there are drastic improvements on the pitch.

The turnover figures you mention are championship. We will now receive far less income from outside of the club and season ticket income will be even more important - and a higher percentage of our overall turnover.

[WhistleHappy]

Personally I think your season tickets are very fairly priced all round taking into account you are a division above us and all seater they seem to be very competitive all round.

Maybe competitive by and large with the general football industry in this country, thats not the point though.... Few would disagree that the pricing for 90mins (of sometimes entertainment, often disappointment) has grown to an extent now in the UK of making the traditional Saturday afternoon sporting fix for the general community off the radar (due solely to unaffordable costs)... I believe places like Gemany for example have thrived by attracting large crowds paying reasonable prices, just like tesco used to say 'stack it high, sell it cheap'... whats the point in maintaining vast 20 - 30,000 seat stadiums if for 3/4's of a season half the seats are empty and producing zero revenue??... The way to go is making the game accessable to the masses once more, -we put up with some shite in the past, but week after week we used to handover our pocket money, or the price of a couple of beers & the only complaints were about the rubbish on the field.. (blimey remember the bogs? :laugh:... but by the same token who needs cinema standard accomodation at a football match anyway?...

The Germans can do it, they pay expensive players wages too, so why cant our clubs?

Not just City, but all British clubs could do with a huge rethink and restructuring, too much 'gentrification' not enough 'inclusion' make football accessable to all once again. phew.. rant over, I'm off for a lie down now.

[Sleepy1968]

ok here's a prediction. Attendances bext season will be 9,000+/-2,500, ramping up to 14-16k at the back-end of the season if we're gunning for automatic promotion. Don't expect anything close to this seasons mediocre level of support.

[RedM]

Regarding ticket prices, following a promotion people have the feel good factor and are prepared / only too happy to pay for the next level. Following relegation I think people feel the club sort of owes the fans something, almost as an apology maybe? I know when you buy a season ticket you aren't guaranteed results but the performances last season at times were embarrassing regarding the lack of desire shown. Ok players can have bad games but this was more than this, and not just once or twice.

I understand the need to rebuild, but it's a 2 way thing surely, the club have to reach out and connect with us. What better way than to really reduce prices, fill the stadium, get some atmosphere back and really be one of the big clubs in league one. Make the gate a fortress again. Prove the need to expand and develop the stadium or relocate to Ashton Vale, it will be an easy argument against with 6000 people inside won't it?

I think Norwich had cheap ST's when they went down to league one to ty to keep the support and supporters onside, ok there wasn't talk of this financial fair play stuff but it worked for them didn't it. Come on Board, you haven't sold a ticket yet, think again!