Another Perspective

[Port Said Red]

I don't quite understand why people are so surprised at the price rise, I predicted the Atyeo figure on an earlier thread so I am not really shocked.

The way I look at it is, because of last seasons early bird prices, we are paying two years increases in one.

When you consider that Forest were charging similar POTD prices this season in League 1, it really didn't take much working out.

We are entering the 4th or 5th best supported league in Europe and we need to have some clout at this level.

No Merde asks in another thread "would the real supporters (sic) have been better off if we had stayed in league 1", I say absolutely not, I really think the club might have gone into complete meltdown. The vitriol on this forum alone would have ripped the supporters apart (there are more Ashtonyates out there sharpening their knives) and the outlook for next season would have been very bad. The season ticket prices would have probably gone up by around 20% anyway and the fanbase would have started to dwindle away.

Personally, I have decided that life is too short to think about the costs, I am intending to go to as many away games as I can in addition to renewing my ticket. I understand that this is not within everyone's budget and clearly I really wish it was. I still have trouble with the economics of these type of pricing structures, I have always thought it would be better to have 13000 season tickets holders paying around £55 less than 11000 paying the current prices, especially when you consider the amount of extra revenue having those people at the ground would bring in and the greater atmosphere generated. But in truth would £55 a year really have made that much more difference to the number of purchasers? I don't think so.

Perhaps some people can get clever in their purchasing, the club will have a DD scheme as stated but there are other alternatives. Someone I know is buying his ticket by credit card and then switching his card balance to another card for the 0% balance transfer offer, he can then pay it off at his leisure. I realise these things are not going to work for everyone, but I hope the majority of us will be able to find some way of attending each week.

What is that advert?

Travel to the ground £20, round of drinks £20, season ticket £375, playing in the Championship at last Priceless!