Sexton Who Is He Kidding?

[Rich]

According to the quote from Sexton, City have had an unbelievable demand for season tickets.In my oppinion this demand has been fueled by the increase in POTD prices, the introduction of EE tickets and the fact existing S T holders only have untill Friday to guarantee their seats.If you consider this is supposed to be an exciting time prior to the new seasons fixtrures being released,and compared to other clubs sales, I feel our sales have been poor to say the least .And Sexton is trying to fuel sales with a little scaremongering.Last season 40% of the gate were POTD,even if we go through the 10k barrier we won't see 40% POTD regularly,probably more like 20% leaving us with gates equal to last season plus away support. This I feel is poor and a major c**k up yet again, with bad feeling running high instead of great excitement.You will tell me if I'm wrong won't you?

[Eddie Hitler]

According to the quote from Sexton, City have had an unbelievable demand for season tickets.In my oppinion this demand has been fueled by the increase in POTD prices, the introduction of EE tickets and the fact existing S T holders only have untill Friday to guarantee their seats.If you consider this is supposed to be an exciting time prior to the new seasons fixtrures being released,and compared to other clubs sales, I feel our sales have been poor to say the least .And Sexton is trying to fuel sales with a little scaremongering.Last season 40% of the gate were POTD,even if we go through the 10k barrier we won't see 40% POTD regularly,probably more like 20% leaving us with gates equal to last season plus away support. This I feel is poor and a major c**k up yet again, with bad feeling running high instead of great excitement.You will tell me if I'm wrong won't you?

You are wrong.

No you're not actually.

Season ticket policy has been bad. If you're going to price them up that much don't throw doom and gloom financials at the fans to justify them; that's hardly going to spark a stampede. Buy some exciting players so people see what they're paying for and extend the discounts so that this happens before they have to pay up.

[CiderHider]

According to the quote from Sexton, City have had an unbelievable demand for season tickets.In my oppinion this demand has been fueled by the increase in POTD prices, the introduction of EE tickets and the fact existing S T holders only have untill Friday to guarantee their seats.If you consider this is supposed to be an exciting time prior to the new seasons fixtrures being released,and compared to other clubs sales, I feel our sales have been poor to say the least .And Sexton is trying to fuel sales with a little scaremongering.Last season 40% of the gate were POTD,even if we go through the 10k barrier we won't see 40% POTD regularly,probably more like 20% leaving us with gates equal to last season plus away support. This I feel is poor and a major c**k up yet again, with bad feeling running high instead of great excitement.You will tell me if I'm wrong won't you?

Some people seem very upset they have to pay more money to see Championship football at AG next season, thats the price we pay for sucess i'm afraid.

CS has just said we are going to really struggle to compete in the Championship financially, so this means struggle for points and of course safty.

I'm very excited about this comming season though, all these %'s your talking about don't mean a whole lot tbh, just seems like a cheap shot at CS, which is rather unusual for this forum.

[pdgifford64]

This debate is getting a bit stale now. It appears that every time a statement is issued from the club there are some who use it as an excuse to drag the whole thing up again.

We are all aware of whats happened regards ST and POTD prices. Nothing is going to change and i would have thought that everybody would have accepted that fact by now.

It`s time to make your decisions to buy or not buy and lets get on with the matter of looking forward to the new season. Hopefully the fixture lists will spark some new,fun and interesting debate on this forum.

PDG

[tin]

Some people seem very upset they have to pay more money to see Championship football at AG next season, thats the price we pay for sucess i'm afraid.

CS has just said we are going to really struggle to compete in the Championship financially, so this means struggle for points and of course safty.

I'm very excited about this comming season though, all these %'s your talking about don't mean a whole lot tbh, just seems like a cheap shot at CS, which is rather unusual for this forum.

It isn't about paying the price for success IMO. If you look at it realisitcally, City will be in a dogfight next year and what would you rather have? A load more of ST's sold at say a 15% mark up and a packed Ashton for the majority of the matches, including better atmosphere etc or stumping up a 30% increase, which has destroyed the 'feel-good factor' gained after winning promotion... I know what I would choose!

People talk about promoted teams having momentum and it's worries me a bit that this ST fiasco has doused any momentum that we had built up amongst the fans. There's no doubt ST sales will be record breaking this season but at what price? IMHO, I dare say they would made more money selling them at a maximum 15% increase than they will this season and the optimism, promotion after-glow would still be there as well.

[Guest DanC]

This debate is getting a bit stale now. It appears that every time a statement is issued from the club there are some who use it as an excuse to drag the whole thing up again.

We are all aware of whats happened regards ST and POTD prices. Nothing is going to change and i would have thought that everybody would have accepted that fact by now.

It`s time to make your decisions to buy or not buy and lets get on with the matter of looking forward to the new season. Hopefully the fixture lists will spark some new,fun and interesting debate on this forum.

PDG

Why should we have to accept it though? We have all gave the club 8 years of support whilst in League one and when teh prices were announced it was thrown back in our face. You can be sure that if a player or manager served a club for 8 years then he would get some sort of loyalty bonus, Where is our loyalty bonus? It seems the club is going all American on us, They take the attitude that if they lose one fan it doesn't matter because they will be replaced by another.

The club really do need to employ someone who knows how to deal with PR cos at the end of the day CS and SL really don't have a clue how to keep fans' happy.

[Kibs]

I have to say, despite my not so much agreeing with the ST price increase but understanding why they have done it and defending it on occasions, It really pished me off to see comments like this from CS. What a pratt. At this moment in time he should be bigging it up not playing it down. Trying to sell more. Fans have just shelled out hundreds of pounds and he comes out with this tosh.

Now, I myself, after the last time we was in the championship, Would be happy just to stay up but we should be aiming a little higher than that. You cant put the prices up 30% and then tell people that we simply cant compete with other teams in the division financially because of the size of their attendances etc. Its crap, You don't need to have the biggest attendances to be successfull. It helps but its not the be all and end all.

Ive discussed on here before about peoples expectation levels, everybody is different and entitled to have their own, Like ive said before, Personally il be happy just to stay up this time round but this isnt what we should be aiming for and I'm hoping we wont be involved in a relegation battle come the last few games.

[Guest Eamer]

Not as bad as Manchester United's Season Ticket Policy. They have introduced something meaning that ST holders HAVE TO buy tickets for all cup games.

[CiderHider]

It isn't about paying the price for success IMO. If you look at it realisitcally, City will be in a dogfight next year and what would you rather have? A load more of ST's sold at say a 15% mark up and a packed Ashton for the majority of the matches, including better atmosphere etc or stumping up a 30% increase, which has destroyed the 'feel-good factor' gained after winning promotion... I know what I would choose!

People talk about promoted teams having momentum and it's worries me a bit that this ST fiasco has doused any momentum that we had built up amongst the fans. There's no doubt ST sales will be record breaking this season but at what price? IMHO, I dare say they would made more money selling them at a maximum 15% increase than they will this season and the optimism, promotion after-glow would still be there as well.

Well of course i would prefer a packed AG, there is nothing like it for atmosphire.

I think the club had got ST prices spot on tbh, in an ideal dream-land i spose it would be nice to freeze or drop the prices, and trust the players will play at AG for free!

In the cold reality of football finance (which is where CS is) the ST prices are bang on the mark, if they had been cheaper then CS would not be doing his job at BCFC right at all, at that point calls for his resignation would be rightly justified.

[tin]

Well of course i would prefer a packed AG, there is nothing like it for atmosphire.

I think the club had got ST prices spot on tbh, in an ideal dream-land i spose it would be nice to freeze or drop the prices, and trust the players will play at AG for free!

In the cold reality of football finance (which is where CS is) the ST prices are bang on the mark, if they had been cheaper then CS would not be doing his job at BCFC right at all, at that point calls for his resignation would be rightly justified.

This is the last thing I'm going to say on this ST debate because I'm sick of it but do you actually understand what people's grievances are with this? Nobody's moaning because prices weren't frozen or dropped, people are annoyed at the scale of the price hikes. How you come to the conclusion that prices, some more expensive than clubs in the Premiership, are 'bang on the mark' is truely beyond me.

CS says himself that he hopes to "consolidate in the Championship and expand our fanbase over time" in which case the ST prices should reflect those of a club looking to establish itself at a higher league. Other teams in the Championship can get away with charging our prices because they have better stadia, better training facilities, better players and, more importantly, their fans expect a push for the Prem, but we don't.

[Rednready]

Sextone is merely the talking head.

When SL had his live interview on BCFC he said that the final decision on ST's was made by Keith and himself. Sextone could well have made his recommendations, but SL called the shots. As he said, he personally canvassed other ST holders and they thought 30% increase was what they expected. That could have been ten well heeled ST holders, or 20 or 100 from all around the ground. That has never been identified.

We will need better players coming in, our current squad will be on more money, and SL says financially we need to stand on our own 2 feet. The cash will have to come from ST sales and sales of some of our existing squad.

Following the usual time schedule, our buying and selling should start in a week, as many players get back from their suntan trips to europe. Its either, strike first and get your men, or play the waiting game. At this level GJ is inexperienced, but I hope he gets the players he wants, and gets the right price for any players we sell. Counterbalance !

I will start another topic on our prospects.

[Antman]

This debate is getting a bit stale now. It appears that every time a statement is issued from the club there are some who use it as an excuse to drag the whole thing up again.

We are all aware of whats happened regards ST and POTD prices. Nothing is going to change and i would have thought that everybody would have accepted that fact by now.

It`s time to make your decisions to buy or not buy and lets get on with the matter of looking forward to the new season. Hopefully the fixture lists will spark some new,fun and interesting debate on this forum.

PDG

Yes but...If we all just shrug and 'move on' the club will do this again and again because they assume we will just put up with it as you suggest.

I'm all for making it as clear as possible to the club that decisions that affect fans this directly need to be handled with some consulatation (and no, SL, not a quick round of your mates in the bar either) There is a growing groundswell of opinion nationally from supporters organisations that reflects the unease regarding the seemingly ceaseless exploitation of football fans. Some clubs have had the foresight to realise this and have dealt with it in what I see as a forward thinking manner - reducing prices and making tickets more acheivable for their core fanbase, a fanbase that frankly won't continually tolerate massive increases.

You may want to accept the fact - fantastic! you can probably afford it without too much concern, but many others can't.

But I'm happy for this to be aired for as long as we think it is needed.