Thetownend.com

Up on the official site now....not exactly the incientive I wanted to go back to the Townend!!

How are the monthly installments on a TE ticket cheaper than the Arkells or Don Rogers? That's taking the piss a bit.

EDIT: Just seen the TE is £269 whereas Arkells and Don Rogers are £279.

10 monthly installments is a great idea,as is the 3 year season ticket.

Im still not bothering though.

Pleased they've pretty much frozen ST prices, albeit allowing for a notional differential in TE; Pleased they've extended "Kids go free" to under 10s - that makes a big difference for families/fans of the future; Disappointed matchday prices have gone up - will deter casual fans

OOh I didnt notice the matchday has gone up!?!

Ummm am I right in thinking that If I renewd my season ticket AFTER my holiday in June the full price would be £399!!!! owuch  :eek: :cry:

Can someone post details, cant get on!

Thank goodness im a Man city fan these days!

wankers

It's a bit short notice to get the earliest prices.

See attached file Luci!

[attachment deleted by admin]

I know they usually extend the deadlines anyway but those dates are fucking stupid.

For the earliest price I have to renew by the end of April when this season isnt over and we may not even know what division we are playing. I find that to be a bit stupid.

Wait till the season is nearly over, then released the prices early bird prices untill the end of June, early bird plus till the end of July, full price after that.

Having the deadline so soon, is if anything going to make me less likely to renew....cheers

We have to remember, these prices are still a big improvement on the previous boards efforts, but I have to say my initial reaction is mainly disappointment.

First, the good news :-

You can pay in 10 installments which will help people to spread the cost.
There is a price freeze, so adult season tickets can still be bought for £269
Under 10s free if accompanying an adult season ticket holder.

The bad news IMHO :-
The "price freeze" isnt really a freeze for most people. It only applies to the Town End, elsewhere in the ground the price is £279 which is where most season ticket holders sit. I doubt £10 will be much of an incentive to get people back in the TE.

The extra £10 isnt that big a deal, but what will upset a lot of people is that to get the £279 price you have to renew by the end of April. After that the price goes up to £309, and from the beginning of June, a whopping £399. New applications cannot get the £279 price even if they apply early.

Match day prices up to £16 in the TE, and £22 in the DRS and Arkells

Reading between the lines I think our owners are feeling the pinch just like everybody else.

I'm not happy about that at all, 30th April for the early bird cut off when we dont even know our league status?  I said I'd renew no matter what but I think thats plain harsh as if we do go down, those match day prices are a rip off.

Not impressed.

Oh and 19.9% APR on the installment option!  Thats so high (although common I suppose)

End up paying 25 quid over.

Were definitely losing ST holders this year without doubt.

I'm happy with them. I was expecting them to go up.

It looks very unlikely I'll have the season ticket money till June and there is no way in hell I am going to pay four hundred fucking quid to watch L1 or L2 football.

in fairness there is no insentive to go back into the townend unless tickets were free.

prices though are excellent value. especially the 3 year ticket.

Im a bit dissapointed they did't do it in two halves like last time,this was a lot easier for me.I dont really want another direct debit going out each month,i much prefer paying cash in two instalment's and have it done with.

£10 cheaper is no incentive to fill the townend either.

I dont think i'll be renewing now..

I think the club has fucked this up,even though there is a price freeze and a monthly instalment plan more effort should have been made making the townend cheaper.

It's quite obvious they want to sign people up before the end of the season in case we do go down.

I'll probably renew in May and possibly on installments. The installments thing is a good idea but it's daft in some cases because full price in the TE works out more per match than a matchday ticket. I won't save much on matchday prices by renewing in May either. I think it's clear they want people to go in the other stands.

This is the first time I'm going to have a proper moan at the Board because they've got this quite wrong.

The reasoning seems to be "get them to renew before we go down"

I rememeber a simular stradegy from an old board and they got slated big time for it.They clearly dont expect many Swindon fans without season tickets to come and considering you can pay £30 a month installments they are probably right there wont be many,call me synical but I think the matchday price is more about ripping off away fans.

eugh Im a bit repulsed to be honest - no way I can afford to renew - or would want to for that matter by the end of next month - its not like I have £300 spare out of one months wages anyway!

The only way I could afford it is to do installments but Im trying to cut down on direct debits and monthly outgoings  >:(

However before everyone moans the supporters were given a chance to air their views on season ticket prices and hardly any turned up to the meeting...

Clearly they're offering an incentive to those who will renew no matter what division we're in (a number of people indicated this on the 'renewal' thread). By waiting until the season ends, it's another £30 odd quid, still less of an increase per match than the matchday prices.

 I really don't see what your problem is. You've already decided we're going to be relegated, and that you won't be watching us in the bottom division, so there appears to be no decision necessary.

but would they honestly listen to some pauper like me when they clearly just want to make money?

I'd love to get a three season ticket. £750 is cheap, and the installment option is available. But I can't afford any of those prices this year.  :(

Probably they would listen to you,you're known at the club and go to alot of the meal thingys they organise,help sponser a player and stuff so id say you are exactly the sort of person they should be listening to.

Do we really need to go to a meeting to tell them people are hard up and may struggle to find the money before June?

I have to admit that I'd thought there would have been an opportunity via the OS or whatever for the supporters to vote in advance of the prices being confirmed.

I just cant help thinking theyve shot themselves in the foot.

I still want to renew but coming up with best part of 300 quid by end of April to get a decent deal isnt likely.

Haven't you heard of telepathy?  :D

They dont have to find the money before June though do they? cant they just take the installment plan? or is that dearer?

good job then because I dont have that amount of money spare to renew by the end of next month.

so, say next year I've got more money and want a season ticket it will have to be a new one? and then what £400?? thats even more money than I paid for mine under the old board.

19.9% apr

oh I didnt read that bit,I see your points then.

Do you think so? ahh thanks Yeovil
do you think they will listen to me that we need better cheerleaders?

oh a lighter note is that AXS and Herthab on the front of the brochure? under the on sale date and slightly obscured by the "watch up to 13games for free*" bit?

Is that the reason for your course JFW? :D

In theory it's a price freeze but only if you renew and only if you do it before the end of next month which in my opinion is a bit daft. In the hard economic times do the board really see people having the money to renew in the next 42 days? A lot of people will not. And yes they have decided to do a generous scheme of a 10 month pay back which is fine but when they APR is as high as it is really you are paying more and as Si said in actual fact you'd be paying more per match that buying a matchday ticket. It would have been nice to see a Town End deal of say £220 or something but realistically given the climate I don't think that was going to happen and i'd be surprised if many clubs out prices down this year. So really it's expected but the timescales given on renewing and buying are in my opinion a bit of a let down.

As for matchday tickets that's dissapointing as well. I have to say if you can't make many games for whatever reason and so therefore buy on a matchday for the games you can attend it's going to be dissapointing especially if we are playing league two football next season. £22 for league two football in the main stands? No thanks.

dear oh dear oh dear.
they would have seen a huge drop in sales anyway, but this will lose a fair few more.
the dates are ridiculous,the reduction in the townend isn't enough,and the apr rate is a skank.

Renew by the 30th April? Oh blimey, I can't see this going down well.

WAY WAY too expensive! I shant be renewing ... and at matchday prices of £22 I will probably also have to cut down on the number of matches I attend as well

Poor show Mr Fitton .. tickets should have been reduced not increased or frozen .. should the worst happen and we do go down there simply wont be anyone there hardly ..

umm no - but it did get me thinking! people dont want to watch dumpy pre teens in bad outfits - they want hot 20 something ladies looking ace!  :soapy tit wank:

I'll be buying matchday tickets - what are the prices for next season?

Agree - get in there and sort it out!

£22!!!!!!!!

End of April. Fuck's sake that's shit for an early bird deadline. VERY disappointed.

If I can't get the £££ together by the end of June, bye bye season ticket because I am not paying £399, it'll be a few in the TE and a few in the South with the lad.

They have to rethink that deadline surely?

Fucking hell. I wasn't expecting to have to stump up the cash before May!

Back to bananas and muesli it is then.

As I see it, that's one hell of a concession to offer a 10 month instalment deal - That will significantly reduce the close season cash benefit, which is one of the reasons that they've offered discounts in the past.

For those in the early bird v early bird plus decision process, there is a £30 difference - I'd say that was a reasonable offset given the Board's move on the 2 v 10 instalments.

Great idea to offer a 3 year 'debenture' although the fact we could thoeretically be non-league for two of those seasons (just call me Reg-DV) is a bit off putting. The idea of £10.86 per game is quite appealing though.

I am a bit surprised that the match day prices have gone up - but the Board will presumably be expecting a drop in season ticket numbers anyway. If the worst comes to the worst, they may even rethink matchday prices .

No way of pleasing everybody.

19.9% is not a concession at all, I'm happy to lend you all the money for a season ticket at that interest rate. If it was interest free I'd take your point.

Too right !

Just seen the installment option is a credit agreement as well.

The 10 month installment is being done through a third party though. It's them I think that they are getting the APR.
Not surprised that the club is doing it that way though, with the hassle it had just making it 2 payments this season.

The only thing that grates a little is the renewal dates.

19.9% is an absolute disgrace, especially over 10 "montly" (sic) instalments.  No spell checker at STFC then?

Which is not surprising if they had a significant number of 'bail outs' this season.

Absolutely, but not beneficial to everybody in the current economic climate.

Ming - just rang my dad for a whinge - hes OK as is old so can get a concession - thats always a cheap option really

Whats grating on me is just the short notice for the early bird - If Id have known about this say in Feb - and had a couple of months paypacket inbetween I could have budgeted/taken some extra lifeguarding shifts to pay for it

Snap - end of May would have been fairer - tbh thats what I was expecting...

Agreed that's a high rate. However If we look at the early bird deal, it's extra cash going out of your bank account of £27 over ten months, that's hardly punitive is it compared to even the old match day prices ?

Yeah it's normally the end of May. Or at least it has been for a fair few years now.

Credit where it is due for offering an installment plan, to be fair the club probably had to find a company willing to do this and these sort of places do charge high apr rates anyway.

Extremely dissapointed in increased matchday prices and the full ST price of £399 is just ridiculous and out of order, and also the price for the TE.

Where is the incentive for new ST holders also.

Although for the TE if it had been made a lot cheaper then away fans on Stratton Bank would be entitled to pay the same.

I'm also dissapiinted they didn't do "mini" season ticket where people can buy books of say 10 games at a reduced cost so they can go to any 10 games.

I'd like to hear an explanation of their reaosning though, Mr Fitton is usually open with fan;s so hopefulyl he wil lbe open with his reasons

Well then just look at it as a 10% increase in season ticket prices year on year (which still leaves us below 07/08 prices), with the option of a 10% discount for even earlier commitment.

The early bird price of £309 is for existing and new customers though.

Sorry for being lazy and not looking myself but is there any discount for buying match tickets in advance? My old man is retired now and when I travel over he normally gets my ticket next to or near to him way in advance.

The prices for renewal are fine and even the full price for new customers is probably in line with other league 1 clubs.

It's funny how lots of people expect the board to splash cash all over the place, but complain about paying for tickets themselves! (This is not aimed at anyone in particular)

That may be the case Hertha, but I think people were expecting a good deal with football not being near the top of most people's priority list.  Think football may have a tough year next season, with people deciding very carefully where they spend their disposable income.

£22 on a average div3 or 4 match or 8 pints of Guinness in front of some massive screen watching some glory boy footie, that's not the toughest decision to make for a person with no real loyalty to STFC.

Honest question, do you think they would reconsider the cut off date?  Thats going to be the sticking point for most, myself included.

All in all I'm happy.
Positive points : Prices are still very good.  The three year ticket is superb value if you can afford it. The kids go free under ten is the way to go Excellent. Under 20's still get in at concession rates. Even natch day prices are still lower than the prices we had to pay a few years ago.  The installment plan at an APR of 19.9% may seem high, but is a better rate than most credit cards these days & overall the interest STILL works out at just over the cost of one match day ticket, & takes the total early bird price to just below the total early bird PLUS price.

I can understand the borad not going with the two installment option again. That was wrecked by (depending on your point of view), Maurice Malpas or those fickle fans who said they wwere not going to pay it cos we weren't top of the league.

Of course the big negative is the deadline date, but in reality if I had been told two years ago that Diamandis Carson et al would be history, the club would be safe, & we would only be paying £309 (even if I delayed buying) for a season ticket I would have thought it was too good to be true.

As for those who want to find ouyt which league we'll be in..............  relax it'll be this one for sure, but if uyou are that bothered, pay the extra £30!

same for me Luci. Loving the instalment plan, just give us a bit more notice. If it comes down to having to pay for a holiday now and missing out then I'll simply pick and choose next season.

I'd like to think so, as it's gonna cripple me financially. Maybe a concerted effort is needed to get them to delay the cut off until the end of May?

The deadlines are harsh. I will be renewing but can understand why people are struggling to by the end of April as I am too.

In my mind thought if you can't afford it then you have two options:

1. Go with the 10 month installment plan. Alright its nearly 20% APR which looks rubbish but in reality its only an extra £26 which really isn't that bad.

2. Pay it at the end of April on a credit card and pay it off over a period of time that suits you. Will probably take a few months to rack up the £26 in interest charges (or not at all if you get a new card with a 0% introductory offer)

I'm going with option 2 and will pay it off as quick as i can. People should remember that they're probably still alot cheaper than they were over 10 years ago.

But Juddie, you're talking about a difference of £30 comparing season to season timing.

people are losing their jobs,others are being more carefull with their finances.so stfc come up with this piss poor ticket structure for next season with matchday increases,whilst we are enduring a awful year of football this term.

apart from having money this lot are getting worse as time goes by.
the food kiosks are still shit,the team are shitter than last year,the 1969 stratton bank raffle is a joke.

On the right thread now arriba? :D

Fucking hell. Life's very bleak in your world, isn't it?

£30 is £30 and some people don't want to pay a direct debit and have an extra monthly outgoing.  By extending the deadline by 1 month, it gives people more time to get the money together to pay it off in a lump sum, avoid the monthly direct debit and interest.

no i'm fine, and get into football for very little anyway.
but i'm looking at it in general,and it's not good at all imo.

Defo disappointed with the early bird notice and lack of incentive for the TE bearing in mind it's the worst view in the ground (unless sat directly behind a post in the Arkells.......hmmm wonder how much they are ?) and that should be reflected in the price. Lucky to get 3 thousand ST holders next season whatever division we end up in !

I dont think the price is the sticking point for most. Its the deadlines.

However, a new season ticket for someone who isnt renewing at the last minute for £399. I bet there are Premiership season tickets that are cheaper than that.

To be honest, most of the 'casuals' that got one this season wouldn't have renewed unless the price dropped dramatically and that was never going to happen, not when the board are trying to make us financially secure.

For existing ST holders, the main concern is the renewal cut-off, not the price. Which is the same as this season.

Saying that, I agree that the TE should've been reduced by more than a tenner a season!

I'm not all that bothered. I can afford to pay the early bird price so its a price freeze for me.

Some vaild points to the people who are outraged.

- Last season the board offered the best deal in redent history to try and get 6000 ST's. It failed.

- under 10's now go free, currently its under 7's ?

-The increase in total price paid on the instalment plan including the interest still makes it less than the early bird plus price. this makes it a 9% total increase in cost comparte to this season and you get to pay monthly. not that bad.

- The interest rate isnt that bad compared to the Credit card market currently. its no bargain either but its not a rip off in my view.

- the prices are still a lot less than we were paying 4/5 years ago

-Its not a fantastic deal like this season, but the targets were not hit so was anyone really expecting such a deal to happen again?

My season ticket the season before last (On a renewal) was £369.00.

I think we could see sub 4000 crowds next season if we start poorly , I think it is safe to say that few of the new ST holders are going to re-new after what they have witnessed this season that combined with the fact you dont know if you are paying for L1 or L2. As for the matchday rises the previous board were lambasted for charging £23 and we were not even in a recession so surely this is going to backfire massively on Fitton and Co. Unfortunately I know of 5 ST holders who will not be re-newing and at those matchday prices will not be paying on the day either, So much for a rich board full of Millionaires it will be a lonely place for them next season.

Ive now gone from anger to considering who I could podge to get a free ticket!  :D ;)

Herthab and CT,

I thought I was alone in my views, thankfully not.  

Lambourn Red - it's a £30 decision if you want to know which division we're going to be in. Good to see that you're still walking in the Fitton wonderland nevertheless.

exactly.

[ Unfortunately I know of 5 ST holders who will not be re-newing and at those matchday prices will not be paying on the day either, So much for a rich board full of Millionaires it will be a lonely place for them next season.
[/quote]

Thats fine and not unexpected but what price did they need to be to one get them to renew or two get them to pay on the day?

Matchday prices are shit. To be expected though.

£22 for 95ish mins of dubious entertainment is fucking bullshit. I don't care if other clubs do the same. That sort of "football's special so we can charge more" thinking is what will kill the game in the long term

I also dont really get how people are complaining about being given the option of paying over 10 months and being charged £25 interest for it but dont want to pay monthly,  yet the same people given a theoretical extra month could get £279 cash together.

I'm not mocking anyone who is skint, but you're either skint or you're not.

Cant get £279 together by the end of April?   pay in installments.  Still works out at £13.26 a game. its not that bad.

I really can't understand the "I'll go if it's £20, but not if it's £22" argument at all. It's less than the price of a burger, programme or 1 prematch drink. It's not a price decision, it's an excuse not to go to a game.

Thanks for your judgemental reply more to do with working away from home a lot and missing mid-week games that I have decided not to re-new, money has fuck all to do with it .I was talking of new ST holders in general about paying for L1 or L2. The ones I know are just pissed off with the whole matchday experience that they are only going because they have a ST at the moment.

It is not down to affordability just value for money for the product you are paying for which no one can deny has been shockingly bad this season.

it has, but watching football isnt a straightforward consumer transaction is it?  there is an emotional investment in it.  How much value do you judge this season to have been worth?  if you had paid £100 would you feel like it was value for money? £75?

Frankly if it were down to the quality of football we'd have had no season ticket holders for about 10 years, and the football league would have collapsed.

I guess you have not heard of the recession then and 3 million unemployed by the end of the year, it is very easy to say it is only £22 when you have a job or your house is not under threat of being re-posessed

Thats fine everyone is entitled to their opinion and those who don't enjoy what they see won't come anymore etc etc.

Apologies but i thought you were lambasting the board for their pricing structure.

Well I am happy with this.... Some obviously arent for the reasons already mentioned. Will stay in the Town End for the same price next season so in that respect I am happy. I know its only a tenner dearer or the prices going to almost 400 quid in June then our season ticket base will prob be 3-4K next year

Yeah i know i'm lucky but if my house was under threat then i wouldn't be shelling out for footy whether it be £20 or £22.

Am i missing the point somewhere?

I take your point for the die hards but most of the new ST holders that were attracted will be going back to picking and choosing games, there will always be the 3k die hard support.

And I guess you've not cottoned on to the point I was making about it being a £2 difference. If someone is out of a job or in financial dire straits they wouldn't be spending the £20 either would they ?

sorry, missed Paolo's post

fair points paolo / neville

quite tempted by the 3 year season ticket.

On the credit agreement I think this.

The actual cost of £30ish is reasonable.

But I'd be taking it out through fear of losing my job. If that happens and I can't pay I don't want that burden in addition to everything else. If I don't pay presumably the consequences are akin to defaulting on a loan.

What would have been nice is a 'pay a month in advance' Direct Debit scheme that you could cancel at any point. But I fully understand this is unworkable due to a) current ticketing system, b) the club want a guaranteed income. 

So I guess it's stick it on the credit card time. I think I have payment protection on that, though I'm trying to pay it off, not add to it :)

Just remembered I should get some cash coming in at the start of April than I completely forgot about.

Still think the deadline is a bit short notice though

The point I am making is that in a recession when offering a leisure product putting up the prices is not a clever thing to do if you want to attract more punters.

Fuck all that for shits and giggles.

It's a tipping point though. 20 quid is too much really, but the further you go beyond that, the more people just say "fuck it".

Have to say I didn't really twig the renewal date cut-offs when I first saw it, and although I'll probably be OK to make that myself, I can well understand why many people won't. Last season they probably allowed too much latitude in terms of renewal dates, this season they've swung too far the other way. 30 quid difference or not, again, it's a tipping point and that end of April deadline is going to put a LOT of people off.

It's all very well (though not terribly sensible in terms of building a fanbase IMO) having high matchday prices if you're counting on getting most of your business through season tickets. But if you then put people off the ST route with deadlines many can't meet, you're squeezing folks at both ends.

They can get the early bird season ticket prices if they pay by end of April. SO effectively get same benefits of current season ticket holders.

People really cant winge as they didnt go to the season ticket meeting i suppose.

Fair point however i think the board are feeling the pinch as much as everyone else. Lets face it the prices have only "gone up" because they went down so much last season and we still couldn't meet what most of us thought to be a realistic target. I think the board know they'll lose a few season ticket holders regardless of the price (like your 5 mates) and have priced accordingly to these reasons.

Thanks for eloquently putting down what I was trying to say, £2 is fuck all to your average man in the street but the perception of paying over the odds for a sub-standard product will put many off.

Which was on a midweek evening the day after an evening game in the middle of a run of evening games, which is why I couldn't go. I'd be more inclined to accept your point if the two major sticking points in this announcement (very early renewal dates and increased matchday prices) had been discussed in that meeting, so that those who went had an opportunity to have their say and those who didn't could have emailed in etc. As it is, these two factors which are a bit of a double blow tbh have come as a major surprise/shock to most, and some consultation could perhaps have avoided it.

That's fair enough for STs and I wouldn't have been suprised or particularly upset to have seen STs go up to 299 tbh for that very reason. But it makes putting up matchday prices all the more of a double squeeze - means people are more likely to stop going all together.

Maybe maybe not. I'm surprised at the matchday increase but if people think £22 is too much then doubt they'd attend many games at £20 either to be honest.

What i'm trying to say is that some people will come and some won't regardless of the price.

i would have liked to have seen a price freeze on both season and matchday tickets, apart from the townend season ticket price which should have been reduced by 15-20%.also a deadline of june for an early bird price.
 a low apr monthly deal would have been a good idea, rather than the 20% they have introduced.

I understand your point, but where would you say the tipping point was in the other direction ? If we have a successful start to the season, matchday price won't be an issue. The converse is true of course.

I'd quite like Angelina Jolie to hijack me on the way home from work and give me a seeing to that will leave me gasping. That's not terribly realistic either. I was actually pleasantly surprised at ST prices, but I'd agree having put matchday prices up means they're rather putting all their eggs in the ST basket.
In fairness, as others have already pointed out, the club won't have any control over this as this is a standard credit agreement. What happens is they outsource the collection by installments to a credit company who pay the club the money up front then collect the money from the customer as per any standard hp/credit agreement. If you've got a problem with this, probably best to tackle all those who "decided not to bother renewing" last season on what was never a renewal but a staged payment agreement. It's their welshing that has forced the club to outsource it and hence the APR.

Under 20 quid, basically. But at the two extremes of success/failure on the pitch, you're right, price won't make much difference. It's where we're doing OK-ish and non-St holders are weighing up whether or not to go that these kind of marginal tipping points come into play. And while the difference may be small, it does make a difference. There's a reason why shops charge 19.99 rather than 20.00

I'll be paying 22 quid a match to see Town whatever division we are in.

I never buy a match programme and always have a chippy at my grans before going to the football so never buy any food or drink so basically all I pay for is the match and a couple of pints before hand.

It may be shit football and 'expensive' but it is my shit football team, always has been, always will be.  

Thats an interesting opinion. Plus what about if they would have sat in the south stand maybe switch to town end to save money...

A lot of it is the psycological barrier as well, i.e. £19.99 is fine but when you get to £20 that is expensive, why do you think so may shops use the .99 option ?

So £20 would be fine but people will see £22 as expensive

The thing is that £20 isn't fine. And moving higher isn't fine either.

How can the town end be only £10 cheaper for a whole season when per game at matchday prices its going to be £6 cheaper. Doesn't seem right.  ???

presumably the early deadline and higher matchday prices are an effort to get people to commit money earlier, which will help keep the club going through the summer, is that the idea? I can understand that, I just think the club are missing a trick making the dedline end of April, when we won't know what division we're in.

Most of us on here will go whatever, but the 'floaters' won't commit to that. Are they hoping we stay up and the floaters pay more by waiting? Seems a dangerous tactic.

If you're contemplating putting it on a credit card, it pays to do the three season option. 750 over 18 months is 42 quid, not much more than one ticket over 10 months.

Food for thought, but I think if I get one I'll be credit carding it (having just paid the bastard thing off) in the DRS - makes no financial sense to get one in the town end when you get a better view for £10 more.

I thought the 3 season ticket offer was still over 10 months. Could be wrong. That's the one I'm leaning towards to be honest.

is it, f*ck that then! unless you pay for the three years up front by credit card and pay it off over 18 months on your credit card, you'll still feel like you're getting 18 months for free.

Maybe not.

Main issue i have is the cut off date- think it shoul dbe extended to 31/05/09 as previous years

Get a job.  it will seem like fuck all then.

That's what I was thinking of doing. It's just I have quite a bit on my card at the mo so I'm not sure I can justify another £750... Scary times.

I wouldn't go anyway, don't really like football.

Football's got to stop living in it's own little world - only comparing prices to last season or other clubs. Really it should be comparing what's on offer compared with what else the people of Swindon want to do with their cash on a Saturday afternoon.

£20 in no way represents value for money - It's just ripping off those who've already made an emotional investment in the club but for whatever reason don't want a season ticket. It's a pretty big barrier to anybody who wants to justify going along now and again.

Shouldn't be more than a tenner.

Thats a good point. In theory, a TE season ticket should be at least £138 cheaper.

and the reason it's been half empty, and a shite atmosphere this season.
they got it wrong in the townend this season,and aint put it right for next season

No.

  Bottom line is if the football is shite and we've a losing side, peolple will be more reluctant to shell out, than if we've a decent side going well.

To play Devils advocate, doesn't an increased matchday ticket price make the season ticket price more attractive.

(i.e last season the ST price was 58% of the price of 23 matchday tickets, this year it is only 55%)

Last year was the first time for 15 years that we had season tickets, and we will almost certainly renew again this year.
As long as we make it to 13 games or more we don't lose out.

One annoying thing is that you can't get 3 year tickets for juniors, otherwise we might well have considered it.

someone negatively mentioned this would drive season tickets down to around 3000.  Well, result, because that's what we always get.

Other than the deadline, this still looks a cracker of a season ticket offer, enough to keep me interested.  I purchased one this season for the first time ever, I never liked the idea of shelling out in advance (even though I often went to enough games to make it worthwhile) and I don't like the same seat every week.

For a main stand in the Prem DV, you'd be looking much closer to £1000, and for most you can't get matchday tickets.

Matchday tickets are a different kettle of fish.  £22 is too much.  If I waver on the season ticket, then the matchday prices are sufficient to make matchdays a "decision" as opposed to an automatic choice if I am around.  The TE may be cheaper, but the view is so poor only those who don't mind standing and not seeing much will go.  I used to watch from the Bank as a teenager and my 1 or 2 seasons in the TE was very irritating.

Made my mind up for me.
No season tickets for us next season, and if the football is shit again no matches either.
Small crowds next season I reckon.

Google tells me that the average price for a mid range Prem league season ticket last year was £590

quote author=overthehill link=topic=33537.msg677566#msg677566 date=1237576689]
Made my mind up for me.
No season tickets for us next season, and if the football is shit again no matches either.
Small crowds next season I reckon.
[/quote]

If you moan as much at the game as you do on here, there will be some happy people if you're missing ;D

Depends on the season.

Our average gates for the years mid table and below in this league in recent years haven't fluctuated much and in the 2006/7 season held up rather well.  The only time it will fall by a noticeable amount is if we have a poor season in League 2.  In 1989/90, some of our gates weren't much better than they are now.

I might go for the 3 year option.

It will be interesting to see if £280 for a main stand ST is among the cheapest in either this league or the one below.

Can we commission someone to do this research for us?

Not me though because I am just an ideas man :)

I'll ask around and see what I can sort out for you Charlotte, for a pimp fee of course!  ;D

I think I'm going to have to go for renewal in May on the credit card. It's going to work out more expensive but hopefully not too bad. I'm just not willing to accept this as a true price freeze, 42 days to find that sort of money is unrealistic.

In essence, the deadlines annoy me more than the prices or APR deal - prices for early option are still around the same and people can choose if they want to use the credit option or their own credit facilities.

The one thing I can't fathom is that the full price with installments for the TE works out either roughly the same or more expensive than match day prices. Why tie yourself into a credit agreement, other than keeping the same seat, which won't be an issue in the Town End anyway? I also think that the full prices are such that people won't bother at all if they can't make the early deadlines.

It's a bit of a shame really, after the fantastic offer we were given this season most people were full of praise. By being very stingy on the deadline, simply to get people to renew before our league status is fully known means many (including me) are picking holes in the price structures. Essentially there's not too much difference in price but it almost feels like the customers are doing the business a favour rather than the customer feeling they want the product that much that they have to pay for it as soon as possible.

The renewal of family ticket 2+3 is £599 as an early bird renewal. Last year I paid £550, I think. So for me its an increase of £50 if I renew early and more if I leave it. I'll go for it again while I've still got a job and the money.
I can see ST sales going down to the normal 3 - 3.5k mark.
The cut off dates don't bother me but I can see why they're a real issue for others.
The matchday pricing and TE ST are just wrong.
Its almost like the Board have accepted flat atmospheres and low gates. Whatever happenned to the Swindon Town Experience. 

Um I thought we had 5.5 thousand this season which was great ! and IMO probably back down to 3 next due to a combination of a poor effort on the pitch this season as well as not an entirely riveting ST offer for the next, early bird deadline being my particular disappointment. Some tweaking I think would help, on the deadline and re think for match day prices.

Was the TE irritation purely down to the view ?

Don't mind standing? The reason I love the TE is because you can stand!

Yeah, that was Diamandis' logic when he whacked matchday prices up to 23 quid - that it would "encourage" more people to get season tickets. Didn't work. I agree the ST prices are in and of themselves good value (well, it's all relative), but as I said earlier by setting matchday prices so high, you're putting a lot of eggs in that basket. "Walk-up" sales can be a key cashflow provider during the season, especially if you come in under what you budgeted for on ST sales, and with prices that high, you're creating a significant barrier to entry for casual sales - it may only be the difference of a burger/pint etc but most casual sales will look at the headline figure and be deterred. The converse also applies - with a lower headline figure, they end up buying the burger/pint/programme anyway and you make back the two/three quid difference plus some - 1500 at 19 quid plus extras is always going to be better than 8/900 at 22 quid and skipping the burger/pint.

With a tight window for most to buy STs (most will have to buy before June) you're running the risk of shutting people out two ways - you're gambling that everyone can renew by June, whereas in reality those deadlines will shut a fair few out who'll go for the "pick and choose" option. That's fine if we have a good season next year, but if we don't they'll pick and choose less and less at 22 quid a pop. And at that point, you're losing regular customers long term as people get out of the habit of going. I think our core support will remain where it's been for ages now - around 4500, but it's going to make it harder to pick fans up during the season, and make it easier to lose existing ones.

I suppose the idea is to get as many as possible of "the faithful" to buy STs in the main stands, and hope the your walk-up sales see the headline figure as 16 quid in TE rather than 22 quid in the main stands.

All in all, I think the pricing on the STs is actually really good - again. And the extension of kids o free to under 10s is great. But I hope I'm wrong that the combination of the timing on deadlines and overly high matchday prices could undermine that.

Another piece of research that someone could carry out is this:

How many STs had we sold by 1st June 2008?

I got mine early doors I know that.

2261 as of close of play 31st May but then we had a greatly elongated renewal period (till August) so you can't really compare year on year. I'd be disappointed if we sold less than 3500 this year (which would still be greatly up on previous years where we've generally done 2500-3000), pleasantly surprised if we sold 5000 and would expect around 4000-4200. Because I think a lot of the regulars will stay on STs because despite the early deadline, the basic ST price is still good value if you see yourself going to most matches. What I'm worried about is walk-up (ie non ST) ticket sales

Another piece of interesting information would be as to how many people paid cash, or quasi-cash (i.e. a debit card, or cheque), and how many used a credit card.

I am sure the answers to the questions I have posed over the last 24 hours will begin to uncover some answers to the queries posed by this new ST promotion. Just like season 5 of LOST is doing with the secrets of the island.

The prices, deals and terms seem like a big step backwards to me.

- The interest rate for monthly payments is taking the piss, bearing in mind you're still paying in advance and the low interest rates about at the moment. There is a strong argument that they shouldn't charge any interest, or at most say 5%-10%.
- The Town End prices should have been slashed with the aim of selling out as season tickets. Giving people the option of a really cheap ticket and meaning the end will be full at every game.
- £22 for match day tickets is a complete joke. Who in their right mind would pay that to watch Swindon? At most I'd pay that for a few games against the biggest / best teams, against the crap teams there is no chance.
- Not sure of the need for discounts for people renewing or buying early. Why not just a flat £279 for everyone?
- They still need to get more realistic with the prices. As an example, the most expensive season ticket at Sunderland (for everyone buying early) is £465. Bearing in mind that gets you games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool etc its a bargain compared to £279 at Swindon.

Personally I reckon they should be keeping ticket prices low and then looking to make extra money elsewhere - food, programmers, merchandise etc. Maybe something like a £400 ticket for adults which gets you; the tickets, a shirt, hat and scarf and a programme at every game. Basically bundle things to get people to spend more and giving more in return. Or something like that.

This has already been dealt with several times in this thread, e.g.
Basically, if you take out the installments option, what you're actually doing is taking out a loan/credit agreement with a 3rd party loan company

3rd party, 4th party, whatever? still a shit deal.
it's almost like they dont want anyone to buy a season ticket in the townend. the packages are that poor.anyone who buys upfront in there is seriously loyal, or a nutter.

The finance package may be poor, so use your own credit card instead and pay it off over 10 months.

Here's something I've also been pondering. People have raised the point the town end should be cheaper. Is this because they want an incentive to move back to the town end, or because they simply want an even cheaper price?

I like the town end, I'd prefer it to be cheaper, but I still pay to go in there because I want to be in there more than the other stands. Also, due to everyone clearing out, I've got a fairly decent view right above the middle exit, so even better for me.

But it's more of a thing I'm interested in, not criticising.

What do you want them to do? The options are offer installments via a 3rd party credit company which will all want to rake interest on the deal or don't offer them at all. Which do you suggest the club should do?

I strongly suspect that it is people who want a full Town End to generate a better atmosphere, but they want somebody else to go in there and have no intention of moving from the DRS or Arkells themselves no matter how cheap the TE is.

Past experience shows that when the side stand prices are reasonable, the Town End will be mostly empty apart from a few die hards. This was the case in the late 90s up to when the old board jacked up the prices in the side stands in 2001.

We wont go back to having the Town End packed unless you price people out of the side stands which would not be a price worth paying.

I agree with that logic.

I also think the Board are not obliged to do anything about it, because we're not even close to filling up the side stands.

do it in house or find a company who wont charge such inflated interest

Barclaycard used to do a card offering 0% on football season ticket purchases, but I don't think they do anymore.

Fact is, if you shopped around you could save yourself more money anyway, unless the APR was very very good. Unless you get a credit card or an overdraft, no company would offer a low APR on something that cost less than £300, or at least no company that I've seen.

Actualy illegal to do it in house unless they are licenced credit brokers - and the interest rate is almost the standard!

oh that makes it alright then.it's great value and i think everyone should get a townend season ticket on the credit deal.

I agree the pricing seems a bit daft with credit at the full price, especially as it's not clear in the case of a full paying adult, it's cheaper to pay game by game!

But I can get a better APR with my existing credit, so I may explore that option. The APR isn't hidden away in small print at least.

If the APR being charged on the clubs installment plan is so outragouos, people could always take out a loan at a better rate (assuming they can find one), or use a credit card with a better rate.

If they cant get credit on those sort of terms from a bank, why should they expect to get it from the club?

I'm not very good on credit stuff - but surely the bass 19.9% is pretty good if for whatever reason it's hard to get credit elsewhere, but if you can you've got the option too.

I doubt it'd be possible for the club to wangle a more competitive rate at the moment - especially when the basis for offering credit is "football fan".

APR is how much interest yearly isn't it? Will they do interest monthly, so that the interest in an absolute amount will go down towards the end of the 10months?APR of 1.19 would make the monthly rate 1.19^1/12 wouldn't it?, or have I forgotten something?

The terms annual percentage rate (APR), nominal APR, and effective APR (EAR)[1] describe the interest rate for a whole year (annualized), rather than just a monthly fee/rate, as applied on a loan, mortgage, credit card, etc. It is a finance charge expressed as an annual rate. [2] Those terms have formal, legal definitions in some countries or legal jurisdictions, but in general

# The nominal APR is the simple-interest rate (for a year).
# The effective APR is the fee+compound interest rate (calculated across a year).

From Wiki.

19.9% pro rata isn't that bad, considering it is over 10 months and not 12.

I don't know what people are moaning about really.

It seems to me that it is the same people who are complaining that we aren't paying for players.

They tried doing it in-house last season and look what happened - a load of people decided it wasn't after all payment by installments but some kind of "optional" renewal which they promptly opted out of because they didn't like Malpas/JPM/Phil Smith/the burgers. Leaving the club with the option of taking legal action against their own fans, which would have caused uproar. If you want to blame anyone for that option being ruled out, blame them.

You're getting this het up over less than 3 quid a month over the 10 months, by the way, you do realise that?

i'm not het up at all.i just think the ticket pricing structure is flawed for a number of reasons.i'm not grumpy,angry,pissed off etc,etc,it's just my opinion.

:) Heh, you might not be pissed off, but fb will be now you've played the opinion card

meh :)

In my opinion arriba is het up and pissed off ;)

:)

You're just trying to bring me down to grumpy level. But today it won't work!

But yeah. Your opinion, what do you think we thought it was? our opinion is that some, but probably not all of your opinions aren't that fair, so what, rahhhh lion. blahblah

I just had a thought, bear with me if I'm talking nonsense, saw jaw. Could the early deadline be to do with an agreement with the credit company? Maybe part of a deal to keep the rate lower - it seems like quite a small amount per season ticket considering the risk of lending at the moment, maybe the only way they could get them to do it was make a show that some people might have to get the more expensive ticket.

Maybe not actually - the difference between end of apr and end of may isn't that much is it?

"our opinion"? do you speak for others then ben?or do you hear voices?

yeah something like that.

it's that white cider fella, wrecking your brain

Not had any white ace for a few days. Let's just say other substances to enhance today. Which might explain a bit :)

Thought a few glasses of wine would help slow it all down a bit, but I forgot what I'm like and now I have to keep stopping myself from just necking it all when I'm not grinding my teeth.

hahaha.i had an e for old times sake a few months ago and thought i was going to die.never again.a line of charles and the odd spliff, but thats it's in my drug consumption nowadays.

Nah speed or something today. plus a couple of joints.

I don't actually take anything very often - even through 2007 when I mostly wasn't skint. Not that I often turn anything down either, just never been one to sort out getting anything in. Well apart from the occasional bit of weed. Don't think I'd even know anybody in Swindon if I wanted to get anything on a whim.

Never been a huge fan of the curvature-less one-dimensional figures as represented by Mr. Charlie. I don't dislike it, but it makes me chatter away like a fucking maniac. There's always a bit in the back of my mind watching myself in disgust, failing to take control and making me stop talking bollocks, not good bollocks either, boring bollocks.

I find other substances bring out a much better class of bollocks out of me.

Ben is plugged directly into the universal id

Yep, more expensive doesn't always mean better does it?

Hang on a minute  -  so APR doesn't mean end of April ?

Arriba's Posting Rants

I'm happy to offer terms for a season ticket loan
The RD (finance) Company Ltd
APR 8.9% (AER 8.1%) on loans up to 50p (other terms apply - see below)
daily interest 10%
rebuttal charge £30
hygiene charge £25
personal visit charge
    1. £25
    2. £80
    3. Don't go there
on line harassment charge £1.25
(per contact)
non payment charge
visit number
    1. one of the payers will spit in your face
    2. public pubic waxing (in a town centre of your choice)
    3. minor bone fracture (including cartilage and ears)
    4. ooh - I dunno - toenails out and/or fingernails
    5. now I'm mad - kneecaps (cartridge charge £1.50 + vat)
    6. No - we never normally have to do this - but if we did it would involve something anal
    * discount for JFW podge offer (100%) - no charge for anything

Did I cover everything there?

The season ticket financing is being provided through Zebra Finance, who do the same thing for over 40 other clubs in the UK with the same APR being charged to everyone. As others have pointed out you're only being charged about £30 for the financing, most of which in effect will be the fee's for setting it up and running it. So it doesn't seem that bad having thought about it some.

I haven't read all the posts so apologies if this has been said before.

Buy a TE season ticket after 1st June on instalment plan and pay £381.80
Buy a matchday ticket every game  23 x £16 = £368

Where FFS is the logic or incentive in that?

Don't buy it then.  I would imagine they are not as fussed as some people on here are about getting massive season ticket sales in the TE - why? because the ancillary sales will be very low in that stand due to having such poor facilities and fans tending to be the turn up 5 mins before kick off type.  Better, financially, to sell season tickets in the two main stands and push on the day sales to the TE.

trouble with that rob, is if form is poor,turn up on the day fans wont bother coming.an attractively priced season ticket in the townend would have people in there week in week out with it paid for upfront.if we play well it wont be an issue as people will turn up and pay on the day.all ifs buts maybes really isn't it.

I'm working on the priviso that most people who want a season ticket will purchase one anyway - many of them being in the DRS, like me.  By reducing the price, all you do is move people from 1 seat to another rather than entice new people in.  It may be a little different this year, but I doubt it.  Such was the good value for the main stands.

There is a completely different argument on how that impacts atmosphere etc, but I suppose for an accountant, bottom line is the issue not how we all fell about it.

I agree with that in a sense.

Although you could argue if someone wanted to go to every game before the strt of the season, they'd get their ticket sooner than June.

The full price with finance doesn't make sense though, but I suppose it's been done to make people renew sooner.

If you pay in installments, do you have an opportunity to settle the agreement earlier or do you have to take it out over 10 months?

you can settle earlier Luc but you will still have to pay the term interest

Just got mine on the credit card. Went for a Town End renewal in the same seat.

Sods.  I could prob pay 200 of it without installments but 300 is pushing it to be honest.

Im going to leave it till end of April and see whats left of my wages.  If not much, Ill prob have to do installments although thats my last option.

Just had a nose around the Leyton Orient OS and I see that for next season they are offering Adult Season Tickets from £200. I guess with the current financial climate we may see more clubs reducing prices for next season.