Thetownend.com

Are you on the rock and roll? On 'holiday' from Honda? You can get £5 tickets in the Town End and £10 in the Don Rodgers Stand for the Southend game and until the end of the season..

Yes under the terrible headline of TOWN LAUNCH JUST THE TICKET on the official site there are £10 Don Rodgers tickets and £5 Town End tickets for Southend and free tickets for any under 10s that you bring with you - if you can prove that you are out of work...

Read the press release below if you want but more as a lesson in how not to market a very good offer..

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http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/page/TicketNews/0,,10341~1545806,00.html
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Swindon Town Football Club is acutely aware of the impact that the current economic conditions are having on so many Swindon based businesses and individuals and the club itself is not immune from the effects of the recession.

The club considers itself to be an integral part of the Swindon Town community and believes that it has an important role to play in using its facilities to help support the community in these challenging financial times. The four month shut down at Honda, allied to recent press articles relating to other businesses in Swindon that are suffering from the downturn, brings the depth of the economic crisis into sharp focus.
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In these challenging times, entertainment, with a particular emphasis on football, can often provide temporary release from the trials and tribulations facing so many people presently and act as a catalyst for knitting communities more closely together.

Therefore, commencing with the February 7th home fixture against Southend United and for the remainder of this season, Swindon Town Football Club would like to make the following gesture available to those members of the Swindon community who find themselves currently out of work and seeking new employment financial support under the Job Seekers Allowance initiative or who have recently been laid off or made redundant.

Swindon Town fans

Don Rogers Adult or Concession Advance Match Day Ticket: £10
Children aged 10 and under (accompanied by an adult) Free

Town End Adult or Concession Advance Match Day Ticket: £5
Children aged 10 and under (accompanied by an adult) Free

The conditions of purchase.
 Tickets must be purchased before 12pm on the Friday before the Saturday game, and before 12pm on the Monday before the Tuesday evening fixture
 No 'Just The Ticket' tickets can be purchased on Match Day
 One adult ticket per person, no multiple purchases
 Valid documentation i.e. Job Seekers Allowance registration, Honda I/D, or official redundancy notice, together with legitimate I/D must be produced when purchasing a ticket
 This offer is only valid until April 24th 2009
 Match Day access to the Legends' Lounge is permitted with a valid Match Day ticket
 Up to two children aged ten and under permitted per adult
 Conditions subject to review by Swindon Town Football Club

The club is only too aware that a great many current Season Ticket Holders are victims of this economic downturn but are confident that they will support this community gesture for the non 2008/09 Season Ticket Holders.

The STFC management team will be meeting this week to begin planning the 2009/10 Season Ticket campaign.

Commenting on the 'Just The Ticket' initiative, STFC Chief Executive Nick Watkins said:

"Given the economic conditions and the attendant financial uncertainty that so many of our fans maybe facing, 'Just The Ticket' is a temporary measure for the remainder of this season to assist those who may otherwise be denied the opportunity to watch football.

"Challenging times demand creative thinking."

Watkins added: "In the coming weeks we will be seeking to construct a 2009/10 Season Ticket proposition that will allow our fans to continue to enjoy Saturday afternoon football at The County Ground within what could be, revised budgetary constraints."

Great idea if you ask me, which you didn't.

I am (only because I had to for mortgage protection to pay out).

Do you think they'd pay my £30 petrol to get there and back too?

Oh well.

Sorry Batch, what do you think?

I also think it is a great offer and one that the club should do a bit more to promote.

unless i misunderstand, you need to actually visit the ground to purchase the tickets to provide proof...that's a bit of a bummer for the unemployed that don't live nearby.

(i.e. me)

Fair play to the club. Its a very good idea.

*enters tory boy mode*

bloody scroungers! is there anything they dont get for free or cheaper? house, council tax, buses, now football tickets.  shoot them all!


*exit tory boy mode*

Maybe they'll let you fax / email?

Ha. I spend all day everyday job hunting. I want to work!

A likely story.  Watching jeremy kyle and wanking more like  ;)

What ever flicks your switch but i prefer a good XXX movie than Jeremy Kyle for self pleasure.

I'd be embarrassed to wave my P45 in front of some cunt in the ticket office.

Woooo, I'm unemployed or redundant, check it out!

No thanks.

At the same time? Have you seen the women on there? No thanks, though some blokes obviously like them  :D

spoken like a proper rich kid

In that case I recommend XXX2 - the next level.

I'm just about hanging on at my place.

Should know either way by tomorrow!

Good idea of the club though....thinking of the fans, a refreshing change.

Perfectly happy to wave a student ID about though ?

I've only been once since I became a student as it were and I paid full whack.

I couldn't give a fuck these days neville, I'm not interested in watching us be it for £5 or 5p.

haha ace! :D

Sounds like you're definitely ashamed to be a dosser.

Great Idea - just hope they promote it well enough to actually get a few more through the gates.

At times like these and if I was made redundant I wouldn't be ashamed to get cheaper tickets - every little helps.

How much is the basic wage for Honda workers?

bet its still more than most people.

£18k basic plus guaranteed overtime I think.

so all the honda workers are on £18k and the club are giving them £5 tickets!! What about all the workers that are on less than that?

I pissed off everyone feeling sorry for them!!!

I'm pretty sure they're not on full pay during shut down, certainly not for the second two months.

I see your point Sippo..i agree to a point...but i do applaud the club though i would have all kids in free under 12 anyway,they would bring in money for revenue..its a fine line really because alot of fans on lowish wages anyway baught season tickets and its only human nature for people to get miffed...leets face it there still is people who dont want to work with p45s and are going to get in cheap....but the club cant cover every eventuality so fair play to them i say.

I mean it is fair play to the club for OAPs, under 12's etc, but just honda workers is what pisses me off. They are worse people off, and they still go and pay full price. The difference is they just get on with it.

Fuck OAP's! They've had plenty of time to prepare for these occasions.

Surely sippo you can see the club are doing it to forge a good link with possibly the biggest company in swindon . Something every other board has managed to fuck up

Nick Watkins was just on Talk Sport talking about this deal. He specifically mentioned the Honda workers. I think he did it just to piss Sippo off.

Are they doing it for the company though or the employee's?

The point i'm trying to get across is that why should Honda workers get the benefits?

Big target audience, it's good marketing, whether you agree with it or not.

It's not just Honda workers though is it? IIRC, anyone who's got a redundancy notice or been sacked or JSA can also get it. But then they've explicitly added Honda workers in too who are also going to be hard stretched. Good marketing, good way of connecting with a good chunk of your local community when times are hard. Smart move and the right move, very impressive

But people who have a job, and are paid for example £13k per year still have to pay full price...

Oh FFS! What are they supposed to do? Means testing with disposable income forms on the turnstiles? There's plenty of clubs who will be reacting to harder economic times by looking at the impact on their own bottom line and putting prices up across the board. Not so long ago ours would have been one of them. There's always going to be some kind of hole someone can pick in anything the club try to do - instead of bemoaning the edge cases, why not applaud they've at least recognised a lot of people are suffering hard times and have made some effort to help? And to retain those people's support during the hard times, something that hopefully helps breed loyalty

Watkins was on Talk Sport chatting about this tonight.

I'd like to think that was down to me E Mailing Danny Kelly about it.

most honda workers bought the S/T so its good marketing at the occasional supporters i think the players need the support to get out of the mess were in.

It is a nice offer and i hope all the members can have a chance to read this thread.I think you can put the information to other thread.

Stop emailing Danny forking Kelly and make sure planes land safely!  :)

Sorry Johnny that is clearly a poo statement !!

There are 3,700 workers at Honda - if "most" of them are season ticket holders then this only leaves about 1,500 people who have season tickets that do not work for Honda !!

I think Sippo is a miserable git about this - fairp play to the board.  They might even get a few EXTRA bums on seats with initiatives like this - the more the merrier I say !

You Sir are a Grade A Cunt.

Try to look at the facts before you post such drivel. As a Honda employee I would love to 'just get on with it' as you so put it. The majority of Honda workers used to take home somewhere in the region of £1,600 after tax. This was made up of basic pay, overtime, attendance bonus and shift pay. Now all Honda workers are just receiving basic pay, around £1,100 after tax and this figure will drop even further for the second 2 months when it goes to 60% basic pay.

In a nutshell, I have had my income reduced by some 30% with worse to come. Granted I may still earn more than some but its all relavent at the end of the day as everybody lives to their means. My pay has gone down but the mortgage, bills and shopping still have to be paid for. I have been proactive and found a part time job to keep myself above water but others have not been so lucky, as jobs are hard to comeby at the moment.

You have to consider the knock-on affect Honda has for Swindon as its not just the near 4,000 Honda workers but the 15,000 other workers that are employed in and around Swindon by companies that supply to Honda that are also on reduced incomes now.

 I applaud the action taken by the club as it allows myself and others to continue going to The County Ground when originally many people would have just crossed football off the list of expenses that could be lost. I think you forget that Honda is THE MAJOR employer in the town and probably always will be so obviously its going to be the clubs interest to ensure that football is affordable to its captive market.

Hope things improve for you Reaps!

Blimey, top post Mr Reaper. I'm fucked too.

Which is still more than most get paid. Look at NHS staff, some take home less than that. I'm not saying its not a tragic loss for the town and surrounding businesses but the point I was making is why should Honda workers be singled out? A lot of people have had to take pay cuts etc- what about the 'trades'? They're suffering. Would they get cheaper tickets? Its should be the same rule for everyone - be it cheaper or the same price. End of the day a lot of people are hard up.

Your missing the point Sippo. NHS staff are on a lower wage but they knew that when they started the job. And as such their lifestyle is based on what they can afford. If they had there wages dropped by 30-50% they would be up shit creek like the rest of us. Honda workers are being singled out because there are thousands of them in Swindon. The club are just running a business and marketing the biggest captive audience so to speak.

Does it really bother you that much that some people are now able to afford football again? Would you prefer myself and other Honda workers to give football a miss for the rest of the season and see our crowds dwindle even further?

Could you? Cheers reaper

It's teachers that piss me off! They get loads of holidays, finish at 3.30 everyday, spend half their day thumbing through a copy of the Sporting Life and the other half having an affair with the Home economics teacher. They should pay double to subsidise price reductions for those that deserve it.

Who rattled your cage?

Sprinkling salt in the wounds again Shop!!!  :D

Anything to keep fans coming through the gates during the recession is good.

I'm getting 8 days pay this month. I'm sure that's 8 days more than many are getting this month. NHS staff get loads of other benefits, cheaper pizza; state pension; voluntary early retirement benefits; life assurance cover, not to mention if they get laid off, I think they get a nice little package too.

As Paul D said, if you're going to make it fair, you'd need a system to means test everyone. The reason Honda workers are included is because they are a large target audience and the club could potentially miss out on a lot of revenue.

Sippo's got fuck all to moan about anyway. He only works term time, is employed by the local council so earns a dcent wage for doing little work, gets a state final salary pension and all the other benefits.

Thats just made me laugh,a lot.

I love you John  :D

So, like I say, what are you going to do? Means testing on the turnstiles. Get real - this is a decent gesture to people suffering a hard time. Perhaps not everyone suffering a hard time, but then if you're going down that road, that's like saying unless everyone can benefit from something, no-one should.

Reaper, best of luck coming through it, let's hope things pick up as quickly as possible (for everyone not just Honda workers, heaven forfend). And Sippo, just count your lucky stars it hasn't hit you yet, instead of bemoaning a small gesture of help being offered to some of those it has.

I love you too - just don't get old.

Earns a decent wage?!! I don't think.

People are getting me all wrong here. I think what the club is doing is great, but should offer to a wider audience.

What like milkmen, we should help them.Leefer used to be a milkman

Why should fat people get benefits?

Because inside every fat person there is a thin person trying to get out, so the club could potentially sell 2 season tickets.

You know it makes sense.

2 season tickets needed = 1 seat for each cheek :D

You crack me up!

Stop being an ass

I think they should fly overseas fans over free of charge, then charge them £5 for the game. They'd clean up on fine English cuisine sales though.

Actually they could fire a few season tickets to land on mars and hope someone picks them up. Far better than the balloon idea at the start of the season.

If you ever run for public office you can count on my vote .. maybe Bangkok, Nochee, Bob's Orange and a few more too.
Never mind the fine cuisine, just make sure there are plenty of good Wiltshire sausages and bacon rolls available .... and Marmite.

There is probably more chance of getting a decent sausage on Mars than here as well.

That was untill i collided with a Thames Valley Egg lorry and we shared a 40 ft omelette.

Must have been a warm, buttery day.

FFS, what about Jupiter though?! Its always fuckin mars.  :D

Jupiter's a bit gassy.

Don't forget to send one up Uranus.

Someone had to do it ...

Now I just think you like a bitch and a moon.