Thetownend.com

http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=168&fid=90&sty=2&act=1&mid=2116992685

They are taking the piss. Surely the club can't charge that amount!?

Fucking hell!  I wonder if it's just because it's first game of the season and they expect a bumper crowd with PdC at the helm?

If that's the norm then the already small followings of most L2 clubs will be fucking tiny. 

Can't be right surely? I thought away fans had to be charged the same as home fans for the same stand?

They can charge £50 for all I care, I sit with the home fans.

How much is a single match ticket for the Arkels then?

According to the Crewe site, it is £25 and you pay on the gate.

http://www.crewealex.net/page/TicketNewsDetail/0,,10414~2331552,00.html

Away support groaned a lot the last time we were at this level.

£25 isn't good but I hope we charge Oxford double :)

Got to be a typo.  That's not right.

Away fans at Oxford last season -   


Accrington   123
Aldershot   707
Barnet   279
Bradford   575
Burton   281
Bury   375
Cheltenham   570
Chesterfield   1,368
Crewe   399
Gillingham   768
Hereford   602
Lincoln   774
Macclesfield   86
Morecambe   144
Northampton   859
Port Vale   968
Rotherham   395
Shrewsbury   310
Southend   468
Stevenage   197
Stockport   340
Torquay   313
Wycombe   1,796

What's this got to do with anything?

There are some decent away followings there...more than I would have expected for League 2.  That's good.

In fairness, he's talking about away fans in a thread about away fans :hmmm:

Well the thread relates to away fans, as does my post. The point is that apart from table toppers and local derbies, L2 away support is low enough already without pricing people out of travelling. Maybe STFC think the hard core will still come? Plenty moaned about £18.50 at our place.

Oh I missed that. I thought it was about overcharging Crewe!

 ;)

The outstanding one for me was Hereford, given their home support. All the other larger following were fairly local, or table toppers (Vale were at the time), or Bradford!

Oh, and Lincoln paid for their fans to come. Thought it might help them escape relegation.

I thought side stand tickets were £20 this season, but the PDF isn't loading right for me as the "matchday prices" bit makes no sense?

http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/staticFiles/7e/6d/0,,10341~159102,00.pdf

But 23x£20 =  460.
ST early bird = 259
Saving =  £201 - which matches said saving mentioned in PDF. 

I was also sure you weren't allowed to charge the away fans more than home fans in equivalent seats. £25 is somewhat steep.

They do. There is no confirmation on the OS on match day prices.

Check the ST link above. The savings over matchday prices and the (somewhat ambiguous) "Matchday Prices" box show they have been confirmed.

I think the Matchday Prices box show the Adult ticket (£20), and various concessions, then the £30...etc must be the family tickets.

We must be charging extra for being able to get a sun tan on the Stratton Bank !!!

Or could be classed as a Premium (or whatever they call the top games) match ?

Crewe...Premium ?!!

Most away games last season were £22-23. And anyway if it means we can get our season tickets cheaper by charging aways fans more, then be it.

First game of PdC's reign so yeah, possibly.

Also we need to maximise our income because of the shitty turnover rule.

I'm no sure charging what must be the highest price in the div will help turnover.  More likely the complete opposite effect.

And we cannot charge more to the away fans compared to the home fans. How would you feel if all the other clubs charged you an extra fiver every time you went away?

Lets hope Crewe are jumping the gun a bit?

£25 would do us no favours at all. We need good away followings.

I seem to remember Crewe fans getting worked up about our prices the last time we were in L2. Northern pikeys!

They weren't in our league that season.

Last time we played them then. Must have been 2-3 years ago?

If true, they will be the prices for our pay on the day fans in the side stands. We'll be doing our fair share of moaning.

Its been proven time and time again that anything over £20 hurts attendances.

08/09

As already said, the season ticket pdf lists the 2011-2012 matchday prices. It says £20 Adult, side stands, and there is no mention of a price category tier. Even if there was its hard to see Crewe as a category A game regardless of it being the first game of the season.

Fingers crossed.

If I remember correctly clubs are allowed to increase their 'away' ticket price for 2 or 3 games a season, so maybe we are using this little one - wrong though £25 whoever it is wrong and should not be allowed even if it is our club doing it

Home clubs are allowed to reduced their home prices for promotions 2-3 times a season...not increase the away prices.

25 is far too much

I couldn't give a fuck what they charge, I don't support crewe

A couple of seasons ago I was late to match it was just after ko, 2 tranmere fans were walking away from ground towards burger king, I asked them if they were watching the match, they had come down on the coach but refused to pay the prices being asked. I thought they were joking but they continued on their way. Don't know how much it costs at tranmere but seems like a long way to go for a burger !

you're so cool...

it's perfectly reasonable for other clubs to up our price to that amount if that's what we are charging, whould you give a fuck then?

This football is an expensive lark, spent £40 on my train tickets today, presume a ticket for the TE will be £20 so I'm probably looking at £150 inc  :pint:

I was told at the tail end of last season by the ticket office manger that matchday prices would reman the same. The only difference is no discount for advance purchases. Unless they've changed tact and not told anyone they'll only drive crowds away.

I was reading the first issue of the original Swindon fanzine "Bring the Noise" the other day and there was an article in there complaining that we shouldn't be charging Away Fans more (£4 for the old corner of Shrivvy Road and Stratton Bank, whereas we only had to pay £3 on Shrivvy Road), so it's not a new thing.  Issue 2 went on to say that away fans were also being charged 20p extra for their burgers!!!!

£25 for Division 4 football is a disgrace though.

I find it heard to believe that this £25 figure is correct.

Aa plenty of people have said, you can't charge more for away fans than home. Charging £25 for League Two football doesn't make any sense.

Pointless debate. The only way away fans will be charged £25 is if our fans are too.

Which they won't be.

A typo the Crewe Alex web guy has sparked some serious debate.

Pretty sure I paid £25 at Orient on Boxing day a couple of years ago. Also sure I paid £25 at a few other Londonistan games over recent years. Of course I may have been drunk and cant remember fully or they may have just been ripping me off.

Ouch

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/9133036.Wray_s_take_on_new_ticket_prices/

Oh dear, looks like they knew before we did.

That's ridiculous... who in their right mind would charge (or pay) £25 for Div 4 football?!

I have to admit that is shocking prices. So glad I got my ST now.

I just read the story on the OS and they talk about "walk up match day" £25, so does that mean if you buy a few days before its cheaper? or is it £25 regardless of when you buy?

Will be cheaper in advance no doubt but still.

this and the cost of fuel prices etc games will be very limited for me this year.

Ridiculous pricing. Good job I got my season ticket then.

Disgusting prices they should be ashamed of themselves.

Extremely high, but then again, the Season Tickets are extremely low.

Those who cannot make every game should consider buying a Season Ticket to share, as it is so, so much cheaper and fully transferrable within the category.

Just buy a season ticket then.

Just saying to bloke at work, makes me think they have made a mistake with their estimates of ST holders next season.

Im lucky to have already got My ST, but im angry for those fans who cant make every game and its just more ammunition for those fans who stay away from the CG.

People are forgetting that the Townend is still only £19.

Take the point about Season ticket prices, but we were getting 3-3.5k on the day sales last year and imagine that will be next to nothing this year.

Would balk at paying 25 quid in L1, would accept it in the Championship. In L2 it's outrageous.

So they lied in their season ticket leaflet then.  I have a season ticket, but this must surely piss off people who were looking whether an ST was worth it and decided it wasn't based on £20 match day.

Own-goal.

The Arkells is made up of 'older' people who simply would not be able to watch properly from the town end. This board get a lot of praise when it's due but it isn't due here. I think it's a awful decision. The solution that they should just get a season ticket is a stupid one as not everyone can do that and even the monthly one is down to credit checks so what if people don't pass?

I got my season ticket already but i can guarantee you the people who sometimes come with me on a matchday won't at that price now

with a fucking shit view

What odds that after the Oxford game they reduce them

And Cola Fola singing sped up songs ;)

I sit in the Don Rogers actually.

My apologies, I'm getting you mixed up with Crispy. Oops.

Ouch. That hurts!  :(

Big mistake.

Two people have already told me they're not going to the Crewe game now, who had planned to go before.

Surely advanced ticket prices will still be cheaper?

Yep looks like they messed up there and it's not a price anyone would want to or expect to pay for league 2 football. I suppose they're banking on a fair few DVs who wouldn't go even if it was a fiver a week. It's definitely going to heavily backfire if we don't get off to a good start.

I guess we may fill the town end up a bit more now which will be good though.

I thought they scrapped the advanced discount?

19 for the TE is also harsh though.

Might want to sticky this thread for the inevitable moaning from other clubs fans..

Any price over £20 for Div 4 football is scandalous. Hopefully the board will change this price sooner rather than later.

I agree....cloud cuckoo land for divvy 2.

The Casuals will be staying at home...

Well that's me out,i'm lucky if I have £30 free to spend.

While I agree 100 % that 25 quid is ridiculous for league 2 football, having to pay an extra 5 quid wouldn't put me off going to a game.

19 quid for the Townend is mad. It's a shite view.

Oh and I pay 25 quid when I go to watch Newcastle in the Premiership!

I paid 19 quid to watch villa last season

Like all of you, I find the pricing disgusting. I think it will drive the casuals away and unless we get off to a flyer we will struggle for a decent crowd. I also think that some people might have factored match day prices into their desicion to get ST or not. If someone can't make every game then the savings aren't that great. £5 more each game times 23 games is £115 more a season to be forked out and that just if you rock up on your own! What if you want to bring kids?

I hope they review it again and come to their senses.

Yep I was one of those, last season I missed so many games that it didn't make the saving worthwhile, especially as it was going to be shit div 4 football this year (fair weather fan me). If I bring the 2 kids to a game too, it suddenly doesn't sound too appealing (unless we're winning every game 11-0 that is !)

It was only £20 last season! As for £19 in the town end who would want to pay that to have a poor view.

Wray says it himself, it's an initiative to drive up season ticket sales:  


Less away crowd = even shitter atmosphere. Terrific...

Do they not realise we are in a recession

My prediction is that the on the day price will go back to normal once the season ticket offer ends with the club claiming they've listened to the fans.

There seems to be quite a backlash.

I'm guessing they may have a rethink.

But you get in for free ;)

I didn't get a ST, so it looks like I'll be picking and choosing even fewer games than I otherwise would've now.

Response from ticket office is:

'The board will only back down if results are not very positive.'

I think that this is a bit of an understatement. What concerns me is that they say the pricing is based on budgets for lg2. Have our expenditures gone up that much?

Shhh! :zipped:

Very happy I got a season ticket now, would have got to hardly no games, crazy prices.

What a stupid out of touch move by the board. Look after season ticket holders and fuck everyone else.

Like to see some good investment from the board on the pitch before they go ripping off supporters of the club. Would at least give some reason for charging such a silly price.

such as the player we were all supposed to get excited about....

I was a season ticket holder for years but this year decided not to get one mainly due to the fact I just can't afford a lump sum in one go. I was planning on going to a majority of home games though... But this has put me off massively. £25 for div 4 football is ridiculous though and to be honest that's just cut a few games off the list.

Revenues have dropped. Money from the league, fewer season tickets sold, etc, retc. Last season we didn't have a wage cap, so if the owners wanted to subsidise the playing side they could.

You'd have thought wages would be significantly less though. Lots of what I reckon were high earners out, and the players coming in would seem to be in a cheaper wage bracket (Smith v Douglas for e.g.).

Heck, maybe they need break even this season. Who knows. What I am confident is that the board have a total grasp of what the figures are, they are no Sandy Grays.

BUT...none of this makes £25 look value for money, sadly.

I change my stance..pricing is ridiculous. As im travelling from london the factor for me is I'm looking at fuel, beer money before I buy a ticket.

Be cheaper for me to go to away games!

Hell's Teeth!  The times I have criticised this board are very few...perhaps never on here, until now.

£25 is a joke.  I have had to give up my season ticket as the price of fuel to Swindon was getting too much, now getting in to the ground is going that way.  £20 I could accept (although it's still too much for Division fucking Four), but £25...crazy.

I'll see you all at the away games this year then.

The board are certainly banking on this being a sucessful season. They should remember what fans endured in the last one

See you at daggers away again!

Oh fuck!  Although, apart from the football, that was a great day.

Don't think I'll be going to many home games, £20 is ok but £25 is taking the piss.

I was planning on going to more away games next season anyway, guess it will be even more away games now.

I do wonder about the board sometimes. They're getting in to a nasty pattern of doing a few good things and then something really bad.

Pretty shocking pricing policy, hopefully it will mean more people will just buy in advance.

Not that i give a shit really about away fans but if it puts them off in numbers then the CG will be even more of a library for about 20 home games this season.

Just means I'll have to listen to other fans moaning non stop about these prices all season long.

I dont think it will increase revenue anyway.

Big increases like this do ruin the morale of the fans. I cant be bothered to apologise for the board to Casual fans, so if those fans say they cant afford it then I wont try and change their mind.

Is the Stratton Bank gonna be £19 like the Townend ?

If this is the case, surely opening it every game will make sense. Then away fans have a choice between 19 quid behind the goal or 25 quid in the Arkells corner.

For the Oxford game, give them only the bank and charge £50.

No mention of an advanced discount, just £2 off for Club Red. Again, not enough of an incentive, should be £5 off.

Doubt it what with the extra costs involved in opening it.  Only for overflow again i imagine.

It all seems to be unravelling a bit for the Board.....if the di Canio punt fucks up, then I wouldn't be surprised to see them looking for an escape hatch.  A great shame.

Im shocked. Im all for building up the season ticket base, but you've got to have a good base of people who pay on the day to be able to do that.

It highlights a problem with the wage cap too. Nobody knows what our turnover is going to be as it all depends on how succesful the team is, its all guesswork. Presumably they have to present a realistic budget to the league to justify our wage bill.

You can bung £25 down on a spreadsheet and claim we're going to have 2000 people paying that price every home game instead of £20, and bingo you've got another £200K plus to add to the wage cap. Never mind the fact that revenue overall will probably be well down.

I know I should be bothered, but i've forked out for a season ticket and so it doesn't affect me. Yes, it's harsh for the walk up and buy fans, and it is a move which will horribly backfire on the board, but i'm alright jack.

Should also mean there's less people around me this season, meaning more leg room 8)

Correct. Club presents a budget which the league have to approve, which is used to set the wage cap. Then the same process is repeated in December (I think) for the January window.

I'm not going to lie, I'm hacked off. Was planning to do a few home games but now I'll focus on the away ones. Increased cost plus train ticket is crazy.

Ive been a ST holder in the DRS for 3 years now and im not sure if i can afford to renew this season

I didnt think this would be such a problem as i would still go to most games and miss a few (pick and choose) however now ive seen these prices,

I'm fucking furious, £25 for div 4 football is ridiculous  >:(

If i dont manage to renew my ST, i might have to miss a lot more games than originally expected.

I'm guessing i will have to go back to the good old days in the townend  :hmmm:

Ditto.

Just think, when we have a mid week and a saturday home game - you're talking £50 in the same week for division 4 football!

Not a chance  :no:

Surely if enough fans complained to the club about this new pricing structure, they would surely have to listen wont they?

I cant see it lasting long at all, what a fuck up, seriously pissed off!!

Unfortunately I agree. I was really glass half full but this has put a right pisser on things. I've got a ST so I'm Ok but I won't be able to bring along any casual fans because there is fuck all way they're going to fork out £25. I suppose it must have been our fantastic home form that drove these prices. If we don't hit the ground running there may well be truoble ahead.

So I have pay £30 to be a member of some poxy club to get a £2 discount. I'd have to attend 15 home games to see the benefit, which defeats the object of not having a season ticket.

Ridiculous.

I'm still planning to make a couple of journeys down this season. I'll be paying the best part of £100 just to get to Wiltshire. If I'm daft enough to pay the travel costs then I'll pay the admission prices.

 :headhurts:

Its a lot of money for sure, but prices for everything are going up and if allows the club to spend more money on the playing staff then its fine by me.

I don't get why they didn't announce this while season tickets where still discounted as it would have driven sales surely?

How much were they last year?

How much will a ST cost come end of July?

Drs and/Townend

Will it stil be £299/£269 or is there a deadline?

They did announce ticket prices and they were frozen too

To be honest my biggest bugbear with the new regime has been things like this. Seemingly ill thought out last minute changes.

They are of course insignificant compared to the previous regimes issues, thankfully.

Though this one is a bit of a bigger issue.

This is surely suicide there are not many people that will decide on the day that they want to go to a match and pay £25 for L2 football, fine they will be doing incentives during the season thus making it maybe a bit cheaper for walk up but it does not excuse anything.

The walk up are potential season ticket holders of the future if you have less of them then you have less chance of increasing ST's next season.

I do think this is an own goal from the board, is the trust not going anymore to talk to the club on this as has been done so well previously ?

Being slightly cynical of this I'd say it's because it will still drive season ticket sales albeit at a higher price.  As I said earlier I think it's a ploy: they generate more sales and then can drop ticket prices nearer the start of the season and claim it's because theyve listened to the fans. Win-win.

Interesting quote

"If you’re asking me who I’m conscious of hitting or supporting then obviously I’m going to say I want the Swindon fans to bear as little of the brunt of this as possible.” Wray

I think over the past 5 years stewarding and ticket pricing has become more and more hostile towards away supporters, makes you wonder if a lot of Boards would quite happily get rid of away supporters all together.

That seems like a good ploy

Some people read between the lines, I'm wondering if you even see the lines Spence!

I wonder if pat butcher will be stewarding again

The fat cow

It's pretty much the same tactic our un-elected coalition government are using.

Real shit move by the board. I decided not to renew as I missed too many games last season + couldn't afford to pay for the ST in one go anyway this time.

You can't even pay in 10 monthly instalments anymore by the look of it? Only 5 monthly payments now.

If they had stated this from the start, me and probably a lot of others would have renewed at the Phase one price - 10 monthly instalments of £28.90. I'm not gonna be going to many home games when I have to pay nearly that for one game a month.

Obviously there is a fair few localish/southern away games so will probably be going to more away than home this time, disappointing.

The board could be planning to have offers for every single home game and are only putting the advertised prices up as a way to make the balance sheet more attractive to the FL when it comes to ratifying the projections for the wage cap?!

There's also no mention of advanced ticket prices so they could do a deal on those and sting the buy-on-the-day fans.

I guess we could do with some clarity from the board on this. Anyone emailed JW or NW yet?

I wouldn't worry too much: given just about everything Wray has said so far it'll probably turn out to be bullshit.

Other than that it's a monstrous disgrace and an embarrassment, even more so if it's a cynical ploy to twist a few more season ticket sales and then reduce the matchdays again.

Fuck it, Back to the townend for me if the tickets are £25.  Not a bad thing really.

I'd like them to explain why they have changed the matchday prices from those published in the season ticket brochure.

Whilst there is some text missing it still very clearly states matchday tickets will be £20. This is backed up by the "save up to £201" text which you get from 23 * 20 = £460 vs £259 season ticket = £201 saving.

Makes it even worse that Wray seems totally oblivious to this and it gets no mention at all in his statement.

Johnny, the text is there but formatted wrongly so it gets covered up. Adult was £20. The higher prices are family tickets.

The only home games I could go to this season are likely to be Barnet & Morcambe - at £25 I won't bother  :no:

PLASTIC TILL I DIE  :D

I bet your travel, food and accommodation costs will have risen by more than £5 so it seems you're cutting off your nose to spite your face a bit. Each to their own.

Don't blame you.  They are hardley mouth watering matches.

Bit harsh, as it costs me a few hundred quid just to get to my parents in Wantage ie helicopter, car hire, petrol etc
Us oldies are not made of money  :D

I'm not having a go at all but if you're spending that amount of money surely it should dissuade you? £10 is not a lot in comparison to not watching us at all?

Or is it the case of the straw which broke the camel's back?

What's the email address of Jeremy Wray?

[email protected] ?

Quite simply - If I have to pay £25 to watch Barnet or Morcambe - I won't

That's from a Town fan of 41 f***ing years ( first 30yrs most home games + selected away )

I've done my bit

[email protected] ?

Or Nick Watkins' email will do.

That's been posted in a few threads before... think one was the thread about season ticket renewals as someone asked about getting the early bird price shortly after the deadline passed (and got it).

Yep this is what I was going to say. How can you advertise the prices and then change them?
I live in Surrey and I can't bye a ST as I may be moving abroad for work. I appreciate there will be some offers for games but I will probably not go to as many home games now.
Although when you add up the travel cost and the food,beer etc £5 isn't much, but its just £5 to far and I might as well just go to an away game the week after.
I know loads of fair weather fans who are quite happy to pay £20 or under but not a penny over. I think when you can't even watch division 4 football and get change from a twenty then its a sad day in football.

Si Pie, it's just [email protected] so presume it'd be [email protected]

Casual browser on this site but I post regularly to the adver stories.

My take on the "proposed" hike of 25% in adhoc match day tickets is mixed. I can see some fans points wrt the increase, however in some ways it will subsidise the giveaway cost of a ST which equates to 11.30 per game. As fans we cannot have a first class team, ground etc with the 6-8k attendances @ £11.30 per game. Of course the away fans will be "hit" but my recollection of some of the away grounds when we last graced the fourth division was cow shed in the middle of a field. some were good but not all and for many away fans coming to sn1 it will be an experience.

I think the club are being quiet cute actually because by more than doubling the cost you could in effect afford to miss half the games with a ST and still be no worse off than if you watched them all on a match by match basis.

Why not club in with someone to get one and divi up the games and draw lots for the ones you both want to see. The old regime would not allow you to transfer the ST but the current board do with a blessing. They know a bum on a seat is likely to buy, a half time draw ticket, programe, pie/chips/beer or merchandise in the club shop and nothing if they're sat at home.  

If you live miles away and you do have my sympathy there you'll be stumping up for your usual expenses no matter how much they have gone up, principally petrol/diesel. Seriously a £5 increase to see the revolution two, three times a year is going to stop you?

While we are at it why don't the club or this forum introduce a system whereby fans can register their ST and advertise when they cannot attend a match and an other supporter can "borrow" for a modest fee for said ST and return it after the game? Man u have this system and admittedly you'll pay for it but it does work.

Regards

Fatbasher

It's a right old boot in the nuts for non season ticket holders. A price freeze with an apology for last seasons disaster,along with a promise to turn it around was the bare minimum fans wanted to hear. Not a, season tickets can be cheap as chips but the rest of you can pay for their privilege as we need to make the money up.
Season ticket holders should get the benefits they do,but not to the detriment of the other fans who don't have one for all manner of reasons.
The balance is all wrong.

The amount that fans pay these days is the reason there are more moaners at matches,i mean if you pay £25 for a meal and it is shit you would be inclined to have a whinge,£15 maybe not.
Not the way i would look at it but many will...and do.
For what it is worth i think £18 is about right for Lge 2.

Don't think the cap should have anything to do with it as it can be got around Crawley must be doing this as no way could they justify their wage bill

It's too late to change the season ticket prices now. Something seems to have happened. It's only 4 weeks to the start of the season and they change it now (after 'freezing' prices back a while ago).

The more I think about it, the more concerning it is.

Oooh, lets start a conspiracy theory. It'll send BR into a rage of positivity.
---
We are signing unknown foreign players and bidding for non-league triers because someone has withdrawn some of the clubs funding. 

The players wage bill has been slashed to fuck. Players like Bodin-Thompson-kennedy etc are on very low wages. My guess is that Di canio and his team are costing us alot.

Which we were told wasn't the case when appointed.

Fuck knows then?

The club are taking out loans to finance the players coming in, with the agents dictating what transfers that are made.

 :eek:

PDC ran up a massive bill on the club credit card buying Fascist paraphernalia on eBay? 

And quickquid. I swear quickquid is almost akin to using a loan shark?

...except they'd take your house rather than break your legs.  

Oh wait, that's the regulated banks.

Will we now be the most expensive place to watch a match in div 2 ? Also not sure how it works but can clubs change prices for away fans game by game, what I mean is can clubs put prices up when we are the visitors?

that's one of my worries as i said a couple of days ago.

without trying to sound 'leeds' we should be a fairly decent draw in L2 and one of the away games other fans would have been looking to go to, that may not now be the case and it is more than reasonable that other clubs may put their prices up when they entertain us (if they're allowed).

surely we should expect that with a decent start we'd be within the top 3 supported clubs in this division and charging a realistic price would encourage that which would drive our revenue toward the top in the division

I've just seen the price increase. As I don't live in England getting a season ticket is not an option. I've booked flights for both the Crewe and Southend games and will be getting tickets for both games. Whilst I appreciate that we should be encouraging fans to buy season tickets, for me it's not an option and my flights are now over 200 euro so I can realistically only make half a dozen home games a season, possibly less if we are gash.

I also feel a little sorry for away fans. On top of travel, food and drink etc they now have to fork out a quarter of a ton for div 4 football.

Gone down well with Crewe fans....

http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=168&fid=90&sty=2&act=1&mid=2116992685

Imagine there will be a similar response from the fans of every other club in the division, resulting in poor turnouts and us looking a right bunch of cunts.

WTF 25 quid  :smugfu: think i might get a season ticket now

At £25 per game, I can't afford that. Simple as. Can't afford a season ticket. So pick and choose for me.

But if you go to 10 games you might as well get a season ticket? I'm paying mine in installments.

I believe the phrase here is "This"

I will not be blackmailed into buying a season ticket. All I can say is for £25 a pop they better well be in the top 6 for much of the season.

Funnily enough, I won't be attending many games this year. For 25 quid I can gtet me and the missus into the ice hockey, and some nibbles. Not worth 25 quid for league 2 football.

This season really could turn into a complete train crash.

Sadly looking that way Ralphy....think consolidation might be in order.

Be interesting to see how we go relative to Plymuff, who've been taken over on the playing side by Risdale, their players haven't been paid now for about 9 months, yet still seem to be in a better place than us.

Behave Reg, Plymouth can't even field a full match day squad right now, with only 11 signed up players.

Reg, you're getting very maudlin lately.  Just like BR.  Hope you won't be the next regular to sign off.

What worries me even more, though, is your predictions are usually very good.  You were pretty much alone in predicting a train crash for 2010/11 this time last year, as I recall.  So please...change the fucking record!  Quickly.

As I say it'll be interesting to see how it goes, last season they were docked 10 points, had all sorts of problems, but still finished above us.

 :bandwagon:i'd rather spend £25 going to watch Bath in the rugerby to be honest...that is unless we do well and then i'll be right back

:bandwagon:

I'll stick to the hockey thanks!

i wasn't fucking inviting you

I was only ever going to make a number of games in the single figures anyway, so the price doesn't affect me much.  But I've been coming to games for over 20 years.  It's the casual supporters who will be put off by this.

I did wonder whether this is, in fact, a ruse to push the (already impressive) season ticket figures past the 5,000 mark before the start of the season...before a 'change of heart' and returning match day prices to a more reasonable level.

BR was a  :clap:....think that's why he quit, because of negative vibes.  But all you can do is call it as you see it...and I don't like what I see.

Yeah because they had team spirit and we didnt.

Di Canio's team will have team spirit. Behave Reg.

I'm not sure, that you can dictate to individuals....you will have team spirit.

Now there's a turn up for the books

Those that dont get fucked off pretty quickly.

Just ask Scott Cuthbert, David Prutton, Jonathan Douglas, David Lucas and Jon-Paul McGovern.

Why can people not see past the fact that Reg is the biggest WUM going?

Just ignore the silly old man.

Alright, calm down beaky!

The friendly matches in Italia are free entry!

Thats because they are not even in stadiums by the looks of things!

Team spirit and hard work can stop a bad team getting relegated.

Getting promoted you need some quality, especially with the attacking players..........

Ok, so what do you see?

He sees dead people, all the time.

In fairness if you sit in the Arkells then you have to expect it.

Good point.

You can read my thoughts in previous posts.....don't particularly want to rake over old coals.  We'll be getting down to business soon, so time to get behind what we've got, and give the fellas a chance.

A comparison of league 2 prices.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14367362.stm

Amazingly the Pikeys have mode expensive main stand matchday tickets than us!

I've done a complete U turn on my opinion regarding ticket prices.

After hearing Nick Watkins explain he didn't want to penalise the loyal ST holders with price hikes, I think thats a fair point and actually the right thing to do!

I cannot remember the last time I was so excited about the start of a new season and will probably find that I will attend enough games to have warranted buying a season ticket!

That's one way of looking at it, and I'm glad I haven't been hit in the pocket.

However there could be a negative effect too, that the casual fan is less to come to a game = less opportunity of growing our fan base. Also less away fans = worse atmosphere (though its hard to see how!) .

In fairness NW did point out the prices were constantly under review and not all games would be £25.

Still feel its cheeky rising prices after relegation, but I guess books must be balanced as much as possible.

Exactly and with the wage cap being 55%, its even worse. 

Do you compromise on the squad/calibre of player and have cheaper tickets or a slighty better calibre and charge more.  Its a tricky one and a lot of people are unlikely to understand too much the reasons behind it.

It will be down to £20/22 by the turn of the year i'm guessing

It's all well and good being a season ticket holder and being loyal but for fans who have to travel and can't get to every game it's totally ridiculous, I live in Bournemouth with my girlfriend due to work (and Bournemouth being a bloody nice place to live) and originally I was planning to make it to as many home games as possible, but now I'm having to pick and choose, factoring in train tickets (if the girlfriend won't drive), food, beer, programme (I know I don't have to, but it is nice to have one) and the ticket, the price just becomes ridiculous.

I think a £21 advance and £23 matchday would have been absolutely fine, sure £2/3 might not seem much difference but it bloody adds up!

I have been a season ticket holder for the past 5 years, and recently moved to London - so this is the first year without one, and I can see both sides of the argument.
Yes, its not ideal to have to pay £25 for League 2 football, but now going to home matches will be occasional rather regular so I don't mind so much. And as a season ticket holder, I would be extremely pleased that the prices haven't risen.

Also, there doesn't seem to have been a mention that you can still pay less than £20 to watch them in the Townend if you REALLY resent having to pay the extra £6.

I think we are 4th or 5the most expensive day out in the bottom two leagues in the bbc method which does not take into account the 25 tickets, just the cheapest ones.

its tricky because if they would have tried to put season tickets up this season to balance out match day prices there would have been an even bigger outcry.

there is always the possibility the club are being liberal with the truth to get a higher wage cap allowance. once we have the squad we want we can put ticket prices down again claiming we got it wrong .  the football league can't do much about players already signed on can they, just block future transfers.   purely my own ill thought out conspiracy theory of course

My thoughts as well, I made a similar point on another forum along those lines.

Think that's not a bad shout. If they can give the league expected incomes off last season's average attendance (~8500) at the new matchday prices that would presumably translate to a fair bit more leeway in wages than what is actually more realistic.

Oh OK, sorry.

So he penalised other loyal fans who don't have a season ticket.
If rises had to be made then they should have been for everyone. Price freezes for some and significant rises for others aint right imo. It doesn't effect me but I think it is wrong.

Arriba, if the club were to have left the match day ones the same but increased the season ticket ones, how many current ST holders do you think would've renewed? I think what they've done is they have tried to entice the more casual fans in to buying a season ticket without alienating the 5,000 or so that go week in week out regardless.

In an ideal world the club could've left the prices the way they were. But I think with the loses the club have made this season, they had to try and get more money from somewhere. Unfortunately it's us fans that always get the brunt of it.

The simple fact is that if you sit in the DRS or Arkells you only need to watch 11 home games to make a season ticket financially viable.

We don't make every home game (we struggle to get down midweek), but still make significant savings with a season ticket.

If you are only planning to attend a handful of games a season, the extra £2 or £3 a ticket works out as less than £20 a year.

The other thing that you can almost guarantee is that during the season there will be offers that give you discounts if you buy tickets for multiple matches.

So effectively we will be penalising fans who only want to go to games like the Pox & Rovers games and away fans. Personally, I can live with that.

Now if we can reduce the cost of fuel it will make the cost of games much cheaper :)

My old man and brother have got STs for the first time ever despite going to basically every home game for 20 years. The price has made them do it, and in that way the hike is successful. It's going to hit me in the pocket but most loyal fans will not be hit, which is the fairest way I guess.

I tend to agree with that as a whole. However there are some fans that are just as passionate about Swindon Town as ST holders are but can't go every week because they have to work or live futher away and haven't got the funds for the cost of transport or fuel to get down to Swindon every other week etc. They are the one's who lose out in all of this, not the casual one's who only go to derbies and big games.

The most loyal in my eyes (based on attending matches) are those who put their money where their mouth is and buy a ST. (For the record I haven't bought one this year so my opinion is not based on the fact I have a ST)

Its not like the club haven't given a installment option either to be fair to them.  They have actually made it as financially viable as possible as far as investing in a ST is concerned!

I call bull.

Just because I can't get a season ticket doesn't make me any less loyal than another fan, I just literally couldn't get down enough to justify it and £25 is a heck of a lot of money for 90mins entertainment (questionable at times)

Perhaps loyal was the wrong word to use.  Maybe 'committed to the cause' is better.

Anyway, I'd rather a strong ST fan base than fans that come and go only if we're doing well.

It's not about who's a more loyal, or better fan. Those that go the most will get the best price. The ones who go the most are season ticket holders (And anyone who attends more than 11 games this season should be one). The fans who can't make that many games, for whatever reason, have to pay 3 or 4 quid extra for the few games they go to. As it'll only be a handful of games, what's the big deal?

Totally agree Herthab. If you go "regularly" you get the best price. As has been stated, "regularly" equates to under half the games for crying out loud. If you can't commit to 11 games in a season then you have to pay a premium.

Admittedly I do have a season ticket but were my circumstances/inclination change then why should i expect to pay a similar amount to someone who does go every week. I wouldn't.

There will always be reasons why people can't/don't make it but the reality is that all of a sudden people happen to be able to make it for the "big games" as the attendances will show.

Bit confused, but isn't the first column in this link wrong?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14365145.stm

Port Vale's matchday prices most expensive? Or have missed something?

Think theirs is the most expensive cheapest seat, if that makes any sense.

Thats what I was getting at - but made a complete hash of explaining it  :D

I see.

So, can I get a matchday ticket in the TE for £19 or what?

Pretty sure the answer is yes. Although watch out for those Pox ruffians on August 21st.

You've basically just described me, so I certainly weren't suggesting that there aren't people who this will effect badly upon, I just think that if they had to increase revenue from attendances this was the right way to do, as opposed to pissing off the ST holders who makes a large, one-off, commitment.

I guess the arguement comes down to 3000 paying £350 or something and 300 more paying £20 each week, or £5000 committing to 269 up front, and guaranteed and then a 1000 on the door.

whether you think its fair or not to only hit non season ticket holderrs in the pocket,£25 quid to watch div 4 football is excessive.

...or just because their lifestyles don't allow them to build their weekends around football at the moment.  I've only been making a handful of games/season for the last few years, but I know that when my boys are older that will change.  (Those of us that live outside of the area can't just nip down to the County Ground for a couple of hours.)

But for what it's worth, I think the club have got it about right.  I'll be along a few times this season, and I'll have to pay a small premium over & above the rate that those who can make more games are paying.  And I've no problem with that at all.

Firstly I absolutely agree the prices are too high for bottom tier football.

On the other hand, the Town End is £19, which was cheaper than last season's side stand price. If someone really has to catch a game they can still do it within their budget.

The thing that annoys me most is that they hiked it up after publicising the prices of £20 a game. The 10 month installment plan was no longer available when they decided to raise the prices!

I would have renewed my season ticket and happily paid £28 a month in installments if I knew that prices were going to be £25 a game. I missed quite a lot of games last season because of family commitments so thought at £20 a game it'd work out at about the same amount of money if I didn't renew.

Thats a very good point.  Had they publicised the match day prices sooner then the uptake may have been better and allowed people to decide sooner.

I didn't understand the timing of it either. For me that was the biggest issue. Why announce 1 price then announce another 6 weeks later? It's harsh on people who thought they would give the ST a miss as prices weren't too bad then all of a sudden they've missed the early bird ST deadline and boom. Lost a bit of respect for the board when it was announced.

anyone at reading match notice the big sign on the townend offering £25 for matchday ticket, lunch and a pint. im guessing that is going to be took down ahead of saturday?

Exactly this.

People love to moan, don't they  ::)

Unless it's for a ticket in the Town End?

no, it was obviously last seasons prices. it was for the legends lounge i think or one of the hospitality deals.

Same for me. With the number of games I can make it was cheaper for me at £20 a game versus renewing my season ticket. If they'd said £25 a game to begin with I'd have renewed - if I want to renew now I'll have to pay more and most likely change seats. Why should I be penalised by their incompetence?

Makes it worse they don't even acknowledge what they did. As does it being a fixed £25 per game, with no advance discount or grading of games. It's all totally unnecessary and comes across as incompetence. Though to be fair, I'm sure that if I'd have complained they would have sorted something out for me as I believe they have for others.

I don't agree with the loyal fans should be rewarded with cheap ticket prices argument, when loyal fans are defined solely as season ticket holders. Come the end of the season my total spend at the club will be higher than a lot of season ticket holders, yet I get screwed on home ticket prices as I can't make every game.

People in your position have my sympathy, as have the people who make as many games as humanly possible (I was one once). It clearly stated £20 on the season ticket renewal form, and it has never been explained why they changed it. A complete and utter bugger up.

I also don't agree "it's only £3 or £4 more". There is a point where a price crosses the 'value for money' threshold. In this case £25 probably would for many.

Hope the discounted ticket promotions come thick and fast for you.

There's also being part of club red which I believe reduces the price of match day tickets...the price of club red is probably equal that of the savings in most peoples cases but its worth looking at if you get the other club red extras thrown in.

The thing they've said in the past about £22/23 ticket prices as well is, once you go over that £20 note people seem consigned to losing and spending that couple of quid change that day anyway and it seemed to have an awkwaedness about it and put people off more than it was worth, which is why they've probably made it £25

The one thing I don't agree with, is the timing, which didn't let fans make the decision of early bird prices vs large amount of match day prices £25

I don't see it so much as incompetence, but the board being greedy and trying to force supporters into a corner.  That's what disappoints me, along with the fact they haven't apologised/explained why they originally published a lower price.

I'm not affected as had already renewed my season ticket, but I feel extreme sympathy for those this will affect.

There's no getting away from the fact that £25 is ridiculously expensive for bottom tier football.  I haven't checked, but am told a significant number of Championship clubs charge less.  Personally I think the board should have been bloody grateful such a high number of people had purchased season tickets after last season's debacle without trying to force the hands of more.  This could really bite them if we don't do well.

Well said - can't disagree with any of it.

I think this is the gamble.  If we do do well, you'll not hear a whisper.  Think back to the 1995/96 season...we averaged more than 10,000 at home in Division 3, following 2 successive relegations - and there were no serious price reductions .  But we won the division that year, so nobody cared.  I have friends who stopped watching STFC at that time and who never came back, but they were in a very small minority.

If we don't do well, expect the pricing to change.

I disagree. If the board were greedy, they would've increased the ST price. What appears to be forgotten is the fact that season tickets are very competitively priced, as they have been ever since the regime took charge.

I don't see how they can please everyone: if they kept all tickets at the price of last season we'd have people moaning about something else.

I agree that it was poorly managed re advertising, but greed? I think the club is still running at a loss and the board are the ones making up the shortfall (Not forgetting the millions they put it to it initially).

We bitch when they screw the die hards by raising season tickets and moan when they reward the die hards and screw the fair weather supporters.

Be rest assured that  there will be discounts and special offers but IF we get a decent cup run we will benefit from the people that are only there to glory hunt.

I did a thesis on football ticket pricing 12 years ago as part of my MBA so know the intricacies pretty well (I suggested the sponsored townend for a fiver scheme when it was an away stand and got laughed out of the room by the then finance director of the club only to find it implemented a season later...)

Your matchday gate price is locked in for any cup run (you can't put it up but you can bring it down) so if you get a decent run your standard gate price is the most you can charge...

I don't think they would have taken the risk when it was pretty obvious we were going to be relegated.  It could have put too many people off renewing.

I agree the price for season tickets are good, but many clubs have competitive early renewal prices now.  We met some Leicester fans on holidays who have season tickets.  They had paid £299 for next season's tickets (side stand) and their 15 year old daughter was £99.  Bloody good value for Championship football.

What makes you think that? There is nothing of the sort in the rules for the FA Cup, not sure about the League Cup.

There is a minimum ticket price in the rules, but prices can be set above and below that with the agreement of both teams.

Once the club publishes tickets prices for entry to games they should not exceed that value unless specifically excluded for cup games (which they have not done). There is no law that governs this per say but there would be a lot of pissed of people if the club cashed in on a cup run charging more than normal match day prices and offering no discounts or offers for the less desirable games on a Tuesday night.

They are effectively setting their stall out saying the most you will pay is £25 even if we get to the quarter finals of any cup competition against premier opposition.

Why do people always think the board owe us something. Its our club as much as theirs if not more. We'll be here long after they've gone. They are the current owners and IMHO are doing a pretty good job on the whole (obviously last season was not part of the plan). They don't owe us anything, but i do think they try to be fair. Best board of my generation - not even a contest!

Admittedly £25 is steep for league 2 and i'm not in favour of this but if you had got yourself a season ticket before last sunday £299 works out at £13 a game. The early bird discount was only £30 less. I like being rewarded because i can go regularly. This may seem selfish but like Ardiles would expect to pay more if i picked and chose my matches.

I cant go to every home match at the moment so will have to pay the money. I paid £ 22.00 last season and probably went to 10 home games, most of which were horrendous to watch. £ 25.00 is getting a bit pricey but it will seem a bargain if we do well and a lot if we play like last season. I have no reason to believe that the coming season will be anything like last so I am happy with the cost as it stands. Hopefully I will still feel the same way come Christmas, personn :nod:ally I believe I will....if you can`t start a season with high expectations then what`s the point....bring it on.

Pretty sure it was £60 less, not that it really matters any more.


I have mentioned this before but everyone else is repeating how you can see the whole season for £13 a game so I will say it again. The season tickets are great value, but we can't all afford to shell out £300 in one hit, and the 10-month installment plans weren't available once the prices were hiked, this is the main issue for a lot of people.

In hindsight I should have got a season ticket again and just missed games as I am not going to see anywhere near as many now. Although hopefully there will be some discounts coming in. I also emailed the club suggesting part season tickets where people can buy tickets at a reduced rate in blocks of say 5/10/15 games which could be a good system to keep everyone happy?!

My beefs about this seasons ticketing in order of annoyance based on personal circumstances

- Very late notice of Early Bird period. A months notice isn't enough when the window lasts 1 month.
- Incorrect release of 2011-2012 matchday ticket pricing on season ticket form , late release of real pricing leading to ill informed comparison of early bird v matchday savings.
- £25 per match walk up too much for league 2 (IMHO). Or maybe the club red discount incentive is too little. Either way...

If they are known then they can be addressed next time.

If rises had to be made then they should have across the board. The same rises should have been for all types of tickets. If season ticket fans are so loyal then a few quid on their ticket wouldn't have mattered would it?
Catagorising fans in the way they have is what grates me. You can't hit one in the pocket and not another with out it being unfair.
Season ticket holders could have still got greatly reduced tickets, and they then could have maybe kept the matchday prices a bit lower than the £25 decided apon.

A good promotion which I think pocket science is getting at, would be say a half season ticket. the luxury is you can pick and chose the games (or simply get to the ones you can get to due to work commitments, etc.)

Say 11 games for £170 would work out £15.45 a game, not good enough value to danger the actual full season ticket sales, but still a decent compromise.

The club would argue that you would attend the 11 higher profile games and not the lesser games that a full season ticket holder would attend. They would agrue that most half-loyal fans would attend these 11 games anyway, paying the full matchday price.

I've noticed that Swindon are involved with The Sun in offering cheap match tickets. If you collect 4 tokens, you can buy 2 tickets to either the Rotherham or Barnet home matches for £19.50.

You can also use these tokens to buy 2 tickets to our game at Burton for £19.50, or the Carling Cup game next week at City for only £9.50.

To be honest what the club could do is offer fans a scaling discount on multi game purchases;  Now they have a card scheme they could do this so if you know you are going to be able to attend say 10 games you get a discount for single POS multi purchases and get a card that gives access to any (or specific) 10 games.  The down side is if the club then run special promotions leading up to specific games it may mean it would have been cheaper to wait so it's a tough call.

Edit: what stevecollins said basically...

Did you sing "You were running round wembley with fuck all!"?

Im doing Burton......did you notice that they only told you what games...once you collected the tokens....i did Hudders using thee last year...

Yes, but they always do that.

I agree.

On top of that, I believe lots of people who are moaning about the £25 cost, wouldn't have gone to many matches anyway.

I think, well done the board.  They have finally looked after the season ticket holders and have encouraged as much people as possible to buy the season tickets, by extending the purchasing deadlines.  So the moaners have had a number of opportunities to buy one, IF they wanted to go.

It might be their club, but you cant do anything without the fans on board.

Besides, I cant see it working, its no masterstroke, for the sake of a £3 hike they have put off a lot of the fickle, floating fans.

IF they all wanted to go to all the matches...many can't go to all the matches because of work commitments...and yes some people cannot afford a season ticket no matter how good value it is.
No matter how much you dress it up £25 is shocking for league 2....at least i can go in the Town End at a cheaper rate...the away fans having to pay £25 for a ticket is poor in my opinion.
Anyway it has all been said so its onwards and upwards.......but if we make a poor start that £25 is going to mean  a lot of empty seats.

Likely the same fans that some people seem to have moaned about constantly since Wembley for not being real fans. It seems rather strange that on one hand some people want fair weather fans to stay away for being quiet and on the other, want them paying reasonable ticket prices so they can attend.