Frank's cousin

Whooosh!

If its not a sgood as it was - does that mean everyone would welcome Lowe back and his Catering experience? - Cant believe we have come full circle on this one - shows how fickle we are , shameless about turns like tabloid newspapers - 'Lets all laugh at and hate Lowe for hospitality focus, lets all laugh at and hate Cortese for his lack of it''

Duncan - problem is there are several seperate issues here. Lets take the obvious fact that MLT has a personal issue with Cortese of some kind - should MLT use his public position in the way he does to get him and his sky cronies gigling like school girls on national television about it? Some of us do not believe that is the right place to air his grivences - most would quite rightly argue that issues of a personal nature need to be dealt with in private... however decent a bloke he his and whatever he has given to the club (he was well paid for it) he is still acting a bit of a spoilt child by making this public. Secondly, MLT clearly has issues with the way the club is being run. Now he is as entitled to his opinion on that as everyone else - but again his opinion is now simply like that on any other fan - you look at the information, you weigh up how much credibility the source has and you make up your mind - Now given his Sky role, part of his job is to comment as he sees it which is fair enough - BUT all we get is innuendo and harsh critique with little substance - Would you say that those ex pros on Socer Saturady were chosen for their ability to read the nuences and strategies of the game, or for their business accumen? No they are 'personalities' within the game and provide entertainment of various quality, but expert commentators on how 60mil + businesses needs to be run within the modern game is not their forte, so to make sweeping statements as they do about the way the club is run, when they know little detail as they are NOT on the inside and lack the knowledge, means its just speculation...and opinion, yet its treated as fact by many... We hear plenty of 'stories' about what NC is doing, but nothing concrete - I am sure some are true and dont make pleaseent listening, but I suspect there is a huge amount of chinese whisper escalation that is encouraged by those with a fundemental disagreement with NC over the very principles of ownership vs the cliched 'emotional ownership' that some fans seem to expect as a birthright. For most, the job of a chairman is to provide the infrastructure, resources and strategic direction for the club to progress. Within that are the human resources and assigned roles and functions that are designed to achieve that aim.... that is where there will be as many opinions about how that should operate as there are fans - how much a chairman involves himself in playing matters for example - IMHO its matters not who is involved, but whatever the situation, the only way to judge it is if it works, and the resultant performance.... How dictatorial or democratic, How kind and gentle v how miserable and mean - and although its obvious to all that we would like our chairman to exhibit the very best qualities, ultimately it matters not - It only becomes an issue if it undermines the aims and progress of the club. I am sure Matty, Lawrie, Franny all have the clubs interests at heart - but its their opinion on how to achieve the best for the club that differs fundementally from NC and just because its MLT, Lawrie and Franny does not make their idea of what is best any more valid that yours or my opinion - sorry it does not - and there are plenty who are happy to listen to these guys, respect their opinion and their right to hold it, who simply disagree with them.... and as the plenty dont have such a public voice as Matty and Lawrie its natural that is perhaps a little resentment towards them because they are seen as being on the outside pis sing in. The internet rumour mill, the 24/7 'news' coverage means and the media twisting and turning speculation from 'sources close to' is 99% drivel with no substance - even MLTs 'he is not very nice' soundbite is frankly a little embarrassing as it tells us nothing and its his opinion - Therefore its also only natural to question MLTs motivation behind it - the regular giggle fest with Stelling and Co... sorry that does nothing for his credibilty whether he is justified or not.

Sorry but that does not impact on my argument at all. The clubs may indeed want to put prices up - a sad indicment that the game is so obsessed by money - the German clubs simply dont get the level of TV revenue their counter parts in other leagues do, so their gate income is a higher proportion of total revenues ... They have shown in the last few years that you dont need stupid prem money to put together good sides and develop talent through a very good youth system... their problem is only that once these young players become established and have shown their talent on a European stage, they are off to countries that pay far more in WAGES... and they want to be able to compete.... This is nothing to do with the fact the system works, and allows both a sensible ticketing policy as well as well run clubs financially - and those that want to put prices up merely to shove extra cash in players pockets only need to look at what that sort of 'arms race' has done to the clubs in this country where you now have to pay £20 for a L2 game.... If anything such a pricing policy would be so much easier here, because our TV revenue dwarf's that of most EU leagues and we have more flexibilty if the clubs Chose to use it... greed is such a distorting factor here. The new TV deal starting next season would have been the ideal opportunity for the prem clubs to come together and use their extra cash to make ticketing better - instead the short sightedness will see all this extra cash dissapppear into the pockets of agents and player wages - so NO advantage to clubs at all really as proportionally the gaps get bigger and the difference between the top clubs and the also rans will expand...... and what's worse, that wage inflation filters down the pyramid and before long it will be £30 in L2 to pay those player wages.... Its alll fecked.

A nobel yet slightly naive statement I would imagine - married folks have ben having affairs since marriage was first intriduced as a concept - Also in the OT, you have to marry the older sister first and can then marry the younger one... but they changed thoses laws.... which is sort of the point - all religious doctrine has been adapted, laws/rules chnaged over time usually for political needs or for greater control, but at times alos in repsosnse to what is acceptable from a social societal perspective... forgetting all teh other issues for a second, i would just ask the churches that if they can chnage rules x,y and z to suit their 'flock' why cant they change the one they made up (not God) about gay marriage - in not doing so they quite rightly leave themselves open to allegations of prejudice.

Government has been very clever - they pass this and allow a veto - pleasing everybody.... knowing full well that any legal challenges would be taken to the ECHR who will get the blame if any decision is made to enforce it in all churches - Thus their core Daily Mail Blue rince vote will have another stick with which to beat the ECHR and sing loudly from their metaphoical hymnsheet their favourite tune: ''Its political Correctness gone mad how very very very sad God made us all in his own form And dic ks in arses is not the norm Those EU queers, they have no right they make me sick to the sight Spreading filth on our hills, grass and sand polluting England's green and pleasent land First is Queers in church, but ther'll be more Human righs? Pah - filth through the back door Its political Correctness gone mad how very very very sad

Oh sorry..

Favourite : Danish Least favourite : American

Badger ... seriously you still blieve in manaifestos..?

Nope, but its a good distraction

Gays can form their own religion, in fact just like that wierd Hubbard guy in the 50s, who became a billionnaire on the back of the gullable (had it not been a religion it would havee been called fraud... (some irony in there somewhere) ) I think I have hit on a sure fire money making scheme - we set up a new religion catering for christian, jewish and muslim gays - same God afterall and we draft new rules so they can get married... only catch is it costs £5000 a ceremony as we need funds to provide a sanctuary of worship and contemplation in the Bahamas for the founder, me...

To be fair, she does... ... although Mrs C who just came in will Ms Minx was talking about Iguana- as now given me a 'look'...

Thats the point though.... these are not Gods rules, but simply one of umpteen human interpretations of other human writings - otherwise all religions would have the same rules no? So it cant be bad in the eyes of God, just bad in the eyes of some misguided fools hell bent on following their selcted dogma...

... Even though the Church of England is probbaly the most enlightened on this... whenever they do speak against it it always makes me laugh at the lack of self awareness and missing the irony... hat their very existance is down to the need of someone wanting a divorse against the rules and so breaking away form Rome and setting up on his on.... so in tehory they should have no problem with breaking some more rules?

I think the issue is more complex purely because of the perception about marriage and other civil unions - At this time people still do not see civil partnership in the same way as marriage, irrespective of any religious association to it - which is why gay folk want this parity. I guess a simpler solution would have been to say that anyone not 'married' in a religious ceremony is not a married couple, but in a civil union.... that way you bring equality to all, but allow those who believe in talking snakes to do their thing. The second issue is then what do religious gay people do, who want to get married in church/place of worship... well goes without saying too much that if the church you follow has outdated views based on 'teachings' that have been edited, rewritten etc throughout the last 2000 years especially in the middle ages you really have three choices - follow the teachings and dont be gay... or find a church that is more open minded - (which kind of shows how ridiculous it is - worship same God, but follow a different branch be it one of the hundreds of Christian movements, Jewish or Islamic teachings... same God, different interpretations of how to follow him and what is and what is not allowed.... ) ...or recognise the beauty of evolutionary science and become a humanist and not worry about what your union is called.

Without doubt the best post on this thread

This season Ticket revenues will probably be around 12-13 mil - as aproportion of the total revenue of inexcess of 50mil, it still represents around 20-25% of revenue. to have any significant impact on revenue, you almost need to double capacity and sell out at the same price point - This will not have escaped NCs notice.... so if he is serious about expanding to 40k or so (a more realistic figure than the 20k Turks like to presume we are all going on about), he must be thinking 1 of two things: 1. He believes that with a top six place we will sell out 40Kevery home game at current prices believing success alone willl drive an increased demand form teh middle income bracket... in which case he is in for a nasty surprise or 2. He undersatnd that its also about what it says about the club, the kudos etc and possibly the abilty to be able to charge £60 a ticket on a top European night, but offer a more broader range for league games etc... if he is serious about filling it. There are multiple scenarios that would need to be considered and the biggest one is that of what it would cost - throughout I have gone on the assumption that Markus left some cash for this so commercial loans would not be necessary - if not, and a commercial loan would be necessary, then quite rightly, it makes no sense.

Guess that entire thread with loads moaning about not being able to afford to go was all aload of Bulls hitters then? And in reality football is perfectly priced and we simply attract our actuall fan base... tell which is it, we dont have enough fans right now but teh price is right, or we have have more fans but some simply can not afford to... which is it?, your argumnet hangs on being able to define this perfectly and accurately....

Go back and check your facts mate, that had nothing to do with me....

.... you dont get it we know... you dont need to keep banging on about it...

See above

Turkish - fair play to you, you aint interested in any sensible discussion on how it works anyway. You also lack complete self awareness which is actually quite funny - you have a pop at me for 'mentioning Germany enough times', yet you attempt to convince others...constantly with your persistant negative sensationalist 'headlines'. You may or may not have noticed that this model is actually already in place - we have different concessions and different areas of the ground have varying price points - the German model is an extension of this with a BROADER range - I am sure someone of your astute business accumen will have noticed this already, and what's more appreciate that the pricing scenario modelling that allows this broader range yet does not simply maintain, but increases revenues based in increased numbers is fairly complex - but works. Failure to acknowledge this suggests at best a somewhat narrow mind WUM mentality at worst a complete inabilty to grasp what is a simple business concept.

You dont get it... fair enough, but when you have to respond with sweeping generalizations that no one has actually suggested, it suggests you are running short on argument. You are like a fricken tabloid newspaper with big headlines '25000 extra seats' - SLASHING prices! - yet when you actially take time to read what most on this thread are talking about its nothing of the sort... if you dont believe its possible fair enough, but then you aint in charge of SFC -so counts for nowt - what I ad others are interested in is what the man who IS in charge is thinking and whether that includes and awareness of the way current pricing has disenfranchised many, and whether addressing that through EU models would be considered in future a spart of a growth strategy.... your WUM approach fools no one mate, but at leat stop the theatrical 'sun/mirror/star type 'BS headlines'

Well, your'll just have to keep asking the Germans. The point being that there is a revenue increase overall due to additional numbers, even if the revenue genearted per head falls - logic should dictate that the Germand would not have adopted such a system oif it meant FALLING revenues. But again to endulge you, hyperthetically the 'cheap noisy stand' tickets are first sold to U25s etc the idea is to encourage youth and younger fans who may not be as well heeled. The increase in total revenues alos allows better concession deals for OAPs and kids in other areas of the ground... Jeez turks, this is a fricken web forum dicussing he principles of ONE possible option for increasing demand that may drive increased numbers, that COULD be a consideration if THINKING about expansion, was not expecting to have to provide a thorough business plan complete with due diligence....

...you tell me... it works in Germany and I am not sure how or if they restrict any access to the cheaper seats/stands... the point being they are abkle to work with such a model and make it pay - Why in this country do we have an unwillingness to explore other possibilties, especially if those options have demonstrated and workable solution that a) sees gates go up in numbers and revenue, b) deals with teh issue of pricing younger/traditional fans out of the game?.... Seriously its a total