PokingFun

Pompey at home, 10-0 win and the ruskies to pull out after an appalling mauling at the hands of their south coast (superior) rivals ....

Well just don't go then, thousands of people turn up week in week out even at the prices that you suggest are too high so clearly there is a demand for watching football at prices higher than you quote.

But to their credit they have still introduced one and come up with a method to restrict tickets somewhat to ensure people can't default. Surely thats a positive thing right or do you think paying by instalments should be without a fee for doing so? You seem to have a strong feeling about the charge being made when in reality 5% is very reasonable for such a system.

Where did I say anything like that? You are an exception rather than the rule and for what its worth I think the club should have considered a cap for those that are already ST holders and the new age rule meant a huge rise. I assume you are over 60 but under 65 ..... To be fair, given you old boys cheaper ST's is age discrimination against us younger boys ! ;-)

But surely people knew they would have to save up at least last year plus say 10-20% extra so the shortfall is not that great after factoring that in. Why would people wait until the pricing came out to begin saving when they know full well that the cost will be more than they paid last year. That makes no sense to me at all.

I can't think of a reason why the club would want to do it necessarily other than for logistical reasons unless it is to keep staffing costs to a minimum (unlikely as I assume cost would not be huge for ticket office wages), but I simply don'y buy the argument that it will result in lots less ST sales as I firmly believe that those that decided they will buy one if it is at x price will buy regardless of when their window of opportunity arises.

5% charge for instalments is actually quite reasonable in my opinion. If you compare the fee to what banks, insurance companies and other service providers might charge for short term credit then it seems a very reasonable fee indeed. I'm sure there will be plenty who think that the club should give this interest free but in my opinion it's positive that they've listened and introduced something to help (albeit at a small charge) at a time when pricing has generally increased due to being in the next division up.

So from this analysis it seems we are pitched slightly higher for new ST holders but in the pack for renewals which makes sense to me and does suggest benchmarking has gone on. I am of course comparing us with a peer group in the south as prices do tend to drop as you go into the midlands and northern areas other than for the really big clubs.

Those Norwich season tickets seem cheap to me given the league they were in last year but take your point around some of the initiatives. My point about competitive positioning was more about Saints wanting to pitch their prices toward the upper end of the league scale and not a point relating to how much we as fans are prepared to pay (there are a strong majority that will pay whatever). I'm certain if I was running any business I would want to price according to what could be achieved in the market and price benchmarking is part of this in business generally so i fully expect this research to have been done by Saints when deciding on the policy. A two week window for renewals and a two week window for new purchases seems plenty for those who want to buy. We might lose the odd spontaneous buyer here and there but balanced against the revenue increase by optimal pricing I would say it is insignificant so we may be agreeing to disagree on that point.

Looking back, the March madness thing was clearly an attempt to get much needed cash quickly into the business rather than an attempt to be fan friendly and therefore those prices will have been unsustainable.

Only compared to those clubs, probably more accurate to compare us with Hammers, Leeds, Brum, Notts Forest and so on ....

Yep, probably be of interest to students I would imagine Hypo ... ;-)

Don't Norwich sell theirs dirt cheap to fill the ground though? That is not always the best way to maximise revenue which is what Saints will try to do under Cortese. I suspect the delay experienced before the recent announcement of prices is due to Saints having taken the opportunity to price their own tickets based on what others charge in their respective league. For example, why would you charge say £500 if everyone else in your locality / league might be charging £600? By waiting and assessing what the competition pricing is doing Saints get the chance to maximise the revenue from those that want to buy season tickets at pricing that sits at the upper end of its competitors. This makes more sense than second guessing and releasing them at a short price after which you cannot change them. NC knows that those people wanting a ST will buy one within whatever time window he sets so it seems a good business decision to me. You gain more this way than by trying to snare a handful of people riding some wave of optimism. Most people will buy because at the end of the season they made that decision and will do so regardless unless prices are totally ridiculous. I don't know how the new pricing stacks up against our competitors as I haven't done any research, but I'm going to guess that we will be priced in the upper range as this takes advantage of maximising revenue within a fan base that will want to buy due to the prospect of further success next season.

Apparently 11 clubs interested in CMS so he is likely to command a reasonably big fee by the sound of it!

I think QPR is a slightly unique situations, having an owner that is more interested in attracting the rich and famous to his toy than actually servicing the real fans. I would hope our pricing would remain sensible and competitive in the PL. The added issue for QPR is that they are in London where everything is normally paid at an extra premium for the location.

FFS Cortese out! ;-)

No I think we have more resources at our disposal than NA would have had back then with Scunny and he will be more experienced now and will no doubt have learned from previous stints in the CCC. He had Scunny reasonably placed before joining us and its only after he left that they went into freefall last season.

Priceless! Maybe the club feels that a 2 month and a bit window is plenty enough time for people to buy season tickets. Let's face it, anyone that wants one will be able to get a ST over that period. It doesn't need to be announced earlier. It is probably more important for Cortese to ensure they get the price structure right and maximise ST sales to those willing to buy them as there will be those that value ST's and those that are happy to pay per game. It's two distinct markets and neither is reliant at all on early announcements. I mean, is anyone really going to say "the club didn't announce it as soon as last season ended so f*** 'em, I won't buy one!" As for new kit, we do not know WHY there is a delay or if there is a delay at all. The progress on kit may be perfectly on track and in line with club's plans. Again, how long a window do they really need to sell kits to those that want to buy them. You will likely want to buy one or not and therefore even a window of a few weeks would suffice for that purpose. Alpine, why are you in such a hurry all the time to knock the club. You have no idea as to the planning or reasoning behind these "delays" which may not even be delays at all. Maybe, just maybe, the marketing people at St Marys have good reason to not sell ST's / Kits early as I'm guessing it is possible that if you create a smaller window for people to buy in then more may purchase so as not to "miss out" or maybe it builds anticipation. Who knows, maybe a marketing expert might come on and shed some light on whether this is a deliberate ploy to sell more long term of whether it is simply because they will sell the same regardless of window of opportunity.

Source?

They might have won the league but Poyet had a 51.1% win ratio and Adkins 66.6% so quite a significant difference and shows clearly that had NA been in from the start with a decent pre-season then the likelihood is that we would have gone up as champions. Only 45 games but to win 2/3rds is quite astonishing. Let the nancy boys put that one up their pipe ....

The day after Alpine comes on having concerns about our lack of activity in the transfer market .... ;-)

But we were winning when not playing at all well and never had a goal threat when some players were missing .... ;-)

My view is simple, he has effectively overcome a 10 points deficit to gain automatic promotion to the CCC as that was the start he had been landed with when he arrived. In effect, a similar position to AP when he started last season. Nothing short of a fantastic achivement to overhaul that disadvantage after 15% or so of the season had already been wasted. A great achievement and one that means he should be afforded money and time to move us up in the CCC. Play-offs should be the minimum target but it would not surprise me if we were pushing for automatic with the right squad improvements. I think NA has got what it takes to take us all the way but only time will tell on that.

Stuck at Singapore Airport waiting for flight so should get FT results before I head back to Heathrow! 45 minutes left for Saints to virtually secure promotion. Fingers crossed for early saints goal in second half! COYR!!

RIP Jack, I very much hope the current Saints boys will do you proud over the next three games and get promotion in your memory along with other Saints fans that have sadly passed during the season. All the best to Jack's family.