The Kraken

WC, I do agree with you, and I've said a few times that most people who really want an ST will find a way to get one. For me, its the complete silence from the club on the issue that's the big problem; they're effectively going back on years of business process (and their own fan's charter published 6 months ago) without any form of explanation. If fans had known 2 or 3 months ago that the club would no longer be offering a payment scheme then I'm sure this wouldn't be the potential problem it now is. Let fans know 2 months ago and they have 3 months to either sort out credit agreements or even save up for the full price. The way this has been conducted is a bit of a kick in the face for the fans who've been waiting for some news for quite a while. Yes, its possible for most people to get a credit card on 0%. But like it or not, some people can't or won't want to do that; in these financially tough times I know of people who have cancelled their credit cards in order to remove the temptation to spend on it. And there is a big difference between applying for credit, and entering into the standing order agreeement with the club as per last year. I just think the fans deserved to be treated a bit better with the handling of this.

Exactly. No real idea what some of the top earners were on but rumour had it that John, Rasiak, Euell, BWP were all on well over £10K a week. Even though we replaced them with more players, and the likes of Jaidi, Fonte and Lambert will doubtless be on a fair whack, I just can't see our wage bill being higher than it was. Plus the mortgage has gone which is the removal of a massive load of finance, from memories I believe repayments were between £1M to £2M per year. Attendances are significantly up, and the TV money difference between Championship and League 1 is not huge.

Guilfoyle on SSN; negotiations going well, looking positive, and as such he is suspending any player sales as it looks like a resolution may soon be forthcoming.

Transfer fees, fair enough. But wages have gone up considerably? Have a word with yourself. Last year we had the following players' salaries to contend with: David McGoldrick, Nathan Dyer; Andrew Surman; Bradley Wright-Phillips; Jason Euell; Stern John; Grzegorz Rasiak; Matthew Paterson; Marek Saganowski. Do you really think that the players we have brought in are on collectively more than that little list?

That's what they're saying on Sky Sports News; however, Radio 5 live are apparently saying that CPFC 2010 have walked away from the deal.

Of course, but there are many ways they could have done it. Could have announced in March that they wouldn't be operating the payment scheme next season as "new costs precluded it". Could have made arrangements with external finance companies to provide a competitive percentage payback rate. Doing nothing and keeping quiet about it until the last possible minute is equally not a good PR ploy.

It could be. But in light of the deafening silence from the club we can only speculate as to the actual reason(s).

And I think that's a totally fair comment; I didn't have a season ticket last year so was surprised to hear how lapse the whole system was, and quite clearly something had to change. But I do stick by my point that the club really do need to go the extra mile to attract as many season ticket holders as possible. If that is done by providing finance through an external company, then its something they should have explored. Yes, the customer does now have the opportunity to secure their own financial arrangements but if this was always going to be the case then why did the club keep it quiet until a few hours before season tickets went on sale? The late announcment is just as bad, if not worse than the decision to remove the payment plan. As I've said, those that really want to get a season tricket will find a way to get one. But I think there could be a very significant number who will choose not to get one, simply because the application process is a bit more convoluted. And that is, ultimately, a poor reflection on the way the club has handled the whole issue.

It is simple, and in a way you're right. I've posted before that most people that REALLY want a season ticket will find a way to get one, whether it be paying up front, new 0% credit card, normal credit card or other method. That said, there are bound to be a significant number of people who don't want to / can't apply for a credit card, whether it be for true financial reasons, sheer apathy or out of principle. Rightly or wrongly, its a fact that there will be a number of people who fall into this category. It's just so very disappointing that the club have seemingly made it that more difficult to become a "valued" customer.

Here is the actual rule... 12.2 Cessation of membership. If any Club ceases to be a member of The League for any reason (including, without limitation, pursuant to Article 4 of the Articles of Association or by way of relegation or expulsion for disciplinary reasons):- ......... 12.2.3 during the period between the conclusion of the last Play Off Match and the start of the following Season, its playing record shall not be expunged but the number of relegation places from the Division in which a Club would have played but for its cessation of membership, shall be reduced by the number of Clubs ceasing to be members and, during that Season, the relevant Division shall operate with a reduced number of Clubs.

Remind us what your solution was, will you?

I like the flag, a nice salute to our Danish owner....

That's true. But, in the same vein, many transfers also operate on an installment basis. Besides, the issue of the "upside to the club" in this regard is irrelevant. The club should be doing all it can to accommodate existing and new customers, and this approach goes completely against that.

Fair enough, I've not had an ST before so don't know how it works. However, judging by the previous posts, there was no finance company in place last year, and perhaps he club have been stung by it. With that in mind, why not bring back in a finance company and pass whatever costs are involved back on to the customer? Lots of people can't or don't want to get a credit card just for a season ticket, and the club should have recognised by making things as easy for the customer as possible.

Why would the club need a finance company? They are not borrowing money; season tickets are effectively the customer paying up front for 9 months of games.

You really have to question the club in this regard. We were previously given the news that the "sponsorless shirts" for next year was an effort by the club to engage with the fanbase and go back to its roots. Yet just a few months later here we are with the common fan being given a real kick in the teeth by the club. I'd much rather have a sponsor on the shirt next year if it meant that the club could actually provide the fans with a system they wanted for tickets and half/full season tickets. This looks like we're giving up the potential of making money on one side with a quite hollow gesture of going sponsorless for a year, only to try and claw that money back by a bit of a stitch up on the ticketing side. Someone at the club has dropped a real clanger with this.

Not really. For our home game against Oldham, when we were still mathematically in with a chance of reaching the playoffs, we had an official attendance of just over 18,000. For home league games we only had attendances of more than 22,000 twice.

Not really, no. "We are currently no longer accepting applications for Barclaycard Football Credit Card"

Email sent but no response; I imagine his inbox will be pretty busy today. I think the point is that most people who really want a season ticket will get one, whether it be by paying up front, new 0% credit card, normal credit card or other method. However, the club have in no way gone the extra mile to attract new customers or keep existing ones. A lot of people, rightly or wrongly, don't want to feel like they have to jump through hoops to buy a particular product, and this WILL have the effect or discouraging some people, whether out of principle or apathy. In order to attract the maximum amount of customers the club needed to pull out the stops, and not make it much harder to buy into "Cortese's baby". This is quite the PR gaffe by the club, and has the potential of hitting the hardcore support hardest of all.

I'm fully aware how it works; I just think the level of competence in the football market shown by the Palace administrators has been well below par. I've said before my mates are Palace fans so I've been giving the whole situation a fair bit of attention. And the actions of Guilfoile in the media have smacked of a completely desperate man who seems wholly overwhelmed by the situation he is in. As for your comment about the fee for Ambrose, of course he can only get what another team is willing to pay. But that's my point, it is the job of the administrator to be able to attract a market value for all of his assets, despite the situation the club is in. Saints and Palace were in similar scenarios when Ambrose was sold and we sold Surman & McGoldrick. Yet we still managed to get sums well in excess of the figure Palace got for Ambrose, and I would place Ambrose as a much more valuable player than either of those (especially McGoldrick). My point is that, despite Saints completely abject financial position at the time, we managed to obtain completely fair market prices for our players. Palace have failed to do that for their top attraction, and instead of insisting they will sell just one or two more players to keep the club running in the short term they are giving up the fight, suggesting liquidation tomorrow and encouraging a general fire sale to ensue, which will also ensure below-value prices for the rest of the departures.

Palace’s administrator does seem particularly useless though. Darren Ambrose sold to raise cash, and they got 750K for him. Even despite their money troubles he should have gone for at least double that. I understand that the administrator has to prioritise the creditors but this one doesn’t seem to care about the club and its survival one jot; he very much seems to be looking after his own interests and is completely prepared to throw the towel in from tomorrow onwards as its all getting a bit difficult for him. Mark Fry wasn’t perfect for us by any means but he did at least prioritise Saints future life as well as that of the creditors; Palace’s unfortunately doesn’t seem to have the same level of care.

Nah, its Peter Griffin. All shirts to be sold in XXXXL.

Best one so far.

The Alex and Goblets as well. To be fair, So'ton does alright for traditional boozers. Long may it continue.

I was just about to comment on the quality of the ploughmans they used to do; lovely.