teamsaint

A slightly over inflated "wembley trainer" would make for a good world cup. Like kicking a piece of concrete . On the subject of balls, I hope to hear a multi language announcement before every game along the lines of "FIFA have given the match officials permission to use the multiball system today..............." etc. And to consequent looks of bemusement from players and fans from parts of the world not so used to this terrific addition to the modern game.

whilst the fans would do well to remember the fact that NC was the man who helped save the club, HE would do well to remember that without 20K of us turning out week after week, there would have been no club to save. Clubs with a divided fanbase are not a pretty sight, as we saw all too clearly in the home game against Doncaster. I guess that plenty of supporters will be sitting there over the next couple of years, hoping for a return to the PL which will mean they will be able to see the team that they love (and have supported through the bad days) about half as often as they can now.

some people are happy/prepared to pay the going rate to support their club through years of bad times, and are worried that the going rate will be beyond them if we get back to the PL.

step 1. Squeezing a bit more out of the loyal customer base, by reducing choice. Step 2. If we get back to the championship, a biggish hike in prices,justified by the higher quality, and to fund the push for the pL. Step 3. (hopefully). Promotion back to the PL. We all but sell out SMS every week, so its poopey/london level ST prices and matchday tix well north of £30, and around £40 for many seats, for most matches.plus big booking fees, platinum game premiums etc. Thats for US, the people who stuck by the club through the bad times, and without whom cortese wouldn't have a club to run. i really see little wrong at letting the club know when it does things that upset, annoy, or inconvrnience its "customers". Lets let the club know we are happy to pay decent prices for a good product. Not happy to be taken for granted.

WEll I'm with Stu on this. As a business your loyal, core, customer base is critical. We, the people who follow the team NOW are that customer base. And the club have treated us poorly on this. Quite a lot of the fan base think that none of this matters................but quite a bit of the fan base does think it matters, and does feel ripped off. Lots of people clearly fell less well disposed to the club over this, and that cannot be good. Despite STs being reasonable value, football is still an expensive hobby, and it would be good practice by the club to make the fan base feel valued, not taken for granted. Little things can make a difference..........

So what would be an acceptable charge then? At what level would you complain ? This charge is a BLATANT attempt to squeeze more money out of a loyal fan base, in a way that does little credit to the club. The charge is well above the industry standard, and may well have been badly thought through in terms of customer loyalty. There IS a recession on , at least it feels that way to lots of us.There IS unused capacity most of the time at SMS. There IS a good way to treat your customers and there IS a bad way. Sadly, I think this is a small sign of things to come. Remember NC's comments about staff parking? Now the hard hit to push fans into buying ST's, or paying through the nose for any king of convenient system of ticket purchase.There will be more little surprises on the way back up, I'm afraid. I'm sure all supporters are prepared to pay well to have a good team.There has been little complaint about an increase in prices. But that is different from being taken for mugs . People don't complain about lack of installment plans or £3 charges for fun. They complain because they NEED the installment plan, or they object to being ripped off on booking fees. And lots of us do this in our own time, not the company's time.

If the club decide to treat us like customers and not supporters, it will backfire. Most of us buy into the club long term, and week after week, month after month. When we buy tickets for a concert or whatever, its a one off decision, and the "booking fee" is part of the decision to buy. Football is NOT the same. Clubs rely on us to turn up time after time, rain or shine win or lose. Charging a £3 booking fee, or not bothering to have an installment plan sends out completely the wrong message. It says, "we need your money, and we are prepared to get out of you whatever we can." I always said when lowe started treating us as customers that i would behave as one. NC has decided to treat us like customers, and we should behave appropriately. THe management might also contemplate the fact that a return to the pot of gold that is the PL is a LONG way off yet, and they might need a a loyal fan base for a while yet, until the corporates and plastics return.

As far as I can see, ST holders and Members can order fee free by fax, by post (?), or in person. Certainly hope there is a fee free way of buying for those who can't easily get to SMS during the week.

Sadly the club reflects a rather british business view,supplier led. THIS http://www.trentonthunder.com/tickets/zTickets.asp?key=#098 Is how to sell tickets when supply is greater than demand. SAdly, I feel that those who have supported through the last few years will all be forgotten if we ever get back to the PL, and full grounds are a regular occurrence.

attendances are primarily driven by ST numbers.The evidence is everywhere. After ST numbers, success is the next biggest factor. Although the headline prices are OK, although generally a bit pricey for this level, the club will see rathe poor attendnces for the less attractive games IMO.

well yes. Unless of course nobody else thinks he is worth 40 k a week, in which case you have nothing else to negotiate with.

well, I'd hate to put myself in the shoes of a skate fan, but my guess would be that if you offered them a new club, place in L2, with a decent , sound ownership stucture, their own stadium, and debt free , they would take it like a shot. They would be one of the better supported teams , too. Don't think any of them want any of the old guard near their club, although that is probably what they will get. THe "blame" that attaches to their fans is that they didn't ask questions early enough- and that is something all fans can learn from.

going back to androids plans for the new regime. £10m wage bill, under any normal conditions, looks a tad optimistic to say the least. What is the income of a CCC team? well Bristol city might be an example of a club with similar attendances. (poopey might be luck to get as many as they do). In the year to the end of 2009, BCFC generated income of under £12m. On this figure they lost over £6m. Of the £6m loss, about £1 to £2m was due to development work on their new stadium. Given that the parachute money will, by most estimates, be taken up almost entirely by "football debt", just how are poopey going to fund their new CCC lifestyle? If the CVA is on £100m of debt, it will cost them £4 m PA, or around 60/70 % of their gate money. Either android is just making it up, or somebody is going to need deep pockets. Especially with the current take up of STs .

In more innocent times, my grandfather would go round the BTC ground in the morning picking mushroooms, and later on I would go round to watch the saints training. Never even asked, just went and watched. Happy days !!

BTC

If I was a creditor being offered 20p in the £ over 5 years, I would be asking how AA's figures stack up for the restructured company To get my measly 4 % PA the club has to at least break even. How on earth are they going to do that with the parachute payments all but spoken for on football debt, and a proposed £10m PA wage bill? (we can safely assume that most of the top earners will have to be given away). I would vote against, unless AA proposes a wage bill of £5m tops, at which level they have some chance of breaking even.

spot on. That is EXACTLY how they should be approaching sales. Maximise take on the premium seats, sell as many of the less popular seast as/possible , and incentivise/reward the more loyal non ST holding fans.

This is wrong. in the sky must surely feature. Especially on this thread. LOL'd at the pie stuff.

poopey sure do have a lot of Chiefs for an outfit that is supposed to be maximising income and minimizing outgoings in the interest of the creditors.

Just looked up the administration cash flow projection . It showed an estimated deficit during administration of over £7m. Getting to the cup final will have reduced this by a fair chunk, maybe £3m. THe rest must have come from the portpin facility. Chanrai must be very confident about the profitability of clubs in the CCC- or the saleability of the skates squad-or about the chances of a quick return to the PL. Mind you, the top end of the fizzy looks a good deal weaker next season with newcastle and WBA being replaced by Hull and Burnley. Perhaps chanrai likes a sporting bet................. Any way up, i reckon this is a summer to spend big if you are a contender in the CCC.

many strange and unpredictable things happen in life and football. But AP going to the skates will not be one of those things. on a seperate subject, I think that chanrai has seriously underestimated the difficulty of moving on over paid footballers.

it was all laid out in the Creditors statement. Can't remember how they are financing the club, but I do recall that Portpin had made a £15m loan facility available. At the time the creditors statement was released that facility was unused. Personally think that Chanrai feels that if he can shed the debts then poopey will be a cash cow. He may have reckoned without the poor cash flow of a CCC club, and those "hard to remove" PL failures of players on multiples of £10k per week.

Despite being one of the world's great cities, Southampton could use a few more decent attractions. A PL football club would be nice. Though I guess we may have that before the rink.

be interesting to know how chester city fans feel about poopey offering contracts to England internationals. THey have to rebuild from nothing in non league tier 5 I think. Good luck to them (anyone remember the 2nd replay in the league cup i the early 70's ??). And city went out of business for how much? 700K including less than £30k to the taxman.

if it was anyone else with his class at a PL club we would be "quite literally over the moon." Would absolutely love to see him back at SMS. Exactly the calibre of player we need. Come back Drew.