Season tickets released!

[Andy_Porter]

I don't think I'll bother getting a season ticket next season. I'll probably miss around 8-10 games next season as it is so it just doesn't warrant stumping up £330 now if the saving isn't going to be worth it and there won't be any installment plan.

 

I was thinking about not renewing even before they released the details this jsut confirms it. I'll just get a memebership and do all the away games and probably all the Tuesday night games.

 

The three pound online booking fee is the most annoying thing for me, buying away tickets will be a bit of a pain in the arse now.

[once_bitterne]

I suggest that the NC detracters do a pros and cons list for him and see which list is the longest. I would suggest that he has done more good things for the club than bad.

 

 

Do you think? I can think the only positive would be he has a billionaires money to spend.

 

Otherwise he is every bit as arrogant, egotistical and out of touch with the fans (or customers as he would no doubt call them) as a certain ruddy cheeked former chairman.

 

He certainly seems to be running through the Rupert Lowe guide to football chairmanship from first page to last.

 

Come from a total non-football background to be chairman - TICK

Start pointless and petty feud with media - TICK

Appalling grasp of PR - TICK

Alienate fanbase - Def. getting there!

[Griffo]

This could possibly lower away attendances too.

[John Boy Saint]

Having dismissed my ST after 1st season in fizzy pop for various reasons outside footie, then after being able to come to more games over that last 2 seasons, I thought that I would get an ST for the forthcoming season: all I am waiting for now is for the fixture list to come out so I can see which games will be off limits due to work.

 

As for the surcharge on Matchday tickets that is absolutely barking mad, the operation is set up to sell tickets to fans for the main product of the company, not to charge them for the privilege of being able to buy a ticket. My work takes me all over the country so if a ST works out as not being viable these charges are less than encouraging especially as I live outside Southampton.

[Mozz]

is an odd move to get rid of the payment plan but to those that say they cant get it in one go, consider this. Tickets are on sale from today and cease on 6th August, thats 2 months to get the cash, yes if you are renewing it will cost you a bit extra but its not all bad.

 

Roughly an extra £70 on an adult behind the goal for missing the cheaper renewal price is a significant chunk (over 20%) and means people losing their current seat.

[Liquidshokk]

Cortese and Markus were blown away from the start with the fact that we have such a large dedicated fanbase and are now abusing that fact imo. Cortese knows full well that people will pay whatever amount they ask and doesn't appear to remember what its like to not be minted.

 

FAIL.

[Super_Uwe]

I'd be interested to know whether the club has a significant debtor book or not with respect to payment plans, i.e. is there a significant proportion of fans who agreed to pay in instalments and then got behind on some payments/defaulted?

 

From that perspective, if it is the case that by offering the payment plans they have had a lot of extra admin/chasing up of fans who aren't paying, then I can kind of understand it. Noone wants to be p****** around chasing small debts like this.

 

However, offering payment plans is an important part of credit management and also a useful sales perk. Surely they could have kept it but instead of offering 0% maybe add a nominal credit charge (perhaps £15-20 accumulated interest over the payment term?). At least that way there is a bit of extra income for the club and fans would have access to credit that is significantly cheaper than bank loans, non-0% credit cards etc. Not an unreasonable suggestion IMO.

[stevegrant]

Do you think? I can think the only positive would be he has a billionaires money to spend.

 

Otherwise he is every bit as arrogant, egotistical and out of touch with the fans (or customers as he would no doubt call them) as a certain ruddy cheeked former chairman.

 

He certainly seems to be running through the Rupert Lowe guide to football chairmanship from first page to last.

 

Come from a total non-football background to be chairman - TICK

Start pointless and petty feud with media - TICK

Appalling grasp of PR - TICK

Alienate fanbase - Def. getting there!

Some may even argue that at least with Lowe, if you had a grievance, you'd get the courtesy of a response...

 

*awaits incoming abuse*

[Paul Chuckle]

Can you move seats if your an existing season ticket holder or will i have to wait until after the 30th June to do this?

[Alain Perrin]

Can you move seats if your an existing season ticket holder or will i have to wait until after the 30th June to do this?

 

I've just asked the ticket office this. Yes if the seats you want to move to are unoccupied, no if not.

[hypochondriac]

Cortese was very responsive and looked to sort things out at the last fans forum. I hope he acts in a similar manner this year when I will be asking him about this and the fans charter.

[Hatch]

Can you move seats if your an existing season ticket holder or will i have to wait until after the 30th June to do this?

 

£50 admin charge for that

[stevegrant]

I'd be interested to know whether the club has a significant debtor book or not with respect to payment plans, i.e. is there a significant proportion of fans who agreed to pay in instalments and then got behind on some payments/defaulted?

 

From that perspective, if it is the case that by offering the payment plans they have had a lot of extra admin/chasing up of fans who aren't paying, then I can kind of understand it. Noone wants to be p****** around chasing small debts like this.

I think they would have used an external company to provide this service. The club itself isn't set up to offer finance, it would need to be FSA-approved, etc. As a result, the club would take a bit of a hit on the season ticket price as the finance provider would take a portion of the money in exchange for providing the money to SFC up front, so the club would still get (most of) the money at the point of purchase, but they would have to pay a fee for doing so.

[wheels]

Can't say I've got any complaints over the prices themselves - with the VAT rate reverting to 17.5%, and the club having to price the tickets in such a way as to get loads sold at short notice last summer, an increase of only £30 on a renewal is fair enough, IMO.

 

Even the matchday prices themselves are ok - if bought in advance, the actual ticket price is £2 less than last year (it was £24 for the Northam last season, then £26 on the day from January), but then they've thrown in the £3 booking fee for online and phone sales to throw it all out of sync.

 

The hilarious irony is that it will now work out cheaper for people to buy match-by-match tickets on the day of the game by queueing up at the ticket office (£24) than to book on the phone or online (£22 + £3 = £25). Good work, whoever came up with that idea to reduce the queues at the ticket office on matchdays

 

Erm....No it won't.

 

Tickets bought on the day of a match will be subject to a £2 surcharge over the match ticket price

 

So, in your example, a pre-purchased ticket (vis telephone or online) will be £25 and the same ticket bought on the day will be £26 (£24+£2 surcharge)

 

It still stinks though :smt105:smt072

[Jonnyboy]

i dont get it, what is the price for matchday ticket in the northam

 

they say they want to reduce queing and encourage presales but then add a 3 quid booking fee - nutters

[stevegrant]

Erm....No it won't.

 

 

 

So, in your example, a pre-purchased ticket (vis telephone or online) will be £25 and the same ticket bought on the day will be £26 (£24+£2 surcharge)

No it won't, it's just badly worded in the article (much like the ambiguity over the booking fee - I've had it confirmed that the £3 fee is per transaction, not per ticket, fortunately).

 

The £2 surcharge is on top of the "in advance" ticket price, so the "on-the-day" price is £24. Why would they advertise an "on-the-day" price and THEN add another £2 onto it? (actually, given what we've seen today, probably best not to answer that )

[Jonnyboy]

Erm....No it won't.

 

 

 

So, in your example, a pre-purchased ticket (vis telephone or online) will be £25 and the same ticket bought on the day will be £26 (£24+£2 surcharge)

 

It still stinks though :smt105:smt072

 

why didnt they factor in the surcharges on the price tables - would make it much easier to understand...

or at least just add 2 quid to every ticket price and then say its 1 quid booking fee online...weird

[Goalie66]

I remember the Club apologising over the £3 admin fee imposed by Wembley and now they have adopted the same policy. Strikes me as commercially stupid as now the staff needed to handle the long queues on matchdays to collect tickets will be far more than the savings made by ENCOURAGING not deterring to book online.

 

This is a just a price rise.

[Hatch]

 

The £2 surcharge is on top of the "in advance" ticket price, so the "on-the-day" price is £24. Why would they advertise an "on-the-day" price and THEN add another £2 onto it? (actually, given what we've seen today, probably best not to answer that )

 

I read it as they will add £2 to each ticket bought on the day. Makes no sense to me, and I have re-read it about 20 times.

Might as well make match day tickets £1 with a £25 surcharge if thats how they want to advertise it.

[hypochondriac]

I don't think I've had much sleep but I'm still confused about the matchday price. What is the price of one adult ticket booked in person before a match and what is the price of that ticket if it is booked on the day? Thanks.

[MarkSFC]

£14 or £17 a game (depending on purchase date) is extremly good to watch the best team in League 1!

Sure, the lack of instalment plan is likely to lose a few people but c'est la vie, if you can't afford it or get the credit another way then why should the club risk themselves?

 

The £2 surcharge on matchday is a fair thing to help reduce queues but I don't think the £3 fee for purchasing on the phone or online is fair. It does mean people have to make decisions on attending games earlier in advance in order to get to SMS or WestQuay. I just hope that the opening hours are longer than 9-5 in order to facilitate more in person sales without surcharges!!

[Mozz]

I remember the Club apologising over the £3 admin fee imposed by Wembley and now they have adopted the same policy.

 

Was this ever given as a reason?

 

Recall that on the Solent/NC interview from before the Leeds game it was put down to the extra staffing required at the call centre etc.

[saint_mears]

very very disappointing the match day price farce.

[stevegrant]

I remember the Club apologising over the £3 admin fee imposed by Wembley

Did they??

[OldNick]

SFC has a large proportion of fans who live more than 10miles from the ground. penalising them with a booking fee is rong IMO.It is not a good start to the new season with a fair bit of resentment about

[wheels]

No it won't, it's just badly worded in the article (much like the ambiguity over the booking fee - I've had it confirmed that the £3 fee is per transaction, not per ticket, fortunately).

 

The £2 surcharge is on top of the "in advance" ticket price, so the "on-the-day" price is £24. Why would they advertise an "on-the-day" price and THEN add another £2 onto it? (actually, given what we've seen today, probably best not to answer that )

 

 

Well, it's even more bloody confusing than I first thought then - why do they never make it easy eh??

[St. Jason]

so as it stands we're down by 70 fans, just under 30% of the poll. If this is repeated through regular, non internet supporters Saints have struck a massive own goal!

[NickG]

I remember the Club apologising over the £3 admin fee imposed by Wembley and now they have adopted the same policy. Strikes me as commercially stupid as now the staff needed to handle the long queues on matchdays to collect tickets will be far more than the savings made by ENCOURAGING not deterring to book online.

 

This is a just a price rise.

 

thought Cortesse said the opposite -that it was justified

[saintrich]

If not having a payment plan was always their intention, then surely they should have released ticket details earlier - to give people the best possible chance to get the whole wack of money together; rather than releasing the details ridiculously late. Cheers.

 

A booking fee is slightly annoying, but won't be the difference in whether people buy a ticket or not, so it's easy money they're making really.

 

I always maintained if they put prices up, I wouldn't renew and they have put prices up for me (young adult) - what extra am I paying for? extra players? I couldn't care less if we didn't sign anyone else - we already have a better squad than anyone.

 

ffs.

[madruss]

I hope the club releases some kind of explanation for stopping the payment plan. Fair enough if there's been a lot of people defaulting and therefore costing the club extra, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be any justification.

 

Also the £3 internet booking fee is a total shambles

[prideofthesouth]

I just sent this email over to Mr Luker, probably won't even read the first line but hey ho....it was not in orange.

 

Just a quick note...and probably one of many today.

 

Without a payment plan, SFC have basically kissed goodbye to my season ticket purchase for the last 15 years...thanks very much.

 

£350 for an ST is by no means unreasonable, infact I would happily pay it and more. Finiding £350 on a month's notice...believe it or not...is completely unreasonable. Car tax this month, service and MOT next... Season Ticket. Guess which one has to go?

 

The other way of looking at things in the alternate reality or last year as it was and plenty of other years.....Car tax this month, service and MOT next.... £70 down payment on ST. Oh I can just about cobble that together and the next 5 payments subsequently. SFC gets 350 quid and another bum on seat.

 

Now I find myself in the situation where I can't actually get a season ticket now because for some insane reason we don't have a payment plan. Not everybody has a credit card and if we were made aware that we were taking away the PP, I probably could have saved over the last couple of months to reduce the hit but as it is, i've just been paid for May and you want me to find £350 before the end of June.

 

Brilliant planning....Well done.

 

Chris

Easy sell your car

[Iowsaintsfan]

What age does a young adult go up to then? it doesnt say anywhere on there!

[Saint_clark]

What age does a young adult go up to then? it doesnt say anywhere on there!

 

In the charter it says 17-21.

[mightysaints]

Lack of instalment package is going to screw me. This is going to be a real problem. Come on Saints you know it makes sence.

[Iowsaintsfan]

In the charter it says 17-21.

 

 

Cheers mate

[SaintNick89]

What age does a young adult go up to then? it doesnt say anywhere on there!

 

I emailed the club and they said that as i am 21 i can have a young adult Season Ticket. Which is great news because i can afford the young adult price in one go but i wouldnt have really been able to afford to pay adult price straight off.

 

So if your 21 you can have a young adult, If your 22 or over adult

[Andy_Porter]

They don't do any age checks anyway, I bought a young adults ticket at 22 and 23.

 

Was only this year when Cortese and Leibherr took over that I bought a full adults ticket.

[Kingsland Nick]

Not surprised by the price increases. Liebherr bought Saints in order to make money.

[St. Jason]

In the charter it says 17-21.

 

Is that the same Charter that say they offer a payment plan to make it more cost effective???

[St. Jason]

A bit sad I know but what else can we do??

 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=127219507306704&ref=mf#!/group.php?gid=127219507306704&ref=mf

[Sheff Saint]

It says in the article re the booking fee

 

This will not be applicable to season ticket purchases.

 

Does that mean ST holders buying additional tickets or actually when you buy your season ticket.

 

I just wondered if ST holders (and one of the members benefits when they are announced) is that you don't have to booking a fee? Might be an incentive to try and get people to be members???

[benjii]

so as it stands we're down by 70 fans, just under 30% of the poll. If this is repeated through regular, non internet supporters Saints have struck a massive own goal!

 

Not necessarily.

 

I might not renew but then I will probably only go to something like 15-18 matches. If I still go to those but buy a ticket for each one I will put more money into the club than if I had renewed my ST.

 

It seems to me that if you are committed to going to most matches our STs are good value. An adult renewal in the wings or goals is something like £14 per match. Good value. If you're not committed to going to the vast majority of matches then an ST might not be the right thing for you under the current price structure. To be honest, it doesn't really make much commercial sense to have people paying less for a 23 match ticket when they only intend to go to 16 matches when the alternative is that they buy 16 tickets at a greater cost. It would make more sense if you needed the cashflow upfront but we apparently do not.

 

The prices, taken in isolation are good IMO.

 

I appreciate that the lack of a payment plan is annoying. As someone else said, maybe it was a pain to administer and it has been decided that it would be better not to offer it. There are alternatives however (credit cards etc).

 

The really annoying thing is the £3 booking fee IMO. Especially for online bookings.

 

Either way, if we are winning most weeks and at the top of the table we will see 25k + home fans in the ground.

[sperm_john]

I clicked the 'yes' option to buying a season ticket in the poll, then actually read the prices and realized the lack of payment plan ... Now I wish I had clicked 'No' because the only way I can get a season ticket is via some sort of payment plan, I'm a post grad with no savings or serious salary yet and fully intended to support SFC by buying a season ticket and paying as I go ...but that wont be possible now and will probably not go to many games either because 27 pound (30 if you consider charges) is just too much for league 1. For what its worth my parents are screwed too because they usually buy a couple of season tick's each (and for my little brother) and I don't think they will jump at those prices. So indeed, in mine and my family's circumstances, SFC has probably lost a few regular bums on seats (and we have had season tickets every season since way back at the Dell) Totally deflated.

[Saint_clark]

It says in the article re the booking fee

 

This will not be applicable to season ticket purchases.

 

Does that mean ST holders buying additional tickets or actually when you buy your season ticket.

 

I just wondered if ST holders (and one of the members benefits when they are announced) is that you don't have to booking a fee? Might be an incentive to try and get people to be members???

 

Why is everyone assuming that memberships will be making a return?

[St. Jason]

Not necessarily.

 

I might not renew but then I will probably only go to something like 15-18 matches. If I still go to those but buy a ticket for each one I will put more money into the club than if I had renewed my ST.

 

It seems to me that if you are committed to going to most matches our STs are good value. An adult renewal in the wings or goals is something like £14 per match. Good value. If you're not committed to going to the vast majority of matches then an ST might not be the right thing for you under the current price structure. To be honest, it doesn't really make much commercial sense to have people paying less for a 23 match ticket when they only intend to go to 16 matches when the alternative is that they buy 16 tickets at a greater cost. It would make more sense if you needed the cashflow upfront but we apparently do not.

 

The prices, taken in isolation are good IMO.

 

I appreciate that the lack of a payment plan is annoying. As someone else said, maybe it was a pain to administer and it has been decided that it would be better not to offer it. There are alternatives however (credit cards etc).

 

The really annoying thing is the £3 booking fee IMO. Especially for online bookings.

 

Either way, if we are winning most weeks and at the top of the table we will see 25k + home fans in the ground.

 

I hope your right mate, I just feel the whole saga stinks. If they'd said months ago that the payment plan was to removed i could have saved for it, no problems at all and in all honesty would probably preferred to have done that, but with no notification i just thought I'd carry on the way I was!

[The9]

Why is everyone assuming that memberships will be making a return?

 

Because it mentions something like "membership news to follow" in the ST article.

[Block 5]

I shall be renewing but I will have to;

a) do the credit card reshuffle, or

b) borrow from mates, or

c) commit some crimes.

 

Considering the long wait, I am astounded at what a shambles this whole situation is.

I was expecting that the delay would mean a highly organised and even handed approach to season ticket sales.

 

Instead, we seem to have a complete farce, that has been planned by a p1ss head on the back of a beer mat.

 

I think we can safely say that the 'honeymoon period' is well and truly OVER!

[St Marco]

Think the club have dropped the ball somewhat in regards to the payment option. A few mates will have to buy individual tickets which means obviously spending more money. It does seem silly what with the recession not being long over and people about to go on holidays etc..

 

The prices have gone up by quite a bit and personally i see that as a kick in the teeth for those who paid additional costs last year to go to the cup games too. This is obviously a business but we now realise any signings are now paid for by us. It is no longer a one guy spending his own money thing. For a club in the 3rd division tickets should've been a lot cheaper. They have received more money from the recent pl changes, aswell as tv money and soon to be shirt money which will be just for one year.

 

They could of been a bit more inventive with this being our 125th year. They should've got as many people as possible into the stadium to help the promotional push. You now have to expect attendences to be down.

The honeymoon is now over in regards to those in charge.

[reggiesaint]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but has anyone noticed that new season tickets in the family enclosure cost more than individual tickets if you're a young adult, senior or an under 12? I thought the point of a season ticket was that the club give a financial reward to those attending every game?

 

I live in Salisbury but with work I can't get to the ground before the game to buy my tickets, so I will be charged £2 extra to buy on the day, £3 to buy before the game or even £9 extra to get a season ticket! I know it isn't much over the course of a season, but this doesn't seem right.

[alpine_saint]

I shall be renewing but I will have to;

a) do the credit card reshuffle, or

b) borrow from mates, or

c) commit some crimes.

 

Considering the long wait, I am astounded at what a shambles this whole situation is.

I was expecting that the delay would mean a highly organised and even handed approach to season ticket sales.

 

Instead, we seem to have a complete farce, that has been planned by a p1ss head on the back of a beer mat.

 

I think we can safely say that the 'honeymoon period' is well and truly OVER!

 

Bit of an overreaction, imo.

 

I would suggest that the amount of time this has taken to release means there has been some sort of problem, the nature of which we have not got a clue about.

 

I would be interested to know how many STs last season were on an installment scheme. Perhaps it is a lot less than you perceive from the posts on here and the overheads for the system are ridiculous. After all, the word is there has been a credit crunch and cheap finance is hard to come by.

 

Why not take out a bank loan over 1 year ? The interest would be f**k all.

 

On the surface, it doesnt look good, but I expect some comment from the club to be soon forthcoming that explains matters.