Begging fans to attend...

[St Louis]

So, for the first time ever in my 30 odd years following Saints, I have just had a phone call from the ticket office asking me if I'd like to buy a Man Utd ticket.

 

I have Membership+ this season (or whatever its called - still hasnt turned up yet anyway!) but I cant make the Man Utd home game as I am away that weekend. I needed to repeat this a few times for the operator to take No as my final answer!

 

Are we really that desperate and struggling to sell tickets that we now need to call fans and literally beg them to come? If we really have sold so few tickets for when the mighty Man Utd come to town, then that tells me the club seriously needs to review the pricing structure. Tickets for the big games used be like gold dust. Have we finally reached tipping point?

 

What next, calling me to ask if I want to buy a Home Shirt? Oh wait... maybe that call will have to wait a while longer.

 

Am I alone or has anyone else had this call?

[ally_uk]

Saints are s##t have been for a few seasons what you expect.... Lol

[Manuel]

Ground will be full of Man U supporters again I expect

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Did they actually beg you?

It is no difference to someone calling you to make a sale is it really?

The caller had a job to do that's all.

[VectisSaint]

 

Am I alone or has anyone else had this call?

Are you sure it was Saints and not some dodgy call centre in India (or China) trying to fix your Windows PC.

[St Louis]

Did they actually beg you?

It is no difference to someone calling you to make a sale is it really?

The caller had a job to do that's all.

 

OK, lets be pedantic then. No, he didnt literally beg me, but I think you understood the point.

Yes he was just trying to do a job, and Yes he was persistent in trying to sell me the benefits of buying a ticket.

My point was that I find this unusual, and a tactic I have never known or heard of at Saints (emails, social media, etc in the past, but not calling fans to try the hard sell), and I presume that's a sign of how we are struggling to sell tickets to this match.

[nta786]

our individual match day pricing is an absolute joke this year- the Liverpool game only just about sold out (think it only went to the ticket exchange 3 days before the game).

 

I don't have any membership but I brought a ticket for the Liverpool game and got an email almost instantly after my purchase saying that if I buy a season ticket, they'd give me back the money I paid for the Pool game- so if I had brought a £399 ST then would have had £50 discount.

 

I think we will struggle in many a case to shift tickets, but will know for sure when the smaller clubs come to town.

 

The games against Utd/Liverpool last season (and beyond) would have sold in out a couple of days as soon as they went on sale to anyone with a purchase history- the Utd game has been on sale in that criteria for 2 weeks now and still loads left!!!

[Heisenberg]

I had some involvement with the exec boxes some years back and had not heard anything since that expired.

 

.....Until this season

 

Supply and demand I guess. Seats and boxes used to sell themselves

 

Anyone paying and watching every week this past 3 seasons deserves recognition or red bulls.

 

Saying that if you need to hard sell tickets for top 6 sides... We are in trouble. As these games normally bring out the local top 6 fans.

[alehouseboys]

It's a joke that 'centre' Kingsland seats stretch almost to the goal line and at £65 a pop - to sit in the corner £50.

 

Are they really trying that hard to entice fans to come back and ditch watching for free at home?

[Cabbage_Face]

Sounds like a normal sales call.

 

Get over yourself.

[St Louis]

Sounds like a normal sales call.

 

Get over yourself.

 

Eh, Do you have a cabbage for a brain as well as face!?

I work in sales and have no problem at all having the club call to try and sell, they obviously need to. My point was that I was surprised that tactic is needed to put bums on seats for such a big game, and I’ve never known it before.

I think others managed to understand the point...

[Faz]

Does anyone suppose, just for a second, that seeing as we are still bang in the middle of the school holidays it may have an impact.

 

I know plenty of people who have previously taken boxes/hospitality who get calls/offers. And I doubt for even a second that we are the only club to do so.

 

This really isn’t a stick to beat the club with.

[Nordic Saint]

Well, they seem to have been successful as the match is heading for a sell out.

[wadesmith]

I think people saying , "Sounds like a normal sales call' are either missing the point or deliberately being a tit. (I suspect the latter) The OP didn't ask 'Does anyone think this is a normal sales call" he wondered if anyone else had had the call. and seemed to suggest it might be symbolic a perceived lack of enthusiasm for the club (Or at least that was my reading of it) It my also signal that Man UTD no longer have the mystique they once held as an iconic footballing superpower

[St Louis]

Well, they seem to have been successful as the match is heading for a sell out.

 

Good stuff, hope so

[brmbrm]

Lol. We're over from NZ in September and have been trying to buy a couple of tickets online for quite some time. We're on the database but naturally we dont go to many matches.

 

Unpossible, it seems, although i will go to the ground next week. Likely just have a day out at the seaside instead. Oh well.

[Plastic]

It's a joke that 'centre' Kingsland seats stretch almost to the goal line and at £65 a pop - to sit in the corner £50.

 

Are they really trying that hard to entice fans to come back and ditch watching for free at home?

 

Exactly this. I was tempted to buy 3 the other day, then I saw the price. At £65 they can **** off.

I’ll watch it for free online instead.

[Turkish]

It's a joke that 'centre' Kingsland seats stretch almost to the goal line and at £65 a pop - to sit in the corner £50.

 

Are they really trying that hard to entice fans to come back and ditch watching for free at home?

 

for just an additional £85 you can buy a ticket for the Gas Works bar where you can enjoy some premier league class hospitality. 35 screens showing Sky sports, a free pint of lager to enjoy whilst you exercise your opportunity to purchase from the American diner menu. why wouldn't you do it?

[bpsaint]

August home games have always been traditionally shy of a full house - what with holidays etc. Add in to the mix the ridiculous individual match price, let alone the cost of parents want to take their kids and it’s no surprise.

 

No harm in someone calling to try and flog the last few hundred remaining, if they manage to convince just a few that were sat on the fence then the calls have paid for themselves.

 

I dare say say some people are waiting for pay day too....

[IOWSaintDaz]

The reasons they need to call to beg fans to attend are

 

1. Its on TV (so a free stream is obtainable)

2. The Ticket prices for Cat A games are a joke and out of reach of average fans.

3. The game is an early KO for the corporate machine that is Sky/BT Sport and the fans who have to travel are not even thought about

4. Its against one of the top 6, so probabilty states it's not winnable game as we will be playing against 14 men not 11 (see dippers game for example)

5. We have an awful defence who concede goals for fun

6. The ground will be full of Manc's in the home end with the consent of the club causing trouble with the home fans (see dippers game for example)

 

If they call you any one of the above can be used to justify your non attendance

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

I think that it is representative of the shift in power to the top four clubs. Even in the nineties we would turn over the big clubs quite regularly but in the last few years we just get thumped. Even as a season ticket holder I really don't get pumped up for games against the big teams now. I am sure there is a statistic somewhere but I would suspect that back in the day we would beat top four teams two times out of ten, draw two and lose six. Now it is more likely to be one in ten, draw one and lose eight. It should come as no surprise that people don't want to pay £65 for the privilege. Ii would cite the FA Cup trip to Wembley against Chelsea recently when we did not sell out. I went but was pretty subdued about what would once have been my day out of the year.

[Bananaman]

Went to a non league game last night, cost me £1 for both me (played the student card) and my daughter (free). Payed £12 to watch Malaga and £19 to watch Betis in La Liga last year and £18 to watch Berlin the year before. Not suggesting that the club should go crazy. But if youre charging £65 for an hour and a half's football. You're going to lose custom unless you draw a big tourist population.

[Patrick Bateman]

Yes, I had a call trying to sell me hospitality. It's a normal sales call, but it does seem a bit odd for a football club to be making outbound sales calls ...

[Turkish]

Yes, I had a call trying to sell me hospitality. It's a normal sales call, but it does seem a bit odd for a football club to be making outbound sales calls ...

 

I’ve not had a call can someone ask them to ring me so i can tell them to p*ss off too?

[Patrick Bateman]

I’ve not had a call can someone ask them to ring me so i can tell them to p*ss off too?

 

Turkish, how are you? We've not seen you for a few matches, are you okay? I was wondering do you want to buy hospitality?

[Turkish]

Turkish, how are you? We've not seen you for a few matches, are you okay? I was wondering do you want to buy hospitality?

 

I’m great thanks, just got back from puglia, off

To the lake district for bank holiday weekend.

Rest of the year corporate wise I’ve got a few trips

Planned Munich twice, Paris,, Stockholm, madrid, krakow, Oslo, Vienna, Lisbon, Rome, and of course the weekly trip to London, where I have fairly

Free reign to spend. Remind

Me what’s on offer on a exec level to

Make it all switch to Southampton to pull them away......

[Patrick Bateman]

I’m great thanks, just got back from puglia, off

To the lake district for bank holiday weekend.

Rest of the year corporate wise I’ve got a few trips

Planned Munich twice, Paris,, Stockholm, madrid, krakow, Oslo, Vienna, Lisbon, Rome, and of course the weekly trip to London, where I have fairly

Free reign to spend. Remind

Me what’s on offer on a exec level to

Make it all switch to Southampton to pull them away......

 

... an after dinner speaker, free programme and a padded seat?

[OldNick]

My daughter took my granddaughter to the Liverpool game and that cost £80!!! It is a madness and sooner or later the clubs apart from the top6 will have to take a serious look at paying players like Stephens 49k PW.

I resent paying for players of average quality who can pass the ball less accurately than I still can who are on massive wages.

Im tired of it and as I said to a Norwich fan thismorning being in the PL is for vanity only. I have watched a couple of Championship games this season and they are far more entertaining than most of the tippy tappy football in the top league

[Micky]

... an after dinner speaker, free programme and a padded seat?

Seat, or cell...?

 

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk

[Faz]

My daughter took my granddaughter to the Liverpool game and that cost £80!!! It is a madness and sooner or later the clubs apart from the top6 will have to take a serious look at paying players like Stephens 49k PW.

I resent paying for players of average quality who can pass the ball less accurately than I still can who are on massive wages.

Im tired of it and as I said to a Norwich fan thismorning being in the PL is for vanity only. I have watched a couple of Championship games this season and they are far more entertaining than most of the tippy tappy football in the top league

 

There's a couple of dilemas here. Firstly, Saints were still offering Season Tickets at £399 (and I think still are), £21 per game adn interest free payment terms available I think. The Liverpool game was. more or less, a sell out, so people are prepared to pay.

 

The second problem is with Championship football. it is generally poor, and the defending is poor (although it does make for more exciting games). The dilema comes when you do it well, and end up being promoted. If you do it poorly, most would still be unhappy.

 

League One football is available within local travelling distance, and will be for some time to come!

[Cabbage_Face]

Eh, Do you have a cabbage for a brain as well as face!?

I work in sales and have no problem at all having the club call to try and sell, they obviously need to. My point was that I was surprised that tactic is needed to put bums on seats for such a big game, and I’ve never known it before.

I think others managed to understand the point...

 

Answered your own question then.

[shurlock]

There's a couple of dilemas here. Firstly, Saints were still offering Season Tickets at £399 (and I think still are), £21 per game adn interest free payment terms available I think. The Liverpool game was. more or less, a sell out, so people are prepared to pay.

 

The second problem is with Championship football. it is generally poor, and the defending is poor (although it does make for more exciting games). The dilema comes when you do it well, and end up being promoted. If you do it poorly, most would still be unhappy.

 

League One football is available within local travelling distance, and will be for some time to come!

 

What’s a dilema pal?

[Whitey Grandad]

our individual match day pricing is an absolute joke this year- the Liverpool game only just about sold out (think it only went to the ticket exchange 3 days before the game).

 

I don't have any membership but I brought a ticket for the Liverpool game and got an email almost instantly after my purchase saying that if I buy a season ticket, they'd give me back the money I paid for the Pool game- so if I had brought a £399 ST then would have had £50 discount.

 

I think we will struggle in many a case to shift tickets, but will know for sure when the smaller clubs come to town.

 

The games against Utd/Liverpool last season (and beyond) would have sold in out a couple of days as soon as they went on sale to anyone with a purchase history- the Utd game has been on sale in that criteria for 2 weeks now and still loads left!!!

 

We are still in holiday season so that must make a difference.

[Mystic Force]

If August was a universal problem maybe they could start the league later.

[OldNick]

 

League One football is available within local travelling distance, and will be for some time to come!

Lol

[stknowle]

The reasons they need to call to beg fans to attend are

 

1. Its on TV (so a free stream is obtainable)

2. The Ticket prices for Cat A games are a joke and out of reach of average fans.

3. The game is an early KO for the corporate machine that is Sky/BT Sport and the fans who have to travel are not even thought about

4. Its against one of the top 6, so probabilty states it's not winnable game as we will be playing against 14 men not 11 (see dippers game for example)

5. We have an awful defence who concede goals for fun

6. The ground will be full of Manc's in the home end with the consent of the club causing trouble with the home fans (see dippers game for example)

 

If they call you any one of the above can be used to justify your non attendance

 

None of that tallies with the likes of brmbrm above wanting tickets, being on database, but being turned down.

[Divergent]

After a year away and giving up my season ticket in the Itchen I decided when the prices came out in April to

move to the Family area. Being over 65 I paid £355 and got 2 under 11 tickets for grand children at £19 a pop.

It’s the cheapest I’ve paid for a season ticket seat for donkey years and far cheaper than the ridiculous prices being charged for Cat A games.

I know not everyone is in the same position and the family centre is a bit sedate but from a value for money point of view I’m not complaining.

[Whitey Grandad]

If August was a universal problem maybe they could start the league later.

 

Nah, just make every fixture an away game

[Heisenberg]

The club obviously doesn't understand how persuasion works.

 

My advice is rather than ring around and highlight the low attendance they should be flooding us with "almost sold out" messages on social media

 

That approach would sell more tickets. People follow others

[rshephard3]

for just an additional £85 you can buy a ticket for the Gas Works bar where you can enjoy some premier league class hospitality. 35 screens showing Sky sports, a free pint of lager to enjoy whilst you exercise your opportunity to purchase from the American diner menu. why wouldn't you do it?

 

If I didn’t think emoji’s were **** I’d do a smiley face at this. I genuinely thought the club had made their only decent fan centric move in the past decade when I read the start of that letter.. redeveloping part of the space around the ground for a season ticket holder only social space.. perfect.. only to find I was expected to pay for it on top of my season ticket.

 

How do they expect fans to stay onside when the thing is such a shameless money making corporate enterprise run by a non existent Far Eastern owner.. place is like a bloody shopping centre.

 

Roll on the Championship (which, based on the opening day, may be a little closer than some may want to believe). Premier League finished as a spectacle some years ago. Moan over, I’d better get back to Instasomething to see what Paul Pogba has posted about his favourite place to eat out.. Because that’s what’s interesting about football now right?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[davefoggy]

for just an additional £85 you can buy a ticket for the Gas Works bar where you can enjoy some premier league class hospitality. 35 screens showing Sky sports, a free pint of lager to enjoy whilst you exercise your opportunity to purchase from the American diner menu. why wouldn't you do it?

 

Brilliant!!!!

[Roo1976]

If I didn’t think emoji’s were **** I’d do a smiley face at this. I genuinely thought the club had made their only decent fan centric move in the past decade when I read the start of that letter.. redeveloping part of the space around the ground for a season ticket holder only social space.. perfect.. only to find I was expected to pay for it on top of my season ticket.

 

How do they expect fans to stay onside when the thing is such a shameless money making corporate enterprise run by a non existent Far Eastern owner.. place is like a bloody shopping centre.

 

Roll on the Championship (which, based on the opening day, may be a little closer than some may want to believe). Premier League finished as a spectacle some years ago. Moan over, I’d better get back to Instasomething to see what Paul Pogba has posted about his favourite place to eat out.. Because that’s what’s interesting about football now right?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Nice viewpoint.....too much money for players at clubs like ours to really appreciate the home fan too much,and corperate fans well its just a tax deduction and a day out surley?

[Faz]

Nice viewpoint.....too much money for players at clubs like ours to really appreciate the home fan too much,and corperate fans well its just a tax deduction and a day out surley?

 

Apparently the fanzone was pretty popular last week.

[Nordic Saint]

The club obviously doesn't understand how persuasion works.

 

My advice is rather than ring around and highlight the low attendance they should be flooding us with "almost sold out" messages on social media

 

That approach would sell more tickets. People follow others

 

Especially as it is almost sold out, in spite of the high prices. The only blocks which are not listed as either sold our or nearly sold out are in the corners of the Northam. I guess fans don't want to sit near the away fans.

[JRM]

There are loads of tickets left, probably couple of thousand, quite rightly at £65 quid a go for a lunchtime televised game a lot of fans are voting with their feet.

 

Yesterdays win will help shift a few more tickets and weather forecast is good so short notice sales will be there but for me there's no way I'd pay such rip off prices.

[Faz]

There are loads of tickets left, probably couple of thousand, quite rightly at £65 quid a go for a lunchtime televised game a lot of fans are voting with their feet.

 

Yesterdays win will help shift a few more tickets and weather forecast is good so short notice sales will be there but for me there's no way I'd pay such rip off prices.

 

There’s fewer than a thousand tickets left. It will be a sell out, or close to it.

[ericb]

Having seen some of the pictures of the absolute states that got the Saints Travel buses to Brighton yesterday on social media i'm hoping the club beg them not to attend instead.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Having seen some of the pictures of the absolute states that got the Saints Travel buses to Brighton yesterday on social media i'm hoping the club beg them not to attend instead.

 

[John D]

Please elaborate, what was wrong with them?

Thanks

[Heisenberg]

Having seen some of the pictures of the absolute states that got the Saints Travel buses to Brighton yesterday on social media i'm hoping the club beg them not to attend instead.

 

OH no not fans enjoying themselves and drinking a few beers? Please no!!

 

Don't forget to text ‘SFCReport’ to 60060 with a description and location

 

Get these clowns banned