Stadium Upgrades - Block 31 Kingsland..

[Lord Duckhunter]

31 minutes ago, JRM said:

They definitely need to clarify that, so many people share tickets or take friends and family along on spares. 

Electronic itself will be ok, you'll be able to send pdf to a mate to show on their phone or print off, the problem will be if they check ID and don't let you in or if they limit tickets to the Saints app, but surely that's just optional as some people don't have / want a smart phone so print at home needs to remain as an option. 

To be fair to the club they don’t really know what is what yet. Reopening with full capacity could depend on them ensuring they conclusively know who is in the ground. Logistically, it’ll be costly and a bit of a nightmare, so I doubt they’d do it voluntarily. They may however, have no choice. 

[positivepete]

1 hour ago, angelman said:

Are tickets all moving to electronic now, or still with cards? I'm pretty much in the same boat as you and won't bother renewing my two if it is electronic only. 

Yes, it depends on what their definition of electronic is.  I suspect it could be an app, especially if they have to hold your vaccination record as well.

 

a quote from The Times this morning ... “Some Premier League clubs are already in talks about combining such a digital passport with electronic tickets, which would have the added benefit of eliminating ticket touts.”

[John D]

Liverpool have a scheme whereby each season ticket holder can nominate 2 or 3 people to share their ticket with.  These people can download the ticket to their own device. 

Sounds like a good idea to me. Although it may not work for saints as there is no waiting list to get a season ticket so could lead to a drop in sales. 

[nta786]

1 hour ago, positivepete said:

Yes, it depends on what their definition of electronic is.  I suspect it could be an app, especially if they have to hold your vaccination record as well.

 

a quote from The Times this morning ... “Some Premier League clubs are already in talks about combining such a digital passport with electronic tickets, which would have the added benefit of eliminating ticket touts.”

Would we have an issue with touts? 

We don't have a waiting list for season tickets, and reality is anyone who wants a ticket can get one for most games, including the ones against the Big 6 (for which I think only a previous purchase is a pre-requisite) which are the only games that ever sell out anyway to be honest [but even then it's not instantaneously]

Edited 25 May, 2021 by nta786
Correction for MLG

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, nta786 said:

Would we have an issue with touts? 

We don't have a waiting list for season tickets, and reality is anyone who wants a ticket can get one for any game, including the ones against the Big 6 (for which I think only a previous purchase is a pre-requisite) which are the only games that ever sell out anyway to be honest

That isn't true. Multiple games sellout as you acknowledge and if a game sells out then your statement is incorrect unless you think supply is exactly the same as demand for them.

[nta786]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

That isn't true. Multiple games sellout as you acknowledge and if a game sells out then your statement is incorrect unless you think supply is exactly the same as demand for them.

My apologies for not using "most games"- I will edit to make it correct... 🙄

Edited 25 May, 2021 by nta786

[angelman]

3 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

To be fair to the club they don’t really know what is what yet. Reopening with full capacity could depend on them ensuring they conclusively know who is in the ground. Logistically, it’ll be costly and a bit of a nightmare, so I doubt they’d do it voluntarily. They may however, have no choice. 

Well they really should know what's what before selling renewed STs. 

[SaintsLoyal]

Brighton offering a share scheme https://tickets.brightonandhovealbion.com/screenloader.aspx?type=include&page=custom/documents/html/seasonticketsharing.html

[Lord Duckhunter]

12 hours ago, angelman said:

Well they really should know what's what before selling renewed STs. 

The Government might not tell them the full criteria for full capacity until 2 weeks before the start of the season. This will leave them a n incredibly short window to start selling ST’s. No doubt you’d be one of the first moaning about that timescale. 

[beatlesaint]

8 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

The Government might not tell them the full criteria for full capacity until 2 weeks before the start of the season. This will leave them a n incredibly short window to start selling ST’s. No doubt you’d be one of the first moaning about that timescale. 

Yeah you can’t really hammer the club for this one, they are totally in the hands of the government and given the absolute balls up they have just made with the Indian variant affected areas literally anything could happen and the club just have to deal with it. 

[Whitey Grandad]

Yep. We live in uncertain times but we're trying to follow rules that haven't been drawn up yet.

[JRM]

13 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Brighton offering a share scheme https://tickets.brightonandhovealbion.com/screenloader.aspx?type=include&page=custom/documents/html/seasonticketsharing.html

Sounds ridiculously over complicated and unnecessary. Some one who owns a couple of season tickets should be free to bring a mate along with them, none of this payment to upgrade a membership and reassign a ticket (limited to one other nonsense) 

Don't like the direction this is going in. 

[Alan Sugarfree]

54 minutes ago, JRM said:

Sounds ridiculously over complicated and unnecessary. Some one who owns a couple of season tickets should be free to bring a mate along with them, none of this payment to upgrade a membership and reassign a ticket (limited to one other nonsense) 

Don't like the direction this is going in. 

My thoughts exactly, clubs will just see this as another opportunity to rinse more money out of people. I certainly hope Saints don’t do this.

if I have to do this with my two season tickets we share in my household/immediate family I’ll not be renewing.

[Steve D]

I have spent the last 10 years sat with family in block 31 so rather disappointed to be told if I want to remain there I need to find another £1,000 plus for my 4 tickets.  I wrote to the club and thought I had received a personalised response until SaintH posted the reply he received, word for word identical to mine . What I find particularly annoying is being referred to as a ‘valued season ticket holder’ when I’m clearly not valued and the suggestion that a bit of padding will offer an improved experience. Clearly those behind these changes have no understanding that real fans would happily go without any seat if the football was half decent.

 

[miserableoldgit]

22 minutes ago, Steve D said:

I have spent the last 10 years sat with family in block 31 so rather disappointed to be told if I want to remain there I need to find another £1,000 plus for my 4 tickets.  I wrote to the club and thought I had received a personalised response until SaintH posted the reply he received, word for word identical to mine . What I find particularly annoying is being referred to as a ‘valued season ticket holder’ when I’m clearly not valued and the suggestion that a bit of padding will offer an improved experience. Clearly those behind these changes have no understanding that real fans would happily go without any seat if the football was half decent.

 

My feelings exactly. When they want the Super League stopped, the fans are great, but when it boils down to it we do seem expendable.

[Lord Duckhunter]

54 minutes ago, Alan Sugarfree said:

My thoughts exactly, clubs will just see this as another opportunity to rinse more money out of people. I certainly hope Saints don’t do this.

if I have to do this with my two season tickets we share in my household/immediate family I’ll not be renewing.

There’s only really 2 reasons to go down this route.
 

1) The law/guidelines will dictate that the club know exactly who is in the ground and where they are sat. Therefore it’s easier to go about it this way than to be denying people entry on the day.

2) They want to put a stop to people sharing tickets as ultimately they believe this will increase revenue. 
 

Whilst I can see 2 being attractive in the fair allocation of away tickets, really don’t see what the club will gain from doing it at home games. Not at a club our size anyway. When I went up to Liverpool just before lockdown my mate went to collect his home ticket before the game. The bloke he got it off “controls” a dozen or so Season tickets which he sells on a game by game basis. Clearly it’s an issue with bigger clubs but anyone trying to sell a dozen of our season tickets on a game by game basis, will end up skint. 

[Grumpy Oldish Woman]

1 hour ago, Steve D said:

I have spent the last 10 years sat with family in block 31 so rather disappointed to be told if I want to remain there I need to find another £1,000 plus for my 4 tickets.  I wrote to the club and thought I had received a personalised response until SaintH posted the reply he received, word for word identical to mine . What I find particularly annoying is being referred to as a ‘valued season ticket holder’ when I’m clearly not valued and the suggestion that a bit of padding will offer an improved experience. Clearly those behind these changes have no understanding that real fans would happily go without any seat if the football was half decent.

 

Lucky you for getting a reply, we wrote & haven't heard anything back.  To add insult to injury we got the email yesterday saying how wonderful it is that season ticket prices have been frozen for the 6th season.  The family have had season tickets for almost 60 years but seems that this loyalty to the club is not appreciated.

What we're wondering is that if too many fans want to move to the blocks 30 & 32 - as promised - where are they moving those fans too?

re sharing season tickets - we (and friends) share tickets around the family & if this is stopped then they will lose revenue - my husband has already said that he's not paying £1000 & would prefer to sit at home in the warm, on a comfy settee, with a cup of tea and watch every game of the season for about £300.

They're forever saying they listen to what the fans want - this will prove if that is true or not. 

[rooney]

Rumour has it that they are to bring out safe standing in the Northam if this is successful, but with padded barriers to lean on but with a 5% discount compared to the Kingsland proposals.😉

[angelman]

4 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

2) They want to put a stop to people sharing tickets as ultimately they believe this will increase revenue. 
 

Whilst I can see 2 being attractive in the fair allocation of away tickets, really don’t see what the club will gain from doing it at home games. Not at a club our size anyway. When I went up to Liverpool just before lockdown my mate went to collect his home ticket before the game. The bloke he got it off “controls” a dozen or so Season tickets which he sells on a game by game basis. Clearly it’s an issue with bigger clubs but anyone trying to sell a dozen of our season tickets on a game by game basis, will end up skint. 

 

Increase revenue?? Think it will do exactly the opposite. 

 

I can go to nearly al the games, my son can't. I don't want to go alone and sit without family or friend, so instead, I will let my STs go. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

44 minutes ago, angelman said:

 

Increase revenue?? Think it will do exactly the opposite. 

 

 

I said they must think that, not me. Why else would they do it?

[angelman]

26 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I said they must think that, not me. Why else would they do it?

Maybe it's just a touch of megalomania and desire for control. 

[ecuk268]

2 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I said they must think that, not me. Why else would they do it?

I can just imagine the queues at the turnstiles a few minutes before kick-off on a dark rainy night and having to show photo ID.

Are the stewards really going to bother looking at it?

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, angelman said:

 

Increase revenue?? Think it will do exactly the opposite. 

 

I can go to nearly al the games, my son can't. I don't want to go alone and sit without family or friend, so instead, I will let my STs go. 

 

16 minutes ago, ecuk268 said:

I can just imagine the queues at the turnstiles a few minutes before kick-off on a dark rainy night and having to show photo ID.

Are the stewards really going to bother looking at it?

I spoke to a young lady in the ticket office today and asked whether it would be downloaded tickets or the smart cards for next season. From what I could gather the outcome depends on the government relaxation of controls but the intention is to send out cards at some stage in the season.

[Saint Garrett]

They put in a whole new system last season which is yet to be used supposedly 

Edited 26 May, 2021 by Saint Garrett

[Whitey Grandad]

I received an answer to my email today.

Hi <cantankerous_old_git>,<long_suffering_wife>

 Many thanks for your email.

 I understand how you are feeling about the changes to block 31, and please be assured that we are feeding this information back to the Management team and our Sales Director Anthony Cole-Johnson.

To provide a little more clarity around the changes and indeed pricing - Over several seasons been proud to freeze the price of general admission season tickets, whilst extending concessional rates up to 25-year-olds, and to all those fans aged over 65 where previously they were not offered. We have reduced for many the cost of coming to football at St Mary’s over the years, and have tried to be more accessible than ever, hence the £399 season ticket in the Chapel, and a £19 ticket seasonally in the Family Stand for U11s.

 The introduction of the new Kingsland Plus as a  season ticket is designed to offer an enhanced general admission experience for those wishing to choose something different from our usual hospitality. Indeed, we have priced it fairly to similar seats at other Premier League clubs. 

 Your seat in block 31 will be reserved for you. To confirm the adult renewing is £999, with concessions priced at £929. If however you feel, after reflection, this isn’t for you I can arrange for a member of the ticket office to contact you and look at alternative options in Blocks 30 and 32 where the adult renewal price is £737 and £660 for concessions. I appreciate from reading your email that you sit within a small group and we can with our ticket office to accommodate where possible, should you choose to look at alternative options.

 Additionally, we have just released renewal information for all block which can be seen here: https://www.southamptonfc.com/season-tickets

 I understand that you are disappointed, and to be clear if I can be of any assistance or facilitate a call with our ticket office please do not hesitate to let me know.

 Kind regards,

Jim

 Jim Gay

Supporter Services Manager

Southampton FC

T: 02380 711980

[positivepete]

12 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I received an answer to my email today.

Hi <cantankerous_old_git>,<long_suffering_wife>

 Many thanks for your email.

 I understand how you are feeling about the changes to block 31, and please be assured that we are feeding this information back to the Management team and our Sales Director Anthony Cole-Johnson.

To provide a little more clarity around the changes and indeed pricing - Over several seasons been proud to freeze the price of general admission season tickets, whilst extending concessional rates up to 25-year-olds, and to all those fans aged over 65 where previously they were not offered. We have reduced for many the cost of coming to football at St Mary’s over the years, and have tried to be more accessible than ever, hence the £399 season ticket in the Chapel, and a £19 ticket seasonally in the Family Stand for U11s.

 The introduction of the new Kingsland Plus as a  season ticket is designed to offer an enhanced general admission experience for those wishing to choose something different from our usual hospitality. Indeed, we have priced it fairly to similar seats at other Premier League clubs. 

 Your seat in block 31 will be reserved for you. To confirm the adult renewing is £999, with concessions priced at £929. If however you feel, after reflection, this isn’t for you I can arrange for a member of the ticket office to contact you and look at alternative options in Blocks 30 and 32 where the adult renewal price is £737 and £660 for concessions. I appreciate from reading your email that you sit within a small group and we can with our ticket office to accommodate where possible, should you choose to look at alternative options.

 Additionally, we have just released renewal information for all block which can be seen here: https://www.southamptonfc.com/season-tickets

 I understand that you are disappointed, and to be clear if I can be of any assistance or facilitate a call with our ticket office please do not hesitate to let me know.

 Kind regards,

Jim

 Jim Gay

Supporter Services Manager

Southampton FC

T: 02380 711980

Not much sympathy there really.  A polite take it or leave it.

[beatlesaint]

2 hours ago, positivepete said:

Not much sympathy there really.  A polite take it or leave it.

To be fair even if he thinks it he cant come out and say this Cole-Johnson bloke is a right tool and nobody thinks this is a good idea except him can he ?

[Whitey Grandad]

7 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

To be fair even if he thinks it he cant come out and say this Cole-Johnson bloke is a right tool and nobody thinks this is a good idea except him can he ?

This fellow Jim Gay sounds reasonable. I might just give him a call and get some more background to all this.

[Saint_lambden]

Cole-Johnson used to work for Sky, so he's used to ripping off football fans in fairness. 

[SaintsLoyal]

Well, I think this is a complete disaster and the fact Anthony Cole-Johnson hasn’t responded himself is very poor and bad management. It’s critical that the MD and ACJ reads the complaints from fans. Some of these have had STs in Block 31 since St Marys Stadium was built in 2001. There shouldn’t be any increases in tickets, anywhere in the stadium. When the club faces losing hundreds/thousands of ticket sales !

There is no 'big deal' about padded seats as they’re standard at other grounds like Brighton for example. The cost of tickets these days really blows out any ‘experience’ from them. Saints fans are only interested in seeing the club win home games. Which is something that has been lacking in recent seasons. Fans also don’t want to see any corporate gentrifying of other parts of the ground. The Itchen central stand should only be used.  

The gentrifying of the gasworks bar has been a massive flop compared to what was previously in place.

I can see someone in an office at St Marys frantically trying to look at ways to fleece fans of more money and they may well even be getting a bonus for it. Their job roles have always been ‘sales…sales….more sales’ and will highlighted big and bold on their CV and especially LInkedIn. Instead they should be looking to fill those empty hospitality boxes in the Itchen stand.  

This is Southampton not London, we simply don’t have the disposable income.

 

Edited 27 May, 2021 by SaintsLoyal

[miserableoldgit]

26 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

This fellow Jim Gay sounds reasonable. I might just give him a call and get some more background to all this.

I would. I have spoken to him and he is very reasonable and helpful.

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Well, I think this is a complete disaster and the fact Anthony Cole-Johnson hasn’t responded himself is very poor and bad management. It’s critical that the MD and ACJ reads the complaints from fans. Some of these have had STs in Block 31 since St Marys Stadium was built in 2001. There shouldn’t be any increases in tickets, anywhere in the stadium. When the club faces losing hundreds/thousands of ticket sales !

There is no 'big deal' about padded seats as they’re standard at other grounds like Brighton for example. The cost of tickets these days really blows out any ‘experience’ from them. Saints fans are only interested in seeing the club win home games. Which is something that has been lacking in recent seasons. Fans also don’t want to see any corporate gentrifying of other parts of the ground. The Itchen central stand should only be used.  

The Gasworks has been a massive flop compared to what was previously in place. This is Southampton not London, we simply don’t have the disposable income.

I can see someone in an office at St Marys frantically trying to look for ways to fleece fans of more money. They may well even be getting a bonus for it. Their job roles have always been ‘sales…sales….more sales’. They should be looking to fill those empty seats in hospitality in the Itchen stand.  

 

The quickest way to save money would be getting rid of Mr. Anthony Cole-Johnson.

[Turkish]

27 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

The quickest way to save money would be getting rid of Mr. Anthony Cole-Johnson.

He’s a grammar school educated guy with a double barrel surname and a masters from the London school of economics. He’s got an impressive CV of short term stays at L’Oreal, Sky and Coca Cola. If anyone knows how to give the fans what they want it’s him. 

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

He’s got an impressive CV of short term stays at L’Oreal, Sky and Coca Cola. If anyone knows how to give the fans what they want it’s him. 

Free samples he nicked from the office of old employers?

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Free samples he nicked from the office of old employers?

They could give them away with the tampons in the womans bogs 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

He’s a grammar school educated guy with a double barrel surname and a masters from the London school of economics. He’s got an impressive CV of short term stays at L’Oreal, Sky and Coca Cola. If anyone knows how to give the fans what they want it’s him. 

Hmm... “short term stays”. 
 

Is there a reason for that?

[Noodles34]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

He’s a grammar school educated guy with a double barrel surname and a masters from the London school of economics. He’s got an impressive CV of short term stays at L’Oreal, Sky and Coca Cola. If anyone knows how to give the fans what they want it’s him. 

Is he worth it?

[macca155]

17 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

There is no 'big deal' about padded seats....I can see someone in an office at St Marys frantically trying to look at ways to fleece fans of more money and they may well even be getting a bonus for it. Their job roles have always been ‘sales…sales….more sales’

I'm in Block 32 so somewhat relieved that we're being left alone, for the time being. £35 a game is fair enough, for nearly the best view in the house. Who needs a padded seat got plenty of my own natural padding.

If they want to improve sales, make it easier for us to buy a beer. Every game there are massive queues of people just waiting to hand over money. In the end we don't bother.

Totally botched announcement. It should be linked to a similar announcement on safe standing in the Northam/Itchen North, and Chapel. Just give the fans a choice. 

Watching a game from the new Spurs ground was probably the most comfortable I have ever been at a ground. Easy to do, so just get on with it.

[positivepete]

I have been in contact with some other regulars who have had their seats since the stadium opened.  Again, they are reluctantly going to move, in fact they even considered giving up their tickets altogether, and these are people who went to every home and away game, in the UK and overseas.

I fear the club have upset some of their most loyal “customers”, with what increasing looks like an own goal.  To be fair we have seen a few of those on the pitch in past few seasons ....

[miserableoldgit]

37 minutes ago, positivepete said:

I have been in contact with some other regulars who have had their seats since the stadium opened.  Again, they are reluctantly going to move, in fact they even considered giving up their tickets altogether, and these are people who went to every home and away game, in the UK and overseas.

I fear the club have upset some of their most loyal “customers”, with what increasing looks like an own goal.  To be fair we have seen a few of those on the pitch in past few seasons ....

Any pretence of being a "Family" club has gone up in smoke. I don't know how much of this is purely down to Tim Nice-But-Dim but it must have been approved at the highest level.

[Whitey Grandad]

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call out of the blue this morning from Mr. Anthony Cole-Johnson and we had a very pleasant and friendly forty minute chat. We covered all aspects of supporting a provincial football club and discussed the various pricing structures.

Without going into details the situation is that the club are seeking to maximise their revenue from all aspects of attendance and they view the central Kingsland as prime real estate that could be milked for higher revenue.

I reiterated my view that this extra revenue is unlikely to come from the current occupants of these seats. How many of theses will buy into a forced relocation remains to be seen and time will show which of us is right.

The situation reminds me of the old staple of movie plots. The evil oil/property/chemical company seeking the forced eviction of sitting tenants in order to exploit their prized location.

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call out of the blue this morning from Mr. Anthony Cole-Johnson and we had a very pleasant and friendly forty minute chat. We covered all aspects of supporting a provincial football club and discussed the various pricing structures.

Without going into details the situation is that the club are seeking to maximise their revenue from all aspects of attendance and they view the central Kingsland as prime real estate that could be milked for higher revenue.

I reiterated my view that this extra revenue is unlikely to come from the current occupants of these seats. How many of theses will buy into a forced relocation remains to be seen and time will show which of us is right.

The situation reminds me of the old staple of movie plots. The evil oil/property/chemical company seeking the forced eviction of sitting tenants in order to exploit their prized location.

Why can’t you go into details? 

[Badger]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call out of the blue this morning from Mr. Anthony Cole-Johnson and we had a very pleasant and friendly forty minute chat. We covered all aspects of supporting a provincial football club and discussed the various pricing structures.

Without going into details the situation is that the club are seeking to maximise their revenue [ no surprise there] from all aspects of attendance and they view the central Kingsland as prime real estate that could be milked for higher revenue [ remains to be seen].

I reiterated my view that this extra revenue is unlikely to come from the current occupants of these seats. How many of theses will buy into a forced relocation remains to be seen and time will show which of us is right.

The situation reminds me of the old staple of movie plots. The evil oil/property/chemical company seeking the forced eviction of sitting tenants in order to exploit their prized location.

If ACJ wants to milk prime real estate why not try doing it from existing corporate facilities that regularly are empty ? [corporate boxes] rather than looking for 'not so prime real estate' or 'real estate lite' from other seated areas that where the take up had been reasonably good up to now.

your analogy with the film plot and oil well is good one, but perhaps they're not looking in the right place for it, or taking into account the area, the 'well has run dry' unless he thinks we can spead our appeal to the Surrey based commuters who will prefer a drive here than to London to watch a match (occasionally, probably not every home fixture).

Still what do I know about attending matches ? only been a supporter sorry, customer for just over 50 years.

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Why can’t you go into details? 

Because that’s not my style, it’s not so much that I can’t, and I would have cleared it with him first. I would like to find out a little bit more about the background to all this. I know what the headline reasons are but I like to dig deeper.

Edited 28 May, 2021 by Whitey Grandad

[Chris cooper]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Because that’s not my style, it’s not so much that I can’t, and I would have cleared it with him first. I would like to find out a little bit more about the background to all this. I know what the headline reasons are but I like to dig deeper.

Wot about all that ‘we’re all brothers on another thread ? ‘ ...so come on BRO..we wana know wot else ACJ said to his bro whitey grandad 😂🤔

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

 I would like to find out a little bit more about the background to all this. I know what the headline reasons are but I like to dig deeper.

We’re not talking Woodward and Bernstein here, I doubt he’d give a shiny shite. If it was top secret he wouldn’t have spent 40 mins discussing all aspects of running a provincial football club with a total stranger. 

[benjii]

Like there's some sort of intrigue.... 

They reasoned they could spend, what, 30 quid a seat (?) as a one-off capital cost and then sell each one for 300 quid more multiple times. It's not complicated. 

Quite whether the market exists is another thing, and they may have over estimated the inertia of the current incumbents, but it's really not complicated to understand. 

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Chris cooper said:

Wot about all that ‘we’re all brothers on another thread ? ‘ ...so come on BRO..we wana know wot else ACJ said to his bro whitey grandad 😂🤔

🤫

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

We’re not talking Woodward and Bernstein here, I doubt he’d give a shiny shite. If it was top secret he wouldn’t have spent 40 mins discussing all aspects of running a provincial football club with a total stranger. 

I never intended to imply that any of it was secret, but perhaps the reason that he felt able to have such a discussion with me was because he felt that I was a model of discretion? He had done his research before calling and knew my background which meant that we were able to discuss the business reasons behind this plan freely and openly.

So here’s my take on it. These views are mine alone and I wouldn’t want to misrepresent anybody.

The club wants to make more money out of match day attendance and they consider that we have one of the lowest pricing structures in the Premier League. The central Kingsland is viewed as a premium location that is in high demand and they feel that it should be generating more income. That then raises the question of where that extra money is going to come from.

When you strip it down this move is nothing other than a monster price hike dressed up with a bit of padding. So who is going to buy into it? Are the present occupants going to grimace and bear it, in which case they have succeeded in their heist, or are we all going to shuffle along and see these seats gobbled up by supporters from elsewhere in the stadium? In principle these seats can only be occupied by Saints supporters but are there several hundred out there who are so desperate that they are willing to pay a thousand pounds a year to watch what is on offer?

It was clear from our chat that Mr. AC-J does understand the history and background of a club such as ours and understands my sentiments but my response was to quote Sir Humphrey Appleby and say, “Very brave”. 

The point is that if you consider that you are sitting in the best position in the stadium then any move elsewhere is a downgrade. Having moved from that position there is then no incentive to hang onto your Season Ticket from one year to the next. Friendships that have been built over decades have be trashed and if you let your ticket go you can always get always get another one some other time. Maybe.

I feel that the club have concentrated on comparing Southampton FC with other Premier League clubs and have not considered how what they offer compares with other demands on our wallets. £2000 a year for two tickets would go quite some way elsewhere. You could get a fortnight’s all-inclusive cruise for that. Maybe membership of a golf club but I wouldn’t know. I’m not old enough to play golf

I can understand the drive to get more revenue but there’s only so much juice you can squeeze out of a lemon.

[Whitey Grandad]

16 minutes ago, benjii said:

Like there's some sort of intrigue.... 

They reasoned they could spend, what, 30 quid a seat (?) as a one-off capital cost and then sell each one for 300 quid more multiple times. It's not complicated. 

Quite whether the market exists is another thing, and they may have over estimated the inertia of the current incumbents, but it's really not complicated to understand. 

No intrigue intended or implied, I apologise if I have misled anybody.

No, it’s not complicated, but what is perhaps hard to understand is why they would take such a gamble without doing diligent market research first. 

[Saint_clark]

30 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

No intrigue intended or implied, I apologise if I have misled anybody.

No, it’s not complicated, but what is perhaps hard to understand is why they would take such a gamble without doing diligent market research first. 

You're not on your own mate, this is a baffling move by the club. Maybe the season after we finished high up with Koeman this would have been stomached, but now? After covid and the last 4-5 years?