Bitter taste in my mouth

[FMBlade1]

1. People can refuse to buy. But, bigger programme page wise and I don't believe printing costs would have remained the same for fifteen years. Daft argument.

2. Same again. Don't buy overpriced poor quality products in the ground. Many don't. When did your local last hold prices for a year without any increase whatsoever.

3. What's the profit margin? Gave Adidas increased prices to us? Another poster says the shirts are improved.

4. Membership scheme is a shambles. Who is blaming Palace fans? Have the club said this?
How many times have you phoned the ticket office and asked for a manager? It must be more than once as you say they are "never" available. Mind saying what the problem was?

A comparison with Bayern Munich? Why not post ALL the ticket prices for their games and then compare all of ours, not just the cheapest?

The club has built the attending fan base on reasonable pricing. (For some years, 2?, kids ST's were free) Comparisons show it's cheaper than most.

Last week we were attracting more fans, now they're going to go elsewhere. Arse uppards argument, as they used to say.

FMBlade1 said:
"Shocking isn't it. Our club becoming more successful on the pitch is attracting more support from off the pitch. Perhaps we should go back down to League 1 with 14,000 attendances where the 'true' Blades are"

I don't remember you complaining when the club was reportedly spunking money on Ched Evans wages.

1. Many will refuse to buy, you're absolutely right. So it makes me question what if any profit will be made on the back of this, and there is even a risk of making a loss. The programs are bigger and the quality improved, though does that make it worth an extra 50p? Printing costs? They are minute when you are bulk buying. Daft argument.

2. I don't buy overpriced stuff in the ground. Doesn't mean you should/have to charge it. If they didn't maybe more will buy it. As another poster has rightly said these increases were from a Rod Steward concert so we shall see. Wetherspoons have managed to run a successful business model through reasonable pricing without significant increases. We have more revenue this year through TV deals and sponsorship, why should fans have to pay more? If we were still in the championship/league one scraping for every penny I'd understand it, but not now.

3. Its another (interesting) discussion, but I question why shirts for fans need to be made with the same slick aerodynamic material that the players use. I don't know the margins, though clearly the pricing is doing damage as seen by the increase of fake shirts. Instead of the club making say (figure plucked from air) a £10 profit from shirt why not £5 profit?

4. No the club said that their policy was based on the Palace fans not selling out. An argument which has some credence that I've given on another thread, it's more a PR issue here. I have enough loyalty points so didn't have a problem, and I'll admit I haven't personally encountered problems with the ticket office though I know plenty who have with that exact reason being one of the examples. Again I'm not blaming the ticket office, they are put out on a limb.

The club has done very well in some areas as you rightly point out, as I have pointed out. Doesn't mean we're always getting it right, and it's not unreasonable to point it out. We don't know if/where the lower income fans are going to go (by that I mean kids and university students) if they'll support other teams in the region or lose interest in football altogether. If we get relegated and fall on tough times we may regret not having initiatives to keep them. As for 'traditional' lower income fans, is it too much to ask for some tickets to be available for say £25? Again it doesn't affect me but I wonder if we may lose our ethos as a working class club and turn into the prawn sandwich brigade (not literally)

As for Bayern, yes it's a bit apples and oranges, but how much money do you think our club is making/not losing out of these increases? Why should fans have to pay for it, especially after all we have been through?

You couldn't resist it could you. I said many times that Ched shouldn't have come back a second time after changing my mind. But it's likely his return paid for itself with his match winning performance against Walsall which gave us TV and match revenue from the Leicester game in the next round as well as prize money. His wages were not reported to be particularly high and was a back-up striker.

 

[Booker4]

When I read this last night, I thought the OP was OTT, then when asking a mate if we would meet tomorrow and said he was not going 70 quid for him and his misses was too much esspecially with another match next week.

It is easy for us who are fortunate enough to have got in early with season tickets (which are exceptional value) or have higher than average disposable income. Now my mate is on better than average income, but obviously 140 in two weeks is too much. This is a shame and I guess there are many priced out of the Lane, which is a shame, not sure if this is more a general football issue than a blades issue.

If the match is not a sell out the club do need to learn the lesson. 35 quid on the kop is too much for palace and how we release tickets does make it difficult for mates to go together. When we need to make it easy!

It's a football issue in this country that the ticket prices, wages, shirt prices etc. etc. are too high in my view. United, by comparison with others, are decent on the whole but that doesn't make it right that the prices are where they are especially when you consider we've had ten years of austerity and no sign of that improving either. I don't get why we can't have a wage cap per club like they have in rugby league I think but it won't happen. When the PL broke away in 1992 we all knew why it was because the PL didn't want to be hamstrung by the football league and wanted to go their own way to make more money and give less to the rest of the league. As fans, we're also dragged along with it and they know we won't change clubs and whilst ever grounds generally sell out there's no way prices will be lowered - supply and demand.

 

[FMBlade1]

You seem to be missing something.

Football fans are all given a 100% pay rise when their club is promoted to the Premier League.

This sums up everything perfectly in just a couple of sentences.

Why should we pay these increases? It makes a big difference to the fans (you know, your loyal customers who have been through **** ) and a negligible difference to the club.

 

[blade67]

There is an old saying “Be careful what you wish for”. We wished for a return to the PL and our wish was granted. Now we get everything that comes with it including higher prices and a huge clamour to see the product. If some of the things we are now experiencing get on your wick just think back to the days of haslam and peters, then make your wish again

Shiver.

But you don't need to go that far

Wier and Madkins were nearly as bad

 

[ben1987]

Logged in, read this, logging out.

That’s enough internet for one day.

 

[metalblade]

So fans are whinging about a 50p increase in the price of programmes when they have been £3 for the last 15 years apart from a few one off's.
Please do me a favour and STFU

 

[Money Bags]

You sound like someone who's just had their first business studies class. Stupid, stupid thread. Bordering on embarrassing.

 

[Bill Johnson]

You sound like someone who's just had their first business studies class. Stupid, stupid thread. Bordering on embarrassing.

Welcome to the forum.
Good post.

 

[bromtom]

1. Many will refuse to buy, you're absolutely right. So it makes me question what if any profit will be made on the back of this, and there is even a risk of making a loss. The programs are bigger and the quality improved, though does that make it worth an extra 50p? Printing costs? They are minute when you are bulk buying. Daft argument.

2. I don't buy overpriced stuff in the ground. Doesn't mean you should/have to charge it. If they didn't maybe more will buy it. As another poster has rightly said these increases were from a Rod Steward concert so we shall see. Wetherspoons have managed to run a successful business model through reasonable pricing without significant increases. We have more revenue this year through TV deals and sponsorship, why should fans have to pay more? If we were still in the championship/league one scraping for every penny I'd understand it, but not now.

3. Its another (interesting) discussion, but I question why shirts for fans need to be made with the same slick aerodynamic material that the players use. I don't know the margins, though clearly the pricing is doing damage as seen by the increase of fake shirts. Instead of the club making say (figure plucked from air) a £10 profit from shirt why not £5 profit?

4. No the club said that their policy was based on the Palace fans not selling out. An argument which has some credence that I've given on another thread, it's more a PR issue here. I have enough loyalty points so didn't have a problem, and I'll admit I haven't personally encountered problems with the ticket office though I know plenty who have with that exact reason being one of the examples. Again I'm not blaming the ticket office, they are put out on a limb.

The club has done very well in some areas as you rightly point out, as I have pointed out. Doesn't mean we're always getting it right, and it's not unreasonable to point it out. We don't know if/where the lower income fans are going to go (by that I mean kids and university students) if they'll support other teams in the region or lose interest in football altogether. If we get relegated and fall on tough times we may regret not having initiatives to keep them. As for 'traditional' lower income fans, is it too much to ask for some tickets to be available for say £25? Again it doesn't affect me but I wonder if we may lose our ethos as a working class club and turn into the prawn sandwich brigade (not literally)

As for Bayern, yes it's a bit apples and oranges, but how much money do you think our club is making/not losing out of these increases? Why should fans have to pay for it, especially after all we have been through?

You couldn't resist it could you. I said many times that Ched shouldn't have come back a second time after changing my mind. But it's likely his return paid for itself with his match winning performance against Walsall which gave us TV and match revenue from the Leicester game in the next round as well as prize money. His wages were not reported to be particularly high and was a back-up striker.

1. 50p, you get more pages and features. The features are partially done by outside artists who will need to be paid. Prices haven't gone up for 15 years. If the club can be accused of greed, you/ fans in general can be accused of being tight.

2. Comparing a concourse to a Witherspoon's is like comparing Scarlett Johansson to a CNC milling machine. Completely pointless. One is open about 25 times a year depending on cups, another is open 14 hours a day, 365 days a year. Scale purchased is completely different so prices are higher.

Also handled by a catering company so not up to the club really.

3. Shirts are the same for fans and players because that's what people who buy shirts want. If they got fruits of the loom cotton t shirts and screen printed a kit on them no-one would buy them even if they were £10 because they'd be shit.

I'd also argue that having Adidas make two copies of the kit would drive prices up, not down. Again to do with economies of scale, they can bulk manufacture just the one kit. If we had two kits, the cheap one would be a couple of quid cheaper at the most, and the expensive one would be £75 or more.

Also the posh fabric is nice to wear, which is surely a consideration when you're buying an item of clothing? No-one wants itchy 90s polyester.

4. Prices have been too high for 20 years, to complain now just seems like looking for something to moan about in the face of an overwhelmingly positive situation. Low income people and families (I count myself among them) haven't been able to afford it for ages, if it wasn't for student concessions when I was in education and early bird stuff, many more people wouldn't be able to afford it.

Football in general needs to look at prices, the club however are charging a mostly fair price (apart from the Kop which is too expensive) for Premier League football.

 

[Sean Thornton]

1. Many will refuse to buy, you're absolutely right. So it makes me question what if any profit will be made on the back of this, and there is even a risk of making a loss. The programs are bigger and the quality improved, though does that make it worth an extra 50p? Printing costs? They are minute when you are bulk buying. Daft argument.

2. I don't buy overpriced stuff in the ground. Doesn't mean you should/have to charge it. If they didn't maybe more will buy it. As another poster has rightly said these increases were from a Rod Steward concert so we shall see. Wetherspoons have managed to run a successful business model through reasonable pricing without significant increases. We have more revenue this year through TV deals and sponsorship, why should fans have to pay more? If we were still in the championship/league one scraping for every penny I'd understand it, but not now.

3. Its another (interesting) discussion, but I question why shirts for fans need to be made with the same slick aerodynamic material that the players use. I don't know the margins, though clearly the pricing is doing damage as seen by the increase of fake shirts. Instead of the club making say (figure plucked from air) a £10 profit from shirt why not £5 profit?

4. No the club said that their policy was based on the Palace fans not selling out. An argument which has some credence that I've given on another thread, it's more a PR issue here. I have enough loyalty points so didn't have a problem, and I'll admit I haven't personally encountered problems with the ticket office though I know plenty who have with that exact reason being one of the examples. Again I'm not blaming the ticket office, they are put out on a limb.

The club has done very well in some areas as you rightly point out, as I have pointed out. Doesn't mean we're always getting it right, and it's not unreasonable to point it out. We don't know if/where the lower income fans are going to go (by that I mean kids and university students) if they'll support other teams in the region or lose interest in football altogether. If we get relegated and fall on tough times we may regret not having initiatives to keep them. As for 'traditional' lower income fans, is it too much to ask for some tickets to be available for say £25? Again it doesn't affect me but I wonder if we may lose our ethos as a working class club and turn into the prawn sandwich brigade (not literally)

As for Bayern, yes it's a bit apples and oranges, but how much money do you think our club is making/not losing out of these increases? Why should fans have to pay for it, especially after all we have been through?

You couldn't resist it could you. I said many times that Ched shouldn't have come back a second time after changing my mind. But it's likely his return paid for itself with his match winning performance against Walsall which gave us TV and match revenue from the Leicester game in the next round as well as prize money. His wages were not reported to be particularly high and was a back-up striker.

Firstly, the club never "blamed" anyone.

You clearly have a breakdown of printing costs, profit margins and break even figures. Now to be the whore at a christening you're contemplating a possible loss to try and back up your nonsense. Which show the paucity of common sense in your view because those levels of expenditure mean nothing now we've got the PL money, according to you anyway.

Do you buy any magazines? Has the price gone up since 2004? If you do and it has, how do you judge whether the increase is worth it before you've seen it? Do loyal Guardian readers expect the price to be static because they've read it for twenty years? I have sympathy with fans on a tight budget with kids who expect a programme/drink etc. Adults, it's a personal choice.

Again, personal choice, the only real pressure is on parents. Shirts were expensive last year. And the year before that. Maybe despite the new found wealth, the club wants to actually make money for a change. A novel idea for a business l know. Presumably you or your employer reward your regular customers in times of plenty by cutting margins.

Regarding fans, maybe the more profitable the club the quicker we'll have a bigger capacity?

As a concession holder, I get 19 games for £286. How cheap do you want it to be for ST holders who pay up front?

Many Bayern tickets are €70 per game. All we have been through? We've not fought a war ffs. It's a lifestyle choice. Spend the money on United if you want too. Plenty have chosen not too over the years and younger fans have taken up the cudgel to replace them, in greater numbers ( not sand people ) .

Don't swerve about Ched because you changed your mind. Initially, you had no issue with it costing the club anything. I bet it cost more than an extra nine quid a season. Now he's paid for himself on the back of one game? You're all over the place.

 

[JJ Sefton]

I love the Blades with all my heart and last season was one of the best in living memory. I’ve seen two other promotions to the top flight, and last season’s could have been the most exciting I have witnessed. I have huge respect for CW and the players who achieved promotion against the odds, and this is not a gripe at them. Most of the club’s employees are good people too. But I think there’s something rotten creeping in, something that’s driving a big wedge between the club and the fans.

In general, great wealth changes people for the worst. The more money you have, the more you want to retain it and acquire more. This applies to organizations too. When they can afford it, people and companies hire professionals, lawyers and PR people, not to engage with customers, but to brush them aside and avoid criticism.

OK, some things are now dictated by the PL. But in general, United’s attitude to the fans this season has been appalling. It has been that of rich company seeking to protect its assets and increase its wealth above anything else. The season ticket early bird fiasco, moving loyal season ticket holders without speaking to them first, the blatant rip off that is the membership scheme, the Palace ticketing fiasco, making Palace a Cat A game and charging our fans on the kop more than the away fans are just a few examples. Even worse is the terse responses to emails and the corporate-speak in the official communication. It stinks.

I can’t believe McCabe is responsible for this. His regime has been characterized by fair prices and good communication with the fans. I can only imagine that his power is now limited and someone else now has the final say when it comes to pricing, PR and communication.

The facts can’t be avoided. The club is really fucking up its relationship with the fans big time. Loyalty and tradition are taking a back seat to the practice of screwing as much money as possible out of the fans.

We’re currently acting worse than Wednesday under Chansiri, and it’s leaving a bitter taste in my mouth

 

[Wards]

Can’t wait until we’re back in League One. At least I could at least understand all the moaning.

 

[FMBlade1]

1. 50p, you get more pages and features. The features are partially done by outside artists who will need to be paid. Prices haven't gone up for 15 years. If the club can be accused of greed, you/ fans in general can be accused of being tight.

2. Comparing a concourse to a Witherspoon's is like comparing Scarlett Johansson to a CNC milling machine. Completely pointless. One is open about 25 times a year depending on cups, another is open 14 hours a day, 365 days a year. Scale purchased is completely different so prices are higher.

Also handled by a catering company so not up to the club really.

3. Shirts are the same for fans and players because that's what people who buy shirts want. If they got fruits of the loom cotton t shirts and screen printed a kit on them no-one would buy them even if they were £10 because they'd be shit.

I'd also argue that having Adidas make two copies of the kit would drive prices up, not down. Again to do with economies of scale, they can bulk manufacture just the one kit. If we had two kits, the cheap one would be a couple of quid cheaper at the most, and the expensive one would be £75 or more.

Also the posh fabric is nice to wear, which is surely a consideration when you're buying an item of clothing? No-one wants itchy 90s polyester.

4. Prices have been too high for 20 years, to complain now just seems like looking for something to moan about in the face of an overwhelmingly positive situation. Low income people and families (I count myself among them) haven't been able to afford it for ages, if it wasn't for student concessions when I was in education and early bird stuff, many more people wouldn't be able to afford it.

Football in general needs to look at prices, the club however are charging a mostly fair price (apart from the Kop which is too expensive) for Premier League football.

A fair response. There's a lot to unpack, perhaps worthy of several threads on their own but to continue the discussion:

1. Yes you get more features but the customer is still paying a higher price, even if the product is better. I'll be fair and say that inflation has risen a lot since 2004 so a price increase does not seem unreasonable on the face of it http://www.in2013dollars.com/2004-GBP-in-2017 If they were being sold at a local corner shop I'd have no complaints. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

2. The whole catering thing has been a problem for years and we're yet to have the first game so I'll leave it there for now. However I'm not convinced it can't be done better/cheaper. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

3. Now you are guilty here of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum . What I'm suggesting is a 'lite' version of shirts not polyester; basically last year's shirts without the new aerodynamic materials. A lot of fans are buying rubbish cheap first from the far east now anyway. I don't think Adidas would have to make two copies of the kit. I'll admit I haven't thought about all this through in great detail but again I wonder if we are charging more than we need to. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

4. Nope. All this doesn't affect me, I'm very fortunate to be where I am. It would be nice if there were some £25 tickets available for those earning under a certain income bracket for starters.

You say 'fair price for Premier League Football' which is true, although Premier League football prices are unfair to begin with.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

The season ticket early bird fiasco.....


The facts can’t be avoided. The club is really fucking up its relationship with the fans big time. Loyalty and tradition are taking a back seat to the practice of screwing as much money as possible out of the fans.

We’re currently acting worse than Wednesday under Chansiri, and it’s leaving a bitter taste in my mouth

The fiasco where we all got tickets at stupidly reduced prices, getting us Premier League football cheaper than people pay in League1? Do you mean that screwing???
Ffs

 

[ThatJa]

I remember when we played Fulham in the cup away in the replay, and they were bottom of the Premier League at the time and we were obviously in League One. At Fulham a hot dog cost almost £6 in 2014... and your complaining about our prices. I would go as far as saying even with our increased prices we'll still be the cheapest for all the categories mentioned in the PL this season.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Sorted for you.

“You might be a while though because I need to nip home and fetch my bank card with all this fancy ‘cashless’ malarkey”.

 

[bromtom]

A fair response. There's a lot to unpack, perhaps worthy of several threads on their own but to continue the discussion:

1. Yes you get more features but the customer is still paying a higher price, even if the product is better. I'll be fair and say that inflation has risen a lot since 2004 so a price increase does not seem unreasonable on the face of it http://www.in2013dollars.com/2004-GBP-in-2017 If they were being sold at a local corner shop I'd have no complaints. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

2. The whole catering thing has been a problem for years and we're yet to have the first game so I'll leave it there for now. However I'm not convinced it can't be done better/cheaper. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

3. Now you are guilty here of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum . What I'm suggesting is a 'lite' version of shirts not polyester; basically last year's shirts without the new aerodynamic materials. A lot of fans are buying rubbish cheap first from the far east now anyway. I don't think Adidas would have to make two copies of the kit. I'll admit I haven't thought about all this through in great detail but again I wonder if we are charging more than we need to. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

4. Nope. All this doesn't affect me, I'm very fortunate to be where I am. It would be nice if there were some £25 tickets available for those earning under a certain income bracket for starters.

You say 'fair price for Premier League Football' which is true, although Premier League football prices are unfair to begin with.

Have a look at the Radio Times, our programme pales into insignificance compared to that. Hideous price rises. £3.50 is a good price for a 100 page nicely made magazine.

Last year's shirts had the aerodynamic material. The red stripes are exactly the same material on this and last.

There is more of it this season, the white stripes are honeycomb, and it's on the back too, so is more expensive.

I don't know how you can not make two copies of the shirt and have two versions available? You've obviously not thought about it.

Also, we want our club (a business) to succeed, so they charge us £1 more over a programme and pint, if they didn't and let the money trickle out if the coffers the club loses thousands of pounds it doesn't need to, which could go towards the team. Crap business. A single person doesn't really miss £1, the club would miss a potential £400k or something over a season.

4 is just what I said.

 

[Sean Thornton]

A fair response. There's a lot to unpack, perhaps worthy of several threads on their own but to continue the discussion:

1. Yes you get more features but the customer is still paying a higher price, even if the product is better. I'll be fair and say that inflation has risen a lot since 2004 so a price increase does not seem unreasonable on the face of it http://www.in2013dollars.com/2004-GBP-in-2017 If they were being sold at a local corner shop I'd have no complaints. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

2. The whole catering thing has been a problem for years and we're yet to have the first game so I'll leave it there for now. However I'm not convinced it can't be done better/cheaper. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

3. Now you are guilty here of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum . What I'm suggesting is a 'lite' version of shirts not polyester; basically last year's shirts without the new aerodynamic materials. A lot of fans are buying rubbish cheap first from the far east now anyway. I don't think Adidas would have to make two copies of the kit. I'll admit I haven't thought about all this through in great detail but again I wonder if we are charging more than we need to. But as I said we are in the PL now so any loss recovered/profit made will be absolutely negligible in the club's overall finances as not to make a significant difference, so why charge more?

4. Nope. All this doesn't affect me, I'm very fortunate to be where I am. It would be nice if there were some £25 tickets available for those earning under a certain income bracket for starters.

You say 'fair price for Premier League Football' which is true, although Premier League football prices are unfair to begin with.

Good to see you'll only spend your shilling at places that are loss making. Very altruistic.

Bit of a flaw in your "lite" shirt plan. For many, if you aren't getting something authentic you won't buy. For those not bothered, the club would have to sell at competitive prices to the fakes. Possibly creating a loss making situation ( which won't matter according to your peanuts/millions scenario). I can see the owners looking at the budgets and getting the CEO and FD in to explain the fuckwittery behind it all, before giving them the double bubble and appointing several of the caterers bar staff to put things right.

 

[FMBlade1]

Firstly, the club never "blamed" anyone.

You clearly have a breakdown of printing costs, profit margins and break even figures. Now to be the whore at a christening you're contemplating a possible loss to try and back up your nonsense. Which show the paucity of common sense in your view because those levels of expenditure mean nothing now we've got the PL money, according to you anyway.

Do you buy any magazines? Has the price gone up since 2004? If you do and it has, how do you judge whether the increase is worth it before you've seen it? Do loyal Guardian readers expect the price to be static because they've read it for twenty years? I have sympathy with fans on a tight budget with kids who expect a programme/drink etc. Adults, it's a personal choice.

Again, personal choice, the only real pressure is on parents. Shirts were expensive last year. And the year before that. Maybe despite the new found wealth, the club wants to actually make money for a change. A novel idea for a business l know. Presumably you or your employer reward your regular customers in times of plenty by cutting margins.

Regarding fans, maybe the more profitable the club the quicker we'll have a bigger capacity?

As a concession holder, I get 19 games for £286. How cheap do you want it to be for ST holders who pay up front?

Many Bayern tickets are €70 per game. All we have been through? We've not fought a war ffs. It's a lifestyle choice. Spend the money on United if you want too. Plenty have chosen not too over the years and younger fans have taken up the cudgel to replace them, in greater numbers ( not sand people ) .

Don't swerve about Ched because you changed your mind. Initially, you had no issue with it costing the club anything. I bet it cost more than an extra nine quid a season. Now he's paid for himself on the back of one game? You're all over the place.

Firstly I never used the word 'blamed'.

I doubt whether these price increases will lead to significant increase in profit. Even if they do, they will be negligible in comparison to the other/overall sources of income. So I wonder whether we need to have these increases. That's all.

(As for Ched, well let's see. Presuming we would have got knocked out against Walsall if not for his performance (I do) we wouldn't have got:

1. TV revenue for the Leicester game
2. Match day revenue for the Leicester game

His transfer fee was rumored to be 250k. I would guess that most of that would have been paid off by the above, though I can't prove it. I'm not saying his return was a success or should have happened by any means. )

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

My 'line' is there has been needless greed from the club over ticket prices and the membership scheme given the club's income.
We didn't need to squeeze even more money out of supporters, it was just unnecessary and counter-productive.

So why continue to mention that it’s affected the numbers attending or as you’ve now shifted to, struggling to sell out?
Hardly heard from you most of the year and then as soon as we have some contentious issues; problems with the new ticketing system, incorrect rumours about a progressive move to cashless service points etc and out you come from under your rock with multiple posts on consecutive days.
I don’t doubt you are a Sheffield United fan, I just don’t understand why your a Sheffield United fan.

 

[FMBlade1]

Good to see you'll only spend your shilling at places that are loss making. Very altruistic.

Bit of a flaw in your "lite" shirt plan. For many, if you aren't getting something authentic you won't buy. For those not bothered, the club would have to sell at competitive prices to the fakes. Possibly creating a loss making situation ( which won't matter according to your peanuts/millions scenario). I can see the owners looking at the budgets and getting the CEO and FD in to explain the fuckwittery behind it all, before giving them the double bubble and appointing several of the caterers bar staff to put things right.

Essentially the theory I'm going off links to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

Now I'm not saying it could/would work perfectly here, how could I without having access to all the figures and facts. And yes reducing prices/not increasing them doesn't exactly lead to other sales but creates a more family/goodwill vibe without damaging the business.

Bayern could have charged a lot more for those cheap tickets but they don't.

Do we have to charge more? That's all I'm asking.

(fair points on the shirt, its a PL wide issue)

 

[Sean Thornton]

Firstly I never used the word 'blamed'.

I doubt whether these price increases will lead to significant increase in profit. Even if they do, they will be negligible in comparison to the other/overall sources of income. So I wonder whether we need to have these increases. That's all.

(As for Ched, well let's see. Presuming we would have got knocked out against Walsall if not for his performance (I do) we wouldn't have got:

1. TV revenue for the Leicester game
2. Match day revenue for the Leicester game

His transfer fee was rumored to be 250k. I would guess that most of that would have been paid off by the above, though I can't prove it. I'm not saying his return was a success or should have happened by any means. )

You're right. You didn't. You said they were putting it on the Palace fans for not selling out. Whatever that means. Presumably, and not unreasonably, when the fixtures came out and before Sky got involved that was when they formulated their initial idea.

Fans want to see PL funds spent on fees, wages and ground improvements. As much as possible. Additional income should be ignored? Bulk printing is cheap? Why don't we give programmes away? It's pennies it seems.

You're deliberately moving the goalposts over Evans. It's not about whether you're hoping he paid for himself, it's about the fact that you had no issue with the spending of money on a gamble which could have cost us money when we needed it. Don't tell me catering prices didn't go up that year.

 

[Niceguyeddie]

Bit embarrassing this thread

 

[Sheffsteel]

The “little Sheffielder attitude” of some of our fans is one of the reasons we are being held back.
It’s the reason why neither Sheffield club don’t receive much interest regards investors.
Investors think “why invest when Sheffield folk prefer cheapness over quality”, there’s nothing in it for them.
People blame the owners for a lack of ambition but it’s a 2 way partnership, what about ambition from the fans?

When ever I see trendy wine bars and cafes being built at Kelham Island I’ve met so many Sheffelders saying it’s a waste of time
Because the drinks are too expensive. They say they’d rather have a traditional basic pub and pay less.
In fact some say to me that as long as the beer is cheap they aren’t bothered about the fancy interior decor...
......the price is the main priority....cheaper the better.

 

[BigBed]

The “little Sheffielder attitude” of some of our fans is one of the reasons we are being held back.
It’s the reason why neither Sheffield club don’t have much interest regards investors.
Investors think “why invest when Sheffield folk prefer cheapness over quality”, there’s nothing in it for them.
People blame the owners for a lack of ambition but it’s a 2 way partnership, what about ambition from the fans?

When ever I see trendy wine bars and cafes being built at Kelham Island I’ve met so many Sheffelders saying it’s a waste of time
Because the drinks are too expensive. They say they’d rather have a traditional basic pub and pay less.
In fact some say to me that as long as the beer is cheap they aren’t bothered about the fancy interior decor...
......the price is the main priority....cheaper the better.

Pit mentality so I'm told?

 

[FMBlade1]

The “little Sheffielder attitude” of some of our fans is one of the reasons we are being held back.
It’s the reason why neither Sheffield club don’t receive much interest regards investors.
Investors think “why invest when Sheffield folk prefer cheapness over quality”, there’s nothing in it for them.
People blame the owners for a lack of ambition but it’s a 2 way partnership, what about ambition from the fans?

When ever I see trendy wine bars and cafes being built at Kelham Island I’ve met so many Sheffelders saying it’s a waste of time
Because the drinks are too expensive. They say they’d rather have a traditional basic pub and pay less.
In fact some say to me that as long as the beer is cheap they aren’t bothered about the fancy interior decor...
......the price is the main priority....cheaper the better.

Let's imagine you are on a budget but you take your family out for Sunday lunch each week as tradition.

Then one week they increase the prices and tell you 'but the quality has increased'.

Would/could you stay and pay for that increase? If you decided not to and 1. Go to a different cheaper restaurant or 2. Not go out to restaurants at all, how would you feel if someone were to tell you that you are lacking ambition and are being tight?

 

[Tom Bott]

It was never stated that this could be the only opportunity to buy season tickets.

We had average attendance of 26000 last year and capacity is 30000 as we approached promotion it should have been obvious that demand might exceed supply.

If it makes you feel better to blame the club, go for it.

 

[Tom Bott]

We have £100m more income this season than any in our history. Trying to eek even more out of fans, many of whom have watched the club endure six seasons in third division, was simply greed.

Though many say we should now redevelop the ground to increase capacity, where will this funding come from ?

 

[Tom Bott]

Seems that some can only hope for relegation.

#sadstateofaffairs.

 

[FMBlade1]

You're right. You didn't. You said they were putting it on the Palace fans for not selling out. Whatever that means. Presumably, and not unreasonably, when the fixtures came out and before Sky got involved that was when they formulated their initial idea.

Fans want to see PL funds spent on fees, wages and ground improvements. As much as possible. Additional income should be ignored? Bulk printing is cheap? Why don't we give programmes away? It's pennies it seems.

You're deliberately moving the goalposts over Evans. It's not about whether you're hoping he paid for himself, it's about the fact that you had no issue with the spending of money on a gamble which could have cost us money when we needed it. Don't tell me catering prices didn't go up that year.

I meant that they attributed the change of policy due to Crystal Palace not selling out, rather than acknowledging that their 500 point policy inconvenienced Blades fans significantly. Not a major issue, just a bit of poor PR.

Actually there is an argument for just giving programs away now (not that I subscribe to it yet). There are so many ads in them anyway which the various sponsors pay for. As I said in another post:

'Let's be generous and say 10,000 are sold a game (assuming none stop buying them), that's around £90,000 extra a season, chicken feed for the club. That's £9 extra season per fan, some of whom will be lucky to be paid that per hour in difficult economic times.'

(Every signing is a gamble, except Ronaldo, Messi etc. I've had an issue with us spending whatever we have on Mousett this season. I said I wasn't keen on Evans returning the second time so I don't know what your point is? My argument isn't valid because I didn't complain enough about Ched Evans returning?)