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.