matchday prices and matchday experience

[United Aren't Back.]

Non season ticket holders are really paying out 20 quid and more per game to watch mostly rubbish. The matchday experience is so restrictive, you can`t go on lane end upper tier, unless you`ve a kid you can`t go on John street, etc etc. People have to sit near people they do not want to be near, given all that I do not think it`s nice to be at the lane these days..and has not been for quite some time.

 

[Darren]

An interesting fact: in 1980, the adult price for a Kop ticket was £1.50. If the price of a kop ticket had increased only in line with inflation, the current price of a kop of ticket would be £6.30. It follows that watching United is now over three times as expensive, in real terms, as it was 32 years ago.

Put another way average weekly earnings were around £110 per week in 1980 and are around £461 now, so a Kop ticket took around 1.4% of the average weekly wage packet in 1980 and takes around 4.3% now.

 

[raul]

In World War Two the average age of the combat soldier was 26. In Vietnam, he was 19.

 

[upton blade]

with this new law regarding income from gate reciepts and 65% of that being spent on wages etc ... can you imagine the quality of player we would have if we all payed £6.30 to sit on the kop? i used to like watching my local team Frickley Athletic currently in the Evo-stick league and that would cost me £9- £11 this season. the gap between top end PL teams and the rest just gets wider and wider

 

[TAMUS]

I dont think i could buy the highs i get from seeing the Blades for 20 quid anywhere else , 20 quid may get me pissed or whatever but i doubt i would remember it in 10 years time .

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Non season ticket holders are really paying out 20 quid and more per game to watch mostly rubbish. The matchday experience is so restrictive, you can`t go on lane end upper tier, unless you`ve a kid you can`t go on John street, etc etc. People have to sit near people they do not want to be near, given all that I do not think it`s nice to be at the lane these days..and has not been for quite some time.

Don't go then

 

[Trafford]

An interesting fact: in 1980, the adult price for a Kop ticket was £1.50. If the price of a kop ticket had increased only in line with inflation, the current price of a kop of ticket would be £6.30. It follows that watching United is now over three times as expensive, in real terms, as it was 32 years ago.

Put another way average weekly earnings were around £110 per week in 1980 and are around £461 now, so a Kop ticket took around 1.4% of the average weekly wage packet in 1980 and takes around 4.3% now.

This implies that average weekly earnings have increased at exactly the same rate as inflation, which doesn't sound right? More generally, the quality of the matchday experience has improved significantly over this time, eg seating, a watertight roof and edible food, and hence I suppose the real question is whether we think the improvements are worth paying for?

 

[bartman]

Non season ticket holders are really paying out 20 quid and more per game to watch mostly rubbish. The matchday experience is so restrictive, you can`t go on lane end upper tier, unless you`ve a kid you can`t go on John street, etc etc. People have to sit near people they do not want to be near, given all that I do not think it`s nice to be at the lane these days..and has not been for quite some time.

I'm not sure if you are taking the piss with this.

You say the match day experience is restrictive because

- you can't sit the the BLUT-this has rarely been used for Blades(except in the Premier League) and you can go in the corner which is an excellant view.

- you can't go in the John Street Stand as you haven't got a kid(the clue is the the name- 'Family Stand' where familties can go with kids in a calmer environment than the Kop- You can always try the South Stand ?

The match day experience is light years better than the 80's

How would you improve the experience? Escorted to your seat ? Waitress service? warm air heating when it is cold?

Or is this another stick to beat the club with ?

 

[Racy]

Can't see whats wrong with anything at the lane only the team.

I would pay £40 a game if i knew the extra funds would be used to strengthen the team.

But we all know it would go into the Kevin Mcabe Fund presently

 

[Gibbo89]

What you mean is Kevin Mcabe wouldn't have to put quite as much of his own money into the Sheffield United fund to keep it afloat.

 

[JohnDenver]

People have to sit near people they do not want to be near

Well aye. Please don't sit near me.

 

[Billyblade]

Can't see whats wrong with anything at the lane only the team.

I would pay £40 a game if i knew the extra funds would be used to strengthen the team.

But we all know it would go into the Kevin Mcabe Fund presently

I wouldn't pay £40 a game to watch a set of overpaid prima-donnas mincing about. No way.

 

[Bath Blade]

An interesting fact: in 1980, the adult price for a Kop ticket was £1.50. If the price of a kop ticket had increased only in line with inflation, the current price of a kop of ticket would be £6.30. It follows that watching United is now over three times as expensive, in real terms, as it was 32 years ago.

Put another way average weekly earnings were around £110 per week in 1980 and are around £461 now, so a Kop ticket took around 1.4% of the average weekly wage packet in 1980 and takes around 4.3% now.

I'm not questioning your selection of years for your sample, but have you got the data for any of the years in between? I only ask because I (think I) recall paying £20+ in the 90s and was therefore wondering if the increase was gradual or has been particularly steep during a particular period.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

In World War Two the average age of the combat soldier was 26. In Vietnam, he was 19.

In 1971 the average ability of a SUFC player was good, now its wank

 

[alcoblade]

In 1971 the average ability of a SUFC player was good, now its wank

It was also wank from the mid 70's, for nearly 2 decades.

UTB

 

[Tuns]

Don't go then

I don't. Not for most of the reasons above but for many other issues to do with modern football and prices.

I did pop down on Saturday as I can't quite let go. Pathetic match, pathetic atmosphere given the circumstances a pathetic match day experience (though not entirely sure what that is) all round. I assume it isn't usually quite as bad.

The 'don't go' approach is certainly working for me and many others.

As for now being better than the 80s. I'd take the 80s matchday experience over the 2012/13 experience any time even allowing for Billy's wilderness years. We may not have had Balti pies, seats and a roof on the bogs but at least we had some passion, edge and identity then.

 

[metalblade]

The matchday experience is better now eh ? ..................... 10,000+ missing supporters since 2007 says different.

 

[Longtimesupporter]

In the mid 50s a child ticket was 1 shilling. I paid 4d each way on the bus and, if I had enough money, 4d for a programme.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

with this new law regarding income from gate reciepts and 65% of that being spent on wages etc ... can you imagine the quality of player we would have if we all payed £6.30 to sit on the kop? i used to like watching my local team Frickley Athletic currently in the Evo-stick league and that would cost me £9- £11 this season. the gap between top end PL teams and the rest just gets wider and wider

Sheffield fc is six quid at coach and horses, Dronfield.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Don't go then[/quot
I was just making a point about the cost of the tripe we watch that`s all.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

I'm not sure if you are taking the piss with this.

You say the match day experience is restrictive because

- you can't sit the the BLUT-this has rarely been used for Blades(except in the Premier League) and you can go in the corner which is an excellant view.

- you can't go in the John Street Stand as you haven't got a kid(the clue is the the name- 'Family Stand' where familties can go with kids in a calmer environment than the Kop- You can always try the South Stand ?

The match day experience is light years better than the 80's

How would you improve the experience? Escorted to your seat ? Waitress service? warm air heating when it is cold?

Or is this another stick to beat the club with ?

Lane end upper tier was unreserved seating from 2000 to 2002. You could sit where you wanted, so what changed?

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

I agree with you and I'm a season ticket holder so if I don't go I lose out.

Mind you I won't be going Boxing Day - very largely due to the fact that the trains aren't running and everywhere will be closed.

I'm driving so I can't drink more than a pint or two and driving down early (from Leeds) to park will drive me mad

 

[alcoblade]

The 'don't go' approach is certainly working for me and many others.

As for now being better than the 80s. I'd take the 80s matchday experience over the 2012/13 experience any time even allowing for Billy's wilderness years. .

So would I. But we get twice as many now as we did in the mid 80's, so you're in a minority.

You've often complained about prices, but as it seems you've fallen out of love with the whole thing, it doesn't really matter what they charge does it?

Either way, the price of the football market is out of United's control.

(We've been down this road a time or two, eh fella? )

UTB

 

[bartman]

The matchday experience is better now eh ? ..................... 10,000+ missing supporters since 2007 says different.

. 10,000 fewer fans because we have been relegated twice,not because of the reasons stated in the opening post

We are getting higher crowds now than when Harry got us promoted to the top division and the crowds now are comparible to when Warnock got us promoted(in both cases there would have been higher away support to The Lane than what we get now)?

 

[alcoblade]

. 10,000 fewer fans because we have been relegated twice,not because of the reasons stated in the opening post

We are getting higher crowds now than when Harry got us promoted to the top division and the crowds now are comparible to when Warnock got us promoted(in both cases there would have been higher away support to The Lane than what we get now)?

Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story though.



UTB

 

[bartman]

As for now being better than the 80s. I'd take the 80s matchday experience over the 2012/13 experience any time even allowing for Billy's wilderness years.

Leaking roofs,rivers of piss,fighting,people smoking....better experience ?

The atmosphere at many games in the 80's was awful and crowds dropped to under 10k on many occasions with barely any passion- better experience?

 

[alcoblade]

Leaking roofs,rivers of piss,fighting,people smoking....better experience ?

Funily enough, I'm with Tuns on that part. It was great then for me - partly because of the edge to games, partly becauseI was 25 years younger and everthing was better, socially.

But the attendances suggest it's more the age than the experience that's deteriorated.....

UTB

 

[Bert]

Leaking roofs,rivers of piss,fighting,people smoking....better experience ?

The atmosphere at many games in the 80's was awful and crowds dropped to under 10k on many occasions with barely any passion- better experience?

The atmosphere wasn't awful in the 70's, it was far better than it is today. None of that shit amplified music for starters.

 

[metalblade]

. 10,000 fewer fans because we have been relegated twice,not because of the reasons stated in the opening post

We are getting higher crowds now than when Harry got us promoted to the top division and the crowds now are comparible to when Warnock got us promoted(in both cases there would have been higher away support to The Lane than what we get now)?

Let's have a look at the matchday experience a bit closer from a casual supporters view, if he comes by public transport odds on he will be dropped off in the town centre or close to the rail station, he might need to buy his ticket or may have done so online and need to pick it up from the box office. Not too much of an inconvenience if he is in the south stand a pain in the arse if he has to walk all that way before coming back to John St, surely we should be able to buy or pick up a ticket from the stand we want to sit in rather than stand queuing at the one outlet in the pissing down rain, away fans can buy ticket on Bramall lane. League One and the ticket price is not much different from what it was to watch us in the Premiership (little wonder we have lost over 10,000 fans) unless he has fucked about getting membership for a bit of discount and registered his name address and colour of his undercrackers before even being allowed to by a ticket in a home area. The poor fool could be £30 lighter in pocket before he has even thought about food & drink or even walking through the turnstile. Should he decide to have food and drink in the ground he has the choice of crisps & chocolate bars a near twice RRP, pies that could be at best lukewarm or at worse like something from Chernobyl, beer and lager from Ipswich way with all the appeal of drinking piss and not much else all served up by student types who don't have a clue what they are doing and care even less. By the time he sits down to look at his programme he could be at least £40 lighter.
Come a few minutes to kick off the sound system blasts out the first notes of John Denver and all the puppets stand raise their arms and sing greasy chip butty ( do you realise how pathetic that is ? ) then sit down in near silence to watch a pub team on a fraction of our wage budget give us a footballing lesson.
Come the second half repeat the above paragraph, go home freezing cold, frustrated and wondering what it was all about with at least £50 less in the wallet.
Call that a matchday experience ? more like torture to me, I used to laugh at longtime Blades who went to the pub pre match and stayed there but has time goes by you see they have the right idea, Bad enough having to watch the shite the useless twats at the lane serve up but when you know any piece of talent that comes through the youth system will be sold to pay the interest on loans McCabe took out to pay for his own mistakes it becomes a bit too much. Not a chance of us getting out of the cycle of debt and deceit McCabe has got us in, hell we don't even own our ground anymore. Only the other week Coventry were saying they may have to move from the Ricoh how long before we are saying we can't afford to stay at the lane ???
I wouldn't bother replying to the post above I have heard all the lame excuses before, maybe a lot of us are being very negative but 10,000+ can't all be wrong. Would you come back for more if you were a casual supporter ? no thought not and I suspect half of the season ticket holders wouldn't give it a look if not for keeping their discount.

 

[bartman]

I wouldn't bother replying to the post above I have heard all the lame excuses before, maybe a lot of us are being very negative but 10,000+ can't all be wrong. Would you come back for more if you were a casual supporter ? no thought not and I suspect half of the season ticket holders wouldn't give it a look if not for keeping their discount.

It's not about excuses,MB,but differences of opinion. I don't agree with alot of what you have said in your post but if we all thought the same,this forum wouldn't be worth contributing on.

 

[Northyorksblade]

Let's have a look at the matchday experience a bit closer from a casual supporters view, if he comes by public transport odds on he will be dropped off in the town centre or close to the rail station, he might need to buy his ticket or may have done so online and need to pick it up from the box office. Not too much of an inconvenience if he is in the south stand a pain in the arse if he has to walk all that way before coming back to John St, surely we should be able to buy or pick up a ticket from the stand we want to sit in rather than stand queuing at the one outlet in the pissing down rain, away fans can buy ticket on Bramall lane. League One and the ticket price is not much different from what it was to watch us in the Premiership (little wonder we have lost over 10,000 fans) unless he has fucked about getting membership for a bit of discount and registered his name address and colour of his undercrackers before even being allowed to by a ticket in a home area. The poor fool could be £30 lighter in pocket before he has even thought about food & drink or even walking through the turnstile. Should he decide to have food and drink in the ground he has the choice of crisps & chocolate bars a near twice RRP, pies that could be at best lukewarm or at worse like something from Chernobyl, beer and lager from Ipswich way with all the appeal of drinking piss and not much else all served up by student types who don't have a clue what they are doing and care even less. By the time he sits down to look at his programme he could be at least £40 lighter.
Come a few minutes to kick off the sound system blasts out the first notes of John Denver and all the puppets stand raise their arms and sing greasy chip butty ( do you realise how pathetic that is ? ) then sit down in near silence to watch a pub team on a fraction of our wage budget give us a footballing lesson.
Come the second half repeat the above paragraph, go home freezing cold, frustrated and wondering what it was all about with at least £50 less in the wallet.
Call that a matchday experience ? more like torture to me, I used to laugh at longtime Blades who went to the pub pre match and stayed there but has time goes by you see they have the right idea, Bad enough having to watch the shite the useless twats at the lane serve up but when you know any piece of talent that comes through the youth system will be sold to pay the interest on loans McCabe took out to pay for his own mistakes it becomes a bit too much. Not a chance of us getting out of the cycle of debt and deceit McCabe has got us in, hell we don't even own our ground anymore. Only the other week Coventry were saying they may have to move from the Ricoh how long before we are saying we can't afford to stay at the lane ???
I wouldn't bother replying to the post above I have heard all the lame excuses before, maybe a lot of us are being very negative but 10,000+ can't all be wrong. Would you come back for more if you were a casual supporter ? no thought not and I suspect half of the season ticket holders wouldn't give it a look if not for keeping their discount.

Happy Christmas