Wigan Athletic Season Tickets only £199

[wizadry]

I won't be slagging McCabe off for lack of investment, it's difficult do that when despite some people's myopia (), he's made us one if the cheapest teams to watch in the division we're in.

I'll be slagging him off ( as I have for a decade) for squandering any investment on more shite.

UTB

Exactly! That will be the reason he uses when we don't bring anyone in.

You have continually said or denied we are over paying so you can't complain one bit on what McCabe does with his money when you think he's made us one of the cheapest teams in the division (love to see where you've got that from by the way), so he therefore can't afford to spend anything due to this, as seen this season with even more money brought through the gates from the loyal fans than what will be brought through next season, with even less money coming from the Prince next season by the sounds of it.

Where some think the money will come from for transfers or incomings I haven't the foggiest.

One thing is for sure. Whilst ever McCabe is here we will still be in this league because he hasn't got a clue what to do with a football club. If he really supported the club he'd sell us to somebody who is willing to go that bit extra to get us to the minimum of where we belong and that is the Championship, a measly 10% reduction in ST prices is a tip of the old iceberg, it's nor here or there if you get what I mean.

 

[alcoblade]

Exactly! That will be the reason he uses when we don't bring anyone in.

You have continually said or denied we are over paying so you can't complain one bit on what McCabe does with his money when you think he's made us one of the cheapest teams in the division (love to see where you've got that from by the way), so he therefore can't afford to spend anything due to this, as seen this season with even more money brought through the gates from the loyal fans than what will be brought through next season, with even less money coming from the Prince next season by the sounds of it.

Where some think the money will come from for transfers or incomings I haven't the foggiest.

One thing is for sure. Whilst ever McCabe is here we will still be in this league because he hasn't got a clue what to do with a football club. If he really supported the club he'd sell us to somebody who is willing to go that bit extra to get us to the minimum of where we belong and that is the Championship, a measly 10% reduction in ST prices is a tip of the old iceberg, it's nor here or there if you get what I mean.

You've lost me, sorry.

UTB

 

[wizadry]

You've lost me, sorry.

UTB

No problem!

 

[Sheffsteel]

This thread is comical.

McCabe does a great job on pricing which can be proven by our regular 19,000 gates whilst stuck down watching averwge football in the third tier and people STILL complain.

The logic goes like this
If we reduce prices by 10% some fans argue it should be 20%.
If we reduce by 20% some argue it should be 50%.
If we reduce by 50% some argue it should be a 90% reduction.
If we reduce by 90% some will argue it's too cheap and we have no money.

It's a fine balancing act between retaining your support and keeping an income high enough to be the biggest spenders in league 1.

We all have opinions but the proof in the pudding is what the gates will be next season.
If it's 18,000+ again this will prove that the 10% reduction was a wise move.

As already been stated clubs like Wigan, Bradford and Huddersfield are to a degree "rugby towns".
I applaud these clubs for making the great efforts to build up their support base but SUFC don't have the same problem as we already have excellent support. We only need to retain it not gain new customers.

 

[west_yorks_blade]

This thread is comical.

McCabe does a great job on pricing which can be proven by our regular 19,000 gates whilst stuck down watching averwge football in the third tier and people STILL complain.

The logic goes like this
If we reduce prices by 10% some fans argue it should be 20%.
If we reduce by 20% some argue it should be 50%.
If we reduce by 50% some argue it should be a 90% reduction.
If we reduce by 90% some will argue it's too cheap and we have no money.

It's a fine balancing act between retaining your support and keeping an income high enough to be the biggest spenders in league 1.

We all have opinions but the proof in the pudding is what the gates will be next season.
If it's 18,000+ again this will prove that the 10% reduction was a wise move.

As already been stated clubs like Wigan, Bradford and Huddersfield are to a degree "rugby towns".
I applaud these clubs for making the great efforts to build up their support base but SUFC don't have the same problem as we already have excellent support. We only need to retain it not gain new customers.

Why do we only need to retain our support?
What about all the people that would love to watch united but are priced out? Fuck em I guess, as long as we are the 'biggest spenders in league 1'.
How is that working out by the way?

What does our additional expenditure in comparison to these other clubs buy us? I can think of better things to do with the £200 a season I would save than spunk it on hammonds wages.

 

[wizadry]

This thread is comical.

McCabe does a great job on pricing which can be proven by our regular 19,000 gates whilst stuck down watching averwge football in the third tier and people STILL complain.

The logic goes like this
If we reduce prices by 10% some fans argue it should be 20%.
If we reduce by 20% some argue it should be 50%.
If we reduce by 50% some argue it should be a 90% reduction.
If we reduce by 90% some will argue it's too cheap and we have no money.

It's a fine balancing act between retaining your support and keeping an income high enough to be the biggest spenders in league 1.

We all have opinions but the proof in the pudding is what the gates will be next season.
If it's 18,000+ again this will prove that the 10% reduction was a wise move.

As already been stated clubs like Wigan, Bradford and Huddersfield are to a degree "rugby towns".
I applaud these clubs for making the great efforts to build up their support base but SUFC don't have the same problem as we already have excellent support. We only need to retain it not gain new customers.

Comical, you got that fucker reyt.

How hard can it be to realise you're over paying for a product that you can get for nearly half price somewhere else in the same league?, not that i'm advocating doing that by the way. That is the only point I'm making.

This Rugby argument is irrelevant due to other sports people can watch in Sheffield plus the wankers up at S6.

Our prices might not be bad in the grand scheme of things but that doesn't change the fact we are still over paying to watch the same standard of football as teams such as Bradford.

We should always be looking to get customers back, that is a non sensical debate, if you don't you risk losing them for life, that's not how businesses should be run. I'm no expert on this by the way, just using pure logic.

And we aren't or weren't the biggest spenders in league one this season, perhaps the biggest losses and it's this trend that needs to stop and that has nothing to do with ticket prices, it's something deeper in the club.

 

[Tyler Durden]

I fail to grasp most of these arguments.

United were shit this season, prices have been dropped accordingly. A freeze or a price hike would have been a massive 'fuck you' to those who have had to endure this shite all year.

And for £12 per match next season, I'd say the club has done fairly well to reward our suffering, given the crippling wage-bill being squandered on 30-odd cunts in the squad.

 

[BusheyBlade]

.......If our sole priority is to get bums in seats.

We would gain a thousand or so season tickets holders at best and lose a lot more money overall if we offered £199 season tickets.

And once you've cheapened your product to that end, there's no reversing it.

UTB

Correct, we'd gain very few extra fans with a reduced price. How many people not renewing for next season would actually renew if the club contacted them all individually to offer them a season ticket for £199. Not many as people who won't renew will do so because of the end product on offer being sub-standard (against expectation) not the price of it.

 

[Anston Blade]

Personally, given the appalling season this time rounf and our history of selling our best players once the season ticket mobey has been pocketed, I would have preferred that the ST prices remain the same but that the deadline for renewals be extended until closer to the new season.
It always seems to me that the fans have to take the leap of faith that the 'stars' will be kept and lesser players replaced with better quality. How about the board and manager prove themselves (and their ambition) before fans have to decide whether to renew ?

 

[TJB.]

How hard can it be to realise you're over paying for a product that you can get for nearly half price somewhere else in the same league?

It's not the same product though, is it? It's all football, yes, but it's not your club. I'm not about to fuck off and watch Wigan because it's cheaper. I support Sheffield United, therefore I'm only going to pay to watch Sheffield United.

At £12-ish a game to watch SUFC next season, I'm not overpaying in the slightest. I'd say that was bang on. Sheffield FC is cheaper to watch football, but I'm not going to up sticks and fuck off to Dronfield of a Saturday to save a few bob watching a club I don't care about.

I'd love to see the furore if we put our tickets down to £199, got promoted next season and saw 'em go up by £150. BRING ON THE PITCHFORKS.

 

[BusheyBlade]

How hard can it be to realise you're over paying for a product that you can get for nearly half price somewhere else in the same league?, not that i'm advocating doing that by the way. That is the only point I'm making.

Ah, but it's not really the same product you can get elsewhere. Yes, it's a club in the same division (so I won't compare Arsenal and Barnet season ticket prices as an example of local clubs due to the different divisions), but when you buy a season ticket to watch the club you support it's just that - the club YOU support. You're not paying to watch football, essentially you are paying to watch Sheffield United (for your sins!) play every other week. It's not the same as any other club's season ticket - be it Leicester, Spurs, Hull, Bradford, Northampton or Sutton United.

It's harsh, but football is a business and United being the club they are will generally attract "decent" sized gates every season. This is evidenced by our averages since relegation to League One. If our average gates droppe drastically and we were averaging say !5,000 then I do believe prices would be dropped, but this would probably be because we're in League Two so that would be expected. Even when we were in the top flight our prices were incredibly affordable, I paid around £400 for my season ticket if I remember correctly. A lot would have probably paid double that incidentally.

 

[1980]

I think these cheap season ticket prices are a false economy for smaller clubs.

Charlton Athletic have always tried to tap into their image as the 'safe, family club' for SE London and NW Kent. A place for floating football fans to take their families. However, they are always skint. They post attendance figures of circa 16,000 - but, in reality they give on average 2-3,000 tickets away, yet include them in figures, whether they come or not, and the season tickets they do sell are priced as low as £150 for adult in some areas of the ground.

Millwall on the other hand charge between £412 and £600 for adult season tickets. Very expensive. However, the club know that the same old 6,000 will renew no matter what. Since the docks closed in the early 1970s Millwall's average gates have shrunk to a hardcore of circa 8-12,000. When Millwall finished in their lowest position in the last 60 years (18th in League One in 1997/98), having been put into administration & sold off the likes of Mark Kennedy, Ben Thatcher, Alex Rae and Kasey Keller on the cheap, 7,022 still turned up on average - with Charlton, West Ham and Palace all enjoying Premier League football.

Therefore, the club figured that if the hardcore still turned up in what was the club's lowest ever ebb, then the best policy is to charge that hardcore support a decent amount to keep the club competitive. So, we have never gone in for cheap tickets. After all, even if Millwall sold season tickets for £100, there is no way middle class families unattached to a specific football club are going to choose us over the likes of Palace, Charlton or West Ham. And our floating support only comes out for success on the pitch - never cheap tickets. We did try cheap tickets for a few games, but made no difference. Yet, a promotion 6 pointer v Grimsby Town attracted 18,500 Millwall fans in League One, with thousands locked out, willing to pay £30 a ticket.

Anyway, my point is, clubs like Wigan and Bradford City actually weaken their long-term chances of success with these cheap adult deals. Millwall do target young fans - tickets for 16-24 years olds are well priced & hope to attract the kids of Lewisham, Southwark & Greenwich to our, I suppose, 'outsider' tag...rather than safe Charlton or suburban Palace. But giving up so much potential income with cheap adult tickets is not a good idea imo.

Take next season, if Millwall, Sheffield United, Bradford City, Wigan & Charlton are all in League One, the only club generating a higher match day income than Millwall will be Sheffield United. Indeed, Millwall had the 14th highest match day income in the Championship the season we were relegated. So, while Bradford City can feel smug getting 18,000 crowds to watch them play Fleetwood Town, we can actually afford to strengthen our squad to a greater extent and hopefully improve our chances of promotion. Meanwhile, if you live in Bradford or near Charlton, how attractive does a cheap season ticket seem if you are playing Fleetwood Town year after year? Eventually you get into a situation where you have to swallow selling fewer and fewer cheap tickets or risk doubling the season ticket prices to try and catch up.

Sheffield United have a big enough fanbase to charge competitive prices in order to give them the best chance of promotion. You lot trying to match the likes of Wigan & Bradford City would be silly.

 

[Whiston Blade]

I applaud these clubs for making the great efforts to build up their support base but SUFC don't have the same problem as we already have excellent support. We only need to retain it not gain new customers.

I'm sorry but we should try to gain new fans (customers) all the time. I'm glad you're not working for my club if you think that retaining customers is the key. What happens in 70/80 years time when the last of our new fans start to die off ? Bit of a daft example but what you said was a bit daft too.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Some interesting points especially from 1980.

If we seriously wanted to fill the stadium every match and attract new fans then we could make season tickets £99 or what about £50?

Of course it's all about knowing your fan base and getting the balance right.

Our neighbours SW have gone down the increase the quality massively increase the price route.

Although I can afford it, personally I'd pick and choose the odd game if we started charging £30 in league 1 or £35 in the Chanpuonship. Even if we had a successful PL side I wouldn't pay £50 on a regular basis.

Wednesday are having their best season this century but can only average about 22K compared to our 20K when we're having one of our worse seasons in our history.

Just proves the effect pricing has.

 

[wizadry]

It's not the same product though, is it? It's all football, yes, but it's not your club. I'm not about to fuck off and watch Wigan because it's cheaper. I support Sheffield United, therefore I'm only going to pay to watch Sheffield United.

At £12-ish a game to watch SUFC next season, I'm not overpaying in the slightest. I'd say that was bang on. Sheffield FC is cheaper to watch football, but I'm not going to up sticks and fuck off to Dronfield of a Saturday to save a few bob watching a club I don't care about.

I'd love to see the furore if we put our tickets down to £199, got promoted next season and saw 'em go up by £150. BRING ON THE PITCHFORKS.

Ah, but it's not really the same product you can get elsewhere. Yes, it's a club in the same division (so I won't compare Arsenal and Barnet season ticket prices as an example of local clubs due to the different divisions), but when you buy a season ticket to watch the club you support it's just that - the club YOU support. You're not paying to watch football, essentially you are paying to watch Sheffield United (for your sins!) play every other week. It's not the same as any other club's season ticket - be it Leicester, Spurs, Hull, Bradford, Northampton or Sutton United.

It's harsh, but football is a business and United being the club they are will generally attract "decent" sized gates every season. This is evidenced by our averages since relegation to League One. If our average gates droppe drastically and we were averaging say !5,000 then I do believe prices would be dropped, but this would probably be because we're in League Two so that would be expected. Even when we were in the top flight our prices were incredibly affordable, I paid around £400 for my season ticket if I remember correctly. A lot would have probably paid double that incidentally.

Take your points but it's still league one football all things considered, maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

I'll be there next season with the lad and hopefully the football players we bring in will be better than some of the shite we've had over recent seasons. Our fans deserve that much, I'm sure of it.

 

[BushBlade]

Are we overpriced compared to L1 football in general? No

Is football generally overpriced? Yes.

Is it reasonable to expect us to heavily discount our ticket prices when we're running at a loss whilst competing with twenty odd clubs that aren't discounting ticket prices? In my opinion, no. It's basically saying 'I know you've lost millions McCabe and Prince and I know you're going to lose some more but could you also dig deep and subsidise my ticket because a couple of shit clubs are charging less?'

It would be nice if all football was cheaper but that's not SUFC's fault and there's always going to be some who can't afford it, same as some people can't afford to run a car or go on holiday.

 

[I should coco]

What with the 10% reduction, does anyone know if next season, only 90% of non attending season ticket holders will be counted as being present?

It's really bothering me....

 

[TJB.]

I'll be there next season with the lad

Where? The DW or the John Smiths?

Typing that I've realised I'll happily pay more if it means not ending up with a fucking stupid stadium name.

 

[Sheff de party]

My point is more the fact that we'd of sold a lot more at 200 quid that at the 10% reduced price.

It's "we'd have" not "we'd of".

"Of" is not a verb! Think about it, how can it really be of?

Pet hate rant over. I think you make a valiant point on season tickets

 

[Bladesman]

If the club were feeling more generous regarding next season then I reckon this would have been more than fair:

Renewing fans:

£199 for KOP
£299 for South Stand and Family Stand

Returning fans:

£250 for KOP
£350 for South Stand and Family Stand

New fans:

£300 for KOP
£400 for South Stand and Family Stand

Market these prices as a one off and the following season bump each price up £25 or something.

 

[nicksufc]

Just because one or two clubs have extremely cheap season tickets it doesn't make ours unreasonably priced. In the grand scheme of things we've got one of the cheapest season tickets in the league. I think Bristol Rovers' are more expensive than ours. Imagine that!