I didn't go to the Birmingham game in November

I've been to every other home game this season.

The last league home win I saw was 26th of August.

I can't afford £315 with three weeks notice for an early bird season pass so having to fork out £390.

Great stuff.

 

They should have had the decency to scrap the early bird and make it £315 up to first home game of the season.

 

Considering our league position, I think come the end if April the sensible move would be to extend the early bird for a month.

 

You’ve had about 4 years notice, thats how long April as been early bird month, if you didn’t know you’d need between £300 and £400 in April for your season pass then you will be in a very very very small minority.

 

Can you not set it up before end of april at cheaper price under direct debit ?

 

Ok pal

 

Some people will want to see what the new owners' recruitment policy looks like at the end of the Summer and who the head coach will be at that point before committing. But the pricing structure will deter them from buying a ST at that point.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable for the early bird prices to be available until the end of May at least. At least you can spread the cost over a couple of pay days then.

I take the point that the early bird deadline has been the same for a few years but that (a) doesn't make it right and (b) it was announced slightly later this year (actually in April rather than March). It's also cold comfort if, like me, your income has been reduced until recently through illness and/or unemployment.

In overall terms, I think the prices are decent and so I'm not going to knock the club for them and my support (maybe stupidly) is unconditional regardless of recruitment (even if my opinions on it aren't!) but I do think the early bird period is too short.

If I can scrape the money together for the early bird deadline I'll renew but if I can't I probably won't for the first time in c. 25 years. I'm not paying 20 odd percent more just because I had the misfortune to be ill earlier in the year. I contrast with Yorkshire's early bird deadline which was in December, three months after the end of the season.

 

People who are renewing for the umpteenth time have, yes. What people tend to forget though is that we want to encouage new people to attend. People who have just seen the advertisement and are considering buying a ST for the first time probably haven't got a clue what time the Early Bird comes out each year (or that there even is an Early Bird) as they've never cared until now. When they speculatively click on it and see that they've got 27 days to find £300+ quid it is almost 100% only going to be the ones who have the cash upfront who will bother. I doubt anyone considering buying one for the first time would be willing to take the extra hit after the deadline.

 

I really don't see the benefit of the price going up at all. I wonder how many are sold at "full price" it's clear to me the early bird is the full price and the club just want to pressure you into buying it.
Now I know the counter argument is the club can then sort out a budget. But let's call it what it is. They are punishing anyone who doesn't renew before the end of the month.

 

It certainly is that and whilst I imagine it will work on a fair few, there will also be lots of people who simply can't afford to pay that out in such a small time frame. As these will be the people with less disposable income, they are also the least likely to be able to afford the price increase and once the deadline that they couldn't meet passes they will just think 'sod it'. I honestly think it is quite rude to not give a longer window even if that means starting to sell them slightly earlier, say from Feb - giving less than a month's notice is shocking and quite frankly insulting. That and the high matchday pricing shows either no understanding or no compassion for the reality of people's situations.

 

Agreed.

But some people will make excuses for and defend the club no matter what.

 

It’s to bully people into Handing over their money, before the season ends, then they’ll know what budget they’ve got to play with, ready for when they start signing players in the last week of July, when they’ve been back training a week.

 

This entire post sums up exactly what is wrong with football at our level. All year, except at renewal time, most of us (including me sometimes) criticise the club for not offering better contracts, higher wages, not keeping star players even if means losing money later, not buying better players etc etc. But when it comes to forking out for season tickets (and match day prices) most of us (including me) complain about the prices being too high. The fact is that the amount that the average fan is willing to pay is inconsistent with the funds required to run a competitive team at our (Championship) level. Even clubs with "massive" crowds (e.g. Sunderland, Leeds, Fowls) make a balls-up of it. Football will have to come to its senses one-day, but in the meantime I think the offer should be extended to the end of May for the reasons you describe.

This summer will reveal a lot about the new owners, regardless of which league we are playing in. Interesting times.

 

Have I imagined that there were three stages of season ticket pricing previously? Early Bird 1, Early Bird 2 and normal pricing.

Edit: No I didn't imagine it. There used to be Early Bird, May Offer and Regular.

https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/news/2016/march/201617-season-ticket-information-announced2/

 

I thinking we go down it won't reveal too much as we will be a top 6 side in terms of our budget in league one.

 

Previously yes, not now.

 

Can’t afford it ? There’ll be lots of folk in the same boat but you can still take advantage of the early bird and spread the cost ? Or there’s still savings stamps option . Speaking of which I think it would be an idea to be able to load cash into your season card to pay for ST or purchases from the club shop. The club do a range of options but the easier they make it the better for all , including the club !