Wow! £38 pay on the day Cat A*.....

Yeah [MENTION=54253]churtonred[/MENTION] stop being bolshie!

(I've not read the rest of the post yet).

 

I like your posts, and the sentiment of support you state, but I still believe that twenty is plenty, for home fans. Charge visitors what they charge for away fans.

 

At what point did I say it wasn't important to me? Or to other people who post on here? (Not that that has any affect whatsoever on prices, posting on here doesn't cost £38 for an hour and a half browsing thank goodness.) Also, you are still not understanding. No, lots of people can't 'buy a season ticket for example' either because of cost or work/travel arrangements. Or they can and they have no wish to do so because they are not that big or a fan YET. And they never will be with these prices, not everyone is born an immediate fan.

 

Apparently, the FL state that you have to charge away fans what you charge home fans for comparable facilities.

 

And quite right too. That does not excuse trying to rip off and fleece fans though.

 

That is why I inserted the point about special offers. We have after all done special offers in previous seasons and provided they are genuine and are open to away fans as well, they are allowed. I am thinking quid a kid etc.

 

That's correct, I read the rules this lunch time. The comparable area would be the Ponte as it is behind the goal line.

 

Do you know how much I fear the name SuperTyke. Your logic is always faultless and your arguments pithy, witty and pointed. I know that I will be pushed to the limit mentally in order to defend my position.

Well, I suppose we all have bad days!

 

Yours appear to be the ones beginning with mind, Tues, Wednes, Thurs, Fri, sat and sun

 

At the risk of upsetting a few, I fundamentally agree with Red Rain. There are so many dangling threads from this announcement it's probably too tricky to cover them all off but I'll have a go at a couple.

Now to start off with I COMPLETLY DISAGREE that football should cost more than £20 to watch, for any team in any division. However, as that pricing is not capped and teams can essentially charge as they please why should Barnsley allow it's supporters to be charged ludicrous amounts by other teams then not apply the same logic to those clubs. We're talking Newcastle, Leeds, Wednesday, Ipswich etc. Now the argument here is 'to look after it's own fans'.....This next bit won't be popular! On average we get about what 1000-1500 'walk ups' on a weekly basis. These figures didn't change when we went up or down divisions, they also didn't fluctuate too much when the club put offers and deals on. We've (allegedly) sold upwards of 10k season tickets so a lot of causuals that have been referenced have probably bought those. I understand why certain posters, like the guys/gals that work shifts are a bit put out by these price hikes as they can only attend certain games and therefore are at the mercy of the category on their free days. However, unfortunately the club can't and won't legislate for these small number of fans in comparison to the amount away teams will bring. Remembering that for every person that says they won't go based on price, 50% will probably still buy a ticket anyway. I still think the season tickets are cracking value and with the facility to pay over 10 months the club has listened to the supporters in a small way to be able to accommodate that. Add on to that the fact that if you bought an Early Bird ticket your price will be the same for next season too.

As Redrain also mentioned, cost of policing will have gone up, security costs have gone up, we want to progress as a club on the pitch, this costs money in wages and transfer fees that simply can't be paid by Mr Cryne forever, people want a new scoreboard, the pitch needs to be like Wembley or people moan etc etc. These all cost a bigger premium in a higher division.

On a personal level do I agree with the pricing structure No of course not. On a business level and on a comparative level to other teams do I understand why the club has gone this way? Yes. As always season tickets represent the best value, and for once, we're going to maximise earning potential from away followers who seem to do it to us every year.

 

Stuff I've tried to take into consideration before giving my thoughts:

*It was £28 for me the last time we were at this level, flat rate.
*It was between £23 and £25 for me last season in L1.
*Ignoring the scary top end figures being quoted, I'm guessing it'll end up costing you about £28 a match on average if you are a regular attender without a season ticket. Maybe less, seeing as we've only got the first couple of months worth of games to go on so far.
*We've sold in and around 10,000 season tickets so far, so I'm told. That's near enough our average crowd for the last few seasons, which includes away supporters in the total.
*I've no strong figures on this, but I'm assuming we had 'just' under 1,000 home fans paying on the day last season, on average. Not sure on away average but probably less than 1,000. There weren't many big crowds in the Ashley Ward End were there?
*Championship away supporters (in the main) are used to paying around the £30 mark. Our new prices won't put many off I wouldn't have thought.
*I expect Derby, Rotherham, Leeds, Wednesday, Huddersfield, Forest, Newcastle, Villa, PNE and possibly Wigan to bring numbers between 2,000 and 6,000.
*Most of these clubs will be charging around the £28 mark at their stadium, on average from what I can gather.
*The cost for crowd control, the police bills etc, I'm assuming they're increasing with the above in mind.
*We aren't on Sky in the first couple of months. We haven't sold any players. John Stones is still a Toffee.


My thoughts:

Most supporters who support BFC bought a season ticket this summer, they're getting great value (even more so after today's announcement!). But I'm assuming there'd still be that 1,000 or so bunch of supporters who for many reasons don't have a season ticket and try to attend when possible on the day. Despite last seasons successes, I do not believe there'd be any really significant increase in that figure (1,000 or so). History proves as much. There is though going to be a massive increase in away attendance. So it appears to me that the club are seeing the 1,000 or so reds supporters as collateral damage somewhat in their quest to squeeze as much as possible out of the increased away gate. They will probably feel justified in doing that in many cases, as these clubs have their own super-high pricing in place. It isn't though justifiable to fleece any supporter, in my opinion, even those poor souls who follow dem blades. Although that is irrelevant what with them being busy losing to Halifax and preparing for season six in L1. But no, it's not reight is it? I find it quite sad really. Like when I started smoking at 12 years old because my mate had copied one of our other mates who'd copied our other mate so I copied them all. I'm always hoping our club bucks trends. Not follows them.

This move will probably alienate supporters. Even those who are going to be directly unaffected. Especially off the back of last season and everything that made it so memorable.

However, I can't help looking at the stuff I've taken into consideration and believing that supporters who usually pay on the day (at whatever level the club sits in) will be paying - on average - the same sort of price normally charged. I honestly believe that. I see people having to pay about £28 in the main. At home and away from Oakwell. And whilst I see that as at least a fiver too much, it's not quite the scandal I'm reading about on twitter.

If my assumed £28 average is right, then you're looking at £644 over the season. Double the price of a season ticket, just about. Value in a season ticket has increased. Stick another £230 on top of that if we were to wrongly assume every game costs you £38. The season ticket at about £15 a match looks proper value for money. Of course, in my ideal world it'd be £20 on the gate. Which is £460 over a season, which still gives serious benefit to buying a season ticket. But we don't live in an ideal world. Watch/read the news. Have a look around. Things are far from ideal for many, many people. And this announcement today will be far from ideal for a fair amount of reds supporters. I've already read a few quotes from some of you/us. Saddening to read, some of it. To think that some can't or won't be attending games any more, nor their kids with them either. Sad stuff.

But I've read a few supporters with the "dunt affect me" attitude, or the "applaud the club" attitude. I can't understand that mentality. I don't applaud the club for increasing prices like this. I won't be calling them names though on twitter, or here. I've tried to share my thoughts (whatever they're worth) in a reasoned manner. We all know there are people from within Oakwell who log on to this and other online platforms to gauge opinion and I'm of the opinion that they're less likely to take folk serious if folk are calling them cnuts. And, I'm pretty sure Mr Cryne and Linton to name the two most obvious BFC powers will be able to understand any ire coming the clubs way. And tomorrow I'm sure there'll be a thorough explanation given to those attending the 'evening with' event. I can't make it myself but I look forward to reading about it at a later date.

My biggest issue with all this is the non-implementation of a membership scheme and ignorance of the flexi-ticket idea. Again though, tomorrow night might shed some light on these issues. At least this announcement has come 'before' that meeting. They've not held that event and 'then' announced the pricing structure.





*I say all the above as someone who hasn't bought a season ticket and so as things stand will be paying the sort of prices published today by the club. And just been to Wonga for a loan.

 

I blame Brexit

 

Jesus that's similar to my post is that. Not sat behind me are you?

 

Posted at the exact same time too. I'd like to say 'great' minds, but mine is very strange.

 

My biggest problem with this argument though is that we are now 'allowing' our supporters to be charged that twice rather than just the once. It's a flawed argument to say that ripping our fans off at home will make them happier about being ripped off away too.

 

I must concur with this.

 

To be fair you make some good points, especially your point about fans wanting the club to spend more money on better players, provided the club got that money from someone else and not from them. I was a season ticket holder for over 40 years, and I spent a couple of decades as a season ticket holder in the Legends Suite (and its predecessor the Vice Presidents' club). I paid a lot more than the average supporter going in there, and I got ridiculed for it by some on here, and in "real life" too. To those, I was a member of the so-called "prawn-sandwich" brigade. I understood the principle that if we wanted a better team, we had to pay more to attract better players. But I've changed my view.

My current view is that football in general (not just Barnsley) has changed, for the worse. Poor and mediocre players are now earning lots of money - too much for their level of performance (in my opinion). Some people are happy to pay £30 or more to go to football, some are happy to pay £100 per month or more for Sky. I've had enough of it and have better things to do with such sums. People on "normal" incomes are being frozen out. I can't see an end to it. It's like trying to fill a bath without putting the plug in - if you turn the tap on fast enough it may appear you are getting somewhere, but the water always disappears in the end.

I realise it's a sellers' market, and while ever there are people willing to fork out such large sums it won't change. I'll end up going to the odd match here and there, but until football finances change my days of going to every match are over.

 

Players get paid too much

Solve that and you are well on the way to solving the problem. £2k per week is over 4 times the average wage round here.

 

I don't think you are addressing long term issues in any way. People get into Supporting a club by attending games. I went with my dad. He went with his dad. Now there's little opportunity in a area of social and economic deprivation for parents who can't afford season tickets or who's kids may or may not get the bug to attend. 50 quid plus to take your kid on a casual basis. I'm not skint but no way would I do that.

You are impacting your long term health for short term thrills. In football terms we have taken up smoking.

Whilst committed fans like you may be happy to pay what is asked if in the long term you are not replaced when they inevitable happens then there's little point.

20 is plenty.

 

You are making two points.

Your first point is that footballers are now overpaid as compared to when we were younger. In many ways you have a good point, but it probably applies to a lesser degree at Barnsley than it does elsewhere, and standing up for a principle at Barnsley, whilst being a valid moral stand, does not help Barnsley compete. Football is not played on the park any more. It is played in the boardroom and it is played by accountants. The club with the biggest wedge can expect to finish highest in the league. And frankly, that is the main reason that we finished in the top six last season. We had a top six budget. However, for next season we will have a bottom four budget. The fans believe that they affect the team performance with their support on a Saturday. If we are honest, the sums that they spend at the club have a bigger effect on performance, because those sums allow the club to employ better players. You are right that footballers are too highly paid, but why pick on Barnsley. Why not pick on Sky, because they are much more responsible than Barnsley FC.

You say that it is a sellers market. I am sorry but I just do not agree. If we begin the season badly and we keep losing it becomes a buyers market. The club finds it hard to predict its income and therefore hard to predict the cost that it can afford in such circumstances. We would all like to see a winning team, but how far should the club speculate with its future income when it does not know what a large proportion of that might be. It would be irresponsible to gamble, because if the gamble does not come off, exactly who picks up the tab. Well last time. that was Patrick Cryne, but is it fair to expect him to continue to do so. If a large proportion of your fans are season ticket holders, then your revenue is more certain and you can be more certain of your costs. Surely the conversion of pay on the day fans is a desirable indirect consequence of the clubs actions.