A few people have mentioned the club should have got rid of the membership scheme but I don't think they can do that mid season when a good 1000 people have shelled out to join the scheme. That said, I think we should encourage the club to make the discount available on a match day. Team Tarn - Please get involved
Its only a £3 memebership card and its not in place for security reasons like Leeds so l wouldn't worry too much about the card being used by someone who's name isn't on the card. They need all the support they can get.
That's a key point. It was being implemented to allow as many people as possible to get in for the reduced rate. Bang 'em in post, make 'em printable online etc. Just give 'em out for nowt. Even throw 'em like confetti.
Make these available (a) FOC and (b) easily accessible ie. on-line Then next season scrap it and replace with a straight/no strings attached admission price of £20.
We need to see people through the gates though if that's going to happen next season. Drag your mates down.
Tell him to reduce the £1.50 postage for sending out a slip of paper, l'm not fussed but some will moan. https://www.eticketing.co.uk/barnsleyfc/memberships.aspx?findmembership=0
Gally.....I am doing my bit and a few of my mates who have been "selective" this season, sound like they'll be making more of an effort for rest of season. I would like to see free tickets issued (to selected community) as I really can't see this having any negative impact on matchday revenue......it would probably contribute with programmes, drinks, etc. I know from previous experience that BFC are poor with this type of community relationships.
I'm told that some of this sort of thing happens through The community football trust. I'd love to know how much in reality though and why we never ever hear about it.
Gally - I am coaching in a local football club (that has FA Charter Standard) and we never get this offer of free tickets. If you look at Charles Rice League, Millenium League and Sheffield & Hallamshire League.......we have a lot of teams from Barnsley, which by default means a lot of kids playing football and a lot of parents supporting this football. BFC should make a concerted effort to tap into this opportunity by offering free tickets, or at the very least, BFC linking better with these local clubs (and there is zero link at the moment).
I have no idea why we're (membership card holders) unable to just show our card on the gate to get in for £20. Would love to know the reasoning behind having to go to the box office ages before the match. And if it's because they worry the card will be passed around etc, then they should have implemented a swipe system. But obviously, that would have cost them money. Well, the answer is to stop the silly scheme altogether next season.
I think this is the sort of thing we can have a positive effect on if the club get behind our campaign. By the way would your team be interested in coming down and doing the flag bearers before the game?
I could be wrong but I think that's how ticketmaster are paid for their use of the ticketing system. We could make arrangements for people to get memberships though.
This link to the online membership cards needs advertising to death to get the message across, needs to be on the clubs Facebook and Twitter feeds constantly, banging on abart it like they did with that NPower competition that time.
I don't really buy this logic at all, to be honest. It's like saying that the club shouldn't reduce ticket prices because Season Ticket holders have already bought their tickets based on the advertised saving of x%, yet they've done this (and a good thing too, so I have no issue with this as a season ticket holder). I don't see why they couldn't have scrapped the scheme completely, gone with a straightforward pricing policy, and offered the cost of the membership card as an additional one-off discount on the next purchase of a match ticket with it (at which point it would be handed in). That's not to say I think the current reduction in prices isn't a welcome step, but I don't think the above is a valid reason for keeping the scheme. As for making the membership cards useable on the turnstiles, the problem I see with this is that it'd presumably need separate turnstiles opening for those with cards and those without. Otherwise, it's an opportunity for the turnstile operator to skim off the £3 extra being paid by some people as there's no evidence afterwards that a card has been shown or not. Maybe it's too late for this season but we should move back to simple, fair pricing with a discount for advanced purchases like we used to have. Clear, easily understandable, and it gives people an incentive to pre-purchase where possible, provided the discount isn't wiped out by annoying booking fees and handling charges.
I think us and the club should give out 100s and 1000s of cards out with a letter explaining a push is needed to help the club fight off relegation and that tickets are now reduced to £20, £15 and £5. I think 1 turnstile for each stand should be for cards (paying cash) only, with the numbers we get surly this wouldn't cause much of a problem. People can actually buy tickets right up-to 3pm from the ticket office with members cards, the club advertise 1.30 latest as 1.30-3pm is busy and they try to avoid people coming after this time...again this needs to be scrapped, advertise it's 3pm (which it actually is anyway) and also allow cash (with member card) on the gate. The £1.50 online booking fee is fair enough, it was £3 last season, and it's down to ticketmaster. I do think that £1.50 per ticket is out of order though, should be £1.50 per transaction! £3 over the phone is also far to much. We need to make things as easy and cheap as possible to sell a seat, we have 10000 to sell......
