Thoughts on the ticket deals

If you live in La La Land, where football currently resides, then I'm sure the latest announcements by Barnsley football club will be seen as brilliant deals. You've basically got a three for two, buy two get one free sort of deal, and a big reduction on the Donny ticket.

Back in the real world of job losses, unemployment, pay cuts, fuel poverty and escalating inflation we've got a deal on the table that gives you three matches for £60. That's £20 per match and you've got to pay it all up front. That's your food shopping for your family for the week or three tickets to the football.

£20 per match is not cheap. £20 per match does not constitute an amazing deal. £20 per match should be the absolute maximum a fan of a championship club has to pay to see his team in the best seats in the house at the biggest game of the season. Twenty is more than plenty. And the Donny game is £3 more than that.

Is this a step in the right direction for Barnsley football club? Of course it is, and I hope that plenty of people take advantage of it, but don't be surprised if Oakwell isn't bursting at the seems. £20 is still a lot to pay for a football match and although the price structure we see for these three games has moved away from the ludicrous to the manageable, it's still far from cheap. It's a step in the right direction, but it's only a step and it's not the deal of the century that some would have you believe. Something fundamental needs to change if we're going to reverse the current trend of falling attendances that threatens the very future of the club.

 

Standing ovation. It's a welcome gesture from the club, but somewhat meaningless in the greater scheme of things. Three games at £20 out of the 30 or so remaining (I lose count) is soon lost, but until football has a huge and long overdue reality check, it's maybe the best we can hope for at this stage.

 

The last sentence

100% correct.

Hopefully this is a hint that maybe those in charge realise that this season's pricing is causing fans to stay away. However I can't help feeling that maybe BFC views this as the fans fault rather than anything else.

If we don't have 12000 home fans in for these games then we'll doubtless have to endure the "price cuts don't work" mantra - ignoring all other factors.

This drop in attendances has been coming for the past 5 seasons in my opinion, prompted by the attitudes that pervade the club.

 

The problems you refer to are ones being experienced in football in general

Not just at our club, therefore Barnsley FC can't do it on it's own, in order to bring down the cost of watching football in the long run rather than just 3 games as you say, then there must be a stand by all football clubs against players, it's not something BFC can do on its own.

The people complained about ticket prices, the club responded, hats off to them.

 

Re: The last sentence

If this was politics heads would be rolling. Thats ROLLING.

 

Re: The last sentence

Crikey...... this is a turn up for the book ........ a thread on this insane board, populated by mainly insane forumites that i agree with 100%!! ...... the first three contributors make complete sense. Added to that, now thereev has endorsed this thread, it makes it simply the best thread ever.

No doubt some numpty / ming mong will come on here and disagree......... it is only to be expected with the amount of deluded, brainwashed disciples of BFC that exist purely to attend said football club's matches. Until then.....enjoy!

Hope this helps

 

Re: The problems you refer to are ones being experienced in football in general

So what you are saying is that because football is fooked in general....BFC cannot make a stand initially and we should wait for everyone to do it?....well matey by that time we (BFC) may well have gone down the tubes!

 

Re: The problems you refer to are ones being experienced in football in general

The problem is Archey, as in any business if you just put your prices up without any corresponding increase in value of product or marketing to emphasise why your product is worth the price being asked then you ultimately reach a point where that cost is just too prohibitive.

Now football is different - logic flies out the window to a large extent where most supporters are concerned and the money is found from somewhere. However family budgets have taken a right beating since the start of the financial crisis and in many homes justifying football expenditure is becoming more and more difficult.

Something will have to change in football and it may well only come when a 'big' Premier club either goes to the wall or turns round and simply refuses to carry on paying the sort of wages we see currently - a long shot, but as things stand football is unsustainable.

Now BFC ahve tried to make season tickets affordable and in my opinion they are cracking value and the installment idea was long overdue but very welcome. However you are still asking your support to sign up to 23 games on the back of last summer's shenanigans where it became blatantly obvious that we were not going to be able to enjoy a season of Premiership loannees and their associated costs. ie we were skint.

So surely something had to be done by BFC to try and encourage lapsed ST holders and occasional supporters to come along rather than punish them with £30 games and a sort of members club which to anyone who knows Barnsley folk would surely realise would be viewed with a certain degree of cynicism.

BFC quite simply has to be a more open, friendlier accesible club in my opinion if crowds are to increase - on field results notwithstanding.

 

Re: The problems you refer to are ones being experienced in football in general

If I didn't have a ST already, I'd be going. As long as it was nice and sunny.

 

Re: The problems you refer to are ones being experienced in football in general

This is the 'BFC can do not good no matter what thread'.

FFS - Its been said before and it'll be said again - no matter what the price of a ticket down at Oakwell the stay aways will not turn up. We will only see them again if we get promoted or when they can't get a cup ticket against a decent side.

£25 sheets was the average acceptable price on here last week. Now £20 is too much. Of course people have financial constraints which means that every penny going out of the household is monitored - but this is a good deal - its what people were clammering for last week - its an incentive from the club at the most costly time of the year - and I applaud it even though it devalues the saving against my season ticket.

Will this make a jot of difference over those 3 games. No. The club have listened to the fans and responded. Will the stays aways come back - not a chance. It'll end up costing the club money with us needing an addition 33% of away fans to attend to make up the financial shortfall.

 

Re: The problems you refer to are ones being experienced in football in general

I agree with a lot of that Dan. But Donny will fetch double the amount now, if not treble. There was talk on their board of less than a thousand. I fancy at least 3000 of em turning out nar.
And dirty Leeds will fill the away end at 30 quid a pop. They pay more than that every week. And now with this deal, there ought to be an extra 3 thousand reds.. but you're right, a lot of these stayaways, will find another excuse for Ipswich, Palace and Blackpool

 

Agree with a lot of what you have said there Jay. But if £20 is still too much, how much should be charged? 15? If they get down to that sort of level then what is the value in a ST, other than to secure your seat? If we don't sell X amount of ST's in the summer months then the club would struggle over those months as there is no match day income.

The real problem is player wages, we all know that (except HT), and until that changes what can a club like BFC do? Maybe we should make a stand and only pay a max of £2k a week, but we all need to accept that we will be L1/2 if that is the case.

 

I think £20 is OK to pay at Barnsley

I wish it could be less, but I guess that's the lowest you could convince the club to go. My point was that it's still not cheap and that £20 should be what is paid week in, week out not as a special once in a lifetime deal.

 

Depends where your shopping £60 don't cover our weekly shop Jay.

I don't agree with the pricing policy this season but well done to the club for listening to the fans!

 

Re: I think £20 is OK to pay at Barnsley

I got your point, and it is a fair one. It's not a matter of convincing the club though, it would be suicide for them to go any lower. As a fan I urge them not to go any lower, until it is financially prudent to do so of course. I agree though that the club would probably be better off having a flat rate £20 and doing the odd offer from there.

 

Re: I think £20 is OK to pay at Barnsley

So if we make it £20 every week based on maybe a 1,000 pay on the gate home fans and roughly the same away (averaged out over a season), how are we going to pay the wages? Maybe the players will take a pay cut if we tell 'em the fans have got the monk on? Or maybe you think the Chairman should keep dipping in his pocket?

 

I don't know if you've noticed but people have stopped coming

It's all those empty seats that give it away. We're a couple of thousand people short on what we were getting last season. I know you find this concept hard to grasp but I'm going to try again one more time. More people paying less money brings in similar amounts to less people paying more money.

 

Re: I think £20 is OK to pay at Barnsley

The manager has stated that the budget this season is LOWER than last season. so did Don rowing. This is echoed by the exit of several high earning players to be replaced by lower league players. Don Rowing has publically stated that last season we would have passed the proposed financial rules meaning that we had no money pumped in from Patrick Cryne.

No money from him last season + lower wages this season surely = no money needed from him this season.

 

Re: I don't know if you've noticed but people have stopped coming

Thanks for pointing out for me. That's the thing I'm failing to grasp. Like the time we made Middlesbrough a Cat A game and got 10,603 but we made the Watford game Cat C and the crowd rocketed to.....9,733. Ker-ching. You're right though Jay - that's the bit I'm having trouble grasping.

 

Re: I don't know if you've noticed but people have stopped coming

You must mean Leicester mate.
Boro was CAT B.. And Leicester brought 2000 fans.. The Watford gate was down due to the small number of away fans. The actual home fans figure was up by 600.