The 'early bird' offer has now ended, after the additional week to 'tap in' to the feel good factor..(as he failed to do last year)
Just to remind ourselves, there were two prices..one for renewals and one for newbies (approx 4% higher).
Sean Jarvis seems to have got himslef in a bit of a pickle though because he is tweeting fans as to how much they should now go up. The obvious answers he is getting is that anyone who wanted one has now got it, and no one is going to be buying tickets at a higher price.
I don't know how many we have sold under the offer, maybe around 9,000...and I don't know how many would be sold at a higher price between now and August . After all, Town had an interest free payment offer this year, so everyone who wanted one , who could afford one would now have one.
However Jarvis, bless him, is saying he can't leave them the same price because that wouldn't be fair to those who have bought early under the 'offer'. (although I expect the majority are paying over 10 months).
So, how much should I put them up, he asks. Well, Sean, you aren't going to sell any so charge what you like mate...
I'm always worried about Towns' Commercial strategy, and this farce doesn't alleviate my concerns. What he seems to forget is that the early bird offer is there pure and simply to help Town with cash flow during the summer
months...it isn't a magnanamous act to the fans, it's done and priced at a level to squeeze some cash out of as many people as possible.
Once that exercise is done, it's done...end of. they have raked in about £3m or whatever.. He can't lose face with fans by selling them at the same price now, but if he puts them up 10%-20% who is going to pay that ?
I made the same suggestion to him as I have been making for yonks, start to sell some blocks of 5, 10 and 15 season tickets...priced to sell...
he might shift 500 of those , maybe more...
At some point though, he is going to have to put season tickets back on the market...so what do you reckon he should increase them by ? Does it really matter if no one is going to buy them...?
Those that have bought the early offer, should they be upset if the regular price doesn't go up by very much...?
Can anyone help poor Sean out......
The season ticket dilemna........
posted on 15/5/13
Tell me Jacko, where do you sit and what do you do at the game to get the atmosphere going?
posted on 15/5/13
im trying to remember the last time we had a team penned back in their own half/box for any length of time???
no, cant remember....maybe that's whats missing at at home???
something to build the atmosphere rather than a sporadic attack and a corner here and there?
most "crowds" these days are pretty quiet when its going against the home team or the home team simply are not putting it in..
posted on 15/5/13
Wakey...what am i doing about getting the atmos going ?
Well, how about canvassing on here, and on DATM...emailing Sean jarvis and Nigel Clibbens ..even HTSA, canvassing support and getting opinion, ideas and so on...and then arranging to meet Operations Director Ann Hough and having a 2 hour meeting with her about it...putting forward mine and other peoples' ideas and suggestions, complaints and the like...
I know a lot of fans don't care, I know there is apathy and I know it's bloody hard work...but there are some of us who are trying to do something, or at least get the club to look into it and come up with some of theri own ideas....and that might include a fans survey to test the degree of support.
So, ask me again what I am doing about it, then ask yourself what you, and the many others are doing about it....
It would certainly help my cause if less fans said they dont' care less and backed me up a bit. This malaise does my head in sometimes...spotty kids indeed !
I don't know of any Town fan who wouldn't like it to be a noisier and more atmospheric experience...something the club purport to want, but need a shove to do something about it...
So, I ask the question...are you happy with it as it is, or would you like it 'ramped up' a bit.. provided somebody else does all the legwork for you...
Have gone a bit off topic I'm afraid, but at least it's my own thread..
posted on 15/5/13
club are "aiming" for a family atmosphere..
that's less noise, less chanting(rude or non rude) and no standing(apart from kids running up and down and kicking your seat from behind, in boredom)...
more shirt, scarf wearing and other purchasables from the club shop items...
more family fun days, face painting, blokes on stilts and more buying from the club shops..
they simply want less of us and more of the "new breed"...
It wont work because the kids I see at the game just don't get the "excitement" I got at their age from being at a game.. the last one under floodlights I had two kids aged about 6-8 yrs asleep before the end of the game... at their age I couldn't sleep when I got home after a "night" match..
Basically they can watch man utd/Chelsea/Barcelona/real Madrid every week of the season at home.. This is the "football" that they have been "informed" by sky and others that is "worth watching" and it takes no effort, no getting cold etc etc..
They all want to be Ronaldo/van persie etc etc, wanting to be a town player is somewhere way down the list...
Don't give up jacko, but its a tough one...
posted on 15/5/13
Jacko- as a rule most weeks I don't do right much to raise the atmosphere I'll admit that, although when the derby games come along I'm usually up singing and shouting. you can have meetings/surveys and canvas opinion all you want(Jimmy D has done all this before) but the end result is you need people to join in and quite simply as a rule they don't.
So their you have it, that's what I do at the match. Now tell me what you do about it at the match to improve the atmosphere, are you up and singing with the spotty kids?
posted on 15/5/13
of course....I've had to move stands 'cos i keep knocking peoples sandwiches over and they got cross with me...hence i'm next to the spotty kids section...
at the end of the day if the club don't want to do anything then that's that, but at least I tried...
sorry if I got a bit 'shirty'
posted on 15/5/13
Without playing tennis,,knocking the ball backwards & forwards in a hopeless quest to prove a point..
here's my final opinion on this.
THE CLUB DON'T WANT IT.
By that I mean 'htfc inc'.
I'm glad jacko has mentioned his meeting,
I didn't want to say anything about this before hand, so as not to cause a stir or drive a wedge betweeen the 'negotiator' whom he is having to deal with.
Two things,
The transcript that he had as a reply from clibbins (to me) indicated a woefull outlook regarded to dealing with 'authorities' & a complete refusal to even try and consider anything different to what is already in place.
the 2nd meeting he had with another 'inc' employee
turned out to be nothing more than 'inc' justifying there stance to the point of self gratification...
any suggestions or examples of other clubs doing things differently ..examples where the support is nothing short of incredible, & so very easy to apply, without the club doing very much at all...were met with a blank look, no comment, or 'I'll get back to you on that one'
No one 'got back to him'.
The Hypocrisy & Contradiction.
Oil calls for fans to 'lift the roof' & back the home side.
captain Clarke calls for more vociferous support from the home fans.
Andy Booth reminds fans that good vocal support really does give the team a 'lift'.
right.
Away fans given the best behind goal location in the stadium. Who are allowed to stand, corner flag to corner flag for the whole game, without any outside interference whatsoever.
music played so LOUD before the kick-off that it literally has a negative effect. when it gets turned off - usually just before the ball is kicked to start the game - the silence that follows is deafening
An open admission by the 'inc' mob that...they don't want a Kop type 'phenomena', it's not in the perceived format of the direction 'they' want the club to be taken.
The reality.
Stoke City share an 'end' with the away fans.
Villa moved the away contingent to the touchline side to accommodate their own fans behind BOTH goals. & they are left alone & allowed to stand the whole game.
West Ham the same.
Blunderland the sa....sorry, Sunderland the same..
Liverpool Kop. banners & flag every week.
This could be a Very very long list, & is REALITY for all those fans who support those clubs.
The last One, One I have mentioned time & time again, & no one has ever acknowledged it, for debate or otherwise.
FULHAM !
their so called away end is a mixed mixture of ALLSORTS ! plain to see, not made up, another 'reality'... Home & away fans sat side by side mixed together. Now.
If there was any trouble, anything untoward, The 'papers' would be all over it like a rash. There is NO trouble.
I don't know how they do it, The question is, Why can't we (as a club) Find out ?
Dortmund v Bayern soon. It will be a cracking atmosphere, I wonder if they'll all be sat darn !
Does the pope wear a sensible hat
posted on 16/5/13
No worries Jacko.
Darn- to answer your points the best I can.
Away fans standing- if numbers are large then yes they get away with it, the stewards are told not to bother if its large numbers, Clibbens told us as much 2 years ago when we discussed how the home fans were being treated differently. His advice that day was if you don't want to be selected out for standing up, make sure everyone else stands up.
Within all that is the answer to why the atmosphere in the Kilner isn't as good as it used to be....STEWARDING.
Unfortunately Town don't have a say in the stewarding because that remit belongs to the Stadium company which we currently have no shares in.
The sharing of the away end- it isn't financially viable at this point for Town to split the away end into home and away support. It's well known that Town have to pay £5k everytime we need to do this. The up take was poor by the home support and left Dean Hoyle with a short fall to make up every time. Add this to the fact that we can't sell out the other 3 sides of the ground so why waste valuable cash on it. If and that's a big IF, we made to the Premier League and ticket sales went up and prices went up I no doubt Town would try and expand on the idea of filling the stadium with as many home supporters as possible. And reducing the number of away tickets to the bare minimum
Onto flags and banners, I still don't get how these improve the atmosphere, yes it's nice to see the flags and all the places they come from but it does nothing to add to the atmosphere IMO.
Fulham- the so called away end is split into 3 sections as far as I know. Home fans,away fans and a neutral zone in between. It's beyond me how they do it as well but it's not something I think we need at Town, in factTown fans tried to go to a Fulham game the season before last when our game was called off. The majority didnt get in because the police told Fulham not to sell tickets to them, some did get in and then were escorted out simply because they had a Huddersfield shirt on. None of them were trouble makers they all just wanted to watch a football match after arriving in London.
posted on 18/5/13
Darn, nice idea about pay on the day, sadly, this will never happen. Those H&S mongrels will not allow it, neither the police, as they would not know how many coppers would be needed to police the event.
Anyhow, you're deserting us to 'watch' the Shayman. Halifax will need some black magic to get them back up the leagues!
posted on 22/5/13
So safe standing to be voted in by Championship clubs ?
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/exclusive-championship-clubs-set-to-push-for-safestanding-trials-8626274.html