StuRomseySaint

Oh ok... well mine are true figure including early bird and renewal discounts. I take it you don't want the bet then? You can't come on here and claim people season ticket prices completely ignoring the early discounts of the respective clubs which show a completely different story! I have told you how it works with pretty much every club... it's your decision what you want to believe. Are you sure you don't work for the club.

Can you be a little bit more detailed in your questioning Nick? If you are on about how long we had to buy the season tickets last season... they were cheaper, we had just come out of administration and there was an interest free installment plan for those that couldnt raise the money within the timeframe. So if that's your point... don't bother.

It seems a bit all over the place on this thread, because I am speaking to a million different people who are asking a million different questions, alot of them not relevent. Quite simply what I am telling Mr Cortese is that I believe he has withdrawn the season ticket installment plan as an aggressive move to ensure fans are forced into paying the matchday prices, which he has also inflicted with price rises. I also took the time to remind this that his 'no sponsorship' gesture does not cut it with me as a gesture, the real gesture would be and economic and fan-friendly season ticket package. Lastly, I am taking my own personal stance because I am not happy with the business model that he is building, which will hit us all in the pocket, when all's said and done, we are still in League 1. And us as fans, are being treated with absolutely no respect whatsoever...

So you are stating them figures also include early bird discounts? What's your wager?

So when thousands of families have their holidays ruined and costing them thousands of pounds, wedding days ruined etc etc... ... he f*cks off on holiday whilst his Union members are on strike? No, in a job like that he is not entitled to a f*cking holiday. Just shows what a joke that Union are. Anyway, luckily all them trolley dolleys won't have a job soon and nobody else in their industry will touch them with a bargepole.

Well I would suggest you phone up and get a quote ' as a sports club director ' to work out how the costings are passed on to the club. You are just guessing as to what costs are for the club. Some of the club loans are as simple as the respective clubs endorsing them in return for income ( affiliate commision for referrals ) , others are more interlinked agreements ( such as the P*rtsmouth one ) , where there is no financial risk to the club, the customer nor Zebra Finance as it is simply premium collection and management, not a loan. As I said, you are not going to get any information from the clubs sites with regards to the cost or risk to the club, so you are not in a position to rubbish my findings.

No I don't want Liebherr to leave, of course not! I want his delegated custodian whilst obviously making a mint for his boss, to also treat the customers/fans with a certain amount of respect. I think the accounts might make good reading when they come out, as I reckon that we are running very near to profit already. The gift definately confuses me, it's the rationalle behind it... it's like going to the checkout at Asda with some peas and some carrots, the cashier says you can have the peas half price, as long as you pay double for the carrots. The loan stuff is irrelevent, it's just how I understand ( from paying quite alot of interest and research ) than bankrolled football clubs work. I don't think we are being bankrolled at the moment, I think we are living within our means, even with the training ground etc. I just state it because I think people expect us to have a Chelsea style owner who is throwing money at us left right and centre... this is a business from the instance and it is clear to me that Liebherr is reluctant to fund us to live outside our natural means ( which is no bad thing ). We might have a billionaire owner, but you are only as wealthy as the amount he puts in the pot for the football club.

Rather than bother with the rest of the stuff you wrote, which also lacked any source or anything to back it up, allow me to pick up on this. Now I have spoken to Premium Credit Ltd and Zebra Finance and have generic quotes from Zebra which are in complete contradiction to what you state. Would you like to tell me who you spoke to at Zebra Finance and I will check that the information I have is correct? Or are you another one of these people that will guess at something without making the effort to reply? I await your reply.

Sack them all, fakkin 'ell. I watched Airline on Sky 3 a few days ago, the episode was about the training they have to do... such as... - How to apply makeup. - How to knot a tie. LMFAO Sack them all and may they spend their future years picking and packing in a cold and damp factory for minimum wage. Scum

Errr, he is a Union boss and he jumps on an Easyjet flight to Pathos when his members are stood on the picket line? That is a f*cking joke.

That info is wrong. Only Colchester and Brighton have more expensive season tickets.

No, Cowen was the Chief Exec/Managing Director etc That's who I meant, anyway.

Lowe used to always reply personally, if for some reason he couldn't, the it would be the Chief Executive that did.

You are not listening, is it going to take another 9 pages of me repeating myself to get people to understand it, like it has the payment plan? Nicola Cortese has stated that the lack of a headline sponsor is a gift to us, the fans as the club doesn't need the money, then almost in the same breath has put into place systems that will cost the fan in excess of £1m next season. You are right, I wouldn't be comparing them if he didn't come out with the line about shirts... but he did. It's not actually the cost of the tickets that is the issue, it's the way they are going about trying to maximise their revenue which is wrong... by forcing people out of being able to pay game by game at a cost of up to £247 MORE than what a season ticket holder will pay. If you are happy getting more and more money squeezed out of you then fair play, can you also not respect that lots of people dont want to get ripped off. And before you say anything, this thread is not a true reflection of the public feeling, all the stick I have taken on here, it's understanable alot of people won't stick their head above the parapit. But I don't give a fook what you think. :-)

I wasn't doing that. I was responding to his quotes which said that the lack of a sponsor was a gift from the club to us, when clearly that is not true as they have increased other costs to the fan to more than cover this loss of income, infact the money made from the fans is probably around 4 times as much as what they have 'given' to the fans. So all the other expenditure is irrelevent, that's not my point, BUT as I said, I believe the club is running very close to even at the moment, so apart from the initial purchase of the football club, there has been very little in the way of further investment ( yet ).

Depends what you are looking for. There is a few packages. For example you can add free alcohol / hot meal / cold buffet etc Between £100 and £150+VAT per person ( based on 10 sharing the box ) I believe.

The prices from other clubs season tickets are all accurate? Are you sure Nick? Willing to put some money on it? Because I personally have been on all of them OS's to get the figures. Willing to put your money where your mouth is?

No, I am talking specifically about the 125th anniversary shirt which was given to us as a 'gesture' from the club as " we don't need the money " . With regards to the £3m "investment" on players and training ground. I would imagine our running profits for this season mean that actually, contrary to what you might think... there has needed to be minimal extra investment ( loan ) from Liebherr, if at all any. With regards to staff aquisitions... I think you would do well to remember that during administration, through redundancies etc, we were down to skeleton staff, and the recruitment of a new management team was always going to happen.

So will I to be honest. I have already been told that there are no plans to release any further statements regarding the season tickets etc, however all emails/letters are answered individually by the club. So at the very leased we will know if they have dodged the questions put to them. :-/

No, requested Dave Luker forward it.

Going up by automatic promotion is by no means a formality, don't set yourself up for a fall mate. JPT trophy is very achievable, considering we are one of the strongest teams in the competition and the Southern section being the weaker one. And anyway, I was just giving an example, the point I was making is that the club will think of something which means you HAVE to buy a membership.

*** COPY OF EMAIL SENT TO NICOLA CORTESE *** Dear Mr Cortese, I am writing once again with regards to your pricing structure for the 2010/2011 season, which I believe to be directly aggressive in the hope of ensuring minimal take up on the season tickets, trying to maximise your income on a match by match basis, at the expense of us, the fans. I have looked into the claims coming from the club, which state that the instalment plan has been removed due to the rise in administration costs. I believe this either not to be true, either that or all viable options have not been explored. I spoke to Zebra Finance last week to find out the costs of implementing such a scheme. I was told by the representative at Zebra finance that every package is bespoke and there needs to be no costs incurred by the club. Zebra claim their administration fees by collecting interest on the payments, or an administration fee etc, which carries zero cost to the football club. Of course there are other options, such as interest-free options in which there may be some cost to the club, but from the discussions I had with Zebra Finance, they ensured me there needs to be no direct cost to the club. In your Fans Charter you have a very clear target for the 09-10 season: http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/staticFiles/5f/44/0,,10280~148575,00.pdf 09-10 Season Targets • Via our Supporter engagement policy, we will seek feedback on ticket prices for forthcoming seasons in an attempt to ensure maximum supporter buy-in. This is your very own target from your very own Supporters Charter which you drew up only a few months ago. There has been absolutely zero communication that I am aware of with Southampton fans with regards to Season Ticket pricing structures for the 2010/2011 season, so you have clearly not met that target. Your pricing structure for the 2010/2011 season is not one which will ensure maximum supporter buy-in, it is a directly aggressive structure to make the buying of Season Tickets as restrictive as possible, to try and maximise the income by reducing the amount of ‘discount price’ customers the club has and increasing the number of pay on the day ‘premium paying’ customers. 1. Why have the club decided to wait until June 1st to release details of the Season Tickets and offer fans only a 30 day window to renew? 2. Why was there no prior warning that the season ticket instalment plan was not being renewed in the months prior to the announcement? 3. Why has the official line been the removal was down to administration costs, when clearly this was not the case? As a business as well, I am sure that if you were looking for a maximum supporter buy-in then you would have at least sent a renewal pack out to the customer? Or as in previous seasons, conducted some advertising and marketing to make people aware of the season ticket renewals. This is another example as proof how I believe that you, as a football club, are trying to minimise the amount of discount fans the club has and make them restrictive as possible. With regards to the ticket booking charges, added to the match day prices, they make ours the most expensive in the league, and I see them as another opportunity to get more revenue from the supporter. You have stated that the replica shirt next season is having no sponsor as a ‘gesture’ to the fans for our 125th. Well the booking charges, 15% increase in season tickets, the fact that the replica shirt is only for one season and the extra revenue you will get from forcing people to pay on the day will more than cover the amount you lose. Now you will know better than me, but I estimate you will get well in excess of £1m in extra revenue from these new revenue streams, whereas you might command about a quarter of that in Sponsorship fees, one thing I am certain of is that the new charges/price increases will be more than any sponsorship income. So do excuse me Mr Cortese if I do see it as a case of giving something with one hand and taking more with the other hand. It is our 125th anniversary, if you want it to be a special year, then can I propose that you make the selling of tickets as easy as possible for Southampton fans so we can all be there for the celebrations? Although I do not speak on behalf of everyone, I would be happy to pay a premium/interest/standard renewal rate if it meant having the opportunity to pay in instalments. Zebra Finance have indicated to me that the instalment scheme can be set up in a matter of days, so there is still time to set it up this season, if, as in your supporters charter, you really do want maximum supporter buy-in. I understand the supporters charter relates to 09-10 season, but the targets set down in it relate to forthcoming season ticket prices etc, which relate to the 2010/2011 season. Can I please request that the club show they take their targets and supporters charter seriously and show us, the fans of the club that they do indeed want maximum supporter buy-in and want as many fans inside the stadium as possible to celebrate our 125th anniversary. I have confirmation from Zebra that they would be happy to work with SFC and can implement a scheme at no cost to the club and in a timely fashion to allow the scheme to run for this season ( even if the prices are based on the ‘new’ season ticket rates and/or interest is charged) . It’s not about the cost, it’s about giving the fans options to ensure as many people as possible can renew/buy their season ticket next season. If time is that much of an issue, I am even willing to speak to them on your behalf to obtain a full quote and costings of a scheme, which I can forward on to you. So what are you waiting for?! I would appreciate a response to this email detailing the clubs thoughts on the ticketing structure and the points I have addressed in this email. ********************************************************************************************************** Like people have said, the ball is in the clubs court now.

I think you can pretty much guarantee that there will have to be a reason for buying one to squeeze a bit more cash out. Something like 'only members and season ticket holders will qualify for any potential wembley tickets, there will be no general database sale '

Here is another one to the " don't be so stupid, the club are not trying to push people away from having a season ticket " brigade. ... have you all recieved your renewal packs? Oh... I wonder why not...? The club does not want season ticket holders, I can't understand why so many people can't see this.

I think I will put you on ignore now, you really are a tedious troll.