The Kraken

Its a soundbite so that the supporters don't ask too many questions when we do things completely different to other clubs. "But that's a worse way of doing it!" "Maybe, maybe not, but its the Southampton Way".

Because contraception never fails, does it?

In a nutshell; yes, that's why I believe. I don't for a minute believe we're losing out on thousands of potential season ticket holders; I've never said that. But I do strongly believe we will have lost out on some, yes. Whether its 1 person, 10, 100 or more, we can never ever really know, which is why I point out that its all speculation, but I do believe it to be the case, to whatever extent. You disagree, and that's fine, neither of us can be proved right in any case.

I'm not sure if you're deliberately missing the point or not now. You assume that everyone, every single person, who buys a season ticket makes their decision to do so at the start of the summer and then follows through with that decision. That nobody decides "i'm going to get a season ticket" at the start of the summer but talk themselves out of it by July. All I'm suggesting (and it is a suggestion as there's no evidence either way) is that, by decreasing the window of opportunity to market and sell season tickets, there are some opportunities to get potential customers on board BEFORE they decide "you know what, its not worth me getting a season ticket, I'll just go match by match". Straight after the promotion, everyone is on a high, and there MAY have been a number of people who got carried away on that wave of emotion and went and bought a season ticket. Those same people, after thinking about it for a couple of months, MAY then decide not to purchase. You seem happy to suggest that this simply isn't possible or feasible. That not one, single person would do this. I disagree, in fact I think its pretty much a certainty, if only for a relatively small number of people. And there's no way to say whether either of us are correct. So there we are, I think this has been done to death and the prices are finally out now.

Sure you can. If the club believe he's truly guilty of gross misconduct they don't need FA backing to bin him out. The FA ban might just make it a bit easier for them if he appealed it in a court of law. At worst he should be formally suspended IMO.

Decent player; potentially a replacement for Guly on the right, unless we changed our favoured formation and went with him in the #10 role and one up front.

The club have clearly read this thread and taken heed of the well-reasoned arguments from the "where are the season tickets?" brigade.

Very well put. Some people take it as a massive affront when anyone dares to question any part of club operations, no matter how minor it is. And then get all uppity and claim that any such criticism is part of a deep seated cynical plot to undermine the club and de-stable things. Or bring out the old classic "we nearly didn't have a club 3 years ago...". Its childish and tedious in the extreme. And given that every single other club in our division (including world leaders in their fields) choose to operate in an entirely different manner to us in terms of season ticket sales, it is an entirely relevant question to ask.

Financial years typically run from the start and end of a particular month. For instance its being suggested that ours starts in June, so would run from 1st June to 31st May. Either that or it would be July, so July 1st to 30th June. Last year, season tickets went on sale on July 1st, so that ties in with your theory. This year, however, its been suggested that tickets will start on sale some time in June. If that turns out to be the case then I don't think the FY theory holds water.

You've just brought up an entirely different argument. Price has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Whatever the price of season tickets are; whether they are £100 or £600. I maintain that we could sell more in total by getting them on sale as soon as possible after clinching promotion to capitalise on the feelgood factor at that time. I maintain we could sell more in total by having a longer sales window. You clearly don't. You think we're like Apple, and a shorter sales window will actually increase the amount of season tickets we sell. That's fine if that's your opinion. But quite clearly, world leaders such as Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool etc disagree with you, as they don't go for a shorter sales window. they maximise sales by maximising the amount of time in which they can make sales. I'll choose to accept their method as the most efficient one, and not SFC's "Steve Jobs" equivalent.

I've stated the reasons I think a longer sales window leads to more sales. I'd have thought it was common sense myself; its certainly telling that we're the only club who seems to believe that a short sales window is the way forward. We're not competing with tin-pot clubs here; we're up against world leaders in their field, who know what they're doing. We'll have to agree to disagree if you think they've clearly got it wrong and ours is a much more efficient system that will lead to exactly the same number of sales. Because I think that's a complete nonsense.

No, you haven't read me right. It is not just people who are renewing; Reading have a loyalty points system (or Royalty points as they call them), based on season tickets and match tickets etc which get topped up with each purchase. So its not just renewals of season tickets, there will also be people buying who have just been members, so are potentially buying a new season ticket. You're also justifying this approach just by basing it on what you'll do. You've made your mind up that you're buying a season ticket, and that's that. I find it surprising you discount the fact that a longer sales window could lead to more sales. That capitalising of promotion by making STs available straight away could lead to more sales. And that communicating with the fans throuhgout the close-season and promoting sales could lead to more sales.

Reading have cashed in on the euphoria of promotion by flogging season tickets early; they have today passed through the 15,000 mark. And they're not even yet on general sale. in other words, reading have capitalised on the feelgood factor at the end of the season to snap up customers. The 15,000 mark will also have an effect on attracting even more customers. Do you really disagree that our way of selling tickets won't have a detrimental effect compared to if we had taken Reading's example? There's no way of knowing, of course, so its all speculation. But I don't think its outrageous to suggest the Royals have got it spot on, and we potnetially haven't.

Or announcing when they will go on sale. Or announcing whether there will be a payment plan. Or announcing what the details of the payment plan will be. Personally, even if the FY is the reason, IMO its a poor reason. Effectively sacrificing the opportunity to maximise season ticket sales so that the accounting can be a little bit cleaner? Not for me.

This. Its amazing the lengths people will go to, to try and justify a minor club policy which can quite clearly and quite easily be improved.

The point is though; it often IS an impulse purchase for some people. Many people will think one way or the other, should I or shouldn't I, so any advantage that can be gained to get them on board should be taken IMO. You have the diehards who will buy a season ticket come what may, and will budget accordingly. But there is also a large potential market who may buy in to the wave of good feeling going around. Look at Reading, 15,000 season tickets sold already; they had nowhere near that figure last season, but they have used their promotion as a brilliant marketing tool to take advantage of the enthusiasm the fans have at the back end of the season. We, instead, wait for things to calm down entirely before getting season tickets out on sale. Now, there's no way of knowing for sure either way, but I'd be much more confident to suggest that the amount of customers we'll attract by the last-minute sales method is less than the number of sales we'd have made than by selling season tickets in the same manner that all other clubs do it. Its a proven, tried and tested method, which is why its altogether baffling we still go against the grain in such a manner. Saying "it doesn't matter, we're loaded, we can afford to be different", as others have said, doesn't do it for me.

Sorry, I don't buy that. Most people (myself included) can recognise the many good things the club have done, whilst also asking questions of what seems to be a very questionable method of selling season tickets. This is not an effort to undermine the club, or the CEO, for goodness sake. I'll happily admit its a very minor issue in the grand scheme of things. But I see nothing wrong at all with asking some pertinent questions about why the club are so determined to pursue a method of sales so out of kilter with the market norm (i.e. every single one of our league rivals). Why the club are insistent upon following a sales method for which it is very difficult to identify the benefits of from purely a business point of view. And one which clearly (and needlessly) affects/annoys/infuriates to some degree a section (however minor) of the potential customer base, and which clearly can be seen could negatively affect sales.

Makes sense to have Liverpool as a major cruise liner start point. If it does all go through, perhaps it could prompt our town planners into actually doing something more positive to attract visitors to the city, rather than planning for endless amounts of new housing and retail.

Should just get on with it and do it then. He'll have little or no sell on value anyway, and the sooner its done the sooner he's off the wage bill.

By that token, do you assume that every other club (i.e. all of them in this division) are desperate for money, and that is why they have put season tickets on sale already? The fact that we do things differently to everyone else doesn't mean that we're pioneering, or guarantee that we're right. It doesn't in itself suggest the club is badly run either. It does make season tickets more difficult to purchase, that is for sure, and can probably be argued that season ticket sales are diminished to some extent. People can make up their own minds whether that's good business sense or not; offset against whatever potential reason they wish to choose for this tactic of a reduced sales window. I could care less about the way we sell season tickets. I cared when the payment plan was suddenly reduced a couple of years ago wihtout warning, because it made it more difficult for some fans to buy an ST, and left others unable to do so. I would like the club to show sustainable growth and the ability to outgrow its own surroundings; and I consider season ticket sales to be a very good benchmark of whether that's possible. So I'd like to see the number of sales maximised. But in general, I'd just like to see buying tickets for the club made just a little bit easier; its not exactly hard, admittedly, but the fact the club goes out of its way to keep a veil of secrecy around things in the face of all other clubs being thoroughly accessible is (to me anyway) an off-putting sales tactic.

Maybe until it makes sense to do so?

Its not indicative of anything, other than it is a strange business practise completely at odds with all of our rivals for which no reasonable reason can be put forward for why the club sgould act in this manner as a sound business methodology. I also like to think most of our fan base are able to comprehend the distinction between our owners' wealth and the football club's wealth; but given your post, perhaps not.

Sorry yes. I should have noticed that the reason we're not selling season tickets yet is actually indicative of the the fact that we are richer than the likes of Man United, Man City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Everton, Sunderland, and all of the rest. They are only selling tickets now as they are desperate for the cash. We on the other hand don't need that income. That can be the only logical reason that we haven't sold season tickets yet and won't for another 3 or 4 weeks.