Gorgiesaint

No - it was quoted by MarkSFC in this thread who was quoting what was apparently reported on South Today - I'm out of the area so can't get South Today so unable to confirm if this was reported. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=23018

My concern is that we are aiming high with our transfer targets (players who will be good enough to get us through the NPC) that if we miss out them, we will be too late to get the best L1 players who were available - like Gudjohnsen & Arfield who have now signed for Huddersfield.

All I'm trying to do is to get you to try & think from NC's perspective - you've rebuffed Beancounter this morning when he queried a couple of points, and IMO you are only looking at the issue from the supporters point of view. Getting perspective from the otherside may help understand the issue. That said NC hasn't been that forthcoming with much of explanation. When you are put in NC's position, the decision is not as cut & dried as you make out - you wouldn't take £2 per month - who would!! Woud reiterate, I totally support the complaints against the lack of communication - the Ugly Inside article is spot on and that needs to be the focus, not the payment plan.

Very good article overall

Stu, totally in agreement about the (lack of) communication but consider this scenario. We're in the pub & I borrow a tenner from you to get a round in on the understanding that its paid back before the end of the month. Now it comes to the end of the month & give you £2 - and tell you you'll get £2 at the end of July, Aug, Sept & October - don't worry, you'll still get your £10 back. Would you be happy with that? Somehow I doubt it - but that is the situation NC is in with payment collection plan. Listen you've done some good work but you need to be open to some of the other issues that Beancounter raised beacuse you've not looked at all of the downsides to the club.

I see Liverpool just announced their season ticket prices for next season today, and you only have until 25th June to renew. Mind you with a waiting list, they are not short of people wanting a season ticket. Just shows that well run clubs make their fans jump at short notice. Well run? oh it's Liverpool.....

You're right Hutch - I couldn't get my brain working at the time!! I wonder if the ruleset I've downloaded is an old set as I can't see anything in there relating to in administration without a cva being produced.

Can't find confirmation of it but my understanding was that they became members of the league on 3rd June & its ratified at the league meeting - which is the one in Malta that was talked about a couple of pages ago. (Edit: Just checked being held this weekend). Overall not sure when the penalty applies - either way the results of the conference will be interesting (maybe thats why Griffins chose today to release the 'revised' cva).

Here's the relevent bit from the FL rulebook.... 12.3.3 If any club relegated to the League from The Premier League (in accordance with the Rules of The Premier League) whilst it was a member of The Premier League, took or suffered any such action as set out in Regulation 12.3.1 of these regulations at any time following the end of the season (as defined in the Rules of The Premier League) but before it becomes a member of The League, then that club, upon being accepted as a member of The League in accordance with Regulations 7.4 and 10.1 shall suffer a deduction of 10 points, such points deduction to apply in respect of the following Season such that the Club starts that Season in Division One on minus 10 points. 12.3.4 For the avoidance of doubt, where a Club is subject to more than one of the procedures in Regulation 12.3.1 above during a process of compromising its creditors (for example Administration followed by a Company Voluntary Arrangement), the Club shall only be deducted one set of 10 points, such deduction to apply with effect from the first insolvency procedure.

Well thats the final nail in the coffin for AA's CVA. There is no chance of that going through. The question is, if the creditors decide they prefer the new CVA produced by Griffins can they vote AA & UHY Hacker Young out & employ Griffins as the new administrators? If so, that would be very interesting to see what thay think when they do a final report on the administration - could this mean AA getting his come-uppance as well?

...

Whether that last bit is true or not, at least Stu is standing up for what he believes in. As he stated, its about the lack of communication between the club & its fans. Now whilst I don't fully agree with Stu around the clubs motives, I do agree that feedback needs to be given to the club to say what they have done (and how it was done) has had a negative reaction with a section of the fanbase which may have implications on the clubs revenue stream. As fans, we also need to know about changes that will have an impact on us - that didn't happen this time.

If you're looking for the NC to make an public statement based on whats been in the Echo & on this site as the sufficient outrage then don't hold your breath. We've already seen from the non-comments over Pardews future that getting the club to comment is nigh on impossible. What I would suspect is that NC or David Luker respond to any correspondance sent directly to them (including email) and we've seen that David Luker certainly has in the past - even if the responses are towing the party line. From reading your input into this thread, I believe you were going to forward the details of the Zebra scheme to the club - can you confirm that you have done this? That does then throw the ball into the clubs court.

Haha can see it now... "Thank you Iceland. Now here's the Independant Republic of Portsea with their song 'It started with a bell(end)' "

Very far out!! Apart from the fact he wants Premier League football (which is the only thing he would leave his Rangers for), he's looking for about £30k per week as a starting point for negotiations. My bet is that he will join McLeish at Birmingham for next season. Actually one player that would do a job for us (but probably wouldn't join unless we were in at least the Championship) is David Goodwillie of Dundee United. Thinks he got young player of the year in Scotland, seen him a couple of times, confident finisher with a good pace, not an out & out target man but enough strength to be able to hold the ball up.

Not nearly as bad as the new chant for 2011/12 season - "stripe army" You heard it hear first!!

Because of another thread, I was on Colchester Utd's website this morning and took a look at what they were doing with season tickets, and interesting to see how different the approach is in many ways. That said, no installment scheme was offered (although this was launched on 8th March with both L1 & Championship prices) - but they had half & quarter season tickets which allowed you choose which games (within limits) you could attend. Linked in with any season ticket was a membership with a host of extra's. One of these extra was a book of vouchers to be used within Colchester to get discounts at businesses not related to the football club. It seems that CUFC have gone out of their way to develop a relationship with buinesses in their local area. Have to say, it was all well presented - I've included the link below. If anyone is going to contact either NC or David Luker then it may well be worth forwarding this on to them as an example of what other clubs are up to. http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1n2xz/ColchesterUnited2010/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F137141%2FColchester-United-2010-11-Season-Ticket-Brochure Edit: Forgot to say, no booking fee's on individual match tickets either as far as I can see

If you bothered to read my post then I said its likely that both schemes operate, I've only looked at one club & commented on what I saw, no more, no less. Actually the more I think about this, the more I think ML is just along for the ride and it's NC who is driving the train. If I remember rightly, NC approached ML about buying us in the first place and convinced him to stump up the funds. I wonder if NC is on a decent cut of the profits to be made and club when its sold. Why would a Swiss based German buy a L1 club in England - to make money? Except there are limited profits even if you get to the PL, which are a drop in the ocean to someone worth £2.5bn and who owns the MALI group lock, stock & barrel. Would also explain why NC turned down the chance to join the Milan board, loyalty to ML - well only if it paid very, very well. Oh, and by the way Stu - the last 3 paragraphs are speculation

Okay Stu, see where you are coming from on this - and if it's structured this way it's not a loan. However, as I think Sue pointed out, this does delay the club getting the money - so much so that some of it will arrive too late to use in this transfer window, so would you be happy if we bought no-one in this summer? would AP? Also this method still puts all the risk on the club. I'm not going to trail through 70 other clubs websites to see what schemes they use, but I did check the blue few's. Two options - one a loan for 3 months (int free - guess the club subsidise) with a £20 application fee & the other a loan for 6 mths at 19.9% with a £20 application fee. Your scheme wasn't on offer. In short, both of us are right to certain extent. I think you've now started to some round to the bigger issue here - which is the lack of communication and going against the charter that was produced. You are right that serious questions need to be asked. (Just speculating for a second, I wonder if season/match ticket pricing was the reason that the programme was withdrawn from sale at the Southend game) One last thing before I go & disinfect my laptop having been on 'their' site - just because I don't agree with some of what you say, it doesn't make me a retard or a spacko, thanks.

Agree with the above, but it's over to you Smirking Saint, I've given up trying to explain this to Stu. He's the expert, it's not credit, it's not a loan - even though it says it's a loan on the website & I provided both the link & quote. Good luck!!

For all I've said, there is an issue here and that's the customer charter or whatever it was called. Part of that was about communication with the fans. Whatever the rights & wrongs of not having an installment scheme, the lack of communication needs to be raised at the next fans forum (assuming there is one).

So are you when it comes to saying the reasons that the club have given are wrong. Has anyone asked why there are only 2 companies that offer this type of facility? I'll speculate because its hard business to make money from as the default rate is high - given that many of the people who take this opportunity cannot get credit from any other source. Whether extending credit to those types of individuals is the right thing I'll leave for others to argue... No it's not, but getting your facts right is fairly crucial in an argument. The quote below is from the Zebra Finance website: http://www.zebrafinance.co.uk/football.htm Of the thousands that need this facility (apparently) has anyone actually spoken to Zebra Finance to see if they will take an application for a Saints season ticket?

Steve, actually his post had 10 points, unfortunately just no words to go with it

That would be an agreement between you & the gym - no third party company involved a la Zebra Finance so different situation. In that circumstance, the club would take a hit if anyone defaulted on payments and lose income - which is what happened last year (from my understanding). Anyway, I'm done on this thread (like Stu), but unfortunately I don't have a nice lady to take for a walk!!

Well we'll have to agree to disagree on various points but never mind. Look FWIW I hope you do manage to change NC's mind and get him to offer a installment scheme, but do make sure you've got your facts straight before you go in. Having said that I've taken a look at Zebra's website - and I would judge that NC's probably never heard of them as they look a right 2 bob outfit. Anyone able to search who the directors are? (Just in case I know them from past experience!) If all else fails then you'll have to go with installment plan on offer - the one where you pay £22 over 23 installments at various intervals, mainly 2 weeks apart