stevegrant

£277 is right... bottom-right corner of this graphic:

Correct, it is £3 per transaction, not £3 per ticket. The point still stands, though, that someone buying a single ticket for a game would be better off taking their chances in the queue at 2.30pm on the day of the game than buying in advance.

Until things eventually go pear-shaped for him at Spurs and the large swathes of Spurs support in the press get their teeth into him and don't let go...

Thankyou Scudamore, you clearly have far more patience than I do! Knew it was around somewhere but couldn't put my finger on it. Firstly, the debt was £23m (we can all be pedantic arses to prove a point, you see, you're not unique), and I would be amazed if Liebherr wasn't looking to retrieve the £15m or so he put in to settle those debts further down the line. That's the idea of "investment", that you get a positive return from it in the future. At the moment, we have no new training facilities. To my knowledge, building work at Staplewood was due to commence some time in March, but as yet contracts are yet to be signed. While the accounts will now be a lot later when they are eventually submitted to Companies House due to the much looser regulations on private limited companies, I'll be amazed if they don't show SFC at least breaking even for this financial period. The crowds have been much higher than expected, added to the revenue from two cup runs, which has allowed them the freedom to spend a bit more on the playing squad.

And yet you continue to believe the unsubstantiated rumour that the Echo just make stuff up, and refuse to take up their offer of a tour of the newsroom so you can see exactly what goes on there for yourself. Something of a hypocrite, wouldn't you say?

No, but I generally take a dim view of those who make a point of being obtuse with their comments and arguments, which you do without fail.

On attendances and ticket revenue that will dwarf that of every other club in this division next season. Liebherr hasn't been bankrolling our spending, it's all money we've generated by getting more than 20,000 people through the turnstiles every other week - with the added bonus of the two cup runs that have supplemented that income.

What actually was your point? You seem to change it at every possible opportunity... I've come to the conclusion that you're just a WUM.

Pretty sure it's been a fairly open secret that there's a 5-year plan to get back to the Premier League. As for the bonus, it surely goes without saying that he'd be on one for success within that timeframe - I've heard fairly consistent details from a number of sources that I trust, sources that will naturally remain anonymous.

Some might say even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day

Do you not think it somewhat odd that Radio Solent (and Blackmore in particular) seem to be the ones who get all of the club exclusives? Whether you appreciate his knowledge of the game or not (I don't listen to any radio station, so wouldn't really know), he tends to be on the money with a lot of the stories that have come out of the club in the last year or so. There's a reason for that - he has a very good contact within the club who is either very close to Cortese or is Cortese himself.

I'm sure I remember the "Platinum" games at St Mary's being £38... I love your blind optimism but what makes you think that Cortese will still be here by the time we're looking to increase capacity? Considering his irritation at us missing out on promotion this season, I think it's fair to say that the original five-year plan has been reduced somewhat. He's on a massive bonus if we get to the Premier League (not Premiership, see, we can all be pedantic arses), IMO he wants to get his hands on that and get the hell out of here as soon as he can.

How is that in any way different from believing that: a) everything Cortese says publicly is the truth and not even a slight variation of the truth (let alone an all-out lie), b) everything the Echo ever prints is a lie that they have made up to try to stitch up the football club (even when the actual source of the story stands by it); both of which you are 100% guilty of? On the second point, by the way, Adam Blackmore was ****ing himself laughing at people on here giving the Echo all the grief for the Pardew out/Liebherr not at the game story that he broke - couldn't believe his luck. Oh, and he still stands by it.

A little from A... In the past, the club used to have a box on the season ticket renewal form which would automatically renew the season ticket for the following season - understandable that this wasn't considered a year ago with the short timescales involved, but also arguably a missed trick.

Not true. Every year since he's been at the club, it has been Luker who has put together the pricing package for both season and matchday tickets, which have then been discussed and rubber-stamped by the board. The season ticket situation is far from the only thing which has led to poor communication from the club recently. Totally agree, no issue with the price at all. I don't think the £125 thing has had much bearing on peoples' views, really - anyone with half a brain knew that wasn't a realistic prospect - why would the club chuck away more than £1m in near-guaranteed revenues when they're trying to run the club in a sustainable manner? The main problem for me is that there's no obvious reason why these prices couldn't have been announced a month or more ago, thereby giving everyone more time to get the money together. Giving people 30 days at the renewal price makes the process seem really rushed - it's not as if the ticket office have been rushed off their feet with work since the end of the season, and there's no special announcement that the prices are linked to. It's all rather baffling, and certainly isn't the first time that's been the case with SFC this season.

That was the case, yes. I assume the £3 transaction fee applies regardless of the type of card used now.

Ultimately, Cortese doesn't give a toss about that. He's only concerned about the here and now. Personally, if he reckons they'll get anywhere near 13,000 season ticket holders this year when last year's have been given 30 days to find £300+ in one lump sum, I think he's going to have a rather rude awakening. There are probably 8,000 of last year's season ticket holders who would generally renew under any circumstance (within reason) - hence why the idea of the £125 season ticket was a complete non-starter - but the other 5,000 or so's season-long custom would depend on a variety of factors. Timing and convenience are probably quite high on a list of those factors. The timing is terrible, the season's been over for the best part of a month, so there's no momentum left over from last season. As a result, the desire from the "floating" fans could easily have reduced since the season finished, which would have an impact. While the point about "get a 0% credit card" is valid, it's also not especially convenient. One of the main benefits, I think, of the installment plan the club offered in the past is that the form comes with the season ticket renewal form, so it just gets sent in at the same time, job done. With a new credit card, you have to go to the effort of finding a suitable card (not everyone would know where to look), then there's a much more substantial amount of time required to register for the card, and then once the card arrives, you have to activate it (can involve waiting on the phone for half an hour). You then make the purchase, but then you have to either set up a direct debit with the card provider (most don't do it within the registration process) or remember to make the right payments each month. All sounds simple, but there's a lot more to it than the club's own payment plan.

My opinion is that David Luker has had bugger all input into the ticketing policy this year or the associated delay in announcing it. In each of the previous 10 or so years he's been at the club, season ticket details have been published at the earliest possible opportunity (last season was the only time that wasn't well before the end of the season, for obvious reasons), and with very little complaint from the fanbase.

Seems as though if Palace do go bust, Sheffield Wednesday would not get a reprieve. The Championship would be made up of just 23 teams next season. Assuming, of course, Pompey make it to August...

Did they??

No it won't, it's just badly worded in the article (much like the ambiguity over the booking fee - I've had it confirmed that the £3 fee is per transaction, not per ticket, fortunately). The £2 surcharge is on top of the "in advance" ticket price, so the "on-the-day" price is £24. Why would they advertise an "on-the-day" price and THEN add another £2 onto it? (actually, given what we've seen today, probably best not to answer that )

Happy with the Barnet game, I've not been to Underhill before so that's one I can tick off the list.

I think they would have used an external company to provide this service. The club itself isn't set up to offer finance, it would need to be FSA-approved, etc. As a result, the club would take a bit of a hit on the season ticket price as the finance provider would take a portion of the money in exchange for providing the money to SFC up front, so the club would still get (most of) the money at the point of purchase, but they would have to pay a fee for doing so.

Some may even argue that at least with Lowe, if you had a grievance, you'd get the courtesy of a response... *awaits incoming abuse*

Can't say I've got any complaints over the prices themselves - with the VAT rate reverting to 17.5%, and the club having to price the tickets in such a way as to get loads sold at short notice last summer, an increase of only £30 on a renewal is fair enough, IMO. Even the matchday prices themselves are ok - if bought in advance, the actual ticket price is £2 less than last year (it was £24 for the Northam last season, then £26 on the day from January), but then they've thrown in the £3 booking fee for online and phone sales to throw it all out of sync. The hilarious irony is that it will now work out cheaper for people to buy match-by-match tickets on the day of the game by queueing up at the ticket office (£24) than to book on the phone or online (£22 + £3 = £25). Good work, whoever came up with that idea to reduce the queues at the ticket office on matchdays