johnbmcr
Well-Known Member
Last year there were many posts about how much it cost you to follow city with the implicit question ‘SUPERBIA is worth it or an expensive trophy ticket?’
To assess this for myself because I was mildly tempted, I kept a log of all my spending this season including:
• The pre season games
• My Seasoncard
• Away Games ( all bar Swansea and Norwich )
• Euro Games (all home, two away)
• FA cup (all games + the semi and the yet to be played final)
• Capitol One Cup ( Just the one game )
• Travel costs
• Not accounted for is food and drink as I had to do that anyway and I am beholden to a m8 with a luxury riverside apartment in London which helps a great deal
Now I know the cost of travel to the Final and Reading and the tickets prices I am in a position to feedback.
LET’S START WITH THE JOHNBMCR SEASON 2012/13 AWARDS
IN A VERY PARTICULAR NONE X FACTOR ORDER
BEST AWAY GAMES:
Newcastle, West Brom, Arsenal, Fulham, MU and Stoke
WORST:
Everton and Southampton
BEST HOME GAMES:
Chelsea, Reading and Swansea.
WORST:
Liverpool and MU.
MOST SURPRISING CONCESSION STAND:
For the second year running Everton wins for the largest choice of red wines! (Strange but true)
BEST BURGER
Fulham from the house in the park as you walk to the ground
WORST
Chelsea and ours both crap.
TRAINS:
Above the line: First Transpennine Express
Sufficient: Virgin/Cross Country
Below the line: Southern, First Great Western and Northern.
KATHY CUM HOME HELP THE HOMELESS IN LONDON
Grateful thanx to Jimmi the Coat @northerngent for putting me up
Cash Reconciliation
My total spend on match tickets will be: £1600.50
Travel which was by:
• Bike or walking ( free)
• Taxi (25% of cost as there was four of us Southampton /Reading/Liverpool /Everton)
• Oyster card when in London
• Rail or flights booked in advance,with the odd foray into first class or extra leg room
• + A single trip on the metro to the Etihad just to say I've had a go
My travel costs will total: £1333
I got back about £160 in refunds from late trains and a crap Thomas Cook excursion to Madrid & also recovered £66.26 (Seasoncard ÷ 19) for two home games I missed being away on hols.
That’s a grand total for tickets and travel of £2773.50
Reflections
A couple of points occur to me.
1.With Superbia I would still need + £1330 for travel making the total cost around £4,000
2.Despite us selling out all our way games, If I had just turned up without buying a ticket I would not have had any problem getting into the games either using Blue Moon the week before or buying at the ground for face value (Notable exceptions FA semi final, MU and I suspect the final). This 'action research' was done by chatting with touts, monitoring blue moon and asking ‘supporters club’ members who wanted to flog seats.
So it would seem the observations on Blue Moon about masses buying tickets for points then selling them on is probably pretty accurate and there are huge questions about how (points finger here) Supporter clubs get tickets and disperse them. Having done a bit of digging about the number of points SC members have and the numbers of tickets obtained it simply does not equate. My most modest and casual scrutiny indicates the long overdue MCFC review of SC’s allocations and qualifying criteria is urgently needed. (Helpful tip think Starbucks profits and the taxes paid = morally unjustified and completely inequitable).
Closing comments
Posters will of course draw their own conclusions and lessons from my analysis; some might think it shocking to spend such a huge amount, others simply could not afford it. Being 50% of a DINK I’m ok for cash so in a position to take advantage of the schemes and offers and it struck me if MU can offer their fans interest free loans to buy tickets, barring a miracle i.e. travel and ticket prices reducing we should too. Personally I was slightly less horrified about the final amount spent because I was tracking the cash monthly but boi is it not a whoppingly massive amount of cash? Answer: Yes John too right it is.
My conclusions are:
1. SUPERBIA is way over priced by at least £1000- £1200 and therefore not value for money
2. The cup schemes are value for money. Many times during the pre season I recall De Niro urging people to sign up. The evidence is now irrefutable you must act on his advice for season 2013/14 Do it now, right here right now!
1st Unexpected item in the ‘points whore’ bonus area:
The £17.50 you spent on Villa Capital One Cup home game got you 220 points and Oldham friendly away £5, got you 60 points. Warning may not be repeated in 2013/14
2nd Unexpected item in the points whore bonus area: Signing up for the cup schemes and going to the games got me a total of 980 extra points! I enjoyed the majority of games bar Villa not only were we trashed it was the wettest night ever even in Manchester!
The positives, overall I have had great times both home and away and hopefully winning the FA will be the icing on the MCFC cake this year. I have cut my car use right down and rediscovered the joy of cycling. Whizzing around on the bike is the only way to travel.
Mildly ironic points musings
So and its some big if's IF you sign up to the schemes & buy the tickets but cannot get to all the games and, IF you can cope with the dreaded blue moan accusation ‘I name thee Points Whore’ (still better than being a homophobe or a racist in my book BTW) ‘tourists, plastics and the disorganised ’ will benefit.
Personally I’d suggest Blue Moon posters adopt the term ‘Pro Points’ instead of Points Whore which is a tad old testament /Melville fire and brimstone for me. ‘Pro Points’ is more inclusive, free range, sarcy and of course face value & non profit. Unless you set out to rip off fellow and fellow’ses blue you almost (caveated ), cannot lose out as everybody gains from your enterprise and social capital.
Finally a word on the value of Blue Moon despite the moaners, gripers, those who are perpetually disappointed and the few idiots named and shamed this season, The Blue Moon Ticket and Travel Exchange works a real treat: may it and MCFC live long and prosper.
To assess this for myself because I was mildly tempted, I kept a log of all my spending this season including:
• The pre season games
• My Seasoncard
• Away Games ( all bar Swansea and Norwich )
• Euro Games (all home, two away)
• FA cup (all games + the semi and the yet to be played final)
• Capitol One Cup ( Just the one game )
• Travel costs
• Not accounted for is food and drink as I had to do that anyway and I am beholden to a m8 with a luxury riverside apartment in London which helps a great deal
Now I know the cost of travel to the Final and Reading and the tickets prices I am in a position to feedback.
LET’S START WITH THE JOHNBMCR SEASON 2012/13 AWARDS
IN A VERY PARTICULAR NONE X FACTOR ORDER
BEST AWAY GAMES:
Newcastle, West Brom, Arsenal, Fulham, MU and Stoke
WORST:
Everton and Southampton
BEST HOME GAMES:
Chelsea, Reading and Swansea.
WORST:
Liverpool and MU.
MOST SURPRISING CONCESSION STAND:
For the second year running Everton wins for the largest choice of red wines! (Strange but true)
BEST BURGER
Fulham from the house in the park as you walk to the ground
WORST
Chelsea and ours both crap.
TRAINS:
Above the line: First Transpennine Express
Sufficient: Virgin/Cross Country
Below the line: Southern, First Great Western and Northern.
KATHY CUM HOME HELP THE HOMELESS IN LONDON
Grateful thanx to Jimmi the Coat @northerngent for putting me up
Cash Reconciliation
My total spend on match tickets will be: £1600.50
Travel which was by:
• Bike or walking ( free)
• Taxi (25% of cost as there was four of us Southampton /Reading/Liverpool /Everton)
• Oyster card when in London
• Rail or flights booked in advance,with the odd foray into first class or extra leg room
• + A single trip on the metro to the Etihad just to say I've had a go
My travel costs will total: £1333
I got back about £160 in refunds from late trains and a crap Thomas Cook excursion to Madrid & also recovered £66.26 (Seasoncard ÷ 19) for two home games I missed being away on hols.
That’s a grand total for tickets and travel of £2773.50
Reflections
A couple of points occur to me.
1.With Superbia I would still need + £1330 for travel making the total cost around £4,000
2.Despite us selling out all our way games, If I had just turned up without buying a ticket I would not have had any problem getting into the games either using Blue Moon the week before or buying at the ground for face value (Notable exceptions FA semi final, MU and I suspect the final). This 'action research' was done by chatting with touts, monitoring blue moon and asking ‘supporters club’ members who wanted to flog seats.
So it would seem the observations on Blue Moon about masses buying tickets for points then selling them on is probably pretty accurate and there are huge questions about how (points finger here) Supporter clubs get tickets and disperse them. Having done a bit of digging about the number of points SC members have and the numbers of tickets obtained it simply does not equate. My most modest and casual scrutiny indicates the long overdue MCFC review of SC’s allocations and qualifying criteria is urgently needed. (Helpful tip think Starbucks profits and the taxes paid = morally unjustified and completely inequitable).
Closing comments
Posters will of course draw their own conclusions and lessons from my analysis; some might think it shocking to spend such a huge amount, others simply could not afford it. Being 50% of a DINK I’m ok for cash so in a position to take advantage of the schemes and offers and it struck me if MU can offer their fans interest free loans to buy tickets, barring a miracle i.e. travel and ticket prices reducing we should too. Personally I was slightly less horrified about the final amount spent because I was tracking the cash monthly but boi is it not a whoppingly massive amount of cash? Answer: Yes John too right it is.
My conclusions are:
1. SUPERBIA is way over priced by at least £1000- £1200 and therefore not value for money
2. The cup schemes are value for money. Many times during the pre season I recall De Niro urging people to sign up. The evidence is now irrefutable you must act on his advice for season 2013/14 Do it now, right here right now!
1st Unexpected item in the ‘points whore’ bonus area:
The £17.50 you spent on Villa Capital One Cup home game got you 220 points and Oldham friendly away £5, got you 60 points. Warning may not be repeated in 2013/14
2nd Unexpected item in the points whore bonus area: Signing up for the cup schemes and going to the games got me a total of 980 extra points! I enjoyed the majority of games bar Villa not only were we trashed it was the wettest night ever even in Manchester!
The positives, overall I have had great times both home and away and hopefully winning the FA will be the icing on the MCFC cake this year. I have cut my car use right down and rediscovered the joy of cycling. Whizzing around on the bike is the only way to travel.
Mildly ironic points musings
So and its some big if's IF you sign up to the schemes & buy the tickets but cannot get to all the games and, IF you can cope with the dreaded blue moan accusation ‘I name thee Points Whore’ (still better than being a homophobe or a racist in my book BTW) ‘tourists, plastics and the disorganised ’ will benefit.
Personally I’d suggest Blue Moon posters adopt the term ‘Pro Points’ instead of Points Whore which is a tad old testament /Melville fire and brimstone for me. ‘Pro Points’ is more inclusive, free range, sarcy and of course face value & non profit. Unless you set out to rip off fellow and fellow’ses blue you almost (caveated ), cannot lose out as everybody gains from your enterprise and social capital.
Finally a word on the value of Blue Moon despite the moaners, gripers, those who are perpetually disappointed and the few idiots named and shamed this season, The Blue Moon Ticket and Travel Exchange works a real treat: may it and MCFC live long and prosper.