City, how different to the Glazers?

[kismet]

Excellent post Tolms and it is a dilemna the club will have. We need to compete, get greater income but not disenfranchise many of our fans. I think we have to increase the capacity of the ground and your idea of an inhouse loyalty scheme is good,eg buy a pint and get a point.

Hopefully Cook and Co will sort this out as we don't want to freeze out a lot of our loyal fans due to prices.

Chelsea and Arsenal with the London affluence can afford to increase prices, with little regard for the consequences. The Rags with their global attraction can do this. However, we are unique and this will have to be handled delicately by the Club.

This is a serious issue

 

[fbloke]

TH has hinted at the idea of turing LP's into something more akin to Nectar points and it would be interesting if City choose to 'reward' (see what I did there) all activities and purchases with points.

Buy a pint at City Square (or other as yet to be built bars) - 5 points

Turn up an hour and a half earlier and buy a pint - 25 points

Buy one replica shirt - 50 points

Buy all 3 replica shirts - 300 points

Once we, the fans , appreciate the importance of the points then the behaviours of fans WILL be influenced by them to some degree.

Of course as many fans didnt want away tickets and we never sold out for home cup games the LP system was only ever going to cause uproar for the many when a final was reached.

 

[DSonBlue]

Apologies it's just sometimes it would be good if you started a thread on something you like about City mate, and I realise that's like me telling you what to do and all - just ignore me hehe. To be fair, you tend to make the more thought provoking posts!

I was thinking (as someone has mentioned) about Chelsea and the way success / money has hampered their (original) fan base. I would hate to think that we become a support that is largely made of up well off attention seekers.

However it got me to thinking about the other causes of price hiking - the big one being the wage bill.

It will at some point become an issue that, if not corrected, result in costs passed on to the supporters.

THEN I remembered the Arsenal factor - namely that you have a salary cap in place, hardly spend anything on transfers, and STILL rip off the fans!

I guess the conclusion might be that whichever route(s) the owners take us forward using - stadium expansion, salary cap, ticket price subsidising etc - we have to rely on a certain amount of business ethics when it comes to remembering the loyal fans, those with or without bags of cash.

No probs, mate.

I'm fearful that a (I know, melodramatic) 'perfect storm is coming into play.

The state of peoples' finances, allied to success on the field, resulting in some very hard decision making.

I'm sure our owners are astute enough to acknowledge this fact already.

I would perhaps like to see, as FBloke has nodded to, in terms of stadium expansion, an affordable section of season-ticketing and match day prices, which still come with a loyalty point aspect, dependent on pockets.

eg - an £700 season-ticket comes with loyalty points in cup games of 30.

A £350 season-ticket comes with loyalty points in cup games of 20.

One-off matches - 10 points.

I just see what is coming over the hill. Champs League football added, people struggling to find monies for season tickets as it is.

City's own in-house finance company would be a good way to start. Buy a pint inside the ground...that's 5 loyalty points...

I like the idea of expanding the use of loyalty points.

In theory it becomes a win-win scenario; you put money into the club simply buying stuff like food, drink, shirts, memorabelia etc and in return boost your chances of being able to get high profile tickets (and other bonuses).

I should get a fair few pts for all the Banger Baguettes at least! (love em).

The problem with this is that it's still reliant on fans forking out, above and beyond the SC, CC or Cup/away tickets.

It's still worth doing; however it might just compound the situation because he haves would be in front of the have nots because they can afford to go mental at the club store.

It is, as you rightly say, a business at the end of the day though.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Chelsea have certainly been ruthless about there business with the fans, they took the attitude that if you can't afford it someone else will and have your seat.

They have the luxury though of where they are situated people can afford to jump in the seats that have been left behind by supporters that have seen them through the tough times.

Fact of life is that successful people wish to attach themselves to related success.

United became the monster they have become, as a result of people wanting to be identified as a 'fan' regardless of whether they go.

That means buying the team kit, the twice-a-year visit to the shit pit, a £300 spend in the shop.

I live out towards Alty, Dunham, Hale. They are all here. Doctors, solicitors, not a scooby between them or a generational link with the club.

A bogus link. The demographic of City fans has up to now, been the down-trodden inner-city, 'working man'.

United used to have this also, in Salford et al. Plenty of them priced-out these days.

Our owners HAVE to get it right. Success will be tainted for me if my dad and his mates are sat nursing their pints, while I'm sat next to some numpty with a camera and looking for a high five.

These numpties obviously have to be welcomed, but not without a proper framework and bullwork to retain what this club has always been about.

It's current fans.

 

[Asa's left peg]

I suppose you can debate the pro's and con's for ages but the ultimate point to all this is seeing your team play at wembley and most fans who were season ticket holders when we first moved in to COMs by now have @ 4000 pts and this will take some catching for the rest who are 4/5 years behind.

Whilst the national stadium only holds @98k there will only ever be 25k for each team in a final. I presume its the same in Germany where attendances are higher. Now I'm not advocating another national stadium or extention (god forbid) but if COMs was 80k thats 40k for each team rather than 25 and the rags could host the odd one too. Its a thought - but I know wont happen -too many fingers in pies.

 

[Bluemoon115]

The bigger picture has gone well over your head. It's nothing to do with the OP getting a ticket or not, it's about how the club is changing it's business strategy, looking to increase demand to the point where they can potentially charge "competitive prices" for games, because the "new" fan-base will be able to afford it.

And buy competitive, I mean United/Arsenal prices. Plus an "optional" Cup scheme, which you'll need to be on to have a hope of ever going to Wembley.

So, would you be happy paying in excess of £1000, just for home games in a season?

I know what Tolmie is suggesting and I also know that he won't have a problem getting a ticket for Wembley.I was'nt having a pop at Tolmie,just making a general point.

City will never have the luxury of doing what United do as we simply don't have,and in my opinion never will have,as many fans.

The cup games at City are as cheap as League one prices,£15 and £20.My point is,and mainly to the local fans,if you can't be bothered joining the cup scheme at those sort of prices then don't moan if you can't get a wembley ticket.

If City started charging £1000 for seasoncards then the ground would be empty and they know this which is why it will never happen on a large scale.

The club don't currently have enough fans. Which is why they are changing their "target market" as it were, to people with more disposable income. Hence the family offers, the forced Cup scheme etc. This is what I mean about pushing demand beyond what they can supply, so they can raise their prices, because they'll have that market.

Look what they did in the North Stand, and now the second tier price change. Do you believe this is the end of the game? Of course not. This is just the beginning. They are slowly building up a fanbase of richer clients, so they can dump the paupers.

And as for your comment about the cup scheme, I've been to every home cup game this year. Couldn't afford to sign up though, as I couldn't guarantee that I'd have the money in my account for every game. Does that mean I deserve to go to the final less than somebody who could?

If you back their plans now, don't complain in 5 years when you get priced out.

 

[Bluwhit]

Chelsea have certainly been ruthless about there business with the fans, they took the attitude that if you can't afford it someone else will and have your seat.

They have the luxury though of where they are situated people can afford to jump in the seats that have been left behind by supporters that have seen them through the tough times.

Our owners HAVE to get it right. Success will be tainted for me if my dad and his mates are sat nursing their pints, while I'm sat next to some numpty with a camera and looking for a high five.

These numpties obviously have to be welcomed, but not without a proper framework and bullwork to retain what this club has always been about.

It's current fans.

Perhaps they could have their own stand if we increase capacity ....

The JCL stand anyone?

 

[Nascent Blues]

Care to elaborate?

The bigger picture has gone well over your head. It's nothing to do with the OP getting a ticket or not, it's about how the club is changing it's business strategy, looking to increase demand to the point where they can potentially charge "competitive prices" for games, because the "new" fan-base will be able to afford it.

And buy competitive, I mean United/Arsenal prices. Plus an "optional" Cup scheme, which you'll need to be on to have a hope of ever going to Wembley.
So, would you be happy paying in excess of £1000, just for home games in a season?

Without our owners splashing the cash we wouldn't be having this discussion, and I think this point sometimes gets lost when people start to talk about the cost of tickets etc.

The club's been allocated 25,000 tickets, and like somebody has already mentioned, the FA are to blame here. If we'd have got to the final 20 years ago a shed load of Blues would have missed out, as they will in May (me included, although I was lucky enough to go to the semi), as they will in the future.

It's pretty much impossible to design a system that is completely fair and which caters for the individual needs and circumstances of an entire fan base. The very fact that Blues' opinions are wide and varied on this topic, even polarised in some instances, shows that there will never be a general concensus regarding ticket pricing.

All I know is that without the wealth of our owners we wouldn't even be going to Wembley (at least regularly) in the coming years. I may not be able to afford to go to all the games in the future, but I'll still be happy that we're finally competing for major honours.

 

[jay_mcfc]

The 'nectar' points system would be an absolute disgrace. Loyalty supporting your team is not about buying a pint or a sausage.

It would take away freedom of choice and in a democratic society it should never be accepted.

 

[Bluemoon115]

The 'nectar' points system would be an absolute disgrace. Loyalty supporting your team is not about buying a pint or a sausage.

It would take away freedom of choice and in a democratic society it should never be accepted.

Do you trust the clubs management not to do it?

I don't.

The owner (singular, we only have one) pays money and watches the games. He's got bigger plans for the brand, exempt from football. It's the other hangers on that are gonna change the fan base.