Well said PB, the OFFICIAL Supporters Club is surely for the SUPPORTERS and just in case anyone is in any doubt that's FANS, people who have supported the club through thick and thin.
Don't get me wrong. I like Kevin and him and the others involved with the OSC put in a lot of time and effort, which I'll never knock. They organise travel, which is ckearly a good thing. I also know they don't get involved in the politics of the club or seek to rock the boat. But how many of their members have been priced out of going compared to how many have partaken of the 'Harvey Nichols matchday experience'?
No doubt the Kiev pricing has been set by some spreadsheet wizard in Finance, who has a number of sophisticated models incorporating formulae involving things like price elasticity, propensity to buy, seat-mix optimisation, midweek attendance average take-up, etc. When all the figures are loaded, it produces a cost/benefit optimisation model showing that a price uplift of X from a break-even position will lead to a customer down-shift of Y% and calculate the optimum price curve for revenue maximisation.
But the club needs someone whispering in its ear, like Jiminy Cricket, saying "Hang on. It's the last 16 of the CL and we've a great chance of qualifying for the last 8. You know how our fans feel about UEFA and the CL so let's do whatever it takes to get the ground full and maybe get those fans enthused or even attract some new ones who'll want more." It needs someone who thinks like a fan, not a fucking accountant.
In this case, they should be saying "Do we really need to do this? Can we not allow parking closer to the shop but not on the campus?" There's a coach/car park which is just behind the shop isn't there?
