Clubs Are Taking The Piss Thread

[TheScarf]

8 minutes ago, DMCs said:

It's not even close. It's probably less than 10% of ticket sale revenue for most clubs. 

On the subject of ticket prices there is no reason we couldn't copy what the English Premier League do an have a price cap for away fans' tickets. £25 or so would be a reasonable cap.

Surely its different for all clubs?  For example Livi and Hamilton will get more income from sponsorship than ticket sales.

[jamamafegan]

It's not even close. It's probably less than 10% of ticket sale revenue for most clubs. 
On the subject of ticket prices there is no reason we couldn't copy what the English Premier League do an have a price cap for away fans' tickets. £25 or so would be a reasonable cap.

£25 isn’t reasonable at all. We all know that if that was the cap, clubs would simply meet that cap. £25 is too expensive for Scottish top flight football. I paid that amount to see Ross County vs St Johnstone and the fair weather fans that made the journey with us needed their arms twisted to persuade them to go. If clubs want to charge that much then they need to vastly improve the match day experience.

[SuperSaints1877]

39 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

I can't see Aberdeen getting behind any change.

Well with Aberdeens owners history of voting I agree.

Self interest has always been the way with your club board.

Milne had the chance to alter the top league voting rights when Sevco were in the seaside leagues but chose greed over the right course of action. 

He should never be forgotten as the club chairman who held back the rest of the non-OF clubs.

Shameful behaviour from a greedy Cnut. 

I don’t believe that Aberdeen fans agreed with his position. 
 

[DukDukGoose]

22 minutes ago, SuperSaints1877 said:

Well with Aberdeens owners history of voting I agree.

Self interest has always been the way with your club board.

Milne had the chance to alter the top league voting rights when Sevco were in the seaside leagues but chose greed over the right course of action. 

He should never be forgotten as the club chairman who held back the rest of the non-OF clubs.

Shameful behaviour from a greedy Cnut. 

I don’t believe that Aberdeen fans agreed with his position. 
 

St Mirren have a history of voting in self interest too.

I didn't agree with Milne's decision, but I understand why. He's explained it was due to the previous nightmare with Setanta.

That's another discussion for another thread.

We have a new board in place who are all about fan engagement and 'enhancing the matchday experience'. 

Someone would have to explain the benefits of Aberdeen reducing the ticket price for away fans by £8.

[Dons_1988]

1 hour ago, Merkland Red said:

I can't see Aberdeen getting behind any change.

St Mirren took a decent away support on Saturday, by their usual standards anyway. I can't see an £8 reduction in price adding a significant number of supporters.

Or alternatively, the relatively shite away supports we get would mean that if you reduced ticket prices by £8 and attendance didn’t change we only lose the guts of £100 for most teams. 

If it’s a league wide initiative then our own away support should get bolstered and we don’t lose that much. 

 

[DukDukGoose]

2 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Or alternatively, the relatively shite away supports we get would mean that if you reduced ticket prices by £8 and attendance didn’t change we only lose the guts of £100 for most teams. 

If it’s a league wide initiative then our own away support should get bolstered and we don’t lose that much. 

 

I don't think your math adds up. Especially over the course of a season.

Until a decent TV deal is put in place then I can't see any drive for change.

[DMCs]

35 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

 

£25 isn’t reasonable at all. We all know that if that was the cap, clubs would simply meet that cap. £25 is too expensive for Scottish top flight football. I paid that amount to see Ross County vs St Johnstone and the fair weather fans that made the journey with us needed their arms twisted to persuade them to go. If clubs want to charge that much then they need to vastly improve the match day experience.

 

I wonder if anyone has some stats on what the average away ticket price is in the league currently? 

[PauloPerth]

See if folk running our clubs were making massive profits and clubs were rolling in cash I’d be all for it.

As it is, we already lose our best players to English third and fourth tier sides due to far higher wages down there, yet we all complain at the dire standard of play in our league.

If folk are happy to see that standard diminish considerably further then let’s batter on with this. The only clubs who realistically can afford decent price drops are the OF, and sadly they near enough sell out most weeks so don’t need to offer cheaper tickets.

We’ve done under 12’s go free for a decade and it’s made next to no difference in our attendances. The loss of income wouldn’t be made up by an increase in attendances from lower prices other than for the odd one off promotion.

Its pie in the sky.

[SuperSaints1877]

10 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

St Mirren have a history of voting in self interest too.

Evidence?

We certainly never voted in favour of keeping the 10-2 vote which Milne did.

That was my point.

[LIVIFOREVER]

38 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Surely its different for all clubs?  For example Livi and Hamilton will get more income from sponsorship than ticket sales.

Not when we sell out our stadium playing the erse cheeks we don't. Those 3 games pob bring in over 5 or 6 hundred thousand pounds in ticket sales, more if we make top 6 and get a 4th home game against them.

[Empty It]

55 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

Rangers fans are renowned for feeling personally attacked for pretty much anything that’s remotely related to their club, so it comes as little surprise that this is the case here.

That said, some are (quite rightly) pointing out that Saints themselves have charged Rangers fans £30 to go to McDiarmid. It’s unacceptable, no matter which club it is.

£30 a head probably doesn't cover the bill for damages and extra policing that comes with the mutants tbf.

[DukDukGoose]

6 minutes ago, SuperSaints1877 said:

Evidence?

We certainly never voted in favour of keeping the 10-2 vote which Milne did.

That was my point.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/stewart-gilmour-defends-league-reconstruction-veto-1579207

St Mirren voted against a 9-3 voting system too.

 

Edit - should add the 9-3 was for league reconstruction decisions.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Merkland Red

[Dons_1988]

19 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

I don't think your math adds up. Especially over the course of a season.

Until a decent TV deal is put in place then I can't see any drive for change.

£100 a game MAY have been slightly tongue in cheek. 

But in theory we’d be less impacted than clubs that hand out 4-5k tickets to certain clubs. 

[Charles Stiles]

Seeing as it's been brought up here, I understood MIlne not voting for the change as it gave Aberdeen a good chance of the increased income from second place. What I don't get is why the clubs didn't vote again when Sevco reached the Championship. Are certain votes time barred from being repeated? 

[DukDukGoose]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

£100 a game MAY have been slightly tongue in cheek. 

But in theory we’d be less impacted than clubs that hand out 4-5k tickets to certain clubs. 

I'd wholehearted agree there.

I just don't think it will make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

You see it all the time. "shouldn't have as much OF fans at the ground". Clubs tell fans they'll need to attend in numbers for this to be financially viable.

Fans then don't attend games because their team is shite.

 

[Dons_1988]

6 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

I'd wholehearted agree there.

I just don't think it will make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

You see it all the time. "shouldn't have as much OF fans at the ground". Clubs tell fans they'll need to attend in numbers for this to be financially viable.

Fans then don't attend games because their team is shite.

 

Yeah, I’m not convinced it’ll happen at all but I just don’t think we’ll be the biggest obstacle to it. Good PR for the club to back it given the relatively strong away support we have. 

[accies1874]

I find it really bizarre (yet no actually surprising) that they’ve taken it so personally, almost as if it’s an attack on their club. Some of the replies would have you believe the fans set the ticket prices. With almost every club putting their prices up when the OF visit, it’s exactly the thing they should be getting behind. The tit for tat mentality is what will hold any campaign for change back. 

Increasing prices for OF fans also shouldn't be happening.

See if folk running our clubs were making massive profits and clubs were rolling in cash I’d be all for it.
As it is, we already lose our best players to English third and fourth tier sides due to far higher wages down there, yet we all complain at the dire standard of play in our league.
If folk are happy to see that standard diminish considerably further then let’s batter on with this. The only clubs who realistically can afford decent price drops are the OF, and sadly they near enough sell out most weeks so don’t need to offer cheaper tickets.
We’ve done under 12’s go free for a decade and it’s made next to no difference in our attendances. The loss of income wouldn’t be made up by an increase in attendances from lower prices other than for the odd one off promotion.
Its pie in the sky.

Good point. Set a ticket cap at £10 so we no longer have to watch clubs throw money at the Chris Mullers and Christian Ramirezes of this world.

[PSJ.84]

12 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

Increasing prices for OF fans also shouldn't be happening.

 

 

Exactly. Problem being that clubs can charge them whatever they like, knowing full well they’ll more than likely sell out. Remember when Rangers fans were to boycott a trip to Tannadice and still ended up with a fair number of supporters there

[jamamafegan]

We’ve done under 12’s go free for a decade and it’s made next to no difference in our attendances. The loss of income wouldn’t be made up by an increase in attendances from lower prices other than for the odd one off promotion.
Its pie in the sky.

It’s not pie in the sky though. Other countries such as Germany manage to offer cheap tickets to football games. The standard of their game is elite and it wouldn’t appear there has been any trade off of standards for fan experience.

I’m not sure why you and other Saints fans laud the under 12s go free offer as some sort ground breaking deal. It’s good offer I’ll agree, but what happens when kids grow up and their parents can’t take them for free anymore? What happens when teenagers want to go to games with their mates instead and have to cough up the asking price? They ditch the going to the football in favour of other activities because, as if by magic, the appeal of sitting in a half empty McDiarmid Park - but this time having to pay for it - is lost on them. We’re trying to compete with the #barclays and the Old Firm on our screens almost every evening now - never mind every Saturday. It’s not enough to hope that we’ll build our fan base because bairns can go for free if their willing parents take them.

I would honestly trade the current quality of football for a lesser quality league if it meant all Scottish top flight/championship grounds were 3/4 full on match days. I believe full stadiums and good atmospheres would help to market our game better in the long run.

[Salvo Montalbano]

25 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

Increasing prices for OF fans also shouldn't be happening.
 

 

Possibly not but the policing costs alone (along with all the other stuff that goes along with "them" visiting) at least justifies it somewhat.