It’s that time of year again! Comes around quickly, doesn’t it? But yes, it’s here again!
That time of year, when there will be much heated debate amongst people who stand shoulder to shoulder with you at games. Time when the keyboard warriors will hurl insults, left, right and centre in a bid to prove they are right. A time when simple banter will become such a ferocious war of words, it will make finding the solution for World Peace a doddle.
Yes folks, it’s that time of year again. It’s season ticket renewal time!
ppp
Don’t get me wrong, most of us dread it, but equally eagerly look forward to it. Desperately, at times, anticipating the ritual that many of us have gone through for decades. Accepting, with relish to paying our annual dues to the harsh mistress that is Leeds United. Our one love who gives us so much joy, yet punishes us with so much misery.
In days gone by, you used to go to that big jar of coins that you collected over the season. More often than not, the result of emptying your pockets on a Sunday morning. Then when we got paper notes, it was coins and green / blue paper. For the tech savvy clever folk, a creation of a fund in the bank . I actually remember doing that once – a season ticket standing order! Which I emptied on the last day of the season to pay for next year. Yes, it was the last day of the season that I used to pay for it.
£££
Then came B*tes. We were skint. The football was rubbish. B*tes rubbed salt into the wound and made us pay up in January. Cold comfort at least for those loyal fans who paid £500 or £5000 for their 10 / 20 year bonds up front to help keep Leeds United afloat. Some of whom were forced from their nice seats on the half way line to make room for the B*tes corporate boxes in the Magnificent New East Stand. In exchange for them coughing up their hard earned £££ up front, they got a season ticket for 10/20 years at a cheaper rate.
By today’s standards, taking into account inflation, there would be NO One bar a small nation state who would or could, do that now. Build a new stand, I mean, not keep a club afloat! But, building a new stand by asking supporters to stump up the cash? It is never going to happen again. It would be the modern day equivalent of the Gen Z choosing between Leeds United or putting down a deposit for a mortgage. And the rest!
$$$
It’s irrelevant now, the world has changed. Football is unrecognisable nowadays. Things have moved on. Our beloved game is still about 22 men trying to stick a ball in the back of the net, but everything around it is different.
The off field activity is far more prominent now, and some would say, as much of a money spinning venture as the 90 minutes on the pitch. Yes, going / staying up is vital, but then again so is the corporate image of the global brand. Whether this will go hand in hand, and a happy, balanced partnership can be reached, is up for debate.
Take a look at the top teams in the PL. How happy are the fans? How united are the fans? No pun intended. Has the demand from the shareholders and owners got to the point where the desire of the fans been eclipsed? What do the satisfaction surveys show? Are the fans and the owners on the same page? Is the hymn sheet intact or torn into shreds?
₿₿₿
Is truly football about the fans?
Given the decision to get rid of concession ticket prices at some of the bigger PL clubs, I would say no.
Spurs isn’t the only example of clubs refusing to have concession prices. The greed has no bounds.
Time and time again, when discussions about ticket prices come up, the Bundesliga example rears it’s head. For the PL owners, it’s an ugly head. Fancy the Germans treating its football fans better than the PL does. How dare the Bundesliga embarrass the PL by having reasonably priced tickets? The PL is the best league in the world isn’t it?
Yet it, and the British FA chooses to allow its fans to be ripped off by extortionate ticket prices, especially if you live in London. Even though the fans and the PL / FA know full well that ticket sale monies are a drop in the ocean compared to the revenue from advertising, sponsorship and TV rights.
https://thefsa.org.uk/news/fsa-writes-to-pl-calling-for-ticket-price-freeze/
As you can see, it is rampant. Thanks to FSA website for below photo.
Fairness
In our case however, some of the issues regarding season ticket pricing has been actually caused by our own fans. Our own fans who don’t accept the value of us “legacy” fans. The main reason why our season ticket prices have gone up again is because our new fans were complaining that someone sat next to them was paying less for their seat than they were. So to “equalise” this, the Club have chosen to increase our prices to appease them. Rather than saying tough to the 5,000 whingers, they chose to make the 20,000 legacy fans pay more. Reset and realign. Marching on together, further standardisation and sanitisation continues.
