Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Pledging Allegiance
I finally opened my season-ticket renewal pack and renewed my Charlton season ticket today, but that’s only half the story...as I only renewed one of the two tickets that I have. The person who usually uses my second one is ambivalent about next season at present, and cannot commit yet, and the other friend I sit with cannot afford to buy at present due to his work situation, though I fully expect him to be there next year come what may. He’ll probably get a ticket for his kid too, as that is very cheap by any comparisons, but not just yet.
Overall though, it does show that many fans, through whatever the situation each finds themselves in, are struggling to renew for next season at this early stage. Personally, I would have loved to have bought the five-year ticket on offer, as I have at every opportunity previously, but as I’m not working, that is money that cannot be used at the moment even though I am financially able.
The numbers of fans who will be able to commit to the five-year ticket are unlikely to be fully subscribed (to the 500 maximum), and I doubt that any fantastic numbers will have helped the club out by paying up their funds this early for one-year season tickets either – certainly not more than a couple of thousand I suspect.
I do follow one readers thoughts that there is not much point whingeing on about this marketing effort when we all (or pretty much all of us) will still attend The Valley next year, come what may, be it in the second or third tier. Sure, the advantages of buying in advance are poor, unless we go up, and the issue of what happens when someone wants to buy a season ticket between now and the end of May has still to be properly addressed, as a price cannot be confirmed until the club is itself confirmed as promoted or not. Hopefully, the club will see sense and come up with a compromise that allows them to sell season tickets but maybe give a refund if we do not go up, even though this adds to the administration.
It’s all a bit un-necessary really, and I doubt very much that the club will fall into this sort of trap again.
Overall though, it does show that many fans, through whatever the situation each finds themselves in, are struggling to renew for next season at this early stage. Personally, I would have loved to have bought the five-year ticket on offer, as I have at every opportunity previously, but as I’m not working, that is money that cannot be used at the moment even though I am financially able.
The numbers of fans who will be able to commit to the five-year ticket are unlikely to be fully subscribed (to the 500 maximum), and I doubt that any fantastic numbers will have helped the club out by paying up their funds this early for one-year season tickets either – certainly not more than a couple of thousand I suspect.
I do follow one readers thoughts that there is not much point whingeing on about this marketing effort when we all (or pretty much all of us) will still attend The Valley next year, come what may, be it in the second or third tier. Sure, the advantages of buying in advance are poor, unless we go up, and the issue of what happens when someone wants to buy a season ticket between now and the end of May has still to be properly addressed, as a price cannot be confirmed until the club is itself confirmed as promoted or not. Hopefully, the club will see sense and come up with a compromise that allows them to sell season tickets but maybe give a refund if we do not go up, even though this adds to the administration.
It’s all a bit un-necessary really, and I doubt very much that the club will fall into this sort of trap again.
Labels: Charlton