Season Ticket - Refunds

[RoyalBlue]

The best gesture I have seen of late was Burnley returning ST cash to those who bought before they were promoted. Sort of puts RFC doubling prices on promotion in a whole new perspective.

Although you need to describe what Burnley's deal ACTUALLY was....

At the beginning of LAST season they offered a full refund to people who bought a ST should they get promoted. Not something they expected to have to honour. Their CE was pretty upset about having to repay the money but of course promotion softened the blow a little.
It was a case of trying to boost last season's ST numbers with an bit of an eye catching deal that they didn;t expect to come true. You make it sound like as a result of promotion they decided to fork out cash - they had no choice !!

Perhaps they lack our own club's expertise at wriggling out of commitments (Salako, York City etc.)!

I thought QPRs season tickets were the most expensive, or was that just last season and they've cut them dramatically for this one?

Don't think so. A couple of my mates refused to renew their season tickets with QPR for that very reason.

[Silver Fox]

Did everyone who's beefing on here get sent a letter making certain promises about the season when they bought their tickets and so now have every right to stomp their feet Sol Campbell style? In a long history of utter nonsense being spouted on these boards this thread is one of the best/worst

LOLz

[Hugo Boss]

Agreed SF. LOL @ People expecting the Club to perform miracles season in, season out. Football supporting IS a rollercoaster ride - It aint gonna be like 05-06 / 06-07 every season.

Is that last statement true? If so, I'm now even more p*ssed off!

It is true. When the last Reading Matter came out the 3 editors had each assessed 8 of the clubs in this league for prices. What we wanted to do was show the minimum price that could be paid in order to have an angle on 'affordability'. At the time [iirc] Ipswich were more expensive than us, and Newcastle had not set prices. We were well ahead of the pack in terms of being massively overpriced.

So, if I read this right, we've got the 2nd highest out of 8 teams, not the entire league??!!

[Silver Fox]

PLus, it's the second highest lowest price available, which is probably different to comparing the highest prices at each club. History tells that WCH will suggest we charge the earth while others effectively give tickets away but we never see any actual figures to back this up

[Sun Tzu]

Perhaps they lack our own club's expertise at wriggling out of commitments (Salako, York City etc.)!
.

Not sure of your point.

We didn't wriggle out of commitments in either case.

The York case involved a query of a poorly written contract IIRC. Seemed a pretty daft thing to query but at the same time certain people would have really slated the club if they had paid out money that they shouldn;t have done. Once the legality was sorted we paid the money which I think common sense said we owed.

Salako had a contract that said if he played a certain number of games he'd get a renewed deal. He didn't play enough games. Presumably you are suggesting he should have been selected just to give him an extra year ?

I'm surprised you didn't throw Goater in as well...

[working class hero]

Agreed SF. LOL @ People expecting the Club to perform miracles season in, season out. Football supporting IS a rollercoaster ride - It aint gonna be like 05-06 / 06-07 every season.

Is that last statement true? If so, I'm now even more p*ssed off!

It is true. When the last Reading Matter came out the 3 editors had each assessed 8 of the clubs in this league for prices. What we wanted to do was show the minimum price that could be paid in order to have an angle on 'affordability'. At the time [iirc] Ipswich were more expensive than us, and Newcastle had not set prices. We were well ahead of the pack in terms of being massively overpriced.

So, if I read this right, we've got the 2nd highest out of 8 teams, not the entire league??!!

3 editors assess 8 each = 24 clubs assessed.
Yes we assessed the lowest prices as what we wanted to observe was affordability for the less well off. Had we assessed the most expensive it might have been different. As it is RFC is the 2nd most expensive club in the division for those who have limited disposable income. We do not offer student deals, we are expensive for kids, don't do family packages, and are more expensive than most for seniors.

[Hugo Boss]

I get'cha, and can see the point you're trying to make now.

However if it was done over highest prices say, or indeed average ticket prices for all available, the results would be totally different I am sure. In other words, it seems a little tailored to suit your argument.

[RoyalBlue]

Perhaps they lack our own club's expertise at wriggling out of commitments (Salako, York City etc.)!
.

Not sure of your point.

We didn't wriggle out of commitments in either case.

The York case involved a query of a poorly written contract IIRC. Seemed a pretty daft thing to query but at the same time certain people would have really slated the club if they had paid out money that they shouldn;t have done. Once the legality was sorted we paid the money which I think common sense said we owed.

Salako had a contract that said if he played a certain number of games he'd get a renewed deal. He didn't play enough games. Presumably you are suggesting he should have been selected just to give him an extra year ?

I'm surprised you didn't throw Goater in as well...

I was about to blaspheme - but talk about see no evil!!! Just because we might just have managed to use our lawyers to ensure that we were within the law doesn't mean that we didn't (or in the York case try to) wriggle out of our commitments! What about the spirit within which those agreements were prepared?

As for Salako, no I wouldn't suggest he was selected just to give him another year but I certainly didn't agree with him not being selected (when he was in very good form) for fear of him earning that extra year.

It's such a tragedy that despite your unswerving loyalty to the death you don't appear to have been offered employment on the JM payroll. Surely he could use your talents somewhere?

Me? He wouldn't be prepared to pay a high enough salary!!

Must get on with some work now.

[Sun Tzu]

Perhaps they lack our own club's expertise at wriggling out of commitments (Salako, York City etc.)!
.

Not sure of your point.

We didn't wriggle out of commitments in either case.

The York case involved a query of a poorly written contract IIRC. Seemed a pretty daft thing to query but at the same time certain people would have really slated the club if they had paid out money that they shouldn;t have done. Once the legality was sorted we paid the money which I think common sense said we owed.

Salako had a contract that said if he played a certain number of games he'd get a renewed deal. He didn't play enough games. Presumably you are suggesting he should have been selected just to give him an extra year ?

I'm surprised you didn't throw Goater in as well...

I was about to blaspheme - but talk about see no evil!!! Just because we might just have managed to use the likes of Wood-Smith to ensure that we were within the law doesn't mean that we didn't wriggle out of our commitments! What about the spirit within which those agreements were prepared?

It's such a tragedy that despite your unswerving loyalty to the death you don't appear to have been offered employment on the JM payroll. Surely he could use your talents somewhere?

Me? He wouldn't be prepared to pay a high enough salary!!

Must get on with some work now.

So can you explain how we wriggled out of our commitments?
We paid York the sum owed.
Salako didn't play the number of required games. Where was the 'wriggling' ? There was no attempt to avoid the agreement or renege on something that had been committed to. Was there any obligation to select him for a certain number of games ?

There is nothing about 'loyalty'. You accuse the club of something that simply didn't occur, for reasons of your own which remain obscure.

You clearly have no regard for contracts . I hate to think the mess any business you are associated with gets itself into if it adopts the sort of cavalier approach you seem to think is appropriate.

[working class hero]

I get'cha, and can see the point you're trying to make now.

However if it was done over highest prices say, or indeed average ticket prices for all available, the results would be totally different I am sure. In other words, it seems a little tailored to suit your argument.

We were asked by a reader to assess the LOWEST prices to see where RFC came in terms of affordability. There was no hidden agenda. In fact RFC is pricy for kids whichever way you slice it, also for other concessions and families.
Reading is an affluent area and many fans are wealthy enough to have a cavalier attitude to those who earn low wages. Perhaps time to revive the Megablock and fill some empty seats?

[Sun Tzu]

I get'cha, and can see the point you're trying to make now.

However if it was done over highest prices say, or indeed average ticket prices for all available, the results would be totally different I am sure. In other words, it seems a little tailored to suit your argument.

We were asked by a reader to assess the LOWEST prices to see where RFC came in terms of affordability. There was no hidden agenda. In fact RFC is pricy for kids whichever way you slice it, also for other concessions and families.
Reading is an affluent area and many fans are wealthy enough to have a cavalier attitude to those who earn low wages. Perhaps time to revive the Megablock and fill some empty seats?

Not so sure there is a solution for 'low wages' as cheap schemes go to whoever has the means to access them, not to those they may 'benefit'. You can't exactly means test people when they turn up at the TO.
I'd certainly like to see prioces for kids come down, the arguments about it being an investement for the club are pretty strong. Students, pensioners etc is a harder one. I know lots of pensioners wh have much more disposable income than I do.

[Wimb]

Well lets see some suggestions for next season here, perhaps the club will take a look and action some.

Turn the Mad into a waste disposal site, build a new ground in central Ding, and charge a fiver a game to get in.

Skillz

+1

[Hugo Boss]

I get'cha, and can see the point you're trying to make now.

However if it was done over highest prices say, or indeed average ticket prices for all available, the results would be totally different I am sure. In other words, it seems a little tailored to suit your argument.

We were asked by a reader to assess the LOWEST prices to see where RFC came in terms of affordability. There was no hidden agenda. In fact RFC is pricy for kids whichever way you slice it, also for other concessions and families.
Reading is an affluent area and many fans are wealthy enough to have a cavalier attitude to those who earn low wages. Perhaps time to revive the Megablock and fill some empty seats?

Fair shout. Just promise me the nippers won't be as loud as the clapping brigade. I'd sooner have rumblesticks back than have our crowd sounding like an Under-21 game.

[STAR Liaison]

I get'cha, and can see the point you're trying to make now.

However if it was done over highest prices say, or indeed average ticket prices for all available, the results would be totally different I am sure. In other words, it seems a little tailored to suit your argument.

We were asked by a reader to assess the LOWEST prices to see where RFC came in terms of affordability. There was no hidden agenda. In fact RFC is pricy for kids whichever way you slice it, also for other concessions and families.
Reading is an affluent area and many fans are wealthy enough to have a cavalier attitude to those who earn low wages. Perhaps time to revive the Megablock and fill some empty seats?

Fair shout. Just promise me the nippers won't be as loud as the clapping brigade. I'd sooner have rumblesticks back than have our crowd sounding like an Under-21 game.

This article is not necessarily dead - but we were given no notice and at first reading it did seem to have an agenda so the STAR Board were unhappy to publish it without the background info (which has not yet been forthcoming so WCH you can still send the research as we have been talking about this with one of the other editors who did not have the info).

I suspect the problem there is at Reading is that the whole stadium (excluding only the UW) is a single price and I personally wanted to do research to see if this is as unusual as I think. If so then lowest is not as representative as most grounds have unpopular areas that are priced low to fill them. Given the current crowds that may well be necessary at the Mad Stad but there are not obvious areas that are completely empty. You also may not be aware that when (dare I say it) London Irish brought in differential pricing the crowd did not increase much but the overall takings reduced as people moved from the higher priced seats on the basis that there is not a bad seat in the stadium!

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Another problem is the away fans being in the South Stand, they are entitled to similar pricing as the equivalent home fans i believe, so a reduction in the North would mean less income from away fans in the South??

[Sun Tzu]

Another problem is the away fans being in the South Stand, they are entitled to similar pricing as the equivalent home fans i believe, so a reduction in the North would mean less income from away fans in the South??

The South Stand is equivalent to the East in terms of facilities etc.

I think the rule is you cannot charge more to away fans, that doesn't mean you have to charge them the lowest price you do for home fans.
If the majority of home fans were paying £10 the fact that we offered some tickets at £8 wouldn;t mean we had to charge away fans £8 as well

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

hmmm the view from behind the goal is different to alongside, which is kinda what I meant, so we could allocate a family area in the North, with cheap seats, and still charge the away fans full price??

[Sun Tzu]

hmmm the view from behind the goal is different to alongside, which is kinda what I meant, so we could allocate a family area in the North, with cheap seats, and still charge the away fans full price??

Yes.

The away fans rule isn't about having the 'same' view, just charging the same price for the same facilities. Obvioulsy if the view was rubbish it would make a difference but the view is just as good from the S as it is from the E.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Well in that case perhaps the NW corner is what needs looking at???

PS if the view is the same all around the ground, why are some areas more popular than others???

[Sun Tzu]

Well in that case perhaps the NW corner is what needs looking at???

PS if the view is the same all around the ground, why are some areas more popular than others???

I'd guess people prefer different perspectives on the game, I can;t think of a way you could offer options to the away fans that cover every possible viewing angle !

A clear, unobstructed view of the whole pitch would be all that was needed for it to be considered as good as any other area !