Season Tickets 2020-21

[Stuart]

3 minutes ago, Tom said:

I got mine to work but about 2 minutes behind real time meaning I knew if a goal was coming 

Or if one wasn’t. Nothing worse than watching an attack and your phone notification hasn’t pinged so you know it will come to nothing.

[RevidgeBlue]

21 minutes ago, only2garners said:

Some time ago any person living alone or with kids was allowed to go into a bubble with another household. My younger son joined our “bubble” so we were allowed to go to each other’s houses and stay over. He could therefore come with me to a game and he would if he wasn’t mostly on shift when we play.

OK thanks. Not applicable to me.

So, have to go down on my own, Swag's 25% price hike.

I'll have a look at the full range of prices and options later but it isn't looking the most enticing prospect.

 

[Parsonblue]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

That puts a very different slant on it for me and would mean I have to attend matches on my own.

How do you mean "anyone in a bubble?" ?

Also are masks compulsory? If they are, I'm out.

Looking at the code of conduct Rev, I think you have to wear a mask at all times until you get to your seat.  I assume you can watch the game without wearing the mask as you will be socially distanced from other fans.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Parsonblue

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

Looking at the code of conduct Rev, I think you have to wear a mask at all times until you get to your seat.  I assume you can watch the game without wearing the mask as you will be socially distanced from other fans.

Cheers Parson. 

I need more clarification on that point I think, also on rhe point of whether or not I can or can't sit with friends as there is reference on the Club website that if you wish to sit with "friends or family" you can create your own "bubble" on the ticketing system.

Edit: when I say "sit with" I mean at a socially distanced interval, a couple of seats apart as opposed to right in the next seat as normal.

Edited September 15, 2020 by RevidgeBlue

[Stuart]

I’m still fuming about this.

We were being told for weeks that Rovers were right to not put STs on sale until they knew that we would be able to go back. My view at the time was that people should have been given the choice with that fact understood.

After all that pontificating they have now gone on sale anyway in the week leading up to our first home game of the season, and that fact still hasn’t changed.

But what has not been offered is choice.

Much of what has been put together seems to be what you would expect after last season. The ability to watch iFollow if you can’t get in with the price refunded (but only if you buy a ST next year - price unknown).

The kicker is that the club is using what I would call extortion tactics in forcing supporters - especially long-standing ones who don’t want to break their ‘run’ - to pay more and get less. You will lose your ST seat if you don’t renew. Regardless of the jam-tomorrow offer (that could be withdrawn due to circumstances) every game missed will mean a per game price increase this season. If supporters get to go to NONE of the home games they will get 40% off a 2021/22 ST (providing they are able to renew).

Attending this season should have been a choice which means ST seats should have been suspended. With full renewal on a pro rata match basis if or when normal circumstances resume. Or held open until next season. Vulnerable people in particular have been left out in the cold - unless they pay with no expectation of going back.

If you go to a game on your own then you could look at this differently. No worse than iFollow prices as long as you renew next year and a few away games thrown in. If you buy several season tickets as I do, it is a bad deal.

As always under this regime there is no incentive to draw fans in, there is no reward for long-standing loyalty, there is only blackmail, both financial and emotional. “Are you committed?”

The tipping point for me though has been not being able to sit with my usual group because we already have an elderly relative in our bubble. This isn’t the clubs fault but it makes all of the above even less attractive because the most important element of going to matches is lost. This should have been compensated for not ignored (but it’s easy to blame the government for that so nothing is done). Would we even be offered iFollow if it weren’t for the EFL? And I’ve not even fully considered not even considering the code of conduct - presumably repeat offenders who over-celebrate after a goal will be asked to leave?

Gutted.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

@Stuart Are you renewing?

[Stuart]

Just now, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

@Stuart Are you renewing?

No. It actually hurts to say that.

Unless something changes by January, in which case I might get a half season ticket.

[MarkBRFC]

For anyone who hasn't seen, this is the code of conduct for attending matches...

• Quote

   

  • You must not attend any match if you are self-isolating or have symptoms of Covid-19.
  • You must provide contact details at the point of ticket sale and produce photographic ID prior to entry to the stadium.  Tickets are not transferrable.
  • Always observe social distancing in all parts of the stadium including car parks.
  • Avoid close contact with others not in your social or support bubble.
  • Arrive early to allow sufficient time to go through all necessary entry procedures. Turnstiles will open 2 hours before kick-off.
  • Before attending the ground, make sure you know where your entry point is.
  • Your temperature may be taken before entry.
  • You must wear a mask on your approach to the entry point and at all times except for when you are in your seat or eating and drinking. 
  • Avoid blocking stairwells or entry and exit points.
  • If you need to leave your seat, wait for a time when the gangway is clear and adhere to the one-way system in place.  
  • If you are in a concourse area, please stay within your social or support bubble and remain aware of the movements of others. 
  • Maintain good hygiene – wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use the sanitiser dispensers provided and avoid touching your face whenever possible.
  • Always cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
  • Avoid hugs, high-fives and any close contact with those outside of your social or support bubble.
  • At all times, children under 12 must be supervised by a responsible adult, both inside and outside the stadium.
  • At all times, shouting and singing is discouraged and extreme care should be taken when celebrating or otherwise. 
  • Ensure that other members of your social or support bubble have read and understood these guidelines.
  • Be respectful to those around you and mindful of individual circumstances that may differ from your own.
  • Only contactless payments will be accepted in the ground.
  • Should the ball enter the stands you should not throw it to a player or onto the field of play. To allow for sanitisation protocol to be adhered to it should be returned to a member of the ball team who will be clearly located at the front of all four stands.
  • You must not request players to participate in photographs/selfies or autographs either inside or outside of the stadium. Also, players will not be throwing shirts/gloves or other items into the crowd. 

  Sounds like a right hassle to be honest, I think i'm out for the foreseeable.

Edited September 16, 2020 by MarkBRFC

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, Stuart said:

No. It actually hurts to say that.

Unless something changes by January, in which case I might get a half season ticket.

Shame, but understandable. My parents are the same. Haven't missed for decades but age, fear of covid and the potential lack of matches mean that's probably them done as ST holders. I was going to get one but I'll probably just get a half one in Jan too if I bother at all.

  I genuinely fear for the existence of a lot of clubs. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/15/efl-enters-critical-48-hours-in-push-to-get-crowds-and-avoid-financial-disaster-fans

[Uddersfelt Blue]

As a long standing season ticket holder and fan I am desperate to get back to Ewood to watch games albeit in a more controlled environment which I fully accept and understand is outside the club’s control. 
 

I also understand that the club needs to try and get as many season ticket holders to renew at a price that is commercially sensible given that there will be less fans in the stadium. 
 

However, many fans such as myself are still not prepared to risk attending for health reasons and we seem to have been ignored or forgotten. At a guess I would say the number of “vulnerable” fans is 25% or more. What is the club offering those fans, many who will have been attending regularly for 50 years or more? Is this the spirit of “We are Together”?

As it stands, by not renewing our ST it seems we will lose our seats which is hardly fair in the current situation. We also won’t be able to watch on iFollow those games that are played behind closed doors (unless there is a Match Pass option). 
 

I’m all for getting as many fans back to Ewood but please Rovers consider those for whom it is not yet safe enough to come back because if you don’t those fans may be lost forever. 

[Parsonblue]

32 minutes ago, Stuart said:

No. It actually hurts to say that.

Unless something changes by January, in which case I might get a half season ticket.

I know we've disagreed over many things over the years - and still do - but I agree with you totally with regard to the season ticket issue.  I find it really sad that long standing and loyal supporters like yourself are put in this position.  I know the government guidelines don't help, but the club should have bent over backwards for supporters at this point in time.  It should have been possible - I thought it was to be honest - to have allowed supporters to miss a season and keep their seat for the 21-22 season.  Many supporters of my age may not fancy going to matches during the winter months if the virus is running wild - I know I won't go, despite buying a season ticket.  However, why should anyone, particularly those in the vulnerable category be expected to pay for a season ticket they may never use, simply to protect their seat for the following season?  I'm hoping we've all got that wrong and it isn't the case but if true that's beyond disgraceful.

At the moment we are doing what the club said it didn't want to do - selling a product that nobody knows if, when and how it will be available.  At the very least iFollow should be made available to every supporter to purchase - either through their season ticket or on a match to match basis - no matter how many vacant places their may be in the ground.

Sad, sad times indeed.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

The Nottingham Forest season ticket model seems to address the issue of not being able to attend by offering iFollow as an option 

https://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/news/2020/september/information-for-nottingham-forest-2020-21-season-card-holders/

 

[MarkBRFC]

Again, this should all have been bought up at the fans forum with Waggott on Monday, I'm guessing it was loosely mentioned, Waggott gave the same answer, then it was back onto the topic of Harry Chapman signed postcards being available for when they bother to get the shop back open.

[Tom]

8 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

I know we've disagreed over many things over the years - and still do - but I agree with you totally with regard to the season ticket issue.  I find it really sad that long standing and loyal supporters like yourself are put in this position.  I know the government guidelines don't help, but the club should have bent over backwards for supporters at this point in time.  It should have been possible - I thought it was to be honest - to have allowed supporters to miss a season and keep their seat for the 21-22 season.  Many supporters of my age may not fancy going to matches during the winter months if the virus is running wild - I know I won't go, despite buying a season ticket.  However, why should anyone, particularly those in the vulnerable category be expected to pay for a season ticket they may never use, simply to protect their seat for the following season?  I'm hoping we've all got that wrong and it isn't the case but if true that's beyond disgraceful.

At the moment we are doing what the club said it didn't want to do - selling a product that nobody knows if, when and how it will be available.  At the very least iFollow should be made available to every supporter to purchase - either through their season ticket or on a match to match basis - no matter how many vacant places their may be in the ground.

Sad, sad times indeed.

My dad has said that he feels it’s too risky to go but as above now we risk losing ‘our’ seats for the season after but so be it, maybe they will still be free, maybe we can find better, maybe we can’t find anything as good and won’t be back, who knows.

I think there’s been missteps as above but also the value proposition is just not as good either, the club are in tough times but so are we but in the last couple of years we’ve had, prices go up by £100 or so, the removal of the premier league pledge (for whatever that is worth) and now it seems the removal of free under 8 tickets and club cash.

So paying £400 each to potential watch a stream behind real time on a laptop screen doesn’t win me over.

Sad times but not the end of the world, my little girl just started school so at Least Saturday afternoons are now freed up!

[RevidgeBlue]

21 minutes ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

As a long standing season ticket holder and fan I am desperate to get back to Ewood to watch games albeit in a more controlled environment which I fully accept and understand is outside the club’s control. 
 

I also understand that the club needs to try and get as many season ticket holders to renew at a price that is commercially sensible given that there will be less fans in the stadium. 
 

However, many fans such as myself are still not prepared to risk attending for health reasons and we seem to have been ignored or forgotten. At a guess I would say the number of “vulnerable” fans is 25% or more. What is the club offering those fans, many who will have been attending regularly for 50 years or more? Is this the spirit of “We are Together”?

As it stands, by not renewing our ST it seems we will lose our seats which is hardly fair in the current situation. We also won’t be able to watch on iFollow those games that are played behind closed doors (unless there is a Match Pass option). 
 

I’m all for getting as many fans back to Ewood but please Rovers consider those for whom it is not yet safe enough to come back because if you don’t those fans may be 

53 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

For anyone who hasn't seen, this is the code of conduct for attending matches...

• Sounds like a right hassle to be honest, I think i'm out for the foreseeable.

 

What I don't understand is, recent  local regulations have superceded those guidelines haven't they?

There's no such thing as a  social or support bubble locally now is there? I thought you couldn't see anyone from another household either inside or in their gardens due to extra restrictions brought in.

All complete bollux imo but nevertheless we are where we are with this ad hoc enforcement of partial local lock downs unfortunately. Does this mean some grounds will be allowed to re-open and other grounds in areas with extra restrictions (like Blackburn) won't?

[1864roverite]

I can live with an increase in price however I am not over happy with it . For me it’s been a total fuck up by the club from start to finish. There should be one price and one price only this season due to all the rules and regs in place as well as the fact is your actual seat isn’t guaranteed this season ! £399 across the board is acceptable what is not is paying an extra 50 quid knowing that your seat isn’t available at each game, you will be moved and you can’t be guaranteed to be with your mates who attend games together. We as a group will be renewing because at the end of the day we are all staunch supporters of our club. 

[EgyptianPete]

Got mine yesterday, bloody typical last few seasons i missed probably half the games due to working away, now made redundant still might miss games -- Dammmmm

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

At the very least iFollow should be made available to every supporter to purchase - either through their season ticket or on a match to match basis - no matter how many vacant places their may be in the ground.

I thought that already was the case?

Edited September 16, 2020 by Hoochie Bloochie Mama

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, Stuart said:

I’m still fuming about this.

We were being told for weeks that Rovers were right to not put STs on sale until they knew that we would be able to go back. My view at the time was that people should have been given the choice with that fact understood.

After all that pontificating they have now gone on sale anyway in the week leading up to our first home game of the season, and that fact still hasn’t changed.

But what has not been offered is choice.

Much of what has been put together seems to be what you would expect after last season. The ability to watch iFollow if you can’t get in with the price refunded (but only if you buy a ST next year - price unknown).

The kicker is that the club is using what I would call extortion tactics in forcing supporters - especially long-standing ones who don’t want to break their ‘run’ - to pay more and get less. You will lose your ST seat if you don’t renew. Regardless of the jam-tomorrow offer (that could be withdrawn due to circumstances) every game missed will mean a per game price increase this season. If supporters get to go to NONE of the home games they will get 40% off a 2021/22 ST (providing they are able to renew).

Attending this season should have been a choice which means ST seats should have been suspended. With full renewal on a pro rata match basis if or when normal circumstances resume. Or held open until next season. Vulnerable people in particular have been left out in the cold - unless they pay with no expectation of going back.

If you go to a game on your own then you could look at this differently. No worse than iFollow prices as long as you renew next year and a few away games thrown in. If you buy several season tickets as I do, it is a bad deal.

As always under this regime there is no incentive to draw fans in, there is no reward for long-standing loyalty, there is only blackmail, both financial and emotional. “Are you committed?”

The tipping point for me though has been not being able to sit with my usual group because we already have an elderly relative in our bubble. This isn’t the clubs fault but it makes all of the above even less attractive because the most important element of going to matches is lost. This should have been compensated for not ignored (but it’s easy to blame the government for that so nothing is done). Would we even be offered iFollow if it weren’t for the EFL? And I’ve not even fully considered not even considering the code of conduct - presumably repeat offenders who over-celebrate after a goal will be asked to leave?

Gutted.

All this could have been introduced a couple of months ago giving people time to think through their options. Imo details have been cynically brought out only a few days before the start of the home season to pressurise people into making a rush and snap decision to renew so they can get their i follow pass in time for the first home game and also because they have this vague threat of eventually losing their normal seat hanging over their heads.

Other important information has been left unclear (I suspect deliberately)

- is the direct debit scheme still available?

- Is there a set deadline for passes this year like normal with season tickets or will they be available throughout the season on a pro rata basis until fans are finally allowed into the ground?

I also suspect next year's "refund" for matches watched on i follow this season won't be worth a bean. All Swag has to do is to calculate the amount to be refunded and put prices up by a corresponding amount over a couple of seasons to compensate.

One further thing also really got my goat on the Club website. Let's face it prices have gone up because we're even more skint than normal due to the Crisis. However on the website instead of being honest and upfront about it the flimsy excuse for the massive price hike is that if they have to move someone out  of JW upper then it's not fair that he's paying more than someone else. If that really were the reason and was a genuine possibility, then everyone including the guy in JW Upper should be on the lower price to be on the safe side. You don't punish everyone to protect the feelings of the guy who's moved! And the guy who's moved still isn't getting a seat of the same quality regardless of what everyone else is paying.

Waggott really is taking everyone for mugs and seems to be hoping that by rushing it through at the last moment people either won't notice or even if they do that blind loyalty to the Club will hold sway.

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by RevidgeBlue

[Mattyblue]

Every seasons there’s a ‘churn’. Folk not renewing, some returning, some new ST holders too.

But there’s always been the core, ‘the 8,000’ that I’ve mentioned before, that John Williams was told will always be there... I’m afraid this summer will prove they won’t ‘always’ renew, that floor will be broken.

As arbito alluded to, this could be a disaster of 1960 proportions, losing for good, long standing fans that I would never have believed.

[RevidgeBlue]

45 minutes ago, 1864roverite said:

I can live with an increase in price however I am not over happy with it . For me it’s been a total fuck up by the club from start to finish. There should be one price and one price only this season due to all the rules and regs in place as well as the fact is your actual seat isn’t guaranteed this season ! £399 across the board is acceptable what is not is paying an extra 50 quid knowing that your seat isn’t available at each game, you will be moved and you can’t be guaranteed to be with your mates who attend games together. We as a group will be renewing because at the end of the day we are all staunch supporters of our club. 

I don't think an £80 increase on a £319 ticket for the Riverside is acceptable personally. Maybe a blanket 10% increase across the ground might have been tolerable.

[arbitro]

I really feel that the iFollow offer is just a lazy regurgitation of the offer they made for the last nine games last season. Making an assumption that we will not be allowed into games until the end of November (quite feasible given the local situation) that would be £140 lost for anyone who, for whatever reason, doesn't use iFollow. The reasons for not going are varied and personal with every individual absolutely justified in their own decision. My elder brother rang me last night to say he wasn't bothering. He cited the unjustified price hike but also the issue of actually getting to the ground. We normally catch a bus, one of several run from various pubs in the locality but these will not be running. The closest we could park is Lower Darwen and with our aging, dodgy knees walking would be an inconvenience. I understand this is something that Rovers can't control but the ridiculous access and egress around Ewood on match days is more of a deterrent. I would imagine a lot of the regulars who use the bus service just won't bother.

[Wood26]

Got mine yesterday, first one in a few years as mainly stuck to away games. I’m going to be paying £10 to watch on iplayer anyway so hoping it works out financially for me with the £7.50 off next years when hopefully all is back to normal.

[tomphil]

A crafty little ploy to make the Riverside not worth opening perhaps ?   Or just another 'oh they'll pay it' squeeze on some of what they know are the loyalest fans ?

Wouldn't put much past this shitehawk swaggo although i'm probably giving him too much credit i doubt it was thought out much at all. 

[MarkBRFC]

The walk on prices are terrible too I just thought I would mention.

Four category A+ games, what on earth will they be?!

Cheapest match day ticket next season, £27, and that's only for 6 games, which will probably be the midweek fixtures.

So possibly the cheapest ticket for a weekend game this season will be £32.

I know they want people to commit for a season ticket, but those prices are really unfair for the folk who genuinely cant commit to a season ticket and just want to take in a handful of games a season.

Edit - 

At a complete guess just looking at the fixtures, I think it will work out like this...

4 Category A+ games

Sheff Wed (Boxing Day)

Preston

Bournemouth (Easter Monday)

Birmingham (Last day)

6 Category B games

Reading, Middlesbrough, Milwall, Swansea, Watford & Bristol City (All midweek)

13 Category A Games

The rest that at the moment fall on weekends

Edited September 16, 2020 by MarkBRFC