Season Tickets (inc. Renewal Poll)

[Roversider]

This is a really tough one for me, after 35 years of season ticket purchases I relocated to Bradford for family reasons and found myself switching to Bradford City, not because I'd fallen out with my beloved Blue and Whites but purely to try and build up stronger relationships with my 'new' Bradford family who were all committed Bantams fans.

The truth was that it was  a bit like using methadone to get off heroin, it filled a Saturday afternoon but didn't give me the buzz I always (even on the worst days) got from attending Ewood.  So, I found myself wandering back across the Pennines to Ewood, albeit on a sporadic basis.

So will I get a season ticket this time around?  Probably not, purely on two counts. Firstly in the depths of winter it's a real drag to get over the hills when the snow and ice hits so I will of necessity miss a few games.  Secondly, my finances are now tighter since I retired and the prices for seniors are higher than I feel I want to pay.  That's probably due to me finding other things to do and spend my money on over the last year.  Rovers have ceased to be an addiction for me, I want to enjoy the experience and I've stopped getting the feeling I had when I was younger.  If the close season signings create excitement maybe I'll change that view but Rovers management couldn't be arsed to release the season ticket details until weeks after most other clubs.

So no season ticket and occasional games on a match by match basis.  I'm no longer a Rovers addict, I'm a paying customer wanting a good day out.  I don't think Waggott has twigged that the world has changed, the pandemic has changed the relationship a lot of supporters have had with their clubs and tickets are now an option, not a necessity.

[Mattyblue]

Agree largely Roversider, however the evidence points to something else re your last sentence - as most clubs are reporting strong sales, the fact we certainly won’t be doing the same tells me there is something rotten in the state of Blackburn Rovers.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Mattyblue

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, JBiz said:

Grow up blue boy. I’m not sure what putting some money into the club on the basis that it might employ people has to do with Mowbray but do crack on.

Awww diddums. Feeling a bit precious and humourless this morning?

Quality virtue signalling though. The people of Blackburn are grateful for your philanthropy. 

[Roversider]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

Agree largely Roversider, however the evidence points to something else re your last sentence - as most clubs are reporting strong sales, the fact we certainly won’t be doing the same tells me there is something rotten in the state of Blackburn Rovers.

A lot of those clubs (Blackpool, Bolton etc.) have a feel good factor and I believe have rebuilt their connection with the fanbase.  Rovers are emulating a lot of the Premiership where the fans are treated like cattle to be used and 'owned', not loved and cherished.  

[Mattyblue]

Not what I’m finding reading around other local papers and websites. Yes, Blackpool et al, but even clubs that have been treading water are reporting strong demand.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

10 years of Venky's + Waggott + Mowbray + Prices + Total contempt for the fanbase = Low sales. 

[Mattyblue]

Indeed. And even discounting Bolton and Blackpool as a comparison as they are increasing sales on the back of a promotion doesn’t read across here - as we somehow managed to not increase sales at all on the back of ours… even though we finished the season with 28,000 in the ground.

Let’s be frank, the club is in a very deep hole.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Mattyblue

[JBiz]

23 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Awww diddums. Feeling a bit precious and humourless this morning?

Quality virtue signalling though. The people of Blackburn are grateful for your philanthropy. 

Virtue signalling? Next you’ll be calling a wokeflake, quoting David Icke and moaning about the agenda of Soros and Gates.

Reality is though - none attendance is going to achieve nothing but save you a few quid.

If (and as previously said it’s a pretty big if) we do well, the sales will go up. If we start badly, walk ons will go down. For all the BRFCS bellyache, that fact seems forgotten.

[Mattyblue]

Well they won’t actually over perhaps 1/2000 or so extra walk ons (though with match day tickets at £30/£35 that will put many off) as our gates have always consisted heavily of ST holders, season ticket sales go down, so will gates by the same figure..

We sell 10,000 STs and we’ll have 12/13,000 of home attendance. We sell 5,000 and it will be 7/8,000. The way it has always been here. That’s why JW always banged the drum of how vitally important it was to keep that solid core of ST holders and to work hard to increase it, as we just don’t sell match day tickets in any real numbers here, in comparison to clubs from bigger conurbations .

[EgyptianPete]

Well as a senior I get £39 off my ticket which i think is a bit of a joke should have been at least £60.

[rigger]

2 minutes ago, EgyptianPete said:

Well as a senior I get £39 off my ticket which i think is a bit of a joke should have been at least £60.

Yet you still bought it. Thats the joke and Waggot is the one laughing.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, JBiz said:

Next you’ll be calling a wokeflake, quoting David Icke and moaning about the agenda of Soros and Gates.

No, sorry, I won't.

Just now, JBiz said:

Reality is though - none attendance is going to achieve nothing but save you a few quid.

Achieve 'nothing' in what way?. If you're happy with the way the club is run then you crack on. Not everybody is and staying away does more for me than attending. Nowt to do with money.

 

Just now, JBiz said:

For all the BRFCS bellyache, that fact seems forgotten.

It's strange how you see BRFCS as a hive mind, whilst simultaneously taking the moral high ground. Ignorant much?

 

[RevidgeBlue]

5 hours ago, CheshireRover said:

In short, get fucked.

’vastly discounted rate’, so it fucking should be, young adults are more often than not the ones in the worst financial position. Young families, poorer wages, high outgoings etc.

Think this says a lot about you that you seem to have a grievance for this age category getting a discounted ticket price.

They would get the same % discount as everyone else (if they had a ST last year), so they wouldn’t be getting it at a cheaper rate.

Anyone aged 23 the day of the Derby game back in 2020, is looking at a £220 price increase, straight off the back of a worldwide pandemic that has disproportionately effected their age group, now that Waggott has reduced the YA age category by 2 years.

Have some fucking perspective.

And your language and Abrasive attitude says a lot about you. People of all age ranges have financial problems in general and have been badly affected by the pandemic. Try telling someone who's lost a loved one or a parent that the younger generation, who in general don't get as seriously ill from the virus, have been the worst affected.

I only meant that if you were entitled to a £179 ticket originally and are STILL entitled to a disounted ticket on account of age it's unreasonable to expect another massive discount on an already heavily discounted price.

A friend of mines son has actually just turned 24 and therefore has gone from being asked to pay £179 to £399 with no discount. So after showing loyalty by renewing last year, there's no incentive whatsoever for him to renew again.

He will I'm sure still renew anyway as he has a job and is keen as mustard but that isn't really the point

[rigger]

I wonder if the Rovers will announce how many season tickets they sell ? Is there any way to find out ?

[JBiz]

14 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

No, sorry, I won't.

Achieve 'nothing' in what way?. If you're happy with the way the club is run then you crack on. Not everybody is and staying away does more for me than attending. Nowt to do with money.

 

It's strange how you see BRFCS as a hive mind, whilst simultaneously taking the moral high ground. Ignorant much?

 

BB - you know BRFCS is a microcosm - it’s an extreme views on a subject, with the most pessimistic posters generally the highest contributors.

Hence why I can quite happily turn it off for months. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to reading contributions like yours, which is basically constantly repeating the notion that buying one = thumbs up to owners.

The idea that buying a season ticket means people are happy with the last few years and our prospects, may make sense to you and few more empty vessels here. 

The reality though, most balanced and mindful fans (a group referred to as the “know nowts” by the sites biggest contributor) would make their own mind up, dependent on a myriad of their own personal reasons.

 

 

 

[JBiz]

37 minutes ago, rigger said:

Yet you still bought it. Thats the joke and Waggot is the one laughing.

Is that where we are now? Taking the piss out of people for still supporting their team?

[Ossydave]

9 minutes ago, JBiz said:

Is that where we are now? Taking the piss out of people for still supporting their team?

It's been like that for the past 10 years or so now. A toxic, fragmented fan base. I think it's actually so bad at present I'm not even sure if new owners or a manager could fix it.

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, JBiz said:

Is that where we are now? Taking the piss out of people for still supporting their team?

He wasn't.

You can try and  emotionally blackmail people all you want by claiming that local people will be put out of jobs if fans don't renew but it's always been the case that it's optional to buy a season ticket irrespective of the manager or the standard of the fare on the pitch. There's only so far you can test the loyalty of the fanbase.

If you have a terrible meal in a restaurant do you pile back there the following week because you're worried the staff there will lose their jobs if you don't go back?  Or do you rightly take the view that if that happens it's the fault of the management for serving  crap food?

[Paul Mani]

1 hour ago, JBiz said:

Virtue signalling? Next you’ll be calling a wokeflake, quoting David Icke and moaning about the agenda of Soros and Gates.

Reality is though - none attendance is going to achieve nothing but save you a few quid.

If (and as previously said it’s a pretty big if) we do well, the sales will go up. If we start badly, walk ons will go down. For all the BRFCS bellyache, that fact seems forgotten.

Amen to this and a lot are jumping on the bandwagon!

[tomphil]

2 hours ago, because of boxing day said:

The opportunity to draw a line under the various issues and disappointments that appear to have fragmented the customer base recently has been lost. 

"Back to Live" should have given the Club executive the chance to initiate and stimulate interest and support from the new generation of young supporter that is essential to growth and ultimate survival.  I don't have marketing experience but the basis of renewal price and "incentive" structure is to me unexciting unimaginative and fails to create a new attractively affordable reason for "the new kids to arrive on our block" and stay.

The credits allowed against last season's ST costs  may well ensure most ST holders renew this season (I will be renewing) but the Club needed to go flat out to get the next generation involved and hooked.

They completely missed that trick after the storming league 1 season. Hell even relegation gave them a chance to be proactive and slash prices across the board then get 14k + gates in league 1.

They haven't got that kind of boldness in them though and Waggot is on record as his mantra always being squeeze what you have first......second third & fourth as well by the looks of it.

[Paul Mani]

54 minutes ago, rigger said:

Yet you still bought it. Thats the joke and Waggot is the one laughing.

Mate, the owners are losing £21m a year they genuinely couldn’t give a fuck if you buy your ticket or not. Trust me, you not going isn’t hurting them, nor is it telling them your feelings.

Waggots been on £300k+ for many years too so neither does he. The club is all we care about.

Bitterness is futile. It’s like drinking poison every day and waiting for someone else to die! 

[tomphil]

8 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

He wasn't.

You can try and  emotionally blackmail people all you want by claiming that local people will be put out of jobs if fans don't renew but it's always been the case that it's optional to buy a season ticket irrespective of the manager or the standard of the fare on the pitch. There's only so far you can test the loyalty of the fanbase.

If you have a terrible meal in a restaurant do you pile back there the following week because you're worried the staff there will lose their jobs if you don't go back?  Or do you rightly take the view that if that happens it's the fault of the management for serving  crap food?

Top and bottom of it is Venkys handing of the club has caused local job losses. Not just within the club itself.

That then set in motion an ever decreasing circle of downgrading and shrinking. Nobody to blame but them but it's getting swiveled onto fans again it seems. Expecting fans who are pissed of with what's on offer to shell out 400 quid a year so Zoe from Shad keeps her part time job selling hotdogs is a bit rich, as harsh as it sounds.

[JBiz]

13 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

He wasn't.

You can try and  emotionally blackmail people all you want by claiming that local people will be put out of jobs if fans don't renew but it's always been the case that it's optional to buy a season ticket irrespective of the manager or the standard of the fare on the pitch. There's only so far you can test the loyalty of the fanbase.

If you have a terrible meal in a restaurant do you pile back there the following week because you're worried the staff there will lose their jobs if you don't go back?  Or do you rightly take the view that if that happens it's the fault of the management for serving  crap food?

We both know comparing rovers to a normal business or a restaurant is futile.

Emotionally blackmail, virtue signalling… both rather extreme reactions to being reminded that the FACT is; Blackburn Rovers employ many people in Blackburn. 

[JBiz]

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Top and bottom of it is Venkys handing of the club has caused local job losses. Not just within the club itself.

That then set in motion an ever decreasing circle of downgrading and shrinking. Nobody to blame but them but it's getting swiveled onto fans again it seems. Expecting fans who are pissed of with what's on offer to shell out 400 quid a year so Zoe from Shad keeps her part time job selling hotdogs is a bit rich, as harsh as it sounds.

Once again - a myriad of reasons each fan can decide for themselves - not a simple strawman based on “it’s a thumbs up to the owners” or some comment about the type of work people in shadsworth might do.

Its like banging your head against a wall 

[Mattyblue]

You are correct Bizzle. People have a choice to make, and if we do see our sales go down substantially … again, whilst most other clubs at least get back to where they were in 2019/20, if not considerably higher, they’ve made said choice and the only conclusion to draw is that there’s something seriously amiss at this club, no?

And without root and branch change to its set up, from executives to team manager, a change the owners seemingly just aren’t interested in pursuing, I just don’t see how the club climbs out of this hole.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Mattyblue