This meeting with Gibson

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I suppose we wait to see all of the outcomes from the meeting and MFC's response, but with a little bit more emotional intelligence from the people at the club this whole situation could have easily been avoided.

Would be great to see these kind of meetings set with fans groups each season before prices are announced. A bit more give and take from all sides while we all try to muddle through these financially difficult times, to see an acceptable outcome on:

How you can pay for the season ticket
Kids prices
Season tickets benefits outside of keeping your seat
Walk up prices

I'm sure the whole controversy is more about MFC putting fans under such unexpected financial pressure with the shortened deadline for them to keep doing what they love, rather than the price increases themselves. For MFC to have to have rolled back on this and what is going to come out from the meeting shows a real cack-handed half-arsed approach to something they need to do every year. Absolutely mad to have such a lack of strategy on this.
 
Token gesture from the club in my opinion. It's simply not enough. This was the easiest concession for Gibson and the club to make, and I'm surprised these fan groups have lapped it up.

How many kids walk ups do we actually have? For every kid there is still an adult walk up paying north of £30. Did the meeting discuss the extortionate adult walk ups? Did the meeting discuss why our season tickets are so expensive? What about the ridiculous increase for new ST holders? Did they discuss the finance option?

Then there's the terrible commercial/retail side of the club, it really is shockingly bad. Then there's the quality of the food and drink on offer. And the state of the stadium and surrounding areas...
 
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uncle_rico said:
Token gesture from the club in my opinion. It's simply not enough. This was the easiest concession for Gibson and the club to make, and I'm surprised these fan groups have lapped it up.

How many kids walk ups do we actually have? For every kid there is still an adult walk up paying north of £30. Did the meeting discuss the extortionate adult walk ups? Did the meeting discuss why our season tickets are so expensive? What about the ridiculous increase for new ST holders. Did they discuss the finance option?
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That's the thing they knocked 4 quid off the u18 walk ups then the adult prices probaly go up by more than 4 quid 😂
 
B_G said:
I don't know where you live or were brought up... but assuming from Middlesbrough ask your self this.

How many kids in your school didn't support Boro?

Then go to Middlesbrough Sports Village on any midweek night and look across all the kids training pitches and count up how many Boro shirts you see.
If you've got kids or friends with kids, ask them who everyone supports in their class.
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I remember at primary school in the early 80s there were 3 Boro fans(maybe those daft enough to admit it) in my year. I remember this because we couldn’t enter a team in the 5 a side games in the yard which was teams based on who you supported. We had to borrow a couple of non-Boro supporting players.
 
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If we were flying at the top of the league would people have such a big issue with things brought up? Is it because we've had a pretty **** season and we've got quite high ticket prices in comparison to other clubs in the Championship?
 
El Guapo said:
I remember at primary school in the very early 80s there were 3 Boro fans in my year. I remember this because we couldn’t enter a team in the 5 a side games in the yard which was teams based on who you supported. We had to borrow a couple of non-Boro supporting players.
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Me too, I went to primary school in Acklam in the early 80's and remember everyone was a "Liverpool fan" until we started doing well and then all of a sudden you'd see them at Ayresome park and then The Riverside.
 
Well I had a pretty big moan about the prices compared to other Championship Clubs last year as well. Things were pretty good then so speaking for myself, it's not just because we've had a bad season. It does compound the issue though. At least last season we were paying top prices for some of the top football in the Championship.
 
B_G said:
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They seem to have pretty much a stadium wide price which makes them expensive at entry level behind the goals but are cheaper down the sides of the pitch.
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Their pricing structure, not the actual prices, seems much more logical and considered.

Under 11's : Cheapest and exclusively accompanied by at least one adult. Suit the family zones.
Under 17's : Have to have their tickets paid for by an adult , but may well go with their mates ( and wouldn't want to be in the GRFZ if with Mam / Dad )
18 - 20 : Have access to their own money /uni loans , but likely apprentice level wages or a Student. A price parents could go halves on.
Over 65's : More money than over 75 as possibly still working, loyalty based discount for likely a decade or many more of season tickets.
Over 75's : Well that's just kind ❤️
 
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I guess going to school through the 90s, Boro were reasonably successful while I was at school. Also the move to the Riverside and the vast increase in Season Tickets meant a lot of kids were going to the matches.
 
uncle_rico said:
Token gesture from the club in my opinion. It's simply not enough. This was the easiest concession for Gibson and the club to make, and I'm surprised these fan groups have lapped it up.

How many kids walk ups do we actually have? For every kid there is still an adult walk up paying north of £30. Did the meeting discuss the extortionate adult walk ups? Did the meeting discuss why our season tickets are so expensive? What about the ridiculous increase for new ST holders? Did they discuss the finance option?

Then there's the terrible commercial side of the club, it really is shockingly bad. Then there's the quality of the food and drink on offer. And the state of the stadium and surrounding areas...
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Just step 1 from RF I believe. If no further concessions are made the protests will resume.
 
It's a start and well done those that have forced this issue. It does feel like a very small concession to climb down from the highest prices in the league to still having the highest prices in the league and for all the other failings to just be accepted. Hopefully there is a lot more to come but I have no confidence in Gibson that it will and the RF and others are passionate fans that want to be there so will accept what little is offered as the best that can be done.

Gibson needs to be able to justify why our tickets are more expensive than other teams. If it is because we genuinely have higher costs then so be it but there's no way that is true. We have comparable costs because we pay minimum wage. We have a stadium that is neither ancient or brand new so we have no excessive running costs. We have good crowds but not excessively high and we don't get a lot of trouble so policing costs should be standard. I can think of no justifiable reason why our costs should be higher than anyone else's.

If the reason is that we don't have a high enough volume of fans/retail sales etc then that's on him to improve those things. If it's because we spend too much on players wages then that's on him. Fans shouldn't be paying premiums to cover poor financial controls, lack of creative thinking and an unwillingness to try different approaches.
 
This season it would cost me £50 (+ booking fees) to take me and my lad in the North Stand.

Now it's going to be iro £50 once adult walk up increases are announced......

Call me a cynical sausage but I don't think this will attract hundreds of new fans?

🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

Well done to RF though👍
 
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So it looks like this initial meeting went well, gaining concessions for the U18’s, so very positive, with a view to have further discussions before the Norwich game, hopefully other categories will be discussed there, good news….👍
 
h_m_boro said:
Last season it would cost me £50 (+ booking fees) to take me and my lad in the North Stand.

Now it's going to be iro £50 once adult walk up increases are announced......

Call me a cynical sausage but I don't think this will attract hundreds of new fans?

🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

Well done to RF though👍
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That's the thing same with season ticket price freeze for u18 they will be going with their parent most likely who will be buying at an increased price so the cost is still going up for the payer. So some will still decide against as their adult price has gone up
 
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