h_m_boro
Well-known member
Fleecing is probably the wrong word, but "millionaire completely out of touch with struggles average families go through" could be more apt.
Either doesn't know or doesn't care
Red Faction - walking out on 30th minute
- Thread starter Backofthenet
- Start date
Either doesn't know or doesn't care
BoroMart
Well-known member
Maybe that's better explanation, he probably is out of touch to quite a degree having been a millionaire for 40 years and having a lot of people around him telling him what he wants to hear not what he needs to hear.Fleecing is probably the wrong word, but "millionaire completely out of touch with struggles average families go through" could be more apt.
Either doesn't know or doesn't care
The prices are high, I get that, my problem will be if we have raised the prices and we don't invest this summer
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DidsburySmog92
Well-known member
Well I am not saying that and any suggestion of that is obviously naive to the fact that the guy has single-handedly kept us alive and punching above our weight for a lot of that time. But also naive to the fact that it will not be him that makes the operating decisions of the club (although it will be him that carries the message).
But saying “he has put lots of money into the club so increasing tickets is ok” is a straw man argument just as saying “he took a big financial hit so he is increasing tickets to get more money out of us” is a straw man argument.
The write-off was for FFP and to secure the sale value proposition of the asset. It secured the long term future of the club and we should be very grateful.
InglebyUTB
Well-known member
But why would Gibson care when he already has your money, knows you’ll be there next game and knows the vast majority will renew?
h_m_boro
Well-known member
Or sell our most saleable assets, replaced with sub-standard cheap players ....... Charlie Amer years creeping back ......
Rofesleg
Well-known member
Which other clubs? Maybe Chelsea I suppose.
Other than that I imagine they picked one of Arsenal, Liverpool or Man Utd as was always the case.
Can't imagine many picking our contemporaries at that time:
e.g.
Derby, Bolton, Coventry, Southampton, Leicester Sheff Wed, Sunderland....
free_pint
Well-known member
Because a collective message of fans showing they've had enough will show as a fanbase were sick of being treat as a commodity.
It also shows that there is a genuine bad feeling about the price increase and its not just a few on here and twitter.
If for example 5k walk out, it will make national news. The club looks bad and we're showing fans have a backbone. Also the thought of 5k not renewing would mean the club lose more than they make by putting prices up.
If the club wants to increase revenue from ticket sales then there's an assortment of ways it could.
It could review it's pricing structure across the board. It's clunky and almost punitive to many thousands of potential new customers.
It simply doesn't fit with the realities of many peoples lives.
The club states it makes £16 on average per seat, so use that as starting point.
Make a family ticket £26 adult and £10 under 10 £15 under 16 walk up price; get it to be a monthly treat , not just a yearly.
It could encourage new season tickets holders by not surcharging them.
It could look into Klarna type payment schemes that aren't interest expensive for all ST to aid with retention.
Sort out the Merchandise disaster that currently exists.
As a business, surely you want to create repeat customers, and make it as easy as possible to do that?
InglebyUTB
Well-known member
It won’t do any of those for the same reason Newcastle fans protesting against Mike Ashley didn’t make a difference, if they know you’ll keep turning up and spending money everything else is just for show.
If people really wanted to send a message they wouldn’t spend any money at the stadium and ultimately if nothing changed not renew.
BoroMart
Well-known member
The write off was for multiple reasons, the clubs ability to gain credit would have been harmed, so day to day financing impacted. Yes FFP management was part too. But what is important is that an astronomical amount was written off.
I haven't said it's "OK" to raise ticket prices, but put some perspective around the financing of the club and the personal financial sacrifice Gibson has made. He has been accused of fleecing the fans, and saving himself money, neither of which are true. He will continue to put in as much to the club as he can, he isn't going to personally benefit in any way from the ticket increase.
Adidas pay Utd £900m so the marginal profit on each unit can be small. They're already getting £90m a season before they even sell a shirt. Adidas make those payments because they know they will make it back by selling kits in volume.
Do you really think it would be Erreas choice for us never to have kit available if they had the same sort of deal with us that Adidas and Utd have? If they did it would be in their best interest to maximise volume. We make way more than £10 per shirt when you include the Errea payment for being our kit manufacturer. Because of the small time nature of our operation we are more likely to operate on a marginal order basis rather than a volume one because who would be stupid enough to agree a volume based contract with an outfit that only has one retail store and tries to cream off additional revenue via delivery fees.
free_pint
Well-known member
Well the statement says this won't be a one off if the club continue to keep the price increase, so we'll see what happens moving forward.
Emmersons_BrazillianDong
Well-known member
Because it'll put a spotlight on the issue and possibly garner further scrutiny of the situation? . It might actually get other clubs and fans thinking too. Who knows.
From the alleged comments I've seen made public from Gibson ie I want the roof from over your head, shoes off your feet, kids out of private school. I'm not that sure much will bother him personally. But that can't be the only objective can it?
BoroMart
Well-known member
£16 on average per seat is not expensive for an afternoons entertainment.
New season tickets are 'surchaged', that's just a different lens on 'retained tickets are discounted'.
Merchandise is crap, but it's because the club doesn't want to be left with excess stock on discount in the summer.
I'm sure the club will have looked at lost of different options and many of them will have negatives, Klarna will charge excessively on the club to manage their risk, it isn't as simple as do a deal with them, it might be cost prohibitive on the club. It's a simple solution to a complex issue, without considering any of the very real negatives with that solution.
InglebyUTB
Well-known member
The only statement he’ll care about is if there are mass no-renewals, if people renew but walk out a couple more times then again he’s got your money which was the whole point of the rises.
As one example, Sunderland have over 70 branches of international supporters clubs.
International Branches
www.safc.com
They even have an International Fans Day each year. We don't even acknowledge we have any and Gibson claims the next town from Middlesbrough is full of mackems.
Lots of other clubs have had sponsors around the world. Everton for example were heavily marketed in Thailand. They had Chang Beer as a sponsor. Before that they were heavily marketed in China with Kejian as their sponsor. They had some Chines players at the time as well. Lots of clubs have gone down that route. We tried and failed with Dong Gook Lee and South Korea but as usual with Gibson it was a try something once and then write it off as a failure as the rest of the league does it successfully.
Look at it via Social Media engagement. We are ranked 35th for social media. There are teams that are similar in stature to us that are way above us.
FatFrank
Well-known member
What is there to understand? If people can't afford the tickets, it is a case of weighing up your priorities. Going to the Riverside is a luxury many can't afford but obviously nigh on 20,000 people can. The ironic thing about this "protest" is that the majority of those complaining and protesting will likely be doing so in £1,500 worth of clothing and trainers.
We are a small Club in comparison to a lot of other teams who may be offering a cheaper option to watch their team on a Saturday. We don't have oil money, we don't have major investment, we don't have infrastructure which can generate money outside of football. We have to generate money through ticket sales and transfers. I can see the plan that the club are looking to put together with our recent investments, Rogers was a great example of one coming to fruition a lot quicker than expected. If we can generate more money through transfers, I'd like to think the Club could look at trimming away the increases on STs, refreshments, club shop merchandise, but until that happens, unfortunately the Club are in a tricky situation. This is what should be understood in this instance.
BoroMart
Well-known member
ok, some sensible suggestions here, I do think it is a longer term strategy though, not an immediate generator of income. It's also much easier to do from within the prem. Sunderlands international support is probably partly based on more recent prem seasons, and partly on a Netflix documentary. We have had one season in the prem in the height of the digital age and didn't capitalise on it. We need to next time we are up.As one example, Sunderland have over 70 branches of international supporters clubs.
International Branches
They even have an International Fans Day each year. We don't even acknowledge we have any and Gibson claims the next town from Middlesbrough is full of mackems.
Lots of other clubs have had sponsors around the world. Everton for example were heavily marketed in Thailand. They had Chang Beer as a sponsor. Before that they were heavily marketed in China with Kejian as their sponsor. They had some Chines players at the time as well. Lots of clubs have gone down that route. We tried and failed with Dong Gook Lee and South Korea but as usual with Gibson it was a try something once and then write it off as a failure as the rest of the league does it successfully.
Look at it via Social Media engagement. We are ranked 35th for social media. There are teams that are similar in stature to us that are way above us.
BoroMart
Well-known member
do you have a link to this index that has us 35th? Curious to know which of these smaller clubs have had 1 or less prem seasons in the last decade to get an understanding of the relationship between exposure via the prem and self developed international social media engagementAs one example, Sunderland have over 70 branches of international supporters clubs.
International Branches
They even have an International Fans Day each year. We don't even acknowledge we have any and Gibson claims the next town from Middlesbrough is full of mackems.
Lots of other clubs have had sponsors around the world. Everton for example were heavily marketed in Thailand. They had Chang Beer as a sponsor. Before that they were heavily marketed in China with Kejian as their sponsor. They had some Chines players at the time as well. Lots of clubs have gone down that route. We tried and failed with Dong Gook Lee and South Korea but as usual with Gibson it was a try something once and then write it off as a failure as the rest of the league does it successfully.
Look at it via Social Media engagement. We are ranked 35th for social media. There are teams that are similar in stature to us that are way above us.
viv_andersons_nana
Well-known member
At least we’ve established that you’re only allowed to protest about something if you’re wearing unbranded, second-hand clothes bought at the local church hall.
Honestly, some of the comments on this thread are absolutely mental. And people wonder why we have the country we have. You’re doing their bidding for them while they’re laughing at you. Jesus Christ.
Honestly, some of the comments on this thread are absolutely mental. And people wonder why we have the country we have. You’re doing their bidding for them while they’re laughing at you. Jesus Christ.