[Albion] Anyone else considering cancelling their ST's?

[Guinness Boy]

I don't. but like I said, I would have a bet on it.

Is that hunch just based on NSC threads though?

We have reasonably priced STs and, as a result, a higher proportion of STH to capacity than many other clubs. It's hardly surprising that a few consider giving up and renewal time, just like renewing any other annual commitment.

Do we have more giving up than Palace who have fewer to start with and started lobbing people out of their seats to accommodate the sweaty oiks? More giving up than Southampton who seem to have loads of empty seats this season? More giving up than Man City who can't fill their stadium, meaning game by game are easy to get or United where there are far more STHs and therefore likely to be a higher number churning, even if the proportion is lower?

I don't know that and you don't know that.

 

[Wozza]

Did no-one go to football when we were in League One or The Championship? So many midweek games - which meant for me getting home gone 11pm and then getting up at 5.45am for a train to London and a full days work !

Football has not been a mainly 3pm Saturday KO for a long time. The season we got promoted we only had 10 out of 23 games as a Saturday 3pm KO

Indeed.

I really don’t get the complaints about the lack of Saturday 3pm HOME games - certainly in the context of season ticket renewal.

I think it's mainly just folk having a rant at 'modern football'. The irony being that it often frees up time to watch non-league teams.

Fixture changes are a significantly bigger problem for AWAY matches, in terms of organising and travel practicalities.

 

[El Presidente]

Will be renewing, currently playing the best football I've seen at the club in the 50 years I have been watching.

The movement of KO's is part of the game but still do my best to attend.

Being scolded for not attending if a match KO is moved due to broadcaster demands does irk, as does not being able to find a good home for the ticket if cannot attend.

 

[BN9 BHA]

I really don’t get the complaints about the lack of Saturday 3pm HOME games - certainly in the context of season ticket renewal.

I do, especially by fans that travel from outside of Sussex, maybe fans from the outskirts of Sussex also prefer Saturday 3pm kick offs.
I honestly wouldn’t disagree with any Albion fan that isn’t happy with seeing only 1 Saturday 3pm home match so far this season.
I find I enjoy going to football on a Saturday afternoon rather than an evening, this is just personal choice and I find it easy for travelling and organising my day.

I will also add with many games moved for tv I’m sure some fans will think it’s easier to watch at home.

I’m not giving up my ST BTW.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Will be renewing, currently playing the best football I've seen at the club in the 50 years I have been watching.

The movement of KO's is part of the game but still do my best to attend.

Being scolded for not attending if a match KO is moved due to broadcaster demands does irk, as does not being able to find a good home for the ticket if cannot attend.

That has been a double whammy. Swallowing moving KOs is one thing, but an added layer of cost and faff in sharing the ticket is irksome especially given how we’re subject to such random changes.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Very true. I don't even have a ST - but I'm going to get one just so I cancel it.

Please don't cheapen this to think it's just a decision made on a whim. Some people are not keeping one because it's that or bills, some have work commitments, health concerns and genuine concerns about the way the game is run. Very few people would hold a ST for twenty one years and give it up for laugh.

 

[dazzer6666]

Pedant alert, but strictly speaking fixture changes are for the benefit of “fans.” You know, all those diehards in Korea and Malaysia. The ones who kept us going in the war years. Couldn’t get a ticket for away at Darlington back then because of the sheer stampede! The loyalty points you needed, cuh, it nearly broke the CRM system…

They are as angry as we are - evening KOs really don't benefit tour Kuala Lumpur fanbase that much - even if you could afford the alcohol, trying to find a bar open at 3am is difficult

 

[Wozza]

I do, especially by fans that travel from outside of Sussex, maybe fans from the outskirts of Sussex also prefer Saturday 3pm kick offs.
I honestly wouldn’t disagree with any Albion fan that isn’t happy with seeing only 1 Saturday 3pm home match so far this season.
I find I enjoy going to football on a Saturday afternoon rather than an evening, this is just personal choice and I find it easy for travelling and organising my day.

I will also add with many games moved for tv I’m sure some fans will think it’s easier to watch at home.

I’m not giving up my ST BTW.

Well I live in London. I take two kids who can't make evening KOs - certainly on a school night.

I don't think KOs are worse now (ie a new reason to give up season tickets) than it was when we were in The Championship.

And, while I'm sure most fans prefer 3pm KOs on Saturday, I don't believe that many are genuinely inconvenienced by a home match kicking off a couple of hours later.

 

[chaileyjem]

Did no-one go to football when we were in League One or The Championship? So many midweek games - which meant for me getting home gone 11pm and then getting up at 5.45am for a train to London and a full days work !

Football has not been a mainly 3pm Saturday KO for a long time. The season we got promoted we only had 10 out of 23 games as a Saturday 3pm KO

If you’re a Liverpool/ Man Utd fan then you’ve been used to not playing on Saturday at 3pm now for over 30 years.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

The 5:30's aren't a problem for taking my kids and yes there are always odd kick offs times and there would be evening games if we went down.

The thing that really annoys me about it though is the lack of recognition from the club and the constantly taking the side of the TV companies over the fans when we're scheduled for example, on a boxing day at 8pm or some of the other stupidly inconvenient time.

I'm not going to cancel my ticket over it, but if some did feel like they've been taken for granted for too long and the only form of protest which anyone will listen to is to vote with their feet, I don't think i'd be blaming them

 

[Taybha]

When I had my season ticket there was a old bloke sat near by us in the North stand he took poorly one game and didn't see him for ages then one game he was there again.

I asked him if he was OK and he had suffered a mild stroke which you could hear had affected his speech, we got chatting and I started moaning about my 6 hour drive home, he said I'll probably be home before you and I live in Barcelona! WTF ! So I raised the old eyebrow he laughed and whipped out his flight tickets, he was still going the last time I sat in my ST seat, just made me smile a old boy like that traveling on his own to watch Brighton play in the Championship when he lived 10 minutes away from watching Barcelona! I asked him if he went to their games he said nope but he did the stadium tour, quality character.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Did no-one go to football when we were in League One or The Championship? So many midweek games - which meant for me getting home gone 11pm and then getting up at 5.45am for a train to London and a full days work !

Football has not been a mainly 3pm Saturday KO for a long time. The season we got promoted we only had 10 out of 23 games as a Saturday 3pm KO

Pretty sure I replied about this before to you. In our last championship season there were 10 3pm Sat kick-offs. Now we are lucky to get 3. The evening games are the extra games as that league is larger. They are in no way comparable. And yes I am renewing and for once, excited about it.

I don't think KOs are worse now (ie a new reason to give up season tickets) than it was when we were in The Championship.

The more changes and the more late kick-offs there are, the more some people will be affected. I am glad you are not, but see my answer to [MENTION=3462]Springal[/MENTION], and you'll appreciate that 3pm Saturday kick offs are definitely 'worse' now than when we were in the championship.

 

[Springal]

Pretty sure I replied about this before to you. In our last championship season there were 10 3pm Sat kick-offs. Now we are lucky to get 3. The evening games are the extra games as that league is larger. They are in no way comparable. And yes I am renewing and for once, excited about it.

My point is - we came from a place where only 43% of our home games were Saturday 3pm. So people need to stop talking like this is a new thing or that it rarely used to happen. Saturday 3pm has been a minority fixture for a long time. Yes it has got worse but also Covid + FA cup have had an impact as the level of our opponents have improved

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

My point is - we came from a place where only 43% of our home games were Saturday 3pm. So people need to stop talking like this is a new thing or that it rarely used to happen. Saturday 3pm has been a minority fixture for a long time. Yes it has got worse but also Covid + FA cup have had an impact as the level of our opponents have improved

But there will always be a tipping point and 43% is quite a large portion compared to 15%. Enough to tip some people away from their season tickets and that's sad. It is all part of the general slip, slide away from football tradition that we are now all experiencing and it will most probably only become more inconvenient as it is more and more about $$$ and TV and less and less about being a kid with a scarf and going to the match with dad Saturday 3 pm.

 

[chaileyjem]

Is that hunch just based on NSC threads though?

We have reasonably priced STs and, as a result, a higher proportion of STH to capacity than many other clubs. It's hardly surprising that a few consider giving up and renewal time, just like renewing any other annual commitment.

Do we have more giving up than Palace who have fewer to start with and started lobbing people out of their seats to accommodate the sweaty oiks? More giving up than Southampton who seem to have loads of empty seats this season? More giving up than Man City who can't fill their stadium, meaning game by game are easy to get or United where there are far more STHs and therefore likely to be a higher number churning, even if the proportion is lower?

I don't know that and you don't know that.

In the very best years for renewals at the Albion / it’s been 89-95% in the past 10 seasons I think - so very solid even after Sami - but that still means it’s pretty normal for 1000 or so to give it up each season for many normal reasons (cost, family, jobs, form, kids, even bottle tops apparently). And it wouldn’t be surprising if some of them , maybe more of them given demographics would be vocal on NSC

But extrapolating that - especially if you want to use some NSC threads as examples of people definitely voting with their feet over a preferred grievance - let alone comparing it with Everton or Saints or Palace etc is as you say virtually impossible.

 

[chaileyjem]

Anyone else considering cancelling there ST's?

But there will always be a tipping point and 43% is quite a large portion compared to 15%. Enough to tip some people away from their season tickets and that's sad. It is all part of the general slip, slide away from football tradition that we are now all experiencing and it will most probably only become more inconvenient as it is more and more about $$$ and TV and less and less about being a kid with a scarf and going to the match with dad Saturday 3 pm.

Last night walking to and from Old Trafford I saw at least half a dozen Dads - With kids and a scarf - and almost certainly at their first match. (It was a long walk !). In my hotel I bumped into one Dad (one over from Ireland) taking his lad - with a scarf knotted round his neck.
To a game at half term that kicked off at 8-15pm. He looked about 7.
He thought Sanchez was man of the match by the way. .
What’s wrong with that ? I doubt all those kids and dads and scarves all care too much if matches kick off at 3pm or 4pm on a Sunday , aren’t at all worried if games are on TV and certainly don’t imagine that football isn’t for them.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I have worked out that I have to miss four or five games a season due to other activities in my life.

I no longer go to away games.

Tickets for all matches are usually pretty easy to get, so I have cancelled my season ticket. I have considered doing this for several years, and feel quite liberated now it's done

 

[BN9 BHA]

I don't think KOs are worse now (ie a new reason to give up season tickets) than it was when we were in The Championship.

I will have to disagree.
Yes we had evening kick offs in the Championship, especially a fair few Fridays, but there is no way did we have 1 Saturday 3pm home game between the start of the season and mid February.

 

[portlock seagull]

If you’re a Liverpool/ Man Utd fan then you’ve been used to not playing on Saturday at 3pm now for over 30 years.

You read rooms about as well as Helen Keller!

 

[MattBackHome]

Will be renewing, currently playing the best football I've seen at the club in the 50 years I have been watching.

The movement of KO's is part of the game but still do my best to attend.

Being scolded for not attending if a match KO is moved due to broadcaster demands does irk, as does not being able to find a good home for the ticket if cannot attend.

Yep, it was easier then. I recall borrowing/renting your card for a match about a million years ago. You were ranting about Ankergren when we met outside West Stand to do the deal.