- Aug 8, 2005
- 26,970
I attended a very boring business seminar in London last night, however I was surprised to see our very own Ken Brown there who was coaxed into saying a few words about the AMEX and the club in general to the men in suits. As it was a non footballing audience it was all summary stuff about the club and the stadium and I didn't really learn much so in the break I took the chance to collar him.
He came across as a very genuine person and I asked him about the priority scheme for next season which he was happy to outline. It will be announced in at the end of May apparently. But the draft details still to be agreed by the board are as follows (as I remember them from last night).
- It will be a completely new scheme called Seagulls Away Club (Seagulls Army was ditched as sounding too violent, although Martin Perry was pushing it as he wanted people to earn their stripes!!).
- All 1901 and STH's will get instant free membership, non STH's will have to pay a "nominal" fee.
- There will be a points system which will work like this:
At the start of the year 1901 members will get 100 points, season ticket holders 50 points, others nothing. No points will be given for this year's history.
- During the season points will be awarded for attending home matches, and then a sliding scale of away matches. He suggested something like three geographic zones giving 1, 2 and 3 points. e,g Portsmouth would be one point, Carlisle three. Home game actual attendance would give one point.
- At the end of the season bonus points would be given to reward those STH's that had actually attended away matches, again in categories. e.g 1-4 matches: 10points, 5-10 20 points, 11-20 30 points, 20+ 40points.
The problem he said was that they had completely underestimated the 1901 demand and therefore started promising priority for away tickets for them expecting this would only take 400 not 2500. They have therefore devised the above scheme to give 1901 ers who go away the chance to do so whilst hoping those regular away attendees can catch up very quickly. Points will roll into the following season so a 1901er who didn't attend away games could easily be well down the queue very quickly. Can see it being a problem though if in the early fixtures we have a close biggish club away. Ken joked that hopefully the first few will be "unatractive" compared to home games!!
He also added that seats should be fully in place by Easter, although the East Stand would take a bit longer because they had slightly different designs. He wouldn't explain this!
He came across as a very genuine person and I asked him about the priority scheme for next season which he was happy to outline. It will be announced in at the end of May apparently. But the draft details still to be agreed by the board are as follows (as I remember them from last night).
- It will be a completely new scheme called Seagulls Away Club (Seagulls Army was ditched as sounding too violent, although Martin Perry was pushing it as he wanted people to earn their stripes!!).
- All 1901 and STH's will get instant free membership, non STH's will have to pay a "nominal" fee.
- There will be a points system which will work like this:
At the start of the year 1901 members will get 100 points, season ticket holders 50 points, others nothing. No points will be given for this year's history.
- During the season points will be awarded for attending home matches, and then a sliding scale of away matches. He suggested something like three geographic zones giving 1, 2 and 3 points. e,g Portsmouth would be one point, Carlisle three. Home game actual attendance would give one point.
- At the end of the season bonus points would be given to reward those STH's that had actually attended away matches, again in categories. e.g 1-4 matches: 10points, 5-10 20 points, 11-20 30 points, 20+ 40points.
The problem he said was that they had completely underestimated the 1901 demand and therefore started promising priority for away tickets for them expecting this would only take 400 not 2500. They have therefore devised the above scheme to give 1901 ers who go away the chance to do so whilst hoping those regular away attendees can catch up very quickly. Points will roll into the following season so a 1901er who didn't attend away games could easily be well down the queue very quickly. Can see it being a problem though if in the early fixtures we have a close biggish club away. Ken joked that hopefully the first few will be "unatractive" compared to home games!!
He also added that seats should be fully in place by Easter, although the East Stand would take a bit longer because they had slightly different designs. He wouldn't explain this!
CARVED UP ON THIS ONE BOYS
That is a lot of detail for an April fools! 
