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[Football] Stop Exploiting Loyalty - FSA Campaign



Han Solo

Well-known member
May 25, 2024
2,383
These people really can't complain then when the club go back to them with more sky high ticket prices
It would be the same virtually everywhere so I guess no one can complain then.
 






Commander

Arrogant Prat
NSC Patron
Apr 28, 2004
13,508
London
Can't we do the banner but put *


*NOT YOU TONY xx

?
 


southstandandy

WEST STAND ANDY
Jul 9, 2003
6,026
And my guess is that would have still been the case had they gone £200 per ticket
This is the problem - it's supply and demand. I opted out of my ST 4 years ago because I just felt I couldn't justify the expense, choosing to watch non-league football now - which is far far cheaper and yes IMO more enjoyable, but I know that someone else was in the queue to take up my seat.

I voted with my feet (which I think a few more should do if they rail against the price of the modern game) but 1 less fan is hardly going to hit the clubs coffers, and there are always far richer fans than me who are willing to take up places vacated, such as mine.

Sad reality of modern life. It's now a rich man's game topped up with the tourist dollar. I'm not the only one who has to watch what I spend.
 


mrjon1976

Found bliss in ignorance
Jul 25, 2011
360
gravesend
So those who are aware of the Silverstone "dynamic pricing" malarkey for the F1 next year will see the issue with the whole Villa UCL ticket pricing argument - people will moan about it, but will still pay it. And therein lies the reason why it happens - for every 1 person that says no / is unable to do it, there are 10 that can. And it isnt like you are getting any more for your money either.

I am grateful (as are many others) for the interest free payments for our season tickets, as otherwise I would struggle to afford it in one go. And in general, the club get a lot right with regards communication etc. But we have to present a united front on this, because clubs know they can make these changes, ride a storm out for a few weeks then it all gets forgotten.
 




Oh_aye

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2022
2,054
So those who are aware of the Silverstone "dynamic pricing" malarkey for the F1 next year will see the issue with the whole Villa UCL ticket pricing argument - people will moan about it, but will still pay it. And therein lies the reason why it happens - for every 1 person that says no / is unable to do it, there are 10 that can. And it isnt like you are getting any more for your money either.

I am grateful (as are many others) for the interest free payments for our season tickets, as otherwise I would struggle to afford it in one go. And in general, the club get a lot right with regards communication etc. But we have to present a united front on this, because clubs know they can make these changes, ride a storm out for a few weeks then it all gets forgotten.
Whilst I agree with these statements and the other similar one above that 'someone else will take you place' - that's both true and it isn't. It happens but only up to a point. Without wanting to sound like a teenager railing against capitalism, the process of commercial gain means organisations like the ones that have hijacked football, just expanding and expanding into a space until its worn that market out and then moves on to something else. And then where does that leave football?

Live music is a decent example. Becoming ever more corporate over the years and squeezed to within an inch of its life to a small band of hugely expensive mega tours. You can argue some people still buy tickets to those things and new soulless punters have replaced the lower paying plurality, but the net result has been a massive collapse of live music as a thing.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,458
The Fatherland
The Football Supporters Association are co-ordinating a campaign to stop Premier League Clubs increasing ticket prices and making changes to their concessionary ticket pricing.

They met with the Premier League this week to discuss the issue

As a member of the Premier League Network on behalf of the BHASC, we were asked to add our support to the campaign by agreeing to hold a protest at our home game with Wolves for which they will provide a banner like the one shown here (at Liverpool v West Ham)

View attachment 190429

After consulting with all the other fan groups, we had no reason to think that this was something we wanted to do at Brighton.
Therefore we have taken the difficult decision NOT to take an active part in these protests, because we felt that The Albion are not exploiting its fans (e.g. Europa League match pack, ST price increases, no changes to concessions)

This is a difficult decision because we were so humbled to receive support from the wider football family in the 1990s, indeed Fans United started in Brighton, so to specifically not support fellow fans who are protesting does not sit well.

However, for Albion supporters to display a banner like this at The Amex would in our opinion be ridiculous. The media would have a field day as the supporters of the "best run club" could not be seen to have anything to complain about. However much we might say we were protesting only on behalf of fans who do have very legitimate complaints, the message would be lost.

There are two National weekends of planned protests. You may well see these banners in the media, and wonder why Brighton are not involved. Hence this post.
The two weekends are our home game with Wolves and away at Liverpool. There will undoubtedly be a protest at Liverpool and we are actively encouraging Albion fans to join the protests there in support of the Anfield club's fans.

Brighton were not the only club who's fans who had the same outlook. We were the only ones singled out for criticism from the fan group who initiated the campaign.

We will be supporting the campaign through social media, with the message that we are lucky to be run by a fan, to have regular communication with the club, whilst being vigilant about this issue in the future.

If you haven't joined the FSA, you should. Its free and you'd get this information first hand https://thefsa.org.uk/join/

The guy at the FSA who runs the Premier League network is a Newcastle fan. I'm going to have a drink with him on Saturday and explain again our stance.

Your feedback would be invaluable. Did we get this right?
I think this is the very much the wrong attitude. Just because it doesn’t affect us doesn’t mean we cannot stand with other supporters on this issue.
 


Crispy Ambulance

Well-known member
May 27, 2010
2,580
Burgess Hill
We will be publicising the positives - more that good communication and a positive dialogue has been seen to work dividends at the Albion. Through FAB/direct email access to PBOBE/regular Fans Fora/regular Zoom calls etc - all are excellent communication channels that help to secure the relationship the Club has with its fan base. If only that were the case at the majority of PL Clubs.

The importance of good communication with your customers/fans/clients etc is at the heart of a well run business. That should be our message and moral to the PL & member Clubs.
I agree with most of this - except the FAB bit. PBOBE seems to have made it clear that this is just a box ticking exercise to satisfy PL requirements and nothing more.
 




Sarisbury Seagull

Solly March Fan Club
NSC Patron
Nov 22, 2007
14,968
Sarisbury Green, Southampton
We will be publicising the positives - more that good communication and a positive dialogue has been seen to work dividends at the Albion. Through FAB/direct email access to PBOBE/regular Fans Fora/regular Zoom calls etc - all are excellent communication channels that help to secure the relationship the Club has with its fan base. If only that were the case at the majority of PL Clubs.

The importance of good communication with your customers/fans/clients etc is at the heart of a well run business. That should be our message and moral to the PL & member Clubs.
Yes great.

But good communication doesn’t change the fact that Brighton, like all other PL and the majority of football league clubs exploit the loyalty of fans when it comes to £££ which is mainly what this is about.

Feels a little bit of a distraction from addressing the main point. Personally I'd rather receive a poorly communicated press release that ticket prices were going down than receive a brilliantly articulated and very long email from Barber justifying the high cost of tickets, kits or a ticket swap fee.
 


nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
18,416
Gods country fortnightly
It was extremely disappointing to see after the initial furore of Aston Villa intention to charge fans £97 a seat to sit in non corporate sections of Villa Park for the visit of Bayern Munich in the CL.

Stan Collymore and others right across the media, its disgusting, an insult to the Villa fans etc, etc, then nothing.......

The ticket price didn't change and Villa beat Bayern in front of a full house🤷‍♂️
In contrast we gave fans all 3 Europa league matches at home for £75
 


rippleman

Well-known member
Oct 18, 2011
4,953
Based on the posts on this thread, it is hoped that when Barry meets with the FSA that he makes it clear that the BHAFC SC position is not reflective of a majority of BHA fans on this board.

Maybe this is an issue where the SC could have asked the FAB to canvess the opinion of all fans before taking the decision that we weren't going to participate.
 




Withdean South Stand

Well-known member
Mar 2, 2014
645
We should be supporting the protests, Brighton fans should be among the last to need to understand the miserable horror of crap ownership.

Our club is incredibly well run and is massively the exception, but we shouldn't be standing apart from our brothers and sisters at other clubs who stood right beside us when we needed them to. I have no doubt we'd turn out for a club in peril when it matters, but we should also show up as an active ally in this protest.
 




Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
20,530
Born In Shoreham
The day we ditch free travel (which I'm hearing might be next season) will be the day we join this.
People seem happy to pay to park in all the car parks which are at London prices I doubt a £5 travel fee would make much difference to most people.

As far as the banner goes it’s the wrong call IMO. Clubs are doing their hardest to take it away from the working man and are actively seeking families with disposable incomes to spend on a match day.
The atmosphere is crap and has declined over the Amex years. We sing about three songs which are all half arsed attempts and we have become that sing when your winning club. The fact we can point to a handful of games where we remember a decent atmosphere isn’t great for a club that almost died to reaching the Europa league.

Barber has made some wrong calls imo on some issues such as weak banning orders and the £20 tax on ticket swaps yet it’s all swept under the carpet because a fan owns the club?
 
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Sarisbury Seagull

Solly March Fan Club
NSC Patron
Nov 22, 2007
14,968
Sarisbury Green, Southampton
We should be supporting the protests, Brighton fans should be among the last to need to understand the miserable horror of crap ownership.

Our club is incredibly well run and is massively the exception, but we shouldn't be standing apart from our brothers and sisters at other clubs who stood right beside us when we needed them to. I have no doubt we'd turn out for a club in peril when it matters, but we should also show up as an active ally in this protest.
Well said but also this isn’t about whether a club is well run or not, it’s about exploiting fans loyalty. You can be a well run club/business, as we and some other PL clubs are, and still exploit fans loyalty.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
55,711
Faversham
It was extremely disappointing to see after the initial furore of Aston Villa intention to charge fans £97 a seat to sit in non corporate sections of Villa Park for the visit of Bayern Munich in the CL.

Stan Collymore and others right across the media, its disgusting, an insult to the Villa fans etc, etc, then nothing.......

The ticket price didn't change and Villa beat Bayern in front of a full house🤷‍♂️
This would suggest they got the pricing right....

And back to us, how many people started threads on NSC complaining that we spent more on transfers in the summer than any other club. In the world. I don't recall any, let alone a clamour.
 


Jim in the West

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 13, 2003
4,943
Way out West
I don’t think there’s any disagreement that we should support this initiative - but not by displaying banners which imply our club is taking advantage of us. There are loads of other ways we can show solidarity.

When I can watch top quality Premier League football at £31/match (the cost of my season ticket), I’m a long way from being ripped off. And that includes local public transport!
 




Dec 29, 2011
8,198
This would suggest they got the pricing right....

Well it's correct if you're a business trying to maximise revenue. Many people believe football clubs should be more than just a business, which I would agree with.

And back to us, how many people started threads on NSC complaining that we spent more on transfers in the summer than any other club. In the world. I don't recall any, let alone a clamour.

I can assure you ticket sales was not the main driver of our lavish spending over the summer. I'm sure many in here would have taken Not signing one of Gruda or Kadioglu or Weiffer if it meant knocking £100 of their season ticket price (for arguements sake, £100 from 20,000 season tickets is only £2m - absolutely peanuts in the grand scheme of things)
 


jonny.rainbow

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2005
6,841
The day we ditch free travel (which I'm hearing might be next season) will be the day we join this.
All the time we are getting crowds of 15,000+ it will be free travel between Brighton and Falmer on matchdays.

There is no way they can safely manage the flow of people between these stations whilst stopping to check everyone’s tickets.

Even at the Crawley game, when they had a team of minimum wage ‘revenue officers’ asking to see tickets, fans were circumventing the checks by climbing over the railings.
 


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