[Albion] £14.95 to watch Albion

[chaileyjem]

He’s always been like this, he was utterly dismissive during the flask ban when it was obvious that it was another penny pinching move to make fans pay for hot drinks. But he correctly gambled on having a largely pliant fan base happy to see top-flight football and sod those fans who have brought drinks to games for decades.

He was advised it was a safety issue - i get that . I disagree and liked bringing flasks but i get it - other stadiums / venues do it. He also reduced the price of a cup of tea by 30p at the same time. Other venues didn't do that.
But the idea it was to drive up sales of hot chocolate. Come off it.

 

[BN9 BHA]

At 17.30? Many will be at work or on their way home.
The broadcaster decides the day and time. When has an Albion match ever been played at 5.30pm on a Monday teatime?

When I first saw this thread I didn’t know about the kick off time or who we were actually playing, I did post that I would pay to see Albion on tv, as I don’t subscribe to Sky Sports or BT, but have paid to watch Albion matches on Now TV at £9.99 per match.

I did think PPV at £14.95 the match would be on at a sensible time, I also think many fans with work commitments will miss out because of the afternoon kick off.
Being self employed I would have to finish my working day early to guarantee getting home for kick off, so this match would cost me far more than £14.95.

The time for the Spurs game on a Sunday is fine, I’m not surprised though with Spurs being a big club.

 

[zefarelly]

I usually get home from work by 5pm

Do I win £14.95?

 

[mrjon1976]

this is a very emotive issue.
I emailed Paul Barber on Friday night - it was a lengthy email but I felt reasonable and respectful. I was a little surprised at the tone of the reply I received, very passive aggressive & insinuating that I (and all Brighton fans) are expecting the "product" for free. For what it's worth that was never my query at all. I was trying to seek clarification on what will happen with the money that we have already paid, as my fear is that whilst its all very well saying it can be used against next seasons ticket, if they hike the price by 20% then any savings would be absorbed and uses as a justification for any increase.
I have emailed PB on numerous occasions before and have always found him to be courteous and engaging. On this occasion, however, I found his replies to be verging on the rude and almost indignant that anyone should be anything other than ecstatic about paying £14.95 per PPV game - and it is clear that he has been even ruder to others. And to suggest that everyone who has offered an opinion on social media to be "hysterical & ill-informed" is quite frankly very dismissive. I will await with interest the results of the board meeting and the proposed Q&A this week, as if our CEO feels that it is appropriate to talk to his "customers" in this way, then I will find other ways of supporting my club.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

So are you unhappy with the amount being charged or the kick off time? I am guessing both, so if you aren’t going to watch anyway why bother yourself with the kick off time?

Both. The whole idea, it’s the thin edge of the wedge.

 

[Weststander]

The admin had no problem with refunds, donations and payment holidays just three months ago. They already have our bank details.

That worked seamlessly, repaying 23,000 folk in tranches.

 

[Napper]

Barber banging on as if we are some non league club with no income at all. Business man isn't he. Doesn't sit right but is what it is.

Will probably pay as I'm a mug

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I think everyone needs to just take a breath and calm down a bit.

The current situation is far from ideal and clubs are having to make decisions on the hoof to try and make football available to the fans.

No one is being asked to pay for anything more than once, everyone has a choice.

The clubs were offered an opportunity to accept an offer to show the non televised games on PPV for a 3 week period following the governments decision to stop fans coming back to see games.

Would fans have preferred it if they had refused that option ?

And before people say ..... but id have said £14.95 is too much etc or I’d have changed this ..... no one knows the options or the negotiation the clubs did with the broadcasters ... in fact judging on boxing PPV it wouldn’t surprise me if the broadcasters had started at 19.99 and the clubs have got the price down.

If you don’t want to pay it then don’t, and I don’t blame you......... but I think the club has done enough to earn a bit of grace and a bit of time to try and come up with a strategy going forward.

They still don’t know if the government are going to u turn again and allow fans back in November so refunding money and then having to take it again seems hard work and costly. Everyone needs to give the clubs and the league a chance to work out how to go forward from November onwards.

As things stand no one has lost anything from the introduction of PPV... those games weren’t on TV and aren’t part of the packages that people subscribe to, so those not wanting to pay the £14.95 haven’t lost anything as they wouldn’t have seen those games anyway.

Very nicely put.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Both. The whole idea, it’s the thin edge of the wedge.

The thing is, this assumes there is a wedge. Lots of posts on this thread are predicated by an attitude, about modern football in general and our club and Barber in particular. I seriously suggest to people who see this 'wedge', and imagine our club is part of the sinister contingent attempting to insert it, to actively seek to recoup any money they have paid to the club, and find themselves something else as a hobby. I hope that doesn't include you, but perhaps it may.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

He was advised it was a safety issue - i get that . I disagree and liked bringing flasks but i get it - other stadiums / venues do it. He also reduced the price of a cup of tea by 30p at the same time. Other venues didn't do that.
But the idea it was to drive up sales of hot chocolate. Come off it.

[MENTION=1483]London Irish[/MENTION] seems to be part of this noisy 'modern football is run by moneymen' contingent that has reared up over current events, with their conspiracy theories and other tiresome nonsense. There may be some real issues about the timeline for ST reimbursement here but these have been lost in a sea of nonsense. Some people pay to watch some Brighton games on Sky or BT. I don't recall season ticket holders crying they have been charged twice. That would be idiotic. Now another way to buy TV games has been proposed they are claiming exactly that. And blaming Paul Barber. I don't mind people being angry or even deluded but this turning like rabid dogs on our club is making me sick.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

But the fans still want us to spend tens of millions in a striker? But they don't want to have to pay for it?

I've seen this argument for years and something about it doesn't work for me. The football industry is totally out of the control of fans. In the last (insert time of your choice) its finances have gone insane. No fan would run their household accounts or businesses in the way that football has. so for me there are two things at play. The "real" side of football, that affects me, I can control and I can relate to: things like match day experience, cost of tickets, pies etc and value for money and then the "fantasy" side of football that affects me but I cannot relate to transfer fees, wages, Project Big Picture, etc.

If the product becomes to expensive, too dull, too corporate, whatevs I can cut back on away matches, give up Sky, eat less pies etc but I can't do anything about the "fantasy" part. I want my team to do well and I want my money to be well spent on a good product. I want us to be competitive and our matches enjoyable. That requires the "fantasy" part. In order for my team to compete it needs to do insane, fantasy spending. There really is no such thing as prudent success. The table that shows league position against spend proves this time after time.

Because of this duality, I see no contradiction between wanting value for money, fairness in returning season ticket money etc in my "real" world and wanting a decent striker in their fantasy world. Of course that means they have to do something insane, in their insane world, with insane amounts of money but I neither relate nor care, insane is insane.

I find CEO's in the unicorn world of the Premiership applying "real" values to their insanity slightly off.

I probably haven't expressed this as well I might so don't shoot me.

 

[Wozza]

The thing is, this assumes there is a wedge. Lots of posts on this threads are predicated by an attitude, about modern football in general and our club and Barber in particular. I seriously suggest to people who see this 'wedge', and imagine our club is part of the sinister contingent attempting to insert it, to actively seek to recoup any money they have paid to the club, and find themselves something else as a hobby. I hope that doesn't include you, but perhaps it may.

B*llshit. It's totally acceptable to be a loyal Brighton & Hove Albion fan and be concerned about the way the game is going.

Premier League football is ridiculously expensive to follow in the UK - in any form. Why is it so different to Bundesliga?!

The moneymen will keep rinsing fans for more and more, until there's some kind of push-back.

They're taking the pee while people are skint, or scared of the future, or both. And, by the way, it's while - in their terms - the quality of the 'product' is diminished.

I'm lucky in that I can afford £15. I absolutely won't be paying it on principle. And I urge fellow Albion fans to do the same.

There HAS to be push-back.

 

[neilbard]

B*llshit. It's totally acceptable to be a loyal Brighton & Hove Albion fan and be concerned about the way the game is going.

Premier League football is ridiculously expensive to follow in the UK - in any form. Why is it so different to Bundesliga?!

The moneymen will keep rinsing fans for more and more, until there's some kind of push-back.

They're taking the pee while people are skint, or scared of the future, or both. And, by the way, it's while - in their terms - the quality of the 'product' is diminished.

I'm lucky in that I can afford £15. I absolutely won't be paying it on principle. And I urge fellow Albion fans to do the same.

There HAS to be push-back.

Nailed it!

 

[mrjon1976]

B*llshit. It's totally acceptable to be a loyal Brighton & Hove Albion fan and be concerned about the way the game is going.

Premier League football is ridiculously expensive to follow in the UK - in any form. Why is it so different to Bundesliga?!

The moneymen will keep rinsing fans for more and more, until there's some kind of push-back.

They're taking the pee while people are skint, or scared of the future, or both. And, by the way, it's while - in their terms - the quality of the 'product' is diminished.

I'm lucky in that I can afford £15. I absolutely won't be paying it on principle. And I urge fellow Albion fans to do the same.

There HAS to be push-back.

spot on

 

[BadFish]

The thing is, this assumes there is a wedge. Lots of posts on this thread are predicated by an attitude, about modern football in general and our club and Barber in particular. I seriously suggest to people who see this 'wedge', and imagine our club is part of the sinister contingent attempting to insert it, to actively seek to recoup any money they have paid to the club, and find themselves something else as a hobby. I hope that doesn't include you, but perhaps it may.

I will concede that I am appalled by modern football in general and fully believe that money and the Permier League has ruined the game that I love. The trouble is that I love football and love the albion, because of our history I have a really strong connection with the club and, as my posts attest, I believe that Bloom, Barber etc are doing their best to run the club in the 'right' way dispite the behaviour of the clubs we now find oursleves surrounded by. This is why I am in favour of not gambling on an expensive new striker on higher wages and over stretching ourselves more.

Thing is though, it is getting harder to enjoy the glow of pride from our beacon while it is situated in a cess pit of greed and mismanagement.

My preference would be for all those who witsh to continue in this direction to do so. I would love Brighton to be a driving force in a revamp of those that are left. Making a fair, equitable and most importantly sustainable competition that rewards clubs that are well run and do right by their working fans. I would prefer a closed shop system so those who are keen on an exclusive 'competition' are not tarnishing the rest with their greed and money.

Like you say if Brighton choose to live in the shadows of the big 6 and by into the greed and sloping playing field offered by the scraps of the big clubs then I will have a decision to make. I disagree with you that I will need a new hobby though. Football is my interest and it will be football as I want it to be, rather than what it has become that I am looking for. I am not sure where i will find it here in Australia but I already have a passion for the AFL and A League, the AFL have much to offer in terms of fairness and equaity, not perfect but a strong candidate. Western United and the A league are a new concern so who knows where this will lead.

BF

 

[Barham's tash]

B*llshit. It's totally acceptable to be a loyal Brighton & Hove Albion fan and be concerned about the way the game is going.

Premier League football is ridiculously expensive to follow in the UK - in any form. Why is it so different to Bundesliga?!

The moneymen will keep rinsing fans for more and more, until there's some kind of push-back.

They're taking the pee while people are skint, or scared of the future, or both. And, by the way, it's while - in their terms - the quality of the 'product' is diminished.

I'm lucky in that I can afford £15. I absolutely won't be paying it on principle. And I urge fellow Albion fans to do the same.

There HAS to be push-back.

Bang on - imagine if we had sat back without pushing back in the war years... “ah well never mind, I guess at least I’ll still have the choice on whether or not I go to Portsmouth to watch us, but there will still be a team to watch so we mustn’t grumble...” [yes I get I’m over egging the pudding with this comparison but it holds up to me]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but some on here being angry with fans being angry at the club for supporting this expensive PPV notion aren’t seeing the bigger picture.

Yes you have a choice fine but on principle I won’t be paying it because:

A: It’s too expensive and right now I can’t afford it
B: Especially as the club aren’t refunding money for a product they can’t offer and I can’t afford to buy atm
C: it sets a dangerous precedent for future seasons/tv deals.

If Project Big Picture comes to fruition then you wait until our 8 biggest games of the season get picked by the home club as one of their 8 PPV games and force fans to spend £20 on a stream.

Dwindling away attendances, more money for the big 6/8 or 9 whichever way you want to see it and further exponential disparity between the haves and have nots of the football world of which we’ll always be the have nots. Meritocracy my arse.

Just another nail in the coffin for football as I would want to see it.

 

[BadFish]

B*llshit. It's totally acceptable to be a loyal Brighton & Hove Albion fan and be concerned about the way the game is going.

Premier League football is ridiculously expensive to follow in the UK - in any form. Why is it so different to Bundesliga?!

The moneymen will keep rinsing fans for more and more, until there's some kind of push-back.

They're taking the pee while people are skint, or scared of the future, or both. And, by the way, it's while - in their terms - the quality of the 'product' is diminished.

I'm lucky in that I can afford £15. I absolutely won't be paying it on principle. And I urge fellow Albion fans to do the same.

There HAS to be push-back.

This.

 

[Guinness Boy]

The thing is, this assumes there is a wedge. Lots of posts on this thread are predicated by an attitude, about modern football in general and our club and Barber in particular. I seriously suggest to people who see this 'wedge', and imagine our club is part of the sinister contingent attempting to insert it, to actively seek to recoup any money they have paid to the club, and find themselves something else as a hobby. I hope that doesn't include you, but perhaps it may.

I'm sorry, but if you suggested to me back in the dark days that the club I was saving would go on to charge people twice for a game kicking off at 17.30 on a fecking Monday evening I'd have probably put down the "Archer Out" banner and taken up snooker.

 

[neilbard]

I'm sorry, but if you suggested to me back in the dark days that the club I was saving would go on to charge people twice for a game kicking off at 17.30 on a fecking Monday evening I'd have probably put down the "Archer Out" banner and taken up snooker.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Equating Brighton being part of a group charging for access to watch live games that would not ordinarily be televised and (as they will) repaying season ticket payments, with Brighton being eviscerated by Bill Archer is grotesque and absurd.

Some people need to grow up