Barber and the club have lost me as a customer today

[Justice]

I wouldn't expect STs to go up by all that much to be honest. It's one thing pissing about with the pricing for a few thousand seats for occasional visitors, it's another thing altogether to target 24,000 regulars of which there will inevitably be a very vocal minority eager to let the club and the world know what they think of a sharp hike.

Well your a bit up yourself Mr super fan season ticket holder. I know plenty of lads that have followed the club for years that buy match by match tickets so don't give me the occasional visitor bollocks.

 

[warmleyseagull]

A friend is a Liverpool fan who lives in West Country. She and her brother, also a Liverpool fan who lives in US and is over for a weekend, want to go to Watford on opening day. Cheapest ticket they can find is £151.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

What I don't understand with this is why Barber is the one getting it in the neck from the OP?

Do people honestly not think that Tony has the final say so on things? It just seems that when there is credit to be handed out it all goes to Tony, but any blame lands at Barber's feet.

Barber isn't a Brighton fan and is here for one reason to take every single pound off the punter whatever their past connection is with the club.
He isn't here for the long term the fans are, let's just hope all this doesn't blow up in our faces if we move down the leagues at some point, because I don't believe he is playing the long game, of customer retention.

 

[Buzzer]

Well your a bit up yourself Mr super fan season ticket holder. I know plenty of lads that have followed the club for years that buy match buy match tickets so don't give me the occasional visitor bollocks.

Hang on matey. I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here. I'm no more or less of a fan than the OP or my mate's young son who I described earlier. I'm certainly not putting myself forward as some sort of superfan. The comment about occasional visitor is meant purely as that, looking at it from the point of view of the club. I wasn't trying to say that they weren't as big a fan as a season ticket holder, of course they are. Apologies if it came across like that. I'll try to re-phrase to what I meant.

The club have a few thousand tickets that they've hoiked up the price and they know that demand for those will be so high that even if they price out a lot of fans (and they will) they've still got a large market willing to pay the inflated prices. If anyone like the OP complains (and once again, I'm with him completely on this) the club can dismiss it quite quickly by citing market forces and other club s' pricing. With the season ticket holders though, they've got a group of fans that are probably a lot more price-sensitive and are in a better position to complain as a group and generate some seriously negative headlines for the club. Hope that's a bit clearer!

 

[beorhthelm]

i have some sympathy for the general point that the ticket prices are too high, and feel the club should have shown some goodwill here as the matchday ticket revenue isnt so important with the current TV money. that said, really dont understand making such a bold stand on not attending games for minimum £45, when the minimum is in fact £30. why overstate the point by 50%? why is watching Leicester, Watford or Stoke beneath you?

 

[timbha]

Barber isn't a Brighton fan and is here for one reason to take every single pound off the punter whatever their past connection is with the club.
He isn't here for the long term the fans are, let's just hope all this doesn't blow up in our faces if we move down the leagues at some point, because I don't believe he is playing the long game, of customer retention.

Correct, he is CEO and is answerable to the Board which sets his objectives and seems happy with the results to date (whether we like it or not).

 

[timbha]

there's always the cup matches when tickets are much cheaper

 

[Husty]

i have some sympathy for the general point that the ticket prices are too high, and feel the club should have shown some goodwill here as the matchday ticket revenue isnt so important with the current TV money. that said, really dont understand making such a bold stand on not attending games for minimum £45, when the minimum is in fact £30. why overstate the point by 50%? why is watching Leicester, Watford or Stoke beneath you?

Its not that watching those teams is beneath me, I've seen us play all of those teams in the past and loved it. But I refuse to involve myself in a system whereby I have to limit myself to only attending a handful of games that are reasonably priced. Like I say its brazen price gouging and I'd rather give my custom to some other establishment that isn't doing that.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

The Club is changing rapidly and is now a very different commercial animal to the one we left behind at Withdean. With that has come success on the field and commercial nouse is a pre requisite.

However I am concerned about how the Club (led by Barber who is CEO and has no interest in the fans, only money - which is his job) is becoming increasingly authoritarian and treating the fans as children/money pots or even an inconvenience. However the problem is that because we are fans we simply roll over because the love of our team comes first.

But what I cant stand is when someone has the temerity to question the club on tickets prices, season ticket rules, catering, 1901 terms or whatever, certain people immediately turn on the fan in question. The Club are not always right and we all fought to have a club that listens and respects the fans. I'm not necessarily saying that BHAFC doesn't respect its fans but some are clearly feeling less connected and even disillusioned. This should be a concern to us all and if necessary we should be willing to hold the Club to account.

Excellent post and put so much better than I would of put it!!
The one thing we all have in common is we are Brighton and Hove Albion fans, Barber isn't, hence he has no connection with his customers.
We are all pound notes on legs to him.

 

[Justice]

Hang on matey. I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here. I'm no more or less of a fan than the OP or my mate's young son who I described earlier. I'm certainly not putting myself forward as some sort of superfan. The comment about occasional visitor is meant purely as that, looking at it from the point of view of the club. I wasn't trying to say that they weren't as big a fan as a season ticket holder, of course they are. Apologies if it came across like that. I'll try to re-phrase to what I meant.

The club have a few thousand tickets that they've hoiked up the price and they know that demand for those will be so high that even if they price out a lot of fans (and they will) they've still got a large market willing to pay the inflated prices. If anyone like the OP complains (and once again, I'm with him completely on this) the club can dismiss it quite quickly by citing market forces and other club s' pricing. With the season ticket holders though, they've got a group of fans that are probably a lot more price-sensitive and are in a better position to complain as a group and generate some seriously negative headlines for the club. Hope that's a bit clearer!

Fair enough fella, after a few conversations today quite a few are in the f@ck paying that bracket I even think
£40 would of softened the blow but when it edges towards £50 your targeting tourists for a pay day imo.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Correct, he is CEO and is answerable to the Board which sets his objectives and seems happy with the results to date (whether we like it or not).

Let's bump this thread in 5 years and see how we feel about it all then.

My prediction no Barber, club sold to Chinese.

 

[Buzzer]

Fair enough fella, after a few conversations today quite a few are in the f@ck paying that bracket I even think
£40 would of softened the blow but when it edges towards £50 your targeting tourists for a pay day imo.

You're spot on there.

 

[Justice]

Let's bump this thread in 5 years and see how we feel about it all then.

My prediction no Barber, club sold to Chinese.

Could be a 12,000 gate in league 1 for all we know and Barber scratching his head wondering where it all went wrong.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Let's bump this thread in 5 years and see how we feel about it all then.

My prediction no Barber, club sold to Chinese.

You are probably right about Paul Barber, but Tony Bloom has already said publicly, he wants to leave the club to his son.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Could be a 12,000 gate in league 1 for all we know and Barber scratching his head wondering where it all went wrong.

May even have to shutdown the east stand because of grass growing on it!!

 

[drew]

Barber isn't a Brighton fan and is here for one reason to take every single pound off the punter whatever their past connection is with the club.
He isn't here for the long term the fans are, let's just hope all this doesn't blow up in our faces if we move down the leagues at some point, because I don't believe he is playing the long game, of customer retention.

He's a Tottenham fan but then I think everyone knows that however he has been with us over 5 years. I'm not necessarily keen on everything he does but I'm convinced we are in a better position because he is here than we would be without him. As others have mentioned, he reports to the Board and ultimately the Chairman whom we know is a lifelong fan.

Who he supports is pretty irrelevant. We have a squad of players, the vast majority of whom support other teams but that doesn't mean we don't support them.

As for your customer retention comment, where exactly are they going wrong when you look at the hard evidence.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

You are probably right about Paul Barber, but Tony Bloom has already said publicly, he wants to leave the club to his son.

He was asked this very question very recently and didn't say this; he swerved the question.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

If we do a Sunderland next year, there will be all the tickets under the sun. That's why pricing people like the OP out is a bad idea because when it turns to shit like Sam Hypia they are the ones that turn up.

With my financial head on this is simple. ST is too cheap and one off tickets too high.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

You are probably right about Paul Barber, but Tony Bloom has already said publicly, he wants to leave the club to his son.

Yes I know that's what he said and I want to believe it, my theory is we are looking to sell the club and trying to make us look more attractive financially and that's what PB job is.
It's just a gut feeling, I only hope I am wrong.

 

[Weststander]

Let's bump this thread in 5 years and see how we feel about it all then.

My prediction no Barber, club sold to Chinese.

He's already served the club for five years, outlasting the initial personal attacks when he got the blame for everything that the entire Board (including TB) decisions.