Membership scheme announced...

[Goldstone Rapper]

just think what players we could bring in with our extra money

None, when 'We Want Falmer' and 'The Withdean Years' are being sold for £1.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

just think what players we could bring in with our extra money

Given the you wouldn't expect current season ticket holders to have to pay for membership ( god help us if they did ! ) then £210k from the remaining 7k fans ( assuming a £30 fee ) is hardly going to go very far !

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Will be there be a £50 fee to leave the scheme?

 

[Man of Harveys]

Someone on Twitter was saying that the club is also floating a scheme called "For You Blue".

This will consist of a 20 quid per person (10 for 65+ and kids) annual charge/membership fee which will enable Albion fans to be allowed to wear any item of blue clothing within 150 yards of the Amex. Under the slogan "Wear your colours with pride!", underpants/boxers not visible to matchday stewards at the turnstiles will NOT be included in the scheme at this point, although this may be subject to revision.

This is apparently enough to cover Roland Bergkamp's wages for a couple of days, so don't go knocking it.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Having just gone through a similar exercise ( for an internal employee brand) that touches 200k people, we provided the focus groups with an overview of the product, the service proposition, the channels, the audience, the benefits and the key changes from what we had currently. This release does some of this but not all. I will reserve judgement until we hear the details.

I'm sure, being a good robust business now rather than a 'cottage industry' or 'vicar of dibley style parish council' that the club are undertaking focus groups as we speak in order to understand what the problem is they're trying to solve with this new product and ensuring it is anchored with the customer experience at the forefront of their solution.

And yet the "official" supporters club hasn't been engaged ? Personally I'd rather keep the Albion as a fan lead club ( or cottage industry ) and have less success then have a corporate attitude like BT, Lloyds Bank or Capita.

 

[Bob!]

I'm assuming this is to move people further up the list for buying tickets, presumably behind 1901 & STH.

There are going to be very few home games where such a scheme would be need based on sales at the end of last season in a 30,000 capacity ground.

Might come in useful for a play-off final?

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Someone on Twitter was saying that the club is also floating a scheme called "For You Blue".

This will consist of a 20 quid per person (10 for 65+ and kids) annual charge/membership fee which will enable Albion fans to be allowed to wear any item of blue clothing within 150 yards of the Amex. Under the slogan "Wear your colours with pride!", underpants/boxers not visible to matchday stewards at the turnstiles will NOT be included in the scheme at this point, although this may be subject to revision.

This is apparently enough to cover Roland Bergkamp's wages for a couple of days, so don't go knocking it.

Worrying thing is if Barber reads the idea he'll implement it.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

The 'lifetime' AWAY Membership Scheme was done away with a long time before Barber arrived. Just so you know.

(But your post does highlight how unnecessary these schemes generally are, probably being required twice a season at most.)

It cost £10 to sign up to the AMS , when they changed the scheme to White or Blue or Gold there was an amnesty period to opt in to the new scheme without a further payment to be a Whitey. Everyone who missed the cut off date had to pay another £10 to join as a Whitey. If they introduce a new scheme with an annual payment it is going to piss off all the Brighton fans around the UK that only go to away games within a reasonable travelling distance of where they live.

 

[KJP]

I'm assuming this is to move people further up the list for buying tickets, presumably behind 1901 & STH.

There are going to be very few home games where such a scheme would be need based on sales at the end of last season in a 30,000 capacity ground.

Might come in useful for a play-off final?

This

It's basically to get more money out of non STH, priority will go 1901/STH then members, then non members with certain amount of points

 

[Beach Hut]

Very strange as I thought the loyalty points system works very well, so well that my mate qualified for the play-off CPFC game as a STH, Withdean, all home cup games and just 6 away games in two years.

I have every confidence the Withdean additional points will slowly erode away. Was the loyalty points system only used for just two away games last season which were at CPFC so therefore I am pretty certain we may have sold out only Forest away ?

This seems a bit like the program on BBC1 at 17:15 - pointless or perhaps to fleece the casual supporter.

 

[The Large One]

And yet the "official" supporters club hasn't been engaged ? Personally I'd rather keep the Albion as a fan lead club ( or cottage industry ) and have less success then have a corporate attitude like BT, Lloyds Bank or Capita.

The what? What's that?

 

[Was not Was]

This doesn't look promising but I agree about not complaining until we have the details. Instead, I'm having a bloody big moan about the language used. How did we get to the point where people think its acceptable to use such impersonal, vague jargon? Is it because there are now too many people who've done Business Studies? Here are some examples:

the growth of the supporter base = because we have more supporters now

going forward = (redundant)

a more holistic view of ... = understand ...

... how supporters interact with the club = ... our relationship with you

The existing loyalty points system will be retained = we will keep the existing loyalty points system ...

and will be incorporated within the scheme = ... as part of the scheme.

Blah, blah, blah.

 

[brakespear]

You could argue that if the club want to drip feed information ( and they MUST know what the planned scheme is ) then they shouldn't be surprised if fans speculate the worst !

Well yes, precisely - if you have something to announce it's probably a good idea to announce it all at once if you want to avoid wild guessing - unless I suppose you are hoping to use said guessing to see how far you can actually go with your intended plans

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I'm assuming this is to move people further up the list for buying tickets, presumably behind 1901 & STH.

There are going to be very few home games where such a scheme would be need based on sales at the end of last season in a 30,000 capacity ground.

Might come in useful for a play-off final?

I did mention this in another thread as the club might be introducing a season ticket for away league games. Quite easy to award additional loyalty points to those buying an away ST to give them a priority for big cup games. (ie 1901 & away ST -> 1901 -> home & away STH -> home STH -> irregular attender -> on the database.)

 

[The Large One]

I guess that was the point TLO was making is that we don't yet have the details so at this stage there is no point speculating and getting all upset about it just yet? However, the drip, drip drip of information doesn't seem the best tactic although as I said earlier I'm sure they'll adjust things (if they think necessary) once they've judged the reaction (and not just NSC's reaction!) to the 'concept'!

What I'm reading one here is a reaction to something which is being floated past Brighton fans. It's the mere suggestion of what the club has in mind that has set some people off. The post I made was meant to mean "if you don't like this 'idea', let him know...", even though as some are making assumptions as to what may be introduced. As KNC says, I'm going to wait for everything to come out before making my mind up; at present I'm ambivalent.

I don't think the so-called 'drip-drip' of information is a problem as such. The thing I read on there led me to believe they have an idea, but nothing is set in concrete.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

They are in danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Of they keep on this road they will be losing more in season tocket sales than they will make out of some tin pot membership scheme.
In the old days they would have got the Supporters Club onside and given priority to members of that, rather than this money making scam.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

This doesn't look promising but I agree about not complaining until we have the details. Instead, I'm having a bloody big moan about the language used. How did we get to the point where people think its acceptable to use such impersonal, vague jargon? Is it because there are now too many people who've done Business Studies? Here are some examples:

the growth of the supporter base = because we have more supporters now

going forward = (redundant)

a more holistic view of ... = understand ...

... how supporters interact with the club = ... our relationship with you

The existing loyalty points system will be retained = we will keep the existing loyalty points system ...

and will be incorporated within the scheme = ... as part of the scheme.

Blah, blah, blah.

Don't you see? He's chosen language that depersonalises things. It's a bit like banks don't say 'because you have gone over your overdraft limit, we have chosen to charge you £20 a day' but words similar to 'because the overdraft limit has been exceeded, a charge of £20 per day has been applied to the account.' By not giving the impression it's real humans behind the decision making process, it makes it psychologically harder to challenge.

 

[chucky1973]

I'm confused (which is not difficult) but this is aimed at non season ticket holders yes?

 

[T soprano]

I'm confused (which is not difficult) but this is aimed at non season ticket holders yes?

I would have thought so which would alienate the casual supporter

 

[Hamilton]

It's not though, is it?

I think it would look pretty foolish to complain about an unnamed scheme, with unknown terms that affects each of us in a way yet to be announced.

Not really. After all, there is the question of whether it is needed at all.

Also, why announce a half baked scheme which is bound to cause confusion?

Sounds like lots of good points to be made.