[Football] Stop Exploiting Loyalty - FSA Campaign

[Lenny Rider]

And my guess is that would have still been the case had they gone £200 per ticket

But my point was we had this huge debate about fans getting ripped off, I think TS had over an hour of phone calls, in his defence Simon Jordan played Devils Advocate throughout, but ultimately nothing changed, so they pulled this 'stunt' whatever you want to call it, won 1-0 and effectively got away with charging what they wanted to.

 

[rippleman]

Not sure I agree with this stance. It comes across as a bit "We're alright Jack" but as others have pointed out, our fans are being squeezed too although perhaps not as badly as at other clubs. The "corporate client" is certainly the target audience these days.

In our hour of need fans from clubs all over the country, and indeed the continent, came to our support. Weren't we fortunate that they didn't adopt the "We're alright Jack" mentality? Where might we have ended up?

"We're Brighton & Hove Albion. We never forget".

Or have we?

 

[Professor Plum]

"The guy at the FSA who runs the Premier League network is a Newcastle fan."

Oh the irony, getting criticism from a Newcastle fan

Why is it irony? You’re talking about a fan, not the football club. The FSA guy who is often in the media talking about the FSA, is a Newcastle fan, and has made it clear that he’s very uncomfortable with what’s happened at his club. Not sure if it’s the same guy but anyway, you shouldn’t conflate fans with clubs. In fact, it’s because fans and clubs are often so far apart that organisation like the FSA are necessary.

 

[BNthree]

Agree with the campaign in general and also agree with your stance @Barry Izbak

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Not sure I agree with this stance. It comes across as a bit "We're alright Jack" but as others have pointed out, our fans are being squeezed too although perhaps not as badly as at other clubs. The "corporate client" is certainly the target audience these days.

In our hour of need fans from clubs all over the country, and indeed the continent, came to our support. Weren't we fortunate that they didn't adopt the "We're alright Jack" mentality? Where might we have ended up?

"We're Brighton & Hove Albion. We never forget".

Or have we?

Playing devils advocate here.

We still have interest free loans to pay our season tickets over 12 months.
Apart from some sections of the West Lower, all our concessions are still in place
Prices have risen but not by much.
Travel is still included for league games within a certain area.

Yes there are niggles, like transferring ticket charges etc but on the whole we are well treated, and the club is admired for how well it’s run.

We support the FSA stance for other clubs, but not fall into the trap of saying we are badly treated?

 

[Professor Plum]

But my point was we had this huge debate about fans getting ripped off, I think TS had over an hour of phone calls, in his defence Simon Jordan played Devils Advocate throughout, but ultimately nothing changed, so they pulled this 'stunt' whatever you want to call it, won 1-0 and effectively got away with charging what they wanted to.

I don’t think the score has any relevance. The fact that some fans paid / were able to pay is only half the story. The fact remains that many loyal fans will have had to miss their biggest game in decades, while other fans who felt they couldn’t miss it, will have paid up and created financial difficulties for themselves and their families while the millionaire players and well-rewarded club management would be beaming about the extra cash they’ve creamed off the fans.

 

[dazzer6666]

Good call

 

[Oh_aye]

I completely understand why you have made this decision but personally I do disagree with it.

I believe all Premier League, and the majority of professional clubs including ours, exploit their fan base in this country, not just when it comes to ticket prices but ticket resales, kits, merchandise, food, drink, kick off times etc (I appreciate the last point is TV companies but it goes hand in hand with club greed). The Premier League and it’s clubs are enjoying the gravy train at the moment but it won’t last. Future generations of match going fans will be lost unless something is done as professional football has become unaffordable for a huge number of families in this country.

Agreed. Understand the decision because the optics aren't quite right with that particular banner. But football as most of us know it is about to be completely consumed by avarice and collapse under its weight. A massive shift towards tourist and TV money over normal fans will see the soul ripped out of the game if it hasn't been already. While the optics aren't perfect I'd rather the common fan stand together whenever they can and not break ranks. And rather than avoid it completely, try harder to articulate our position rather than wondering what everyone else might make of it.

A quick message to Bloom and Barber explaining its solidarity with the wider footballing community rather than a pop at them wouldn't hurt and it never hurts to keep everyone one their toes about the general feeling of fans.

 

[Professor Plum]

From what I can see, the general view is that Brighton fans support the campaign in general but are nervous that displaying the banner would appear (wrongly) to be a criticism of Albion and Bloom. So that’s the hurdle to overcome — how can we make this distinction clear? It’s difficult with one simple banner. We’d have to get into the CPFC realms of displaying a paragraph of opinions spread over several banners, and no one wants that.

Or would a simple "Support the FSA" banner be some sort of compromise?

 

[Silverhatch]

BHA - fighting fan exploitation since 1993
Fans United will never be defeated.

 

[el punal]

Right decision. Any banner at our stadium could/would be misinterpreted IMO

I reckon we should ask some Ipswich fans to do our banner - that way it won’t offend anyone, as no one will have a clue as to what it’s about.

 

[Henfield One]

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.

 

[rippleman]

Playing devils advocate here.

We still have interest free loans to pay our season tickets over 12 months.
Apart from some sections of the West Lower, all our concessions are still in place
Prices have risen but not by much.
Travel is still included for league games within a certain area.

Yes there are niggles, like transferring ticket charges etc but on the whole we are well treated, and the club is admired for how well it’s run.

We support the FSA stance for other clubs, but not fall into the trap of saying we are badly treated?

Totally agree.

But the fact that we are relatively well treated shouldn't mean that we need to be dismissive of genuine concerns by fans of other clubs.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I understand the difficult decision made but agree with those who have said that we should have an alternative banner supporting the FSA initiative and the supporter of other clubs and are not giving the impression that we are ignoring this issue.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Totally agree.

But the fact that we are relatively well treated shouldn't mean that we need to be dismissive of genuine concerns by fans of other clubs.

Everybody here will agree with that

 

[Oh_aye]

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

But that is the very definition of the meaning of exploitation. Exploiting loyalty of home grown natural fans while a half interested audience across the glove watches for peanuts on TV.

It's not fair on villa fans to expect them to shoulder the burden of resistance alone. If you look at their message boards the trust between club and local fans has been broken and they will turn as soon as things go wrong on the pitch.

It's a sign of the exploitation that they picked a game that no villa fan is going to miss when it comes to the crunch, having seen them in the Championship not so long ago.

It would be the same if it was us. People would stump up eventually but yet another string in the loyalty ties would be severed forever.

It's exactly the reason why all fans should unify when one set of fans is getting the piss taken out of them. We should know more than anyone that there but for the grace of God etc...

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

We should support other fans / clubs but it’s the right move for us not to get involved. Would be a big kick in the teeth to Tony Bloom otherwise

Yes we should very much be supporting other fans. I’m concerned by the fact we appear to have no line of communication with Tony Bloom explaining who we’re doing it for and reminding him most (if not all) are greatful for what he has done/does for us.

 

[JBizzle]

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

Indeed. In fact many fans (not all I might add) were of the opinion "Best £97 I ever spent"...

 

[JBizzle]

I reckon we should ask some Ipswich fans to do our banner - that way way it won’t offend anyone, as no one will have a clue as to what it’s about.

"FSA - Exploitation is fan not good with money. Credit cards"

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Indeed. In fact many fans (not all I might add) were of the opinion "Best £97 I ever spent"...

These people really can't complain then when the club go back to them with more sky high ticket prices