Season ticket prices to increase..
10 May, 2008
The club claims an average increase of 10%, I make it around 12% - casting my eye down the list of prices, then I would say I’m satisfied rather than pleased. If we take a few of their renewal rates and divide them by 23 for a ‘per match’ basis, then it does start to look a bit of a rip off in some areas, but less so in others - but I suppose that this hasn’t really changed over the last few years.
Let’s start with renewing in the Trent End, £349 - the cheapest adult option at the City Ground - this represents a little over £15 per match which isn’t bad at all. Take it to the other extreme and go for a new (ie, not a renewal) season ticket in C or D block for a whopping £517 and it works out at almost £22.50 per game. Now, once you factor in the ‘everyone £5/£10′ type promotions, suddenly that doesn’t start to look like such a good option unless you can guarantee you’ll make every home game.
We would have been fools to not expect Forest to leverage their promotion as an opportunity to increase their prices, but perhaps with them achieving the unexpected on the pitch I had vainly hoped they would do something even more unexpected off it and offer a real reward to those of us who’ve stuck it out for the last few seasons whilst others have walked away. A £25 difference (between a 5-8% discount depending on where you sit) isn’t really much of a reward when you think about it.
The full details are available by clicking here. Mark Arthur had to say the following to announce the ticket prices:
“In setting the prices for season tickets we have taken into account several factors including other Championship club’s pricing structures, especially those clubs of a comparable size and stature, and our desire to give Colin Calderwood the best possible chance of strengthening the squad.”
Ah, the old strengthening the squad chestnut. Mind you, if we could get (and these are completely hypothetical numbers) 15,000 season tickets sold, for an average price of £275 (once you factor in the younger fans and the senior citizen rates), then it would be worth over £4m, which isn’t to be sniffed at. Having said that, if Mr Doughty is serious about his talk of wanting to be a challenger I imagine it would still take a fairly deep hand in his pocket to supplement the season ticket money…
Posted by nffc
Hats half-off to the powers-that-be at Forest, I was anticipating the usual wait ’til some time at the end of May or the start of June until they announced season ticket prices; but apparently they’ll be available on the Official Site at some point tomorrow. Given the residual feelings of euphoria most of us are probably still feeling, it’s a prudent move, although of course it leaves us cautiously anticipating whether they’ll opt to fleece more cash out of us or reward our loyalty over some pretty dismal seasons.
It’s no great surprise really, six wins out of seven - and a draw - have been enough not only to snatch Forest automatic promotion, but enough to snag the manager of the month award for April/May; an award he’s not picked up since November 2007. So a big congratulations to Smoulds, who quite prophetically said back in November that he wasn’t celebrating too much as the April/May award was typically indictative of the success or failure of a season.
Firstly, I’ve managed to track down a copy of ‘that video’ - I’ve
Nigel Doughty came out immediately after promotion to congratulate Smoulderwood and the team, but given the plethora of things to comment on this one slipped through the net ’til now. He obviously spoke of his pleasure in the achievement, but there was to be no gloating from the opt much maligned Forest chairman.
Sometimes something completely random pops into your email and leaves you lost for words because of the sheer unlikeliness of it. I had a few of those last week, they involved Forest getting automatic promotion, and that happened! Today I received this from Rich Fisher, who is appealing for your old Forest shirts so that he can put them towards a very good cause, which certainly does sound like the most random thing ever… read on…
Now I’ve (almost) calmed down from a few days of madness, I would like to offer an apology to Smoulds. I initially was very fond of our bronzen manager, and had a great deal of fun constructing an imaginary lothario loosely based around him - at times this season, though, I have howled with rage and derision and posted numerous times that I’d like to see him vacate the helm at Forest.
The constant ramming of square pegs in round holes will also be something I can’t bring myself to forget - despite his run of goals at the start of the season, Chambers has never looked comfortable at fullback, particularly with no covering winger infront of him. But for all those criticisms both fair and unfair, Smoulds has stuck to his guns and delivered - and for that he has my heartfelt thanks, and a genuine apology for any criticisms I may have levelled that were unfair.
