Wednesday 9 March 2011

Season Ticket renewal - bad timing

My season ticket renewal pack arrived through my SE7 letter-box this morning. Reading through it, you are reminded just how bad the timing is. There's a letter from Chris Powell that I am guessing was drafted a couple of weeks ago. It optimistically mentions "Championship football" and Chris tells us he will do his "utmost to give you a successful and exciting team."

Right now, I am afraid the adjectives that best describe watching Charlton start with "unsuccessful" and many other words which are the anthesis of "exciting."

The price of the ticket is almost of no concern to me at the moment. My biggest question is whether I can break the 34 year cycle and not bother renewing. I know I will end up buying another one, but my resolve is weaker than ever before. My season ticket is the main reason I live in Charlton. Not having one would only break my compulsion to attend games I am not really interested in seeing, rather than stopping me going altogether, although I have next to no interest in watching the rubbish currently being served up.

Whilst I am on the subject, can anyone explain why the A4 application form says "£50 off most seats until 4th April?" I get the "most seats" bit (they can't offer this level of discount on cheapest seats) but not the 4th April. There is no post-4th April pricing or any reference to any pre-discount price other than last years. I am left guessing it's another ploy to promote the belief that we must renew early to get the reduced price when that's not the case?

8 comments:

  1. I suppose they thought we'd be promoted by April 4th? God knows.

    Yes, that timing is terrible and the new board despite proving to themselves and us that we can still fill the ground with cheap tickets, will soon realise for a lot of people it is not about the money, it is about the product.... The same reason why Gucci sell shoes and Rolex sells watches.

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  2. Dave - because after the 4th April it'll be £100 off. After 4th May, £150.

    Seriously I wonder which stand we'll close first? Presumably the corners of the North stand.

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  3. Jon - good lateral thinking although having set their stall out, they will have to stick to it. I have had a private email about this that explains that they are reserving the right to put the prices up. I'll take it that this was intended as an option in the event of promotion. In the circumstances I will again wait until later in the Summer when I get enthused again as all the big signings join/all the Duffers get the boot*.

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  4. CA - hugely ironic and typical Charlton that we can fill the ground one week and have the lowest home gate of the season the next. However despondent we may all feel at the moment, Jimenez, Slater and the money-men must be feeling even sorer about current events. The current clueless, error-strewn rubbish we are currently suffering is the worst I have ever seen and there's absolutely no question about that. Charlton til I die?

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  5. Dave

    I just looked back at the Official sites news item when pricing was first announced. It does suggest that the pricing after April 4th is subject to review and dependent upon which division we are in. So Jon may not be too far from the truth and it may be worth holding on as the price may reduce further if we are in league 2 next season!!

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  6. I dont't think there's anything wrong with the timing of the season ticket renewals, the problem was the timing of the sacking of a manager who may well have taken us to the playoffs, and replacing him with someone who quite plainly isn't.

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  7. It's the same as last season. The thinking is that we would not be out of the reckoning by the end of March (let alone the 9th).

    If we'd won three or four of the five we've lost then the current price with the likelihood of promotion would have seemed like a good deal. In reality the board, and the Target 40,000 committee, cannot have known that we would have fallen to odds of 8/1 against promotion by the time the fans were asked to buy the tickets.

    For me though, even the suggestion that we should be being asked to pay for football some 5 months before the first game and14 months before the last game of the season is the issue.

    I seem to be in a minority with that view, but I took the gamble that I wouldn’t have to pay more by waiting last season, and we were 5th and only 3 points off second place at the time. I think I, like you, will take my chances in the summer.

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  8. Crowborough Addick10 March 2011 at 18:53

    I today have also received a letter from Wendy Perfect inviting me to renew my Valley Gold membership. I have no problem with that.

    However the letter also states hoe there are "exciting times going on at the Valley".

    Sorry, did I miss something?

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Go on, you know you want to....