Monday 27 March 2017

Will anyone actually renew?

Voice of the Valley has revealed season ticket prices and, as expected, it's another failure to seize the initiative and they have also managed to insult our intelligence once again. You have to ask why they don't road-test these ideas on a selective audience before unleashing them on the supporter-base, but it would appear they did that, didn't like the disapproving response from the experienced Ticket Office staff, but decided to press ahead anyway. 

If you were looking for signs that a sale of the club is well advanced you might excitedly surmise that they are just going through the motions, literally, here. Unfortunately, it's also likely just to be more short-sighted, pig-headed incompetence that has hall-marked Katrien Meire's reign as Chief Incompetence Officer. In short they are tinkering with prices with many changing up or down by £25 and a new £300 minimum for the East or West as they have done away with the lowest wing prices in both stands nearest the Jimmy Seed. That reduces the value of buying the cheapest ticket and simply sitting in the most expensive, but doesn't stop you still saving £200 on a £500 seat.

The £175 special behind the Covered End goal is still available and good value but it will mean that in a large and mostly empty stadium, the majority of Charlton fans who buy season tickets will be rewarded with the poorest view. They have also managed to hang a label on the revamp as "simplifying the stadium map," a line which will go down in folklore with so many others they have given us.

Given our latest disastrous footballing season under the Belgians, you have to wonder just who will renew? Actually, the question might better be phrased as who will renew when? There are still some fans who will renew irrespective of what footballing drivel is served up and of how they are treated as customers by the current owners. There are others, for whom budgets dictate that a season ticket is the most affordable way to see the majority or all of our home games. For all of those people, the main question should be when? Given the announcement has come later than usual and that it's still not clear if we will be getting League One football next season, you would expect very few renewals between now and confirmation next month about whether or not we avoid relegation to League Two. 

Beyond that, there is no practical benefit in renewing earlier than August when we should be clearer on who owns the club and how much more debt has been racked up to build a squad capable of, er, challenging for promotion. We should also know if the Belgians are going to break the pattern of the last three years and retain Karl Robinson as manager and entrust him with the task.


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