Season Tickets 2009-10

[Royal Lady]

FFS - is that the best they can do? Expect no-one to bother renewing early next season if that's the thanks we get!

[SHORT AND CURLY]

LOL

Glad I didn't renew straight away. If I did I would be very miffed.
Hopefully they will lower the prices now to really hack you lot off. I will renew then.

[Dirk Gently]

LOL

Glad I didn't renew straight away. If I did I would be very miffed.
Hopefully they will lower the prices now to really hack you lot off. I will renew then.

Good luck - they will absolutely, completely and utterly not reduce ST prices.

[working class hero]

LOL

Glad I didn't renew straight away. If I did I would be very miffed.
Hopefully they will lower the prices now to really hack you lot off. I will renew then.

Good luck - they will absolutely, completely and utterly not reduce ST prices.

They will however offer lots of cut price offers which may make having an ST seem like a bum deal - especially if you have to miss a game or two. Our pricing was badly misjudged this season.

[Dirk Gently]

I'm not so sure about that - it was a fair price when there was a good possibility of PL football last season, as there was when the renewals were done. People renewing took the risk which would have saved them nearly £100 is we were promoted - the PL price I heard touted was £515.

And I'm not convinced that reducing the figure by £20 or £30 would have made much difference to the uptake, then or now. Do people really decide to buy or not buy a ST based purely on price? Surely they buy them for all sorts of other reasons, like wanting to make a commitment to the team they support, or making sure they get the same seat around the same people for each game, or ensuring they get that seat for cup games too, or even just saving them the grief of having to buy individual tickets for each game they want to go to.

If it's purely a financial decision based on nothing else than the ST cost then you may be right, but as someone who uses my own money to go and watch the matches I don't think it is. You may think differently, of course ...

[Rex]

Why restrict this offer to the first 4 months of the season or is this just pre Half S/T takeup.
A good offer really for those who wish to take a friend. The spread will mean minimal loss and maybe a slight increase in bums on seats.

[Whore Jackie]

I'm not so sure about that - it was a fair price when there was a good possibility of PL football last season, as there was when the renewals were done. People renewing took the risk which would have saved them nearly £100 is we were promoted - the PL price I heard touted was £515.

Indeed. The bring-a-friend-for-free offer is fair too, though would have preferred a free cup ticket or two.
Probably safe to assume, with this offer, that the renewal price for the remaining ST holders will now be the same.

[RoyalBlue]

So when are they going to announce the details for them? Those ticket office staff must be rushed off their feet at the moment!

Today : http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1670173,00.html

Once again I'm not sure how well they have thought this one out! 'If a supporter wishes to switch from a regular season ticket seat to sit with a friend, we will do our best to accommodate the request, subject to availability'.

Perhaps a lot easier said than done, particularly when their are existing groups of season ticket holders e.g. a family. I can see this turning into an administrative nightmare and/or lots of friends ending up sitting on their own!

9000 friends and potential seat switches to accommodate before Xmas!

Mind you, this scheme would suggest that there is a way around any potential VAT problems associated with free/cheap tickets.

[Dirk Gently]

So when are they going to announce the details for them? Those ticket office staff must be rushed off their feet at the moment!

Today : http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1670173,00.html

Once again I'm not sure how well they have thought this one out! 'If a season ticket holder wishes to switch from a regular season ticket seat to sit with a friend, we will do our best to accommodate the request, subject to availability'.

That's the standard process when someone wants to moves seats for a match - it usually works pretty well, but they do need a disclaimer just in case you decide you want a friend to sit in a seat that's sold to someone else, or in case a match sells out...

I can't see anything wrong with that myself.

[RoyalBlue]

Today : http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1670173,00.html

Once again I'm not sure how well they have thought this one out! 'If a season ticket holder wishes to switch from a regular season ticket seat to sit with a friend, we will do our best to accommodate the request, subject to availability'.

That's the standard process when someone wants to moves seats for a match - it usually works pretty well, but they do need a disclaimer just in case you decide you want a friend to sit in a seat that's sold to someone else, or in case a match sells out...

I can't see anything wrong with that myself.

Can't you? I bet they have never ever tried to accommodate up to 9,000 such seat switches in a four month period!! Sure, they can fall back on the disclaimer but they are going to end up with a lot of pissed off season ticket holders if the frequent use of the disclaimer ends up making the offer virtually worthless because friends end up having to sit on their own.

This could end up with an awful lot of work for the ticket office and still end up backfiring.

I reckon money off vouchers for the Megastore would have been less work for the club and more popular with season ticket holders. What's more, I reckon a lot of people would end up spending more than the voucher value (which, of course, costs the club far less than the face value) so there would still be some income for the club.

[Wycombe Royal]

Can't you? I bet they have never ever tried to accommodate up to 9,000 such seat switches in a four month period!! Sure, they can fall back on the disclaimer but they are going to end up with a lot of pissed off season ticket holders if the frequent use of the disclaimer ends up making the offer virtually worthless because friends end up having to sit on their own.

This could end up with an awful lot of work for the ticket office and still end up backfiring.

I reckon money off vouchers for the Megastore would have been less work for the club and more popular with season ticket holders. What's more, I reckon a lot of people would end up spending more than the voucher value (which, of course, costs the club far less than the face value) so there would still be some income for the club.

Firstly all 9,000 season ticket holders won't take advantage of this offer. It isn't that much work for them to move the seats and takes very little time for them to do it. I have NEVER not been able to move seats if I want to.

Money off vouchers for the megastore will not achieve their aim of getting more people in the stadium will it? Surely even you can work that one out? They want these "friends" to attend more matches and beome more regular supporters of the club and to do that they have to get them into the ground in the first place.

As it is we already get a £10 voucher off a new replica shirt but some people just want them to keep giving things away......

Giving away a free seat in the stadium costs them virtually nothing and will still increase revenue through sales of programmes, refreshments, etc.....

Some people will moan about anything, but it normally the same few people on here....

[Dirk Gently]

Also they won't need a seat switch if there's an unsold seat close or next to a STH's seat - they'll just put the friend in there. SO I very much doubt it'll be anything like that many "switches".

But doing a seat switch is dead easy with the system they've got, so I can't see that it'll particularly be a problem.

[RoyalBlue]

Can't you? I bet they have never ever tried to accommodate up to 9,000 such seat switches in a four month period!! Sure, they can fall back on the disclaimer but they are going to end up with a lot of pissed off season ticket holders if the frequent use of the disclaimer ends up making the offer virtually worthless because friends end up having to sit on their own.

This could end up with an awful lot of work for the ticket office and still end up backfiring.

I reckon money off vouchers for the Megastore would have been less work for the club and more popular with season ticket holders. What's more, I reckon a lot of people would end up spending more than the voucher value (which, of course, costs the club far less than the face value) so there would still be some income for the club.

Firstly all 9,000 season ticket holders won't take advantage of this offer. It isn't that much work for them to move the seats and takes very little time for them to do it. I have NEVER not been able to move seats if I want to.

Money off vouchers for the megastore will not achieve their aim of getting more people in the stadium will it? Surely even you can work that one out? They want these "friends" to attend more matches and beome more regular supporters of the club and to do that they have to get them into the ground in the first place.

As it is we already get a £10 voucher off a new replica shirt but some people just want them to keep giving things away......

Giving away a free seat in the stadium costs them virtually nothing and will still increase revenue through sales of programmes, refreshments, etc.....

Some people will moan about anything, but it normally the same few people on here....

Giving away vouchers for the Megastore won't cost them that much and will also generate income as I pointed out and you chose to ignore. And did i claim that a Megastore voucher would achieve their aim of getting more people in the stadium? Surely even you can spot that I didn't!

Of course not all 9,000 season supporters will take up the offer (and a good few of those that don't are likely to think it's a pretty poor/insulting offer, particularly if the club end up having to reduce ticket prices to attract people to the games). However, it is still likely that a significant number will (if they don't then the 'gift' to loyal season ticket holders will prove to have been misjudged anyway) and that number is likely to be considerably greater that those who have previously requested to move their seats to sit with a friend. If they are then told that they can't sit with the friend, then the scheme will backfire.

If you actually took the trouble to read things properly instead of immediately leaping in to defend the scheme, you would spot that I wasn't moaning about it. Rather I was questioning how well it would work in practice. Believe it or not, RFC have on occasions come up with things that perhaps haven't been as well thought out/planned/organised as they might have been hoped.

Also they won't need a seat switch if there's an unsold seat close or next to a STH's seat - they'll just put the friend in there. SO I very much doubt it'll be anything like that many "switches".

But doing a seat switch is dead easy with the system they've got, so I can't see that it'll particularly be a problem.

I hope you are right but I fear this will be by no means the last we will hear on the matter and subsequent debate may not be positive.

[Huntley & Palmer]

You dont' half talk a load of bollocks

[Tilehurst Mike]

To be honest to only sell 9000 season tickets to date is pretty woeful in my view despatch the lure of buying early in case of Premiership football. To me it highlights how many fickle/plastic/glory hunter fans we have. You only have to look at the likes of Norwich, Charlton, Sheff utd to see how many season tickets they have sold and the high percentage of their existing season ticket holders that have renewed unlike us!

On the other hand to be honest most of the football and lack of quality served up by Reading in the second half of the season would make most diehards seriously consider the wisom of renewing!!

[Silver Fox]

Well done Mike for trying to take the heat off RB with that load of guff btu really he is the king of nonsense on these threads.

Seriously RB what do you want? And when the club don't personally deliver the moon on a stick to your front door how upset will you be?

[TFF]

I'll be pleased with this scheme if my kids aren't restricted to inviting a friend in the same concession band.

If they have to invite a child we'd probably be forced to move seats in order to accompany our guest whereas an adult guest can obviously sit on their own.

Decent gesture though as it's pretty obvious we haven't achieved any financial benefit by buying early.

[Maguire]

If they have to invite a child we'd probably be forced to move seats in order to accompany our guest

Holy shit, the apocalypse is coming!!!

[TFF]

If they have to invite a child we'd probably be forced to move seats in order to accompany our guest

Holy shit, the apocalypse is coming!!!

LOL. Fair comment.

I do like my seats though.

Obviously I'd rather use the lads' tickets to bring someone I can have a beer with rather than an ungrateful Chelsea supporting schoolchum who costs me a fortune in programmes, coke and rollovers.

[Silver Fox]

But who might otherwise not get the chance to appreciate there's a football team playing in his own town?