[spireitematt]

Just seen the match day prices for your season. Wow your club is out pricing the fans. I don't think that many away fans will be visiting you this season.

I'd say it's split 50/50 throughout the fan base. Half saying we should be paying if we want to challenge and the other half saying it's ridiculous (you don't have to do much reading of this site to see which side of the fence I currently occupy).

I like the red part of your signature (well, not the colour ). Football is not all about the premier league/the money/how many fans you have etc. The vast majority of news outlets seem to forget we have 4 professional divisions in this country and that it is still the game of the low paid working class when you get to L1 and L2, and frankly, half of the wednesday fan base seem to be ignorant to that also.

Football to me is not just turning up to see us play, it is much more of a social outing lasting the entire day. Unfortunately, some of my friends will be priced out of attending when we have high category games.

We've got to a point where teams are going out of business for the amount of money Wayne Rooney earns in a day, which also hapens to be higher than the cost of living for a family of 4 for a whole year.
Money has ruined the game and I only hope that the Premier League and sky/BT implode on themselves.

There is more to football than the Premier League, when you speak to 'so called fans' of Premier League clubs a lot have no affiliation with that team or area and only support that team because there uncles friends hamster came from a pet shop near Stamford Bridge. When you speak to Manchester United fans they just respond with '20 times'. Liverpool fans are living off there history because they haven't won the league in donkeys years and the only recent big trophy they've won was the Champions League back in 2005 (probably best final ever) and you get people who live up North who support Arsenal and Chelsea but have never ever been to London but buy the shirts and sit in there armchairs. I don't understand it myself yes everyone likes to watch football on the TV but you get a different feeling when you actually go to a game and watch a match in real live time and you can chat to fans around you and have a laugh and have banter with the opposition fans before a game and chant and shout and the atmosphere would be extremely different.

I sometimes go watch some non-league games and that is enjoyable as well even if the standard isn't World Class. I know people who support City, United etc and they never go because they can't afford to but ridicule people who support teams like Derby, Forest, Chesterfield, Wednesday and Sheffield United (Well you can actually ridicule them because 8 playoffs and lost 4 finals not much to shout about)

Football and the Premier League has become a big business and you need hundreds of thousands of pounds just to be able to go watch these top flight clubs and the money Rooney is on and other players is ridiculous and obscene, Rooney's wages would be a wage budget for a L1/L2 club for the whole season. Sooner or later the money in the Premier League will run out its got to. Sky have ruined English football and they go on like they invented the sport like it didn't exist before 1992.

People need to go watch other football and experience what its like with the highs and lows, people who support United and Chelsea will have never experienced what its like for there team to win promotion. There's nothing wrong with supporting a Premier League team if they also went to watch there local team and put money into there local club etc.

[Statesideowl]

Opening day of the season, nothing but empty plastic seats!

[Imre varadi]

Whats happened here then while ive been smashing my car to xxxx ? there are more things in life you know ... like my xxxx car !! and me having to catch a bus to work for 3 xxxx weeks untill they fix it !! get a life you lot and smash yer cars up !!!

[St Charles Owl]

Well after seeing those prices I definitely got the title of the thread right by using "Money, Money, Money" as the opening statement!!!

I was hoping that this season we would be able to push an average of around 27,000 assuming we are doing well, but at those prices the away fans will be less and the home non-season ticket holder will go to far less games!! I am very disappointed with these prices, just sends the wrong message to me!!

Btw, does anyone know how many season tickets we have sold this season?? Wasn't it around 16k last season, I was hoping that would increase but I somehow doubt that as well. Also, what do other clubs like Derby or Wolves or Forest charge for their match day tickets?

---

Had a little look myself at some prices for comparison.

Wolves - Max price 30
Reading - 33
Boro - 33
L**ds - 41

And in the prem

West Brom v Man City - max price 39
Villa v Man Utd - 45
Newcastle - 44

I have heard there is a petition protesting at these prices, even I would be inclined to sigh that, DC has made a major blunder here and it could effect our support for years to come!!

[St Charles Owl]

Been thinking about these prices and so far I have not seen them announce what category each game is (do the club usually announce that anyway??) so I am hoping that they will see the negative reaction to this and make most game lower categories anyway. The opening game is traditionally a Cat A game, but this season is a Cat B, that at least is a good sign and I can see most games falling into the lower categories and prices on the Kop will be about 30 quid, still not great but better than 39 quid as it is for the Brizzle game!! Becoming a member will save you quite a bit this season as well so hopefully the club is sensible about a Tuesday night game in February against MK Dons and make these Cat G, which would be 15 quid on the Kop for a member.

If as I have seen quoted we have sold around 14k STs, then I can see some games only getting 18-19k with little walk up business. If we are up near the top it might add a couple thousand more but we will not be seeing too many 25k+ games this season, and thats a shame!!

[madsteve]

Every person has their own stand point regarding the ticket prices but I think some fans are seeing things in a more negative light than is actually the case.

The indication is that there will probably be four Category B matches & possibly one Category A match.

The prices shouldn't be a shock. You could tell from the ST prices what the match day prices would be. I always favour tiered pricing because it means that fans with less money can attend more matches by selecting the lower tiered games. Again by working back from the ST prices, we can work out that 75% of games will be Category C or below with the majority being Category D and below.

I wouldn't want to knock the outcry at the prices by fans but I have seen comments that range from misleading to ridiculous on some forums. They seem to assume that every match will be Category A or B, they add on petrol and £50 for food. The relative cost of petrol hasn't gone up and I suspect that you would have eaten anyway. Also, if you are spending £50 on food at the match, maybe your priorities could be questioned.

The majority of fans live locally so why not eat at home before or after the match?

The prices are quite a hike but why was nobody commenting on this (apart from me) when ST prices were announced?

Why was nobody commenting on this when DC said he was spending £1m on a new pitch?

Why was nobody commenting on this when DC said he was putting in a state of the art new scoreboard?

Why was nobody commenting on this when we started spending millions on new players?

I suppose the answer is that football fans tend to see all black or all white. Things are either brilliant or terrible in their eyes. When we signed Matias, Lopez etc., most fans became ecstatic and didn't think who would be paying for it. It is sadly one of those things that if we intend to catch up with teams that have had a decade in the PL then there is a price to pay.

There are two basic choices. Fans pay the new prices and we become a PL side or we pay the old prices and bounce between SBC & L1. In reality, there are several other positions in between but DC has decided that he wants us to be a PL side & no doubt he wants us to be a good PL side.

I think the majority agree that football was more fun & more accessable before the PL and the money came in. We cannot undo what has happened. DC will take us to the top table. Unfortunately a lot of our fans will only be able to afford to dine there a few times per season.

Is the strategy correct?

First we have to assume that we play more attractive football and challenge for promotion this season and get promotion the following season. If that is the case then crowds will hold up. More fans will want to attend if the team is winning but they will not attend every match if they cannot afford it. DC hopes that this will increase the fan base even if fans are selective in which matches they attend.

I expect that there will be more offers to incentivise fans to attend. Most evening matches will be Category F or G. There will be Kids for a Quid matches. There will be more offers throughout the season. This can already be seen by the improving of the Membership Scheme. The cost has increased by £10 but fans get £5 discount of every match. Effectively this means that every fan that intends to watch six matches or more should become a member. This is ignoring the other benefits.

Once the vast majority of fans have become members then offering discounts becomes easier. Partly this scheme is a way of offering home fans a discount over visiting fans (as most clubs do).

Last season, it cost fans around £600 if they watched every home match. I suspect that fans will be able to watch 17 or 18 matches this season for the same price so some of the comments suggesting that fans cannot afford to watch ever again are exaggerated.

I am fortunate in that I can afford the new prices even with the additional cost of a 250 mile round trip to home matches.

Last season was more depressing as far as home matches were concerned than any season since the 1970s in my opinion. Next season already looks like it will exciting.

If fans were offered the alternative of last season's fayre at last season's prices or an exciting promotion season at the new prices (I know it might not happen), which would they choose? I suspect the majority would go for promotion.

Prices won't reduce in the PL. No doubt we will push on to become competitive there.

This is a real dilemma for fans because on one hand we want the Club to be successful but on the other we don't want to be the ones that pay for it. Clearly DC is trying to make Wednesday into a business that can survive on its own feet which may leave some fans feeling left behind & disenfranchised.

My only advice is that no-one will judge someone as a lesser fan because the cannot afford to support at every home match. Attend when you can and enjoy the ride because it is going to be exciting.

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

you make some good points but you only have to read the forums to see that the word loyalty is already being chucked about with regards to those who bought ST and those who cant/couldnt afford to.

This is turning into a clas war, probably unintentionally from DC's position but that's what is happening. The poor are being priced out in the hope that those better off will just stump up for the loss

[Southeyowl]

Lets hope we get drawn away in the cup games!

I wont pay £34 to sit in my seat on the Kop for a cup game!

Just to put value for money into perspective, I only went to two away games last season with my 15year old stepson.

Fulham away, I think my ticket was around £26 son's was £1, I booked us on the Megabus for £20 all in so £47 was my total layout to get to and watch the match.

Watford away, £26 for me and £10 for the lad plus £30 for the two of us on a coach, so £66 layout.

For us both to go to Hillsborough for the first match of the season if we were not members etc. £68.


Who in this day and age is going to pay £68 to take a kid to watch us at Hillsborough! I wouldn't!

[WakeyTerrier]

What's the away prices and do we get a £5 discount if bought in advance, I'm afraid to say this looks like another fixture I'll be body swerving next season

[madsteve]

you make some good points but you only have to read the forums to see that the word loyalty is already being chucked about with regards to those who bought ST and those who cant/couldnt afford to.

This is turning into a clas war, probably unintentionally from DC's position but that's what is happening. The poor are being priced out in the hope that those better off will just stump up for the loss

It think that is more of the initial knee jerk reaction to the shock of the increase.

The majority of fans that attend 20+ home matches can get STs, either by paying up front or via the interest free monthly payment plans.

Someone made a good point (& one I had been considering) that our match day prices were too cheap compared to ST prices. I worked out last season that with discounts and special offers available, it would have been cheaper for me to pay match by match if I attended 19 or less matches. Clearly DC is giving better value to ST holders.

It is sad if the poor are being disenfranchised but anyone who paid for 23 matches last season can see at least 18 matches next season for the same price. Not great but at least they can still support their team. Alternatively, they could get a ST and watch the lot for a small increase.