Thankfully I'm in a financial position that allows me to do this, however can't say I'm too keen on the way the club has brokered the use of 'credits' from this years season tickets and I won't be renewing at current.

I know they've discussed before in the press, and possibly through the Foundation as well IIRC, about hoping that fans will forego the credits and again support the club financially but I feel the way it's not usable except through buying during the standard period meaning that current season ticket holders seeking to use the credits may lose their seats during the early bird period is entirely unacceptable.

The boy who comes along with me to games lost his job about a month before the original lockdown and hasn't had any luck getting a job since. He bought a season ticket to support the club last year, and has since discussed with me before that he'll have to use the credit system to renew otherwise he can't possibly afford it this season and I have to say that the thought that he'll still need to shell out a fair wedge to renew in the standard period seems a shameful way to treat loyal supporters who backed the club.

Edit: Should also add that depending on how quickly he renews once the standard period comes around, he could even lose his seat if someone else is quicker on the buzzer. Shameful IMO.

Last edited by Morphman (23/3/2021 10:40 am)

I believe this is a case of needs-must. The club needs the fans here through no fault of their own. It's the biggest revenue stream and the club need to find the balance of utilising that and being seen as fair.

I think there probably is something that can be done with securing your seat and still using the discount, leveraging that you might lose your seat if you use the discount doesn't feel right. However, only applying the discount to the full price is fair enough IMO. The offer of early bird is a cash flow thing and planning tool, to have that decimated by the highly unusual discount would destroy the margins.

People want an affordable ticket. People also want to watch a good, strong team on the park. At this juncture, those 2 things are conflicting with each other and the club are in an impossible position through very little fault of their own/current regime.  

Is PATG not overlooked alongside the holy grail that is ST's?
Success on the field (our goal obviously) will have non-ST fans wanting to PATG.
It would mean extra revenue in the long run cos fans would be paying £22(?) per seat rather than the ST holders £18 (if that's what your standard ST costs per game).
It's relevant too that ST's don't save you much money (as per figures above) whilst I appreciate that the Club gets your whack of money in at the start of the season.
Another issue with ST's is the Club never seem to get it right & you can understand why cos it must be very difficult keeping all sections happy.
And, historically, I've been inside Tannadice with 28,500 home fans, not one of whom had a ST!

So simples, top 4 & cup runs season 21/22 and watch the non-ST fans flocking up to Tannadice

 

We won't know until next year's package is announced, but I suspect the "new" prices - i.e. £489 for ETL are for one year only, with the singular purpose of clawing back money from those using credits. The structure has been devised in such a way that ONLY those using credits are likely to pay that price (other new ST buyers will likely go for the early bird alongside interest free finance and save a fortune).

I suspect next season these hugely inflated prices will disappear, perhaps with some marketing around a price drop to thank loyal fans.

The whole venture, whilst not illegal, seems to go entirely against the spirit that the credits were offered. The marketing at the time certainly didn't mention that anyone using the credits would have the price increased by £200 first.

I do have sympathy for the owners - not many people expected this to last this long - but whoever thought up the credit scheme should have planned for the worst case outcome.

If the plan was always to pump up prices for anyone using credits, then they were dishonest. If they didn't think about it until now, they were incompetent.

Beharder wrote:

I'm not sure it's reasonable to criticise the club for not laying out in advance how the credits would work.
There is still massive uncertainty ahead..

I'm not criticising them for laying out in advance how the credits would work, I'm criticising them for jacking season tickets to almost 450 or 500 quid, forcing those using the credits to pay more regardless.

Possibly the most conniving piece of financial duplicity I've seen at Tannadice and we had the bald snake Thomson at the helm no long ago.