Filling our stadium.

Personally the ticket prices are far too high. Me & the Mrs have season tickets. We both have very well paid jobs but are saying it's expensive for the games. Almost £1200 for the season tickets, another £164 for the European group stages, £40 for the Helsinborg game and then you have the domestic Cup games if drawn at home to take in to consideration. You could be talking alomst £1600. That's a fair chunk of money for most people. Our income is well above the average wage but today just doing the maths this £1600 could be spoent on other things.

 

What can the board possibly do?? How much do you want them to take off the price of a season ticket to get an extra 10,000 people to buy them?? We had to cut our squad this year as our wage bill was killing us. The board are not hiding money, every penny put into the club is accounted for and needed to keep us running as we are.

 

We all have choices to make. You either want to go support your team or not. Yes its expensive but thats the way football is these days. If you dont generate money then you cant compete at a high level. If you saved £100 each would it really make a big difference to yourself?? I dont think knocking £100 would bring an extra 10,000 people back. £100 off 50,000 people is £5m which would wipe out most our transfer budget. Cheaper tickets would mean less players in and a worse product on the park. What would you prefer ??

 

If the tickets were £13 we would sell out. Regardless of the opposition.

Instead it's £30, and times like yesterday makes this price seem even worse when due to injuries it's alot of young inexperienced players your watching.

 

How are there best celtic games? Your'e not there to watch barcelona or motherwell, your'e there to watch celtic.

 

Are you serious?

You telling me Celtic v Barca or CL qualification is the same as Celtic v St. Mirren?

I done my time mate when I didn't have any kids or commitments and it was a much less successful period than we ever have these days so if I want to pick and choose what games I go to then that is what I'm going to do.

 

Aye im serious and youre sarcastic questions arent going to change that. Im telling you that you that it doesnt matter who celtic are playing because you arent there to watch the other team.

 

Where is the sarcasm? Seems like you are trying to pick an argument for the sake of it.

Try telling my kids that watching a turgid game in the winter against Hamilton in the freezing cold is the same as the * party we had the other night against Helsingborgs.

And I'm always there to watch Celtic, just that some games are more enjoyable than others, although I'm sure you knew that's what I meant.

 

I'd normally agree with that but I've had friends who don't support Celtic asking if they can get champions league tickets

 

£16 a tik for huns. £25-30 for the Bhoys.

Maybe we should reduce our prices ever so slightly.

 

The board should be doing more to get people through the door. That means freezing season ticket prices, and letting kids in for next to nothing. I would even go as far as giving tickets away to local schools and charities just to get bums on seats. As I said earlier, what value is there in pricing out the local community who would support you but cannot possibly afford it? And what is the point in increasing prices after a season in which crowds were already down and we had few sell out crowds? The board practically gaurenteed there would be less people there this season.

For a lot of people it isnt a question of wanting to or not, it is a case of being financially sensible and chosing to put most sensible things first. But I am not really thinking from a fan perspective but rather a business perspective. In what other business would a company whom having realised they lost customers last year, decide to bump up prices without improving the product on sale? It just doesnt make sense and it is very short term thinking.

 

cant reduce the tickets as that would be unfair to those that have paid for season tickets. the difference should be in the quality of teams we are playing wether its a dour game against st mirren it is surely better than watching your team play elgin. they are expected to beat teams by 5 or 6 each week and that has only happened at home games.

 

Take a tenner off the ticket prices and I'll be there

 

Come on, if i could only pick 6/7 games to go to a year then im going to pick the big ones. We know we are there to support our team and not see the opposition but if you can only afford 6 or 7 games a season then of course you pick the likes of Barcelona and other champions league games. Cant have a go at someone for that.

 

There is an unfortunate fact that our actual hardcore support who would always be there regardless of the sacrafices they have to make or how * we are, is only about the 30K mark. But we have the potential to draw a much bigger crowd to the bigger games.

Fergus McCann knew this and exploited it so well it's ridiculous. The stadium has 60K seats because he knew we could fill it on big games, but the other games could be a problem - so his solution was to present those who were only interested in the 'big matches' with one option - buy a season ticket or else you will not get to pick and choose your big games anymore. Everyone bought into this and there was 55K season ticket holders for a good few years, the team did well and fans went to see quality like Henrik and didn't care who we were playing. This is no longer the case; the quality is no longer there in the same abundance as a decade ago, the 'pick and choosers' can go back to what they prefer and what is more financially viable for them.

However, the current issue lies with how the current Celtic board have responded to this situation. In my opinion, they knew they would be downsizing the club structure the minute WGS walked in the door at Celtic and they should have anticipated a drop in interest and now is the time they should be responding with some serious drops in prices or they will soon be stripping the attendence down to the core 30K.

We massively overpay for the product we get and in the league we are in, they can only milk the faithfuls so much. If the renewal package hits doormats in April with the exact same price structure as this year then i really fear for the attendences next year, there will be serious drops if they don't change it. And then the 'armageddon' card will come flying out the orc's pockets quicker than you can say the words 'SPL2'.

 

Great post

 

Yes give away free tickets, that will please everyone. I can just see the backlash to that . The season books have been frozen for a couple of seasons so therefor are due an increase. The increase in prices have nothing to do with the falling gates this season. The lack of competition in the league has more to do with that and Celtic expected a shortfall in revenue this season without Rangers in the league so does it make sense to cut prices and make a bigger loss of revenue. As i keep saying, the board are not trying to line their own pockets. They are doing what they think is needed to keep the club running well. There is no hidden cash, at the end of the financial year the results are there for everyone to scrutinise. Short term thinking?? I think thats one thing the board can never be accused off. Think too many people think running a club is like their football manager game.

 

Very good post and I agree 100%

I would also add that many of our hardcore fanbase are the same people who are feeling the economic squeeze the most. There is only so much clubs (and I mean this in a general sense) can squeeze out of what is traditionally a working class, lower-income fan base, before even the most dedicated think enough is enough.

mfisher,
I think it is a very short-term to increase prices because you know the most dedicated fan will still pay up. But you are losing the marginal fan, the poorer fan, the fan who has to travel more, and arguably most importantly the kids who will be the next generation of fans. I know so many celtic supporters who dont go anymore because they cant justify the money and when they have kids, it means their kids wont go either. There just makes no sense pricing people out a game when we need more people to turn up.

Ignoring the price issue, how would you try to improve our crowds over the next couple of seasons?

 

Honestly not interested in how many of they * are attending now.

Dec speaks the truth.