Tuesday 13th May 2014 Dear Mr Hoos, I would like to take this opportunity to write to you to express my absolute disgust following your recent statement on the back of the recent season ticket price increase announced today. 13th – unlucky for some? I, like many thousands of other clarets fans was completely shocked to see the new prices revealed and even more appalled by the subsequent statement attempting to defend the indefensible. What makes you think that people who couldn’t afford £3 – 400 season tickets can now afford £685? And those of us who are able to afford it can’t justify it. It is a matter of price and principle. The fact of the matter is these prices cannot be justified, nor can the associated gimmick – ‘The Retainer Fee’. How you can quite vindicate applying a ‘deposit’, and a non-refundable one at that for a product which is impossible to determine at a price to be decided in a years’ time is beyond comprehension. It wouldn’t happen in any other business and, seeing as you like to compare us to other Premier League clubs – it wouldn’t happen there either! It is difficult to plan for ones circumstances in any case in the current economic climate and particularly in a town as impoverish as Burnley is in comparison to these Cities from which these other clubs come. The retainer is yet another unnecessary complication in the ticketing process to be introduced in your stint as Chief Executive. The job Sean Dyche has done is to be commended. And we have all bought into his philosophy – One Club Mentality. It is a fantastic phrase and the whole community can, sorry could associate with it. The club have continued to put their own spin on it. ‘Our Club, Our Team, Our Town’. What a great time to be a Claret. Everyone in it together. As we did in The Coyle Era we have developed an unequivocal bond as fans and as a club. But we should have realised with ‘THAT’ season that if something seems too good to be true it often is. This time we have not been shafted (for want of a better phrase) by the manager but by the board. That said the board’s decision making towards the end of Coyle’s tenure contributed significantly towards the following apathy towards the club and subsequent drop in Season Ticket holders which you mention. Speaking of which, that part of the statement alone sits particularly uneasy with me. It is pretty much saying that the club go into this season expecting to start the following one a division lower. It is a defeatist attitude and a defeatist mentality. Sean Dyche would not even allow the ‘P’ word be mentioned right up until the Wigan game. Yet the club are pondering the ‘R’ word before a ball has been kicked. A negative mind-set. Regardless, even if the worse was to happen we would still be £50m (yes fifty million, yes 50,000,000) better off than last time! Coming on to the point of those Premier League Season ticket holders who never renewed – I was one of those 5,030 and frankly I was offended at your blasé assumption that ‘us’ 5,030 Burnley were Premier League fans and not Burnley fans. It is a very naïve assumption to have made and one which does not sit well at all. People’s circumstances change. They change jobs, move house or, if the club don’t honour their part of the deal people will vote with their feet and buy tickets when they suit and not vice versa. The one constant though was that all 5,030 were Burnley fans. The club showed a distinct lack of ambition in January of that year and that played a huge part in fans committing to the club at more than a game at a time. On the subject of the club honouring their part of a deal, that same season there was a huge furore over the clubs commitment to the Premiership Pledge season ticket (which even resulted in one fan taking the club to court in a well-publicised case). Nonetheless I continued to support the club, continued to go to every single game I could feasibly attend both home and away as a walk on, pay on the gate supporter. In all of those seasons I have spent more as a walk on supporter than I would have as a season ticket holder. That was my choice to do so. It suited me as I don’t know which games I could attend or when. But I knew that in those Championship season, the demand (or rather lack of) would mean I would always be able to pay on the gate for any game I desired. As we were back in the Premier League I, like many others decided that this season I would buy another season ticket. It would guarantee me tickets for every game (although with the recent fiasco for Blackpool away tickets who knows what might happen) even though I miss a percentage due to work and therefore even at Early Bird Rates doesn’t necessarily make financial sense for me to do so. But I wanted to show some commitment to the club after such a fantastic season. So you may ask, why didn’t I take up the early bird offer? Well there are a number of factors involved for me personally and I am sure that these can be added to by others. 1) The Early bird is introduced during the season. Just after the most expensive period of the year – Christmas. Sure there is the Direct Debit option but through personal choice I don’t want to do that. Ultimately it is still the same cost whether you pay it one or twelve instalments! 2) There was still a huge number of games left to pay for. As a walk on (like the bulk of fans were) there was a massive outlay to be paid each week. You were asking fans to commit to all of the key games yet to be played in addition to stumping up for a season ticket. In the run in I missed Brighton at home and Yeovil away. I went as far as Southampton in a meaningless cup game, Bournemouth in a game which was in doubt until the day of the game, Reading after we had already secured promotion etc. I was backing the club in the CURRENT season. 3) Last time we got to The Premier League we opened up The Cricket Field End to home supporters. There were rumours that this would be done again both from official club sources and unofficial forums. There were campaigns to get this in place once again as the interest was massive. A gamble worth waiting for. 4) I didn’t know which division we were going to be in. If we weren’t to go up I can pay on the gate for any game with minimal hassle. I anticipated if we went up that there would be a price increase of some sort – that is understandable. But this increase is unprecedented. The worrying point for next year is that existing season ticket holders who renewed in the early bird period are in complete agreement. There are fears that they too will be shafted by the club when it comes to renewing next year. There are also fundamental flaws in the retainer fee which means that these so called glory hunters / Johnny Come Lately fans may actually get next seasons ticket at a rate cheaper than the ‘loyal’ 12,000. What the price increase also does is alienate potential future fans. I have been following Burnley since 1986. I was two years old. My first game was against Cambridge United in Division Four. My first away game was in 1988 at Wembley against Wolverhampton Wanderers (glory hunter). And in spite of this season, my fondest memory as a claret was in 1991/92. I don’t know what you know of our history, but as an eight year old child it was a dream to see my hometown club achieve success. It didn’t matter that it was Division Four. It was Our Club, Our Team, and Our Town. I have watched us rise, and fall, and rise again. All because of my great memories as a child coming to watch this great club. I know many lads who weren’t fortunate enough to do so. So they watched Man Utd on TV. Liverpool, Leeds United and all of the other Premier League Clubs of the day. And what do they do now? They still watch those clubs, many even have season tickets at those clubs. Your bond with the club is formed in most cases at a very young age. By pricing out families you have alienated the clarets of tomorrow. And what of people in surrounding towns? Rawtenstall, Bacup, Accrington etc. who have no allegiance to the town but are potential supporters? If they desire Premier League football they will go to Manchester and watch it there for a smaller price with more success. If they are Premier League Fans as you put it, we should be ambitious and hoping to attract them and stay in the division. It is a small town mentality with big city prices. We should be embracing not separating from people who want to spend money on Our Club watching Our Team in Our Town. I have friends who have this season travelled from abroad to watch this great club. God forbid that these ‘outsiders’ want to support Our Club. Because with success more will follow. But not at prices more than Man Utd and Man City! From a marketing perspective, this increase is bad PR in so many ways. It smacks of greed. The club has just landed the biggest windfall in its history, and for the sake of thousands (not even millions) of pounds you have made a catastrophic balls up. Essentially the profit the club will make will equate to 24 minutes of Premier League TV Money. Less than what we paid for our only paid for signing this season! Is it really worth it? Instead of playing in front a packed, hostile crowd which proved so vital to the likes of Stoke City, Crystal Palace and so on, we will be playing in front of crowds less than 20,000 for many games next season. And those will be the games we need to win. And empty seats will not attract interest in investment. Empty seats will not sell confectionary and merchandise. And empty seats will not support the club to glory. So in order to make a quick buck the club has been extremely short sighted. Whilst I don’t anticipate it will happen, the best thing the club could do now is backtrack on this whole debacle. Reimburse anyone who has paid the £100 (£4 less than a Bayern Munich Season Ticket!!!!) retainer and remove it completely. I would also propose reducing the tickets to a more affordable level (but with an understandable but more modest increase on the early bird rate) and issue a statement on the back of it. That could repair the damaged relationships and image created by the pricing faux-pas and of course demonstrate that one club mentality and needless to say great PR for the club. In closing I just wanted to let you know that I have included some pictures in the letter for you. This is just to paint a picture of the sort of fan that ‘only’ bought a season ticket in The Premier League. One of my early games as a Claret 27 years ago, One of My first season tickets as a Claret from over 20 years ago, One of a friend (and I) who has set up a supporters club in Montenegro who travelled over on several occasions this year to watch Our Club and finally one from when we sponsored the Game Against Blackburn Rovers (once again) this season. As you aren’t interested in Premier League Supporters, I can assume you won’t be wanting me or the other 5,029 to buy one again next season. Thanks for taking time to read this letter. Yours Sincerely, James McDonough (one of the 5,030)
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 00:00:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015