Kilmarnock fans rage at 'desperate' chairman Michael Johnston.....

[RANGERRAB 3,771]

That's not quite the same thing, of course, the primary intention is to make the kids the adult paying customers of the future. But you're right, of course, it tends not to work; Stanraer and other lower division teams have been trying it for years in various guises and literally they can't give the tickets away.

 

tell me this bud, how long is this sustainable ? how long can these clubs continue in a top division without Rangers in it? the SPFL has no sponsor the league cup has no sponsor. The SFA are about to lose adidas as the Scotland team's strip supplier(not enough strips sold. Wonder why? Rangers supporters don't buy them anymore?).

I also reckon the only way the SPFL have kept SKY is to accept a longterm deal which offers no increase in money for years. A total disaster when you compare the SPFL to the likes of the Australian A league which receives more than twice as much as the SPFL from TV income (and the A league certainly isn't a great league with all due respect). No wonder Charles Green wanted Rangers out of Scottish football

[BrahimHemdani 1]

tell me this bud, how long is this sustainable ? how long can these clubs continue in a top division without Rangers in it? the SPFL has no sponsor the league cup has no sponsor. The SFA are about to lose adidas as the Scotland team's strip supplier(not enough strips sold. Wonder why? Rangers supporters don't buy them anymore?).

I also reckon the only way the SPFL have kept SKY is to accept a longterm deal which offers no increase in money for years. A total disaster when you compare the SPFL to the likes of the Australian A league which receives more than twice as much as the SPFL from TV income (and the A league certainly isn't a great league with all due respect). No wonder Charles Green wanted Rangers out of Scottish football

 

You are absolutely right, it is NOT sustainable; but Doncaster has his head buried in the sand. He believes that the decline in attendances is due to economic conditions and does not accept that actually it is due to boredom on the part of the fans at seeing their favourites (in whatever division) playing each other 4 times a year; poor quality football, treating fans as cannon fodder, lack of competition etc; and refused to countenance a raft of propsoals for change put forward in The Fans Plan, when I was Chair of SDS and subsequently FansFirst Scotland.

 

Hearts have gone to the wall, Dunfermline have gone to the wall, as another poster suggested Kilmarnock will almost certainly be next. Full time foootball in this country, outside the massive support of Rangers and Celtic, is not sustainable on part time crowds and paltry TV money that forces Rangers to play Dunfermline at home at 5.30pm on a Saturday night and worse still go to Arbroath on a Monday night.

 

And by the way, if there's one thing worse than going to watch football in Arbroath on a Monday night, it's refereeing a reserve game there on a Friday night as once was my great misfortune.

[The Real PapaBear 0]

That would certainly be a very interesting experiment but how would you price season tickets - in line with the lowest or higest price or somewhere in between?

 

However, very often those who end up paying high prices for airline toickets, do so because they have been forced to book late in the day and there is no such compulsion (usually) to attend a football match.

 

Of course you wouldn't want to adopt the Greenair model, otherwise you may have to pay to use the toilets, over-sized banners would be charged extra and the game might not last 90 minutes. Or you could follow the Orangejet guarantee that the game WOULD last 90 minutes provided that your carry-in bag was not more than 50 x 40 x 20cm including handles and wheels.

 

I'd probably have season tickets generally a bit more expensive - say 10% - than the cheapest single match tickets, and also price the SMTs according to the opposition, so that the cheapest ticket for Celtic or hearts would be more than the season ticket price for those games.

 

If we follow the Ryanair model, though, all our home games would be played in Carlisle.

[Guest Belt & Braces]

I was speaking to a Killie fan a little while ago and he was adamant that his team was due to hit the skids in a pretty bad way. Aberdeen, despite their recent display of bravado and chest puffing are still in a financial mess, Dundee United are staying below the radar with their ability to sell on distinctly average players for well above average fees. Dunfermline aren't out of the woods and Hearts, well who knows how that's going to end.

 

It would appear that the wisdom of the chairmen in Scotland's top flight isn't going to expand beyond '' Sit tight till Rangers return ''

 

They have only themselves to blame.

[calscot 0]

The problem with this as Kilmarnock are finding out is twofold:

 

1. What you really want to do is introduce differential pricing, to a greater extent than just having slightly different prices for the different stands. However, if you offer a sudden sharp reduction, to sell unsold seats, which is entirely logical, you then upset all those who have paid full price. Note however, that we accept this in airline and hotel pricing, on the basis of paying a higher price to secure a seat or hotel bed on the date and fare class that we want. So it might be realistic at Ibrox if almost all seats were sold and the last 1,000 say were sold at a discount, perhaps £15 or more radically £9.99? However, you could only do this on a selective basis otherwise too many non-season ticket holders would hold off to the last minute.
   

 

I don't see how this would work in a stadium that is 22.8% full. There is absolutely no incentive to buy early and so everyone waits for the price drop.

 

 

Conclusion - not easy to get the right balance; but the Germans have achieved it so worth experimenting I'd say.

 

I don't really think the Germans have achieved it. They have very low ticket prices BUT their ticket income is a small fraction of their turnover and almost insignificant. You're talking around 10% of total income! Their model mostly relies on TV, retail and commercial income.

[calscot 0]

Can I also point out that Killie are suffering from having NO OF income. Rangers are gone and Celtic fans perpetually boycott their ground - something that not surprisingly NOT reported in the mhedia.