If the increase is justifiable then it is correct, it happened with kids tickets years ago £10 to £25.

Again my greatest concern is making it affordable to families, they are the future and will be generally the worst hit by the economic climate not a 63 year old retired on full pension living in a mortgage free house, or indeed still in gainful employ.

We need to look at the target market and imho it is kids playing some form of sport under 11 years and their mums, forget dads they will either be absent, pub-soccer fans or already watch us. As we all know its mostly mums who do the running around with the kids.

You may think my opinions are pathetic , but as you put it ,i dont "SPONGE ", off anyone at the Club , never have done , i probably contribute much more than you do to the Clubs Coffers .

Has anyone had a look round the town recently? There are not many 60-65 year olds still in full time employment or a huge number living off a two thirds final salary headmasters pension either at 63-64.

I would say the move would price out a few more loyal fans. All in my humble opinion of course.

It should go off whether you are retired and on a state pension or not IMHO, if you are 61 and still working then you should pay the new rate, unless you are on income support due to low wages and then we should make an allowance.

'Excuse me sir before I sell you a ticket/let you in can you show me proof of age with a photograph, now I need proof of income, do you have a current wage slip together with a bank statement, are you on income support and are actively seeking employment etc'

Concessions too cheap - we all agree, yet the average 62 yo will have more disposable income than a 28 year old with 2 kids or a 18 year old in FT education, so you have to put your stake in the ground somewhere.

The problem we have is that we do not make the ST affordable in todays climate for many, sell them at £10 a week for 5 months and they suddenly become affordable because many people see £10 a week as affordable (£40 a month)

I also tend to think that, if someone wants to pay us money, by whatever means, we should be snatching their hands off. However, administering payments by D/D or S/O have proved a nightmare in the past, (been there, done that etc.) so maybe that's what is holding back the club? (and I'm not just referring to folk cancelling their payments - the banks had a habit of messing them up, and have you tried pursuing a bank over anything?)

I too agree that concession prices have been relatively cheap, (in relation to 'adult' prices) and fully support the increase in 'concession' tickets. It's the change in definition of 'concession' that's annoying me. The principle for me, is that you can't justify a large increase on false premises - i.e. 'Pensioners' are not all over 65, and the other Championship clubs do not use 65 as the base line.

Maybe the 'average' 62 year-old may have more disposable income etc, but the very word 'average' suggests that some have more, and some have less.

I really can't see someone buying a ST at full price if they have been getting a concession for the last 2/3 years ,I wouldn't thats for sure and I think its unfair that the club is expecting them to .I reckon the club will loose those ST holders next season .

I wouldn't be affected by the proposed increase in the OAP Season ticket, I don't buy one anyway given the shambles of Match Day, but I do think that we should pay a couple of quid extra per match.

Personally i think its down to how much you can afford ,the die hard 60-64s will still probably buy season tickets , but may cut back on other ways they support the club financially ,ie draw tickets ,LISA membership , the forcast Comp , and the Poker Nights , its all cash to the club but some may cut back .

Nothing wrong with the increase on match day tickets ,always thought they were too cheap but hope the club have a rethink on the ST issue ,I am not a concession either so doesn't affect me .

Widnes do these kind of payments now dont they?.
If thats the case then perhaps someone at the club could give them a ring and see how they deal with these problems

Widnes also have umpteen more full time members of staff than Leigh to be able to administer it effectively. Not to mention substantial more TV money than Leigh receive to pay for them.

Harold that tash is getting bigger

.

How many staff does it take to make a phone call

I think the problem is not so much setting it up (thats the easy part), it's more the aspect of the then management of it all.

Alan has alluded to some of the issues that will be encountered as well as defaults and perhaps you would then need to employ a full time member of staff to deal with it all.

The question is will such a scheme bring in more than the wages of employing someone to run manage it? c£20k PA bottom line at a guess.

There you go. I have just saved the club the cost of a phone call

If the swipe card system worked properly, staged payments shouldn't be an issue as the ST could be stopped at the gate if payment hadn't been received.

We have the technology its just not working, would it not be a good idea to fix it Mr LSV?

Believe me, it was taking longer than making a phone call. Even if it was established that the customer (supporter) wasn't at fault, the major obstacle was communicating with the banks, who flatly refused to believe they had done anything wrong. I'd say in over 50% of the problem cases, it was a bank error causing it.

However, it is obviously standard business practice to accept payments by d/d and s/o. Personally, I don't believe we have the spare capacity in our one part-time person finance department to administer this one and I assume that's why the club won't go for it.

There's the conundrum though. I suppose we should really be willing to 'relieve fans of their cash' in whatever ways we can!

But when it isn't the customer that's at fault (see my previous post) we can't stop them getting in, surely?

I must be very lucky I've never had any issues with my bank, since the day I started with them, I've changed jobs a few times, I've certainly changed gas/leccy suppliers, credit cards, insurers, mortgage suppliers, etc. the only thing that's been consistent in all these years is them, it is still called the Burnley these days, isn't it?

Two books of tickets issued, first one for first 6 second for last 7, by the time the second book is issued the cash is in the bank.

I remember them - we got our first mortgage with them! Wonder where they went?



The problems we encountered were with the so-called 'Big Banks'

There will always be people wanting to take advantage by buying concession tickets when not entitled and junior tickets when not entitled ,and there will always be turnstile operators not checking tickets properly and allowing every one in regardless, we suffered at the old ground by several well known people (and we all know who they were) getting into the ground free, We must be more vigilant than we are now or we will not survive.

Re the concessionary price, I'm in the 60-64 age bracket and prefer to pay each game.
The removal of the concessionary price will not cause any financial hardship for me but there have been times when, if Leigh are likely to be involved in a one sided game (either way) I have only gone because it was only £8/7 (North Stand).
If I have to pay full price then there is a possibility that I will not attend those games.
A smaller increase may tempt me however.
Therefore, the effect of this would mean that the club could probably receive the same amount of money from me as say last season but my attendance would be reduced. There may be other people who would act the same and this of course, would affect the franchise application.
My first game was in 1969 and I've attended on and off since (partly due to living away for some time), mainly going through the whole of the 90's home and away. Stopped altogether in 2002 and restarted last year.
So basically, it is the one sided games that will cause me to have second thoughts about attending if the concession was removed until 65 (although I am aware that these games can occasionally turn out to be anything but).

Something I raised on here some time ago when both issues were mentioned (payment schemes and swipe season tickets). Understandably the club may be unwilling to pay the wages required for someone to properly manage a payment scheme but you would think that the LSV would be keen to keep the scanners etc in proper working order or we might as well go back to voucher books etc.

I truthfully don’t know what’s involved in setting up a payment scheme, nor how much the administration cost to run it are, but I find it very strange that my local car dealership, furniture, TV store, etc will be happy for me to buy their goods in this manner, I can even buy my LISA membership this way if I wished but I can’t buy a season ticket?












Is now a good time to say I usually pay cash.